The Black Keys, Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN - 8/12/2010

When I think of seeing the Black Keys, I think, "Solid."  Straight up solid, can't complain, no frills, hit the jugular rock.  I've been seeing them since 2005, and they really have been getting better and better at what they do.

After drinks at 12 South Taproom, we headed over to the show (back in the balcony at the Ryman).  Missed the openers the Morning Benders, whom I actually wanted to see, but such is life.

Show was sold out, pretty packed, and folks were actually standing and getting excited and enjoying themselves for change.  Not very Nashville at all, I'm happy to report for a change.

As per usual, they opened with "Thickfreakness" and ran through about 6 hits as a two-piece (very similar to when I saw them at Bonnaroo in June) including "Stack Shot Billy" and "Girl Is On My Mind."  Then they brought out the keyboardist and bassist for the new tunes.  They still sounded good, and the accompaniment is pretty minimalist, but here's my theory:  having those 2 guys play with them forces them to tighten up so much that it takes away the looseness that makes them so powerful and, dare I say it, special.  That sense of being on the edge of careening off the tracks is sorely missed.

They finished up the main set as a two-piece again and then encored with one song as a four-piece and a final tune as two-piece.  Sorry, no setlist.  Really enjoyed this one, loved the crowd being into it (why can't all Nashville shows be this way?), and as usual was not disappointed by the Keys.

Arcade Fire, Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN - 8/9/2010

On the heels of playing 2 straight (almost or possibly completely sold out?) shows at Madison Square Garden (capacity: 18,200), the Arcade Fire pulled into Nashville to play the legendary Ryman (capacity: 2,362). I was kind of excited, to say the least. I'd also been digging on the latest release, The Suburbs, in a big way.

Our posse met up for pre-show drinks at 12 South Taproom and then headed over to the venue. I unloaded my extra ticket (at face value, thank you very much) and headed in. We had main floor, off-to-the-side seats, which I was nervous about as you don't really want to be way under the balcony at this venue, but they were turned out pretty great (see photo to the left).

The show was pretty epic, and this is a band who don't have many duds in their catalog. (I still love Neon Bible, no matter what the consensus is.) The new tunes, esp. the "big" ones like "Sprawl II" and "We Used To Wait," were sweeping, and the classics from Funeral were as epic as ever. This was probably my last chance to see them at a small-ish venue, and I'm glad I made it ...

(???'s = not quite sure but pretty sure)

Ready to Start
Laika
No Cars Go
Haiti
Half Light II - No Celebration (???)
The Suburbs
Deep Blue (???)
Intervention
Crown of Love
Tunnels
Suburban War (???)
We Used to Wait
Power Out
Rebellion (Lies)

Keep the Car Running
Sprawl II
Wake Up

Pitchfork Music Festival, Chicago, IL - 7/16-18/2010

Friday - 7/16/2010

I flew into Chicago from Nashville after an all-too brief four hours or so of sleep. I met my lady at the airport (flying in from the C-bus), and we proceeded to our swank accomodation at the Hotel Palomar. Very nice. After a quick bite to eat and some finagling to get some new contact lenses for my girl, we headed up to Wrigley to see the Cubs beat the Phillies in what was a pretty great game. Great seats, too, as you can see from the photo.

That was a great way to start the trip, though it meant that we missed the opening set from the Tallest Man on Earth, which we were both looking forward to. But we got in there, met up with our other friends and started the rocking Friday evening post-Cubs goodness with Broken Social Scene. As usual for me, they were very meh ... some great songs, some forgettable songs, a bit of a mess of a stage show, but mainly lacking a central nugget to which I can latch onto. Their sound just isn't quite unique enough for me, maybe.

That left Modest Mouse as the headliner, and boy were they terrible. It all started out promising enough with "Tiny Cities Made of Ashes," but whereas I thought they might bust out classic after classic, they instead stuck to the last couple of records for the most part. They rocked "Dramamine" in the middle, but it was jammy and just bad. It was bad - what can I say? They played "Gravity Rides Everything" in the encore, too, but it was too late by then. There were 6 or 7 people on stage, though it looked/sounded like there were 20 - all cacophony and too much going on for a band that once thrived on spare minimalism and space. A wasted opportunity ...

Saturday - 7/17/2010

After a lazy morning of eating and shopping and pooling at the hotel, we finally meandered into the festival around 4:15 for the end of Raekwon's set, which included some Wu Tang bangers.  Fun, though as this festival proved over and over, great hip hop on record (see Wu Tang, Big Boi) does not translate to great hip hop live.  It was all bass and shouting, no finesse or dynamics.

But then came the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion (JSBX), who in 1995 at the now defunct Rockafella's in Columbia, SC, melted my face during the Orange tour.  Well, we are all 15 years older now, but they still got the flavor.  Within the first 5 songs, they had rocked "Flavor," "2 Kindsa Love," and "Bellbottoms."  I loved it.  My favorite set thus far, but oh kids ... it was just beginning ... that's JSBX in the photo on the right ...

Wolf Parade hit the big stage ("big" being relative at a 15,000 person festival) and sounded awesome.  They ripped some new(er) songs and then, midway through, rocked "This Heart's On Fire" followed by "I'll Believe In Anything."  It truly doesn't get much better in rock than that last song.  Biggest bummer was that they left off "Shine A Light," but I really can't complain - it killed.

A very middling, forgettable set by Panda Bear followed.  Again - great, great records - terrible live show.  Oh well ...

But it was all good, as LCD Soundsystem proceeded to play the best set I've seen this year.  It was simply fantastic/transcendent/forward-thinking/dance-ready/awesome.  What is there not to like about this band and what they are doing now or, for that matter, have been doing for the last 7 years or so?  It was both the highlight of the festival and of 2010 musically for me:

Us vs Them / Drunk Girls / Pow Pow / Daft Punk Is Playing At My House / All My Friends / I Can Change / Tribulations / Movement / Yeah / Someone Great / Losing My Edge / NY I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down

We grabbed come down drinks at G-Cue Pool Hall afterward (random, I know) and then turned in, being the old people that we are.

Sunday - 8/18/2010

This was definitely the most festival-centric day of the weekend, as there were bands I wanted to see starting quite early. And though I didn't mention it yet, it was hot - as in very hot, all weekend long.

We started at the tiny, shaded stage for the last few songs from Best Coast, who were endearing enough, and followed that by kind of watching the set from Girls. Pretty meh.

But pretty epic was the set from Beach House. They sounded amazing - maybe even better than at Coachella a few months before. The crowd was pretty rapt, too, which helped. Fantastic, languid set.

We sort of caught a big of Local Natives and Surfer Blood on the tiny stage, but it was such a human traffic jam that my ever worsening claustrophobia couldn't handle it. (I can only imagine what a hellhole it must've been back there at that tiny stage for Sleigh Bells later in the evening.)

We rounded out the evening by kind of halfway watching Major Lazer (crazy) and Big Boi (all bass and yelling - and every song is soooooo good - why must this have sucked live?).

What should have been the coup de grace for me rounded out the festival that night as Pavement took the stage, but they didn't come out until after about 10 minutes of a horrible, probably-meant-to-be-comedic intro from some former Chicago DJ. It was bad, talking about how Pitchfork was the minor leagues while Lollapalooza was the major leagues. People were booing vociferously.

After he finally left, Pavement took the stage rather nonchalantly and ran through their set, which was much shaggier and looser than when I had seen them at Coachella. It was good and, again, offered some cool surprises ("Fin" and "Debris Slide"?!?!?) but just seemed slapdash compared to the total badassery of LCD the night before. But it was a sweet sendoff nonetheless:

Cut Your Hair / In the Mouth a Desert / Silence Kit / Kennel D / Shady Lane / Frontwards / Unfair / Grounded / Debris Slide / Spit on a Stranger / Range Life / Perfume-V / Trigger Cut / Fin / Stereo / 2 States / Gold Soundz / Conduit for Sale / Stop Breathing / Here / The Hexx

Phosphorescent, Exit/In, Nashville, TN - 7/15/2010

The night before I was set to leave for the Pitchfork Music Festival, I had the good fortune of getting to see Phosphorescent (for the first time) at the quite small and certainly legendary Exit/In.  This was also my last week of "freedom" before starting a real job.  My pal April and I headed up a little after 9, expecting to catch a bit of the second opener and then to see the headliner.  Well, no one had played at all when we got there, so it ended up being a late night.

Up first was Nashville's own Caitlin Rose, who sounded quite great on some harmony-laden tunes.  Her band was cracking.  Second was a solo acoustic set from a guy touring with Phosphorescent.  It was fine, but the natives were getting restless.

So Phosophorescent took the stage just before midnight and proceeded to play the first 5 songs in order off their 2010 album Here's To Taking It Easy.  Wow, did they sound good.  It was pretty momentous for me, really, to see a band that locked in with one another playing tunes that they (and I) wholeheartedly believe in.  They played a few tunes off To Willie in the middle and closed the set out with I Wish I Was In Heaven Sittin' Down.  It just killed.

I'll be honest, though - it was so late, and his older songs aren't just quite as good, so that the encore was a bit of a letdown compared to the main set.  Plus a typical Nashville "fan" who is there to talk loudly and just make the scene, I guess, was ruining it for everyone around them.  But one of the better shows of 2010 for me ...