Jul 01
AndrewFolk, Indie Rock
That She & Him (Zooey Deschanel & M. Ward respectively) are darlings of the indie circuit is without a doubt. A sold-out all-ages show at the House of Blues Boston and an audience that was down with the duo’s plush, folky arrangements was all the proof necessary.
The first half of the set was rough. Deschanel seemed to have somewhere else to be and rushed through a dozen tracks in nearly as many minutes. They were pitch perfect, sounding just like the album and it was so disconnected, I might as well have been listening to the album. Great studio tracks like Lingering Still and Black Hole came off lacking any sort of warmth. Deschanel channels Peggy Lee like nobody’s business. Waid played his slide guitar with a bottle of Sam Summer, and just about everyone took turns on the keyboard at one point or another. With the Chapin Sisters providing background vocals – and a stellar backing band – it should have been anything but boring.
To be fair, the sound at the show wasn’t great. The backing vocals were hard to hear except when they shouted and given the talents of the Chapin Sisters, they weren’t given much to do anyway. The energy from the stage was lackluster at first and the audience was attentive the way you would be watching television. But it wasn’t until they sent away the band that the remarkable attraction between Deschanel and Waid was apparent. And then sparks flew.
A three-song solo set just She and Him, including a gorgeous duet on Smokey Robinson’s You Really Got a Hold On Me, changed up the energy of the show and proved why people love this band. After that, even with the band back on stage, the entire template for the night shifted. Deschanel seemed to have warmed up, and the audience warmed up to her. Hearing Waid’s unique, muscular vocals was a treat (shame he waited to the last song of the night to take up a lead vocal on a rollickin’ Roll Over Beethoven). They rocked out once or twice too, notably on their singles – a spastic, thumping version of In the Sun and an enthusiastic run through of This is Not a Test. Everything worked better in the second half, including a playful interlude during Sweet Darlin’ where Waid and Deschanel played the same keyboard simultaneously.
The show ended on a proper high. It was a shame they couldn’t capture that energy from the start, but they got there all the same.
She & Him setlist
Black Hole
Thieves
Over It Over Again
Lingering Still
Take It Back
Home
Sentimental Heart
Change Is Hard
I Thought I Saw Your Face Today
Brand New Shoes
You Really Got a Hold on Me
Would You Like to Take a Walk?
Magic Trick
Gonna Get Along Without You Now
In The Sun
Don’t Look Back
This Is Not a Test
Riding In My Car
I Was Made For You
Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?
Sweet Darlin’
Encore
Fools Rush In
Roll Over Beethoven
Jun 30
DaraCollege Rock, New Wave
lead singer’s voice is some mix of Peter Murphy and David Bowie which sounds amazing but they’re not – they never particularly struck me in the 1990s and I figured out why once I saw them live some 20 years later – he’s just too happy – lead singer Richard Butler, looking either very old or wasted from years of drugs, wore a little scarf and danced with little glad-hands on the stage – this is not the sort of behavior I want from Peter-Murphy-voiced musicians – I’m being too hard on them though – lots of their songs are evocative of old times – I don’t know their body of work well enough to be critical (been together since the 1970s!) but they also don’t motivate me to find out more – there’s something one toned/bland about their music
Jun 30
DaraModern Rock, New Wave
I hear mention of this band a lot but didn’t know their material or even their sound – I can’t stand Interpol and they’re definitely in that vein but I could stand them – sleek, dark and shiny – I always imagined them as a bunch of polished young rock stars but they were 2 pleasingly unaverage looking guys – they ought to be ashamed for ripping off Joy Division but I guess that’s the way of the world
Jun 08
AndrewAlternative Rock
On the first night of their 20 Years of Bloodletting Tour, Concrete Blonde was ferocious. Playing at the newly minted Royale Boston (a venue that’s been around forever despite a few name changes), the band, Johnette Napolitano, Jim Mankey and drummer Gabriel Ramirez Quezada, walked casually on stage and then launched into a mind-blowing ninety minute set.
It’s been six years since the band reunited on stage, and the key word this time around was: relaxed. The band seemed comfortable, even suffering opening night snafus like forgetting lyrics on the song True or having to convo to decide which key Run Run Run started in. Napolitano claimed, in jest, that they were old enough that it was hard to remember how to play the songs or to even see the setlist at her feet. The first five songs came off the album Bloodletting released originally in 1990, including a extended version of Bloodletting and the band’s only number one single, Joey.
Hit songs were well represented, covering almost every album including the 1989 hit God is a Bullet and 1992 single Someday? On Mexican Moon, Napolitano put down the bass and just belted the love song with Mankey on an acoustic guitar as accompaniment. For a brief moment, the tone of the performance softened, letting her incomparable vocals shine through and giving her a chance to work the stage with dance. Concrete Blonde even played two of their many divine covers, Everybody Knows (a Leonard Cohen track that was featured on the Pump Up the Volume soundtrack back in the day) and the Jimi Hendrix tune Little Wing.
Easily the best songs of the night where the hardest played, breathtaking renditions of I Don’t Need a Hero and When I Was a Fool that you felt in your brain and in your bones. This was Napolitano at her very best, reaching out through the songs to enthrall every person in the room. Ghost of a Texas Ladies Man and the main set closer Your Haunted Head seared into your brain. Then the band went back to the album that brought them here tonight and closed the show with a soulful encore of Tomorrow, Wendy.
Setlist
Bloodletting
Joey
I Don’t Need a Hero
Days and Days
Lullabye
Scene of a Perfect Crime
Someday?
Everybody Knows
When I Was A Fool
God is a Bullet
Run Run Run
Little Wing
Heal It Up
Mexican Moon
Happy Birthday
True
Ghost of a Texas Ladies Man
The Sky is a Poisonous Garden
Your Haunted Head
Encore
Tomorrow, Wendy
May 28
DaraIndie Rock, Psychedelic
[Chicago, IL] when I hear this band, I hear hugeness, stages, and screaming in my head, and I genuinely thought this band was HUGE – “Double Vision” is one of my favorite songs of the last few years and they sound HUGE and everytime one of their songs come on I think ‘I like this band so much,’ but the crowd was modest and they were just average joes – apparently, this is achieved through the use of voice echoing, distorted guitars, walls of sound, and good musicianship … it’s a little contrived but it’s pretty effective – in person, they’re difficult for me to describe – although I had them classified in my head as garage punk, in person, they made me think of hard shoegaze and indie rock – I don’t know… they were cute and that song inspires me everytime and their sound pleases me immensely even if it’s kind of cheating – I particularly like the guy’s voice and their psychy-pop ethic – plus a female guitarist, always good, and she was appropriately detached and cool without being a hipster at all
May 28
DaraCollege Rock, Hard Rock, Punk
[Seattle, WA] so most of the bands tonight ended up being former members of the audience, easily identifiable since the audience started out pretty sparse – this band ended up being the guy next to me who had the shirt I was crushing on (‘No Trends’) and the guy in the ‘NoTV’ shirt – as you might expect, people who don’t believe in trends aren’t necessarily a lot of fun – the music was a distinct departure from everything else, no feedback and no distortion, just clanging slapping-your-face guitar, bass and drums – they intentionally chose notes that didn’t quite fit together and weren’t exactly rhythmic or melodic – more of a marching discordant sound – NoTV was the mid-40s bald-headed singer, and he sang spoken voice a la Henry Rollins – NoTrends was the bassist, proficient, but the theological ringleader from my perspective at least – the band was a cross between Primus and Cake but that’s making them sound better than they were – they were abrasive and unpleasant – so I was all prepared to give this band one of the worst reviews (at least for a group of good musicians) that I have in a long time, until they suddenly changed face and started playing faster and harder and were fantastic – so I conclude that they’re your average intently nihilistic hardcore band, who having aged, can’t turn to country or to writing ballads, so turn to slowed down hardcore that sounds like crap
May 28
DaraHard Rock, Indie Rock
[Austin, TX] two skinny guys on guitars and a girl on drums – I enjoyed them but don’t have a lot to say about them – I guess they were garage punk but with shoegaze or noise rock overtones – music was minorly intense but felt simple – the bassist did go into nice groovy finger-intensive leads – what defines them to me is the intensity of their lead singer (on guitar) – he spent 10 minutes telling the sound man to turn up the monitors on the vocals and then harped on it in between songs too – amusingly, intense guy kept turning to the drummer girl to start songs with a 4-3-2-1 whatever and she (supposedly suffering from strep throat) messed it up like three times
May 28
DaraGarage Rock, Hard Rock, Punk
[Nashville, TN] I liked this band, partly because I am a sucker for female bands (there was one guy (on bass?)) – so I kept thinking that they were a mix between riot girrrl music (Babes in Toyland) and retro-garage stuff like the Donnas but finally came to the conclusion that they were basically a total ripoff of The Runaways – the girls, very young, were in high-waisted shorts and ugly 80s ankle-boots – take note, little hipsters
May 08
DaraCountry, Garage Rock, Punk
[?] I am a fat sucker for this band despite their silly rockstar posturing – they act like pretentious partiers and play like rockers and it works – it’s the over-the-top tongue-in-cheekness of it that makes it hilarious and then suddenly I’m kind of believing it – even falling for the sexy LA sunglasses at night – plus, like other long-playing bands, they’re just so fast and professional and… tight (I don’t know another word for it) – they totally reminded me of The Hellacopters (I forgot they did last time too) which is such a good good thing – if you’re going to rock, then don’t mess around = garage punk
May 07
DaraCollege Rock, Jazz, Rock and Roll, Rockabilly
[California now] surprisingly probably my favorite show – former bassist of The Stray Cats – he conveniently played some of their stuff and then did a sort of homage to Sun Records’ musicians – while same-old same-old rockabilly bands get tiresome tiresome, hearing his very apt renditions of Stray Cats’ songs reminded me how un-same of a band they were – cool darkness, style, distinctive pacing with the bass lines – they were a great band and he translated that to us all by himself (with a backing band) – and then he reminded me, something I only learned upon moving to Texas, of the pivotal-ness of Sun Records’ musicians, a good lesson for any young person
Apr 15
AndrewAlternative Rock
Concrete Blonde will tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the release of Bloodletting.
Concrete Blonde 20 Years of Bloodletting Tour
Jun 8 Boston, MA Royale Boston Write a review
Jun 10 New York, NY Webster Hall Write a review
Jun 11 Columbus, OH Newport Music Hall Write a review
Jun 12 Chicago, IL The Vic Write a review
Jun 15 Washington D.C. 9:30 Club Write a review
Jun 16 Atlanta, GA Variety Playhouse Write a review
Jun 18 Dallas, TX Granada Theatre Write a review
Jun 19 Austin, TX Emo’s Write a review
Jun 21 Arvada, CO Arvada Center for the Arts Write a review
Jun 22 Salt Lake City, UT The Depot Write a review
Jun 24 Seattle WA Showbox Write a review
Jun 26 San Francisco, CA Grand Ballroom-Regency Write a review
Jun 28 Hollywood, CA Henry Fonda Theatre Write a review
Concert information is up to date at time of publication
Mar 20
DaraElectronic, Indie Rock, Modern Rock
[Knoxville, TN] on my and Rockboy’s lists – it was just too cold to listen properly – they were fine but I was more impressed by WhoMadeWho – this band was similar, electro-rock, but they were more indie and less bombast – this band deserves more listen
Mar 20
DaraElectronic, Modern Rock
[Copenhagen, Denmark] it was so fiercely cold, I was out of my mind, but from what I could tell, this band was fantastic – three in-synch dance rocking guys from Denmark – they played hard-driving precise disco rock – they joked when they switched form dance rock to electro rock that they were stepping back a year
Mar 20
DaraCollege Rock, Modern Rock, Rock and Roll, World Music
[Dublin, Ireland] average-joe middle-aged guys doing very enjoyable raucous rock that was a mixture of U2 and Irish pub songs
Mar 20
DaraBlues, Jazz, Modern Rock, Pop
[Stockholm, Sweden] out of all of the many female-vocalist semi-retro bands we saw (thanks to the Rockboy), this was my favorite – Miss Li had a genuine edge and sang creatively and enthusiastically while pounding on her little keyboard – she didn’t seem like she was acting but like she was really just that passionate and that much fun – they’re really less retro revival and more indie pop inspired by retro jazz and blues – she was backed by a guitar, drums, a sax (I think?) and an upright bass, but we particularly enjoyed the two very Swedish looking gents – oddly, we’d tried to see her earlier at an outside stage, even willing to brave ridiculous 40 degree weather, and been told she’d gone home due to the weather
Mar 19
DaraHard Rock, Modern Rock, Punk
[San Antonio, TX] this was honestly the one show I felt ‘dragged to’ by Rockboy but it ended up being a top show – I am officially in love with the gorgeous Latina tattooed lead singer – I figured this out because she referenced him, but I think her voice is totally influenced by Jeff Buckley, both edgy power vocalists with lots of emotion – they’re an indescribable girl rock band – there’s pop punk in there, latin rock, and just plain hard rock – the bands you adore but can’t sum up quickly are bands that are going to endure– upon further research, the drummer is the lead singer’s sister and the guitarist is the drummer’s lover – because they’ve got the musical talent, the stage presence, the creativity, and the street cred that makes you wonder about them, they’ve opened for a lot and lot of verifiably huge bands – she referenced Jefferson High in a song and I fantasized that it was a poor inner city school but it’s a fine arts magnet school, which.. is.. fine.. – lastly, a woman whose name was indistinguishable to us at first, came up to accompany them on The Runaways “Cherry Bomb” – come to find out, it was a former member of The Runaways, Cherie Currie, which was exciting
Mar 19
DaraHard Rock, Punk, Thrash
[Japan] top show – these girls, as go the Japanese, rocked hard and loud, but with verve and style and depth – the music would stop and shift up or down and then left or right – the vocals went from romantic gothic wailing to screamo screaming – dead ringers for Babes in Toyland which is a beautiful thing – amusing part was that they rocked smart and hard in little mono-colored t-shirts and crisp bobs – I adore this band
Mar 19
DaraElectronic, Indie Rock
[Vancouver, Canada] this show was so hilarious I could hardly stand it and it wasn’t even intentional but a perfect storm of the setting and the band and the audience… – so I had this band listed as a mid-level possible show from my research but we decided to go because Rockboy had heard that SPIN listed them as 1 of 7 top unheard bands… and because we were exhausted and it was close to where we were – so it’s the worst venue ever, a little alcove in a crappy Mexican restaurant with timid waitresses crossing right in front of the stage throughout the entire set – the first audience members to arrive were two pre-pubescent boys who were totally subdued but clearly thrilled to be at a rock show – they tried to stand as coolly as they could which amounted to being totally stiff and uncomfortable except for when they’d shake their heads to shag out the hair as 00s middle school boys do – the band was unremarkable looking except that the female co-vocalist had crazy curls and a cute little body and an obviously fun attitude AND the lead singer was a dead ringer for Jack Black – he was genuinely funny, talking to the crowd with his little Canadian accent and apologizing for the band’s drunkenness – the band sounded like a pretty decent version of The Faint and a frumpy stocky jokey guy fronting them was just an incongruous fit: he’d switch from stomping his feet and hopping around with his voice altered into a robot’s voice to telling us stories about beavers from Canada – plus, being drunkish and all on Texas margaritas, he’d step into the ‘crowd’ of 10 people and sing in their faces or follow the waitresses around – he was so cute and harmless, it was like a family mixer instead of a rock show – when he stomped up right in front of the 2 boys, they did their best to look unmoved even though it was clear they were simultaneously horrified and thrilled – when he danced in front of the mid-teen emo-girl, she totally lost it and actually broke her aloofness to giggle – when he danced after the waitresses, they screamed a little and hurried faster on their way – when he strayed into the rooms of the restaurant where people were eating, he was totally ignored and returned to the stage a little defeated – his antics (and the great music) eventually drew a crowd of 15-20 people but it seemed to be people who’d been dining there for the most part – but suddenly everybody was dancing including the kid with flip flops and a backpack on and the curly haired girl with a military jacket and the sweet laughing woman with her boyfriend – at one point, he had to yell at his bandmate who had joined the dancing crowd, “Hey, you’re in the band, remember?!” – so, in sum, I say listen to this band, but recorded rather than live, because otherwise you’ll just laugh
Mar 19
DaraModern Rock, Punk, Thrash
[Japan] I think rock must be a required class for elementary students in Japan because the Japanese bands are always tight as hell and hard, including the girls, the tiny little girls – so this was another band of tiny hot Japanese girls who shredded like men – they were great but nothing inventive or remarkable
Mar 19
DaraAmericana, Goth, Rockabilly
[Denver, CO] a top show – they were weird in just the right ways – their frontman was a white guy with a gold tooth, a baseball cap and thick-framed glasses – their guitarist and co-vocalist was a gothic man with slicked back hair and dark-rimmed eyes who made me want to laugh because he seemed to see the humor in being a gothic man – I had a bad view but there was an extremely short man playing a double-necked red velvet guitar and supposedly an old old man playing a lap steel – the more unremarkable bass player and drummer round up the group – just looking at them immediately made me think of Nick Cave and gothic country and rockabilly – and so went their sound, a gothic hyped up Americana with gospel influences – dynamic stage presence and a seemingly adoring fan base – the two vocalists together inspired all kinds of visions of debauchery – also got a visit from HBomb and TheSpunkyOne
Mar 19
DaraArena Rock, Pop, Punk, Rock and Roll
[New Orleans, LA] a band Rockboy discovered in SXSW research that led us to Jay Reatard’s tribute – they were described as an inspiration for Jay in the little pamphlet memorializing him – they were not Reatard-punk but totally illuminated his sound – they were perfect power pop with a punk edge and I mean perfect – they were a terrific band – the lead singer was a non-shirt wearing sweaty large man and it didn’t even matter – they were loud and fast and hard but had perfect melodies and lyrics and hooks – a top show
Mar 19
DaraPunk, Rock and Roll
[Tempe, AZ] a rosy light was cast over the whole day when we chanced upon a Jay Reatard tribute because of a band Rockboy wanted to see – this band was verbatim Reatard-punk (I’m making it an official genre to save energy) and thus very good – supposedly one of their members was also in Lost Sounds (my favorite Jay band) and Destruction Unit (a band Jay produced) and is also a member of Tokyo Electron
Mar 19
DaraModern Rock, Pop
[Alliance, OH] lite alt-rock – anthem rock with big sound like Coldplay – boring
Mar 19
DaraPop, Punk
[Richmond, VA] all I wanted to do was see The XX but somehow everything was a mess and I was watching some slick emo band – I appreciated their musical prowess and their confidence but just not my style – the best part was the free Taco Bell tacos offered by women walking around with them in original wrappers on upheld trays – a lame but tasty attempt by this venue trying hard to pretend it was elite
Mar 18
DaraCollege Rock, Indie Rock, Modern Rock
[Santa Cruz, CA] I have a small crush on David Lowery, both for this band and Cracker – the music was great, didn’t realize how many songs I knew from this band, but the man disappointed me – he flinched and stopped at one point, looking as if he’d been hit by something, but it turned out he’d somehow been shocked by the microphone – once he recovered (30 sec later), he started tapping his guitar to the microphone to show us the sparks and yelling that we should never return to this place – eventually one of the venue’s employees ran up to the stage to apologize but David grabbed his beer from his hand, poured it out on the stage, and pushed the employee, telling the crowd “See, he’s drinking while on the job” – he had a right to be upset but he took it too far? – they finished their set but ended by saying there wasn’t time for Cracker to follow as scheduled
Mar 18
DaraDance, Electronic, Funk, New Wave
[New York, NY] queer culture band – I kind of loved them – so odd looking I thought they were clueless foreigners but I think that’s their intention – crazy lyrics like how it’s really expensive to buy babies so s/he’s just going to ‘fuck all her friends’ until she has a little baby – it sounds crass but s/he made it cute – electronic disco punk
Mar 18
DaraFolk, Modern Rock
[Portland, OR] beautiful, some sort of Irish flavor, complicated and sophisticated indie folk
Mar 18
DaraNew Wave, World Music
[Lafayette, LA] they made me smile big when I saw them open for The Dirty Projectors with WomanInCharge and they were as delightful this go around – Afro pop hyped up into an organized dance frenzy – talented musicians and so happy and in love with their music – they might be faking it but I’m a believer
Mar 18
DaraModern Rock, Pop
[Long Beach, CA] three small boys playing indie psych pop with vocals that were high-pitched like Bright Eyes – they were complicated and good but maybe overshadowed in the sea of harder and more exciting live shows
Mar 18
DaraPunk, Rock and Roll
[Yahama, Nebraska though I swear he used to be from Arizona] this was very confusing as the band sounded nothing like what I knew and loved by Digital Leather but sounded all like Jay Reatard, even down to the singer never revealing his face what for the hair in his face – only difference was his voice wasn’t as schizophrenic as Jay’s – then I remembered Jay Reatard produced Digital Leather – this was the beginning of a string of Reatard-themed events – I know their original material was pretty explicitly homosexual and I think the bassist and guitarist kissed mid-song but there was no reaction in the crowd so maybe I was hallucinating
Mar 18
DaraArt Rock, Funk
[Indianapolis, IN] I understand that hipsters get annoying with their anti-style style, but it wasn’t clear if this band’s style was a step further (anti-any-style-at-all style) or genuine unstylishness – similarly, their music was rebellious and disobeyed melody and sense = no wave – the kind of funky tribal no wave that you can just about dance to – they had heavy drum beats with a dancing guitar – synth drops and strong vocals
Mar 18
DaraIndie Rock, Pop, Psychedelic
[Montreal, Canada] repetitive lite indie rock band with psychedelic touches – I was unmoved but may have been the setting because they’re pretty easy on the ear as per myspace
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