Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
It was a beautiful night at the Greek Theater, warm and clear, something that hardly ever happens in my experience. For my fourth time seeing Vampire Weekend this year, it was yet to be seen if this show would be something different, or more of the same. Either way I was sure to not be disappointed. Continue reading “Show Review: Vampire Weekend with Beach House and The Very Best at The Greek Theater, 9/25/10”
How often do you find yourself enthralled with an opening band? For most of us, the answer would usually be “not very often”, and in a fairly large sum of concertgoers, “hardly ever”. What, then, do you say when you find yourself attending a headlining show of that same band? Do you bite your tongue and feel a hypocrite, or do you revel in the fact that you are experiencing them again, and this time in a fuller, more realized capacity? It was, most likely, these sorts of thoughts and sensations going through the heads of many members of the crowd inside the Fox Theater tonight, for the band that had returned to Oakland for their second performance at this historic venue were doing just that: headlining. The xx were the opening act for the electronic masterminds of Hot Chip back in April; this time around, the dark, haunting-yet-danceable London rockers were the ringleaders of the show, which apparently sold out even faster than their previous Fox Theater show from 5 months ago.
Continue reading “Show Review: The xx with Warpaint and Zola Jesus at The Fox Oakland, 9/23/2010”
The sold out crowd at The Independent was radiating energy at the Marina & the Diamonds show. It packed full of people pretty early, with the stage crush beginning during openers Young the Giant’s set. During sets the crowd bounced and cheered and in-between everyone waited politely, leaving room for friends off buying drinks. We were ready for an excellent night of music.
Sister acts: they’re not just girl-group nuns on the run from the mob anymore. As far as I know, at least. I can’t personally vouch for The Chapin Sisters’ lack of involvement with organized crime. But I can vouch for the utter gorgeousness of their performance at Café Du Nord last night, so I certainly hope they don’t get bumped off by Harvey Keitel anytime soon. That would be tragic.
Continue reading “Show Review: The Chapin Sisters at Café Du Nord, 9/15/10”
Crowded House is a band with only two real American “hits.” But don’t be fooled by that. If you go see Crowded House live, you’d better be ready to sing. And although your less astute friends will assume the loudest singing will be for “Don’t Dream It’s Over,” the band’s biggest U.S. hit, those same friends will wonder what the heck this “You always take the weather with you” song is about. Congratulations, singer! You’re the smart one. Continue reading “Show Review: Crowded House with Lawrence Arabia at The Warfield, 8/23/2010”
If I had to give a title to this review, apart from the boring, SEO-friendly titles we always use here, it would be “They Might Be Giants vs. The Napa Uptown Theatre.” I think that the band started the show really loving the beautifully restored theater, but by the end of the performance, I feel like there may have been some antagonism between the two. Was this an actual fight? Or merely a love-fest in disguise? It was a bit hard to tell. Continue reading “Show Review: They Might Be Giants with Oona at The Napa Uptown, 8/21/2010”
Not only did Brandon Flowers look like Michael Pare from music-nerd-must-see Streets of Fire (not the leather jacket look but the suspenders look), but the music was reminiscent of that film as well. All tales of rock n’ roll bleeding hearts and people down on their luck, but with occasional rousing singalong moments, the new material from Brandon Flowers is close enough to The Killers’ own tunes to make me wonder why the solo album was necessary. He’s always been the center of attention of that band, so that can’t be the motivation. So it must have been musical in nature. I just didn’t hear enough to know what makes this difference. Perhaps if he had played longer. Continue reading “Show Review: An Evening With Brandon Flowers at Slim’s, 8/19/2010”
While waiting in line to see Billy Idol last night at the Fillmore, I was talking to a friend on the phone that was rather disappointed to learn that his show was sold out, and the asking price on the streets was about $160. We were talking about Idol’s history, and I was informed that Idol was once a member of Siouxsie & The Banshees, but left the band because he felt that they weren’t taking music seriously enough. My immediate response was, of course, to chuckle, but I thought about Idol’s place in our society and realized that there is nobody else out there quite like him. He is part of the new wave era, the punk era, and the hair metal era, and managed to escape all of those trends with dignity & credibility. There is a reason that he is still able to sell out The Fillmore on a Tuesday night 30 years after his first record.
Continue reading “Show Review: An Evening With Billy Idol at The Fillmore, 8/17/10”
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.
The Scorpions are too famous for their giant hit song, “Rock You Like a Hurricane,” and not well respected enough for their rest of their catalog. Filled with shiny gems of pop metal, the German legends have a huge list of hard-but-not-too-hard rock songs to choose from as they continue touring for the last time. They’ve said the tour will run through 2012 or 2013, so whether this is their last stop in the Bay Area or not is still a question. If it’s not, though, you’ll see me in the audience for the next one. These guys still have their stingers. Continue reading “Show Review: Scorpions with Cinderella at Concord Pavilion, 8/1/2010”