Rainer Maria, Epic Hero, and The Box Social

Geer, Brandon, and I took in a great show at the Annex (home of the worlds most obnoxious webpage) last night.

We were there to see Rainer Maria, after being quite happy with their show at Lollapalooza. They didn't dissapoint, putting on another very good live show. Aftwards, I bought the most recent CD and am listening to it this morning - good, but I'd have to say I much prefer them live.

While Rainer Maria put on a show that was exactly what I was looking for - the big story of the night were the performances delivered by the openers.

The Box Social (from "two blocks away") put on a great show. They had some really good stuff but just lacked some of the polish that they'll need to take the next step. It was a good show though - the three of us were all pretty impressed.

Next up was Epic Hero (from a suburb of St.Paul... Minneapolis, I think). They were great. The lead had a great voice and their all around talent level was quite high. I know that Brandon (and maybe Geer too) actually thought they were better than Rainer Maria. I'm not ready to say that but as we discussed during the show: they really had a lot of good stuff - if they just had a couple of "big hits" to go along with it, they could definitely sell some discs.

All three great bands for $11 + the place isn't crowded and is small (v.important to me, I find). Madison has so many great shows for cheap these days. Looking out even just a couple months there are so many that I want to see! Really looking forward to those!

Lollapalology

This is my apology for the crazy-huge posts I am about to put up about Lollapalooza.

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3

I started off meaning to only post about the good bands... then realized that there were like 5 bands in all three days combined that I didn't think were great - and several of those I wanted to talk about because I expected more!

Anyway, I imagine you'll either skip them completely or just do the old "Ctrl-F" to search for whatever band you're wondering about... that's fine though: enjoy!

Lollapalooza Day 3

The first act we saw Sunday (Day 3) was The Hold Steady - a solid start.

The next one was a really nice surpirse: Ben Kweller put on a great show that I think we were all very happy with. What's with the Aussie's at Lollapalooza? They all put on great shows!

Andrew Bird was one show that I really thought was going to sneak up on me. I thought this could be the one that really put on a great show out of "nowhere"... not quite. It was a solid show but I think he would be much much better suited to a smaller venue.

Next for sadly the biggest disapointment of the weekend: The Shins. I am definitely a fan of this band so I really thought I was in for a treat. The worst sound of the weekend (by the way, the rest of the weekend they did an INCREDIBLE job with making every band sound good) combined with what I think just wasn't that great of a live show really was disapointing.

The last two bands of the weekend were two of my favorite shows. Wilco owed me a good show. I am a pretty big fan but the only other show I had seen was quite disapointing. This one was a completely different story though - I REALLY was happy with the show and now I can happily say: they are very good live.

And, of course, how could we talk about Day 3 without talking about the festivals biggest act and closer: the Red Hot Chili Peppers. These guys put on a really great show and I am very glad to have been able to see them.

All-in-all Lollapalooza was an absolutely great time and I would definitely go again. The back-to-back grade A bands for three straight days was just as incredible as it seems like it should be! My expectations were definitely exceeded: thanks for organizing Brandon!

Lollapalooza Day 2

After spending the night at The Congress we were back at Grant Park for Day 2.

Just like the day before, Day 2 was great right off the bat.

The first band was one of the biggest surprises of the weekend. Rainer Maria left us wishing they had more than a 30 minute timeslot.

Nada Surf was up next - Another band that I wanted to see more than the rest of our crew and I wasn't disapointed. Not a 'blow your socks off' show but I was quite happy with it.

The Go! Team and Coheed And Cambria were both... eh.

And then, my friends, it was time for Wolfmother. This was THE best band of Lollapalooza. Their show was absolutely incredible - I can't believe they had to play an early afternoon timeslot. We were all looking forward to this one but Geer had been building it up all weekend. Enough that I was kind of worried that he was making too much of it... wrong, he was right on: this show was unbelievable. One of the best I've ever seen.

Gnarls Barkley put on a good show but immediately after Wolfmother - they didn't really get a fair shake. They did have the big honor of the weekend though as their monster hit "Crazy" was covered by at least 3 other bands.

Another one of the most surprising bands of the weekend were up next. The Dresden Dolls put on a very good show.

Two very good bands that I've been wanting to had the slots leading up to the closer:
The Flaming Lips and The New Pornographers both put on very good shows that I was happy with. The New Pornographers were a band that I was really expecting quite a bit of - and they delivered. Great shows.

I'd say that the Day 2 closer (Kanye West) was disapointing... that may not be completely fair since I don't think I really gave him a fair shot... but hey, it's still true that I ended up leaving it early - so...

That's Day 2 I guess

Lollapalooza Day 1

I had an awesome weekend at Lollapalooza, in Chicago. Dan McNeil, Tom Geer, Brandon Vloch, Jesse Consolatti and Joe (Brandon's brother in law) made the trip and none of us left disapointed - great music all weekend and the whole experience really did vastly exceed my expectations.

This post is only going to do Day1

Sound Team - A good start to the weekend. A solid band who (now that I look) has a pretty cool website for you to check out, including a recital with some magazine cutouts of themselves.

Next up were The Subways. These guys were awesome. I didn't think that I'd be seeing one of my favorite bands of the whole weekend at noon on the first day (this show ended up 4th in my overall rankings). The lead guitar and vocals was very animated - jumping up on the base drum and jumping off and just generally everywhere. The bass player was also all over the place. She was basically unwilling to forgo dancing just because she had to play at the same time. Definitely check out this website too - the videos for two of my favorite songs are readily available on the front page. They're also listed on the Lollapalooza site as one of the "Six Bands Who Might Oneday Headline This Gig"

Aqualung was up next. I had seen Aqualung before (opening for David Gray) and am going to see them again coming up (opening for The Fray) and they're 'fine'. I guess the best way for me to describe them is that they're a great band to open for David Gray.

Then came a show that I was definitely excited to see. The Eels were one of the bands this weekend that I'm sure I liked more than anyone else in our group. They sported a variety of costumes - the lead had a WWII fighter pilot look while another guy sported a Security outfit and a crazy demenor - karatee chopping and speaking jibberish up there: which really suits the Eels about perfectly!

Then on to The Editors and Umphrey's McGee - finally a couple shows that were good but not great so I could lump them together and make this Day 1 post less than 80000 words long. Both of these are big up and coming bands though - I'm sure we'll see much more of them coming up soon.

Next for me was Iron & Wine. This show I was by myself sitting on the grass for a good portion of. In my opinion - probably pretty much the perfect way to see them. Very laid back - very enjoyable.

Next I had a tough decision. Do I see My Morning Jacket, who I really like and have a couple of my favorite songs from a year or two back? Or do I see The Raconteurs - with Jack White and a first (last?) CD like there's - this one is an obviously good show. Well, Brandon, Joe and I went to check out My Morning Jacket... probably a mistake. They were fine but boy am I glad that we made it over for the second half of Raconeurs - clearly my second favorite show of the fest.

The night ended with two good bands that sounded just like they should have: no better and no worse. The Violent Femmes (they bring all their equipment on the bus) and Death Cab for Cutie. The Femmes are a band that I really had to see - I've listened to them for so long I don't know how this is the first time I've seen them. Death Cab was one that I expected a little too much of, I think. They put on a good show and I'm glad that I got to see it, but I didn't think it was one of the better ones of the weekend.

So, that's DAY 1 ONLY! I'm going to definitely seperate these out into different posts.

Local H

Another great show from Local H last night (some samples will play if you visit their site). This time at the High Noon Saloon. and how can you go wrong with a $10 ticket.

Local H is a two man operation that produces an incredible amount of sound. There's no way that you would guess that it's two guys listening to one of their CDs.

The drummer (Brian St.Clair) is really fun to watch. When he's not playing he seems to not even be paying attention. He'll turn around and get a drink of water and just generally seem oblivious to what's going on. Then, suddenly, he'll spin around and play the drums absolutely ferociously - incredibly animated and committed.

The rest of the sound comes from Scott Lucas. Scott simultaneously plays lead, bass, and vocals - incredible that he can balance all that out and still move around the stage (when he's not jumping off into the crowd).

Muzak

I saw two very good shows last week. It started out with The Weepies on Tuesday at Cafe Montmarte. I had been to Cafe Montmarte before but never for a show... it was awesome (as I had heard coming into it). The kind of small venue that is really ideal of seeing this kind of folk show. If you're wondering what these guys sound like: let's just say that there has seldom been a more aptly named group! (and I don't mean that as a negative) If you want to check out their stuff just hit The Weepies website and it should automatically start playing.

As you'll also see on the website they've been featured on several episodes of tv shows. As they said during the concert: You know you've finally made it as a singer songwriter when two people make out in a closet to one of your songs on television.

The second show of the week was quite the opposite of folk. Atmosphere (hip hop) played at The Pabst which by the way is not the same place as the Riverside (sorry Nate!). This was an awesome show. I've seen Atmosphere three or four times now (basically anytime they're around here) and this may have been my favorite of the shows. Their new disc is great and this was a great live performance as one of the openers (Brother Ali) stuck around to do backup lyrics for Slug.

This turned out to be a great venue too - the first and second levels were completely packed but we had lots of room to spread out and really enjoy it from the third level.

Coldplay @ Bradley Center

We saw Coldplay for the second time this year on Sunday night. Monnie and I have both really gotten into them over the last year or two and really enjoyed the show. As with the show at Alpine we were joined by one Mr.Tom Geer. This time Mike and Steph Fox came along too.

It was a very good show. Lots of energy and volume, although I was somewhat surprised that those in the balcony (us) didn’t stand the whole show – I can’t really complain though as that’s often my preference anyway.

(not our pick, but it is from the same show… thanks Flickr)

Jesse Cook

Mike, Dad, and I headed down to Edgerton on Saturday night to see Jesse Cook play at the Edgerton Performing Arts Center (EPAC).

The show was very good. The style (as he mentioned during) was a successful attempt to fuse the gaps between Rumba and Indian. For the most part you can imagine (as Mike suggested) it as the soundtrack to a movie like 'Once Upon a Time In Mexico' or 'Desperado'. There are some great samples on his site, just go surf around and it'll start playing whether you like it or not! just make sure your sound is on.

Unbelievably quick and accurate with the guitar. This was an unbelievable show - and the EPAC was a great venue for it.

Another Good Show

As I had mentioned previously; Brandon, Dan, and I went to check out the Detroit Cobras show on Wednesday night at the High Noon Saloon.

The Cobras were great. They sounded quite a bit like their CD which, as Dan pointed out, was really impressive since they have a fairly "produced" sound to them. It was good to see that they're actually able to pull that off without a lot of rework in the studio.

The opening band was Reigning Sound. They were quite good as well. It's always such a big boost for a show when the opening band that you've never heard of turns out to actually be good!

The venue (High Noon Saloon) impressed again too. It's one of the newer places to check out a good show in town and they've done a very good job with the acoustics. and this was the first time I've been there that the parking lot was actually paved instead of covered with construction fence!

Coldplay

Monica, Geer, and I saw a great Coldplay show at Alpine Valley on Saturday night. We met up with Matt (Monica's brother) and a bunch of his friends - they're a really fun bunch which made the pre and post show time (aka. sitting in the parking lot) a lot more fun.

As I said a little earlier: the camera is out of order. So, here's the best I could muster from the camera phone. It isn't exactly the best picture ever taken but it does show you just a little bit of how incredibly huge Alpine Valley is. We actually had very good lawn seats and this incredible amount of people were still in front of us. That said, I had grossly overestimated the size of the crowd. Looking on their site tonight I see that the capacity is 35,000 which is a huge concert venue... but I was guessing way more.