THE MEAT PUPPETS!!!!! Wow, now that was something else. That was like a whole other experience. I still feel my pants shaking from the vibrations of the show. Tonight was the night, the last official installment of the Jay Porks Summer Concert Series. A band called ‘Built to Spill’ was headlining a show which featured the opening acts being the Meat Puppets and Dinosaur Jr(Dinosaur with all three original member Mascis, Lou Barlow and Murph) respectively. When I first got this ticket I was so psyched, so pumped to see them. This would be the first time I get tickets to a show because I’m more interested in the opening bands then the headliner, which is good because the first 2 hours don’t have to be boring. All this and now the night had arrived. The venue: ‘Terminal 5’, which is 610 West 56th street and like 11th avenue, right by that Saab dealership. Doors open at 6:30pm and I make it to the place at about 6:20 and much to my surprise, there a line of like 30 people. Because in my eyes I thought everyone was there to see Built to Spill, that’s the only band even listed on the ticket. So I get padded down and walk in. Inside, its a really simple set up-just a hallway you walk down and which leads to the doorway of the standing room section by the stage. Its set up sort of like the Fillmore Irving Plaza was set up, there was an upstairs that you could watch from(there's actually a 2nd AND 3rd floor to observe from), a balcony wrapping around the inside of the venue . Had the aforementioned third floor too, but I didn’t go up any stairs tonight. I grabbed my Meat Puppets shirt in the little vestibule between the doors and the stage for 20 bucks, (which wasn’t so bad considering I paid 35 for a Weezer shirt at Madison Square Garden last night). Grabbed a beer for 6 bucks, which again was not so bad, then I head over towards the stage because I noticed not many people were over there yet; the show doesn’t start for an hour anyway. So I walked over and landing myself a spot leaning right on the barricade about 5 feet from the stage. I reached out and touched the stage like, I thought to myself "Wow this is fucking sick". Then I met a few cool people standing in like my area. We’re right in front of the microphone that Curt Kirkwood is going to be playing at (vocals/guitar). So the two kids to my right they saw me and were like “hey dude, just can I ask you a question, have you ever heard Built to Spill?, who are they?” I shook my head and told them “never even knew who they were until I saw they were playing with the Meat Puppets” and they’re like “yea man! Exactly, we’re just here for the Meat Puppets, they kick ass” and I’m like “-and we’re right fucking here” and everyone’s in agreement that this is going to be a kick ass night. We ask the kid to the left of me, who is he here to see. He says “ I’m here to see the Meat Puppets and Dino, I never heard of Built to Spill until this show” and at that point I’m thinking, finally some people I can relate too. We were just shooting the shit for like the whole hour before the puppets came on. We made fun of all the “hipsters” who are just showing up to see Built to Spill and didn’t even know there was opening acts. After about 5 people, we found a Built to Spill fan. “And now the brothers Meat come up on stage..”, and here comes Curt Kirkwood with his Fender Stratocaster with little stickers on it. Looked like those things you get out of those 25 cent vending machines, and they appeared to be butterflies and turtles and stuff to that nature. Also, Curt was not only wearing pajama pants but the stains on them appeared as if he was just painting his garage or something. It was hilarious, then his brother Cris who plays bass came out looking like his same old fun self.. I hate when people sober up and forget how to be normal and fun-not the case here..he gets into these zones with the bass that look like a seizure that's really cool.. glad he's got it together.. . Curt pulls his pick out of the pocket of his very comfortable looking plaid pajama pants and we’re ready to go. What a set they did. Most of the songs there was no pause in between, just played straight through to the next one. And the Meat Puppets do things live so much differently then they do on record and not one show is ever the same. Someone I was talking to on Pandora.com who has seen the Meat Puppets 14 times once described them as “the Grateful Dead, for people who hate the Grateful Dead”. Now I like the Grateful Dead, but I understand the analogy. I think they maybe paused between a song once, and during that 10 seconds one of those kids who are on my right while everyone is screaming requests screams “SLAYER!!! …” laughs and says “yes, I’m going to be that guy”. That was great, that’s when they went into “Severed Goddess Hand”. Great song- Also played an effervescent version of “Look at the Rain” The guitar work during these songs is god-like. A classmate of mine was showing me on the ferry how to use the pick and strum up with your pinky like and I thought that was insane(coming from somebody who owns, but cannot play guitar). But Curt Kirkwood at one point was strumming with three separate fingers while cuffing the pick between his middle and ring finger. It might have been four fingers at times, dude is just that amazing. And he would constantly adjust the feedback and turn it all the way up causing this fuzz and distortion which was like the living end; it was like when Grant took Richmond. “Plateau” was outstanding, truly incredible. I was screaming the lyrics along with the rest of the apparent crowd. I wasn’t too sure what the atmosphere of the crowd was because everyone was behind me; I could smell the fact that Curt didn’t brush his teeth, that’s how close I was. They played a few songs off their latest 2007 album 'Rise to your Knees' as well.. It's as if whatever Curt feels like messing with distortion wise with his guitar he just goes, and its freaking incredible. “Oh Me” was great when they got into that, my little posse was rocking to that. They finished it off with “Lake of Fire”, which included a solo that lasted about 10 minutes and made everyone think they were starting like a different song. It was a really fast version of it, far from the one on “Meat Puppets II”. It rocked, during it Cris Kirkwood’s bass unplugged from the amp and he was like jamming the shit back in there. After that they went off, I don’t even think I they said one word to the crowd. In previous shows I’ve been to, the opening act spends half there night thanking the band for letting them open for them. Not the Meat Puppets, their epicness precedes them. They’re the effin’ Meat Puppets, been around since like 82. Interesting thing after their set, Cris and the drummer headed right off stage but Curt was on stage with the roadies packing up his own gear. Unplugging all the amps and his various fuzz box pedals. He had to lean over to unplug a wire right by me and I was right there and I didn’t know what to say, so I blurred out “Curt! You fucking rock man!” and he didn’t even look, good thing too, because I sounded like such a loser. What a performance, nothing could top it. The Meat Puppets!! I saw them!!! I could die happy now. Let us not misinterpret what I’m saying here. Because Dinosaur Jr put on a set that kicked ass to the fullest extent as well, J. Mascis is very meticulous with his guitar and amp set up with 6 amps set up almost surrounding him, and every amp on stage has a microphone up against it which just continues in to the theme of distortion and feedback heavily used in songs. A great band to possibly set the tone for Dinosaur Jr seems to be the Meat Puppets because both bands use similar elements in their music. Not only that, but J had some big tall like control panel sort of thing next to him that he kept messing with. Wish I was closer to Mascis. See, I was near the microphone that Curt Kirkwood was at, but J.Mascis uses the opposite one. They kicked off with “Tarpit” which rocked and made me realize in person how good J.Mascis plays guitar even if it was from 20 feet instead of 5. Lou Barlow plays a mean bass though, he was right there and I mean right there because he kept leaning over to look at the piece of paper to see what the next song was. And the drum set was much closer too, Murph was like right there, and he’s a pretty powerful drummer. One of Lou’s bass strings snapped during like the first or second song, he looks to pick up his extra-but its not there.. So he like runs behind the amp looking for the roadie with his other bass. Murph was drumming and he looked up and didn’t see Lou, he made a face as if to say “wow, we’re gonna break up again already?”. It was great, Lou runs back and I’m thinking wow he got a new string on there pretty quick. No, he came back with it playing three strings. I guess he didn’t see his other one, which was brought out during that second song. Lou’s bass sound differs from Cris Kirkwood’s because his is a lot more relevant in the structure of the song, it’s much harder, nosier and more distorted. He was rocking out, I got some pictures of him on my phone but they suck because my phone sucks. I was hoping he’d throw one of his picks out into the crowd because Murph threw his drum sticks to someone. but he didn’t, he let the roadies pack it up. They closed with “Just Like Heaven” but to tell you truth I didn’t know the names of most of the songs they played because their vocals went virtually unheard the entire set.. I know the Mic was on because I heard J say “here’s a song” followed by noise.., I think the extent of the noise they use made it so loud that it was just overpowering. Or, maybe I was just so close that I was hearing the guitar and bass at such loud, blistering volume that it was just me who couldn’t hear it well. I felt my teeth vibrating in my mouth that’s how friggin’ loud it was. It kicked ass. I did end up getting the set list of the songs they played, but I didn’t have to search online to find it. while the roadies were cleaning up the stage I kept screaming “DUDE!!! Let me have the set list!! Its right there I need it for my blog!!! Come on!!!”. The list was literally just a inkling out of my reach from grabbing, it was duct taped on the amp in front of Lou. I saw them put it there before the show, and I wanted it bad. And one of the roadies finally saw me while he was ripping it off the thing and he tossed it to me, still with the purple tape on it and everything. I HAVE THE SET LIST!! How freaking awesome is that! Celebrity memorabilia right there. I was in fucking awe at the fact that I was holding that in my hand, something to always remember and not just the ticket stub and wristband. This is going right on my wall next to my Slash poster. As written on the paper, I will write it here. Some of the songs don’t have the whole title. It says: Tarpit, Been There, Back to Heart, Out There, Feel Pain, Wagon, Swan, Freak, Sludge, Heaven. Freaking amazing. Oh yea, Built to Spill played too right? Well, I really wasn’t sure because I was out of there once I got that set list.. I have just seen the Meat Puppets-a band that I wanted to know more about since they climbed upon that MTV Unplugged stage back when I was 7 years old.. I figured it would be best to cut my losses at this point and chalk up the night as a win...And besides, I have school the next day. Can’t
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Friday, September 26, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Concert Reveiw: Weezer @ Madison Square Garden 9/24 (with Angels and Airwaves and Tokyo Police Club)
Another show attended and yet another reason why I choose correct all the time when it comes to this whole concert thing. Unbelievable show tonight, Weezer at Madison Square Garden with Angels and Airwaves and Tokyo Police Club. Weezer just rocks plain and simple, music critics shun them all the time and I don’t get why. They’re fucking amazing; they never sold out money or shit like that. Same types of tunes keep coming out. The latter two bands I’m not to familiar with or at least wasn’t until tonight. Good bands, and by the end of the night, they had earned there spots on that MSG stage even if it was as an underlying gig play to a cavernous arena at the moment.
So me and my father get to city like before 5 a clock, find a parking space and sit in the car and pre-game for a little bit. Show didn’t start until 7:30 and we bought lots a beer anyway so we chilled. So we’re sitting there listening to the radio and getting fucked up when we decide to head over there because we’ve been listening to the Tokyo Police Club record in the car for the ride there.
Let me inform you people, considering I wasn’t to up on the where’s and when’s of Tokyo Police Club, it’s quick and to the point. They’re from Canada, they had a band, it broke up and they formed this band after performing at the Montreal Pop festival and being noticed. This year they released they’re major label debut and I would recommend checking out they’re MySpace page, they have a blog is what I hear. So they play 7:30 till 8:00 o’clock, I can’t name any of there songs but they didn’t suck at all. I think one of there songs had an extra kick-drum used which was a little to my chagrin, but all and all they could have been a lot worse, my father was digging them and he know a whole lot more about music then I do.
The e-mail I got from MSG gave me some “show details” so the deal was that after Tokyo Police Club there was going to be a “brief” intermission before Angels and Airwaves come on at 8:30. Again I’ll explain, since I really didn’t know I doubt you people do; Angels and Airwaves are a band from San Diego formed in 2005 after singer/guitarist Tom DeLonge was out of a job because his former band, Blink 182, just never ended hiatus. It’s funny because the drummer from that band was like in a plane crash recently and almost went down Buddy Holly style, and I’m at the Weezer show!! Get it? If you don’t then you think I’m really mean but whatever. With Atom Willard (formerly of The Offspring) on drums they’d from this band. They’re major label debut “We Don’t Need to Whisper” was released in 2006 and they’ve been chugging along since. And apparently have a huge following because they’re we’re a lot more cheers and love shown for this band by the people in the lower levels and the standing room only area in front of the stage. It was that surprising to me because I never really had heard of them, in fact I knew exactly as much about then as I did Tokyo Police club. But these guys actually had a like back round thing with there name and an actual light show. That’s the thing I’ve noticed about the shows I go to with opening acts. The bands equipment and stage props get better as the show goes on, the first band is usually shitty sounding (not tonight, but at other shows) and it improves. As did tonight, and Angels and Airwaves rocked it, the rest of the people I mean. Listen, I’m not saying that I didn’t like them, I just don’t usually have judgments on stuff when hearing it just one time. so the jury is still out, but the crowd was loving them. Maybe because it had gotten later and people had enjoyed more beer and got louder, whatever the case may be the band got a pretty good ovation when they went off stage at 9:45. that’s when I went to grab another beer.
And it finally getting towards the main event, the band everyone came to see. A band that’s been rocking since 1992 (says Wikipedia but there debut came out in 94, I bet anything) ladies and gentlemen here is Weezer!!
Rivers Cuomo, the lead singer and guitarist for Weezer comes out sarcastically speaking Spanish and says “Como es tas?”, which was fucking hilarious. Then when we’re laughing at him he says “Muy Bien…”. After that they kicked off the show with “My Name is Jonas”, a great song from disc two of the Weezer(Blue)Deluxe that came out few year back. The place was crazy everyone standing including us everyone singing along, and that’s a constant theme to the night; me knowing the words to every song because they frickin’ rock. And guess who was smart enough to bring a pen and paper this time to mark down the set list. I didn’t write the first couple I had forgotten I had I might be missing a song. Anyway, they went in a song off there 1996 album Pinkerton called “Pink Triangle”, its about being in love with a lesbian. Great song, then they played “Susanne”, another song that’s amazing and exactly what needed to be played at that time. They move swiftly into “Dope Nose”, which is off there 2002 record Maladroit. I didn’t know the title until they went into the chorus I will admit. At this point I’m thinking “wow, they’re being pretty obscure, not what I expected”, because I was expecting them to play all the stuff off the new album Weezer(Red) but they only played 5 songs off it, and all rocked. Anyway after dope nose they get into “Say It ain’t so”. One of there best songs by far; it’s about an alcoholic father or step father or both it’s kind of confusing. Love the guitar feedback on that song, what an amazing experience, and my dad approves. Then if my list is correct they brought out Tom DeLonge from Angels and Airwaves to sing on “Undone: The Sweater Song”, was a huge radio hit back in the day and it seems that every song that comes on it everyone’s favorite song. That’s how good this band is, all there songs are great. After the sweater song the had the crowd eating out of there hands so they busted out “Dreamin’” from Weezer(Red). That’s one of my favorite songs off there new album, its just so classic Weezer and at the end there’s a lyric repeated (4x) where River’s Cuomo is screaming “NO I DON’T WANNA GET WITH YOUR PROGRAM!!”. Song is intense man, I suggest you give it a listen. Then of course “Pork and Beans”, which with me being Jay Porks is pretty cool. That had the standing room only section in front of the stage rocking, I peeped that. Then Rivers says they need to end the show with a bang so they play “Troublemaker”, which is another song I like off they’re latest record. Then Rivers runs off stage as if the shows over, because he’s doing the rock star “encore” thing. So with him absent from the stage, the band gets into yet another quality track off the new album, a song called “Automatic” which The drummer Pat Wilson (who moves to guitar for that song) actually sings on it, a few songs on the album are sang by other members, another reason why its so good. After that song, Rivers blasts back on stage and the band gets into everyone’s favorite Weezer song; “Hash pipe”. Everyone is banging to hash pipe, anyone can relate. After that with the energy at its peak they get into a song off Pinkerton called “El Scorcho”. The opening lyric is “God dam you half Japanese girls do it to me every time”, very catchy. I love that damn song, and my half Japanese friend Gina from jersey does too.
Then, they make another attempt at trying to make us think they’re ending the show and proceed to come back out and play “I’m the Greatest Man that Ever Lived”, off the new album and I also had on my MySpace profile for a while, I thought I was the only one who digs that song but the building almost came down. After that they said goodnight and went off stage.
Here’s where thing being to get interesting. 9.23 K-Rock had this contest going on where you could win a chance to play on stage with Weezer during this show if you can play an instrument and text message fast enough. So the first actually encore they came out for was with like 30 people ranging from kids to young adults all with different instruments like one dude with a trumpet and even a dude with a cowbell, I am not kidding. And they come out acoustic. So they play “Island in the Sun”, with this recently formed 30 piece orchestra of non-professionals and you know what, that shit sounding great. Some of the instruments you couldn’t hear, but I’m amazed that no one messed that up at all, sounded great. Rivers turned during the song and said “who’s got the solo??” and this dude with a saxophone started playing it note for note just absolutely perfect. The crowd was going nuts. Then they did one more song with the contest winners and it was a lighter version of “Beverly Hills”, obviously it’s not going to be as hard because it’s acoustic. Those kids rocked that song too, and when he asked who had the solo for that one, someone with a trumpet just let it rip. Those dudes rocked, how do you win a contest, get on stage at the Mecca, Madison Square Garden and not do anything stupid. Not only that, but perform well?? I thought that contest was like a joke and when it got late I thought they forgot about it but they brought them out there. Then after those two songs they left the stage again to a huge hand. A minute or two later an old school looking record player was set up in the middle of the stage and it had a spotlight on it while it was playing “Heart Songs”, another great song off the new record. Not even 20-30 seconds into it just playing that song with nobody there Cuomo runs over to it and kicks it over, breaking it I believe an they plug there guitars back in and jump into a familiar sounding song that I couldn’t name. I found out it was a cover of an Oasis song called “What’s the story morning glory?”. They do it better then Oasis, it rocked.
Then all of a sudden, I hear a bass riff that made me jump out of my seat. I didn’t think it could be true, could all my dreams have finally been lived? I thought it might have been one of those jams in between songs but no, they played it. They played “Sliver”, one of the best songs ever by the best band ever: Nirvana. They covered it good too, and when Rivers covers Nirvana songs he never tries to sound like Kurt Cobain, he does the song in a Weezer way. And I was freaking rocking while Sliver was on, that’s like in my top five songs of all time probably. That caught me by total surprise, I didn’t think they’d do anything “outside the box” sort of say. And while that song was playing there was crowd surfing down in front of the stage, I saw at least two bodies surfing along the crowd. It was amazing, that right there made that the best show I’ve probably ever seen. Hearing a Nirvana song performed live by Nirvana-influenced band is great stuff. I love that damn song. After Sliver, they played “Buddy Holly”. Which turned out to be the last song, the solo was bliss though. That’s the song you got to end with, it was such perfect timing. The set list was so balanced, every song placed in the best possible position, no songs that I was expecting to hear were left out. The best show I have ever seen.
This is a show I really wish I could just sit and revel in the greatness of, but it a quick turn around for me as I have a ticket to see the Meat Puppets and Dinosaur Jr. tomorrow in the city. So you could stay tuned for that show review, I hope I was able to pass along the enjoyment I had tonight to you. That’s if you made it through this whole thing, I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t
So me and my father get to city like before 5 a clock, find a parking space and sit in the car and pre-game for a little bit. Show didn’t start until 7:30 and we bought lots a beer anyway so we chilled. So we’re sitting there listening to the radio and getting fucked up when we decide to head over there because we’ve been listening to the Tokyo Police Club record in the car for the ride there.
Let me inform you people, considering I wasn’t to up on the where’s and when’s of Tokyo Police Club, it’s quick and to the point. They’re from Canada, they had a band, it broke up and they formed this band after performing at the Montreal Pop festival and being noticed. This year they released they’re major label debut and I would recommend checking out they’re MySpace page, they have a blog is what I hear. So they play 7:30 till 8:00 o’clock, I can’t name any of there songs but they didn’t suck at all. I think one of there songs had an extra kick-drum used which was a little to my chagrin, but all and all they could have been a lot worse, my father was digging them and he know a whole lot more about music then I do.
The e-mail I got from MSG gave me some “show details” so the deal was that after Tokyo Police Club there was going to be a “brief” intermission before Angels and Airwaves come on at 8:30. Again I’ll explain, since I really didn’t know I doubt you people do; Angels and Airwaves are a band from San Diego formed in 2005 after singer/guitarist Tom DeLonge was out of a job because his former band, Blink 182, just never ended hiatus. It’s funny because the drummer from that band was like in a plane crash recently and almost went down Buddy Holly style, and I’m at the Weezer show!! Get it? If you don’t then you think I’m really mean but whatever. With Atom Willard (formerly of The Offspring) on drums they’d from this band. They’re major label debut “We Don’t Need to Whisper” was released in 2006 and they’ve been chugging along since. And apparently have a huge following because they’re we’re a lot more cheers and love shown for this band by the people in the lower levels and the standing room only area in front of the stage. It was that surprising to me because I never really had heard of them, in fact I knew exactly as much about then as I did Tokyo Police club. But these guys actually had a like back round thing with there name and an actual light show. That’s the thing I’ve noticed about the shows I go to with opening acts. The bands equipment and stage props get better as the show goes on, the first band is usually shitty sounding (not tonight, but at other shows) and it improves. As did tonight, and Angels and Airwaves rocked it, the rest of the people I mean. Listen, I’m not saying that I didn’t like them, I just don’t usually have judgments on stuff when hearing it just one time. so the jury is still out, but the crowd was loving them. Maybe because it had gotten later and people had enjoyed more beer and got louder, whatever the case may be the band got a pretty good ovation when they went off stage at 9:45. that’s when I went to grab another beer.
And it finally getting towards the main event, the band everyone came to see. A band that’s been rocking since 1992 (says Wikipedia but there debut came out in 94, I bet anything) ladies and gentlemen here is Weezer!!
Rivers Cuomo, the lead singer and guitarist for Weezer comes out sarcastically speaking Spanish and says “Como es tas?”, which was fucking hilarious. Then when we’re laughing at him he says “Muy Bien…”. After that they kicked off the show with “My Name is Jonas”, a great song from disc two of the Weezer(Blue)Deluxe that came out few year back. The place was crazy everyone standing including us everyone singing along, and that’s a constant theme to the night; me knowing the words to every song because they frickin’ rock. And guess who was smart enough to bring a pen and paper this time to mark down the set list. I didn’t write the first couple I had forgotten I had I might be missing a song. Anyway, they went in a song off there 1996 album Pinkerton called “Pink Triangle”, its about being in love with a lesbian. Great song, then they played “Susanne”, another song that’s amazing and exactly what needed to be played at that time. They move swiftly into “Dope Nose”, which is off there 2002 record Maladroit. I didn’t know the title until they went into the chorus I will admit. At this point I’m thinking “wow, they’re being pretty obscure, not what I expected”, because I was expecting them to play all the stuff off the new album Weezer(Red) but they only played 5 songs off it, and all rocked. Anyway after dope nose they get into “Say It ain’t so”. One of there best songs by far; it’s about an alcoholic father or step father or both it’s kind of confusing. Love the guitar feedback on that song, what an amazing experience, and my dad approves. Then if my list is correct they brought out Tom DeLonge from Angels and Airwaves to sing on “Undone: The Sweater Song”, was a huge radio hit back in the day and it seems that every song that comes on it everyone’s favorite song. That’s how good this band is, all there songs are great. After the sweater song the had the crowd eating out of there hands so they busted out “Dreamin’” from Weezer(Red). That’s one of my favorite songs off there new album, its just so classic Weezer and at the end there’s a lyric repeated (4x) where River’s Cuomo is screaming “NO I DON’T WANNA GET WITH YOUR PROGRAM!!”. Song is intense man, I suggest you give it a listen. Then of course “Pork and Beans”, which with me being Jay Porks is pretty cool. That had the standing room only section in front of the stage rocking, I peeped that. Then Rivers says they need to end the show with a bang so they play “Troublemaker”, which is another song I like off they’re latest record. Then Rivers runs off stage as if the shows over, because he’s doing the rock star “encore” thing. So with him absent from the stage, the band gets into yet another quality track off the new album, a song called “Automatic” which The drummer Pat Wilson (who moves to guitar for that song) actually sings on it, a few songs on the album are sang by other members, another reason why its so good. After that song, Rivers blasts back on stage and the band gets into everyone’s favorite Weezer song; “Hash pipe”. Everyone is banging to hash pipe, anyone can relate. After that with the energy at its peak they get into a song off Pinkerton called “El Scorcho”. The opening lyric is “God dam you half Japanese girls do it to me every time”, very catchy. I love that damn song, and my half Japanese friend Gina from jersey does too.
Then, they make another attempt at trying to make us think they’re ending the show and proceed to come back out and play “I’m the Greatest Man that Ever Lived”, off the new album and I also had on my MySpace profile for a while, I thought I was the only one who digs that song but the building almost came down. After that they said goodnight and went off stage.
Here’s where thing being to get interesting. 9.23 K-Rock had this contest going on where you could win a chance to play on stage with Weezer during this show if you can play an instrument and text message fast enough. So the first actually encore they came out for was with like 30 people ranging from kids to young adults all with different instruments like one dude with a trumpet and even a dude with a cowbell, I am not kidding. And they come out acoustic. So they play “Island in the Sun”, with this recently formed 30 piece orchestra of non-professionals and you know what, that shit sounding great. Some of the instruments you couldn’t hear, but I’m amazed that no one messed that up at all, sounded great. Rivers turned during the song and said “who’s got the solo??” and this dude with a saxophone started playing it note for note just absolutely perfect. The crowd was going nuts. Then they did one more song with the contest winners and it was a lighter version of “Beverly Hills”, obviously it’s not going to be as hard because it’s acoustic. Those kids rocked that song too, and when he asked who had the solo for that one, someone with a trumpet just let it rip. Those dudes rocked, how do you win a contest, get on stage at the Mecca, Madison Square Garden and not do anything stupid. Not only that, but perform well?? I thought that contest was like a joke and when it got late I thought they forgot about it but they brought them out there. Then after those two songs they left the stage again to a huge hand. A minute or two later an old school looking record player was set up in the middle of the stage and it had a spotlight on it while it was playing “Heart Songs”, another great song off the new record. Not even 20-30 seconds into it just playing that song with nobody there Cuomo runs over to it and kicks it over, breaking it I believe an they plug there guitars back in and jump into a familiar sounding song that I couldn’t name. I found out it was a cover of an Oasis song called “What’s the story morning glory?”. They do it better then Oasis, it rocked.
Then all of a sudden, I hear a bass riff that made me jump out of my seat. I didn’t think it could be true, could all my dreams have finally been lived? I thought it might have been one of those jams in between songs but no, they played it. They played “Sliver”, one of the best songs ever by the best band ever: Nirvana. They covered it good too, and when Rivers covers Nirvana songs he never tries to sound like Kurt Cobain, he does the song in a Weezer way. And I was freaking rocking while Sliver was on, that’s like in my top five songs of all time probably. That caught me by total surprise, I didn’t think they’d do anything “outside the box” sort of say. And while that song was playing there was crowd surfing down in front of the stage, I saw at least two bodies surfing along the crowd. It was amazing, that right there made that the best show I’ve probably ever seen. Hearing a Nirvana song performed live by Nirvana-influenced band is great stuff. I love that damn song. After Sliver, they played “Buddy Holly”. Which turned out to be the last song, the solo was bliss though. That’s the song you got to end with, it was such perfect timing. The set list was so balanced, every song placed in the best possible position, no songs that I was expecting to hear were left out. The best show I have ever seen.
This is a show I really wish I could just sit and revel in the greatness of, but it a quick turn around for me as I have a ticket to see the Meat Puppets and Dinosaur Jr. tomorrow in the city. So you could stay tuned for that show review, I hope I was able to pass along the enjoyment I had tonight to you. That’s if you made it through this whole thing, I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t
Sunday, September 14, 2008
CONCERT REVIEW: Lez Zeppelin @ the Fillmore New York Irving Plaza 9/13
Okay, so the Fillmore East is no longer in its same location, but it’s pretty damn close. And no band could possibly be Led Zeppelin, but I must say that Lez Zeppelin is pretty damn close. There’s nothing like a nice cool almost autumn breeze coming from the open window of the ferry on the way back from yet another long night of hard rocking.
So I get into this place like right when the doors open at 8 (show starts at 9) and I’m directed to the wristband station and I’m just looking around scoping the joint out. The building looks really classic like as you walk up the stairs you have the framed pictures on the wall of all the acts that have been at the Fillmore. Photos of Eric Clapton, the Grateful dead, Pete Townshend, Elton John, Willie Nelson, Elvis Costello and this is all off memory, im leaving out like 40 others; Radiohead, The White Stripes, Tom Petty and Jane’s addiction. I felt the rock and roll history flowing through my veins right there while walking up that stairway to heaven even though it’s 2 blocks away from the original. They (Livenation and Irving Plaza) did a very good job in making that place an exciting venue to see a show, I wonder what Liquid Swords is going to be like tomorrow night.
I get done looking around, scouting out where I’m going to be situated. There are two floors, the top balcony upstairs where people are soon to be hanging off ledges rocking out and the main floor which is like 50 feet of free roaming space to stand and cause a complete “moshpit”; that’s where most of us wanted to be and ended up. It’s sick because the floor looks like a gym floor with the wood finish and shit, and the stage had a theater-like screen in front of it before they pulled it up so the band could play; the place was smaller then a one of the theaters at the South Avenue United Arts, which is a fucking incredibly great thing if your seeing a rock concert. And there are bars everywhere. 2 upstairs, like 3 downstairs and a beer on tap like near the door. And the “Smoking section” is one of the exit doors only they gated off like 15 feet of space for us to smoke. Because us smokers nowadays need to be confined to little hidden corners and back doors because we are not human because we smoke cigarettes (and by the way, yes I did light up some pot right there just for spite of it). So since I’m early, it is time to get drunk and quick. I had already smoked mad pot outside and sticked up to an entire different extent. So I hit the bar grab a beer or two before the opening act “In Flight Radio” comes out to do there set.
From what I’ve read about the band “In Flight Radio” I really wasn’t looking forward to it too much. I thought they would get the absolute opening act treatment considering who the fuck are these people to rain on our Lez Zeppelin parade? To my surprise, the band wasn’t bad at all. Not going to say that I’ve joined the fan club or anything, just saying that they had my head nodding and had won over the crowd by the time the lead singer known as “Peira” put her powder blue electric guitar down and starting tuning an acoustic for a song. It’s kind of quiet for like a minutes already and I’m waiting for someone to scream it, I’m looking around like where is the dude who’s going to say it? Well, I had to do what needed to be done. I screamed “Freebird!!!!!!!!” and a shit load of people near me were busting out laughing and Peira while chuckling says “I was waiting for that one”. She didn’t see me personally I was too far back at this point, but her being able to hear it makes it so great a place to see a concert. I’m fucking deaf right now.
A little while after In Flight radio went off I went to the bar to get a vodka tonic (look at me, I’m a baler ordering 9 dollar drinks). So I see a familiar looking face coming towards the bar from like this side of the stage door thing where they kept spare equipment and shit. Guess who the fuck is coming to bar to order a drink? It’s fucking Peira, the lead vocalist/guitarist of In Flight Radio. And like I’m leaning on the end bar and Peira orders a drink. No one is like coming up to her or anything, so I say “hey great show, how bout an autograph?”. This chick looks dead in my eyes, sips her drink and walks away from me without saying a word. Memo to people in bands: You can’t big time someone when your small time yourself.
And to the main event, Lez Zeppelin: The only credible Zeppelin cover band I could think of and the crowd that was there knew that. I was actually wondering how the atmosphere was going to be, but everyone there kicked fucking ass, everybody was cool. I hung out with like 5 different pairs or trios of people like just shooting the shit smoking cigarettes.
When these chicks hit the stage, it was freaking insane the amount of energy they brought with them and bounced those vibes off to us the audience. I was seriously no more then 25 feet(estimated because I’m not taking a Math class this semester) from the guitarist Steph Paynes who I can’t say enough good things about. No, of course she’s not Jimmy Paige but she holds her own without a doubt. Along with bringing out the double neck 18 string guitar for a song or two, some of her solos(along with drugs and the light show) put me in a dazed and confused sort of state. And they were moving into each song quickly as if you didn’t know the other song stopped. They performed all of Led Zeppelin II, and of course they did “Heartbreaker” then going directly into “Living Loving Maid”. And they lead singer of Lez Zeppelin Sarah McLellan was like fucking amazing hot looking. I was singing the songs, looking at her and her on stage movements and shit and I was like “this chick is getting me pretty horny right now”. And that’s probably the effect Robert Plant gave off to the females (or gay dudes[not that there’s anything wrong with that]) at the old scholl Led Zep shows. She was wearing these jeans and the way she held the microphone wire, damn. That show was friggin’ great. Are they a band played on the radio? No. Have they ever toured Japan? No, but in two weeks they’re going. Point is, this shit fucking rocked, and I’ll go to any show at the Fillmore NY Irving Plaza now, anytime any day. What an amazing show, great venue and such good times.
But, as the song says “Good Times, Bad Times”. One flaw to the show, which was very peculiar to me, was the fact that they didn’t play “Stairway to Heaven”. Are you freaking kidding me? No stairway?? I had half a blogged mapped out on the amazing solo I was going to see when they encore with that song. But it was not to be as they encored with Kashmir, which is a great song and was performed top notch but just I’m sitting there wondering where the hell “Stairway to Heaven” is? It Led Zeppelin’s like signature song!! I leaned on the stage as they took apart the set just to make sure that they weren’t going to come out and play it. Well, I guess when she gets there she knows that the store are all closed.
All and all as rambled on in this thing, it was a great show. Next up on the Jay Porks Never ending concert circuit is Weezer at Madison Square Garden September 24th. I guess that’s the next time you’ll be hearing from me.
So I get into this place like right when the doors open at 8 (show starts at 9) and I’m directed to the wristband station and I’m just looking around scoping the joint out. The building looks really classic like as you walk up the stairs you have the framed pictures on the wall of all the acts that have been at the Fillmore. Photos of Eric Clapton, the Grateful dead, Pete Townshend, Elton John, Willie Nelson, Elvis Costello and this is all off memory, im leaving out like 40 others; Radiohead, The White Stripes, Tom Petty and Jane’s addiction. I felt the rock and roll history flowing through my veins right there while walking up that stairway to heaven even though it’s 2 blocks away from the original. They (Livenation and Irving Plaza) did a very good job in making that place an exciting venue to see a show, I wonder what Liquid Swords is going to be like tomorrow night.
I get done looking around, scouting out where I’m going to be situated. There are two floors, the top balcony upstairs where people are soon to be hanging off ledges rocking out and the main floor which is like 50 feet of free roaming space to stand and cause a complete “moshpit”; that’s where most of us wanted to be and ended up. It’s sick because the floor looks like a gym floor with the wood finish and shit, and the stage had a theater-like screen in front of it before they pulled it up so the band could play; the place was smaller then a one of the theaters at the South Avenue United Arts, which is a fucking incredibly great thing if your seeing a rock concert. And there are bars everywhere. 2 upstairs, like 3 downstairs and a beer on tap like near the door. And the “Smoking section” is one of the exit doors only they gated off like 15 feet of space for us to smoke. Because us smokers nowadays need to be confined to little hidden corners and back doors because we are not human because we smoke cigarettes (and by the way, yes I did light up some pot right there just for spite of it). So since I’m early, it is time to get drunk and quick. I had already smoked mad pot outside and sticked up to an entire different extent. So I hit the bar grab a beer or two before the opening act “In Flight Radio” comes out to do there set.
From what I’ve read about the band “In Flight Radio” I really wasn’t looking forward to it too much. I thought they would get the absolute opening act treatment considering who the fuck are these people to rain on our Lez Zeppelin parade? To my surprise, the band wasn’t bad at all. Not going to say that I’ve joined the fan club or anything, just saying that they had my head nodding and had won over the crowd by the time the lead singer known as “Peira” put her powder blue electric guitar down and starting tuning an acoustic for a song. It’s kind of quiet for like a minutes already and I’m waiting for someone to scream it, I’m looking around like where is the dude who’s going to say it? Well, I had to do what needed to be done. I screamed “Freebird!!!!!!!!” and a shit load of people near me were busting out laughing and Peira while chuckling says “I was waiting for that one”. She didn’t see me personally I was too far back at this point, but her being able to hear it makes it so great a place to see a concert. I’m fucking deaf right now.
A little while after In Flight radio went off I went to the bar to get a vodka tonic (look at me, I’m a baler ordering 9 dollar drinks). So I see a familiar looking face coming towards the bar from like this side of the stage door thing where they kept spare equipment and shit. Guess who the fuck is coming to bar to order a drink? It’s fucking Peira, the lead vocalist/guitarist of In Flight Radio. And like I’m leaning on the end bar and Peira orders a drink. No one is like coming up to her or anything, so I say “hey great show, how bout an autograph?”. This chick looks dead in my eyes, sips her drink and walks away from me without saying a word. Memo to people in bands: You can’t big time someone when your small time yourself.
And to the main event, Lez Zeppelin: The only credible Zeppelin cover band I could think of and the crowd that was there knew that. I was actually wondering how the atmosphere was going to be, but everyone there kicked fucking ass, everybody was cool. I hung out with like 5 different pairs or trios of people like just shooting the shit smoking cigarettes.
When these chicks hit the stage, it was freaking insane the amount of energy they brought with them and bounced those vibes off to us the audience. I was seriously no more then 25 feet(estimated because I’m not taking a Math class this semester) from the guitarist Steph Paynes who I can’t say enough good things about. No, of course she’s not Jimmy Paige but she holds her own without a doubt. Along with bringing out the double neck 18 string guitar for a song or two, some of her solos(along with drugs and the light show) put me in a dazed and confused sort of state. And they were moving into each song quickly as if you didn’t know the other song stopped. They performed all of Led Zeppelin II, and of course they did “Heartbreaker” then going directly into “Living Loving Maid”. And they lead singer of Lez Zeppelin Sarah McLellan was like fucking amazing hot looking. I was singing the songs, looking at her and her on stage movements and shit and I was like “this chick is getting me pretty horny right now”. And that’s probably the effect Robert Plant gave off to the females (or gay dudes[not that there’s anything wrong with that]) at the old scholl Led Zep shows. She was wearing these jeans and the way she held the microphone wire, damn. That show was friggin’ great. Are they a band played on the radio? No. Have they ever toured Japan? No, but in two weeks they’re going. Point is, this shit fucking rocked, and I’ll go to any show at the Fillmore NY Irving Plaza now, anytime any day. What an amazing show, great venue and such good times.
But, as the song says “Good Times, Bad Times”. One flaw to the show, which was very peculiar to me, was the fact that they didn’t play “Stairway to Heaven”. Are you freaking kidding me? No stairway?? I had half a blogged mapped out on the amazing solo I was going to see when they encore with that song. But it was not to be as they encored with Kashmir, which is a great song and was performed top notch but just I’m sitting there wondering where the hell “Stairway to Heaven” is? It Led Zeppelin’s like signature song!! I leaned on the stage as they took apart the set just to make sure that they weren’t going to come out and play it. Well, I guess when she gets there she knows that the store are all closed.
All and all as rambled on in this thing, it was a great show. Next up on the Jay Porks Never ending concert circuit is Weezer at Madison Square Garden September 24th. I guess that’s the next time you’ll be hearing from me.
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