Saw Parquet Courts at the Black Cat in DC Saturday night. Show was sold out, and the Black Cat is a great venue. I was mostly curious to see what passes for a buzz band these days. I've listened to their music on Amazon's streaming service and liked it OK -- at the show I recognized maybe four songs. The crowd was enthusiastic and they're a good band, but the songs just didn't grab me. A few hooks would probably help. They started around 11:30 and I left after an hour, figuring they were going to play at least another 20-30 minutes. The Washington Post review the next day said they played 65 minutes with no encores, so I missed one song. In the past 35 years, I can probably count on one hand the number of shows I've left early, so that sums up my feelings about the show.
Dammit. The Replacements are coming to DC in May. Tickets went on sale this morning at 10:00 am. I was on the Ticketbastard site at 10:00 am and got shut out. I'm really pissed off.
That suuuuucks, Muggsy. I actually got tickets yesterday to their May show in Milwaukee, but that was via eTix, which is soooo much better than Ticketmaster (they still gouge you, but not as badly, and don't seem to have the dumb waiting room that seems to cause more problems than it solves).
I would have done Chicago too, but they're midweek shows. Milwaukee is on a Saturday, so I don't need to take time off work. Milwaukee actually also goes on sale in a couple minutes, I have a friend there, though, who got me the presale info.
Backup plan -- just got tickets to the Philly show on Saturday May 9. This actually works out better, it's a cool outdoor venue and I grew up in Philly so it's a trip home. So all's well that ends well.
Nels Cline at Constellation w/ Fred Lonberg-Holm, Glenn Kotche & Mike Reed (that's 2 drummers for those of you keeping score at home). Not my picture, but right behind me - Found it on Instagram! Great crazy free form jazz, if that's what you want to call it...Basically Nels making any kind of sound you can imagine on his guitar and the other guys playing off him. Note artist making drawings in the background. Fun show, sometimes beautiful others maddening, but never boring. I think I made my most direct contribution to any jazz show ever, by starting the applause when nobody could figure out whether the music was over! (my clue: they had stopped playing and were looking at each other, laughing).
So lucky to have this club in the neighborhood...Need to get over there more often. For example, coming up in just the next couple weeks are Winged Victory For The Sullen, then The Westerlies
jUj, in a way nobody's more surprised than me. I once had zero patience for your "free jazz"...now sort of the more unhinged it is, the better I like it. The person who really deserves props is my wife, who is gamely along for the ride on much of this stuff. (Meanwhile, it's your "Contemporary Classical" that I have trouble with these days..."self-indulgent, academic, anxious," I mutter to myself. Much the same stuff I used to say about jazz skronking)
Doofy, Doofy, Doofy. You have to see Viet Cong. They got off to a bit of a slow start (there were sound issues), but once they got rolling, holy crap. They closed with "Continental Shelf" and "Death" and both tracks were even better than on the album. They just annihilated those songs.
Seriously, I had my hi-def earplugs in and my ears were STILL ringing a bit after I left. Craig
"The last time Viet Cong frontman Matt Flegel was in a band, it didn't end well. He and his brother Patrick were in the droney, adored Calgary post-rock outfit Women, which went on hiatus after the Flegel brothers beat each other up during a now-notorious onstage altercation in 2010."
Etc. I guess we don't have the quote code anymore...
Dude still has it. Played all of Songs in the Key of Life (plus a few hits at the end) with a voice that still sounds like it did when the album was recorded. Also did some jamming, told some fun stories, and even pretended to be "DJ Tick Tick Boom" who is apparently a big fan of Slick Rick’s "Children’s Story". The band was crazy, too. Ten person string section, 6 horns, 6 backing singers (plus 8 more on a few songs), 4 percussionists, 2 keys, 2 guitar, bass, harmonica player for when Stevie was singing. Oh, and guest vocalist on a few songs India.Arie.
Show was three and a half hours long, so I’m dragging just a bit this morning. Worth it.
That sounds awesome, Craig. There are not many stadium shows I would consider attending, but that should have been one of them!
Meanwhile, we saw Vijay Iyer and his trio this weekend. This Howard Reich review sums it up. We were sitting all of 12 feet behind him, off his left hand - a great spot to watch the improvisation happening.
A memorable night! Bassist Stephan Crump will be back in town next week with Mary Halvorson...hoping to get over there for that show too.
@Doofy - Yeah, I don't get to many area shows (I realized I hadn't been in Target Center for any reason since seeing U2 there in 2005), but this one was definitely worth it.
@greg - Crossing my fingers for you, although I can't imagine how expensive it would be to get this whole band across the pond.
45 years ago yesterday, an old Greyhound station opened it's doors as a concert venue for the first time (Joe Cocker was the performer). Last night I partied at First Avenue to celebrate its birthday. Good times. Tonight I'll be back for Father John Misty/King Tuff. Also likely to be good times.
Okay, I've heard how good Father John Misty is live, but holy crap is he amazing. Best performance I've seen in awhile. King Tuff was phenomenal as an opener too.
Yeah, he wasn't exactly serious about the no photography thing. At one point he was sitting on one of the monitors at the front of the stage and someone in the front row was recording him. He grabbed the phone and sang to it while spinning and zooming in on himself.
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Oh and congrats Doofy. Glad I could help.
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Etix did indeed work great - Don't know that I've ever had smoother experience trying to get tickets to a high-demand show
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Seriously, I had my hi-def earplugs in and my ears were STILL ringing a bit after I left.
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Weird situation.
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Dude still has it. Played all of Songs in the Key of Life (plus a few hits at the end) with a voice that still sounds like it did when the album was recorded. Also did some jamming, told some fun stories, and even pretended to be "DJ Tick Tick Boom" who is apparently a big fan of Slick Rick’s "Children’s Story". The band was crazy, too. Ten person string section, 6 horns, 6 backing singers (plus 8 more on a few songs), 4 percussionists, 2 keys, 2 guitar, bass, harmonica player for when Stevie was singing. Oh, and guest vocalist on a few songs India.Arie.
Show was three and a half hours long, so I’m dragging just a bit this morning. Worth it.
@greg - Crossing my fingers for you, although I can't imagine how expensive it would be to get this whole band across the pond.
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That's me right in front of the beer guy:
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