At first glance, he might just be a very large, very bald man with a tiny guitar and a voice that mesmerizes. Upon closer inspection, though, Tyrone Wells is just tall, talented, and playing a ukulele. Well, at least until he starts yodeling, anyway…if it’s all a bit to take in for the first time, I understand. It’s a unique (and thoroughly enjoyable) experience, and I can still remember the first time I witnessed it myself, several years ago. Since then, I’ve fallen for albums like Remain and EP Metal & Wood, as well as the brand new release, Where We Meet, which brought him to The Independent this Thursday, alongside local opening act Mike Annuzzi and English singer/songwriter Joe Brooks.
Two years ago, New England musical mastermind Stephin Merritt graced us with two Magnetic Fields shows during the Bay Area’s 18th annual Noise Pop Festival. Spinning Platters was on hand for bothperformances, and two years later, Merritt and his quintet have returned, with a new opus in tow, to the Fox Theater in Oakland for a new round of orchestral whimsy and symphonic folk-pop playfulness. As the musical tide has turned for the mood and feel of the band’s newest release, Love At The Bottom Of The Sea, so too, apparently, has their attitude to live performances. Rather than occupy the resonant wooden floors and still-somewhat-fresh carpet of the theater with chairs for a quiet, introspective performance, the audience was given free reign in a regular general-admission get-as-close-as-you-like setting. There was a loud and upbeat performer opening the show. The band even responded to whoops, cheers, and catcalls. What a change is here! For even the most stoic Magnetic Fields fan, however, the change of mood was a rather uplifting one, and a general camaraderie was established between both the boisterous and the simply bemused for this acoustic exploration of the band’s charming new work.
A rather frustrating phenomenon that exists for enthusiastic concertgoers who follow up-and-coming artists is the long, long wait that precedes a band’s “official” rise to stardom. This term is placed in quotes, because the true mark of becoming a major player in the live music scene is being the headlining act of the tour you’ve embarked upon. The last two times that the Welsh trio known as The Joy Formidable have made their way to the Bay Area, they’ve taken residence on the smaller Sutro stage of the Outside Lands Festival, and opened for The Naked And Famous at a special pre-party concert that preceded Live 105’s Not So Silent Night. Despite bringing along some heavy hitters whose reputation and following would allow them to take the reigns and lead the way, the trio of Ritzy Bryan, Rhydian Dafydd and Matt Thomas have finally claimed their spot as the main event, and they’ve taken their newfound thrones with all the explosive fury and unrelenting power that was present at their last few appearances — with absolutely no sign of slowing down as they stunned the packed-in audience at the Independent on Monday night.
Many of you aren’t going to believe me when I say this, but that won’t stop it from being true: the New Kids on the Block just keep getting better with age. Here’s how I know this: I’ve been a fan since I was a first grader. Back then, for me, it was definitely more about cute boys and catchy music than whether or not someone had any actual talent. Happily, though, by the time that ceased to be true, the vocal and musical talents of the group’s main singers had begun to impress me more than I ever dreamed they would. And even if you don’t believe me enough to give them a listen, the photos speak for themselves: these guys are making forty-something look unbelievable. But perhaps I digress a bit…
The stage before the show, and before the "no photos" policy was announced (and enforced)
Let’s talk for a minute about NBC’s The Voice. Last April, when it premiered after much hype, I was really excited to check it out. For anyone who isn’t familiar, the premise of the show is that undiscovered musical talents audition for four current musicians, in hopes that their vocals alone will convince one (or more) of them to coach them through the rest of the competition. They call it a “blind” audition because all four coaches (Adam Levine of Maroon 5, Cee-Lo Green, Christina Aguilera, and Blake Shelton) sit with their backs to the stage, unable to see the performer at all. It sounds like a great concept, right? True, I always point out that there’s a little bit of a fallacy here, since it is a TV show, and someone’s doing the casting, so while it’s true that the coaches don’t see who the voice is coming out of before signing on to work with them, it’s not entirely true that how a performer looks isn’t taken into consideration at all.
Anyway, last year it was really fun to watch, because after you get past the fact that almost all of the performers look commercial enough to make it in the industry, you start to get sucked into the untapped talent – in my case, I was especially rooting for Team Adam, as Mr. Levine has a knack for picking the artists I liked the best. In the end, my favorite guy won. His name is Javier Colon, and truth be told, I haven’t heard much about him since he won. So believe me, I was excited to see him when I saw that he was playing the Uptown Theatre in Napa last night. Continue reading “Show Review: Javier Colon with Reed Waddle at The Uptown Theatre Napa, 3/4/2012”
I know it’s the biggest cliché you can think of, but somehow, I keep falling into it. Sure I’ve liked Rachael Yamagata, that’s been “Known For Years” now. She’s a great song writer, great husky emotive voice, the piano, you know, the whole nine. But at times, I get bored. She gets the mood going, this dark depressing mood, and…actually, I think she explains it very well. On stage, she mentioned how she’s always surprised that people ask her to play their weddings. In her opinion she’s better suited to play their divorce proceedings. I thought she just might be a little stale and boring live. “The Reason Why” these clichés have apparently “Worn Me Down,” I really can’t say. But what I can say is that I was entirely wrong. There’s a reason you go see an artist play live. Sure they can always disappoint and sound exactly like they do on record, but the gamble is worth it when it pays off. Continue reading “Rachael Yamagata, Dan Wilson, and Madi Diaz at The Independent 3.2.12”
Put down your spiked hair. Pull those safety pins out of your pierced ears. Trade in the leather jacket, the studded belt, the plaid pants, the violently political message, the inability to enjoy anyone within your immediate proximity unless you’re physically engaged in violence towards them. But don’t stop enjoying yourself. This is not the place for the energy to drop, for the volume to descend, or for the spirit of radical thought to become extinguished. This is the place for two-minute songs and stagedivers and snarling fuzz and harrowing reverb, all compacted together into a stick of dynamite that keeps burning for almost five solid hours. This is the first stop on the tour for Ty Segall, a veteran to the Bay Area garage-folk-psych-rock scene, which, tonight, has taken up residence in the Great American Music Hall, and is here to demolish the foundations — both figuratively and a significant bit literally.
Everything's explodin'! (photo by Paige K. Parsons)
Twenty years. For many fans in the live music scene, this is an impossible amount of time to fathom. The concert demographic, wide as it might be, generally seems to fall between teens and people in their 50s, and if you go twenty years back, you’ve got a whole group of people who weren’t even born yet, to those who were solidifying their first solid years of adulthood. The amount of music, live or otherwise, that has been recorded, performed, and otherwise created in that timespan is magnificent in its breadth and depth. For twenty years, the Noise Pop Festival has helped to bring acts of all leagues and backgrounds to the San Francisco music scene, peppering venues with marvelously-clashing lineups and intimate gatherings that blow the minds of even the most seasoned veterans of the club-hopping world. After twenty years, it’s good to know that the Bay Area can still be stunned, which happened when the Noise Pop folks pulled out their trump card of the 2012 lineup — The Flaming Lips were making an appearance at the barely-700-person-capacity Bimbo’s 365 Club, and were performing their magnum opus The Soft Bulletin from start to finish.
The Fray's Ben (drums) and Isaac (atop the piano, singing his ass off)
The Fox Theater. Scars on 45. The Fray, live. A crowd that actually applauds with their hands more than with their voices. These are things that, until Monday night, I’d never before experienced. And all were, as it turned out, the beginning of a wonderful cure for a stereotypical “case of the Mondays.” Though I’ve been listening to The Fray for several years, this was my first chance to catch a show, and until last week, I’d never even heard of English opening band Scars on 45. They did, however, come highly recommended by a friend, and so I couldn’t wait for the show to start. Lucky for me, the lights went down promptly at 8:01 pm. Continue reading “Show Review: The Fray with Scars on 45 at The Fox Theater, 2/20/2012”
Why the world still has yet to catch on to what they’ve been missing all these years in Nikka Costa is a mystery to me, and frankly has been for more than a decade now. That said, though I wish her all the success in the world, I don’t really mind that she has a small-but-dedicated cult following rather than fans to fill arenas, because it allows me opportunities to see her in small venues like the Roxy in LA, the Independent here in SF, and this past weekend, the absolutely tiny Red Devil Lounge. Better still, I’m finally learning that if Ms. Costa is going to have an opening act, it’ll likely be a musician or band she’s chosen herself, as was the case with last night’s opener, Terraplane Sun.Continue reading “Show Review: Nikka Costa with Terraplane Sun at Red Devil Lounge, 2/12/2012”
