Jonathan Pirro – Page 13 – Spinning Platters

San Francisco’s Outside Lands Festival 2010: Day 1

This probably looked this empty for about 5 minutes. (photo by Atom Ess: http://www.flickr.com/photos/atom_ess/2791709290/)

The official lineup for San Francisco’s third annual Outside Lands Festival caused some waves of bewilderment when it was first announced. Considering the lineups that had dominated Lollapalooza and Coachella this year, it was surprising that Outside Lands didn’t seem to step up to the same plate, while still remaining within the ballpark. Despite this, and the unusual inclusion of San Francisco regulars Furthur (featuring Phil Lesh and Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead) as headliners opposite acts such as The Strokes and Kings Of Leon, a handful of excellent acts did make their way into the roster, attracting yet another slew of thousands of avid concertgoers to the first day of the festival.

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Show Review: Porcupine Tree with Karnivool at The Warfield Theater, 8/11/2010

When a massive act plans a statewide, or possibly worldwide, tour, one of the factors involved is selecting opening bands for the tour. More often than not, the presence of a more famous and popular headliner will usually be a signal that larger, more well-known opening acts will come along for the ride. In the case of Porcupine Tree, however, their opening slot on Coheed And Cambria’s colossal new tour comes with the hope that at least a good chunk of the audience will be part of the dedicated following that they have carved out themselves within the states. As a nod to those fans, Porcupine Tree kicked off the tour with a special headlining show for one of their favorite cities (as claimed by frontman Steven Wilson on a few occasions): San Francisco, California.

Show Review: Morcheeba with The Mumlers and Mariee Sioux at The Fillmore, 7/28/2010

Crowds of people wait for her: Skye Edwards of Morcheeba

Any sort of band that plays music that can be even remotely described as “downtempo” has, in some eyes, a serious disadvantage when it comes to their live performance. The energy and excitement and wildness that comes from a live gig is toned down, and re-formed into the fluid, organic compositions that make up the worlds of dub, trip-hop, and ambient performance. Often, an audience with great patience and love of such swell in a melody becomes the ultimate factor in a successful show, or act, that brings mostly slower, dreamier, and more wistful compositions to the live world of music. Tonight’s crowd at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco fit this bill perfectly, so to speak, so it was little surprise when Skye Edwards and the other Londoners of Morcheeba proclaimed the intimate venue to be one of their favorite places in the world to play. Continue reading “Show Review: Morcheeba with The Mumlers and Mariee Sioux at The Fillmore, 7/28/2010”

Show Review: An Evening with Primus at the Great American Music Hall, 7/18/2010

those damn blue-collar tweekers. (photo by Sassy Monkey Media)

In today’s concerting world, most shows are focused more firmly on spectacle than on musicianship. We expect the bands to be at the top of their game, of course, but in case they aren’t, we’ve got pretty lights, soaring lasers, mystifying fog, and, sometimes, hurricanes of confetti to wow us and give us something to rave to our friends about. While the spectacle can be rather fantastic from time to time, it’s always refreshing to see the band pack up their light show, deflate the floating spacemen, and dismantle the fog machines, in favor of a rock-solid performance that focuses on what a concert is, truly, about: the music. The bands that are able to take all of these steps, cast off the grandeur, pack themselves — and several hundred feral fans — into a club, and rock the foundations as hard as they would in an arena, are truly wonderful to behold, and tonight’s performance by Bay Area native titans Primus was certainly no exception.

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Show Review: Tool with Jello Biafra And The Guantanamo School Of Medicine at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, 7/12/2010

no one is innocent (photo by Shannon Hazelip)

I will preface this review by stating a fact which, while well known to my friends and colleagues, is not widely expressed within my concert reviews, given their number and the scale of the bands that I go to see. This fact is a simple one: I loathe arena shows. I’m more specifically referring to any venue that seats over 10,000 people, although 7,000 — the capacity of the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium — is pushing my limit to a mild degree. The fact of the matter is, however, that there will always be certain bands that are far, far too big to play in small clubs, large theaters, or even modest amphitheaters, and these bands will be reason enough for me to go, no matter the size of the venue. These bands will be the driving force behind the show that they put on; this is no festival with twenty acts, nor a set of competing giants wrestling for the title of “biggest rock god ever”. This is a band that has been around for nigh-on twenty years; in fact, the singer was heard tonight saying, “Pop quiz: how many of you are under 21? Really? Well, you weren’t even alive when this song was written.”

Who would this be? Tool, of course.

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Show Review: Ex’pression Session: OK Go and Amanda Palmer @ Ex’pression College for Digital Arts

While a great number of artists have passed through the doors of Ex’pression College to perform at the school’s Meyer Performance Hall, in intimate shows offered to a handful of lucky radio winners and passionate students, never before has one of these performances — dubbed “Ex’pression Sessions” — included more than one band at a time. It’s also not terribly easy to predict exactly who will be coming through the doors, since all manner of musicians, performers and artists have taken the stage over the last several years. With these considerations in mind, Monday’s performance was a never-before-attempted feat, as it involved two artists of a fairly well-known stature: Amanda Palmer, expert pianist and purveyor of all things art, and OK Go, arguably the Most Famous Band Thanks To The Internet. Continue reading “Show Review: Ex’pression Session: OK Go and Amanda Palmer @ Ex’pression College for Digital Arts”

Show Review: Hot Chip with The xx at The Fox Oakland, 4/16/2010

Anyone passing through the lobby of the Fox Theater last night would have guessed, by the WHOMM WHOMM WHOMM of thudding bass and the polychromatic splashes of color across the glass entrance doors, that the normally-rock-band-friendly theater had been taken over by a massive rave. While there were, indeed, sparkling electronics, trumpeting synthesizers and a solid sense of rhythm, a live band was to be found onstage, with five total members contributing to intricate layers of percussion, electronics, and even vocal duties. The quintet, however, was not a group of tribal-clad or neon-covered techno gods; they were, well, five fellows who love music just as much as the next guy. Collectively, they are known as Hot Chip.

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Show Review: Faith No More with White Trash Debutantes and the El Camino High School Cheerleaders at The Warfield, 4/14/2010

Well now, that’s one mouthful of a title. Out on the marquee it just says “special guests!” On the other hand, it also lists “special guests” being present at all three nights — Monday, Tuesday, and tonight’s final show of Faith No More’s 3-night residency at the Warfield Theater. With the warped minds of Faith No More vocalist Mike Patton, and anti-comedian Neil Hamburger, each show has promised to be one hell of a treat. Along with an infamous punk-rock act from the San Francisco area, each night also has a second opening slot reserved for some form of bizarre entertainment — with a great emphasis on the bizarre. Continue reading “Show Review: Faith No More with White Trash Debutantes and the El Camino High School Cheerleaders at The Warfield, 4/14/2010”

Show Review: Spoon with Deerhunter and Micachu & The Shapes at The Fox Oakland, 4/13/2010

The bands of the Fox Theater have, as of late, been jumping back and forth across a gamut of incredibly popular to somewhat-smaller-but-still-with-a-chance-of-selling-the-place-out. This has caused the audience to span from regular concertgoers to I-came-tonight-because-I-loved-that-band-on-the-radio; as a result, most of the shows have brought a large, but someone random, selection of their fanbase. The crowd for tonight’s Spoon show, however, was solid in their intention and dedication. Gone was the stunned disbelief of seeing a band onstage for the first time; absent were the jaded showgoers who had “seen this band a thousand times.” The fans for tonight’s show were much like the band’s performance: steadfast, tightly-knit, and full of rock-and-roll energy.

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