Posts tagged with live music pics

05/03/2012

Frankie Rose / DIIV @ The Magic Stick Lounge 5.1.12

On the way to last night’s show, I rolled my windows down for approximately 30 seconds and wasn’t freezing. Yes, that’s right, summer concert season is officially here. In fact, it was just announced today that Beach House, something close to my personal holy grail of bands I wanted to see this year, would be coming to town. But let’s not jump too far into the future without reflecting on the recent past. On a historic day in which Dive became DIIV, I got to see the artists formerly known as Dive and now known as DIIV on a Tuesday night along with Frankie Rose with 20-30 others, at most.

DIIV was perfect for a Tuesday night and rocked way harder than I expected. Oversized Bill Cosby sweaters notwithstanding, the foursome had all the energy I could have asked for, a pair of Chucks that I can’t believe are still held together, and some songs that I really, really like. Pretty excited for them to have an album. I wanted to buy a record but there was strangely no merch at all from either artist. But what most surprised me about DIIV (via guitar sticker) is that they are all or part conspiracy theorists, actual or perceived.

Frankie Rose was perfectly chatty and I kind of want to hang out with her romantically. She seems to be a really big Oakland Raiders fan and her favorite beer is Bud Light Lime. Though sometimes seeming slightly disinterested (totally fair given it being one of the last few shows of a long tour), I was still very glad to have seen her and she just might be making her way up my list of indie crushes. There was one particular song that was extremely Crystal Stilts-y. I wonder if I’ll ever try to figure out which one that was. Sounds and sights.



DIIV





Frankie Rose


0 comments

03/31/2012

Chairlift / Nite Jewel @ The Magic Stick 3.29.12

Well it’s been some time since we’ve done one of these, hasn’t it? The main reason was that I haven’t gone to a proper show since the Tycho show back on January 11. Might be the longest stretch I’ve gone in several years. After my discovery that Chairlift is awesome a few months back, I was more than excited to see them live and Nite Jewel opening up was a welcome bonus. Shoutout to the girl standing next to me while we waited for Chairlift to start who reprimanded me for checking my Twitter because she wanted to experience real life. We actually became friends after that even though she was super something undetermined, aka not sober in one way or another.

The show was fantastic and just as danceable as I’d hoped for. Accidentally got a little drunk, which led to me only taking pictures of the babes who lead both of the bands I saw that night in the inadequate lighting that is the Magic Stick. I also experienced a miserable Friday at work due to the dranks and the fact that I clearly can’t stay out late on school nights anymore. But I’m glad I stayed til the end because the very last song of the night was my favoritest Chairlift song “Amanaemonesia”. So listen to some songs by these bands and look at a few pictures of Caroline Polachek and Ramona Gonzalez (babes). Let’s do this more often, k?




Nite Jewel

Chairlift

Oh, and these are my friends.

7 comments

11/06/2011

SBTRKT @ Bottom Lounge 11.4.11

Oh, SBTRKT. If you read this blog or follow me on Twitter, then you know that this year’s SBTRKT album is high up on my list of favorite albums of the year, so when I heard he was coming to Bottom Lounge in Chicago, and on a Friday night no less, I knew I had no choice but to make the drive out there. I dug the album in its recorded state, but the live version blew me away. The songs all took on a new life with the live vocals of Sampha (who sounds even better in person) and SBTRKT playing a drumset in addition to his computers and knobs. Of course my favorite was “Something Goes Right”, a song with an already sick beat in its chorus that was even better with the drums thrown in. Even the songs with pre-recorded vocals (like “Wildfire” for example) had the whole crowd moving. Can’t remember seeing every person from front to back dancing like they were at this show. I would have loved to take more pictures (aka not blurry and from more than one angle), but my heart was telling me that I needed to enjoy this moment and dancing as hard as I could, which I did, was my top priority on this night. As a friend said, this show could have been half as good as it was and I still would have left completely satisfied.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.










0 comments

10/12/2011

Beirut @ Royal Oak Music Theatre 10.11.11

Fall concert season is officially in full swing and with an opening series of shows with Explosions In The Sky, Braids and Beirut followed by Zola Jesus, Dum Dum Girls, Purity Ring, Com Truise and never letting up for a few weeks – the list goes on and on – I can tell already that it’s going to be a good one. Last evening’s Beirut show was really enjoyable on so many levels. Perhaps it was that I’m a huge sucker for a horns section, or perhaps it was the great lighting that went perfectly with the tunes, or perhaps it was just that I’d only seen Beirut from afar at the 2009 Pitchfork Festival and it’s a completely different experience within the confines of a theater. But whatever it was, I never wanted it to end. That being said, I was pretty excited when it ended around 10:30PM, because I’m old and like going home early. The new tunes from The Rip Tide sounded great live and the classic tunes were just as inspired as I’d expected. There was even a 10-15 person intense dance sesh happening in the back of the theater (poorly pictured below). I always thought “Postcards From Italy” was their “big hit”, but based on the crowd’s screaming, it turns out it’s really “Nantes”, and I’m on board with that. Let’s do this again some time soon, Zach Condon et al. Here are some photographs I took on this smile-inducing Tuesday evening.

Beirut – Santa Fe by Revolver USA

1 comments

10/10/2011

Explosions In The Sky/Wye Oak @ Royal Oak Music Theater 10.8.11

It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon in Chicago back in 2008. I was at my first Lollapalooza and was faced with the choice between Explosions In The Sky on one end of the park and Brand New on the other end. Being the festival amateur that I was at the time, I decided to just stick with my friends and see Brand New even though I knew nothing about them. Long story short, the Brand New frontman stormed off the stage 20 minutes into the set and I later heard from multiple people how mind-blowing the Explosions In The Sky set was. Lesson learned.

After giving my friends hell about it ever since then, I was finally granted some redemption when the group played this past weekend at the Royal Oak Music Theater. When I find out that Wye Oak (whose high fives I collected after their set) were the openers, that was just the icing on the cake. Check out some pictures below from this pretty nice little Saturday night.

Trembling Hands by Explosions in the Sky

0 comments

10/04/2011

All Tomorrow’s Parties I’ll Be Your Mirror curated by Portishead, Asbury Park, NJ 9.30 – 10.2.11 in Pictures

As my musical taste has expanded, I’ve been trying to hit up some of the slightly more off the beaten path festivals that are out there, having been to many of the mega festivals already. So this year, a few of us decided we were going to head to the Jersey shore, more specifically Asbury Park, to check out one of the much lauded festivals thrown by All Tomorrow’s Parties. This would be the inaugural US version of the I’ll Be Your Mirror festival and this time it was curated by none other than Portishead and it had a vibe unlike any festival I’ve been to before. If you aren’t familiar, the festival organizers essentially give the headliners, in this case Portishead, a budget and the band actually selects several of the acts that play for the weekend.

The Paramount Theater, Convention Hall, Asbury Lanes and The Berkeley Hotel served as the venues, all conveniently within walking distance of each other, and hosted an extremely diverse set of bands over the three days. In this case, there really was something for everyone (check out the full lineup here). In addition to Portishead’s two headlining spots on Saturday and Sunday, Jeff Mangum also played two highly anticipated solo sets in the Paramount Theater. I went into the festival only knowing about 25% of the acts and didn’t see one set I didn’t love all weekend.

One of the more interesting facets of the fest is that there aren’t really any VIPs — that is, the artists mix and mingle with the crowd just like the rest of us. It creates an atmosphere where everyone is comfortable talking to one another and I met more great people than I have at any other festival, including many of my favorite artists. Even though Asbury Park is not the greatest area in the world outside of the shore, the boardwalk is great and the venues felt just perfect for a festival like this one. For many of us, the nights ended with dance parties as Asbury Lanes, one of the coolest bowling alleys around thats got a great vibe and is bursting at the seams with art from local artists, with a stage occupying the central lanes while festival goers bowled on either side. But like I like to do, instead of talking about it, just check out a ton of pictures from the weekend after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

1 comments

09/30/2011

Fleet Foxes / The Walkmen @ Hill Auditorium 9.29.11

Writing to you live from Eatontown, New Jersey, where we’ve just checked into our hotel for All Tomorrow’s Parties I’ll Be Your Mirror curated by Portishead! How’s that for a long festival title? There will be a nice in depth photo recap of that event coming next week, but until then, let’s discuss the greatness I got to witness last night, that being Fleet Foxes and The Walkmen at the beautiful Hill Auditorium in my very own college town of Ann Arbor, the perfect setting for a show such as this.

I’ve been waiting for this show for months and was excited to see the renovated Hill Auditorium (well, renovated years ago, but haven’t been since then), though I was sad to see that the large walking area right in front of the stage, perfect for picture taking, no longer existed, hence every picture from 2 angles. But anyway, I’d seen The Walkmen once before at the Pike Room, a tiny venue, where they completely went full force the whole time. This show was completely different, but also really great in its own way. They focused on lots of their slower and quieter tunes, even omitting their bigger tunes like “The Rat” and “In The New Year”. But their more subdued sound was the perfect one for the incredible acoustics of Hill Auditorium, and it all came through crystal clear. This show made me remember why I loved The Walkmen and exactly how much I did love them. In fact, I listened to them the entire flight here today.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Fleet Foxes took the stage shortly after much to the delight of the crowd full of plaid, plaits and parents. I’d only seen the band once before, at the 2008 Pitchfork Fest in the middle of a hot, sticky day, and their sound was incredible even then. The acoustics of Hill Auditorium again worked to the benefit of the band, not that they needed any extra help, because perhaps the most impressive part of their live show is their ability to harmonize in a live setting and sound nearly as solid as the recorded versions of their songs. The stripped down “Montezuma”, with just an acoustic guitar and three sets of vocals, was a highlight for me, as was “Bedouin Dress”, my current favorite track from Helplessness Blues and “Ragged Wood”, the one song from their self-titled album that I hadn’t heard live before. And with the band’s 7 members, many playing multiple instruments, the sound was bigger than big. I think the MVP award goes to the band member whose name I don’t know, but I think I counted 6 different instruments that he played throughout the show, including upright bass, tenor sax, flute and guitar – a bunch of instruments that don’t really have much to do with each other. The worst part of the show was that I had to restrain myself from singing along to every song at the top of my lungs. Instead, I think I just sang quietly along with my hand over my mouth so nobody could see, because that’s cool too.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

2 comments

08/04/2011

Ellie Goulding / Bag Raiders @ Royal Oak Music Theater 8.2.11

On Tuesday night, I got to see the lovely Ellie Goulding and the energetic Bag Raiders and take pictures of both of them. I’d been a fan of Bag Raiders, but their music just translated so perfectly to the live setting that I’m now 10x more of a fan than I was before. And Ellie. Oh, Ellie. Don’t know what else to say about her, except that she’s all around great, seems like one of the nicest people ever and has got a great set of gams. Whoever put this double bill together was on the money. You’ll notice the pictures below are only of Ellie, and that’s because I’m a bad photographer and came home to find all of my Bag Raiders pics in a haze of blur. Anyway, enjoy the survivors.

Bag Raiders – Sunlight

Ellie Goulding – Guns and Horses (Monsieur Adi Remix)

5 comments
« Older Entries