Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
More things to do in the Bay Area. All of them good. The greatest band ever is playing the Warfield on Friday, but here are better things to do.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide To Bay Area Concerts: November 11th-November 17th”
I usually never drink at shows. On occasion I might be up for a whiskey on the rocks, but rarely do I ever booze it up a show that I’m really into. I can’t tell you exactly why I decided to drink at this particular show; it could be because I was one of the handful of people over 21, or because I have the day off tomorrow (today) or whatever. The $7 it cost for a Red Stripe didn’t even deter me. It just felt like the right night to indulge, so I did. 2 beers, a whiskey on the rocks, and a shared Sex on the Beach with my companion later, I was thoroughly rocking out at the Paramore show.
Continue reading “Photo Gallery: Paramore, Paper Route, The Swellers at The Warfield, 11/10/09”
Last month, I posted a review of the band Heart at The Warfield. In the review, I mention the band Paramore in a very positive light. In the comments, somebody posted this question:
Question: What is the importance of a band like Paramore? (Serious question — I’m 38 years old.
)
When I wrote this review, it was expected I would have already written quite a fair amount about this band, and the kind reader would not have been confused. But, this show was moved from the beginning of the tour to the end of the tour, and I had yet to write a review of the new record, brand new eyes. Well, since this show has finally happened, I think it’s fair of me to, within discussion of this performance, to help describe why the band Paramore is truly important, and additionally, why a 38 year old Heart fan should know what his/her niece already understands.
Continue reading “Show Review: Paramore, Paper Route, The Swellers at The Warfield 11/10/09”
San Francisco’s Midwestern transplants flocked to the Great American Music Hall on Tuesday night to bask in the soothing siren song of Ohio-based indie stalwarts Over the Rhine. The band, consisting primarily of smug marrieds Linford Detweiler (bass/piano/vocals) and Karin Bergquist (vocals/piano) and currently celebrating its twentieth year, treated its Bay Area fans to a nearly two-hour set spanning a vast array of fan favorites.
Although there was already a mini review of the new album by The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas, Phrazes for the Young, in our New Release Round Up feature last week, I think it deserves few more words coming from one of those “Strokes fans” mentioned.
Truthfully, after the disappointment of the last Strokes album, First Impressions of Earth, I haven’t been as eagerly awaiting a new Strokes album as I would have been before. And especially after hearing some of the solo material by other members of the band, it was obvious that together or separately, the band had a a lot to offer. Now finally an album has been released by the band’s main songwriter and voice: Julian Casablancas, the last member to venture into a solo project.
Continue reading “Album Review: Julian Casablancas — Phrazes for the Young”
Photographic evidence of the first triumphant Pixies concert at the Fox Theater in Oakland.
With a bonus video snippet of one of the most wonderful moments in music ever, performed live that very evening.
Continue reading “Photo Gallery and Video: Pixies at The Fox Oakland, 11/8/2009”
Monday night was supposed to be a night off for me. I was simply going to sit and relax at the Warfield, enjoying a quiet evening of acoustic Jethro Tull songs. I’d chat with my friend, drink some bourbon, and rock out to killer cuts from the Jethro Tull catalog. But something amazing happened that I wasn’t expecting, and I just had to share it with you. Continue reading “Show Review: Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull at The Warfield, 11/9/2009”
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”
I love San Francisco. I love the weather, I love the variety and I love that sometimes you can just go hang out with friends at a bar and see a really good show. Not that I stumbled upon this show, I planned on going to see a friend perform, but I was very surprised with the overall quality of the performance. And I love the idea that I could have just happened to walk into this bar and ended up sweating the night away watching the amazing dance party that is the band Planet Booty. Continue reading “Show Review: Planet Booty at the Blue Macaw, 11/4/09”
When Vampire Weekend announced they were playing an all-California tour, and that tour would include the Town Hall Theater in Lafayette, CA, I immediately went to look up what this theater was. What I found was that it was a 200-seat local theater company’s home venue, and I knew right away that this show would sell out fast. Well thanks to my years of typing practice, I managed to get tickets when they went on sale a couple of months back. (There’s no magical press passes tonight — we had to sweat it out like the rest of you.) Imagine my surprise when we arrived to the theater to find that it was an all-seated show. Sit down for Vampire Weekend? Oh oh. Continue reading “Show Review: Vampire Weekend at The Town Hall Theater in Lafayette, 11/7/09”