The Avett Brothers, LC Pavilion, Columbus, OH - 5/29/2010

As a last minute sort of thing with some friends in town for a quick return trip to the C-bus, we collectively decided that a nice way to spend a warm Saturday evening would be sitting outside at the LC hearing the Avett Brothers, a band loved by many that I know but whom I've never completely gotten.

We pre-partied/ate yummy things at Betty's and then headed over and caught the opening set from Jessica Lea Mayfield. She is very young and has a very strong voice and some great songs. It was major downer country twang (in a good way), and I dug it.

Then the Avetts came out to a pretty solid crowd. I wish - truly - that their music was more up my alley, but something about it just doesn't jibe with me. The lyrics are a bit trite at times, the playing/singing is good but not all that great, the energy is there but comes off for me as more bluster than focus. Based on the many, many good friends whose opinion I respect having a lot of affection for this band, I feel like the problem is me, but at the end of the day, it seems like a kind of goofy bluegrass/folk thing that just doesn't turn my crank.

It was a fun night out, though, with great friends and great weather. We ended the night at Char Bar with some jukebox salvation there. Good times ...

Neil Young w/ Bert Jansch, Palace Theater, Louisville, KY - 5/26/2010

I'll save folks some suspense and say that this was a bit of a letdown. I love - love - Neil Young, and the last time I saw him, it was pretty spectacular. I had great seats (10th row, dead center) and was very, very excited to see him solo acoustic so up close.

I rolled into Louisville and met up with a guy at Ear X-tacy to sell my extra ticket, which went off without a hitch (thanks, craigslist). Afterward, I parked downtown, grabbed some sushi, and then had a couple beers near the Palace Theater (where I'd been once before to see Wilco with My Morning Jacket opening - a great show) at Bluegrass Brewing Company ... good stuff.

I was in the venue right after the doors opened as I was pretty pumped to see Bert Jansch, a celebrated guitarist and English folk player, probably best known for his classic "Black Waterside."

He came out, sat down with his acoustic guitar, and just played a low key, technically bewildering set. His feel is just superb. (And yes, "Black Waterside" was the third song in the set.) This was a real thrill for me, I'll be honest.

So we waited (I was definitely one of the younger folks at a show for a change, thank you very much), and then Neil came out and launched into a killer 3-opener on acoustic guitar (see below). This was probably worth the price of admission alone, I'll be honest. Hearing him play "Tell Me Why" was beyond words.

He then played 3 new songs, and just as the last time I saw him with a full band, his new songs are just terrible. I'd even say they were somewhat trite. It's such a shame, and it's underscored by how powerful his old songs remain. He then blasted into "Down By the River" with electric guitar (full distortion and everything) but obviously solo. It was weird but worked. "Ohio" was also played the same way, and it killed, especially in light of the recent 40-year anniversary of the Kent State killings.

Things went quite stale after "Ohio" for me ... the new songs were terrible, "After the Gold Rush" was great, "I Believe In You" didn't work that well, and the end with Neil playing full bore electric by himself for "Cortez" and "Cinnamon Girl" just seemed bizarre to me. The encore was another not so great new song, and that was it ... 90 minutes, done.

He's still a great performer (not on the level of Tom Waits in terms of players from his generation, but probably better than most anyone else ... Dylan comes to mind directly as an icon who has simply fallen from grace in terms of performing), but the new songs were just unspeakably bad to me. Ah well ...

Also ... Louisville is such a pretty town with some of the coolest bike racks this side of New York City ...

1. My My, Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue)
2. Tell Me Why
3. Helpless
4. You Never Call (new)
5. Peaceful Valley (new)
6. Love And War (new)
7. Down By The River
8. Hitchhiker (new)
9. Ohio
10. Sign Of Love (new)
11. Leia (new) (piano)
12. After The Gold Rush (organ)
13. I Believe In You (piano)
14. Rumblin' (new)
15. Cortez The Killer
16. Cinnamon Girl
---
17. Walk With Me (new)

Tribute to Alex Chilton for Nashville Flood Relief, Mercy Lounge, Nashville, TN - 2/21/2010

I was heading down to Nashville for other reasons this past weekend and, lo and behold, Mercy Lounge announces a benefit for Nashville flood victims that is at the same time a tribute to the late, great Alex Chilton (one of my all time musical heroes) featuring Jody Stephens (the original drummer of Big Star) as well as multiple other local and Southern musicians whom I'd be pretty stoked to see in general.

My buddy Aaron and I headed up around 10 just as David Vandervelde was finishing up a nice solo take on "Take Care."  This was followed by nice solo versions of "I'm in Love With a Girl" and "Thirteen" by Carl Broemmel from My Morning Jacket (see photo).

Next up was the de facto "house band," featuring Jody Stephens on drums, Chris Stamey of the dB's on guitar and vocals and Mitch Easter on guitar and vocals.  They sounded amazing together, obviously seasoned musicians to a tee.  They also played a great selection of classic Big Star:

"I Am The Cosmos" (Chris on vocals)
"When My Baby's Beside Me" (Chris on vocals)
"Way Out West" (Jody on vocals)
"Kizza Me" (Mitch on vocals)

Then came a local Nashville power pop band called Joe, Marc's Brother, who also sounded insanely tight and did a great job with "Jesus Christ" and "Thank You Friends," followed by the house band (without Jody on drums now) doing "Life is White," "In The Street," "Don't Lie to Me," and "The Letter" (with a couple of the original Box Tops coming up to play, too).  It was very celebratory and just sounded great.  These tunes are so good, though, that one could argue that they are hard to mess up.

The end came with Brendan Benson (of the Raconteurs, etc.) getting up to lead the band through a shambling but charming "O My Soul" and, to close, of course, "September Gurls."  This was a great night of music, and if there's any problem I had, it was that a serious segment of the crowd didn't seem all that familiar with the Big Star catalog.  But this was, at the end of the day, simply fantastic.

My Morning Jacket, LC Pavilion, Columbus, OH - 5/2/2010

It was looking like it would be a wet, heavy storms kind of night, and I'd been excited about this show for months.  Anyone who reads this knows I've been a pretty big fan of MMJ since 2003-2004, but they are a very different band than they were then - not worse per se, just different.  I fell in love with the high lonesome Neil Young folky Southern rock that they put out back in the At Dawn and It Still Moves era, and this is still my favorite stuff of theirs, but I can (and, to some extent, have learned to) appreciate their later output on its own merits.  I'd even say that Evil Urges has, shockingly, aged quite well for me.

The weather held out, thankfully, and it turned into an overcast, cool evening - kind of perfect, really.  We got in just as the Preservation Hall Jazz Band was ending their set.  It sounded fine and like a nice intro (and typically kooky one) to MMJ.

They came out a little after 8 PM with both guns blazing (see toy guns on Jim James' hips above) and, as is typical of them, sounded great.  The shaggy dog awesome-ness that they once projected has been replaced by a bit more professional sheen than I care for, but like I said, I've come to appreciate their current sound on its own.  A couple of new songs/covers were thrown in, but this was very similar to the last time I saw them (at this same venue, in fact).  The encore with the horn section was awesome, and some of these songs will always give me goosebumps ("Golden," "The Way That He Sings," "Lay Low").

And that was a pretty awesome 5-song opening run ... I mean, damn ...

On - 8:15

One Big Holiday
Off The Record
Gideon
I'm Amazed
Mahgeetah
Tonight I Want to Celebrate with You
Golden
Where to Begin
Lay Low
The Way That He Sings
Wonderful (The Way That I Feel)
Carried Away (new song, Carl singing lead)
Don Dante
Smokin' from Shootin'-> end of Run Thru
Touch Me I'm Going to Scream
Anytime

Wordless
Evil Urges w PHJB
Highly Suspicious w PHJB
Carnival Time w PHJB
Dancefloors w PHJB (!!!!)
Move On Up w PHJB

Off - 10:35

Coachella Music Festival, Indio, CA - 4/16-18/2010

Day 1 - 4/16/10

We flew out from Columbus and without any major hitches arrived in Palm Springs, CA, which boasts an amazing, open air airport. It was really cool. We rented a car, stopped by In N' Out Burger (which was crazy busy with a ton of Coachella folks getting their fix), and then drove over to check in to our room at the Hyatt Grand Champions (part of a travel package). Daaaaaaamn ... nice digs. We were pretty pumped.

We shuttled over to the festival around 3:30 or 4:00 and already had our wristbands, which was key, as the line to get a wristband (as in ticket holders just showing up) was insane. (Same thing happened last time I was here, too.)  We breezed past and walked in, the weather a dry high 80's.  We were feeling good.  The biggest issue was going to be how to choose between different acts.  It's always a conundrum at these things, though.

We paid $7 a piece for a Heineken (ugh) and caught a little of Street Sweeper Social Club, Tom Morello's (Rage Against the Machine) side project, playing on the main stage.  Nothing great, but they did a pretty cool, heavy cover of MIA's ubiquitous "Paper Planes."  Also, he is a sick, sick guitar player, which I enjoyed.

We then made it over to the other big stage to see the full set from She & Him.  They were fun, Zoe was cute, it was a good time if a little wispy to make it out over that big field with competition from lots of bass and low end all over the rest of the park.  But they were good, and hearing M. Ward sing "Roll Over Beethoven" was pretty crucial.

We stuck around that stage for about 3 songs from Passion Pit ... I just don't get it. Not my thing.

We headed to our first tent show next and caught the last 4 songs or so from Lucero. Man, this was loud. Good ol' Southern rock, though, and something like the Drive By Truckers and Bruce Springsteen having a lovechild. It was also not too crowded, so we were feeling good about our spot for Grizzly Bear.

Boy, were we wrong. It got very, intensely, uncomfortably crowded quickly. They were a bit rusty, opening with "Southern Point" and playing (while we stuck around) "Cheerleader" and the beginning of "Knife" (plus a couple others) before we had to bolt. It was difficult to even get out of the tent, and being able to breathe again was pretty great.

We made it over to the second stage to catch the full set from Echo & the Bunnymen, a big draw for me and one of my favorite 80's bands. They were great, and his voice sounds exactly the same as 30 years ago, which is amazing. Ian, the singer, just stood there smoking with a black trenchcoat and sunglasses on. It was kind of perfect. Setlist included "Lips Like Sugar," "Bring on the Dancing Horses," "The Killing Moon" (which he introduced as "the greatest song ever written") and a closing "The Cutter" (which he introduced as "the second greatest song ever written"). Strong stuff.

We then kind of ambled over for a far off gaze at the main stage to see LCD Soundsystem, another big draw for me and one of my favorites of the last 5 years. We saw them rip through "Losing My Edge," "All My Friends," some new songs, "Yeah," and a closing "New York I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down." Not the same epic level shows from 2007, but pretty great nonetheless.

We were even farther off the second stage for Vampire Weekend, who sounded great (and very tight). They've grown a lot since I saw them touring the first record, and they were good at what they do. We were fading, though, and decided to skip Jay Z (controversial decision though that was) and get back to the resort for some Z's (pun semi-intended).

Day 2 - 4/17/10

Amazingly, we started Day 2 with a 10-mile run through Palm Springs. It was kind of grueling, I'll be honest. We survived, though ...

We got into the festival around 4:30 and started out with Beach House, who were one of my favorite sets of the festival. They kind of rocked (in a dreamy, Beach House way), and some of the Teen Dream material sounded quite epic. Mid-set, they busted out "Zebra," and it was thrilling. Spine-tinglingly good.

We grabbed a beer and a margarita and kind of watched Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, though this didn't do much for either of us (well, not for me), though I hear great things. We ambled back to the tents for Dirty Projectors, where there was shockingly not a big crowd. They sounded fine, though again seemed a little off (similar to Grizzly Bear the night before). Ezra from Vampire Weekend was standing about 15 feet from us for a good bit of this.

We left that set early and made it over to the second stage for the whole set from Hot Chip. I had last seen them in 2007, and they killed back then. This was a much bigger production and felt a lot less organic than 2007 did (in stark contrast to LCD Soundsystem, who are still keeping it pretty real, as the kids say). They did play "Over and Over," but they pretty much avoided The Warning otherwise, much to my chagrin. I'm not big on their output since then, either.

MGMT were a far off ball of noise for us, and this is another band that I just don't completely get. Again, not my thing. (Yes, LCD and Hot Chip and a lot of electronica is right up my alley while some of it just isn't ...)

Finally, we stuck around for about 6 songs from Muse. They are a true stadium rock band and sounded friggin' huge. The guitarist/singer/main dude is an Eddie Van Halen level shredder and was a great entertainer. The music was very, very one note, though, and something I knew I didn't love but just wanted to see for the sheer spectacle (of which there was plenty).

It was off to bed then ... the 10-miler was catching up with us ...

Day 3 - 4/18/10 (my birthday)

So this was the day - most of the bands I'd come to see were on this day, including Pavement, one of my top 5 all time favorites. This would be my 10th time seeing them and first time since 1999. It was a dream come true to finally see them again.

We started the day with poolside drinks (Bloody Marys and margaritas), and it was hard to get moving thereafter. But we did and made it in for the start of Local Natives. They sounded pretty good and played all the hits (including their cover of "Warning Sign"). The kids were digging it, and so were we.

We next caught most of Deerhunter, which was reliably good, including "Nothing Ever Happened," which always slays. This was followed by beer and then about 3 songs from Sunny Day Real Estate. These opening songs included "Seven," a big hit for me in high school, which was very cool to see. They seemed to be having a ball, too, which is nice to see.

We then made it to the main stage for the trifecta ... Yo La Tengo, Spoon and Pavement, all in a row. Yo La Tengo were their typical, underwhelming selves. For a band that was once so great, they just seem to have kind of lost it. I wanted to be digging it more, but it wasn't happening.

Big Day Coming
???
Stockholm Syndrome
Mr. Tough
You Can Have It All (w/ dance routine)
Sugarcube
Autumn Sweater
???
Pass the Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind

Spoon came out next, and as usual, they absolutely slayed. They are so tight and have such an incredible catalog. They also seemed to be having fun and mentioned that this was the end of their current tour.

Is Love Forever
Don't You Evah
The Way We Get By
Got Nuffin
I Turn My Camera On
Don't Make Me a Target
Who Makes Your Money (w/ Bradford Cox)
Written in Reverse
Small Stakes (!!!)
Rhythm n Soul (w horns)
Stay Don't Go (w horns)
The Underdog (w horns)
Black Like Me

And finally, after 11 years and countless dashed hopes, I finally saw one of my rock and roll heroes (or 5 of them, I guess), Pavement.  They sounded great, probably better than most any time I saw them back in the day, though they routinely transcended their own limitations back then and somehow elevated things to otherworldly places.  Malkmus played almost exclusively without a guitar pick, which was weird, and Bob Nastanovich was unchanged completely.  They didn't even look all that much older.  Some rarities came out, too.  Interestingly, the crowd was kind of thin.  (Phoenix was playing opposite, and that probably helped.  We could hear a little of them, and they sounded great as always.)

Silence Kit
In the Mouth a Desert
Stereo
Frontwards (!)
Father to a Sister of a Thought
Two States
Shady Lane
Gold Soundz
Grounded
Perfume V
Date w Ikea
Fight This Generation (!!)
Range Life
Trigger Cut
Starlings of the Slipstream (!!!)
Summer Babe
Unfair
Cut Yr Hair

We were both pretty spent at this point, and though we tried to muster the energy for Gorillaz (which I'm sure was awesome), we had to head in.

Day 4 - 4/19/10

This is worth mentioning due to more pool time (nice), a second trip to In N' Out (animal style, always), and some more QT at the Palm Springs Airport.  I mean, this was the view from Gate 5 as we waited on our flight:

I don't know if I'll make it back to Coachella (probably not without a VIP pass and some extra time off afterwards for recovery), but this was a good 'un ...

Avenues reunion show, 12th & Porter, Nashville, TN - 4/10/2010

My buddy Aaron and some friends I've made via him used to be a band called Avenues. They self-released a full length and then an EP in the early-to-mid-2000's. I saw them play a reunion show once a few years back, and they decided to do it again at 12th & Porter (where I saw Spoon in 2004!).

Anyway, I was in town to close on a new house as I'm moving back to Nashville full time come late June/early July, 2010, and this was happening the same weekend. Nice! We got to the club a little after 10 (late for me these days), mingled for a while, and then without so much as a soundcheck Avenues were off and running.

I was impressed - compared to that one time I saw them way back when, they sounded much more confident, much tighter. The songs sounded great and very fleshed out. Most of these guys are playing music on some level still (and Dan, the guitarist, has a pretty great thing going in Brooklyn with his band, the Royal Chains), so maybe I shouldn't be surprised that they could bring it together so well without even a rehearsal.

Major props ...

[Photo courtesy of Mobley Photo.]

Spoon, First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN - 4/2-3/2010

We decided a few months ago that getting to see Spoon at a club rather than a theater would be pretty awesome (and maybe not possible for much longer), plus we decided this would be a good excuse to check out Minneapolis in a hopefully warmer month. (Also, I had wanted to check out First Avenue ever since realizing its historical impact [Prince, the Replacements, Husker Du, etc.] in my teenage years.)

On getting into town Friday, we just hopped on the light rail from the airport into town. Very easy, very cheap, gave us a quick idea of the city. We got into our hotel without much hassle and grabbed dinner at Bradstreet Crafthouse, where we sat at the chef's table/bar and watched them prepare the food. Great cocktails, super yummy tapas style foods. We gorged, I'll admit it.

We got to the venue for night 1 right at the doors and were able to grab a good spot and see both openers. First up was Micachu and the Shapes, who were terrible. Waste of time. Then there was Deerhunter, whom we'd seen before and enjoyed. I thought they were great again - very tight, huge sound. I feel like if Bradford Cox was a super hot indie rocker, these guys would be huge. Oh well.

Then Spoon came on, and while the club was packed, it wasn't just crazy. And they were great - long set, very tight, very into it, pretty intense. If anything was a bummer, it was that the crowd seemed to have caught on to Spoon around the time of Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, but what can you do?

Setlist:

Before Destruction
Nobody Gets Me But You
The Way We Get By
Small Stakes
Me and the Bean
Ghost of You Lingers
Is Love Forever?
Love Song (DAMNED cover)
The Underdog
Who Makes Your Money
Written in Reverse
The Modern World (WOLF PARADE) (!!!!)
Don't Make Me A Target
Everything Hits at Once (!!!!)
The Beast and Dragon Adored
I Summon You
Got Nuffin'
You've Got Yr Cherry Bomb
Black Like Me
--------
Metal School
I Turn My Camera On
The Two Sides of Mssr. Valentine
-------
Don't You Evah
Someone Something
Rhythm and Soul

We stumbled back to our room and collapsed from exhaustion, as that was a marathon show.  Great stuff.

We started Saturday out at Hell's Kitchen, whose breakfast totally lived up to the hype.  Strikingly good stuff.  The Twins were playing an exhibition game thereafter at the new Target Field against the Cardinals, so we looked for tickets, but nothing was cheaper than $100 or so a pop, so we skipped the game and walked down by the river.  A gorgeous day in the Twin Cities.

Dinner was at the Oceanaire, a fantastically old school seafood place.  Wow, was this good.  Crabcakes, oysters, huge cuts of fish, creamed corn and hashbrown sides, and then Key lime pie to end it all.  All fabulous.  My only complaint is how stuffed I was afterward.  Great, though.

We got to the club for night 2 around 8-ish, as the doors were at 6 with it being an all ages show.  We got down on the floor just as Deerhunter were finishing.  I'd say it felt more crowded and, well, rude-ish than the first night, but I was also super full and still kind of tired from night 1.

Spoon came out and seemed a bit more jovial, not as intense as night 1.  But they were great again and mixed up the setlist nicely.  (In full disclosure, we left during "Finer Feelings" due to it being so packed, us being so full, etc.)

Setlist:

I Saw the light
I turn my Camera on
Jonathon Fisk (!!!!)
Nobody gets me but you
Way we get by
Ghost of you lingers
Stay don't go
Dont make me a Target
Love Song (DAMNED cover)
Who makes yr Money
Back to the life
Mathematical mind
Someone something
Vittorio e
They Never got you
I Summon you
Finer Feelings (!!!!)

(per the internet, the rest of the tunes:)

Written in reverse
Utilitarian
Cherry bomb
Don't you Evah
Trouble comes running
Underdog

So we missed seeing "Trouble Comes Running," but I'll live.  A great couple of shows, truly.  Their bassist (since 2007, I think?) was so on, and Jim Eno has been a tight drummer since the beginning.  Just a solid band.

We ended the trip with a 9-mile run around the Lake of the Isles, which was stunning.  The flight back Sunday was painfully long due to a delay at Midway, but a great, fast trip to a very cool city.