Results tagged “concert”

When watching a concert, there are many thoughts that may pop into one's head. "Oh, this is pretty cool, maybe I'll buy their album." Or, "This is putting me to sleep." When I saw Shonen Knife live at Johnny Brenda's on Monday, the thought that immediately popped into my head was, "I wish I could bake this band in to a cake so I could eat them!" That's a weird thing to say, but Naoko (guitar), Etsuko (drums) and Ritsuko (bass) would totally understand I meant it as a compliment.

Today we were supposed to share with you, dear readers, an interview with guitarist Jade Puget. However, Jade's quotes were rather unfortunately sacrificed to the recordings gods (thanks a lot technology), so we're not able to recount everything we got to talk about, but we can give you some small nuggets of info along with our take on AFI's new album, Crash Love.

The members of Band of Skulls are interesting above and beyond their music. Bassist/Vocalist Emma Richardson competed on the English swimming team and won a few medals for her country. Drummer Matt Hayward played tennis with John McEnroe. Guitarist/Vocalist (and Kurt Cobain look alike) Russell Marsden cheated accidental death twice. But more interesting than that, there haven't been many times I've seen members of a headlining band hanging out in the crowd to watch their openers. And yet at the Band of Skulls show at the North Star I saw just that. Richardson lounged directly in front of me with a bottle of water and her tour manager on his laptap sitting by her side. Hayward and Marsden bounced around the sparsely populated room. Fans journeyed over for autographs that were graciously signed. If my car hadn't been so far away I would have gone to grab my copy of Baby Darling Doll Face Honey for a quick signature, too. I was almost worried the venue wouldn't fill up for the talented Brits, but of course by the time they took the stage went on there were plenty of people both upstairs and down.

        

Here at Phillyist, we've been to our fair share of punk shows. We're well aware that there are certain rules that go along with attending said shows. Even though we know better, we broke almost all the rules at Rise Against/Rancid/Billy Talent. Inappropriate footwear? Check. Expensive sunglasses and camera that might get crushed in a mosh pit? Check. Thank god we brought along our ability to fling guys twice our size into the pit for our own protection.

There's something awesome about a catchy, poppy song that can't get out of your head. Unfortunately, most of the people who make these songs turn out to be one-hit wonders (anybody remember Matthew Wilder?)—but we've got a good feeling about the two bands playing the World Café Live this Friday. One of them, Peter Bjorn and John proved their awesome singability with "Young Folks," a song so good that you knew you'd never hear from the band again—until the announcement that the band was releasing a new album, Living Thing, which, on first listen, sounds just as awesome as their last. (That'd be Writer's Block—the album "Young Folks" lived on.)

The Trocadero is the kind of venue that has something for everyone: all ages are welcome downstairs, and those of us who like to enjoy a brew with our rock can congregate upstairs. This dynamic was especially interesting on Saturday night, when we caught New Found Glory touring in support of their most recent effort, Not Without a Fight (Amazon).

Valentine's Day came and went. Roses were bought and hearts were filled and, probably, some were broken. Cupid choked a little on the rough city air and kept right on flying, gone for another year. Trash cans filled with empty cardboard hearts, once full of chocolate, now bereft of their rich and sumptuous treats.

Let's all take a moment to be nostalgic for the eighties—and Paul Simon's hair...

Holiday concerts can sometimes be hokey, but not Raul Malo's Christmas Party. Every year it is always a fun mix of Christmas tunes (including an awesome version of "Marshmallow World"), new tunes from Raul, and favorite hits from The Mavericks (Malo's former band). This year it's being held at the historic Scottish Rite Auditorium in Collingswood, NJ. Two years ago the concert was a festive, romantic event at The Broadway Theatre of Pitman. Last year, it was held at the Borgata's Music Box Theater, where things got a little out of hand with one drunken concert goer jumping up on stage, dancing around, and later declaring herself part of the show. Either way, it's obvious that Raul is a crowd-pleaser, so head on over to the Scottish Rite on Saturday to see for yourself. Aside from the Christmas songs, he's sure to play a varied lineup of his own songs, mixed with the standards that he covers so well (Michael Bublé should take a lesson from Raul.) Even if you are not very familiar with Raul's music, you will surely enjoy the evening.

Fun around town, for $10 or less:

This Saturday night head on down to Tritone for the release party of Matthue Roth's new novel Losers.

On this day in 1967, the Outer Space Treaty went into effect. Since then, over 90 countries have agreed that our planet's nuclear annihilation will have to originate on the surface thereof rather than from orbiting weapons of mass destruction.

         

Honestly, we were feeling pretty ho-hum heading into Sunday night's Death Cab for Cutie (MySpace) set at the House of Blues in Atlantic City. The poker table had not been kind to us, dealing us a seemingly endless string of Q-5, 9-2, K-3, etc. type hands. Our meal at the House of Blues restaurant was meh—nothing more, nothing less. And St. Vincent was pretty much dreadful. So we were in need of a pick-me-up, but Death Cab's music isn't exactly cheerful. Fortunately, what the band lacks in sunshine, it makes up for with plain old quality and consistency.

Now that it's the fall, and we won't have to deal with annoying shore traffic, we think it's about high time we made another trip to Atlantic City. All we need is a good excuse to do so, because, frankly, the lure of the blackjack table alone isn't enough to overcome our desire to save the gas and toll money. So we need a little added incentive. Thankfully, we're getting it, and from one of our favorite bands, no less: Death Cab for Cutie (MySpace) will be playing the House of Blues Atlantic City at Showboat on Sunday night.

           

We've always liked Weezer (MySpace) a lot, but never considered them one of our absolute favorite bands. This is largely because, with the exception of the Blue Album, there's quite a bit of inconsistency in their releases. The albums tend to have three or four killer tracks, two or three pretty good songs, and three or four complete throwaways. But we were cautiously optimistic about Saturday's Weezer show at the Susquehanna Bank Center, because we figured there was a possibility that the setlist would include most of the band's standout songs and keep the throwaways to a minimum.

For those of you who were lucky enough to catch Rachael Yamagata last year during her three nights of residency shows at Johnny Brenda's, you probably already have your tickets for tomorrow night. And for those of you who have only heard Rachael's gorgeous voice on CD or on the radio, find a way to beg, borrow or steal yourself a ticket to her sold out Johnny Brenda's show to see her perform live. It's a moral imperative.

Fun around town, for $10 or less:

It's a bit difficult for us to convey just how psyched we are for Sunday night's concert at the North Star Bar. Not one, but two of our favorite bands will hitting town to provide some much-needed respite from the 24-7 Olympics coverage we've been drowning in. So some good brew, some good bar food, and some excellent tunes sounds like just what we need to get us out of the house (not to mention get us mentally calm before launching into the work week on Monday). And oh, how excellent the tunes will be, what with Paper Rival (MySpace) and The Honorary Title (MySpace) on the schedule. (And we've actually compared Paper Rival to The Honorary Title on these very pages, so we're especially excited about this show.)

          

How about this unseasonably cool weather? Saturday night was pretty much a perfect night for a concert. So our only concern heading into the Maroon 5/Counting Crows show was whether the performers would measure up to the ideal setting.

Fresh off a triumphant performance at last weekend’s Lollapalooza festival in Chicago, in which lead singer Kele Okereke sported a fetching Barack Obama T-shirt, English dance-rock foursome Bloc Party rolls into town tonight to play a sold-out show at the TLA, along with opening act Does It Offend You, Yeah? and its annoying, grammar-check-baffling moniker. This show should be anticipated for several reasons. First, there is the opportunity to see if Bloc Party’s sailor’s-knot-tight rhythms can possibly hold up under live scrutiny. Second, there is the opportunity to find out if seemingly elastic drummer Matt Tong really does have eight arms, as his speedy beat-keeping suggests. Third, there is the opportunity to find out if the inclusion of the song “Helicopter,” off of the group’s 2005 debut LP Silent Alarm, on Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock causes the crowd to be as annoyingly young as this Phillyist is expecting. And finally, there is the opportunity to find out if the warm-up band with the pretentious comma and question mark in its name is as good as their headliners would suggest. Not only are the Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom natives opening for Bloc Party here, but they will be opening for Nine Inch Nails when they make their end-of-the-month trek through Philly. Hey, who knows, maybe they are strong enough to make you clap your hands and say yeah? Early prediction: a band with two strong albums and a third in the making, along with one that has been compared to Justice and Digitalism? Should be aah-ite.

English duo The Ting Tings have blasted onto the scene this year with an energetic brand of '80s-reminiscent dance-punk. Their debut album, We Started Nothing, debuted at Number 1 on the UK albums chart, while their song “That’s Not My Name” also reached the top spot on the trend-setting nation’s list of best-selling singles. However, the band should not be taken as an overnight sensation. Singer-guitarist Katie White was part of a defunct girl group named TKO, which was not able to attain a record contract, and drummer Jules De Martino was in a Christian band named Babakoto as far back as when Huey Lewis was still cool. After meeting as part of one more failed endeavor—Dear Eskiimo, anyone?—the pair finally seem to have found the right formula. Armed with a tour bus full of buzz-worthy reviews—OK, maybe not Pitchfork, but they are really grouchy!!!—and a single that graced an April 2008 iPod advertising campaign (the Chic-meets-Blondie electro funk diddy “Shut Up and Let Me Go”), the band hits Johnny Brenda’s tonight for a sold out show featuring Philadelphia indie rock group Pattern Is Movement.

Is there any band that injects as many catchy hooks into songs about suicide, murder, and all other manners of tragedy as Alkaline Trio (MySpace)? Not that we can think of offhand. Like many other people, we first heard of Alkaline Trio about five years ago, thanks to their ironically anti-establishment mainstream breakthrough, "We've Had Enough." We liked their sound from pretty much moment one, but didn't really get hooked until they rocked our socks off at last year's Warped Tour. We've been looking forward to seeing Alkaline Trio again—and for longer than a half hour—for almost a year now, so we were naturally thrilled when we found out they'd be playing at The Fillmore at the TLA tomorrow night in support of their latest album, . And apparently, we weren't the only ones who were excited; the show is sold out. But all that means is that you should see what you can find in the way of people looking to unload tickets on craigslist, because this is definitely a show worth checking out.

Generally, we don't listen to the Jimmy Buffett or The Beach Boys in January. We don't listen to the Charlie Brown Christmas album in the summer. (Although, Eric Hutchinson would probably disagree with us.) And normally, we don't really listen to Type O Negative (MySpace) except for roughly a month before and after Halloween. We've seen them twice before on Halloween night, or the night before Halloween, and we believe that time of the year fits their music perfectly. But we also thoroughly believe that rigid adherence to most rules is unhealthy, so we're willing to bend a bit if the right opportunity presents itself.

It's hot. Balls hot. Only way to cool off is with a nice pint. Tonight take a nice cool draft of electroclash with Ladytron's show at the TLA at the Fillmore. Understated vocals and pulsating electronic beats are a cool salve for your overworked, overheated brain. Plus you haven't made that drunken stumble from Tattooed Mom's to the TLA in a while. Check out the first single from Ladytron's latest album, Velocifero, here, and then hear it live tonight.

, but we still weren't expecting much. Not that we thought Locksley would be bad. We just kinda figured that they wouldn't give us much reason to endorse their live performance versus just saying, "Locksley's CD is worth picking up." Fortunately, Locksley proved us wrong.

Have you ever gotten into a debate about music with a hardcore Rush (MySpace) fan? If not, here's what you need to do. Next time you feel compelled to take your life in your hands, try to convince a Rush fan that Rush is not the greatest band ever. The loyalty they engender in their fans is something unmatched by, well, anyone. We'd always looked on Rush fans' fervor with a grain of salt, no more or less justified than any other person's love of their favorite band. We're just going to come out and say it: we were dead wrong.

When we arrived at the Atlantic City House of Blues in the Showboat casino, we were pretty sure we knew what to expect. And we were going to be damn upset if we didn't get it. After all, sitting in the parking lot known as 676 East on a summer Friday had caused our trip from Center City to take two hours. So we weren't in the best mood, because we had to scramble to check in at Harrah's, where we were staying, grab a super-quick bite to eat, and haul ass over to the concert. We just didn't really have time to settle in at all. But, we arrived at the House of Blues with high hopes for an awesome, or maybe just an awesomely bad, time with Bret Michaels.

How's work going for you this week? Are you feeling a little bummed that it's Wednesday? The memory of last weekend has faded, and you've still got a couple days of work to plow through before you get to this weekend, right? You're feeling a little down, and you could really use a bit of a pick-me-up. Luckily for you, you'll be able to get exactly what you need at the Fillmore at the TLA tonight.