The beast of hype is a nasty one. It takes wholesome innocents like Sharon Van Etten and aligns them with a world of unfair, ill-informed assumptions, too-cool-for-school bio photos, and overwrought press releases. Prepared or not, this past week, Sharon Van Etten was well acquainted with the publicity machine. But Saturday night's sold out show at the Black Cat was a strong reminder that this young songwriter can never be stripped of her charm, passion, or eagerness, not even by such a vicious beast as hype. For better or worse, it also showed she ain't perfect. [...]
There were some reservations that The Darkness may have lost a step or two in the seven years since they had toured in the United States. By the end of their Chicago stop on Saturday night, however, any and all reservations were swept away on the rolling thunder of guitars and blaring falsetto. After a less than tolerable opening set of so-kitch-it-hurts 80's metal from Crown Jewel Defense, the mixed crowd of college kids, metal heads (who all kind of looked like Phil and Terry from Wayne's World ), and standard rock fans were all [...]
In the heaviest French accent imaginable, a man came up to me on the tube ride and said "Are you going to the Justice concert?" I told him I was and asked him how he was able to tell, his only explanation offered was, "You are wearing a leather jacket!" We chatted for a bit, I regretfully informed him that I didn't have an extra ticket, and we went our separate ways. Turns out that man was simply representative of the 200 other French men seeking tickets I'd be surrounded by when I exited the tube. Thankfully, I [...]
Crammed in a small hole in the wall just south of the Tenderloin, Gardens & Villa 's performance at Rickshaw Stop on Thursday was a burgeoning band at its best. Still coveting a small, but devoted, following in the indie scene, the down-to-earth group is on the brink of stardom and notoriety with upcoming gigs to promote their eponymous debut all over the United States, including sets at both Coachella and Sasquatch!. The secret to their momentous rise through the music world? The fact that their sound and their attitude still possess all of the Californian idiosyncrasies that make [...]
Last Saturday (the 4th) provided a memorable concert, even though I'll remember the day for something else. I have revolving standards when judging concerts. Sometimes when I go to concerts, I judge by the mood they put me in (e.g. Miami Horror was fun). Other times, it's just the opportunity to be there (e.g. Mumford and Sons, favorite concert of 2011), or it's by the synergy with my mood (e.g. Cass McCombs matched it), or it's the performance of my favorite song of theirs (e.g. Fleet Foxes's 'Mykonos' let me down), or it's the set closer (or end-cap [...]
Walking into the Paramount to see a rock show feels like somewhat of a contradiction. As I strutted in-wearing jeans and high-tops-the thought, "am I under-dressed?" crossed my mind. The interior architecture resembled something royal-which is appropriate because the royal family of indie-rock was about to take stage. If you haven't seen Wilco live, DO IT! They have some seriously talented musicians and an incredibly impressive light show to boot. Jeff Tweedy was, by no surprise, on point. His voice never misses a pitch. The musician that took the show [...]
Fans of Canadian post-rock were treated to a smattering of unexpected good news in the year 2012. In addition to Godspeed You Black Emperor! extending their reunion tour to include a ton of additional stops, a slew of festival dates, and the potential recording/release of their long-awaited fourth LP, the band announced that their sister project Thee Silver Mt. Zion Orchestra had enough time before all that for a quick stateside tour. Fronted by the striking Efrim Manuel Menuck – the very same Menuck who serves as GYBE!'s fearless leader – Thee Silver Mt. Zion Orchestra has been [...]
I went to this show knowing basically nothing about the Black Belles and left with little having changed. I came to the show having only heard a handful of their songs (not including their stint backing up Stephen Colbert on his Third Man Records 73). I liked them enough to know that I'd probably kick [...]
Photo By James RhodesOther Lives and Halloween, Alaska7th St. Entry, MinneapolisFebruary 9, 2012The music of Other Lives has such a classic, timeless quality to it that even the band's new songs sou
In an article from the New York Times last week, Judd Greenstein, the curator of the Ecstatic Music Festival , noted how the young chamber sextet yMusic doesn't have a learning curve when it comes to playing classical instruments with a pop music sensibility. Talking about performance practice, a term more often reserved for Rameau and Chopin than Jay-Z and Arcade Fire, Greenstein highlighted the viability of staging an entire festival devoted to the blurring of popular and classical genre designations. The basic gist of it is this: for composers and performers who grew [...]
![MIRACLES OF MODERN SCIENCE, AMBASSADORS PLAYED MERCURY LOUNGE [PHOTOS]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/4049372_lg.jpg)
Without a doubt, the line slowly clambering inside of Mercury Lounge last Friday was the longest I've seen waiting to get into the venue. Not to mention, practically every third person seemed to be a hopeful concertgoer who had to be told that there were no tickets available. This scene wasn't surprising, though, considering the bands that were scheduled to take the stage. Neither Miracles of Modern Science nor Ambassadors let down their eager crowd - both exuded an energy and passion that got the audience cheering, participating, and asking for more when it was over. Miracles [...]
The dress code Tuesday night at Lincoln Hall was glitter. Although I, and most of my fellow concert-goers, didn't get the memo until too late, each of the band members of The Asteroids Galaxy Tour rocked a glittery accoutrement: the horn section sported glittery bowties, the percussion section rocked a glitter lined denim jacket, the guitarist wore a glittery vest and the lead singer jammed in a glittery tunic and sparkly jeggings. The band shone. Literally and figuratively. It didn't hurt that the evening was peppered with unexpected and awesome instruments which included a saxophone, a [...]
Wilco and White Denim treat a sold-out Seattle crowd well.
Frank Yang It hasn't escaped my notice that my live show schedule so far in 2012 has been pretty lean, and what there has been has been more on the sedate side. Which is fine - I dig the low key stuff and getting home well before midnight - but sometimes you get a fever for something bigger, louder and more rawk... and on those occasions, such as Tuesday night, the perfect prescription is The Kills . The Amer-English duo were on the road for a second North American jaunt in support of last [...]
Wilco gives an ecstatic sold out crowd in Seattle The Whole Love.
Our generation has grown up with some certainties about the bands we'll never see. No matter what, we'll never see the Beatles live, and there's nothing we can do about Nirvana; if we didn't make it already, we've missed our chance. Until recently, that list of impossible things included Jeff Mangum , indie rock hero and lead singer of Neutral Milk Hotel , who legendarily disappeared from the public eye over 10 years ago, leaving his records to circulate in the ether, quietly gathering an ever-larger following. On a Tuesday in February (or, last night), the [...]
On Monday night we put down our books, shifted some work aside and opted to prolong our weekend by joining Alesso at the Roxy for his debut Orlando performance. Now normally when we make major decisions like that so early on in the week, there's always something to regret. However, this time I'm pleased to [...]
After seeing Theophilus London and opener Phony PPL perform on February 6th at the 9:30 Club I was just too overwhelmed by the high-energy fantasticness of the show to craft a coherent paragraph-style review. So here goes: my first (perhaps the world's first?) experiment with Concert Review Jeopardy. Alex Trebek, eat your heart out. Category: Apparel Seen on Stage at the show Correct Response: What are a vintage Stockholm Olympics sweater, a leopard-print bath robe, a "F*ck the Police" T-shirt, a gold-embroidered-elephant vest, argyle socks, and a New York Giants baseball cap? [...]
Review - Lady Antebellum / Darius Rucker / Thompson Square @ Wells Fargo Arena - Des Moines,IA 1-28-12 Review - Lady Antebellum @ Wells Fargo Arena, Des Moines, IA Lady Antebellum brought their "Own The Night" Tour to Des Moines and invited Hootie & the Blowfish rocker, Darius Rucker, and Country-duo, Thompson Square, as openers. The show was just about totally sold-out. I saw Thompson Square open up for a sold-out Jason Aldean show earlier this year, so I was [...]
![Tommie Sunshine at The Yost Theater 2/4/12 [Concert Review]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/4042849_lg.jpg)
yosttheater | showsaturdays Well to start off i would like to thank nytehype for their hospitality for the night. So let's get to it. The Yost itself is just an awesome venue from inside and out. This was actually my first time visiting this venue, I have been hearing a lot of good things about it. It definitely lived up to it's hype, the stage setup was just perfect, huge led screen in the background, sound system was excellent, you could even enjoy the concert from the bar area without "dancers" bumping [...]
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