If I were being entirely objective about it, the Killers would get an “A.” The vocals were solid, the production values were excellent, and the capacity crowd loved every minute.
From my biased perspective, though, I have to go with “A-.” I could hide behind the fact that the palm tree backdrop was awkward or that frontman Brandon Flowers did not seem to have much of a personality. I’ll give the real reason, but admit it’s a bit embarrassing: the show was too mainstream. The audio felt slick, the visuals felt packaged, and the crowd seemed like they had come in the hopes the band could make “Mr. Brightside” sound as good as it did on the season finale of Laguna Beach. I’m aware this whole analysis reeks of indie snobbery, but after two mind-blowing shows the month before, this couldn’t measure up.
That being said, I am still a big Killers fan and thoroughly enjoyed the show. It was great to finally hear “Human,” “All These Things I’ve Done,” and “Somebody Told Me” live – and to spend the whole concert in the company of one Bradford Taylor Howard.
Grade: A-
Saturday, August 29, 2009
33 -- Oasis – Saturday, December 18, 2008 – The Patriot Center – Fairfax, VA
“A sane Smashing Pumpkins.”
That’s the comparison that entered my mind early on in the Oasis concert, which featured the surprising success of yet another band I was lukewarm about before the show. Like Smashing Pumpkins, Oasis relied on elaborate instrumentals and trippy color schemes to create a distinctive mood. They looked to stimulate the audience’s mind not their heart rates; they tried to elicit knowing head bobs not emphatic fist pumps. Also like SP, they did not pretend to be best friends with everyone in the crowd. They were occasionally vocal, and always respectful, but did not condescend.
The main difference between the two was that Oasis was mentally stable. They did not send shivers down my spine or conjure images of cannibalism in my brain. They were successful because they knew exactly what they were – psychedelic, not psychotic.
Grade: A
Endnotes: (1) Famous or not, “Champagne Supernova” was the top song. The lighting, melody, atmosphere – superb. (2) I was disappointed that I missed Ryan Adams, the opening band. Check out “You Will Always Be the Same” and “Desire” to find out why.
That’s the comparison that entered my mind early on in the Oasis concert, which featured the surprising success of yet another band I was lukewarm about before the show. Like Smashing Pumpkins, Oasis relied on elaborate instrumentals and trippy color schemes to create a distinctive mood. They looked to stimulate the audience’s mind not their heart rates; they tried to elicit knowing head bobs not emphatic fist pumps. Also like SP, they did not pretend to be best friends with everyone in the crowd. They were occasionally vocal, and always respectful, but did not condescend.
The main difference between the two was that Oasis was mentally stable. They did not send shivers down my spine or conjure images of cannibalism in my brain. They were successful because they knew exactly what they were – psychedelic, not psychotic.
Grade: A
Endnotes: (1) Famous or not, “Champagne Supernova” was the top song. The lighting, melody, atmosphere – superb. (2) I was disappointed that I missed Ryan Adams, the opening band. Check out “You Will Always Be the Same” and “Desire” to find out why.
32 -- AC/DC – Saturday, November 15, 2008 – Verizon Center – Washington, DC
Smashing Pumpkins and AC/DC could both be considered hard rock. The similarities basically end there. Smashing Pumpkins is all about experimentation, variety, and high degree of difficulty. AC/DC is all about consistency, dependability, and the lowest common denominator. Smashing Pumpkins’ darkness is genuine; its frontman is an actual rebel. AC/DC’s rebelliousness feels more like a brand – i.e. we’re the kings of misogyny! Come join in our stupidity!
Even if you hate this mindset, though, and the crowd it attracts, you probably would have loved the show. If you had been at the Verizon Center that Saturday in November, you too would have grinned. You would not have been able to resist the ninety minutes of loud, crude, explosive fun. Guitarist Brian Johnson jumped onto a dangling rope and swung on a giant steel bell during “Hell’s Bells,” guitarist Angus Young spun around on the floor as he powered through a seven-minute solo during “Let There Be Rock,” and all band members courageously played on as literal fireballs and cannonballs went off throughout the show! So, you know, a tender acapella performance.
In the end, I don’t see myself attending monster truck rallies any time soon, but it’s good to know I can occasionally enjoy the musical equivalent.
Grade: A-
Even if you hate this mindset, though, and the crowd it attracts, you probably would have loved the show. If you had been at the Verizon Center that Saturday in November, you too would have grinned. You would not have been able to resist the ninety minutes of loud, crude, explosive fun. Guitarist Brian Johnson jumped onto a dangling rope and swung on a giant steel bell during “Hell’s Bells,” guitarist Angus Young spun around on the floor as he powered through a seven-minute solo during “Let There Be Rock,” and all band members courageously played on as literal fireballs and cannonballs went off throughout the show! So, you know, a tender acapella performance.
In the end, I don’t see myself attending monster truck rallies any time soon, but it’s good to know I can occasionally enjoy the musical equivalent.
Grade: A-
Friday, August 7, 2009
31 -- Smashing Pumpkins -- Tuesday, November 11, 2008 – DAR Constitution Hall – DC
Rise Against broke all the rules. Smashing Pumpkins re-broke them. The shock with Rise Against had been that I could love a concert even if I did not have a command of all the songs. It had also been groundbreaking because I did not even like a lot of the songs I knew. With Smashing Pumpkins, though, I had a good command of virtually all of the songs, and did not like virtually any of them!
And yet, live, it was magical. Black magic, to be sure, a sinister potion brewed deep inside Billy Corgan’s special circle of Hell…but still magic.
And yet, live, it was magical. Black magic, to be sure, a sinister potion brewed deep inside Billy Corgan’s special circle of Hell…but still magic.
The first thing I noticed when I got to my seat was the blinding light. My seat was to the side of the stage to begin with, never technically a good place to be, and now I had neon bulbs blasting directly into my eye!
And yet, strangely, that was a positive sign. As I tilted my head to avoid a direct blast, I noticed that the colors bent. If I shifted slightly to the left, red beams collided with blue beams. If I shifted slightly to the right, blue collided with green. As I continue to shift and tilt, I noticed more and more intricate combinations. After a few minutes, the thought hit me: I was about to watch a concert through a kaleidoscope!
Once I grew accustomed to the colors schemes, I noticed that the music was just as trippy. It’d veer from jagged guitar to rumbling piano to manic drums and back – often within the same song. The only constant was Corgan’s menacing voice and demonic presence. He’d whisper, shriek, groan, sing in tune – anything to put the audience on edge.
And yet, strangely, that was a positive sign. As I tilted my head to avoid a direct blast, I noticed that the colors bent. If I shifted slightly to the left, red beams collided with blue beams. If I shifted slightly to the right, blue collided with green. As I continue to shift and tilt, I noticed more and more intricate combinations. After a few minutes, the thought hit me: I was about to watch a concert through a kaleidoscope!
Once I grew accustomed to the colors schemes, I noticed that the music was just as trippy. It’d veer from jagged guitar to rumbling piano to manic drums and back – often within the same song. The only constant was Corgan’s menacing voice and demonic presence. He’d whisper, shriek, groan, sing in tune – anything to put the audience on edge.
As the show wore on, it seemed as if he was consciously going a step further – trying to alienate certain segments of the crowd. It brought me back to college, studying this guy Antonin Artaud, architect of Theater of Cruelty, who felt that the world had become so distressed and divided, the only way to fairly approach art was to alienate your own audience. I doubt this is exactly what Corgan was going for; Artaud seems like a more pretentious maniac. I do think he was trying to cast off any casual fans, however – i.e. the type that sat one row behind me griping, “What is this? When is he going to play a hit?”
The thing that was bizarre about the whole situation was that I was neither casual nor devoted. I had listened to the band’s entire discography and still hated them! At least with Rise Against, I’d liked an entire album beforehand (Audience of One). With Smashing Pumpkins, it was a limited to one song (“Everlasting Gaze”)! Equally strange was the fact that I’d lambasted Ben Folds a month earlier at the same venue for the reason cited by the guy behind me: “What is he doing? When is he going to play anything known?”
And yet, there I was, having a drug-free out-of-body experience. The performance was just so bold, so different, I didn’t see how anyone with half an imagination could refuse. Blackness would envelop the entire auditorium; then a dozen neon bursts would shine through. Vocally, he’d thrash through five bone-chilling verses and end on a falsetto. The scary part was, the falsetto was more frightening. The three-minute baseline, the five-minute guitar riff, the eleven-minute tribute to Pink Floyd…..it was indulgent, outrageous…and irresistible.
Corgan did not say a word to the audience before, during, or after the encore. He simply came back on, performed three especially Satanic / euphoric songs, and walked off. Some probably considered his behavior profoundly arrogant – especially when he walked off to massive guitar feedback – which seemed designed to drown out audience applause. After months of cookie-cutter concerts, though, I found it inspiring. You get so used to fake band-crowd connections, to forgone-conclusion final songs, that you want someone to go against the grain. You want to leave a concert and revel in the infinite strangeness of it all…
The thing that was bizarre about the whole situation was that I was neither casual nor devoted. I had listened to the band’s entire discography and still hated them! At least with Rise Against, I’d liked an entire album beforehand (Audience of One). With Smashing Pumpkins, it was a limited to one song (“Everlasting Gaze”)! Equally strange was the fact that I’d lambasted Ben Folds a month earlier at the same venue for the reason cited by the guy behind me: “What is he doing? When is he going to play anything known?”
And yet, there I was, having a drug-free out-of-body experience. The performance was just so bold, so different, I didn’t see how anyone with half an imagination could refuse. Blackness would envelop the entire auditorium; then a dozen neon bursts would shine through. Vocally, he’d thrash through five bone-chilling verses and end on a falsetto. The scary part was, the falsetto was more frightening. The three-minute baseline, the five-minute guitar riff, the eleven-minute tribute to Pink Floyd…..it was indulgent, outrageous…and irresistible.
Corgan did not say a word to the audience before, during, or after the encore. He simply came back on, performed three especially Satanic / euphoric songs, and walked off. Some probably considered his behavior profoundly arrogant – especially when he walked off to massive guitar feedback – which seemed designed to drown out audience applause. After months of cookie-cutter concerts, though, I found it inspiring. You get so used to fake band-crowd connections, to forgone-conclusion final songs, that you want someone to go against the grain. You want to leave a concert and revel in the infinite strangeness of it all…
Grade: A+
30 -- The Who -- Monday, November 3, 2008 -- Verizon Center – Washington, DC
Meh. My initial AIM Profile grade was a “B,” so I’ll stick with that, but I don’t remember being particularly impressed. Three main things disappointed me: (1) you could often tell their age, (2) I did not come to the concert strongly connecting with a lot of the songs, and (3) they did not play either of the songs I connected to most.
62-year-old frontman Pete Townshend certainly did not embarrass himself, and could show whippersnappers like Jack Johnson and The New Rockers a few things about performing live. That being said, it did seem like Townshend was going through the motions at times. Because he had been a world renowned rock star for forty years, his version of going through the motions was still engaging…but it didn’t have a lot of urgency. Springsteen takes songs most people have heard twenty times before and makes them new. Townshend simply replayed those songs. The renditions were always competent – but rarely dynamic.
Dropping in obscure songs on a Greatest Hits tour is generally a good idea. It keeps band members fresh and pays respect to true fans. The only problem in this case was that I was not a true fan. I’d gone to the show because they were a seminal group and I loved Tommy, but I certainly did not have a command of all their albums. I prepped as much as I could the week beforehand, but it’s hard to make up for forty years in that amount of time. ;)
Considering they had forty years of songs to choose from, it was understandable they could not pick everyone’s favorites. But why couldn’t they play “Slip Kid”?! And “Christmas”?! These songs had the best beats of any I heard in Europe. “Slip Kid”’s flicked back and forth according to the zigs and zags in the young rascal’s life. “Christmas”’s relied on an extreme turn two minutes into song, shifting from a sappy family celebration…to a fearful search for young Tommy, referenced in the songs before. Couldn’t they have played at least one of them? Oh, well, at least I got “Pinball Wizard” and “Baba O’Reilly” – and first-rate versions at that.
Grade: B
62-year-old frontman Pete Townshend certainly did not embarrass himself, and could show whippersnappers like Jack Johnson and The New Rockers a few things about performing live. That being said, it did seem like Townshend was going through the motions at times. Because he had been a world renowned rock star for forty years, his version of going through the motions was still engaging…but it didn’t have a lot of urgency. Springsteen takes songs most people have heard twenty times before and makes them new. Townshend simply replayed those songs. The renditions were always competent – but rarely dynamic.
Dropping in obscure songs on a Greatest Hits tour is generally a good idea. It keeps band members fresh and pays respect to true fans. The only problem in this case was that I was not a true fan. I’d gone to the show because they were a seminal group and I loved Tommy, but I certainly did not have a command of all their albums. I prepped as much as I could the week beforehand, but it’s hard to make up for forty years in that amount of time. ;)
Considering they had forty years of songs to choose from, it was understandable they could not pick everyone’s favorites. But why couldn’t they play “Slip Kid”?! And “Christmas”?! These songs had the best beats of any I heard in Europe. “Slip Kid”’s flicked back and forth according to the zigs and zags in the young rascal’s life. “Christmas”’s relied on an extreme turn two minutes into song, shifting from a sappy family celebration…to a fearful search for young Tommy, referenced in the songs before. Couldn’t they have played at least one of them? Oh, well, at least I got “Pinball Wizard” and “Baba O’Reilly” – and first-rate versions at that.
Grade: B
Sunday, July 26, 2009
29 -- Coldplay -- Friday, October 31, 2008 -- Verizon Center – DC
I fell asleep. I bought my ticket, found my seat, settled into the first few songs, and fell asleep. Strangely, however, this was not a bad reflection on Coldplay. Coldplay actually put on a heckuva show, as I’ll describe in a minute. The problem was the concert was held on a Friday night during the school year. I sleep in Saturday mornings, so I’m good to go Saturday nights, but social events Friday…just don’t work. No matter what the activity or the venue – Gone Baby Gone at Tysons’ Corner, dinner and drinks at Adams’ Morgan, this concert at the Verizon Center – 5am catches up with me. A Metallica drummer could probably be standing in front of me pounding in both ears, and I’d still start to doze off.
All that being said, I was able to stay awake and enjoy most of the show. As you’d expect, “Viva La Vida” was the clear high point. From my upper deck seat, I could see the entire arena lift up and join in. There was head bobbing, thigh slapping, and actual rhythmic dancing – which was quite an accomplishment, given the sizable white male contingent. Other musical highlights included the “Clocks” laser light show, the twisty “Don’t Panic,” and the moody “Cemeteries of London.” Memorable non-musical moments included the unveiling of the giant disco ball Jack O’ Lantern, the mad dash band members made across half the arena into the crowd, and the fact that they pledged not to make any political statements two days before an election...right before implicitly sharing their support for Obama.
Grade: A-
All that being said, I was able to stay awake and enjoy most of the show. As you’d expect, “Viva La Vida” was the clear high point. From my upper deck seat, I could see the entire arena lift up and join in. There was head bobbing, thigh slapping, and actual rhythmic dancing – which was quite an accomplishment, given the sizable white male contingent. Other musical highlights included the “Clocks” laser light show, the twisty “Don’t Panic,” and the moody “Cemeteries of London.” Memorable non-musical moments included the unveiling of the giant disco ball Jack O’ Lantern, the mad dash band members made across half the arena into the crowd, and the fact that they pledged not to make any political statements two days before an election...right before implicitly sharing their support for Obama.
Grade: A-
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
27 & 28 -- Alkaline Trio & Rise Against -- Monday, October 13, 2008 -- Roseland Ballroom – NYC
Alkaline Trio
I would never want to be an opening act. After seeing Alkaline Trio open for Rise Against last October, I don’t know if I’d even want to see another opening act. No matter how good you are – even if you are an audience member’s favorite band – you’re destined to be second best. Most of the crowd won’t know you, and may even talk through your performance. The part of the crowd that does know you will be angry that you didn’t play half the songs they wanted to hear and angry that the other people won’t shut up. You just can’t win.
This is basically what happened to Alkaline Trio at Roseland Ballroom. It did not help that virtually all of the songs they played came from their latest album, the disappointingly poppy Agony and Irony. “I Found Away” has a nice verse-chorus contrast and “In Vein” has a strong beat, but overall, the album pales in comparison to earlier entries. “Help Me” and “Live Young, Die Fast” sound like Fall Out Boy rejects and “Love Love Kiss Kiss” is just embarrassing. A drippy ballad from the guys who brought you “Private Eye”? Really? If a bunch of edgy songs had been thrown into the mix, I probably would be able to embrace “Calling All Skeletons” – which is incredibly catchy, hand claps and all. As is, though, it sounded like the first of many sell out songs.
Grade: C+
Rise Against
I had far from given up on Alkaline Trio as musicians – one listen to “We’ve Had Enough” is all they’d need to return to form – but I had given up on the night. I was so embittered by the opening that I seriously considered leaving before the main show. I knew it would only go downhill from there. I had listened to all of the Rise Against albums and had difficulty remembering any of the songs, mainly because most of them were equally bad. Appeal to Reason had its moments but The Sufferer and the Witness was abrasive and Siren Song of the Counterculture was unlistenable. Who wants to listen to a bloodcurdling, lyricless wail for a minute and a half (i.e. “State of the Union”)? And how is that music?
Thank God I decided to stay. Over the next two hours, I witnessed a revolution. I watched as fundamental concert rules were broken; I listened as my basic assumptions about live shows were proven wrong. The first basic assumption that was proven wrong was the idea that I needed to know the songs beforehand to get anything out of them. The second was that I needed to like the songs I knew to get a lot out of them. And as I made clear in previous paragraph, I neither liked nor knew most Rise Against songs.
Standing there, though, among 3000 rabid Rise Against followers, was incredible. They pounded their fists, pounded their thighs, and spit out every word of every song. It was like being taken in by a pack of rhythmically gifted wolves. Or, more to the point, it was like attending a left-wing Hitler Youth rally. The whole Hitler Youth comparison is an exaggeration of course, but it did seem hilariously plausible when the band told the crowd to “RISE” – that is, to raise one arm up in unison! Hippie Fascists Unite!
As it turned out, the most powerful songs ended up being the least aggressive. Frontman Tim McIllrath spend the majority of the show running and screaming across the stage, so it made the moments in which he pulled back euphoric. On the album, “Hero of War,” a bitter acoustic tribute to soldiers in Iraq, was poignant. Performed live, I got chills. Nearly as moving were the covers he played for two of the opening bands, Thrice and Gaslight Anthem. Instead of feigning enthusiasm for the openers by saying their names and insisting how “great” they were, McIllrath actually introduced and performed two of their songs. I would have been in the stratosphere if he had also performed one of the Alkaline Trio songs, but you can’t have everything.
The final fundamental rule Rise Against broke was that you should not end on your biggest hit because it will feel like pandering. In other words, true fans (/people who have connected with you the entire show) will feel that you are cynically dragging out a song you have lost affection for long ago. (See Jimmy Eat World’s “The Middle,” Alkaline Trio’s “Radio,” Coldplay’s “Yellow,” etc.) Remarkably, Rise Against was able to end on “Prayer of the Refugee” and make it seem like a bold move. They knew just when to push forward and pull back. Moments before, they had played the Siren Song ballad “Swung Life Away.” Knowing the audience had sufficiently rested with that softer song, they tore into “Refugee” with a vengeance. The crowd, understandably, flipped out. They started jumping, thrusting, screaming…it was incredible.
I may not be a card-carrying member of the Fascist Hippie community, but rest assured: next time Rise Against comes to NY or DC, I am there.
Grade: A+
I would never want to be an opening act. After seeing Alkaline Trio open for Rise Against last October, I don’t know if I’d even want to see another opening act. No matter how good you are – even if you are an audience member’s favorite band – you’re destined to be second best. Most of the crowd won’t know you, and may even talk through your performance. The part of the crowd that does know you will be angry that you didn’t play half the songs they wanted to hear and angry that the other people won’t shut up. You just can’t win.
This is basically what happened to Alkaline Trio at Roseland Ballroom. It did not help that virtually all of the songs they played came from their latest album, the disappointingly poppy Agony and Irony. “I Found Away” has a nice verse-chorus contrast and “In Vein” has a strong beat, but overall, the album pales in comparison to earlier entries. “Help Me” and “Live Young, Die Fast” sound like Fall Out Boy rejects and “Love Love Kiss Kiss” is just embarrassing. A drippy ballad from the guys who brought you “Private Eye”? Really? If a bunch of edgy songs had been thrown into the mix, I probably would be able to embrace “Calling All Skeletons” – which is incredibly catchy, hand claps and all. As is, though, it sounded like the first of many sell out songs.
Grade: C+
Rise Against
I had far from given up on Alkaline Trio as musicians – one listen to “We’ve Had Enough” is all they’d need to return to form – but I had given up on the night. I was so embittered by the opening that I seriously considered leaving before the main show. I knew it would only go downhill from there. I had listened to all of the Rise Against albums and had difficulty remembering any of the songs, mainly because most of them were equally bad. Appeal to Reason had its moments but The Sufferer and the Witness was abrasive and Siren Song of the Counterculture was unlistenable. Who wants to listen to a bloodcurdling, lyricless wail for a minute and a half (i.e. “State of the Union”)? And how is that music?
Thank God I decided to stay. Over the next two hours, I witnessed a revolution. I watched as fundamental concert rules were broken; I listened as my basic assumptions about live shows were proven wrong. The first basic assumption that was proven wrong was the idea that I needed to know the songs beforehand to get anything out of them. The second was that I needed to like the songs I knew to get a lot out of them. And as I made clear in previous paragraph, I neither liked nor knew most Rise Against songs.
Standing there, though, among 3000 rabid Rise Against followers, was incredible. They pounded their fists, pounded their thighs, and spit out every word of every song. It was like being taken in by a pack of rhythmically gifted wolves. Or, more to the point, it was like attending a left-wing Hitler Youth rally. The whole Hitler Youth comparison is an exaggeration of course, but it did seem hilariously plausible when the band told the crowd to “RISE” – that is, to raise one arm up in unison! Hippie Fascists Unite!
As it turned out, the most powerful songs ended up being the least aggressive. Frontman Tim McIllrath spend the majority of the show running and screaming across the stage, so it made the moments in which he pulled back euphoric. On the album, “Hero of War,” a bitter acoustic tribute to soldiers in Iraq, was poignant. Performed live, I got chills. Nearly as moving were the covers he played for two of the opening bands, Thrice and Gaslight Anthem. Instead of feigning enthusiasm for the openers by saying their names and insisting how “great” they were, McIllrath actually introduced and performed two of their songs. I would have been in the stratosphere if he had also performed one of the Alkaline Trio songs, but you can’t have everything.
The final fundamental rule Rise Against broke was that you should not end on your biggest hit because it will feel like pandering. In other words, true fans (/people who have connected with you the entire show) will feel that you are cynically dragging out a song you have lost affection for long ago. (See Jimmy Eat World’s “The Middle,” Alkaline Trio’s “Radio,” Coldplay’s “Yellow,” etc.) Remarkably, Rise Against was able to end on “Prayer of the Refugee” and make it seem like a bold move. They knew just when to push forward and pull back. Moments before, they had played the Siren Song ballad “Swung Life Away.” Knowing the audience had sufficiently rested with that softer song, they tore into “Refugee” with a vengeance. The crowd, understandably, flipped out. They started jumping, thrusting, screaming…it was incredible.
I may not be a card-carrying member of the Fascist Hippie community, but rest assured: next time Rise Against comes to NY or DC, I am there.
Grade: A+
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