Jonathan Pirro – Page 14 – Spinning Platters

Show Review: Owl City with Lights and Paper Route at The Fillmore, 4/5/2010

In July of 2009, I saw Owl City’s San Francisco debut in a tiny club at 330 Ritch, the home of Popscene, the city’s center stage for brand new acts. Adam Young, the main brain behind Owl City, and Matthew Decker, who added live drums to the wall of synthesizer sound, performed seven songs for a crowd of less than 200 people. Now, see the speed at which fame moves you: less than nine months after that show, Adam and Matthew — along with a new plethora of performers — have returned to San Francisco for two — two! — sold-out performances. I think I should also point out the fact that both shows were completely sold out MONTHS ago — not an hour or to before the show, as was the case for their Popscene debut. Needless to say, I was bewildered — but excited — when I found myself returning to the Fillmore for the first of these two concerts. Continue reading “Show Review: Owl City with Lights and Paper Route at The Fillmore, 4/5/2010”

Show Review: Air with AM at The Fox Oakland, 3/26/2010

Electronic acts far and wide have begun to embrace the digital world as a new means of performance, production, and musical composition. Despite the ease and shimmer that is brought to songs of digital birth, there is really nothing quite like the humming, warm drones of analog circuits, whether they be in new-school oscillators or old-school synthesizers — or possibly both. Tonight’s performance at the Fox Theater welcomed two acts — Air from France, and AM from Los Angeles — who brought the gentle charm of analog and the sweeping beauty of ambient electronics to a theater which often plays host to some of the loudest and most bombastic rock acts of today. Continue reading “Show Review: Air with AM at The Fox Oakland, 3/26/2010”

Show Review: Ex’pression Session: Metric @ Ex’pression College for Digital Arts

One of the main benefits of being a student at a digital arts college — besides the access to thousands of dollars worth of professional audio and video equipment and studios — is the fact that my school has a performance hall. This is normally used for teaching a class on live sound, but thanks to our school’s industry connections, we are fortunate enough to play host to any number of music megastars. Tonight, the stars in question were Toronto indie rockers Metric, who dropped in for a short, acoustic set on their way to tomorrow night’s performance at the Fox Theater. Continue reading “Show Review: Ex’pression Session: Metric @ Ex’pression College for Digital Arts”

Noise Pop Show Review: The Magnetic Fields with Mark Eitzel at The Fox Oakland, 2/27/10

With all of the bombast and thundering rock acts that have barreled through the Fox Theater over its first year of new business, one would think that the venue is only sticking around for the big, loud shows. Despite having a few concerts last year for softer, calmer acts, such as the folk masters of Bon Iver or the raptly-followed Band Of Horses, the majority of the performances at the Fox have been for big bands that seem to be out to test the limits of the theater’s foundations. Tonight’s show, arguably one of the most anticipated nights of the Noise Pop Festival, was a stark contrast to all previous acts; it was also perhaps the only show in my life that I did not need to wear earplugs for, for any moment of the performances. The Magnetic Fields had returned to the Bay Area, bringing with them their quiet, peaceful brand of beautiful joy and gorgeous melancholy. Continue reading “Noise Pop Show Review: The Magnetic Fields with Mark Eitzel at The Fox Oakland, 2/27/10”

Show Review: Alice In Chains and Creature with the Atom Brain at The Fox Oakland, 2/11/2010

Alice In Chains from the balcony of the Fox Theater

When last we left Oakland’s gorgeous Fox Theater, it was at the close of Wolfmother’s final screaming shreds. Two Disney concerts, two Norman Buffalo tribute shows, and one Temptations concert later, the Fox Theater needed to start its new year (having been open since February ’09) off with a bang. It therefore comes as little surprise that the grunge monsters of Alice In Chains were selected as just the right band for the task. Continue reading “Show Review: Alice In Chains and Creature with the Atom Brain at The Fox Oakland, 2/11/2010”

Show Review: GWAR with Job For A Cowboy and The Red Chord at The Regency Center, 11/24/2009

One step into the Grand Ballroom at the Regency Center was likely to put the average concertgoer into a state of confusion and alarm. Aside from an abnormally high amount of snarling metalheads and angry-looking punks, the walls, floors, and stage monitors were covered with plastic wrap. The security guards for the night were dressed in raincoats and the photographers had bags wrapped around their cameras. Most of the crowd was dressed in white shirts, a stark contrast to the usual sea of black encountered so often amongst metal fans. What could possibly be coming? A monsoon? The destruction of the ceiling? Of course, to the average goer to this particular concert, it heralded only one very important fact: GWAR had returned to San Francisco.

Continue reading “Show Review: GWAR with Job For A Cowboy and The Red Chord at The Regency Center, 11/24/2009”

Show Review: Wolfmother with Heartless Bastards and thenewno2 at The Fox Oakland, 11/23/2009

then I let go of everything... into another dimension

The year is drawing to a close for everyone, including for Oakland’s historic Fox Theater. It seems only fitting that one of the biggest surprises and best new venues (OK, I’m biased, I work there, but if you’ve been there, you know what I mean) in the Bay Area should have some kind of colossal show to end the concert season. Something to go out with a bang, you know? As it just so happens, the Bay Area was greeted with an excellent one-two-three punch this evening, in the form of London rock troupe thenewno2 and Ohioan blues-rockers Heartless Bastards opening for the Australian arena-rock juggernaut that is Wolfmother.

Continue reading “Show Review: Wolfmother with Heartless Bastards and thenewno2 at The Fox Oakland, 11/23/2009”

Show Review: Them Crooked Vultures with Mini Mansions at The Fox Oakland

There have been a few “supergroups” that came and went in the last few years, many formed from the remnants of the grunge generation looking to try out new sounds, such as Army Of Anyone (the members of Stone Temple Pilots headed by Richard Patrick of Filter), Audioslave (the members of Rage Against The Machine headed by Chris Cornell of Soundgarden), or Velvet Revolver (Scott Weiland of the aforementioned STP fronting the remaining members of Guns N’ Roses). While all of the records are excellent in theory, in execution they don’t always live up to the names of the musicians writing the music on the records. The kind of supergroup that is likely to TRULY break the mold is one spanning multiple generations of music. In the case of Them Crooked Vultures, it’s three generations: the stoner-groove-rock of the 2000’s, the solid, angry blues-grunge of the 90’s, and the arena-level rock-n’-roll of the ’70s. Of course, these three genres would make sense, given that Them Crooked Vultures is composed of Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age / Kyuss), Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters / Nirvana), and John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin).

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Show Review: Fuck Buttons with Growing and Chen Santa Maria at Bottom Of The Hill, 11/13/09

A noise-rock show is a different sort of animal than most musical performances that one usually attends: it’s mostly improvisational, there usually isn’t a wild light show, the performers hardly ever (if ever) look at the audience, and it’s about ten times louder than the last Muse concert you went to, even when you stood next to the P.A. and forgot your earplugs. It’s also likely that you will not be able to predict the level of fanaticism that will be inspired by even the slightest change in the steamroller of sound that is the band’s performance; the crowd could just as easily metamorphose into a frenzied circle pit as it could remain stock-still in silent contemplation of the wall of noise barreling through them. For Fuck Buttons, it ran the full gamut: loud, soft, crazed and quiet, and it was beautiful and destructive chaos all at once. Continue reading “Show Review: Fuck Buttons with Growing and Chen Santa Maria at Bottom Of The Hill, 11/13/09”

Show Review: Pixies with Rain Machine at The Fox Oakland, 11/8/2009

Here Comes Your Men (and Woman!) - The Pixies

It’s been quite some time since the Fox Theater in Oakland had a show that generated such interest that it sold out within a month, and also multiplied itself to take place over an additional two nights. At the time of this writing, the first of those two extra nights is also completely sold out, and the second one is getting pretty close. What sort of band would have the magnitude to sell out the Fox Theater for three nights in a row? In May, the Allman Brothers Band did it; in mid-September it was Further, the new Grateful Dead project, and in a week, it will likely be all three nights of Widespread Panic. So, for this case, it must have been another famous jam band with thousands of followers. Right?

Wrong. Tonight, and for the next two nights, the Fox is owned by four Bostonians who helped write the book on modern alternative music: the Pixies, who are going to spend each night playing their landmark album Doolittle, along with its B-sides and an encore of their own devising.

Continue reading “Show Review: Pixies with Rain Machine at The Fox Oakland, 11/8/2009”