Category Archives: concert review

Watch the best live concert video ever made!

by 00s, 80's, 90s, all time favorites, concert review, pop, rock • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I’m not sure how their u2label hasn’t found this on YouTube and taken it down yet (and maybe after my posting it they will), but here is one of the best live concert films ever made. It’s from U2′s 2001 Elevation Tour, live from Boston.

To me, this was U2 in its prime. They were at the peak of their career and influence, they had just put out their album All That You Can’t Leave Behind which was chock full of classics from beginning to end, they had a creative new stage layout and HD and multi-camera recording technique in place. Socially, Bono was in the midst of his big ONE Campaign against poverty and his global influence was booming. Historically, it was a significant moment as well because the albums popularity and the Elevation Tour took place around the tragedy of 9/11 and for many living in NYC at the time, myself included, the album became a soundtrack to the healing process.

This video was certainly an all time favorite of mine and I urge you to watch it in its entirety, especially when he sings “With or Without You” and ruins the night for whatever guy came with the girl he brings up on stage! hahaha

Coldplay tribute to Beastie Boys’ MCA

by 80's, concert review, cover, hip hop, rap, rock • Tags: , , , ,

The music world lost an icon this week with the passing of Beastie Boys Adam “MCA” Yauch. When they released their first album, the legendary License to Ill, in 1986 many people had trouble taking this trio seriously. Some of that came from their sophmoric humor and antics, some came from the fact that it was three white kids from NY trying to fuse rock and roll and burgeoning rap music genre.  The result however was pure innovation that paved the way for so many others and in many ways led to the music we see so often today which mixes hip hop, rock and dance.

Their influence went far and wide, and that is exemplified below in a beautiful tribute by Coldplay on May 4, 2012 at the Hollywood Bowl. Just another reason to love Coldplay too.

Check it out.

CONCERT REVIEW: Drake, Tucson Arena, March 4, 2012

by concert review, hip hop, rap • Tags: , , , , , ,

Headed down to Tucson last night to check out Drake since that was incredibly the closest show to Phoenix (still wondering what touring company he is with that wasnt able to book a large venue here in PHX).  Anyhow, the show opened with Chase N. Cashe and A$AP Rocky…A$AP, representing Harlem (yayuh!) was solid, although they definitely used the cheap sound system for those performances which diminished any opportunity for their music to be heard, let alone appreciated.  The crowd was amped up for all the performances which was great to see, and when the lights dimmed for the last time as Drake was set to take the stage people went nuts.

I thought Drake’s performance was fantastic. Great visuals on stage, had a elaborate set of 100 TVs as his back drop, and came with a live band which is a must these days at hip hop shows.  The audio was great, he played everything the crowd wanted to hear from his mix tapes, to label albums to his collaborations with other artists. It was a well timed, well planned show and he kept the energy levels high even during his more R&B-ish tracks.  He also made the night of dozens of fans when he spent a solid 10 minutes of the show doing what I call “I see you’s”.  He basically stood on stage going around the arena giving shout outs to fans “I see you with the green shirt jumping around, I see you with the U of A shirt, etc”.  It was actually a lot of fun and now dozens of people can brag today that Drake gave them a special shout out at his show…a great way to interact with the fans and the first time Ive seen an artist do that. Well Done Drizzy :) Overall, Id definitely say it is a tour worth seeing.  Check out a video I shot during the show.

An unforgettable Jay Z / Linkin Park moment…

by concert review, hip hop, rock • Tags: , , , , , ,

So I think it was 2007, but I was in NYC and got invited to go to the Linkin Park concert at Madison Square Garden. I saw them once at the LA Coliseum when they opened for Metallica and they crushed it, so I was really excited to see them again.

I went to the show with two friends, one of whom was the VP of Music and Talent for MTV and the other who was the label rep for Linkin Park at Warner Brothers.  Before the show the 3 of us decided to grab a drink at a bar underneath MSG so we headed down there a little before the show was to start. About 15 min into drinks, a guy walks into the bar named John Meneilly who is Jay Z’s business manager and someone we all knew and had worked with, so he stopped over to join us for a moment.  We were shooting the breeze and lo and behold who walks in a few minutes later is Jay Z himself, who also stopped by and said hi. That was all really cool in itself, and then we all walked in to see the show and got to our seats just after Linkin Park’s first song. I didnt put two and two together at the moment because I was so excited about seeing Jay and being at the show, but soon something amazing was about to happen…

After Linkin Park finished what was an incredible set, totally reaching and exceeding my expectations, they went offstage as the crowd cheered for them to come on and perform an encore. Did they ever!  Not only did they come back, but who walks on stage with them but Jay Z! He ended up performing with them the ENTIRE “Collision Course” album that they did together, and I think it ended up being the only time they did that whole set together outside the time they originally performed it at The Roxy in LA for our MTV show.  At the end of the day it ended up being one of the best live shows I ever saw.

Here is one of the classics from that partnership, “Numb”.

Management

by all time favorites, concert review, indie rock • Tags: , , , ,

A lot of songs have great lyrics, melodies, beats and so on, and that is why we love them. I often gravitate towards songs that either have a complexity to them and/or I really connect with the songwriting. In the case of MGMT, I think its the former that drew me to them. Their songs are irreverent and often complex, but not over done. Lyrically though, I must admit that in many cases I remain confused. Check out two of my favorite MGMT songs, “Time To Pretend” (which to me was a theme song of sorts to life in the East Village/Lower East Side of NYC) and “Weekend Wars” (whose lyrics are included on the YouTube page for the video and offer a glimpse as to why I simply dont get their lyrics at times). I saw them play a show in NYC before I moved which was a blast. It included the 2AM Club gents and sitting in the grass in Prospect Park in Brooklyn on a nice July night catching the show. Not much better than the outdoor summer concert in NYC. Check em out, and enjoy!

 

Time To Pretend

Weekend Wars

Un-Pump Your Kicks

by concert review, indie rock • Tags: , , ,

I know everyone knows “Pumped Up Kicks” from Foster The People’s album, but while that track was commercially successful there were a number of othere great songs on the album. Along with “Houdini” this song “Waste” was one of my favorites. I saw them perform in the fall of 2011 at The Venue at Scottsdale and didnt have many expectations, but they were fantastic live. There coming back to Phoenix in the summer of 2012 for anyone interested.

Slick Chrome American Prince

by all time favorites, concert review, rock • Tags: , ,

Its not mystery to those that know me that I do love The Killers. Whether its seeing them live, playing their songs in Rockband or putting them on party mixes…Ive found a way to incorporate this Vegas band into most aspects of my life.

While many people choose to either love them or hate them, I choose the former because just because they are a mainstream pop/rock band, that doesnt mean their songwriting skills should be dismissed.  Brandon Flowers is able to tell stories, often using deep analogies, of many emotions he deals with that are common to most.  My favorite example of this is “Dustland Fairytale.”

In this track he, very powerfully in my mind, tells his parents love story from its origins to the present day, and in doing so shares both the innocence of long ago and the fear that comes along with the people you love growing in age.  One of the verses that really stands out to me is when he says:

And the decades disappear

Like sinking ships, but we persevere

God gives us hope, but we still fear

What we dont know, the mind is poison

And is there really a more beautiful way to describe how someone you love is aging and the fear that sits in that “poison mind” of ours of losing that person than:

So Cinderalla in a party dress

But she was looking for her nightgown

Or when he closes the song describing his fear of losing someone he cares so much about with:

Now Cinderalla dont you go to sleep

Its such a bitter form of refuge

Dont you see the kingdoms under siege

And everybody needs you

Let me know what you think. Are you willing to give The Killers another look???

Ive seen them in NYC, LA, DC and even as the featured entertainment at one of our MTV conferences in Vegas when Pure first opened at Caesars Palace and they never seem to disappoint. If they come to your city, trust me and check them out!

Dont Stop!

by dance, euro, concert review • Tags: , , , , ,

If there is a band that defined the year of my life when I moved back to NYC from LA in 2005 it has to be Brazilian Girls. I used to see these guys (actually 3 guys and 1 girl lead singer, none from Brazil) almost weekly at one of my favorite speakeasy clubs in the East Village, Nublu, whose entrance was marked by a blue light which was the only distinction between it and an old alleyway.

Their music will bring you somewhere, where that is is up to you. For me, it was this small dark venue where they performed without a stage, so you literally would walk almost through them to get from the bar to the dance floor.  The crowd was either European, South American or the NYC music/arts crowd. The unifying factor in the crowd was a desire to disconnect, dance and appreciate the art of music and dance. On countless occasions I saw people join in with their instruments to play along, or conversely you may see their lead singer Sabina join the patrons on the dancefloor. No matter what, you were transported to a place where music and dance ruled and nothing else mattered.

I had the good fortune of spending New Years Eve 2005/2006 with this crew and it proved to be a night of epic proportions.  Enjoy the song and check out the others from their self titled debut album.

Most Beautiful Song Ever Written?

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by all time favorites, concert review, indie rock • Tags: ,

I think it could be.

If not song, it certainly contains one of my favorite verses ever, but more on that later…

The story of Ray LaMontagne has come to be one of those urban myths in the music industry as to what degree of adversity he faced throughout his life.  By all accounts this is true: he grew up in a transient family who was by all means poor, was ruthlessly picked on which accounts for his painfully introverted personality both on and off stage and taught himself how to play the guitar and write music without any formal training or desire to be a star.  There are different versions of how he was discovered, but as I was told before seeing his first show in LA back in 2005 I believe, he was living in a small town in New England and was reluctantly coaxed into playing at the mayors birthday party at which there was a friend of the mayors in attendance who worked for Chrysalis publishing.  The guy fell in love with the music and did/tried to lock him into a publishing deal first and then help find a label.  Who knows whats true, but the bottom line is the end product is raw, honest, painful at times, soul bearing music.

From the number of songs written about women or given women’s names, Im sure there has been some heartache in his life in that area but often times with Ray it morphs into gut wrenching honesty that has a universality to it that I think most people can connect with to some degree.

In “Empty”, to me he paints a picture of quiet, rolling hills and green and tan farmland underneath a calm, blue summer sky.  You can almost see the white country home with linen curtains fluttering in the window as he delivers what I think is one of the most beautifully written lyrics from a song:

Lay your blouse across the chair

Let fall the flowers from your hair

And kiss me with that country mouth so plain

Outside the rain is tapping on the leaves

To me it sounds like they’re applauding us

The quiet love we make.

Simple, but beautiful and connecting.

Ive seen Ray preform now a number of times, including getting to take my mom to his second album release party at Hiro Lounge in New York in 2006. His live shows do not disappoint, although seeing him perform in Phoenix in 2010 was probably my least favorite show of his as he is meant to play in smaller intimate venues so you can connect with him and his music as it was intended.

Would love to hear your thoughts on his works though…