Fleet Foxes, Wexner Museum, Columbus, OH - 10/8/2008

A college buddy of mine got into town a couple hours before this show, and we had a few beers to get warmed up for the event. As our group walked into the Wexner, we found out that rather than a trip to the Black Box stage, the band was performing on the stage of the Mershon Auditorium. The last show I saw with that set up, Vampire Weekend, was a kind of hushed affair, so I was skeptical.

We walked into the forlorn, dead-on primitive folk/blues stylings of Frank Fairfield, which was pretty great stuff, I must say. For fans of old blues or Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music (a collection I highly recommend), it was kind of mind-blowing how well this dude channeled that creepy vibe.

Then the Fleet Foxes came out and did their thing, and they did it very, very well. I don't have a ton to say about this show aside from the fact that it was great ... a towering, mighty performance. They played most of their catalog and sounded devastatingly perfect. A couple of songs, most notably a cover in the middle, were done solo by their lead vocalist, and he was a force just on his own. They encored first with him again playing solo, this time their haunting "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song," which possibly sounded even better with him doing it on his own. If I may be forgiven a moment of hyperbole for the umpteenth time in my life, it made me think of what seeing the Band in their heyday must have felt like. (That's a high compliment coming from me.)

A buddy of mine has said that he wanted to follow Grizzly Bear around on the road after seeing them live recently, and I had that same feeling seeing Fleet Foxes. They're the real deal.

Setlist (courtesy of the Via Chicago forum):
1. Sun Giant
2. Sun It Rises
3. Drops in the River
4. English Houses
5. White Winter Hmnal
6. Ragged Wood
7. Your Protector
8. Crayon Angels (Judee Sill) >> Oliver James [Robin solo]
9. Quiet Houses
10. He Doesn't Know Why
11. Mykonos

-Encore
12. Tiger Mountain Peasant Song [Robin solo]
13. Blue Ridge Mountains

My Morning Jacket, The LC Pavilion, Columbus, OH 10/6/2008

Got back into town from Nashville and quickly turned around and headed up to this show. I'm a pretty big fan of these guys and would even rank their album It Still Moves in my Top 5 all-timers. The typical baggage comes along with that kind of long-formed devotion ... things have changed, they're more popular, they don't play the "good" songs anymore ... it's kind of like a relationship going slightly sour ...

I was reminded recently of telling a friend that seeing them live would "make you a believer," and I still stand by that statement. By now, I've seen them >10 times and pretty consistently for 5 years (first MMJ show for me was the Orange Peel, Asheville, NC in early 2004), and those have included some of their career-defining performances (Bonnaroo is 2004 and 2006, end of the Z tour at the Orange Peel in 2007); expectations are thus a bit high for me.

We got there early and settled down on the lawn at the LC with a great sightline. It was cold and clear and kind of perfect. My 32-ounce Fatweiser tasted quite yummy. So the show ...

One truly needs to divide reviewing today's MMJ as pre-Evil Urgesand post-Evil Urges, the steaming pile of dung that they released this year. It's a brutal, heart-breaking record to listen to, and I don't mean that in a good way. It's the sound of everything good going off the rails in a big way. I'm not a change hater, either ... from Dylan to Miles to the Velvets to Wilco and Spoon and Pavement and other modern rockers, change can be done perfectly well. This is a case of change going very, very wrong.

For the pre-EU material, a band this good is not going to have much trouble conjuring magic and intensity. It's amazing how intense and vibrant they can still make "The Way That He Sings" sound, even if they've played it literally hundreds of times. Even the by now expected closer, "One Big Holiday", sends shivers and inspires some degree of rapture, despite it's predicted nature. Highlights were, for me, "Lay Low" (which is always a live highlight), "Evelyn" and all the It Still Moves material, even a slightly tired reading of "Golden."

And now where the rubber hits the road ... Evil Urges ... as I expected, these songs did indeed sound much better live. A couple are even quite legitimate, like the "Touch Me" two-fer or "Sec Walkin'." But this is just subpar material, no matter how you slice it. I've gotten to a point where most of the bands I like are continuing to put out such strong material that I'm just as happy to hear the new stuff as the old, even with acts as venerable as Radiohead or Wilco ("Hate It Here" notwithstanding). Sadly, though, no one is ever going to redeem "Highly Suspicious" or the middling lyrics of "I'm Amazed" (though the music is great on that cut).

But add it all up, and the show was greater than most any band you're going to find these days. These guys are in control and can bring out the hammer of the gods as they see fit. Jim James is a singularly great frontman. Maybe I just miss the days of old and should stick to my geezer rock tastes.

Nicely, I have a great upcoming comparison in getting to see Fleet Foxes tomorrow night. I am looking forward to comparing/contrasting the new kids on the block with the old ...

Onstage: 8:30
Off: 10:45

Evil Urges
Touch Me Pt. 1
Off the Record
What A Wonderful Man
I'm Amazed
The Way That He Sings
Thank You Too
Sec Walkin
Evelyn Is Not Real
Mahgeetah
Lay Low
Gideon
Golden
Librarian
Dondante
Smokin From Shootin
Touch Me Pt. 2

ENCORE:
It Beats 4 U
Wordless Chorus
Highly Suspicious
Phone Went West
Anytime
One Big Holiday

The Cardinals, Palace Theater, Columbus, OH 9/29/08

I can't say that I had the highest of expectations on going into this show, as I think that Ryan Adams has been, to put it mildly, wildly erratic in terms of quality output. Whiskeytown was great, to be sure, and then he gave us one of the greatest albums I've ever heard, Heartbreaker. Then he's given us one album after another of some great cuts padded with a lot of not-so-great ones. The last thing I really loved from him was Cold Roses, and that came out in friggin' 2004.

More to the point, though, he just doesn't bring that much to the table as a performer these days. He's talented beyond belief and has a voice that is nothing short of spectacular, but the renditions of his songs live lack any sense of dynamics. It all comes across as very brutish compared to the delicacy of the records.

This show was a case in point. We started the night with a nice meal and decent beer at the Elevator and then walked over the the venue, which is a gorgeous, old school theater. Columbus seems to have more gorgeous, old school theaters than it knows what to do with.

Compared to the last time I saw him (at the Ryman in Nashville, 2006), he was very engaged and chatty, even having fun. And the show started with some excitement, especially getting a lot of gems in the first 5 songs. But the playing was just a bit ... by the numbers. Not once was an acoustic guitar touched during this show. The first set really hit a high mark with "Goodnight Rose," not a favorite of mine usually, but they really channeled a Dead-style energy and made it hum. "Let It Ride" is a never miss as far as great tunes, but it too felt kind of tired.

The second set had an emotional high point or two ("Dear Chicago," which he played even though he vowed he wouldn't play it in a million years after people kept yelling for it, and "The Rescue Blues"), but there were moments that I swear could have been from a Counting Crows show. All in all, it just saddens me because he's got the talent and Lord knows he's got the songs, but the performance itself just lacks a bit.

(In case you haven't noted this yet, his new album is titled - and I couldn't make this up - Cardinalogy. Ouch.)

Coming next (after a quick trip to Nashville) is My Morning Jacket in a week. Fingers crossed ...

Setlist and photos courtesy of the Ryan Adams archive.

On: 8:45 pm EST

1. Cobwebs
2. Stars Go Blue
3. Wonderwall
4. Two
5. La Cienga Just Smiled
6. Fix It
7. Sun Also Sets
8. Magick
9. Remote Control (Improv)
10. Come Pick Me Up
11. Goodnight Rose
12. Evergreen>
13. Bartering Lines
14. Desire
15. Natural Ghost
16. Let it Ride

Break: 10:10 pm EST

Onstage: 10:30 EST

17. Sinking Ships>
18. Crossed Out Name
19. Afraid Not Scared
20. Please Do Not Let Me Go
21. Everybody Knows
22. OMG Whatever, ETC
23. Rescue Blues
24. Note to Self, Don't Die
25. Dear Chicago

OVER CURFEW

26. Off Broadway

Off: 11:15 pm EST

All Tomorrow's Parties New York 2008

So I rarely post on here but am thinking that this is a better venue for my music reviews/vacation tales/etc. than just old e-mails. Plus I can toss in more links, have these things remain a bit more "permanent," etc.

So I just got back this week from the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in the Catskills, New York. There have been some great, all inclusive reviews already published, like from:

NPR - All Things Considered
Pitchfork Media
The New York Times

Here's my 2 cents on it ...

Thursday 9/18/08

I fly out from Columbus to Providence, RI, where I rent a car and head up to Newton, MA to meet up with my sis and her family. I got there by 1:30 or so in the afternoon and scared my brother-in-law slightly. We headed up to my sister's lab to all meet up (my brother-in-law's mom was in town, too) and ended up ordering pizza back at the house. I was having a blast playing with my nieces, of course. My sis and I ended up getting out of the house for some beers, and it was great to catch up, though she gave me the damn third degree on career plans and what not. A nice, easy night.

Friday 9/19/08

Lily, my 3-year old niece, comes in and wakes me up in the morning. (I should explain that when I sleep at my sister's, I usually sleep on an air mattress on the floor of their half bathroom downstairs, as they don't have a guest room and my brother-in-law is up late in the den usually. Lily, who just turned 3, thinks that I always sleep in bathrooms all the time. Mildly hilarious.) I make my first driving foray into Boston proper to pick up my med school buddy Matt (pathologist in Boston) and his lovely wife Nicole (ditto) right by MGH. I did OK, methinks.

We hit the road, stopping on the way to get 3 cases of beer and some snacks, and around 2 PM arrive at Kutshers Country Club in Monticello, NY. An article I read described this resort as "elegantly shabby." It's hard to quite convey just how right on that description is. As Pitchfork reported:

A resort that was once a jeweled notch on the buckle of the Borscht Belt, Kutsher's is stuck in a time warp somewhere around when Dirty Dancing was supposed to take place. It's got a real golf course and a mini-golf course, an ice rink, indoor and outdoor pools, tennis courts, a playground, a lake with rowboats, a synagogue, an arcade, a cinema, and a cosmetics counter where a lady sat from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every day, ready to do your makeup. The kitchen is kosher; the ATP food court, serving only the finest in greasy fried carnival fare, was located in the parking lot. As a certain expert on the vacationing patterns of Northeastern American Jews during the 1960s and 70s (a.k.a. my mother) said, "What the hell are you going to Kutsher's for? That place is still around? What a dump!"

Indeed, Kutsher's was a dump. An entire wing was crippled under flood damage, many rooms barely got hot water, and ATP advised guests to bring their own towels and toiletries. A rumor spread that the place was infested with bed bugs. (Not true, thank goodness.) The ceiling of the main performance space looked like it had been attacked by Cookie Monster. But as the event's publicist pointed out, it isn't easy to find a space that not only features all of the amenities required for a three-day, live-in, indoor rock festival, but is willing to put up with thousands of intoxicated revelers and the mayhem that ensues. The place did have its charms, though. References to The Shining ran rampant, and Patton Oswalt made a joke about David Lynch walking into Kutsher's and saying, "Ahh, perfect!"

As we checked in, we ran smack dab into Thurston Moore within 10 minutes, which gave me a taste of what the weekend had in store. The first day's sets were close to getting started, so we hurriedly cracked some beers so as to get there in time to see Bardo Pond perform their album Lapsed, a record I bought when it came out and have liked for a long time. It's not as seminal to me as their double album manifesto Amanita, but it's a good 'un. They were pretty dang true to the album, and our first introduction to the main venue (the venerable Starland Ballroom) was surreal. Also, we quickly discovered that we could bring our own beers wherever we wanted. And that this festival was composed of about 92% dudes by my estimate, so ladies, if you're looking for socially awkward late 20's/early 30's rock nerds, this is your Studio 54.

Bardo Pond - "Be A Fish" (off Amanita, but it gives you a good idea of what their sound is all about)

So Bardo Pond brought it, I thought ... we recharged with more beer and then settled in for the Meat Puppets playing Meat Puppets II. It was a bit cracked at first, but by the end of the record they were cooking with fire and even did a killer trio of "Up On The Sun" (my favorite song of theirs) into "Tennessee Stud" into "Tomorrow Never Knows." I knew we were in for a good weekend.

Meat Puppets - "Up On The Sun"

I was feeling drunk by now, too, but we regrouped for part of Tortoise's rendering of Millions Now Living Will Never Die. I like seeing Tortoise live, but it was, as usual, a bit boring. And to reiterate ... I was getting drunk. At this point, I ate some (fairly nasty) kebab (which will now forever make me think of Flight of the Conchords) and acutally napped through Thurston Moore's Psychic Hearts. I had to rest up for Built to Spill. Sadly, I missed all the comedians, which was too bad, because some of those dudes are damn funny.

So I really did get up and rally for the coup de gras of the first evening, Built to Spill's complete opus Perfect From Now On. Both Nicole and I tried to rouse Matt with earnestness, but he was out for this one. What can I say? It's one of my favorite records of the 90's, and they absolutely killed it. Not always a great live band, they were clearly digging it. Right when "Untrustable" ended, they launched into (without pause) "Goin' Againt Your Mind," followed by a short break and then a killer encore of "Stab," "Car" (!!!) and finally a long, noisy drone out. I was so stoked that I ended up staying up 'til 3 or so that morning talking and drinking and soaking it in.

Built to Spill - "Randy Described Eternity" (live)

Saturday 9/20/08

I felt pretty good this morning, despite my fears otherwise. I e-mailed some in the morning and then went to a screening of Gimmie Shelter, the classic Stones documentary that I've seen multiple times already. It seemed like a good way to get into the day. The Criterion Collection was there screening films all weekend and giving away some killer prizes. A guy at the Stones film won a Frank Kozik-signed poster related to the movie. Damn!

During the day, I saw Apse (forgettable, but great drummer), Wooden Shijps (pretty killer psych rock) and Harmonia (very cool, oddly relevant krautrock from some old geezers from Germany).

Harmonia - "Arabesque" (live 1974)

Then we saw Edan, a rapper/DJ from Boston, and he killed it. Great rapper, very innovative spinning ... it was a great set. Impressive. And he had crazy reverence for indie rock, including a long rap where he namedropped a great and varied cache of artists.

Edan - "I See Colours"

Next was a band that was a deciding factor for me to come, Polvo, indie rock greats from Chapel Hill who have just recently reunited. I never got to see them back when I first fell for them in high school, so it was great to see them now. And they were huge - monolithic slabs of math rock with a drummer who blew my mind. And they played some "hits," including "Fast Canoe," "Every Holy Shroud," "Bombs That Fall From Your Eyes," and a personal favorite, "City Spirit." Possibly the set of the weekend for me.

Polvo - "City Spirit"
Polvo - "Bombs That Fall From Your Eyes"

Next was Les Savy Fav. (The singer, Tim Harringon, was standing next to me during Polvo, so we snuck a shot of that.) They were predictably awesome and wacked out, but I had to take a breather for about 30 minutes to prepare for Shellac. And Shellac rocked it hard. Very machine-like, with enough "hits" ("Prayer For God," "Copper," "My Black Ass" and a bunch of others) to keep it great. I had to bolt right when they finished, as I am an old man who can't hang with the kids who hung around to see Lightning Bolt.

Shellac - "Copper"

I should mention that this was Nicole's least favorite day, as it was very heavy on hard, math-y rock. I find that interesting.

Sunday 9/21/08

I am still very tired on getting up this morning. Matt, Nicole and I drive into Monticello for proper brunch (it wasn't that proper, but whatever) and to restock the beer fridge. I wasn't planning on seeing any bands until 4:00 or so because I was feeling like such a wimp, but I roused enough to get over and start the day seeing Lilys, a psych rock outfit from Philly. They've been around a while and were fine ... nothing great, but fine.

We then saw EPMD, the most incongruous act of the weekend. They are straight up hip hop legends, and this was the whitest crowd you could possibly imagine. A handful of people really knew their catalog, but it was kind of eerily quiet at times. They seemed to have fun with it, though, and they were pretty great.

EPMD - "You Gots to Chill"

Then it was time for the mega-lineup everyone was really there for ... Mercury Rev, Yo La Tengo, Mogwai, Dinosaur Jr and, finally, My Bloody Valentine's first show in the US in 16 years. This was a long night, and I got quite drunk, and I got quite tired, and I had to take some breaks. But here's my attempt ...

Mercury Rev - ear-splittingly loud, very "soaring" and bombastic, made me think of the Flaming Lips minus the good, succinct songs

Yo La Tengo - a weird set for them, starting with an ambient opener, then an obscure one off Electr-O-Pura called "Flying Lesson" (which I'd never heard them do live, interestingly), a couple of new tunes ("I Feel Like Going Home" and "Watch Out For Me Ronnie") and a crushing ending with "The Story of Yo La Tango," which was fantastic ... and people moshed to them - hard - which never happened the rest of the weekend

Yo La Tengo - "The Story of Yo La Tango"

Mogwai - I stuck around for about 2 songs ... they don't do it for me, though they sounded great ...
(At this point, I woofed down a hot dog and saw about 5 songs from Bob Mould, including a spirited take on "See a Little Light," which was nice ...)

Dinosaur Jr. - I certainly made it back for Dinosaur but was getting stupid by this point. I saw "Little Fury Things" and "Out There" and a couple others, but by the time they started in with "Feel the Pain," I had to go lay down and rest up for MBV ...

My Bloody Valentine - Pitchfork wrapped their set up nicely, though I would have to disagree on the point that they came out of the gate rocking hard (and loud) and continued to do so for the whole set ... it was great and, on some level, revelatory to hear these songs done this way ... I only made it through about 5 minutes of the unreal, 17-minute wall of noise with which they end each set ... it was super loud, like standing behind a jet engine ...

My Bloody Valentine - "I Only Said"

And so I was out like a light, though we stayed up for a while just gushing about how great it was. Hey ... it was pretty great ...

Monday 9/22/08

Traveling ... we hit the road at 7:30 that morning after we saw these poor English dudes getting scolded for taking a golf cart out and wreaking havoc. They looked sheepish and hungover. That was probably the most violent thing that happened all weekend. I really think the staff and security were just perplexed by these mostly older, fairly calm, almost totally white dudes all hanging out qutie politely for 3 days.

We were in Boston by 11:30 AM, said our goodbyes, and then I was off to Providence and finally back in the C-bus by 8 that night.

There's some talk around that they're going to do this thing again next year ... same time, same place. If the line-up is anywhere near as sick as this one, I can't recommend it enough. Just a great time ...