Opeth/High On Fire/Baroness @ The Marquee 10/9/2008

Let me start by saying this was a top notch lineup. Opeth is certainly a big name, but though the others may be a bit less-known, I knew enough about all the bands coming in to expect great things. I was not disappointed.

Baroness was only disappointing in two aspects, neither that I can fault them for. The first was the set length. It was quite short. This is usually to be expected with an opener, but with only 3 bands on the lineup you can always hope even the opener will get a good share of stage time. That was not the case here, however, they made the most of the time they did have without a doubt. The band is interesting because, stylistically, it is sort of a combination of the two other bands on the tour. Very sludgy and even doomy, but at the same time extremely progressive at points and very smart music. Despite performing music I felt would appeal to audiences of either larger band on this tour, the band failed to ever really get the crowd into it, the other disappointment. As they played music primarily if not solely from the Red Album, I was familiar with it all beforehand and it came off great live. Better than on CD. I can't wait to see this band again.

High on Fire was great the last time I saw them, at The Brickhouse. I felt they were not quite as good here, and I think it was really the size difference in venues. Matt Pike is a really charismatic guy I think, but he works best with smaller audiences, and there he has this unique way of connecting with his crowd that adds even more to the already astonishing heaviness of the music. Nonetheless, the band put on a solid show, and played 100% awesome songs, though with a tendency to play primarily off of Death is this Communion. I love this band live though.

Opeth was, sadly, the biggest name on this ticket by far, but also the band whose discography I was least familiar with. To that end, I expected a mediocre show, because much as I hate to say it, shows are more fun when you know the music. But where on CD I've always felt Opeth was a little same-y and uninspired, live I felt myself eating all my preconceptions. They were amazing. The stage banter was funny in the way only nerdy humor can be (but I mean that affectionately, being a nerd myself), even hitting up a little bit of healthy self-parody (no genre is as in need of this as metal), the musicianship was amazing, they're not virtuosos, but they definitely know what they're doing, and the songs blew me away. I am now inspired to look into their catalog again and try to connect with it the way I did live. Mike is really the root of that connection. He's extremely charismatic, and just from his stage demeanor you can tell how friendly he is. You may be in a crowd of hundreds of other people, but when he talks, it feels like he's being especially friendly to you, and it's great. A healthy mix of songs from throughout their discography, closing with perhaps my new favorite Opeth song, Drapery Falls. Now I wonder why I took so long to see these legends.

Walter Meego @ Modified Tonight

Chicago dancey outfit Walter Meego are playing Modified Arts tonight, along with Ra Ra Riot and The Morning Benders.

Edgefest @ Schnepf Farms 9/27/2008

I have a love/hate relationship with festivals. They're long, you inevitably miss some of the set of bands you want to see due to scheduling overlaps and walking between stages, but on the other hand you see a bunch of good bands all in one day at one moderate ticket price, you have that unique festival atmosphere, and you spend an entire day with music.

Some of the things I loved this time around included mud wrestling, band performances, and the lineup. Things I disliked included dehydration and the heat and drunks looking for fights. As to the performances...

Flobots were one of the best early performances of the day in my opinion. The sound was a little poorly mixed, and the guitarist had several gear issues which were distracting, but they themselves were able to work the crowd in the way only great openers do. The music was of course great, and they have taken some liberty when playing their songs live now which is nice to see.

Alkaline Trio was pretty disappointing this time around. I don't think they translate well to a festival atmosphere, they work best in smaller venues. Here, the songs felt less energetic and inspired, and though I love the songs, the performance did not come off as well as it has on previous tours.

Thrice was so much better than I expected, not because I expected a bad performance, far from, but I expected a performance much like the last couple I have seen in the last year, as they've released no material since then. Instead, I got a Beatles cover and The Red Death, a song from Illusion of Safety I'd neve heard live and which they said they hadn't touched in years. Quite a treat. Dustin's hesitancy to scream as much live as he used to is disappointing though. Put in a good mix of stuff spanning their discography.

Pennywise sounded like white noise almost. I blame the soundman, not them, but listening to their performance almost gave me a headache because it was so compressed. Not even on their CDs is the compression so atrocious. Still they put forth a lot of energy and when they managed to stop being a wall of noise they sounded good.

NOFX seemed either drunk, or just very goofy people. It's hard to tell because they come off the same on live CDs as they did here, though at least on CDs they fool around a little bit less. They stopped a few songs in the middle and decided to play something else instead. Played several <1 minute songs too, to fill space while thinking of a full song to play, it seemed. Still, the banter was good and quite entertaining because, as I said, they seemed not-sober. Banter is usually unessential but since that was at least 1/3 of their time on stage, it was important it was good.

Gogol Bordello was probably the best performance I saw. What more can you want from a band than cheerleaders, drumming on buckets, and an accordion? High energy, fun music, and entertaining stage antics defined te performance, and perhaps the most credit I can give them is they had people dancing out past the soundbooth. Most second stage bands couldn't even get an audience that far out.

Rise Against was alright. Solid performances of the songs, and the crowd knew most of the words to most of the songs, even out in the back. But nothing really made the performance stand out from the music on CD. The music happens to be great so it supports them well live, but they add nothing to it. They made a good call in setlist changeups though when they were forced to leave the stage due to lightning, and then only had half their set remaining once they returned. The songs they chose helped them regain momentum and hold it through the set.

Flogging Molly is really fun live. The front man is really awesome. Completely not what you'd expect to see in a Punk band, and yet totally fitting at the same time. Very high energy performance and though they take few liberties in their live versions of songs (a few added solos were sprikled in), they performance is so good you want to see this band live, not just listen to them on CD.

Atmosphere is always disappointing when I first listen to him, but by the time I stop I remain impressed. The same holds true live. For someone so well-regarded in more indie Hip-Hop circles, I always feel like his rapping is uninspired and generally lacking. At first. Then halfway into a CD/performace I just fall into it and then it becomes something else for me and it's very good.

Overall, the awesome lineup generally delivered, though a few performances lacked the extra luster I usually like to see in live music. Hopefully The Edge can put together such worthy lineups in the future. This year seemed focused on politically active bands, I wonder if there will be a theme for next year's.

Latest obsession: Miniature Tigers

Vote Wilco-Fleet Foxes '08

If you're willing to pledge to vote in the 2008 election, Wilco will give you a free MP3 of a live recording they did with Fleet Foxes in Bend, Oregon this past August. "But what recording could this be?!" I'm sure you're wondering. It's a cover of Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released."

Enjoy the liveliness of the live recording, because Wilco are most definitely not coming here on their current tour. To close your eyes and pretend like you're at a Wilco concert, go pledge to vote here. Happy listening and happy voting.

Beck & MGMT @ Dodge Theatre

I suppose I'd never really considered what a musical icon Beck truly is until tonight. I knew every lyric to every song, without knowing that I knew. He has mysteriously permeated the collective skull of a couple generations with scary subtlety, only leaving those who realize this to one if he's using his powers for good or evil. Regardless, he's arguably one of the most dually appreciated and unappreciated voices of our time. Has anyone else heard rumors of this being his final tour? I can't speak to the truth of them, but that possibility has come up more than once.

He opened with Loser, followed by Girl and went on to play every song he ever wrote. Or at least, that's what it felt like. In a good way. Devil's Haircut, Lost Cause, Where It's At and Think I'm In Love to name a few. One lucky duck was chosen to play guest tambourine on Black Tambourine. The winner had early 90s Anthony Kiedis hair and sorta bogarted the mic, but wouldn't you, given the chance to play live onstage with Beck? Yah, probably, in reference to the mic hogging that is, not the hair having. Of course selections from Modern Guilt were in the mix: Gamma Ray, Chemtrails, my favorite Orphans plus the title track, Youthless and Soul of a Man. I was nothing short of ecstatic that he played selections from Sea Change: Sunday Sun, Golden Age and Lost Cause. Pictures can't do it justice, but suffice to say that everyone danced, sang and left as happier, better people.

The Ataris@Tempe Marketplace 9/18/2008

For a band that hasn't released any good new material since I was in high school, The Ataris still pull off a fun live show. Early in the show, I found myself wondering if the band hadn't been out of practice for some songs, because although the songs sounded alright, in a genre like Pop Punk it's completely reasonable to expect the band to be perfectly, tight...the material is not hard.

It's not that every song was off or anything of that great of magnitude, but a few of the intros were a little disjoint (once the band synched they executed pretty flawlessly), but those little details were enough to introduce doubt in my mind early on as to how good the band was going to perform.

For a good portion of the show I was further towards the back as I'd arrived just as they were starting, and I suppose I've never been one at the back of the venue before, and so I've been a little blind to how little people in the back care about who's playing. No one's singing along, dancing, and most of them are talking to their friends, not listening to the music. I enjoyed the show much more when I moved closer to the stage.

The set list was everything it could ever want to be, all fan favorites/popular songs, and nothing obscure, which was perfect crowd targeting by the band...people were there for free, not everyone was a devoted fan. It's a little depressing that their most popular song is a Don Henley cover, and not even one of their originals, but when they played it people sure did get excited for the band. The most excited the crowd ever got until the last song in fact.

The encore for the band was quite interesting and a little unexpected from a Pop Punk band. The first two songs they played were a Misfits cover (song name eludes me currently) and Rise Above (Black Flag cover). While I am aware that many Pop Punk bands took influences from Hardcore Punk bands, the last thing I expect to see at The Ataris' show is Hardcore covers. Kris is also no Henry Rollins, so needless to say the songs weren't their best performances, but they were certainly interesting to see.

Last song of the show was San Dimas High School Football Rules, and for this, the band did several interesting things. Firstly, Kris gave up his guitar in order to sing right with the crowd at the barrier. Then he asked if anyone in the audience knew how to play the song. Then the next thing you know a kid named Logan is on stage with The Ataris playing their song (like I said, the songs are not hard, but this is still quite cool). Then the crowd goes nuts once the song starts and there's crowd surfing, moshing, jumping, the works. Quite a blowout finish to the set and the evening.

Judas Priest/Heaven and Hell/Motorhead/Testament @ Cricket Wireless Pavilion 8/28/2008

The Metal Masters tour. An audacious name for a concert tour. Matched by a star-studded lineup of some of the biggest names in metal from the 70's and 80's. But would the bands be up to the par indicated by that audacious tour name? I wondered that even as I stepped into the venue. But as I found my way to my seat, I found myself thrilled that I would be evaluating the validity of the tour's name in a prime seat, that would have cost over $130 if I had paid for it (a factor I felt important in determining the strength of the experience).

Testament was first in the lineup, and were quick to remind the audience of their dominant role in the late 80's thrash scene with a few older hits which left no doubt as to why they were standouts back then. Interspersed with older hits were a few tracks from the new album, but only a couple, which is no surprise given the band only played for half an hour. Unfortunately, despite the energy put in by the band, the performance never really clicked with the audience. Doubtless, this is in part due to the lack of an audience presence when they came on (probably less than 1/3 full), and due to the fabulous Arizona heat beating down so intently on those of us there that it was impossible to do more than sit and enjoy the music. So with these factors in mind, Testament did not perform as I was hoping such a Thrash legend would, but given their role as an opener, they were more or less successful in getting the crowd excited for what was to come.

Motorhead was next up, and I was a bit anxious about this performance, as the last time I had seen them was about eight years ago, and I had fond memories of it, but I had read that on this tour they were more or less an incoherent wall of noise. Perhaps my saving grace was the earplugs I was wearing, the band was certainly mind-bogglingly loud, but I quite enjoyed the performance, and the performance was not bogged down in a wall of incoherency. The fact of the matter is that Lemmy is god, and so I was relieved to see that such a god is able to maintain his performance standards over the decades. One of the highlights of this performance was the out-of-nowhere drum solo that came in the middle of a song and was surprisingly quite decent, and then the solo flowed well back into the close of the song, it was well-practiced and very entertaining. The band was also very good at extending and enhancing their songs live, adding dimensions not present on their albums. Additionally, a few rows in front of me were the cutest father/son grouping. Both going wild and singing along to every song. It's good some parents raise their children on good music.

Heaven and Hell I knew would be somewhat of a disappointment going in. As awesome as Dio is, there are just some Black Sabbath songs you really want to see when you see Black Sabbath, whether or not Ozzy is singing. No War Pigs was in fact the biggest disappointment, though I knew it coming in. That being said, I also confess an embarassing unfamiliarity with the Dio-era Sabbath material. I would say I only recognized about half of the song played during their set. But the set itself was great, whether or not I knew the songs. However, for all the elaborate stage setup, little was used in the performance (a combustible metal flame and gas-breathing gargoyles were among the stage props tested prior to the performance which never made an appearance in the show). All the same, the general environment set up on the stage defined a remakably evil setting which may not have enhanced the music, but it did look pretty awesome. These guys were also great with the live performance of their songs, as those songs I did know came off much better live, and I left inspired to dig into Dio-era Sabbath.

Judas Priest I had the highest expectations for. Not only were they the headliners, but they're big enough that even non-metalheads know of them (the same can be true of Sabbath, but Sabbath wasn't really on tour). Despite the high expectations I was pretty blown away. From the constantly changing backdrops (reflecting the album of origin for the song being played), to the extended live versions with a few extra guitar solos, to the motorcycle on stage, it was really all anyone could want in a Judas Priest concert. The set list was also great. A few tracks from their latest album, but I like for the most part I was listening to a "best of" Judas Priest compilation. As this was my first time seeing them live, I was more than content with such a playlist, in fact I was more or less thrilled to hear most of my favorite songs in one set. I think their decision to end the normal set with Painkiller was a bad one though, it would have been a better encore piece.

But at the end of the day, was this really a showcase of metal masters? Well, all the bands on this tour have certainly paid their dues, and the performances ranged from solid to outstanding, so rest assured their mastery was prevalent and clear, but was it a $130 worth mastery? Well, that depends on the size of your pocketbook.

Pitchfork Fest Diary 2008

This past July 19th-21st weekend, COTMA correspondent Owen Marshall was in Chicago to
witness the 2008 installation of the Pitchfork Music Festival at Union Park. Here is his non-comprehensive and ill-informed account.

Saturday, July 19, 2008:

It was a short but noisy stroll from the Travelodge to the L stop. Someone was apparently grinding down some old rusty metal in the scaffolding above. We haven't even got on the train yet and I'm already reconsidering my decision to not bring earplugs. With two recent Dark Knight viewings under my belt, I was geeking out at the real-life rusty track girders and the old brick buildings set against those shiny black skyscrapers. I hid my nerdy southwestern provincial urge to gawk at buildings more than 80 years old. The plan was to arrive in time to hear the Fleet Foxes' vocal harmonies collide with the beginning of Dizzee Rascal's set. So far so good.

I was just starting to wonder whether we were heading in the right direction when, two stops down the way, the doors opened and let in a SEA of indie kids. It was a sight to behold. In mere moments the average train demographic became about 5 years younger, 75% whiter, and 200% beardeder. The expressions of the non festival-goers on the train confirmed my hunch that this was an unusual occurrence.

Am I the only one who is surprised at how muscular Dizzee Rascal is? My impression of the world's most famous Grime representative's physiology has always been more Flava Flav than 50 Cent but I stand corrected. His set was impressive, summoning "Oi!"s from the crowd and more than doing justice to hits like "Fix Up Look Sharp" and "Jezebel".

New Zealand duo the Ruby Suns took to the Balance stage in the tree shaded far corner of the park. Their orchestration consisted mostly of bass, electronics, and spirited drumming from frontman Ryan McPhun. Their tropical and spacy sound set a tone that would continue to resonate through the fest in likeminded acts such as High Places.


I really wanted to like Elf Power. Their Elephant Six credentials and long history should have produced something more than what they brought to the lineup: competent but unremarkable rock music. Sorry guys, I like your name though.


After grabbing some expensive and watery veggie curry and some expensive but tasty Goose Island beer. We made our way back to the Balance stage (already becoming a favorite area of the park) to see some Kenyan tropical funk...

Extra Golden was one of a couple World Musicky offerings at the fest. They brought African style jams with their large and lively band.


Animal Collective ended the day with a short but hypnotic set. New songs and drastic reworkings of older material mingled well with the familiar samples and melodies of "Fireworks" and even a brief foray into Panda Bear's "Comfy in Nautica". Their custom light and speaker setup pulsed pleasingly and when it abruptly ended at just short of 10PM people were still itching for more. Third time seeing AC live and seeing Geologist's headlamp flail around still brings a smile to my face.

After AC left the stage it was like a nightmarish reenactment of the day's earlier train event with thousands of people crowding the train platform. We took a cab.



Sunday, July 20, 2008:

Brooklyn experimentalists Dirty Projectors started the second day off with a perfect performance of their meticulously composed Black Flag tributes (as well as some older originals). Despite their vocals going out midset and their unenviable sun-facing stage position, the three part harmonies and elegant guitar arrangements impressed the heat-stroked crowd. This guy next to me was scribbling in his notebook about how the drummer wasn't very good but I adamantly disagree! The persistent drumbeat throughout "Rise Above" was the best I heard all festival.


Across the way from the Dirty Projectors, the Awesome heaviness of Boris was unfolding. Guitarist Wata's orange amp stack and the drummer's flourescent kit belied the dark awesomeness of their riffs and howls. The drummer's head-mounted microphone was also a nice touch.


After a couple hot and sunny hours at the two main stages, we decided to sit under tree by the balance stage take in the sweet sounds of High Places and HEALTH. The former brought some sample based jungle pop with plain but pretty female vocals. The latter brought scary LA noise with brutal tribal drumming. Having seen HEALTH in the confined industrial storefront of Phoenix's Trunkspace, it was refreshing to hear their din spilling out into a sun-dappled picnic atmosphere. It was nice to see that there are hundreds of people who are willing to listen to screeching feedback while sitting on blankets in a park.

The fest had a series of tents where concert poster designers were displaying their work. Next to that was a shuffleboard sponsored by Saucony shoes. I have to say, as someone who wears Sauconys, it was freaking weird to see EVERYONE wearing them. Is Chicago the Saucony capital of the world or something? On more than one occasion I was standing in line and noticed that two people around me were wearing Jazz originals. Yet another instance of the message I was receiving during the whole fest: "you are not as unique as you thought you were". That was, until I saw this t-shirt:


Which brings us to the musical highlight of the fest. The Dodos totally killed it with their tight set of kinetic folk rock. The inclusion of a third member on the xylophone did alot to expand the original palette of guitar, drums and vocals. Guitarist Meric Long's chair actually broke mid-song and he fell on his back... still playing. The drummer was crazy as usual courageously facing the sun sunglassesless with a fuzzy mustache on his face and a tambourine taped to his foot. The looped trombone interlude that preceded "Fools" was especially interesting and demonstrative of the bands talent for instrumentation. After their set, the crowd was filled with much warranted buzz over what may be remembered as the bands breakout performance.


That's all. Check back for next year's installation: maybe I'll even get press credentials next time.

Radiohead is a U2 ripoff

So I happened to read this article today on Yahoo, and apparently Radiohead is a U2 ripoff. Go figure.

http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/getback/338/u2-and-the-bands-who-pretend-to-be-them