Tuesday, August 03, 2004

Concert Reviews/Notes

February 10th, 2005 - Celebrity Theatre, Phoenix, Az

Bright Eyes

Awesome concert. Conor played almost everything from "I'm Wide Awake, it's Morning" and even played "True Blue!" It totally rocked. Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter, and Neva Dinov opened, they were ok.

Arizona Republic Review

****

 

Nov 20, 2004 - Marquee Theatre, Tempe, Az

Wilco

Calexico opened. Wilco was awesome!!

****'

 

Nov 17, 2004 - Glendale Arena, Glendale, Az

Avril Lavigne

Butch Walker opened

****

 

Sep 29, 2004 - Cricket Pavillion, Glendale, Az

Crosby, Stills & Nash, Bonnie Raitt, Jack Johnson, Jackson Browne

Move On.org benefit concert for upcoming election

**'

 

Sep 20, 2004 - Mesa Amphitheatre, Mesa, Az

Ben Kweller

Distiller opened. The Show F***'n rocked!!

*****

 

Aug 24, 2004 - Marquee Theatre, Tempe, Az

Ben Kweller

Camper Van Beethoven opened

***

 

Aug 11, 2004 - Marquee Theatre, Tempe, Az

Built to Spill

 

***

 

July 23, 2004 - Celebrity Theatre, Phoenix, Az

Modest Mouse

I am soooo happy that Modest Mouse has finally hit it big with their fabulous single "Float On," they deserve it after many years of making wonderful albums. And their newest is amoung the best, which MM played a lot at this concert. "Satin in a Coffin," and "The Ocean Breathes Salty" being my favorites. Plus they played oldies "3rd Planet" and "Math Equation" amoung many others. Besides having a few technical difficulties, they played a great concert. One cool thing was the double drum sets they had set up, both guys drumming in unison all night, giving the drums that extra punch. Isaac Broc was awesome singing, as usual, going from a muted voice to just yelling during "Black Cadillacs." They are a great live band.

My problem is with the theatre they played in, it's cool to be in a small intimate arena, with the stage rotating around. And I had a great seat up front. But I would rather see them on a regular stage in a club type setting like I did last November when they rocked Nita's Hideaway. That was an awesome show. This show was great, but you just don't get into the rocking as much when your sitting down.

The Walkmen opened for them, both bands being left out in the cold when this year's Lallaplooza tour was cancelled. Which worked out good for me, because Lallaplooza wasn't coming to Phoenix. The Walkmen weren't that good, their instruments seemed to be turned up too loud, and the lead singer just shouted as loud as he could into the mic. There new CD is OK, and has a few good songs, but live they just sucked!

I hope Modest Mouse comes back again, but I'm afraid they won't be playing many more intimate shows, one of the downsides of making it big. Go Modest Mouse, hope you take over the world!

Arizona Republic Review

***

 

July 21, 2004 - Marquee Theatre, Tempe, Az

Sonic Youth

First of all, Sonic Youth are not old, they are 'experienced!' Which makes for a great concert. The five members of Sonic Youth know each other so well, and have played with each other so long, that they create this perfect sound that sounds soooo beautiful. It's beautiful noise! And SY know exactly how to make it.

I've never see SY before, and I heard they haven't played phoenix in like 17 years or something, hopefully they come back sooner than that. They played a lot of stuff from their very good new album "Sonic Nurse" with Kim Gordon heading up most of the songs, including "Mariah Carey and the Arthur Doyle Hand Cream" and "Pattern Recognition." They also played some oldies but goodies, I don't follow their music much so I don't know most of the song titles, but I know they played "Schizophrenia" and they finished their second encore with "Teen Age Riot" from their masterpiece "Daydream Nation." They had a lot of fun with the end of that one, with all four guitar players making any and all noise they could out of their instruments. Pushing them against the amps, swinging them around, and banging them on the floor. They even sent a front speaker into a smoking cloud, with the smell of burning plastic traveling throughout the building. But no matter what they did, the noise was still beautiful, that's now something that all bands can do, including the god awful opening band, that just made painful noise for 20 minutes. Even though Sonic Youth are moving closer to death than youth, they still have the sonic part down pat!

Arizona Republic Review

***'