show reviews – Page 18 – Spinning Platters

Show Review: Cracker & Camper Van Beethoven at The Independent, 12/28/09

Cracker is a good band. They have nice fun upbeat songs, all the musicians are more than capable, their songs don’t all sound the same, and there is decent stage banter. The music is pretty straight forward likable rock. Much the same could be said about Cracker’s counterpart Camper Van Beethoven, especially since they basically have the same band members (take Camper Van Beethoven, subtract a violinist/guitarist and add a female back up singer to get Cracker). There really is no logical reason not to enjoy their live show, yet somehow, I spent the entire evening vaguely wanting to die. Why? Continue reading “Show Review: Cracker & Camper Van Beethoven at The Independent, 12/28/09”

Show Review: Brian Setzer Orchestra with Lavay Smith at The Warfield, 12/20/09

Setzer Girls — This cat brings his "vixens" out to play.

I emailed a friend talking about how I was about to see Brian Setzer, and she responded, “is he still around?” Well, thank goodness he is, because last week he collapsed on stage, making me wonder if the tour would go on. It got me looking him up on Wikipedia to see that he’s 50 years old, and that it was 15 years ago that he put out the first Brian Setzer Orchestra CD. He’s had a long and varied career, and he’s definitely still around. So how’s he holding up? Continue reading “Show Review: Brian Setzer Orchestra with Lavay Smith at The Warfield, 12/20/09”

Show Review: Rickie Lee Jones at The Fillmore, 12/19/09

www.denaflows.com — Rickie Lee Jones at the piano a few weeks ago

“Does she still look like Janice from The Muppets?” asked a friend when I mentioned I was seeing Rickie Lee Jones at The Fillmore last night. There’s certainly a resemblance, that’s for sure. It’s been 30 years since her chart-topping debut single, “Chuck E’s In Love,” but Jones, 55, is still very much the picture of laid-back, blonde, heavy-lidded California cool. And if she feels slowed down by age, she certainly didn’t show it during her marathon two-and-a-half-hour set.

Continue reading “Show Review: Rickie Lee Jones at The Fillmore, 12/19/09”

Show Review: Carla Bozulich’s Evangelista with Late Young at Hemlock Tavern, 12/12/09

Evangelista

Evangelista is the latest (and longest) incarnation of the restless musical mind of Carla Bozulich, the extraordinary, genre-busting singer/songwriter whose career dates back over two decades. She was a member of the seminal industrial band Ethyl Meatplow before forming The Geraldine Fibbers, whose tragically brief output consisted of two of the most magnificent albums of the ’90s, Lost Somewhere Between the Earth and My Home (1995) and Butch (1997), before disbanding. It was at this point that Bozulich began veering in a more “experimental” direction, in which she continues to create strange and harrowing new sounds.

There’s just one problem: I’m a die-hard Fibbers fan with no tolerance for so-called “experimental” music. Granted, this is my problem, not hers. But whenever I’ve listened to her post-Fibbers output, whether it be Scarnella, Evangelista, or her full-length reinterpretation of Willie Nelson’s Red Headed Stranger, I’ve longed for even a hint of the torch-twang-punk brilliance of the Fibbers. And so, I walked into her show at the Hemlock last night with resigned pessimism. I was thrilled to finally witness Carla singing live, but was bracing for an hour of free-form noise and distortion. Oh, how I hate being wrong.

Continue reading “Show Review: Carla Bozulich’s Evangelista with Late Young at Hemlock Tavern, 12/12/09”

Live 105’s Not So Silent Night: Muse, AFI, 30 Seconds To Mars, Vampire Weekend, Metric, Scene Of Action at Oracle Arena, 12/11/09

Matthew Bellamy, Showing Off His Firefly Collection To 20,000 Of His Closest Friends

Radio-sponsored concerts exist for multiple reasons. The first reason is, well, to make money. Since Nielsen-based ratings aren’t the most precise way to go, often times the best way to prove to advertisers your worth is to put on a big show that’s promoted by the station, and use those numbers to bring in big money for the commercials. The other, more dignified reason, is as a thank you for the listeners. It gives them a more hands on experience with the music they’ve grown to love by supporting their local radio station. I’ve been to many of these kinds of shows in my life, and I generally think that they are a pretty good time. Sometimes, though, they can be a bit too erratic to truly enjoy, much like most commercial radio. If there was any problem with this year’s show, it’s that the music was, stylistically, a little too varied for a common night. When the two bands that share the most similar influences are Vampire Weekend and AFI, you know it’s going to be a strange night.

Continue reading “Live 105’s Not So Silent Night: Muse, AFI, 30 Seconds To Mars, Vampire Weekend, Metric, Scene Of Action at Oracle Arena, 12/11/09”

Show Review: The Gossip with Passion Pit & Hey Champ at The Mezzanine, 12/10/09

When it’s a dual-headlining show I never know what to expect. Despite the great line-up, this one had two strikes against it to start: being at the Mezzanine and being sponsored by Live105. Not that I hate either of those things in and of themselves, but both tend to bring out people I am not so fond of. That was definitely true again, as a member of the Spinning Platters senior staff was accosted by a drunk concert-goer, making the evening seem unsuccessful and awful. But everything that went wrong in the Passion Pit portion of the evening (drunk bitches included), all became better in The Gossip portion. Passion Pit should take notes. Continue reading “Show Review: The Gossip with Passion Pit & Hey Champ at The Mezzanine, 12/10/09”

Show Review: Arctic Monkeys with Screaming Females at Terminal 5, 12/10/09

Taking a clear photo when getting pushed by rabid Arctic Monkeys fans? Nope.

I’m in New York this week for some family stuff, and dinner went too late on Thursday night to try to pay over $100 for some Broadway tickets, so while looking for something to do, I came across the Arctic Monkeys show happening across town. A friend of mine had flown out from San Francisco solely to see their two shows in town, and I asked her what the scene was like, and she made it sound like a good idea. So my first full Arctic Monkeys set was going to be a spur of the moment thing. Continue reading “Show Review: Arctic Monkeys with Screaming Females at Terminal 5, 12/10/09”

Show Review: Marié Digby with Alpha Rev at The Hotel Utah, 12/9/09

Marie captured in scattered blacks and whites

The Hotel Utah may very well have been an early stop on a train just beginning its journey. One might have considered Marié Digby’s cover of Rihanna’s “Umbrella” in 2007, which is now up to almost fifteen million views on YouTube, a sort of one destination train. Yes I did say fifteen million. A gold record is five hundred thousand units sold, and platinum is one million. Granted these were one time views and not purchases, but if I owned a record label, those are numbers I simply could not ignore. Since 2007, Marié Digby has been busy releasing two albums, one in Japanese, to some fanfare. While her new record, Breathing Underwater might eventually garner up enough interest to fill up a train station, it was enough to completely stuff a venue up so much so, that you could not even get into the room she was performing in. Continue reading “Show Review: Marié Digby with Alpha Rev at The Hotel Utah, 12/9/09”

Forever The Sickest Kids with The Rocket Summer at The Regency Center, 12/4/09

It’s fair to say that the target audience for tonight at The Regency Grand Ballroom is significantly younger then normal. In fact, looking at the fans that were up against the barricade for tonight’s show every single one of them had the mark of under 21, big Sharpied-on X’s on the tops of both their hands. Continue reading “Forever The Sickest Kids with The Rocket Summer at The Regency Center, 12/4/09”

Show Review: J. Tillman with Pearly Gate Music at The Great American Music Hall, 12/4/09

Things started off looking kind of gloomy over at The Great American. It was 8:30pm, the opening act was set to go on at 9:00pm and there were approximately 30 people in the room (I counted). Sitting by myself at one of the tables that lined the floor, I couldn’t help but sulk at the fact that I was basically working on a Friday night. It took all my energy to keep from putting my head down on the table and taking a nap. Even my trusty sidekick, iPhone, couldn’t help ease my growing boredom. I shirked out of my responsibilities of doing any research prior to the show, so I basically had no idea what to expect. Continue reading “Show Review: J. Tillman with Pearly Gate Music at The Great American Music Hall, 12/4/09”