VIDEO DUMP: PETER GABRIEL "SKY BLUE" (LIVE) (2003)

This version of "Sky Blue" by Peter Gabriel featuring The Blind Boys Of Alabama is stunning. The extended chorus at the end is amazing.



From Peter Gabriel's Growing Up Live tour concert film from 2003.

COMPLETE ALBUMS LIVE

The latest concert trend appears to be bands playing complete albums live, in order, from start to finish. Here's a short list off the top of my head of some recent examples:

Sonic Youth "Daydream Nation"
Public Enemy "It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back"
Sebadoh "Bubble and Scrape"
Liz Phair "Exile On Guyville"
Meat Puppets "Meat Puppets II"
Thurston Moore "Psychic Hearts"
Built To Spill "Perfect From Now On"

Those last three are all going to take place at the All Tomorrow's Parties Festival in Monticello, New York, but also at other venues this summer. While I understand the lure of nostalgia, I'm not sure I 'get' this trend. Half the fun of a concert is not knowing what's going to happen next. Instead, this has all the drama of an iPod playlist you made yourself. While it's one thing to try to regain your indie cred (SY) or sell tickets (Liz) why would a band like Built To Spill agree to do something like this?

What is the reason for this trend? It's possible that artists are making a statement in favor of the album as a viable art form, but I think iTunes has effectively killed that notion. I actually went to a They Might Be Giants show where they performed their entire first album in order, but that was not pre-announced and was just a one-off novelty (for New Years Eve 1991, when the album was only a few years old). I haven't heard of bands doing this type of thing since then.

THE BLACK KEYS - TERMINAL 5, NYC, MAY 15, 2008

I saw The Black Keys last night at Terminal 5. My Lord, they ripped the roof off the place. And yes, there are only two of them on the stage at all times, Dan Auerbach (gtr/vox) and Patrick Carney (drums). The sound he manages to get out of just one guitar (no bass, no rhythm to help) is astonishing, and Patrick's energetic powerful drumming is just amazing. Who knew two boys from Akron could rock so hard?

They kicked it off with "Girl On My Mind", and followed with "Set You Free", "10 AM Automatic" and never let up. Even "Oceans & Streams", the only song which featured Dan playing fuzzy distorted keyboards instead of guitar, sounded fantastic.

None of these clips are from last night's show, but I thought I'd post them anyway to show you what you missed.

"Girl on My Mind" from SXSW 2008.


Here's "I Got Mine", one of the tracks from their new album Attack & Release.


(No, I didn't take any of these videos. I wish I had.)

Here's the duo performing "Stack Shot Billy" from the incredible album Rubber Factory on Letterman.



To all you hipster douchebags who gave Terminal 5 1 star on Citysearch, I don't know what the hell you're talking about. The sound was great, there were two balconies and a huge floor section to view the stage from (only one section to the left on the 2nd floor was VIP, but could be "bought" for $20), and the bartenders and staff were extremely friendly. Maybe if you didn't see a shitty Cat Power show, you would have had a better night.

As Rob succinctly put it "THEY JUST GET IT." Indeed. Fantastic show.

The Black Keys [Official Site]
The Black Keys on MySpace

VIDEO DUMP: ANDREW BIRD "FAKE PALINDROMES" (2007)

Andrew Bird: singer, songwriter, violinist, guitarist, and one hell of a whistler.

Here's a video of him performing "Fake Palindromes" live at Coachella 2007.



He's appearing at the Beacon Theater on Friday, November 30.

FABCHANNEL

My new favorite find is Fabchannel, a website from Amsterdam chock full of complete live concert videos, over 800 from many different indie artists, including Spoon, Bright Eyes, The Frames, Frank Black (doing a cover of Tom Waits' "Black Rider", even), Damien Rice, The Black Keys, and many more.

After watching some of this Andrew Bird show from the past year, now I KNOW I have to see him in concert.



My Playlist:

FREE SPOON!

Free shows = good shows.

SPOON is one of many bands that will be performing as part of the River To River Festival 2007 in various outdoor NYC venues.

SPOON. On the heels of their sixth album release, one of the most acclaimed bands in indie music delivers a rocking concert including some of their latest material. DATE: July 11, 2007, TIME: 7:00pm, LOCATION: Rockefeller Park

It would be great if they sang "Rockafella Skank". I'm definitely going to check out that show (weather permitting). Other bands playing freebies: The New Pornographers (7/4), Menomena (7/13), Bishop Allen (7/20), The National (8/17), Camera Obscura (8/24), among others.

Meanwhile from June 4 - 15, Spoon is streaming a song-a-day from their upcoming new album, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga , out 7/10. Good stuff.

FRIDAY NIGHT VIDEOS: THE POLICE "WALKING IN YOUR FOOTSTEPS (LIVE)"

The Police kicked off their reunion tour with a show in Vancouver, BC, which was essentially a "dress rehearsal" for about 4000 fan club members. This YouTube video of the entire song "Walking In Your Footsteps" is pretty damn good, considering most of them look like shit and are only 43 seconds long. It's good to see that it's only the three members of the group playing, sans backup singers and keyboard players, etc.



The Police - Walking In Your Footsteps (Live in Vancouver, May 27, 2007) [YouTube]

REUNION MANIA!

This week's "huh?" reunion goes to Squeeze. The early 80s band are best known for quirky pop tunes like "Pulling Mussels (From The Shell)", "Hourglass" and "Black Coffee In Bed". The group's singing/songwriting team of Chris Difford and Glenn Tillbrook have buried the hatchet and are doing some shows together for the first time since 1999. Why, you might ask? To sell their brand new (old) rereleased back catalog! At least they're not dishonest about their motivations. No word on the rest of the lineup, which has featured Paul Carrack (the other singer, on "Tempted") and Jools Holland during its various incarnations. I saw them open for Bowie back in 1987 and they were an infectiously fun band in concert. Their first show stateside is in Londonderry, NH, of all places.

In other news, Spinal Tap are "reuniting" for a London show called Live Earth (to benefit the earth, I guess). This reunion should also garner a "what?", except for the fact that they HAVE to appear as Spinal Tap at least once every 5 years or so to keep them alive, since they don't own the rights to the band (French company Loreal actually does, for some reason). Also appearing at the 7/7/07 show at Wembley: Genesis, James Blunt, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Snow Patrol, Bloc Party, Duran Duran, and Mrs. Guy Ritchie.

There's also a Giants Stadium show, which includes The Police, The Smashing Pumpkins, Alicia Keys, Kelly Clarkson, KT Tunstall, Fall Out Boy, Roger Waters, Kanye West and Bon Jovi --why do we get the suckiest lineup? I blame fucking American Idol. At least "The Simpsons" parody was mildly funny. The best part of the Jack Black clip (below) is Kyle Gass' reaction shots with the white rose.

SPOON @ THE STONE PONY, ASBURY PARK, NJ, APRIL 24, 2007

I don't know why Spoon aren't bigger than they are. When I say that, people make faces and don't seem to understand. No, I'm not having trouble eating my cereal, and I'm not quoting "The Tick". I'm talking about the indie rock band from Austin, TX who just played an awesome show last night at the Stone Pony. Yes, the same place (more or less) that the Boss made famous decades ago--I didn't know it was still around either. I'd seen exactly two shows there in my lifetime: Morphine/Soul Coughing and Hole (back in 1995 and 1994, I think).

When we arrived at Asbury Park, I was amazed on how the area hasn't changed much in the 12 years that have passed; that is to say, despite all the claims of the area's "revitilazation", it still looks like a total shithole. Although they built some new condos, there are still a lot of of the old (now-abandoned) buildings everywhere. We parked on a makeshift dirt median (I assume this is part of the "beautification" project) and entered just as the opening band was going on, and although the crowd was initially sparse it filled in rather quickly. I was a little leary of the fact that is was an "all-ages" show, but it ended up being an excellent, enthusiastic crowd, and not packed with annoying scenesters like your average NYC show. I'm also glad I saw them here because no matter where you are in the Pony you're close to the stage.

I last saw Britt Daniels & Co. back in 2003 in support of their "Kill The Moonlight" album, and they once again sounded fantastic. Many songs from the aforementioned album were featured ("Stay Don't Go", "Paper Tiger", "Someone Something", "The Way We Get By", and "Small Stakes" which really rocks live--it's amazing what a simple backbeat can do). This time around I got to hear a number of "Gimme Fiction" songs ("Two Sides/Monsieur Valentine", "The Beast and Dragon Adored", "Stay Don't Go", "I Turn My Camera On", "My Mathematical Mind", "I Summon You", "They Never Got You"), and a healthy dose of songs from "Girls Can Tell" made the cut ("Fitted Shirt", "Lines in the Suit", "Me and the Bean", "Anything You Want"). They also played about 4 new songs from their new album "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga" (out 7/10) which were good; "Don't Make Me A Target" is the only title I could figure out. At one point, he said this was their first show in New Jersey--before being corrected by a band member that they had been at Maxwell's in Hoboken already, but the crowd gave him a pass. For the encore, they played my pick "Everything Hits At Once", and Joe's pick "Jonathon Fisk" closed the show.

For their straightforward, enjoyable songwriting and accessible rock sound, Spoon should be bigger than they are. But at the same time I'm kind of glad they aren't.

UPDATE: I added some pictures taken with my cell phone (the Samsung A930) and no, they're not that great (had I known security was going to be virtually non-existent I would have brought a proper camera). It's funny how the cell phone has replaced the lighter at concerts now, and for the first time I was actually envious of kids who had better camera phones than me. Anyway, once I learned how to use the zoom feature I got some okay shots. I don't know why the thought of Britt wearing the "I am old enough to drink" bracelet during the entire show cracks me up.

(Although I have Bitpim and a USB data cable I still haven't figured out how to access my videos--gah!)