Octopus Overlords

I saw Coheed and Cambria in a small venue with about 1000 other crazy fans last thursday and they were awesome...such a great live band, and they really seemed to enjoy every minute they were on the stage. I just wish they could find a way to get more attention and build the massive following that they deserve, but they're quirky enough that I think it's hard for them to break through. They're still awesome though

disarm wrote:I saw Coheed and Cambria in a small venue with about 1000 other crazy fans last thursday and they were awesome...such a great live band, and they really seemed to enjoy every minute they were on the stage. I just wish they could find a way to get more attention and build the massive following that they deserve, but they're quirky enough that I think it's hard for them to break through. They're still awesome though

They do fairly big venues when they come to Detroit. (Actually they come Ypsi and play Rynerson Stadium and play to about 30,000 people if they sell out.) I thought C&C were essentially launched by Guitar Hero or Rock Band or one of those games. I'm impressed at how these series of games give (gave) exposure to a lot of small venue bands. Props to people like Jason Kendell for giving that exposure to a lot of bands I enjoy (even if I can't understand why he chose "Mr Fix It" from the Amazing Royal Crowns. Seriously? Before "Do the Devil" or "1965 GTO"? Really?)

LordMortis wrote:They do fairly big venues when they come to Detroit. (Actually they come Ypsi and play Rynerson Stadium and play to about 30,000 people if they sell out.) I thought C&C were essentially launched by Guitar Hero or Rock Band or one of those games. I'm impressed at how these series of games give (gave) exposure to a lot of small venue bands. Props to people like Jason Kendell for giving that exposure to a lot of bands I enjoy (even if I can't understand why he chose "Mr Fix It" from the Amazing Royal Crowns. Seriously? Before "Do the Devil" or "1965 GTO"? Really?)

I'm sure Rock Band didn't hurt, but they released their fourth album before they were featured. They were already pretty popular.

This tour of theirs seems designed to reward fans in places that bands of their caliber don't normally go. They're not coming anywhere near me in Texas; I got tickets to see them at a small place in Oklahoma City called the Diamond Ballroom, which, incidentally, is about four miles from the house I grew up in. I think I saw Sponge play the last time I was there, circa 1997.

Went all the way to Vancouver to catch Patrick Wolf on Saturday night, and he did not disappoint. It was an unplugged set with mostly just one other musician, the two of them switching off between piano, harp, baritone ukulele, violin, and saw (that I can remember), with an additional guy to do a saxophone part from one song (but on clarinet). Really small audience at the Rio Theatre. Madonna, Amanda Palmer, and Bloc Party were all also playing that night, so pretty much only diehard PW fans attended, and it made the show very personal. I enjoyed it.

Woodpigeon opened, and I wasn't familiar with him but it was a neat performance. For this show, it was just him and a guitar and a soundboard so he could record musical parts and loop them, including some percussive stuff using the microphone. So like Owen Pallett, but with a guitar instead of a violin. On his albums, there's a lot more instrumentation, but I like the intimacy of this kind of solo performance.

MONO last night - they are really quite good (and Hymns to the Immortal Wind was my favorite album of 2009), but i was soooo tired....

Psychedelic Furs on Saturday... wish they'd release a new album already.

I like grunge...still

Melvins are playing at a small club in my town later this month.

Of course I'm out of town that weekend (I'm rarely out of town)...aaggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

So Im not seeing them

Cant wait for November!
On the 3rd I get to see Ian Anderson perform Thick as a Brick in its entirety ( for the 1st time since 1972 ) And Thick as a Brick 2 ( which is a fantastic album, if you like Jehtro Tull I highly recommend it ) I got 6th row center stage seats at The Fox in Detroit.

Then on the saturday after Thanksgiving Im going to see The Who perform Quadrophenia, one of my all time favorite albums. Managed 18th row for that one. It is gonna be a rockin November!

Adam Ant, as it turns out, was a disappointment. I'm way too spoiled. Everyone around me was having an awesome time and all I could think was it was way too crowded, the sound was terrible, and the show lacked the kind of energy that draws me in. So it's back to my small shows, I guess.

Just got back from Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie a little bit ago...really good concert overall, but not without a couple problems. Manson played a pretty solid set, but it was relatively short at just over an hour, and he didn't play to the crowd at all...really only talked to the crowd one time, and that was only to say that he liked the state of Connecticut because it has 'cut' in its name. The stage show was pretty cool and the band sounded tight though.

Rob Zombie was a whole different story...interacted with the crowd throughout the show, even running out into the audience and climbing into the stands during John 5's amazing guitar solo. Zombie's shows are always a feast for the eyes as well as the ears, and he didn't disappoint tonight. Unfortunately, he played virtually the same setlist that they used when I saw him at the same venue two years ago, minus a couple songs, and barely lasted 90 minutes. I think they even used the same background videos and props as before. It's such a fun show that I enjoyed it anyway, but I doubt I'll go back to see him again until I can confirm that he's doing something different.

LordMortis wrote:Announced:

http://titusandronicustheband.blogspot. ... -tour.html" target="_blank

Damn - they are playing here next weekend but I'm going to be out of town.

Going to see Passion Pit on Wednesday. The concert's in an arena which seems like a pretty odd venue for them/him, but for $15 it's worth giving it a shot.

Poi Dog Pondering is doing a 4 date tour (SF, Portland, Seattle, Austin) and Friday was the Portland show.

A great time as always. I don't know how Frank can jump around the stage like that for the whole show.

The first encore was just Frank playing "This Night Has Opened My Eyes" on electric guitar. It was...odd.

Rush were playing in NJ last night, but I had other commitments and couldn't attend.

This is the second tour in a row that I've missed. Hopefully they will either make a second pass, or maybe I can get tickets to an out-of-town show. They were just in Philadelphia last week, so I missed that one too.

Oh, forgot this thread even existed!

Went to the first concert I've been to in a looong time a few weeks back. Animal Collective at the Fox Theater in Oakland. Great show, they played a 10 minute version of Brothersport that had the crowd jumping. I'm surprised the didn't play more from the new album, Centipede Hz. It was about half Centipede and half Merriweather. The opening band, Micachu and the Shapes was good as well. I've been listening to their first album Jewelry a lot since the show.

I'm thinking about going to see Dan Deacon on Tuesday in San Francisco. Should be a pretty wild show.

Hamsterball_Z wrote:I'm thinking about going to see Dan Deacon on Tuesday in San Francisco. Should be a pretty wild show.

Let me know how the whole experience goes. I don't care for DJ musicianship (In fact, that's about the only way I seem to be able to say it without being sarcastic) but reading about Dan Deacon and his whole presence, I'm intrigued. As described, he really seems to be adding a whole element of performance art to his sets. So now I want to see him almost as much as I do the Flaming Lips, who also reportedly take things one step beyond.

I read this tour he himself wrote an ap for your smart phone that will utilize its GPS to coordinate additional lighting for his show. So having your damned phone out all show long will help enhance the show rather than making it annoying if you are running this ap. That he put that much into thinking about the presence of the evening just draws me in with curiosity.

I made it to the Dan Deacon show last night. Great show but man, getting home at 2am on a work night.... I'm too old for this sh*t.

There were three opening acts and then Dan. Actually, Dan was MCing as a really bad comedian between acts. The openers were all over the map. The first was Alan Resnick doing a comedy bit with his digital avatar head (link shows a bit of his set). Chester Endersby Gwazda sounded like a indie singer I might have listened to in the 90's/early 2000's. Height with Friends was a wannabe Rage against the Machine, white rapper with hard rock backing. None of them really fit with Dan's sound. Funny thing is that members of these bands were swapping around into the other bands. Height's backup singer played drums for Chester, Chester was on keyboards and bass with Dan, Height's drummer was one the two drummers backing Dan. Guess that explains their presence on the tour.

Mortis, you heard right. Dan's show has a lot of audience participation. He had us clear the floor for a 'dance off'. Later, we did a human arch/tunnel out of the building, around the block, and back into the theater (hey, someone recorded it! That's me at :54). Crazy stuff like that. There was a notice up before the show to download an iPhone/Android app. That was used later to flash the phone screens different colors in sync. Everybody is jumping around with their own personal light show. Ever been to a show where you want to watch the audience instead of the band? I enjoyed it. If you're ok with his sound* I'd say it's worth catching his show if you can.

I was down front for most of the show and it was a mosh pit most of the time. After the show Dan hung out to sign autographs and just meet and chat with people. Very cool guy. Here's a few pics I got:


_


I took a picture with Dan. We're too busy trying to figure out if we're in the shot to look up.


*That last link is from the show I was at. Don't know if I should out myself or not but my bald head is pretty visible bouncing around from about 1:30 on.

I was scheduled to have seen Coheed and Cambria in Oklahoma City last night, but I got an email late Monday saying that it was postponed to November 30th due to illness. That was a win at first, since the 30th is a Friday, and I wouldn't have to drive straight back home to make it to work the next day. On the other hand, Dethklok will be here in Dallas that night, so now I'm going to miss that. Gripping hand, Jonathan Coulton plays in Tulsa on the 29th, so now I can just take that Friday off and make a long weekend of the whole thing.

Thank you for the AAR, I'm going to discuss this and I might just go. It sounds like I might really enjoy it and I'd love to see a DJ set I enjoy.

Edit: watching the video, that's music with people playing instruments. That's not a DJ set.

Lots of electronics but no turntables if that's what you mean.

Hamsterball_Z wrote:Lots of electronics but no turntables if that's what you mean.

I'm OK with that. In the past I've seen too many DJ sets that have basically been one or two guys sitting behind a computer. Two drummers and a keyboardist coordinating with a guy playing electronic toys is way more than I would expect.

Saw The Temper Trap last night at House of Blues Houston. Great show. My wife made me buy the tickets about 4 or 5 months ago but I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. It has taken 17 years of marriage for her to get on board with my music, but every once in a while she will latch on to an album and play it for all it's worth. The first Temper Trap album (2009) didn't leave the CD player in her car for probably 6 months, and even then it would get full play-throughs at least once or twice a week. I think a lot of my enjoyment came from seeing how much she enjoyed herself.

Was debating seeing Rodriguez tonight but he sold out. Good thing I didn't get tickets. As it turns out the Crofoot way over sell that venue. Speaking of sold out, Clutch is tomorrow night. Should be a good time.

I'm also debating seeing Future of the left on Sunday. Any one know anything about them?

Tomorrow I get to stuff limes down my pants and go see The Tragically Hip.

Saw opening night of The Who's Quadrophenia tour. My favorite band playing my favorite album. My 2 buds from NY couldn't get down here to see it like we planned so I was bummed for them. The band and the crowd clearly loved every minute of it. Just a great night. They incorporated Entwhistle's 5:15 bass solo and Moon footage too which was a nice touch.

Jag wrote:Saw opening night of The Who's Quadrophenia tour. My favorite band playing my favorite album.

So bummed I can't see this show in Detroit. My favorite album as well from my first favorite band.

Turisas just announced a North American Tour with Firewind and Stolen Babies as openers. And they're coming to Salt Lake.

:faints:

Jag wrote:Saw opening night of The Who's Quadrophenia tour. My favorite band playing my favorite album. My 2 buds from NY couldn't get down here to see it like we planned so I was bummed for them. The band and the crowd clearly loved every minute of it. Just a great night. They incorporated Entwhistle's 5:15 bass solo and Moon footage too which was a nice touch.

Awesome. I have center/right seats in the 18th row for the Detroit show. Quadrophenia is my favorite album as well and I am really looking forward to the show. I'm a big fan of The Who and have seen every tour since the mid 70's so there was no way I was going to miss this one.

If anyone's in NYC, there's a great show tomorrow night: Sharon van Etten headlining and at least one member from The National, The Antlers, and Wye Oak.

The Who played a fantastic show at Joe Louis, Saturday night. They did Quadrophenia in its entirerty, without a stop. Roger's voice was the best I've heard it in a decade. The Entwistle homage, with the absolutely incredible 5:15 solo was one of the highlights of the show. Anyone who can watch that solo and not be blown away just doesn't understand music. Pete was very energetic and played to the crowd the whole show. People may knock them for being old but for guys pushing 70, the amount of energy Roger and Pete poured into that show was amazing, hell it would have been a workout for someone half their age. All I can say is this wasn't a watered down rocking chair version of the Who, these guys simply rocked the Joe and rocked it hard. BTW, Zak Starky was awesome on drums. He channeled his inner Moonie, during Quadrophenia, like Ive never seen before. If you like The Who, or if you just want to see one of the best albums in rock history performed live, you owe it to yourself to go see this tour.

rshetts2 wrote:If you like The Who, or if you just want to see one of the best albums in rock history performed live, you owe it to yourself to go see this tour.

Glad you got the chance to go, sounds like it was a blast! Wish I went to more concerts, live music is the best, especially when you know the band.

Ralph-Wiggum wrote:

LordMortis wrote:Announced:

http://titusandronicustheband.blogspot. ... -tour.html" target="_blank

Damn - they are playing here next weekend but I'm going to be out of town.

Going to see Passion Pit on Wednesday. The concert's in an arena which seems like a pretty odd venue for them/him, but for $15 it's worth giving it a shot.

On the bright side for you, they were pretty bad. The crowd loved them but I think that's just because it's the first time they saw them. I think the last time they were the main act in Detroit, they played a dozen people. They were simply amazing shortly before The Monitor came out. But then Amy left the band and the sheer joy she brought to their live show was noticeably missing the last time I saw them. Between then and now Lorenzo left the band and their sound and soul is hollow without keyboards.

On the bright side for me, Ceremony (who played like Andy Kaufman leading the Sex Pistols), the opening band brought a huge following in of their own and while, they made me feel very very very old, it still took me back to simpler time and I enjoyed the voyeuristic experience very much. It made them feel very alive even if I wasn't participating in "the fun."

I got to hop on Jonathan Coulton's tour bus for pre-concert happy hour last Thursday.

Here he is making me a Manhattan:

That's awesome!

Frightened Rabbit were going to skip Detroit again but we got added to the tour this morning. While I was sort of out of it last time they played, I've fallen much more deeply for their music over the last two years, so I'm in and I'm going to the uber rare buy tickets ahead of time gig as I think they will sell out with in a day or two if not right away. They seem to have been gaining a large but still underground following and I don't think St Andrews holds but maybe 800 or a thousand people.

4 different local shows I want to see this Saturday. You'd think it was the night before a holiday. Not sure which one I will end up at or if I'll bail at the last second and sit home in the midst of my indecision.

Aside from that not too much left for the rest of the year. Come January, maybe Colin Hay as part of the Ann Arbor folk festival. Maybe Flogging Molly, whom I've seen too many times and they've settled down. Maybe Fun, who I missed because they sold out Saint Andrews last winter because they seem to have "broke" the week they came to town (though they are likely to sell out again as their second single took off about a month or two ago). None seem likely, really. I think I'm going to try and finally catch Umphry McGee's in February. But March gets good. If Lindsay Sterling doesn't sell out, I'm in. I still need to pick up tickets for Ra Ra Riot, and now I get Frightened Rabbit. If I have the energy, I can give hearty maybe to They Might be Giants in March as well.

Fretmute wrote:I got to hop on Jonathan Coulton's tour bus for pre-concert happy hour last Thursday.

Here he is making me a Manhattan:

Dude. I'm extremely envious.

Looks like I'll be seeing Molly Lewis and the Doubleclicks in Sacramento on Jan 8th, before seeing them again on JCCC3.

Got tickets for Lindsey Stirling, going to pass on Flogging Molly this time around. Maybe after they put up a new album.

Isgrimnur wrote:Got tickets for Lindsey Stirling, going to pass on Flogging Molly this time around. Maybe after they put up a new album.

You Dallaser... Dallasian... Dallisto... a dude from Dallas. If you're in for a penny, go in for a pound.

http://open.spotify.com/track/1XTDc3VvzRxIAzUxGDc64s" target="_blank

http://open.spotify.com/artist/6fVcDUckTwxqg56qNsEvUr" target="_blank

(Sorry, Ra Ra Riot and Umphrey's Mcgee are skipping Dallas this time around or have already played there)


On the other side of things, the Creepshow are getting ready to announce US Tour dates for 2013 and lately they've been playing "with their besties, the Dreadnoughts." One can hope and pray and hope and pray and pray and hope. That would be the can't miss show of 2013. The Dreadnoughts remind me of 2003 Gogol Bordello or Flogging Molly with almost (but not quite) as much stage presence as 1989 Jane's Addiction. And then you get the Creepshow as the main attraction bonus, whom not only are a shit ton of fun live but they attract the most diverse and interesting crowd of any show I've been to, so you get the killer bands and the killer crowds.

One week and counting until Muse plays the Rose Garden

Stageshow

The 2nd Law Tour has quickly become known for its extravagant and unique stage show. Some effects used include:

An enormous pyramid of LED screens that gradually descends and "consumes" the band during the show.
Large use of strobe lighting as well as corrupted system text on a floor panoramic screen during "The 2nd Law: Unsustainable".
Balloons and confetti raining on the pit crowd during "Follow Me".
Drummer Dominic Howard being revealed by the pyramid as it ascends during "Uprising".
A life-size grid forming on the pyramid during "The 2nd Law: Isolated System".
Laser lights of many different colors shooting in different directions during "Starlight".
Synchronized lyrics appearing on as many as 10-17 different screens during "Knights of Cydonia".
Robotic likenesses of the letter "M" featured in the lyric video for "Madness" appearing as it is performed.
Carbon dioxide cannons blasting off on the final beats of "Survival".

It's going to be a good spring. Frightened Rabbit, Wintersleep, Pinback, and Coheed and Cambria are all coming through.

Also on February 13th John Wesley Harding returns with a few friends...

Carrie Brownstein, Peter Buck, Monica Drake, Sallie Ford, Ben Gibbard, k.d. lang, Storm Large, Scott McCaughey, Colin Meloy, Eugene Mirman, Laura Veirs, Lidia Yuknavitch

It's a festival of Portlandishness.

It's a bit over two weeks until JoCo Cruise Crazy 3! The lineup this year is Jonathan Coulton, The Doubleclicks, John Hodgman, Zoe Keating, Randall Munroe (creator of XKCD), Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett, Paul and Storm, Mike Phirman, David Rees, John Roderick, Joseph Scrimshaw and Wil Wheaton.

I'm already doing more cruise planning and daydreaming than actually working...