setlist – Page 32 – Spinning Platters

Show Review: The Used with The Almost at The Warfield 11/11/09

The Used’s set began with an intro video of footage from past tours mixed with stock footage of planes taking off, cars passing by, and scenery changing as if shot from a window of a car. I am not sure most of the fans knew what to think of this semi-heartfelt intro. Backed by a piano and some strings, it seemed like it, as well as most everything with this set could have been better. When the video ended, the entire band just walked on stage. It was kind of anticlimactic for such a drawn out intro. Continue reading “Show Review: The Used with The Almost at The Warfield 11/11/09”

Photo Gallery: Paramore, Paper Route, The Swellers at The Warfield, 11/10/09

paramore

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”

Show Review: Paramore, Paper Route, The Swellers at The Warfield 11/10/09

This is what Paramore looked like a couple of days ago

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”

Show Review: Over the Rhine with Katie Herzig at Great American Music Hall, 11/10/09

rhine

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.

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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”

Show Review: Vampire Weekend at The Town Hall Theater in Lafayette, 11/7/09

vw-header — Vampire Weekend in a small town theater

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”

Show Review: Dropkick Murphys with Youth Brigade, The Flatliners and The Insurgence at The Fox Oakland, 11/6/2009

Dropkick Murphys and the girls of Oakland, CA

There are 3 prominent bands that exist in the punk rock world today who seek to bend the genres and performance styles of their music by adding instruments or melodies from folk- or worldly-sources to their one-two-three-go raucous sound. One of them is Irish/American collective Flogging Molly, who sings songs of olden times and forgotten friends; another is Gogol Bordello, the Russian/gypsy revivalists infused with New York punk attitude in their songs about revolution, celebration, and wandering the world.

The third band has a simpler message: we were rudely kicked over here, but we brought enough beer and whiskey to keep us entertained, so let’s stir things up a bit! This band, of course, is none other than Massachusetts’ own Dropkick Murphys, who came to stake their claim in this year’s set of magnificent punk rock shows at Oakland’s Fox Theater.
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Show Review: Puscifer with Uncle Scratch’s Gospel Revival at The Fox Oakland, 11/5/2009

Hey! Wait! That title looks awfully familiar. You mean to tell me that those troublemakers in Puscifer, the art/music/performance collective spearheaded by Maynard James Keenan of Tool/A Perfect Circle, were allowed into the Fox Theater for yet another night of mayhem, debauchery and… Wait, what’s that? Country music? No, Puscifer doesn’t play country music, they play industrial-experimental-electronic… What do you mean, the stage is built like the front of a Wild West house, complete with porch armchairs and old-style pop filter microphones?

Yes, Puscifer was back. Yes, they brought Uncle Scratch’s Gospel Revival back with them. But, no, it was not like the first night — as evidenced by the aforementioned set design, Puscifer had come back to play some old-fashioned country westerns. Well, old-fashioned is actually an incorrect term — after all, these were their own songs, although there’s probably some desolate corner of the world where these bastardized country ballads could be considered old-fashioned westerns.

Continue reading “Show Review: Puscifer with Uncle Scratch’s Gospel Revival at The Fox Oakland, 11/5/2009”

Show Review: Puscifer with Uncle Scratch’s Gospel Revival at The Fox Oakland, 11/4/2009

Puscifer02

Forget any expectations you have for the evening at hand. Leave them at the door, which, in the case of tonight’s show, is beset with a flock of confused, wary patrons, eyeing a man in an off-tan suit and taped-together sunglasses, who is armed with a megaphone. The man is Brother Ed of Uncle Scratch’s Gospel Revival, and he is begging, PLEADING for the patrons to not enter the Fox Theater tonight, to not forsake their own souls as the cost of attending this show which, according to him, can only be the work of the Devil himself.

Brother Ed should be scared. His rants, while facetious at their core, are somewhat justified. He and his band will be opening, tonight, for Puscifer.

Continue reading “Show Review: Puscifer with Uncle Scratch’s Gospel Revival at The Fox Oakland, 11/4/2009”

Show Review: Art Brut with Princeton at Cafe Du Nord, 10/30/09 (Late Show)

When Art Brut comes to town, I get excited. Not only do I love the band, I also see them as the kind of band that tends to quit on the U.S. They blast onto the scene with the exceptional album Bang Bang Rock & Roll, and I saw them touring to promote that album four or five times. Their second album, It’s a Bit Complicated, was a relative disappointment. I’ve seen this happen with other British bands: their second album doesn’t perform well over here, and then I only get to hear about UK and European tours, sadly waiting for the one day they might return to our shores. Instead, Art Brut teamed up with producer Frank Black for the phenomenal Art Brut vs. Satan, and they have continued their attack on America. Continue reading “Show Review: Art Brut with Princeton at Cafe Du Nord, 10/30/09 (Late Show)”