Dinosaur Jr w/ Pink Mountaintops, Lou Barlow (11/10/09 - Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver, BC)Starting off what turned into a killer November for concerts was me finally getting the opportunity to see one of my favourite bands as of late, Dinosaur Jr. Having gotten back together a few years back, these guys have been on a tear since then releasing two killer albums with the original lineup which is two more than was seriously expected of them (or any 'reunion' for that matter). I've heard nothing but great things about these guys live, so I was a little disappointed when things started off fairly slowly with no real interaction whatsoever from the 3 underdogs from Amherst, not that I should've expected anything else. The set proceeded with a trio of good songs off 'Farm', the record they put out earlier this year including the Lou Barlow sung "Imagination Blind." Up until this point, I was finding myself underwhelmed and just when I had written the set and Dino Jr off as overhyped they kicked things into gear and blew my mind. Literally, amazing song after amazing song followed one after another starting with probably their most known hit "Feel The Pain" and including songs that I was dying to hear such as "Freak Scene", "Little Fury Things" and "Over It." I can't believe I've come this far and have yet to mention the immense nature of J Mascis' rig, his signature Fender Jazzmasters' played through a plethora of pedals/effects and bursting out from a total of four Marshall stacks... you better believe that anyone who wasn't wearing earplugs that night incurred some serious hearing damage. When their set ended, I found myself ecstatic with what I had just witnessed, that was of course before they came back for an encore that consisted of "In A Jar", off their classic 1987 record "You're Living All Over Me" followed up by that drum intro that any fan of theirs would recognize as the prelude to their ridiculously amazing cover of the Cure's "Just Like Heaven." What a fitting way to close out what went down as one of my favourite sets of 2009.
Setlist:
1) Thumb
2)Been There All The Time
3) Imagination Blind
4) Pieces
5)Plans
6) Feel The Pain
7) Over It
8) The Wagon
9) Little Fury Things
10) Freak Scene
11) Get Me
12) Out There
Encore:
13) In a Jar
14) Just Like Heaven
Pixies w/ Rain Machine (11/12/09 - Paramount Theatre, Seattle, WA) Of all the shows that I've been to in the last decade, I don't know if I've been to one as long as the Pixies' set in Seattle that felt so short. It probably had something to do with the fact that the majority of their 90 minute set consisted of them playing their seminal record, 1989's "Doolittle" from start to finish. The Pixies were a band that I first was introduced to when I first started going to college and I soon engrossed myself in the bulk of their catalogue, including various B-Sides and live recordings, but "Doolittle" always remained the record that I kept coming back to and would never get tired of. So here it was, in all its grandeur from the opening bass line of "Debaser" to closing shrieks of "Gouge Away", a record I'm so familiar with that it flowed like magic. I saw the Pixies play together a few years back when they first embarked on a reunion tour and as impressed as I was with them then, they blew me away even more this time around. The banter was non-existant for a few comments from Kim Deal but they played together like a well oiled machine, not only sticking to their Doolittle-centric set but including the various B-Sides from that record as well as an encore of other classics, allowing all members of the band to shine none more apparent than Joey Santiago's extended solo on "Vamos." Playing ones' most beloved work is a bit of a new trend nowadays, brought to prominence by All Tomorrow's Parties and their "Don't Look Back" series of concerts held worldwide. Having experienced multiple bands play such sets a few times now, perhaps none quite as great as what I saw on this particular night at the Paramount, I must say that it's something that I'm in favour of and I'm glad that more artists are going in that direction because it allows people to have such strong emotions that they may associate with that particular record to life, as was the case with this show.
Setlist:
1) Intro Film (Un Chien Andalou)
2) Dancing The Manta Ray
3) Weird at My School
4) Bailey's Walk
5) Manta Ray
6) Debaser
7) Tame
8) Wave of Mutilation
9) I Bleed
10) Here Comes Your Man
11) Dead
12) Monkey Gone to Heaven
13) Mr. Grieves
14) Crackity Jones
15) La La Love You
16) No. 13 Baby
17) There Goes My Gun
18) Hey
19) Silver
20) Gouge Away
Encore:
21) Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf)
22) Into the White
Encore 2:
23) Caribou
24) Vamos
25) Gigantic
Kiss w/ Buckcherry (11/14/09 - GM Place, Vancouver, BC)When I was in grade 10 I went through this strange phase where suddenly I found myself completely obsessed with KISS and everything to do with them. Now, it was definitely a passing phase and not one that lead to me purchasing stupid amounts of Kiss paraphenalia or antyhing along those lines, but one thing it did leave me for was an appreciation for some of their classic songs as well as a desire to one day see them live and in concert. Years went by and the classic lineup diminished due to various reasons, yet Kiss soldiered one albeit with some scabs in tow and after releasing their first new record in 10+ years, they found themselves touring again, hitting Vancouver for the first time in nearly a decade. Critics of the band are going to tell you how hokey the show was, how ridiculous Paul Stanley's stage banter is, how lame his and Gene Simmons' lyrics are and how mindless Kiss are in general. Although there is some merit to some of those arguments, I for one didn't give a damn as I found myself surrounded by 15,000 loud as loud can be Kiss fans who sang along to practically every word as explosions went off every other second, members of the band were elevated on risers and cables and everything else imaginable. Was Paul Stanley's stage banter as ridiculous as I had been lead to believe? You bet it was and my god was it the single most awesome experience of over the top cliche'd rock-n'-roll'dom that I had ever witnessed. Sure Kiss are like a blockbuster film that rely on every bit of special effect and CGI in order to deliver a show worthy of your money, but it works when they're entertaining people as often and as thuroughly as they do. Although this was not the type of show I need to go to very often, but as a once in a lifetime kind of thing I found myself having an amazing time.
Setlist:
1) Deuce
2) Strutter
3) Let Me Go, Rock 'N' Roll
4) Hotter Than Hell
5) Shock Me
6) Calling Dr. Love
7) Modern Day Delilah
8) Cold Gin
9) Do You Love Me
10) Say Yeah
11) 100,000 Years
12) I Love It Loud
13) Black Diamond
14) Rock And Roll All Nite
Encore:
15) Shout It Out Loud
16) Lick It Up
17) Love Gun
18) Detroit Rock City
Built to Spill w/ Disco Doom, Finn Riggins (11/18/09, Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver, BC) Another show that I was anticipating for months and months was the return of Boise, Idaho's favourite guitar gods, Built to Spill. Having sort of fallen into limbo the past few years, releasing average at best records, these guys found themselves touring on the heels of a really great record, "There Is No Enemy" which hit the streets in early October and was discussed by yours truely in a few Danielage posts. When they finally took the stage in Vancouver, I found myself front row and center and somewhat surprised by their choice of setlist which didn't focus on their stellar new release all that much other than two songs, "Hindsight" and "Planting Seeds." Instead the band played a good mix of songs from all of their other albums, including a surprising amount off of "There's Nothing Wrong With Love", an album that focusses more on disjointed pop songs on the shorter side such as "Distopian Dream Girl", "In The Morning" and of course "Car." They did however balance things with some of their more progressive and guitar-centric numbers that have a way of going on forever (in a good way) and allowing ones' mind to drift off in a beautiful manner... by the way, did I mention that Built to Spill were my anti-drug? Easily the highlight for me was "Kicked In The Sun" off my favourite record of theirs, "Perfect From Now On" which is one of those songs that I mentioned, so pleasant and peaceful one moment, lulling you into a false sense of security before it kicks it up a notch, a real excercise in guitar dynamics and a perfect way to sum up the 90 minutes I spent in the prescence of one of Indie Rock's most well respected elder statesmen.
Setlist:
1) Traces
2) In the Morning
3) Planting Seeds
4) Else
5) Distopian Dream Girl
6) Stab
7) Car
8) Alarmed
9) Hindsight
10) Wherever You Go
11) You Were Right
Encore:
12) The Weather
13) Kicked It In The Sun
14) Conventional Wisdom
The King Khan & BBQ Show w/ Those Darlins (11/23/09, The Red Room, Vancouver, BC) I honestly had no idea what to expect when I checked out the two man garage revival known simply as The King Khan & BBQ Show at the Red Room. What I found was a room absolutely packed to the gills with people looking to have a lot of fun, and that's just what they did. From the very beginning of their set, the floor was practically spilling onto the stage (and spilling their drinks in the process), King Khan having to step over fans as he and BBQ aka Mark Sultan played a solid set that had people boogying and singing along. I'm a pretty big guy and even I found myself hanging on for dear life to a monitor as the sea of people swayed and danced themselves around. It's funny that I'm using all these "ocean" metaphors as these guys' latest album, titled "Invisible Girl" has some rad underwater-themed album artwork which they also had a backdrop based off of, the only real set to their very minimal, very garage setup ie the most high end piece of equipment these guys' had was King Khan's Squier Telecaster that was pretty beat up. They played a ton of my favourite songs off of all of their records, the highlights of which were "Waddlin Around", "Fish Fight", "Invisible Girl", "Third Ave" and who could forget the moment I got to hear possibly the most vile song I've ever heard, "Taste Buds" played live which led to the sweer moment where I got to sing along to such fantastic lyrics as "taste buds on my cock, so I can love you baby 'round the clock" only to see King Khan nod along in approval. Such a fun show, I didn't care that I didn't get home until 2:00am on a Monday night.
Records I Bought This Week
My purchases this week come via another online order with the fine folks at Southern Lord as well as a quick pop in to my often mentioned haunt, Scratch Records in downtown Vancouver.
Boris - "Japanese Heavy Rocks Vol 2" 7" (Southern Lord, 2009) If it were any other likeminded band I'd say that the 2nd in a series of new 7"s from Japan's Boris was odd but these guys are so good at throwing curveballs, nothing ever surprises me. The A-Side, "H.M.A. (Heavy Metal Addict)" has this weird techno beat underlying the entire song which is hidden for most of it by a straight up nice and crunchy, distorted guitar riff. Vocally we're treated to howls and repeated chanting of "H!", "M!", "A!" complete with handclaps... I'm really not sure how I feel about it. The B-Side, titled "Black Original" is more of these guys experimenting with electronic sounds/textures as the beat is supplied by a drum machine and the guitar is run through effects to give it a very electronic tone. The song never really picks up, just sort of goes along at the same pace/beat, never really capturing my attention. I am a *huge* fan of Boris and I know they're not going to knock 'em out of the park every time, but this definitely was a bit of a disappointing release from them.
Paint It Black - "Amnesia" 7" (Bridge 9, 2009)Cue: Heavy Bass, ringing guitar squall and a pissed off Dan Yemen and with that, another solid EP from this Philadelphia four piece kicks off. Hot off the heals of what I thought was one of the best hardcore records of '08, "New Lexicon", Paint It Black managed to pack 5 rad tracks of pissed off, blistering hardcore which manages to package more fun upbeat (yet still serious) hardcore on "Homesick" with maybe some of Yemen's best (read: most angry) performances on "Salem" and "Nicotine"... and that's just the A-Side. The B-Side is of a similar tone and quality, including "Bliss" which slows things down, and even adds a tad more in the melody and song length department. Overall, this is one of the best all around hardcore releases of '09 and quite possibly my favourite 7" that I bought this year, alongside the steallar End of a Year self-titled 7". If this at all sounds interesting to you, give 'er a listen below and if you like what you hear, please support these guys. PS: they don't tour all that often so go out and buy their records.
Click Here to Download Paint It Black's "Amnesia" 7"
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