tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18968325782820228152024-03-12T22:39:13.505-04:00The Jay Porks ExperienceSpecializing In Sharing Epic Concert Experiences Through Words, Photos & Videos.
Jay Porks Now Featured at ConcertConfessions.ComJay Porkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14554794404516615556noreply@blogger.comBlogger88125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896832578282022815.post-35506740143789057952013-04-04T10:21:00.000-04:002013-04-04T10:21:36.012-04:00Meat Puppets @ John And Peters - New Hope, PA 04/02/13<div style="text-align: right;">
Meat Puppets- 04/02/2013<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2013/04/meat-puppets-john-and-peters-new-hope-pa-040213/dsc_0689/" rel="attachment wp-att-54721">
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John And Peters - New Hope, Pennsylvania</div>
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We're gonna put this in the first 25 words because it's that important: John and Peters in New Hope is the most amazing place in the world! This little place on a little street in a little town, the perfect way to dive into our 2<sup>nd</sup> night of seeing the <a href="http://www.concertconfessions.com/tag/meat-puppets">Meat Puppets</a>. It's this tiny bar with a sliding door leading 3 steps down to the basement in the back with low ceilings. When I say low ceilings I mean 7 or 8 feet high. You know what it felt like? It had the feel of a teenage party where one of your friends parents goes out of town and everyone runs a muck-only there's also booths, like a diner, all around the room and they have awesome food.. This makes Mercury Lounge look huge. Sign on the front door says "Smoking Permitted". How amazing is that? Almost as amazing as Mickey Melchiondo, better known as <strong>Dean Ween</strong>(!!!!!) hanging with the band as I watched the merch get set up. You might ask what would Dean Ween, Cris and Curt Kirkwood be talking about. What else? TROUT of course! There's a sweet river a few blocks from this place that separates Pennsylvania and New Jersey. City folk like myself don't usually see cool looking land and stuff, so I'm trippin' on the architecture of this town and this place even before the show. Speaking of shows, this one starts at 9:30 to, so much time to be spent in this cloud of smoke taking in a night of Meat Puppets.
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It feels weird to smoke inside. I'm not at all used to this as The World Takes walked into the building a tad after 9(their from here, well 2 of them) and started tuning their stuff. The set list is within view, but the chords are over the words so I can't make it out. But I do know when they started rocking, I was into those first two cuts heavily. Besides looking kinda like Curt, which was made evident at last nights merch table where at least 5 people asked him to sign Meat Puppets CD's, the guitar player/lead singer Steve really takes some queues from a Curt Kirkwood style of guitar playing. It can get really spacey at times. If they play a bigger place on this tour, maybe he'll come up and jam with the boys during their set. That'd be cool. This place is packed to the gills with every one of these booths filled, with waitress service no less bringing pitches of beer back and forth through a crowd with barely any standing room. I settled for a spot by the girls bathroom after all was said and done. Sound in here is awesome, I hear the vocals surrounding me.
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At around 10:05 or so The Meat Puppets trotted downstairs onto, well, I guess we're calling it a stage. The show was not to go on without a hitch however, as somehow in the mix of things some beer got spilled all over Curt's peddle board. Such a tiny place, everyone crowded everywhere you could see how that could happen. He messed with it for a little while and eventually got it to a point that he was alright with, and “The Monkey and the Snake” ( along with “Touchdown King” and the sweet new track “Waiting”)
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kicked us off for the 2<sup>nd</sup> night in the row. Everything with the guitar sounds sounded awesome to me, but I'm no musician after all. Change up thrown when Up On The Sun makes an appearance in the 4<sup>th</sup> slot tonight and Plateau followed.
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Tonight is the night of the extended jams. Check that, tonight is the night for super extended jams. Up On The Sun drifted to a far off land for a while there, and then it came back to earth and blew our freaking minds. You know what else I notice on the steps on the side of the stage? Dean Ween with his eyes closed, head nodding drifting off to this far away place Up On The Sun with us. He's one of our peers tonight. Of course, in the back of my mind all night was “maybe they'll jam”. I'll save the suspense, that did not happen.
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We got our “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights” and “Hey Baby Que Paso” fix tonight, and I've figured out the names of those songs from last night that I didn't catch. Elmo took the lead vocal duties again tonight, and the song is “Cathy's Clown”, an Everly Brothers cover.
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That was hilarious, I love this freaking band. After the song Elmo states: “I wrote that earlier”. The title track from the new record “Rat Farm” is glorious as hell if I may say so myself. “Time and Money” was played last night, although I noticed Curt shaking off Shandon when he suggested it tonight. In the bar earlier in the evening, I overheard them at sound check playing “Down”, but that didn't appear tonight or last night.
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Sloop John B, Lake Of Fire and Backwater before they said goodnight and ducked up the stairs. No idea what time it is as my phone was dead hours ago. I don't know this place, maybe they don't have encores. But none of us cared, as a Meat Puppets chant grew strong with us in the crowd and pounding on the fragile ceiling went along with it. Eventually, they came back down and we showered them with cheers. For a small place that can't fit more many people we got loud. Remember that “super extended jams” line? I wouldn't have even brought that into the mix if it wasn't for this encore. “I'm A Mindless Idiot” and “Lost” had to combine for close to 20 minutes at least. These guys are like their own video game, these sounds are coming from guitars? Then “Oh, Me” began and the place erupted again. Deaner has moved to the right side of the 'stage' now, passed me by on his way there and I made sure to touch him.
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Again, who knows what time it was when they went off, but I know this much. Most of these folks stuck around to just reflect on this epic evening of events. I was talking to so many fans like me and so many different shows. Like the girl who came all the way down from Vermont. That makes my trip from New York look like small potatoes now. Whatever size vegetable, this trip to Pennsylvania for two nights has been amazing. Now the band will spend the next two nights in my town. How great is life?
Jay Porkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14554794404516615556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896832578282022815.post-67967465083328111252013-04-04T10:11:00.002-04:002013-04-04T10:11:27.408-04:00Meat Puppets @ The Chameleon Club - Lancaster, PA 04/01/13<div style="text-align: right;">
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Meat Puppets - 04/01/2013</div>
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Chameleon Club - Lancaster, PA</div>
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Words/Photos/Videos - Jay Porks</div>
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Opening Day. Fresh cut grass, blue skies and Baseball. It is indeed the foundation of America. Today is a different kind of Opening Day for this guy, as it's the first of four consecutive nights to be spent with my desert punk legend buddies, The <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/tag/meat-puppets/">Meat Puppets</a>. They've got a new record coming out, <em>Rat Farm</em>, this month and all reports are that the first few shows of this Rat Farm tour have been kicking ass. Tonight we're in Lancaster-somehow stars aligned and my good friend Linda was able to pick me up for a little road trip into Pennsylvania to catch the band twice before the back to back at the Mercury Lounge in New York City the 3rd and the 4th. So with a bag packed and a pocket full of dreams, and not a dollar to my name we got in that rental car and hit the road.
The Chameleon Club sneaks up on you, as it appears to be your regular run of the mill street when suddenly appears a club across the street from a parking lot. Really old school feel. I'm from city where everything is extravagant, its cool to settle into a grass roots looking kinda joint in the middle of somewhat no where to take in some awesome music.<br />
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<strong>The World Takes</strong> hit the stage at 8:15, I could hear them from the back of the room. The guitars got really funky at times, their second or third song had a pretty awesome solo, and the next song sounded like some early Meat Puppets on speed. Twangy at times, straight forward at other points, the World Takes far from sucked. Did you know their drummer is <strong>DJ Bonebreak</strong> from '<strong>X</strong>'? How cool is that? Throughout their set the songs sounded more and more like a mixture of the Pups and like, Pavement with more added twang. At one point scouting spots, I ended up downstairs and there was some dude doing stand up comedy in this dank sidebar part of the club. Lots of stuff happening in Lancaster, if I wasn't here on business, I'd go tell a few joke. The World Takes played til a few minutes before 9. They'll be on the next four dates at least, so show up early and check them out.
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At 9:17 with the whistling of “The Monkey and The Snake” we were off and running with this evenings proceedings. During Touchdown King, I headed my way upstairs, trying to explore every corner of this place. I got there I was along the rail overlooking the band almost from above/behind them, and by the time I settled in, we're already getting our first taste from Rat Farm. Before the set, Shandon said that they'd try to squeeze in four tracks from the new album. That's entirely possible because 3<sup>rd</sup> song in I see Curt say “Waiting” to Shan. Ah ha, but I recall<a href="http://www.antiquiet.com/studio-reports/2013/02/meat-puppets-return-with-rat-farm-in-april-plan-spring-us-tour/"> the trusty article on AQ</a> that gave me the list of tracks, and can recall that Waiting was one of those new ones. That was followed by “Sometimes Blue”, also off Rat Farm. From this angle you can really appreciate Shandon's drumming expertise.
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Band has a different energy tonight. Ripping through the “Oh, Me”, “Coming Down” and “Plateau” ferociously before hitting us with the double dip of Sahm action: “Wasted Days And Wasted Nights” and “Hey Baby Que Paso”.<br />
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That Wasted Days is some real groovy stuff man, always finding that being the song I hum during the writing of these things.
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Elmo, shredding behind Cris throughout the evening, rounding out the craziness that is this band was thrust upon the mic with his turn to take his crack at the vocal duties, helping out Curt on a song that the name is escaping me. Wonder if they'll ever get a 3<sup>rd</sup> mic up there. Out of that song, and the next two at least one of them had to be new considering those were the only three I couldn't name all night.
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After that section, it was time for Sloop John B straight into the always blistering Lake Of Fire. Then they ducked off stage.
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Figure this gave me time to run back downstairs (as you can see from the pics/videos, I'm not in stand still mode tonight whatsoever). I come out of the staircase literally 14 seconds after they went off they were back on ready to kick it encore style. I'm A Mindless Idiot jammed us into Backwater. That was the last song of the evening.
Nothing left to do but hang out by the merch table waiting for the boys to come out and congratulate them on a their victory here this evening in Lancaster. And there was this chick with purple hair waiting to have a pic taken with the band and I could not take my eyes of this chick. So purple hair Lancaster girl, if you read this, you have an admirer from New York.
10th time seeing this band. Great times. Tomorrow night: New Hope!
[gallery type="slideshow" ids="54707,54708,54709,54710,54711,54712,54701,54702,54703,54706,54705,54704"]Jay Porkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14554794404516615556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896832578282022815.post-60833063521868362242013-02-26T21:35:00.000-05:002013-02-26T21:36:37.752-05:00An Evening With Soundgarden - Manhattan Center's Hammerstein Ballroom 01/23/13<div style="text-align: right;">
Soundgarden - 01/23/2013</div>
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Hammerstein Ballroom - New York City</div>
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Episode 82</div>
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If this was my start to 2013, then boy is it going to be tons of musical fun. What goes on people, welcome yourselves to yet another Jay Porks Experience. Tonight it's Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City to see <strong>Soundgarden,</strong> who are on the 2<sup>nd</sup> night of a back to back here at this dreadful venue located at 34<sup>th</sup> and 8<sup>th</sup>. It's 15 degrees outside and I don't have any money. No money means no cabs. No cabs mean spending 2 hours traveling and being frozen by the time I got to the venue. Luckily tonight, Cornell and Co. were here to help thaw out roughly 4,000 icy New Yorkers.
Let's talk about the security outside of Hammerstein Ballroom for a second. At about 7:30 I was able to make my way inside without much of a line, the doors are at 7 and the show is at 8. The search at the door was insane. They're making people take off their ski hats and everything. Searching every single person. My friend Pam is en route. They let me wait for her in the lobby so I'm watching this all go down. I get a call at 8:15 from Pam asking if the line I got on was around the block, because that's where she is. I head outside to find a line has indeed, formed around the block. These guards are searching three people at a time. This place holds close to 4,000 people, and you guys can't get a few more event staffers out there and get us in quicker? They've created a situation where half the crowd won't be inside by the time this show starts. It's 15 degrees out here. I'm not saying I know a better way, but there has got to be some sort of alternative to this. Can we do it like the TSA at the airport? I want to tell these people that I'm only going to be here for 2 hours or so, there's no reason to bring every single illegal thing I own to this building. Not worth the struggle. This is one of the many reasons why I choose not to visit this venue if I don't have to. What a scumshell this place is. This is not an issue I have at any other venue and they all do searches.
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So remember that “show is at 8” part? Well, we didn't get to our seats til after 8:30. Another travesty, the seating in the mezzanine. The seats are in “first come, first serve” order. So no matter what number it says on your ticket, no matter if you got tickets 5 weeks ago or 5 minutes ago you have your pick of the litter from all the seats up top. So what did I pay $65 + fees for if my seat isn't reserved, that's my only question. And if you caused fans to get into the building a half hour late because of your rigorous search outside, then whats all that weed I smell everywhere?
We seated ourselves in the last two seats on the right side, in the last row. Literally the furthest place you can be in this place. But remember folks,<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2011/08/jay-porks-heads-out-west-for-soundgarden-qotsa-mastodon-the-meat-puppets-73011/"> last time I saw Soundgarden</a> I was about a football field away from them at the Gorge in 2010. So being able to actually see the action on stage was a treat. Somewhere between 8:30 and 9 the lights dimmed and the band was set to hit the stage. Ladies and Gentleman, SOUNDGARDEN.
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When Soundgarden hit the stage and kicked things off with “Searching With My Good Eye Closed” they began a career spanning (I hate the term “career spanning”) set of old hits, old obscure tracks, and of course a nice dose of King Animal spun in there. We didn't get into King Animal though, until “<em>Non-State Actor</em>” checked in as the 10<sup>th</sup> song of the evening. “<em>Spoonman</em>”was awesome in the two slot a the band ripped through <em>“Gun”, “Rhinosaur”</em> and <em>“Flower”</em> before I had to turn to Pam between songs and say “We're seeing fucking Soundgarden!”. I was excited. I'm happy Twitter exists because I'm terrible with song names. Speaking of Twitter, last night I read tweets about an oversold Hammerstein Ballroom. I read that it was crowded on the floor. Tonight the floor looked packed out, and even though I was in the last row of the building, I did notice people standing behind me by the time we were into “<em>Loud Love</em>” and “<em>Drawing Flies</em>”.
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It was during “Drawing Flies” I decided time to grab some quick drinks, and I stood on a line that had 4 people in front of me for the duration of that song as well as “<em>Hunted Down</em>”. I ordered a Coors Light and a Captain and Diet and received a Budweiser and some fruity looking beverage that was clearly not Captain and got charged 17 bucks (Pam got charged 17 bucks). I swear the only people who should be paid for working here tonight are the four on stage because everything else going on inside this venue is a train wreck.
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I didn't even need to hear the lyrics as soon as I saw that backwards American flag on the video screen I knew we were into “<em>Non-State Actor</em>” by now,
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so I figured they'd go back to back with new tracks and hit us with <em>“Been Away Too Long”</em> but not so fast-they slipped “<em>My Wave</em>” between them.
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“<em>Worse Dreams</em>” into “<em>Blow Up The Outside World</em>”-now we're in a new one, old one portion of the set. It's only the halfway point. Kim is adding a little extra funk in his riffs for this one, I hear his guitar trailing off in another direction from time to time in this one, and I like it. “<em>Zero Chance</em>” and “<em>Eyelids Mouth</em>” preceded “<em>By Crooked Steps</em>”-
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another one of my favorites off the new record. Speaking of the record, Chris Cornell said at one point earlier (and I have this on video if it ever uploads): “the new record is called King Animal.. if you haven't bought it by now, well I don't care if you steal it or whatever” before jokily retracting the statement when he said “I think the president of our record company is here tonight”. <em>“Outshined”</em> was a little extra special tonight
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heard everyone in my section screaming along to that one. That place was rocking all night long. Such an amazing live band these guys are. I've seen them do it outdoors now I'm seeing them do it indoors. The guy walking around my section who looked like Scott Ian from <strong>Anthrax</strong> was really getting into it with his girl during that one. I was waiting to have a good laugh when “<em>Blood On The Valley Floor</em>” came on.
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The reason for that is because the other day while moving quickly to post a video of Soundgarden performing a song never heard live I mistakenly said that “Blood On The Valley Floor” was unreleased and wasn't on King Animal. So here I am taping it and I can't help but laugh at myself. Great track none the less. This King Animal record isn't an album people should brush to the side while only being grateful that Soundgarden playing together again-this album is awesome. And I really thought I appreciated it when it came out. But seeing these songs brought to life live, <strong>Cornell</strong>'s howling, the back drop of a powerful <strong>Matt Cameron</strong> on drums. Just cause he's currently ¼ of the band I hate the most in my life he is also ¼ of Soundgarden and he's tearing stuff up back there. One song another dude was drumming with him on the same kit. I also have that on video, again, barring it uploads anytime this month.
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Moment of truth time: Yes they did indeed play<em> "Black Hole Sun</em>". It was a sweeter version of the song, the ever so slightly more mellow chorus much like I witnessed two years ago across the country. I hate when bands don't play their biggest hit so I'm happy they played it. Although, had I known what would come or not come later, I would have traded it for <em>Jesus Christ Pose</em> and <em>Pretty Noose</em>(both of which absent tonight).
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But like I always say: When you've got a bitchin' camera doubling as binoculars, sitting in a seat rocking out to Soundgarden next to a cool chick who loves Seinfeld as much as you there's really no way that can turn into a losing situation. <em>"Rowing"</em> was next up before they ducked off. People were exiting since Outshined so lots of people walking in front of my camera. I have no desire to go back out into that cold I'm sitting right here til they make me leave. Came out to a four song encore of <em>“Head Down</em>”, “<em>Rusty Cage</em>”, <em>“The Day I Tried To Live</em>”
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and “<em>4<sup>th</sup> of July”</em>-the middle two of the four being my highlights of that section. I was so into this show I wasn't even keeping notes besides songs, I wasn't writing down exact times and stuff.
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After “4<sup>th</sup> of July” Chris left is guitar on the floor of the stage face down and feedback fed through the PA until it faded out into the house music. Somewhere between 11-11:30 they were done and we were on our way out.
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2013/01/an-evening-w-soundgarden-012313-hammerstein-ballroom/sg11/" rel="attachment wp-att-53361"><img alt="SG11" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-53361" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/SG11-512x300.png" width="512" /></a></div>
You know you've taken in something of epic proportions when there's a handful of songs you wanted to hear that didn't get played and you're still walking down the block chatting it up about how amazing the show was. And that's what Soundgarden brought to the table here tonight. 28 songs. Count it, 28. That's like a <strong>Bruce Springsteen</strong> type number. And someone tell <strong>Billy Corgan</strong> that if what I just witnessed was nothing but a “cash grab” then Cornell and company can snatch my wallet anytime they please.
May have mixed up a few songs in the paragraphs above in terms of order, but the full set list is below.. Late.<br />
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<em>Setlist:</em>
Searching With My Good Eye Closed<br />
Spoonman<br />
Gun<br />
Rhinosaur<br />
Flower<br />
Loud Love<br />
Drawing Flies<br />
Hunted Down<br />
Live to Rise<br />
Non-State Actor<br />
My Wave<br />
Been Away Too Long<br />
Worse Dreams<br />
Blow Up the Outside World<br />
Zero Chance<br />
Eyelid's Mouth<br />
Like Suicide<br />
By Crooked Steps<br />
Outshined<br />
Blood on the Valley Floor<br />
Fresh Tendrils<br />
Mailman<br />
Black Hole Sun<br />
Rowing<br />
---Encore---<br />
Head Down<br />
Rusty Cage<br />
The Day I Tried to Live<br />
4th of July
Jay Porkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14554794404516615556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896832578282022815.post-5197643573168214142013-02-26T21:20:00.000-05:002013-02-26T21:20:30.095-05:00Dinosaur Jr And Friends - Terminal 5 NYC 12/01/12<div style="text-align: right;">
Dinosaur Jr + Special Guests - 12/01/2012</div>
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Terminal 5 - New York City</div>
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Words/Photos/Videos - Jay Porks</div>
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In two weeks,<strong> Dinosaur Jr</strong>'s second studio record “<em>You're Living All Over M</em>e” will turn 25 years old-why wait til then to start the celebration? Tonight, in the 81st Edition of the Jay Porks Never Ending Concert Series we return to <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/tag/terminal-5/">Terminal 5</a> in New York City (610 West 56th Street) for what is billed as “<em>Dinosaur Jr's 25th anniversary of "You're Living All Over Me" with Very Special Friends Sitting In and Special Guest Kurt Vile”</em> Well, it's well known that if the ticket says Dinosaur Jr and I can get there via Bus, Train and/or Boat-chances are I'm getting myself in the building. <strong>Kurt Vile and The Violators</strong> supporting, if nothing else, peaks my interest for an opening band. And Vile's a bitchin' guitar player so sitting in should be fun as well. But friends? Who? Weeks after I bought tickets a few names sprinkled out. <strong>Johnny Marr</strong> will be here. <strong>Dale Crover</strong> will be here. <strong>Al Cisneros</strong> will be here. <strong>Frank Black</strong> will be here and <strong>Kim Gordon</strong> will be here. If that's not enough, there's going to be two Dinosaur Jr sets, first playing the record and the second being a collection of hits ranging the band's whole catalog. There's still the extreme likely possibility that more guests will appear tonight on stage. Anything can happen. Let's hope “anything” means “everything that you can think of in the world” tonight.
In my first trip into Manhattan in a post- Sandy world, I found myself outside online to get into Terminal 5 at 6:30 with doors set to open at 7 due to train stations being out of order. I would complain about walking a few blocks, but I still have my home and stuff plus I could use the exercise. Felt like forever standing out there on line-not because it was cold. It was my anxiety, my prayers to several gods to be able to obtain my awesome third floor spot. I was about 100 deep in the line and another 100 people (at least) were behind me by the time doors opened. We got in and I ran up two flights of stairs to find exactly what I was looking: an empty third floor with plenty of chairs and ottomans to keep me comfortable until showtime. After I grabbed myself a Pepsi, it was already 7:30.
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At 8 o clock Kurt Vile and the Violators hit the stage. They impressed everyone by the end of their set. Each songs having a different feel, kept thanking us for being a “beautiful audience”. They seem like a band that should have been around when bands like Dinosaur Jr and Sonic Youth were getting big in the late 80's. They have that psychedelic thing going, but the sweet melodies are what, well, keep making me want to compare them to Dinosaur Jr. Was that an 18 string acoustic I saw Kurt Vile bust out on a song called “Freeway” or am I wrong? He changed guitars every single song. I like guitars, so this is a plus in my book. And we share a haircut. His voice is very punky, the tone is perfect for this kind of show. You know-effects pedals everywhere and extended noise jams. I recorded their song “Monkey”. Awesome job by them. It was 8:40 when they went off.
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/12/dinosaur-jr-friends-terminal-5-new-york-city-120112/dinosaur-jr-lee-ranaldo-2/" rel="attachment wp-att-44632"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-44632" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Dinosaur-Jr-Lee-Ranaldo-2-512x300.png" title="Dinosaur Jr Lee Ranaldo 2" width="512" /></a></div>
Truth be told, I haven't listened to <em>"You're Living All Over Me"</em> front to back in a few years. So I had to go back this past week leading up to the show and re-brush myself up on the masterpiece that is that album. After kicking off the night with "Thumb"(with a chick on stage playing the flute.. or a clarinet) , our first guest of the evening hit the stage next and was our first surprise guest of the evening: Lee Ranaldo(of <strong>Sonic Youth</strong> fame).
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He provided some vocals on the record's first track, <em>“Little Fury Things”</em>. So here we are, for the next 46 or so minutes watching Dinosaur Jr just kill it. I mean it's not like I haven't seen this band kill it before, this is my forth time. But they're getting better. J Mascis takes a cerebral attack towards his playing, making his guitar his total bitch. This is beyond distortion, this is beautiful madness at it's finest. At one point his guitar sounded like a flock of doves-I'm serious. And I'm up here, sitting on a chair, (Low to the ground like an ottoman, yet it has a back like a chair. Very comfortable) 3<sup>rd</sup> floor Terminal 5- not taping. I'm taking this whole album in right now strictly like a normal fan, we do have two sets after all. I'm under an influence alright-the heavy drug known as awesome music. I'm checking out the crowd, they're going nuts, slamming into each other and crowd surfing like crazy. I mean, it's a very tiny part of me, but part of me wanted to be down there smashing myself into strangers. But the sea of people doesn't end as I keep turning my head-this place is packed to the gills (and my “private” section has turned into a full house) One note, I know here in NYC we have some less than desirable fans in the crowd who throw stuff on stage. Usually empty beer cups- I know I've been hit with several beers in the pit at past shows. But tonight, it was hoodies exclusively being thrown. I hate to break the news to these people that although it's hot in the pit it's still cold outside. Keep glancing over to the rhythm section to see Murph is the only person in shorts, beating the kit with everything he had on ever song he drummed on. I could tell, he worked up quite a sweat. And Lou. Every time I looked in that direction his head was down, bass hanging real low and he was just creating earthquakes over there with his heavy bass licks.
At 10:01 Murph and J dart off stage and the lights dim, revealing Lou Barlow alone, holding a Ukelele ready to play “Poledo” solo, adding that this is an "awkward end to an amazing record" before cranking out the oddity but goody.
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This was advertised as two sets, and the bill fit the length of what you'd get out of two sets. But props to the band for not making us wait like 15 minutes in between.<strong> Frank Black</strong> (or is it Black Francis these days? I get them mixed up) former <strong>Pixies</strong> frontman was on stage by 10:06. He's here to "help out on one of the songs off the new record <em>"I Bet on Sky</em>" according to J. After they played the tune, Mr Black hands the gigantic hand drawn lyric sheet he had in front of him to a lucky member of the crowd, re-tunes his guitar and next thing you know you're hearing the lyric "hips like Cinderella" and we're jumping into "Tame".
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Dinosaur Jr and Frank Black doing “Tame”. Are you freaking serious?!?! Pass me a tissue, I just wet myself. it was so perfect, so right for this evening. So many joyous screams.
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A great old tracked popped up “Alone”, a great new track from the new record popped up, “Watch The Corners” and here comes <strong>Johnny Marr</strong> at around 1045. Besides that crappy band with <strong>Morrissey,</strong> I loved Johnny Marr's stuff with <strong>Modest Mouse</strong> and he is a highly regarded guitar player. He's actually releasing his debut solo record later this year. He lended a hand on <em>"The Wagon".</em> Then they brought out a lyric sheet on a stand for J as they got into a song I didn't know.
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Thankfully we live in the 21st century and Twitter was buzzing within seconds chiming in with the song title: "<em>The Boy with The Thorn in his Side</em>", a <strong>Smiths</strong> cover. There was another guest vocalist up there(thanks to fellow fans comments, it was pointed out to me that it was <strong>Kevin Drew</strong> from <strong>Broken Social Scene</strong>) .At least it wasn't Morrissey. <strong>Dale Crover</strong>(of the <strong>Melvins</strong>) was out there drumming on the Smiths cover with them. <strong>Al Cisneros</strong> (known for his work in <strong>Sleep</strong> and<strong> OM</strong>) was on and off stage throughout the evening as well as<strong> Kurt Vile</strong>.<strong> Don Fleming</strong>(used to be in a band called Gumball) came on stage to cover a song by the band<strong> Iron Cross</strong> called <em>“Crucified For Your Sins”</em>. Your a typical hard rocking DC punk rock anthem to perk up the pit as some start to sober up. It was intense.
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And at 11:09 <strong>Kim Gordon</strong> hops on stage. The sexist 59 year old chick I've ever seen, since her recent divorce with <strong>Thurston Moore</strong> (in turn, putting all things <strong>Sonic Youth</strong> on indefinite hiatus) Kim spends these days playing in an experimental noise rock duo with <strong>Bill Nace</strong> called <strong>Body/Head</strong>. Surprised Kim's lungs didn't come flying out of her chest during "<em>Don't"</em>.</div>
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That one that requires screaming multiplied by a million. I hated when the band played this song last year(Review of that show <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2011/06/dinosaur-jr-henry-rollins-off-fucked-up-62311-terminal-5/">here</a>) because they let some fan sing the vocal and he kept slamming the microphone down and had an annoying scream. Kim was awesome, I just wish there was some better lighting in there for me to grab a better picture of her. Well, the lighting was good, but the shine from the drum set was messing with my camera. Everybody ducked off stage at 11:19
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They came back out not long after. You know, there was one kid I saw outside wearing a Replacements tee shirt. At the time I saw it I said to myself “Sweet..the Replacements”. That must've been my spider senses tingling, because out for the encore on bass is none other than <strong>Tommy Stinson</strong> from the <strong>Replacements</strong>! Tommy also plays in the fake Guns N' Roses band that <strong>Axl Rose</strong> tours with these days. And there's my buddy <strong>John Petkovic</strong> (see <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/05/mike-watt-friends-050212-le-poisson-rouge-nyc/">Mike Watt & Friends 05/02/12</a>) on vocals-and they're playing <strong>The Stooges</strong>! <em>“TV Eye”</em>. The pit was chaos once again.
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I had read reviews claiming <strong>Fred Arminsen</strong> was on stage at one point and I had to look back at my pictures a day later and notice that he is in fact drumming on "TV Eye". I was having such a good time I missed the Portlandia star. <em>“Start Choppin”</em> followed and then our night ended with “<em>Freak Scene</em>”. The house music came on slightly after 11:30.
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Dinosaur Jr never disappoint, but that my friends was something for the ages. I've placed a picture of the set list below. Enjoy the videos! Late.
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/12/dinosaur-jr-friends-terminal-5-new-york-city-120112/p1010472/" rel="attachment wp-att-44642"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-44642" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/P1010472-225x300.jpg" title="Dinosaur Jr Set List 12/01/12" width="225" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.nyctaper.com/">NYCTaper</a> has a great capture of this show available for download. You can click this link <a href="http://www.nyctaper.com/2012/12/dinosaur-jr-december-1-2012-terminal-5-flac-mp3-downloads-streaming-songs/">here</a> to check out all the audio goodies</div>
<br />Jay Porkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14554794404516615556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896832578282022815.post-15529907374036650492012-11-30T21:44:00.003-05:002012-11-30T21:44:52.818-05:00The Darkness - Terminal 5 (10/21/12)<div style="text-align: left;">
The Darkness (w/ The Dirty Pearls & Sweatheart) - 10/21/2012</div>
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Terminal 5 - New York City</div>
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Words/Photos/Video - Jay Porks<br />
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/10/the-darkness-terminal-5-new-york-city-102112/darkness-full-band/" rel="attachment wp-att-37782"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-37782" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Darkness-Full-band-512x300.png" title="The Darkness " width="512" /></a></div>
Well, today was another case of me being on my way to a bitchin' rock show while one of my professional sports teams loses in heartbreaking fashion. <strong><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/10/local-h-the-bell-house-101812-brooklyn-ny/" target="_blank">Thursday was the Yankees</a></strong>, and before tonight's show kicked off the Jets had lost in overtime. Speaking of the show- Hello everyone, and welcome to the 80<sup>th</sup> edition of the Jay Porks Never Ending Concert Series (I'm told there's a watch waiting for me at # 100) which takes us to Terminal 5 (610 West 56<sup>th</sup> Street) in the Hell's Kitchen area of New York City to see The Darkness play one of their two shows on this side of the pond in support of their new album 'Hot Cakes', which you should go buy if you haven't. Now, the only bad news is that Foxy Shazam is not in the building (they opened up for the band at <strong><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/02/the-darkness-w-foxy-shazam-2412-irving-plaza-nyc/" target="_blank">Irving Plaza in February</a></strong>) but we've got two other openers to make a case for themselves here tonight as we have 'Sweatheart' and 'The Dirty Pearls' due up before everyone's favorite cock-rockers hit the stage. Doors are at 7, with showtime at 7:30. Let's roll.
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After a pretty intense walk from the train station, I made it to the entrance at 6:47 where they were already bringing people in and having them wait on the roof top smoke deck not to crowd the streets of Manhattan. Did I mention I'm wearing a suit? Well, last night my friend Janine (who was at <strong><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/09/the-offspring-w-neon-trees-dead-sara-090912-asbury-parknj/" target="_blank">The Offspring</a></strong> with Pam and I) got married and the ceremony was so awesome I figured why not let the good times roll on into Sunday night. I mean, it's the Darkness we're talking about here-must keep it classy. So they let us in at 7 and I'm dashing to my usual spot on the 3<sup>rd</sup> floor when I'm stopped by event staff. First he's asking me for my VIP sticker (because I'm wearing a suit I guess) and when I tell him I'm a regular fan he informs me that the 3<sup>rd</sup> floor is not open this evening. I said “What's that, due to lack of ticket sales or something?” he nodded. I cannot believe the Darkness are underselling this place? It holds 3,000- They sold out both nights at Irving Plaza in February, granted it's a third of the size I figured this show would be sold out for months. Bummer. So my new spot is right behind the sound board and the guy controlling the lights, I'm looking down at all the action, hey there's the Darkness set list right there on the table-let me just copy all these songs down and scout out when I'm going to tape. This spot I grabbed is on the 2<sup>nd</sup> floor, straight in the back. Finally get to see the stage background thing that bands always hang but I never see because I prefer a side view.
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/10/the-darkness-terminal-5-new-york-city-102112/sweatheart/" rel="attachment wp-att-37749"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-37749" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Sweatheart-512x300.png" title="Sweatheart" width="512" /></a></div>
At 7:31 Philadelphia's own “Sweatheart” hit the stage. No, I'm not misspelling the word Sweetheart-it's actually Sweatheart. They have a mannequin siting at the key board , several members wearing black hoods, (Halloween is around the corner after all). Once she removes the black hooded thing, this lead singer has a this skin tight bodysuit hot enough to keep my attention, and that girl's name is Amanda Blank. For a half hour, they dropped their weirdness on us, filled with plenty of innuendo and crotch grabbing to explain why they were indeed opening for the Darkness. Justin Hawkins says this band did the animation for their music video “Nothin's Gonna Stop Us”. As I watched I kept trying to pin what sub-genre they fall under. They were like Bubblegum-Heavy, but when I came home, I read that they're “performance rock”, and the band's website says: “Approachable Stadium Pop, Man Jams (with Women) or Community College Rock. No wait, 80's Screwball Comedy Soundtrack Rock”. Well whatever it was it sounded good to me, I like bands with a sense of humor (and a hot lead singer who openly discusses ejaculating on breasts). I did not see a bass player. They went off at 8:02
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/10/the-darkness-terminal-5-new-york-city-102112/dirtypearls2/" rel="attachment wp-att-37748"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-37748" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/DirtyPearls2-512x300.png" title="The Dirty Pearls" width="512" /></a></div>
Things are moving quick on stage, as it only took til 8:13, for The Dirty Pearls to come on and rock this joint out-and they did. This band was more straight ahead Rock N' Roll. Here we have a hometown band with a lead singer wearing sunglasses indoors and two guitar players playing nothing but gnarly fucking riffs man. Fuck Eddie Van Halen. I'm starting to get packed into this little spot here as people are catching on to this awesome view. Only one slow jam from them: “You Got Me Where You Want Me” to counter act the hard hitting songs like “Bruises” and the track that ended their set, “New York City Is A Drug”. They just released their debut full length record “Whether You Like It Or Not” which you can download at the bands website. Good times. They went off at 8:47
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At 912 when "The Boys are Back in town " started blasting through the PA, you knew that the boys were in fact back in town as the Darkness hit the stage. The band has a new record out called “Hot Cakes” and it's spectacular. They have two U.S. Dates supporting this effort-that;s right TWO. Us NYC folk get them, as well as the City of Angels in a few days. Not surprising they'd began the evening with the first song on the new effort, “Every Inch Of You”.<br />
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Dan Hawkins in a Thin Lizzy tee shirt while Justin is in his usual Freddie Mercury style shiny white jump suit. “Black Shuck” followed with “Growing On Me” really had this place (well, the two floors of the place) rocking.<br />
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I mean, I know about a handful of people who are as into this band as I am-not everyone is smart enough to get these guys. But the ones who do were here tonight, as hands were waving, people in the back on the first floor were dancing (good idea for the playlist if I ever get married-The Darkness), just good vibes all around this place. “She's Just A Girl Eddie” was our next Hot Cakes track to appear, and people already knew the words to it! This isn't even one of their singles.
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“One Way Ticket” came next and it featured a pause in the middle of the song as Justin was kicking guitar picks with his heel until finally the bass player caught one on like the seventh try to a resounding ovation.<br />
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Then before they played “Nothin's Gonna Stop Us” we were informed about how Sweatheart did the music video for them, and they were very grateful. Towards the end of “Get Your Hands Off My Woman” Justin had pointed to some fan in the crowd, who raced up through the sea of people to the front, where he was dragged on stage to help out on the “mother fucker” audience participation part of the song. That guy was funny. He took off his shirt and threw it at Dan, before walking over and taking a sip of Justin's water. All of a sudden this guy's a rockstar now. Awesome. Justin told him “end it with a leap!” and he did, he leaped right into Justin's arms before grabbing his shirt and diving into the crowd to be surfed to the back of the room. Priceless.
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I find it funny that the band has two songs on the set list that start with the word love and they choose to put them back to back. That's the case next when the band busted out “Love Is Not The Answer” followed by my personal highlight of this evening: “Love Is Only A Feeling”.<br />
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This is a song where Dan gets some time to shine with his gee-tar..See, back at Irving Plaza when I saw this band, event staff made me put my camera away before I was able to tape this epic ballard. So I was thrilled to be rolling when they jammed out on that one before Justin ran back stage to change jump suits. Tattoos much? Jeez I thought that said “Thug Life” across the stomach for a second. This guy's bad ass. In the black and silver jumper, an older tune “Friday Night” was followed by two new tracks “Concrete” and “Everybody Have A Good Time”.
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This is the part where I say “The Darkness Covered Radiohead!!” but it's not a rare thing as they do “Street Spirit (Fade Out)” live almost every set, so much so that they recorded a version of it for Hot Cakes.
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I have to be honest here, I'm not a fan of this song much as a Radiohead song, but The Darkness knock that shit out of the park. The band was in rare form tonight, and I hate myself for living in the only borough you need to take a boat to get to and having to leave right after that because of the Ferry's Sunday scheduling. Justin was introducing “Givin' Up” on my way out, as I heard him saying “Hey, you want to hear me and my brother sing a song about Heroin?”. What a great freaking band.
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I had copied down the set list before the show started from the sound board, you can find that below this little photo gallery. So pissed at myself for having to duck out of there, but as with life, stuff happens. Once the videos upload, they'll all be posted right here. The Darkness covering Radiohead is first up of course. And oh yeah, check out my awesome photos. Seriously, I'm getting pretty good at this.
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Set List:
Every Inch of You
Black Shuck
Growing on Me
She's Just A Girl Eddie
One Way Ticket
Nothin's gonna stop us
Get Your Hands Off My Woman
Love Is Not The Answer
Love Is Only A Feeling
Friday Night
Concrete
Everybody Have A Good Time
Street Spirit (Fade Out) [Radiohead Cover]
Givin' Up
Stuck In A Rut
I Believe In A Thing Called Love
----Encore----
With a Woman
Hazel Eyes
Love On The Rocks With Ice
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Jay Porkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14554794404516615556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896832578282022815.post-48410327655097316112012-10-22T23:37:00.001-04:002012-10-22T23:41:45.757-04:00Local H - The Bell House 10/18/12<div style="text-align: right;">
Local H - 10/18/2012</div>
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The Bell House - Brooklyn, NY</div>
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Words/Photos/Videos - Jay Porks</div>
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The CMJ Music Festival: Hundreds of bands, tons of venues, and so little time. The “Marathon” as they call it consists of 4 days this year of shows in and around New York City and Brooklyn and is the reason I get to see Local H tonight for the 2<sup>nd</sup> time this year. A scheduling conflict cost me my shot at seeing the band perform at Webster Hall in the afternoon on Wednesday, but as we turn the page to today, I find myself pumped for several reasons amidst heading to the Bell House tonight in Brooklyn. First off, my friend Pam is finally going to get to see Local H. Truth be told, any other Local H shows I've attended that I have confessed to on this site I've had a ticket for her every time. She never quite could escape work or traffic, but tonight is locked in (hopefully not my famous last words). Also, my buddy Flo (who I met at <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2011/10/lemonheads-redeem-themselves-bowery-ballroom-101011/">the Lemonheads</a>) will be meeting me there too-It's going to be a freaking party. Do things get better? Well, how bout some Scott Lucas acoustic action at 8PM to open up the evening? Because that was the Facebook post from Local H that I woke up to this morning. Doors are at 7:30PM, I get off work at 4PM. Hopefully we can get ourselves there in time to grab that little elevated spot in the back, which is awesome for taking video, sitting, and charging our cell phones . So let's have some fun here in the 79<sup>th</sup> Edition of the Jay Porks Never Ending Concert Series...
We walked in and got to pass a big screen TV to take a glimpse at my baseball team taking it's final swings of the season. Some good news, the dream spot in back of the room is free. So we settle in as we wait for Scott to come on, which Facebook said was an 8PM set. I noticed that the other opening band already has their stuff set up on stage and just an acoustic guitar in the middle of the stage. There's four lights set up on stage too. I guess this has something to do with 'The Life and Times'.
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Scott Lucas came on shortly after 8:30 and kicked off his acoustic set with a Misfits cover “Last Caress” before getting into some Married Men tunes like “Steady Gaze”, “Heavy Lidded Love” and “Blood Half Moons”, the latter of which being the title track to the latest Married Men release. It's amazing because, here<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/04/local-h-double-dip-sort-of-in-nyc-41512/"> I saw this band in April</a> and Scott did this same opening for himself thing-then I went and saw <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/scott-lucas-and-the-married-men-mercury-lounge-nyc-061412/">him with the Married Men on their own</a>, so all these songs are familiar to me and I get to sing along and stuff. Suddenly Scott starts explaining that they have the album at the Merch table for sale, and asks if we have any requests. Someone screamed “Nothing Else Matters”. That was probably worse than screaming “Freebird” at this point, Scott just looks at the guy and says “Nothing Else Matters? Yea fuck you asshole”. It was either “fuck you asshole” or something close to that. I drew a blank. Too much pressure for me to have 1 point 5 seconds to shout out a song that not only the crowd but the performer would be on board with. For some reason my whole night is focused on not giving Scott an excuse to throw me out or beat me up(You've seen the Cold Manor video!), and with less people here than there were for the Vaselines I could easily be picked out. No chances taken as someone screamed “Eddie Vedder”, which Scott and all of us liked so it got played. Next it was “Hey Rita” followed by the song that goes along with the new Scott Lucas and The Married Men music video, “a Halloween song” as Scott put it, and that's “Ain't No Grave”. A string broke on his guitar during “Hey Rita”, but the bad ass just kept it moving finishing off the seven song set with five strings. It was a little after 9 when he departed.
http://youtu.be/Lgo3UJUGQKQ
Let's talk about the band 'The Life And Times' for a second, because they were slotted as the main support tonight. They have four lights sitting on the stage surrounding the band. These lights went on when the band started playing, providing light on their instruments as they played. As they broke into their murky-noise tunes and rocked their 45 minute set out. As a band, they were good. Maybe not my cup of tea, but tight musicians non the less. Maybe not the most cheery folk, after their 2<sup>nd</sup> or 3<sup>rd</sup> song the lead singer says “Wow, hope you guys make more noise for Local H when they come on”. I know we're New York scum rockers and all that, but usually we get a “Hello, thanks for having us” before we start getting treated like garbage. With their lights and macho head games. So one of their songs sounded like “My Sharona” by the Knack. I mean the bass line and the drum line is extremely similar. I didn't even point it out originally, Flo and Pam were screaming at me “MY SHARONA!!” and that's when I noticed the similarities. So I may or may not have started screaming out the lyrics to My Sharona. After the song they decided to tell us about their new record and the lead singer goes “Yeah, did you hear that ding-dong over there screaming My Sharona? Yeah he's probably not gonna buy the new record”. Ding-dong? Touche amigo.
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Tonight is one of the few times I'm seeing a band headline and I'm praying for them to play a healthy amount of songs off their new record. Usually hate it when bands try to shove new shit down your throat at every opportunity-but the key word there is “shit”, and the new Local H record “Hallelujah, I'm a Bum!” the exact opposite of that. This album is a beast of it's own species, So at 10:36 when the beginning chimes of “Waves” hit the speakers, I was beyond pumped that we might be getting the same heavy dose of this record that the Troubadour got a few weeks ago. We went “Waves” into “Cold Manor” straight into “Here Come Ol' Laptop” (all from “Hallelujah I'm a Bum”)</div>
http://youtu.be/DNiImb5hORI
before an early appearance of “Bound For The Floor”. This is the first time I've seen that song appear this early in an evening, but it was so right for the moment-so right for the evening to get that out of the way and keep this new stuff rolling. It's one of my favorite songs of all time don't get me wrong, but it's good to have a night where the set isn't closed with it-let's roll the dice tonight. Next up, a stand out from the new album “They Saved Reagan's Brain”. Now, I'm not an incestuously political guy (besides when it comes to Republican lying scum who hate Big Bird), but songs off this record make me want to go out there and make a difference. “There's no use running with the Chinese coming and I don't want to see this world burn no more”. Damn right there isn't.
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“Everyone Alive” came next, and that was followed by “The One with Kid” (from 12 Angry Months).The One With Kid is an amazing song, and as this night goes by the question is posed: Is Scott Lucas getting younger? Seriously, the car ride home consisted of a conversation between Pam and I about how old Scott is to be able to jump all over the place like a 12 year old having the time of his life when he's been putting out music for almost 20 years. The only thing that ages is his guitar playing-which ages like fine wine. It gets better EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Little added parts and alterations to riffs and sounds and the way he can turn feedback into puddy in his hand and mold it whatever he pleases at any given time. It's not just bass and guitar at the same time, he's making enough sounds for 4 or 5 people up there. Every time I see this band I mention how Brian St. Clair is “Grohlian” on drums, in attempts to coin my own phrase and it hasn't worked out. But he's incredible, it's like Keith Moon on speed assuming Keith Moon wasn't already on speed. Were more symbols added to his kit recently? How can these two guys fly under the radar all these years? It boggles my mind. Especially when you hear the crunchy guitar sounds on “Night Flight to Paris”. Then the band kicks it back up to crazy once again with an oldie but goodie “Back In The Day”</div>
http://youtu.be/mKV9YykWA7s
before another 3-peat from the latest effort with “Say The Word”, “ Feed A Fever” and “Another February”. Since 2011 at the Mercury Lounge,<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2011/04/local-h-rocks-mercury-lounge-42111/"> I've seen Another February</a> go from “here's a new song we're going to kick around” to a well oiled machine. I was late to hit record, so I got to rock out to this one. And it felt great.
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With eight new songs already on display, I wasn't shocked that the band made the pit happy with “Alright, Oh Yeah”, “All The Kids Are Right”, “Fritz's Corner” and a haunting “Hands on The Bible” before which, Scott heard someone scream out <strong>The Libertines, </strong>and he replied with "Play The Libertines? No. We're American".. “Waves Again” book ended their set and they ran off at 11:47.
http://youtu.be/WTw825Pck4s
The encore I'd assume would be three songs, so after “California Songs” (with a “Fuck Brooklyn Too!” lyric included) and “Look Who's walking on Four Legs Again” it finally hit me what they were going to close with: “High Fiving MF”.. They got right into that next, and towards the end of the song were saying what I thought would be their final goodnight of the evening. But they didn't stop playing for more than a second before I heard a familiar riff. No way. Can it be? Are we getting “Wolf Like Me” right now??
http://youtu.be/Dv1H1tjAPWc
You're damn right we are! Unreal. This is just insanity. After Midnight Thursday turning into Friday in Brooklyn and Local H has not only burned down the Bell House with this set, but pissed out the fire-closing the show with a TV On The Radio classic. I wouldn't have believed it was that good if I wasn't there. Me, Pam, Flo and what couldn't have been more than 100 other folks just witnessed a shot to be heard round the world.
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<strong>Set List:</strong>
Waves
Cold Manor
Here Come Ol' Laptop
Bound For The Floor
They Saved Reagan's Brain
Everyone Alive
The One with Kid
Night Flight To Paris
Back In The Day
Say The Word
Feed A Fever
Another February
Alright, Oh Yeah
All The Kids Are Right
Fritz's Corner
Hands On The Bible
Waves Again
<em>===Encore====</em>
California Songs
Look Who's Walking On Four Legs Again
High Fiving MF
Wolf Like Me (TV On The Radio)
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Jay Porkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14554794404516615556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896832578282022815.post-27797327259170297432012-09-22T22:23:00.001-04:002012-09-22T22:23:09.871-04:00Concert Review: Slash and Foxy Shazam 09/18/12 Hammerstein Ballroom, NYC<div style="text-align: right;">
Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators with Foxy Shazam - 09/18/2012</div>
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Manhattan Center's Hammerstein Ballroom - New York City</div>
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Words/Photos/Video - Jay Porks</div>
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“The essence of “cool” that is <strong>Slash</strong> cannot be matched”. That's a phrase typed by this very music fan posing as a journalist in a social media world, after walking out on the band currently touring under the moniker of <strong>Guns N' Roses</strong> during their encore at Izod Center last November. Well, after tonight that phrase cannot sing any more true as Slash featuring <strong>Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators</strong> (on tour supporting <em>Apocalyptic Love</em>) made a pit stop at Manhattan Center's Hammerstein Ballroom to turn a disgusting, rainy Tuesday night in New York City into an evening full of magic. Getting to see one of your favorite guitar players play live for the first time is an amazing feeling, and to top matters off, the opener. Now if Slash represents the essence of “cool”, then you'd need to find a bad ass opener able to keep up with that. You'd need to find a band that simply can't be touched right now in terms of putting on a rock show. Whelp, if those are the qualities needed, then you need Foxy Shazam. And tonight that's who we have. We've got Slash and Foxy Shazam, we've got mezzanine seats and best of all, we've got a good camera. Doors open at 7PM. So without further ado let's jump into the 78th Edition of the Jay Porks Never Ending Concert Series, shall we?
Showed up at the door at 6:10. I have to stop showing up so early when I have a seat. The seat is there for me, why am I standing out here in the rain? Tad's Steakhouse taking the Patty Melt I usually get off the Menu and causing me to leave (I'm not a steak guy) may have effected my time. When they started letting us in the search was vigorous. I know I always complain about the search procedures and I sound like a broken record- but this one seriously had me rethinking if I had actually had anything illegal on me. Which of course I never do anyway, because I fear prison. They bring me to my section and tell me “Anywhere in these six rows is fine”.. What??? I paid for an assigned seat, I have the number on the ticket and I scouted online to see the angle I'd be on and everything, now you're just saying I can sit anywhere here? Is it hard to number the seats?
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<strong>Soundspeak</strong> hit the stage at 8:01PM. That's right folks, they went “surprise 1<sup>st</sup> opener” on us. I was pissed, not at the band they didn't do anything wrong. The venue should advertise ALL of the openers. Hey maybe it was advertised and I didn't catch it since my place of employment is in the 19<sup>th</sup> century and I'm not allowed to touch my phone. But seriously Hammerstein, what's with these surprises? And this band I find out later is friends of my buddy who I met at the <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2011/10/lemonheads-redeem-themselves-bowery-ballroom-101011/">Lemonheads</a> and later <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/04/local-h-double-dip-sort-of-in-nyc-41512/">Local H</a>. Had I known that before I would've given them a chance. They weren't bad, but I can't sit here and break them down for you because they were in a tough spot there (with me personally anyway). They went off at 8:19.. Had I known we were in for an 18 minute set I would have lightened up a bit.
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At 8:34 when the lights went low I'm up there screaming “here it comes- the mother fuckin' Church!”. I was so excited. And look at this Eric is rocking a new hair color. Interesting. They ripped through “The Church of Rock & Roll” and “Holy Touch”. I was head nodding and screaming lyrics the whole time. I'm conscience of saving battery on my camera anyway. Suddenly, after Holy Touch I get a tap on my shoulder from the girl next to me. She's with her boyfriend and they have accents so they may or may not be from here but the girl says to me “What is the name of this band”
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and I told her and she says “They are amazing!!”. You damn right they are. The first song of their set I decided to tape was “Unstoppable”. Well, I decided to get the 3<sup>rd</sup> song in, it just happen to be that very song currently running in that MLB commercial. “The Rocketeer” followed, I don't think they played that one at <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/05/foxy-shazam-at-bowery-ballroom-nyc-051612/">Bowery Ballroom</a> this past May, after I got it at <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/02/the-darkness-w-foxy-shazam-2412-irving-plaza-nyc/">Irving Plaza opening for The Darkness</a> in February. Interesting.
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/09/slash-foxy-shazam-091812-hammerstein-ballroom-nyc/ericnally1/" rel="attachment wp-att-34149"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-34149" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/EricNally1-512x300.png" title="Foxy Shazam " width="512" /></a></div>
“Killin' It” before jumping into “I Like It”.
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And that song, well, “I don't like it baby I fucking love it” as Eric would say. Cigarettes got eaten during “Temple”, which was the set closer at about 9 maybe a tad after. “If we had an ocean, we'd all be Surfin' USA” was our “Deep thoughts by Eric Nally” moment before the lights came on. Unreal. And this night's not even over yet!
I go out to smoke a cigarette, but you are not allowed to do that. They don't have stamps for your hand or anything. You must stay inside, where they have confiscated your lighter at the door anyway and not smoke cigarettes. Okay, to the bathroom for that cigarette I go. I guess it's okay to eat them but you can't smoke them at this place.
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So here comes <strong>Eddie Trunk</strong> (of <em>That Metal Show</em>, and the radio) on stage, to tell us Slash was coming up next. I'm so glad they had Eddie Trunk here to inform us of this drastic turn in events. And here I thought I was here to see <strong>Emerson Lake</strong> & <strong>Palmer</strong>. Anyway Eddie, thanks for that.
At 9:28 the man in the top hat himself hit the stage-Slash w/ Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators (seems 'The Attractions' and 'The Imposters' were taken). They jumped into things with 'Halo', off their new record followed by “Night Train”.
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The place went bonkers. People walking away from their seats to make it to the back just to jump up and down and rock out. And all of these people are up to date on the new record a lot more than this guy. I have to admit I was more into the last record Slash put out with the revolving door of lead singers-but this stuff translates well live. “Standing In The Sun” came early and caught my ear. A few songs later they jumped into some more GNR cuts with a back to back of “Civil War” and “Rocket Queen”.
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An epic version of Civil War. Epic soloing as usual. Slash, Myles and the boys went to town on that one. During the 15 minute version of Rocket Queen that was only able to capture 9 minutes and 12 seconds of(because Slash went nuts with a solo that I can't wait to share with you as soon as it uploads), I noticed the entire floor level was pumping their fists in the air in unison. Looked like New Jersey, except that it was beautiful. Every song has it's very own “Slash crazy solo” warped into the song. He quite an amazing soloist on the gee-tar. A song later on in the set, that I can't even recall, I swear it was almost Phishy how Slash just jams out for 10 minutes at a time and then returns to the song Curt Kirkwood style. This became a problem on “Rocket Queen”, which I only have the first 9 minutes and 12 seconds of because I'm yet to figure out why my camera has a limit on the amount of minutes I can record a single video. I had camera issues all night.
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Todd Kerns (the bass player) can sing too, so taking a break from Myles Kennedy for a song, we got “We're All Gonna Die”, which the vocals are sang by <strong>Iggy Pop</strong> on the record. So now not only was Myles killin' it but this guy is doing a hell of a job with this song. Good to have a second voice option in your band so you don't have to limit your set list-these are things professional musicians like these do. They jump back into the GNR catalog with “You're Crazy”. I mean honestly, right now I've “won” for lack of a better term. See, back when I saw the band touring as “Guns N Roses”, I got to hear the handful of songs I enjoyed but every time I looked on stage I realized that I hate Axl Rose and his way of being a douche nozzle in every sense of life. Tonight I look on stage and see Slash, a gifted guitarist who has switches cleaner than anyone I've ever heard who's whole life has been based on finding a singer. Finding someone to tour with and play music, write music, enjoy music with. This isn't a job, I mean, there is a paycheck of course, but Slash and Myles look to be having some real fun up there. And making some real good music too, you can't top the feeling of the artists you're seeing seeming to be almost as excited to see you as you are them.
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/09/slash-foxy-shazam-091812-hammerstein-ballroom-nyc/slash-and-myles/" rel="attachment wp-att-34155"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-34155" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Slash-and-Myles-512x300.png" title="Slash and Myles Kennedy " width="512" /></a></div>
“Bad Rain” came before Myles took a seat on his little pedestal there. What's with that? I first saw the guy from the Deftones doing it at BlackDiamondSkye with the tables set up in front. And he hardly stood on it. Anyway, he took a seat to get into a song called “Not for Me”, which, even with it's epic guitar parts may in fact, not be for me. Didn't hate it, but was one of the few times I looked to see what time it was during the night. But these guys know what they're doing, and that's when the “Sweet Child of Mine” riff started and then seriously there not an ass in a seat besides me trying to keep my camera steady. It was amazing. Myles does a really good Axl, like a much less annoying Axl. Then rumblings of a familiar riff again, but not of the GNR variety.. It was “Slither”! Velvet freaking Revolver! Eff all you people I loved <strong>Velvet Revolver</strong> and now we're finding out that Myles doesn't do a bad <strong>Scott Weiland</strong> either.. I was so happy to hear this song live.... again? That's when it dawned on me that I'm hearing this song live for the second time. In 2007 the first real concert I ever attended was Velvet Revolver with <strong>Alice In Chains</strong> and <strong>Kill Hannah</strong>. It's so old there's not even a blog for it. It took me til the last song before the encore for me to realize that this wasn't me seeing one of my favorite guitarists for the first time live, never the less it was the seeing this dude the best time live. It was 11ish when they went off for the encore.
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I'm up, I'm on my way out. I know Paradise City is coming and to be honest I've already for lack of a better term “shot my load” here with this one. I've gotten everything I could have wanted. Then Slash is on the microphone, a rarity. He says something to the effect of “We haven't been playing this one, we're gonna do it tonight because it's fucking New York City!”. Then, with Kerns on vocals, we got ourselves “Welcome to the Jungle”. Once Slash grabbed the mic I stopped walking to see what they were up to. When he said that I immediately hit record and walking my way down the aisle and sat on the step there trying to record while everyone's passing by my freaking shot. I found a better seat when they jumped into Paradise City, but halfway through I look at the ticker on my camera and notice it's not moving. I didn't hit record. That's when I decided it was time to get my Foxy Shazam tee shirt and get out of here. Slash's merch is in the lobby and Foxy has a table set up in the back of the General Admission floor. The security guard won't let me through the velvet rope and tells me to head out the door as I'm ten feet from this merch table. So I walk out that door, and walk back in through a door this staffer is not guarding, and there I see Eric Nally taking pictures with two fans. I was trying to get my camera out to see if one of these strangers would take a picture of me with him but I'm way too anti-social for that kinda thing, so I went up to him when they left and shook his hand, told him they're awesome and that I've seen them three times this year and made sure to say “And the Reverend Justito says Hi”. Now this is all while Paradise City is still blasting, so who knows if he even heard a word of what I said, but he seemed like a very warm individual. Not the dude on stage at all. With Paradise City still rocking, and my $30 Foxy Shazam tee shirt hanging off my shoulder, I said goodbye to the Hammerstein Ballroom, I was in a cab at 11:31. What an amazing night.
LATE.
Show Notes:
I have some issues with the venue I'd like to address here. Dear Hammerstein Ballroom: First of all, you search people like they're criminals. You take peoples lighters- for what reason might I ask? You think you're stopping people from smoking indoors? Everyone is still smoking anyway, raises lighters in the air, and I have 2 packs of matches besides the point. Speaking of smoking- you have a 3+ hour rock concert and people aren't allowed to go out to smoke cigarettes? What is that? You know what happens when you do that? People smoke inside of your building. People who are Drunk, high, tripping or all of the above are now using fire inside your precious “ballroom”. And on the way out your event staff wouldn't let me near the Foxy Shazam merch cause you stuffed it in the back of the GA standing area and security thinks I'm trying to sneak into that crappy area to stand for the last song of the show. Like I would want to sneak down from my SEAT to a STANDING AREA FULL OF NUTBALLS. Had to fake that lady out and head into the lobby before darting back in to grab my tee shirt. And hey, I don't want to tell you how to run things or anything, but you have a twitter account right? Of course you do, you follow me. Now why on earth would that twitter account not be put into use to TELL PEOPLE ABOUT THAT SECOND OPENER?! Is this a little game that venues like to play? Trick people into showing up early? And why do I get to choose where I want to sit in the mezzanine? I paid 50 dollars plus whatever fees you plugged my ass for on this ticket and you can't assign me a seat?? It's going to take a miracle to get me back inside that building again.
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[gallery link="file" columns="2" orderby="post_date"]Jay Porkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14554794404516615556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896832578282022815.post-53219611314354296062012-09-13T17:58:00.001-04:002012-09-13T17:58:18.670-04:00The Offspring, Neon Trees & Dead Sara All Come Hard In Threesome In Asbury Park 09/09/12<div style="text-align: left;">
Offspring w/ Neon Trees & Dead Sara - 09/09/2012</div>
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Stone Pony Summerstage - Asbury Park, NJ</div>
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Words/Photos/Videos - Jay Porks</div>
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Amazing how things work out sometimes, it's the whole “life evens out” thing. Great weeks you have end terribly and some of those terrible weeks end awesome. Tonight was fortunately one of the ladder as we embark on the 77th edition of the Jay Porks Never Ending Concert Series. Tonight it's the Stone Pony Summerstage in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Yea that's right, another trek into Dirty Jersey, this time it's <strong>The Offspring</strong> with <strong>Dead Sara</strong> and <strong>Neon</strong> <strong>Trees</strong>. Say what you will about The Offspring(and I mean 95 % of the Concert Confessions crew, especially <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/author/reverendjustito">Reverend Justito</a> who's probably cringing at yet <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/07/the-offspring-7-20-2012-st-louis-fair-downtown/">another Offspring review</a> ), but that's one of the few bands that has songs with lyrics that relate to me personally on every level. I've been a fan forever, and may not be up to date on their latest record but am still totally psyched to be seeing them. Also, Neon Trees in the past couple of weeks has gotten way more appealing to me as I hear more and more of them now with the new Alternative Station in New York City. And I know at least one <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/07/dead-sarathe-offspringneon-trees-north-american-tour-dates/">Dead Sara</a> song, they're a hard rockin' bunch. So this show (albeit a bit pricey $43 plus fees) was a must see. Especially when Jay Porks Experience veteran Pam being as into all this as I am, along with our buddy and new comer Janine-who's concert cherry we will get to pop tonight weeks before I'm giving a horrible toast at her wedding. Doors set for 5:30. Show I'd assume at 6:30.
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Dead Sara is most definitely alive(Stop pretending that you don't love my puns) as they kicked ass all the way from the parking lot. My typical style of being unorganized and having no sense of direction has us in the car attempting to down beers (at Supermarket prices) as Dead Sara hit the stage at 6:43. Surprised they didn't go full cavity search on me there-they were tough at the gate. Event staffers included a gander into my pack of cigarettes and everything. Finally made it to what was going to be our spot, down in front but not too far up and by 7:10 “Weatherman” was already deafening the place.. Here's a band that should be bigger. They were amazing, and they were without a doubt the loudest band to hit the stage on this night. I saw a few Dead Sara tee shirts too, which surprised me at first, then delighted me by the time they went off at about 7:15. They would fit right in playing with a band like Ume, you heard that here first when the world eventually starts listening to me.
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/09/the-offspring-w-neon-trees-dead-sara-090912-asbury-parknj/neontrees1/" rel="attachment wp-att-33590"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-33590" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/NeonTrees1-512x300.png" title="Neon Trees" width="512" /></a></div>
Some bands have songs that are catchy and stick in your head even though they are annoying as hell. It's like you're being duped into becoming a fan of a band sometimes, only to find out two or three singles later that it's nothing but crap, And that's sort of what I was expecting from Neon Trees, who hit the stage at roughly 7:31. It feels so good to be so wrong. Early in the set they had a song called “Sins of my Youth” which was a serious head-nodder. And “Teenage Sounds” is another interesting one. I've got my camera in hand waiting for the songs I know, while the lead singer, Tyler Glenn is full of all sorts of banter-both funny and true. It was almost 8 o clock of the band absolutely killing it when this dude says “Two years ago we wrote this song and we recorded it and out of nowhere people started singing.. singing it in the shower and started singing it in all the offices complexes and all the other real 'idiotic white people areas' to sing songs. If you hate it, you can go get a beer and a hot dog and come back for the Offspring, this song's called Animal”. I was never a vocalist, and never claimed to be one-but this guy can really sing. The way he can bend some of the notes in the slightest of ways that make the biggest difference. This is showcased really on “Everybody Talks”, the jam of theirs I've been getting wasted to almost every night<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/08/neon-trees-light-up-letterman/"> since they did it on Letterman</a>. They went off at about 8:20. I was really surprised how much I enjoyed these guys. Good band, great live band.
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At 8:56 The Offspring hit the stage just as the fully darkened night sky was settling in. “Hurting as One” and “All I Want” started off the night and now we turn around and notice we couldn't get to the back if we tried, in case stuff got crazy. Stuff did start getting crazy, I saw some crowd surfing attempts during “Come Out And Play”-but this is New Jersey, they don't do it right. Really shocked how good Dex sounded. His voice hasn't changed a bit. And it's not one of this Axl's Roses deals, to the right you got Noodles tearing it up. This is freaking awesome. I can't believe I'm finally seeing the Offspring! During the craziness of “Bad Habit” during the break that song has Dex led the crowd into singing the line: “You stupid dumb shit god damn mother fucker!”, successfully. During “Gotta Get Away”, I noticed my first 30 seconds weren't recording because I double tapped the button. It was the best three something minutes of my week as I screamed along those lyrics. “There's demons in my head and it's more than I could take”.“Starring At The Sun” really heated things up and we're only about 10 songs in, and “Days Gone By” is already in the rear-view mirror.
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Now the lights get low and no one's on stage but Dex and one of the guys in the band is playing keys. He starts into “Gone Away”, in total, gospel style I guess. Like he Adele'd the song up. Then, Emily Armstrong from Dead Sara comes out to join him on vocals, and all I'm doing is waiting for the guitars to come out.. and they never did. The version wasn't terrible, but in this writers opinion it could have been a lot better if they had the narly guitars wrecking shit on stage and you can still have Emily from Dead Sara out there-it's not like she's in a band that plays soft pop music.
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Hell, they're heavier than the Offspring. How bout the full Dead Sara band comes out and they play the heaviest, loudest version of “Gone Away” ever? That would've been awesome. But my first time seeing one of my favorite bands and they completely took one of my favorite songs and sacrificed it to a goat. It's not like there are any songs slow in tempo at all to this point, I don't understand what that was.. And while we're on the topic of things that were annoying as hell tonight: WHY ARE ALL YOU PEOPLE SO TALL? My shoulder is deader than Sara right now, and the video is trash. I mean it's good for the elements I as dealing with. I mean, no slam dancing broke out near us but because I had to have my arm fully extended to reach over the Rutgers Basketball team plus people up front holding up their iPhones blocking my angles. All the videos are a shaky mess, and these Youtube trolls are going to destroy me in the comments section. The Stone Pony's Summerstage set up is nothing short of terrible. It's a slab of concrete, it's basically a parking lot with a stage. No incline at all. You move back it's not like there's a better view.<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2011/05/social-distortion-51411-stone-pony-summerstage-asbury-parknj/"> Saw Social D here last May</a> and remember hating this place. We need to do size order at these things-like back in 5th grade.
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/09/the-offspring-w-neon-trees-dead-sara-090912-asbury-parknj/offspring-dex/" rel="attachment wp-att-33593"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-33593" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Offspring-Dex-512x300.png" title="Offspring (Dex) 09/09/2012 Stone Pony Summerstage" width="512" /></a></div>
After “Kristy, Are You Doing Okay?” I turned to Pam and Janine and said “The acoustic is out, 'Why Don't You Get A Job?” has to be next”. And it was. What a song. Hope you can't hear me singing on the video of that one. “You're Gonna Go Far, Kid” is a song I loved off their last record that I had totally forgotten about. “Pretty Fly For A White Guy” was my ring tone for years at one point. That song is about me in Junior High School minus getting tattoos. Then “The Kids Aren't Alright” completed the Quad-Phekda of songs that made up for the crappy Stone Pony Summer Stage. They ducked off at 10 o' clock.
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/09/the-offspring-w-neon-trees-dead-sara-090912-asbury-parknj/offspringdexnoodles/" rel="attachment wp-att-33594"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-33594" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/OffspringDexNoodles-512x300.png" title="Offspring (Dex & Noodles)" width="512" /></a></div>
They came back out for the encore and played “Americana” then another forgotten favorite “Can't Get My Head Around You”. Now the running theme through this show is how close to home these song hit me on a personal level, and nothing sums that up more than the final song of the evening: Self Esteem.
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This is a song about every part of Jay Porks. Seriously. My girlfriend in High School used to cheat on me with all my friends, and I never dumped the girl I just “made her dessert” in a sense and would let it go. Shows the kind of person I am. Anyway, as Dex starts the line “Late at night she knocks on my door, drunk again and looking to score” I remember that about a week or two ago I received a text message from this very same High School flame who cut me loose 7 or 8 years ago saying that she was outside my house and I should come out. Now, I'm not saying that she was “drunk again and looking to score”, but hell I'm going to pretend that was the case for this instance as the Offspring are telling the story of my life on stage. The perfect end to a unique evening.
Late.
[gallery link="file"]Jay Porkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14554794404516615556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896832578282022815.post-51953835929023679872012-09-08T19:33:00.000-04:002012-09-08T19:33:14.045-04:00The Vaselines Hit The Bell House In Brooklyn 08/30/12<div style="text-align: left;">
The Vaselines - 08/30/2012</div>
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The Bell House - Brooklyn, NY</div>
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Words, Photos and Video by Jay Porks</div>
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As someone who's never been to Glasgow, it's odd to be a veteran of Vaselines shows. In <a href="http://www.jayporks.blogspot.com/2009/05/vaselines-w-adam-green-music-hall-of.html">'09 I caught them in at the Music Hall Of Williamsburg</a> in Hipsterville. Then in 2010 out of nowhere they drop this awesome record, “Sex With An X”, then tour in support of it-successfully <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2010/10/vaselines-visit-webster-hall-nyc-10610/">melting my face at the Webster Hall stop</a>. Well tonight, it's back to Brooklyn to a venue called 'The Bell House'. Only good things being said about this place, and it seems pretty simple to get to: One bus, one boat, one train. Took the day off of my crappy day job to prep for this. Remember folks, this was a band that wasn't together for almost 20 years. Is this a comeback of sorts? Let's sure as hell hope so, because there are a handful of bands that certain people need in their lives to keep them sane, and the Vaselines make short list for this guy. You always know it's going to be a good time when you know the band's entire catalog off the top of your head, and if you're seeing a killer photo above this paragraph, then my bitchin' camera was worth every penny. So what do you say, shall we get the 76th edition of the Jay Porks Never Ending Concert Series rolling along? Thought you'd never ask.
Got off the train, took a big inhale and said aloud "ahh Brooklyn". I walked a few blocks and found the Bell House: 147 7th Street. They say it was a warehouse in the 1920's. I believe it by the look of the outside of it, now it serves as a bar/restaurant with a back room for concerts. I got inside like 730 and waited by the merch table for the "doors" to be open( slated for 8PM). There are a few folks hitting up the box office for tickets, which are still available. They let us into the room contains a stage with two chandeliers dangling from the ceiling and a bar far left side. I notice in back of the room there is this area that's 2 steps up and has bar stools and tables. Like the type of spot that would be roped off for VIP if there was any VIP here. Of course I grabbed that spot, right next to an outlet to charge my phone. Awesome. After I picked up my Vaselines tee shirt (for ten bucks!) a guy walks up and asks if there's an extra stool for him, something with his leg. I let him know there was 3 others up here that's no ones claiming, then he said hes "gonna be shooting video". That makes two of us.
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/08/the-vaselines-the-bell-house-083012/schwervon-2/" rel="attachment wp-att-32821"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-32821" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Schwervon1-512x300.png" title="Schwervon" width="512" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The opener is set to come on at 9, and at 926 the lights finally dimmed for 'Schwervon'. The two piece came on stage and I was surprised that the hot chick is not only drumming but singing lead on songs, as both members sing too. So the guitar player sings one, she sings one, they harmonize and stuff. Pretty cool. "This next song is called American Idol". The male/female dueling vocalists dynamtic of these two fits in perfectly with the band they're opening for. It was whatever song that the lyric "fuck yourself" was casually thrown into the chorus, that was the point I officially proclaimed this band as cool. The two are dating or married I'd assume, as the next song had story about riding the Cyclone at Coney Island on their 2<sup>nd</sup> date( The song was called Cyclone). She sounds a little like Kim Deal. They had a song called "Cougar Pride", and don't worry folks, it had nothing to do with the college football team Mike Leech is the coach of. Then towards the end Frances McKee came to lend some vocal assistance one of the last songs of their set. They went off at 10:03 having won ignorant snobs like me over. Not a bad band.</span></span>
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/08/the-vaselines-the-bell-house-083012/eugene-kelly-vaselines-2/" rel="attachment wp-att-32818"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-32818" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Eugene-Kelly-Vaselines1-512x300.png" title="Eugene Kelly (Vaselines)" width="512" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">After an extended wait for gear to be set up, The Vaselines came out like gangbusters at 10:31, jumping right into "Sex Sux(Amen)" and "Oliver Twisted", two of the harder hitting songs in their catalog. Glad to see Frances and Eugene haven't lost any of their sense of humor- the banter between songs is hysterical. Its all innuendo- you don't hear any stories about cramped tour buses with this crew. Speaking of sex,, next song up was "Monsterpussy", and during the opening riffs I'm starting to notice Eugene Kelly's little underlying riffs that sort of fiddle into the songs when he's not singing. This third time seeing them is anything but a let down at this point, as the three guitar onslaught buried the Bell House with fuzz and feedback while sustaining that melodic sort of "jingle-jangle" that has always been their signature. "Such a Fool" gave us our first Vaselines song recorded post-1990 of the evening. "The Day I was a Horse" followed, if you don't know, it's a song about tripping on LSD and pretending you're a horse. </span></span>
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/08/the-vaselines-the-bell-house-083012/frances-mckee-2-vaselines-2/" rel="attachment wp-att-32819"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-32819" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Frances-McKee-2-Vaselines1-512x300.png" title="Frances McKee (Vaselines)" width="512" /></a></div>
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Did I mention that Frances Mckee looked extremely sexy in the leather jacket and sundress? Well I just did, I had noticed it since she came out with Schwervon maybe I just never had a good enough camera to notice. By the time the band was ripping through more newer tracks like "I Hate The 80's" and "Devil Inside Me", I was using that bar stool I was sitting on as a ladder, this crowd seems predominantly taller than others. The Devil Inside Me is such a dark jam for a these guys.</div>
http://youtu.be/0_YHKO0sa28
All the songs off “Sex With An X” are incredible-so amazing to be able to capture all this footage with a real deal camera. I was already getting every single song on video so far, I was on fire. So when the guy to my left says “You getting the whole show?”.. I paused and said “Hell yes I am”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHVPB7hzj3Q&feature=colike
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">The beauty that is "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam” was preceded by Frances getting into an anecdote about the“Wankerchief” (see Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam video). It's filthy and brilliant, as was tonight's version of this legendary track. “Hairy” followed...</span>
http://youtu.be/rdIeVl37d7c
then I called out "Molly's Lips” a second before they busted into it. I knew it was coming because Schwervon was on stage with bicycle horns for this one and back at Webster in 2010, Jeffery Lewis (the opener)played bicycle horn on that song. Then came Sex with an X is the title track from the bands latest effort. Can't help but think there's deeper meaning in that title with Frances and Eugene then they're letting on. Because they don't look like a band up there cashing it in, just touring because they know that since Kurt Cobain was a fan people will come out and see them. It's actually quite the contrary as they're having tons of fun up there, like kids who's parents left them home alone for the first time ever. The cartoony riff of this song is bouncing around the room while heads in the crowd are swinging back and forth with smiles on the faces of Frances and Eugene. The lyrical lovey-doveyness of “Slushy” is counteracted by the confrontational lyrics in “Poison Pen”.
http://youtu.be/VDIlHmx9cJw
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">“Bitch” and “Rory Rides Me Raw” followed “Son of a Gun”, the 5 or 6 folks in Nirvana tee shirts headed to the door as the last of the songs they know were played. </span>
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/08/the-vaselines-the-bell-house-083012/vaselines4-2/" rel="attachment wp-att-32815"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-32815" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Vaselines41-512x300.png" title="Vaselines" width="512" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Probably told you this many times in the previous paragraphs about other songs, but “Ruined” is seriously the best track off this new record. It's face paced, simple, heavy</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">.</span>
http://youtu.be/TFC7JSk55KI
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">“Lovecraft” and “Let's Get Ugly” went down before they ducked off stage for the encore at 11:49. Frances is mad because she wanting to play “Dying for it (Blues)” tonight, and they instead were going with “Dum-Dum”. Everyone cheered when they heard Dum-Dum was the choice, and Frances spurts out “I thought you were my friends!”. After they had a false start on it they killed it, then the final song of the evening was, as it normally is, “You Think You're A Man”. The re-worked Divine song that they turned into awesome.</span>
http://youtu.be/0ySRlWI8XeI
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/08/the-vaselines-the-bell-house-083012/vaselines5-2/" rel="attachment wp-att-32811"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-32811" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Vaselines51-512x300.png" title="Vaselines5" width="512" /></a></div>
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It was 12:02 when they were off stage and I was off to try and catch that 1AM Ferry. Seduced and sodomized once again by the Vaselines, and I loved every minute of it.[gallery link="file" orderby="rand"]</div>
Jay Porkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14554794404516615556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896832578282022815.post-31385405908146791992012-08-23T20:29:00.001-04:002012-08-23T20:29:17.121-04:00Toadies/Helmet (w/ Ume) 08/02/2012<br />
Webster Hall – New York City<br />
Words/Photos/Videos By Jay Porks<br />
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/08/toadieshelmet-ume-webster-hall-080212/webster-hall-marquee/" rel="attachment wp-att-29688"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-29688" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Webster-Hall-Marquee-400x300.jpg" title="Webster Hall Marquee" width="400" /></a></div>
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I can honestly say that I've been waiting to see the Toadies again since Sept 2010, <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2010/09/toadies-gramercy-theater-nyc-91510/">the 1st and only time I saw them live.</a> So when news broke right here at Concert Confessions that they were<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/05/toadies-and-helmet-team-up-for-co-headline-tour/"> to co-Headline tour with Helmet</a> I was more than stoked. Helmet too? It's impossible for one not to be pumped for something like this, and a promise that can hopefully be fulfilled in these next few paragraphs-we'll try and find out how exactly the opening band Ume is actually pronounced. The songs I looked up on YouTube were pretty cool, so we got three solid bands lined up here tonight at Webster Hall for the 75th Edition of the Jay Porks Never Ending Concert Series. Let's hope there are no former members of the Cro-Mags here, I don't want to <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/07/two-stabbed-at-webster-hall-during-cbgbs-festival/">get stabbed or anything</a>. Doors are set to open at 6PM and Ume suppose to go on at 6:45.. I think it's Ladies Night here at Webster Hall so I wouldn't be surprised if they push us scum rockers out by 11 or so. Anyway, let's roll.</div>
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Got a 32oz soda at the ferry because Mayor Bloomberg can kiss my ass. It wasn't until I got in the line outside Webster Hall, 20 minutes til doors open that my bladder decided it was annoyed by the mass intake of beverage and let me tell you folks, that was the longest 20 minutes of my life. The only Starbucks near by had an "out of order" sign on the bathroom. As I stand around they open a door and I sneak a peak at the set times for tonight: Ume: 6:45, Helmet: 7:45, Toadies: 9:15. They let us in about 6:15, I find my way upstairs so I can lean on the rail and take some sweet pictures. Notice not a lot of people up here</div>
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<strong>Ume</strong></div>
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/08/toadieshelmet-ume-webster-hall-080212/ume-11/" rel="attachment wp-att-29686"><img alt="" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Ume-11-400x300.jpg" title="Ume " width="400" /></a></div>
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The Austin trio scampered on stage at 6:45 and started things off with "The Conductor". Boy were they loud. The ferocious guitar playing of Lauren Larsen led the way, powering through each song without a break in the heavy. The room isn't even half full, but the people here are rocking out to no extent, this writer included.</div>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psqUKKCq1g8&feature=youtu.be
All their songs have this 'smash you in the face' type aggression, like an angry Dinosaur Jr-the distortion was all I've ever asked for in a band, the drumming was sexy as hell. After "Chase It Down" had me sold mid-set, I started to wonder why someone didn't take the time out of their day to make this band a Wikipedia page, I got their names(first names anyway) from their <a href="http://www.facebook.com/umemusic/info">Facebook page</a>, Rachael on drums, Eric on bass. All killed it... They're from Austin so they'd be a perfect band to open up for the Meat Puppets on a tour(wearing my Pups tee, of course).
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/08/toadieshelmet-ume-webster-hall-080212/ume-7/" rel="attachment wp-att-29683"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-29683" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Ume-7-400x300.jpg" title="Ume " width="400" /></a></div>
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Being an earlier show (with Helmet due on 745 and Toadies at 915), they unfortunately were only able to get into seven songs..but with they time they had they were able to deliver everything the early arrivals could have asked for. They went off a little after 7PM leaving me wanting more.</div>
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<strong>Helmet</strong></div>
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/08/toadieshelmet-ume-webster-hall-080212/helmet-1/" rel="attachment wp-att-29669"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-29669" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Helmet-1-512x300.png" title="Helmet 1" width="512" /></a></div>
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The buzz outside while taking in a cigarette was "can't believe the Toadies are closing this show". I'm just happy to have two cool bands co-headlining a tour, not gonna nit-pick the order here. Then I got a text from a buddy that said "I'm shocked they played before the Toadies". I headed back in and at 7:45ish Helmet began what was to be a little over an hour of punching me in the temples with riffs. I hadn't been deafened like that in a while, come on now the last show this guy attended was <strong><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/07/summerland-2012-pnc-bank-arts-center-nj-072112/" target="_blank">Summerland</a></strong>. Helmet has some great banter, they were joking on superfans who ask them to "play b-sides from like 1990", also mentioned that this show was earlier due to some sort of "disco" happening afterwards. The aforementioned club night. As I'm laughing at this dudes funny commentary, I get a text from Pam, she's outside. Sweet. Pam is the one who got me to see the Toadies in the first place in a Cake for Toadies ticket trade off and it was so worth it. So now we're headed back upstairs (Helmet isn't deafening me any less by me being in a hallway), and one of the security guards is giving Pam a hard time so I'm just turn to dude and say "She's with me, it's cool", and it worked. With the likes of <strong><a href="http://twitter.com/maura" target="_blank">Maura Johnston</a></strong> from the Village Voice in attendance, confidence can go along way with "Wilma's Rainbow" as a stellar background soundtrack.</div>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDyPm9glm9E
We grab drinks, 10 bucks for a Jack and Diet in a dixie cup. As we're paying for the drinks, Helmet is not letting up and Pam (who's in the building for about 10 minutes) turns to me and says "This band is pretty rocking" or something to that extent. Hell she knows less about the band then I do, I know "Unsung". Man do I love that song, it's such an important song in the canon of 90's Rock & Roll tunes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_JDbVINpv4&feature=youtu.be
Well, rolling near 9 o'clock the last song they played was "In the Meantime", leaving us Unsungless. No one seemed to care but me, as between sets I ran out for a smoke and saw a bunch of Helmet tee shirted folk talking, then turn towards the door and see people just arriving with printed out tickets-I guess only here to see the Toadies.
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<strong>Toadies</strong></div>
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/08/toadieshelmet-ume-webster-hall-080212/toadies-1/" rel="attachment wp-att-29672"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-29672" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Toadies-1-512x300.png" title="Toadies 1" width="512" /></a></div>
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Two totally different atmospheres in the room as I returned to my spot. The Helmet tee shirts sort of drifted towards the back of the room, and the few fellows wearing plaid shirts made their way up front. Toadies came out promptly at 9:15 and kicked things off with some "Heel" action, followed by "Backslider" and "I Come From The Water"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bT46Ja3u9co&feature=youtu.be
and that place was jumping. The last time I saw this band, I said something to the effect of "where have the Toadies been?". Well, those questions were answered in an interview with Clark Vogeler <a href="http://www.antiquiet.com/interviews/2012/07/toadies-interview/">over at AQ</a>, and then this past Tuesday they released a new record called "<strong><a href="http://www.antiquiet.com/reviews/2012/07/toadies-stay-the-course-with-play-rock-music/" target="_blank">Play.Rock.Music.</a></strong>"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9ONzvN1w9Q&feature=youtu.be
I admit I have yet to grab the new album but I know they played "Summer of the Strange" off the new release, and that song is a keeper. They say the <strong><a href="http://www.antiquiet.com/news/2012/05/toadies-release-nsfw-music-video-for-summer-of-the-strange/" target="_blank">NSFW music video</a></strong> is pretty cool. The room was really settling in now, not many people seemed to have left after Helmet by the way everyone was fist pumping during songs like "Sweetness" and "Waterfall". That man Clark Vogeler over there is tearing up this place-bouncing feedback off his amp Scott Lucas style really gets my juices flowing, I love that stuff. At like 10 o clock, I turn to Pam and tell her I'm gonna head to the other side to catch some pictures from different angles. "Song I Hate" was just ending, so what do you know I'm over here experimenting angles with my camera when I hear that "Possum Kingdom" riff. Okay, let's roll film.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTgVodIk-40&feature=youtu.be
That version of Possum Kingdom I got at Gramercy in 2010 on video with heads bouncing in front of me needed to be trumped. And if you check <br />
<del>below</del>above, it has been in terms of quality.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikC3VfBP-ws&feature=youtu.be
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/08/toadieshelmet-ume-webster-hall-080212/toadies-11/" rel="attachment wp-att-29675"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-29675" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Toadies-11-400x300.jpg" title="Toadies 11" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-size: small;">After that they jumped into "Mister Love" and after that it's 10:23 so Lewis says that since they're pressed for time sort of, they're not gonna do the run off stage for a minute thing and come back for an encore, instead just saying they had two more to play. "Rattlers Revival" kicked off the "encore" in fine fashion. Then, all of a sudden there's four drums on stage and one of the dudes from Helmet along with the drummer from Ume are on stage to help out on this one. I turned and said "What is this Applied Science or something?", of course making a 311 reference. Then, Lewis, messing with my fragile emotions teases the first few chords of "Unsung" and looks up into this window upstairs on the side of the stage where the lead singer of Helmet is at the window, flipping the bird to everyone on stage. So after all the jokes "I Burn" was the last song played and they headed off stage at 10:32. Not a soul left </span><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">unsatisfied. </span></div>
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/08/toadieshelmet-ume-webster-hall-080212/toadies-10/" rel="attachment wp-att-29674"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-29674" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Toadies-10-400x300.jpg" title="Toadies 10" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;">That was fun times. It's rare to get two great bands together, let alone three with tonight's enlightenment to Ume, which is pronounced "ooo-may" by the way. Hope they come around again. Hope all these bands come around again. And props to Webster Hall for having that Air Conditioning blasting at an obnoxious volume. Keeping a chubby kid like me from sweating, you made everyone I sat near very happy people. Anyway, I'm out of here for now. Thanks to to ones who made it this far down. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;">LATE</span></div>
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Jay Porkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14554794404516615556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896832578282022815.post-31935126335249382442012-07-29T00:46:00.000-04:002012-07-29T00:46:17.380-04:00Summerland 2012 @ PNC Bank Arts Center 7/21/2012<p style="text-align: right;">Summerland (Everclear, Sugar Ray, Gin Blossoms, Lit, Marcy Playground) 07/21/12</p>
<p style="text-align: right;">PNC Bank Arts Center - Holmdel, NJ</p>
<p style="text-align: right;">Words/Photos/Videos By Jay Porks</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/07/summerland-2012-pnc-bank-arts-center-nj-072112/everclear2/" rel="attachment wp-att-28374"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-28374" title="Everclear" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Everclear2-512x300.png" alt="" width="512" height="300" /></a></p>
Since late March the buzz has been huge for what people are dubbing the 90's throwback experience of a lifetime. <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/03/summerland-tour-2012-brings-back-the-90s-in-a-big-way/">It's Summerland</a>! <strong>Everclear, Sugar Ray, Gin Blossoms, Lit </strong>and<strong> Marcy Playground</strong>. With the exception of Sugar Ray, these are all bands I was too young to see when they were popular, so for them to be getting together and bringing this carnival to one of my favorite venues, PNC Bank Arts Center in Homdel, NJ, is just the bees knees. According to the post breaking the story here at Concert Confessions, I was suppose to find a Big Dog shirt, bleach my hair and grab a wallet chain. Well, all the bleach in my house is being used soaking my work attire, I don't own a wallet chain, and I have misplaced my Big Dog tee. But it's cool, I found my Meat Puppets tee-shirt to make up for it.
PNC Bank Arts Center has a funky way of doing things with the prohibiting of tailgating. It's as if you never know until you show up if it's allowed. Well, this time after reading the FAQ on the venue's website I decided to call up and ask what the deal was. It was communicated to me that tailgating WILL be permitted and the parking lot opens at 5PM. Good to know, I'll pack my cooler. Rolling with a crew, and that's always more fun. We got my friends Pam, Ray and Lisa. Pam's is a veteran to the Jay Porks Never Ending Concert Series by now, having been along for many of our 74 installments. It was actually a year ago to the day that Pam, Ray, <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/author/lexc666/">Lex</a> and I <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2011/07/untiy-tour-2011-hits-pnc-bank-arts-center-homdel-nj-72111/">scampered across the Garden State Parkway just to miss Sublime w/ Rome</a>.
My irresponsible planning and driving directions that took us in circles around Staten Island for a extra hour or so, we finally pulled up to the parking lot at almost 7PM. That's when show is set to start, I'd assume. But we decided that we'd walk in on "Sex and Candy" and it'd be no harm, no foul. We're trying to drink our beer at supermarket prices here in the parking lot. so we were about to start the trek towards the venue, when a yellow school bus suddenly appeared. The door was open and they were shuttling people to the main parking lot. It was like a Summerland miracle..
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/07/summerland-2012-pnc-bank-arts-center-nj-072112/gin-blossoms1/" rel="attachment wp-att-28375"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-28375" title="Gin Blossoms" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Gin-Blossoms1-512x300.png" alt="" width="512" height="300" /></a></p>
Got to the gates, after being frisked like criminals we headed up to the Lawn to hit a beer line where someone gave me props on my <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/tag/meat-puppets/">Meat Puppets</a> tee shirt. Anything to spread the brand. Still on this line at 8:29 is when the chords of "Follow You Down" kick off. Now we're boozed up headed back to find a spot, which we found a good one. Not the best spot overall, but there was a path for a guy like myself to run up to the railing to get good video of songs I found important. So much weed was being smoked EVERYWHERE by the time "Found Out About You" came on. I turned to Pam and said "They're gonna do that Allison song next", and sure enough, here we are into "Allison Rd".. Towards the end you realize: Wow, the Gin Blossoms are really kicking ass right now. None of their set disappointed, as you can certainly hear on my video of "Hey Jealousy" where it seems as if I had walked into a crowd of teenage girls, who proceeded to scream every single lyric. I'd do the same thing if I wasn't wielding a camera. I finally got to see the Gin Blossoms, all those songs that represented all those shitty relationships I've had in my life I got to see live. That's what this tour is all about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvVlcVcHiZI&feature=youtu.be
You've figured out by now that we've already missed Marcy Playground AND Lit. That's a bummer. But then again, I'm chalking this up as a victory with the Gin Blossoms-and I got Everclear later. Speaking of Everclear, at about 9:15 here comes Art Alexakis on stage, thanking everyone for coming out and talking about how awesome the 90's were, and explaining a story about how he first met Mark McGrath in 1997 on acid (not sure which one of them was on acid). He then introduced Sugar Ray.
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/07/summerland-2012-pnc-bank-arts-center-nj-072112/sugar-ray-1/" rel="attachment wp-att-28376"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-28376" title="Sugar Ray " src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Sugar-Ray-1-400x300.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="300" /></a></p>
First song we hear is the Saved By The Bell theme song, I think it's being played over the loud speaker. Ray and I are screaming the lyrics aloud grabbing the attention of a chick sitting in front of us (yea, we're sitting on the grass for Sugar Ray), then the band played Wipeout and Mark McGrath appeared in a white sport coat on stage. McGrath has this cocky personality about him that anyone who's seen him live will tell you something to the effect of "you hate him but you love him". So I spent this set focused on not letting this douche nozzle win me over. After "Every Morning" and "Out The Window" almost made my head nod. I recognize way too many of these songs for me to openly admit. They broke into "Mean Machine/Blitzkrieg Bop" mashed into one song sort of-they've been doing that on this tour. The two fans were pulled up on stage, to sing verses on some more covers. The first dude got "You got to Fight For Your Right (To Party)" and it was pretty neat, then with the second dude the whole band got into "I Got A Feeling". Yeah, that Black Eyed Peas song. I was this close to enjoying that set until I heard that non-sense. He handed them each a shirt by saying "Here ya go, a Collective Soul Tee for you, and a Third Eye Blind one for you". Where are they on this tour? They closed out a crowd pleasing set with "Fly" which I taped and afterwards kept rolling for the first verse of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song he did.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3gjlvVx2QM&feature=youtu.be
So around 10:15 McGrath comes back out to introduce Everclear, proclaiming them "The ONLY band that can close out Summerland!". Damn right. The people who think Sugar Ray is the band on this bill need to have their heads examined.
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/07/summerland-2012-pnc-bank-arts-center-nj-072112/everclear1/" rel="attachment wp-att-28378"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-28378" title="Everclear 07/21/12 Homdel, NJ" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Everclear1-512x300.png" alt="" width="512" height="300" /></a></p>
So a few minutes later Everclear hit the stage and kicked things off with "Father of Mine" and "Everything to Everyone". I know people who disagree with my last paragraph will find joy in this, what bothered me was the mass amounts of people leaving while Everclear was just kicking off their set. It's bad enough that the seated area between the lawn and the pit was half empty, but by the time Everclear was into their 3rd song the place was getting scarce. Then at about 10:45, Lisa says "hey, why don't we sneak by that security guard into those seats". I finished taping whatever song I was (because I have a railing to lean on the camera isn't so shaky) and tapped Pam and said we were about to make moves. As soon as 3 hot girls passed in front of this dude, we walked right passed him with his back turned to us. That was bad ass.
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/07/summerland-2012-pnc-bank-arts-center-nj-072112/everclearart/" rel="attachment wp-att-28377"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-28377" title="Everclear" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/EverclearART-512x300.png" alt="" width="512" height="300" /></a></p>
So now we're in what, $50-$60 seats for the duration of the show, which wasn't too long but was everything we needed. "Wonderful" and "I Will Buy You A New Life"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFgblH8iOqw&feature=youtu.be
were beautiful and for all these people who say Art's voice is "shot" and they're "terrible live" please, comment below and tell me how that is fact? These songs sounded exactly as they did on record. Humor me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeMQwlSc6Sk&feature=youtu.be
Then they jumped into a Led Zeppelin cover(Rock And Roll) that they had the lead singer of Lit come out to assist with. But during this while I'm recording a fight breaks out between these two drunken heavyweights a few rows up. Typical Jersey rock concert, people get drunk and argue over which one of them is the father of Snooki's child. But wait, why is my 5 foot 2 friend Lisa over there now? She's breaking up the fight is what she's doing, for reasons none of us, including her are able to explain.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7AUYEfYx3c&feature=youtu.be
Dudes are covering Zep and I had to make sure some guy twice my size doesn't toss Lisa to the side like a discarded napkin. It was a conflict that resulted in me NOT being man and heading over there, and the video sucks anyway because I had my eyes on the brawl.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr0umiD_Qu4&feature=youtu.be
The last song of the evening was of course "Santa Monica", which is personally the only song I can play on guitar-barely. But there were kids on stage, I believe the lead singer of Lit (who was still hanging on stage) brought his kids up to partake in the awesomeness. Show ended about 11, that was after Art said "See you next year, tell a friend!". Well, I'm the friend that just told you.
What a moment. Been waiting since March for this, and even with missing Lit and Marcy Playground this still was such a great experience, no matter how cheesy some may view it as. This cost me $25. In this economy, I'll take it! Anyway, those who stuck around to read I thank you, and hope you keep up with us at Concert Confessions because there is nothing but good things going on over here. Keep your eyes peeled.
LATE
[gallery link="file" columns="4" orderby="post_date"]Jay Porkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14554794404516615556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896832578282022815.post-9615130386012648872012-06-27T15:30:00.002-04:002012-06-27T15:30:18.170-04:00Childish Gambino @ Central Park Summerstage 06/25/12<div style="text-align: right;">
Childish Gambino - 6/25/12</div>
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Central Park Summerstage - New York City</div>
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Words/Photos/Video By Jay Porks</div>
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/childish-gambino-central-park-summerstage-062512/p1010034/" rel="attachment wp-att-26241"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-26241" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/P1010034-400x300.jpg" title="Childish Gambino" width="400" /></a></div>
Damn, I wish I could keep this streak going of hitting epic shows every freaking night. What goes on people , welcome yourselves to the 73rd episode of the Jay Porks Never Ending Concert Series. After two days in Atlantic City at the <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/orion-music-more-festival-day-one-recap-62312/">Orion Music + More festival</a>, it was time to get back in the New York groove as they say with a visit to Central Park, for Childish Gambino. Since this is Concert Confessions, I have a small confession to come clean with right now: I introduced ALL my peers at CC to this guy over a year ago! Then all of sudden <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/author/reverendjustito">Reverend Justito</a> gets him at <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/04/coachella-music-festival-2012-day-2-041412/">Coachella</a>, then the entire NW chapter got him at Sasquatch in WA, even a confession from <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/05/childish-gambino-the-kibbie-dome-moscow-idaho-5212/">Mr Sparkly</a> from a show in Moscow, ID on <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/author/thenaturalstoner">thenaturalstoner</a>'s birthday. Then <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/author/jakobross424/">Jakob</a> got him at <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/bonnaroo-part-ii-electric-boogaloo/">Bonarroo</a>. I've read way too much about my new favorite rapper on this site not from me, it's about damn time this Central Park show came around. Openers are Schoolboy Q and Danny Brown- "doors" at 6, show at 7 at the Summerstage, as a killer storm was just cleared up upon our arrival.
I don't know if my head isn't on straight or what, me and my buddy Chach got to the city at 6:30 and I took us all sorts of out of the way missing a bunch of trains. I'm the one who's been to shows here after all. So we got in at like 7:30 and we heard Danny Brown on stage as we were entering. I thought it was going to be reversed and Schoolboy Q would be on first but it wasn't the case. Danny Brown is a little too weird for my taste anyway. I can take him in small doses, and I'm sure he'll be out here sometime later on tonight.
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/childish-gambino-central-park-summerstage-062512/p1010005/" rel="attachment wp-att-26242"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-26242" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/P1010005-400x300.jpg" title="Schoolboy Q" width="400" /></a></div>
Schoolboy Q hit the stage at like 7:45 and was spitting lyrics to a hyped, packed out crowd who didn't seem only into the headliner. During his set Danny Brown was walking around like the front of the stage by the crowd, taking pictures with people and stuff- like right when Schoolboy Q is up there trying to do his thing. I'd be pissed if someone was kinda stealing my thunder. His last song was “Hands on the Wheel”. He was off by 8:13PM
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/childish-gambino-central-park-summerstage-062512/p1010025/" rel="attachment wp-att-26243"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-26243" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/P1010025-400x300.jpg" title="Childish Gambino 06/25/12 Central Park" width="400" /></a></div>
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At about 8:32PM the stage was filled with smoke as Childish Gambino came out to a roaring ovation. Most of the crowd was chanting “Gam-Bino Gam-Bino”, just like they scream for Jay Z with the “HOVA” chants . Unreal. I never thought I'd see this many people as excited as me. Then like the 2<sup>nd</sup> song up was “Firefly”, which is a sick song. This guy is such a pro at what he's doing. “Freaks and Geeks” hit us up next, the song containing such epic lines like “I'm in the back of the bush like Gaven Rossdale's drummer”(get it? The female anatomy + 90's Alternative rock band? Awesome). They're was a video screen that I couldn't see do to the fact I went far right to be as close to the stage as I could. He did a song or two off 'Culdesac', his first record (or mixtape). Besides a few people cutting in front of us and pissing me the hell off before they moved I was genuinely have such an awesome time. Even though I'm cramped in with a bunch of people being bumped from all sides-I feel like this is family.</div>
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/childish-gambino-central-park-summerstage-062512/p1010031/" rel="attachment wp-att-26244"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-26244" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/P1010031-400x300.jpg" title="Childish Gambino 06/25/12 Central Park" width="400" /></a></div>
Everywhere we looked there was weed being smoked..and not the typical “let me duck down and use this one hitter” type smoking. Everyone was smoking right in front of the event staff, they were watching and really could care less. There's this couple in front of us (who earlier I was pissed at the dude for being in front of me, but he has since moved over) turns around and I see him talking to Chach and then he hands him half a joint, and it's fat as hell. Chach goes “I don't know, he said he was done smoking or something”. Sweet. Myself, not the type to shy away from the recreational use of the herbal, enhanced the night a little more by joining in with the rest of Central Park's Marijuana Bonfire. People never share at shows, these are some good times right here.
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/childish-gambino-central-park-summerstage-062512/p1010028/" rel="attachment wp-att-26245"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-26245" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/P1010028-400x300.jpg" title="Childish Gambino 06/25/12 Central Park " width="400" /></a></div>
The thing different about Childish Gambino, besides the way his punchlines emphasize the punch, is that he plays with a full band. These guys rock out. At one point during the set he says “Listen guys, this isn't a Rap concert-This is a black rock concert!”. And tearing through “All The Shine” (tearing through it to epic proportions) and the “Rolling in the Deep” remix he does, with the two guitar players, two violinists, drummer and all of the above with one drum in front of them at all times creating all sorts of cool elements. Like, the guitar player bangs the drum for a little, hits the keyboard on another part of the song. All these guys are full with as much energy as Gambino. “L.E.S.”, “Heartbeat” and “Bonfire”(which was, like many tonight, full crowd sing-alongs as we all know the every single lyric) were all played before 9:27 when he said goodnight and headed off stage. I thought it was over before I looked at the time, because it felt like he played it all.
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/childish-gambino-central-park-summerstage-062512/p1010055/" rel="attachment wp-att-26246"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-26246" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/P1010055-400x300.jpg" title="Danny Brown & Schoolboy Q" width="400" /></a></div>
Comes back out like 3 minutes later, and says “I said it was a black rock concert, well now it's time we turn this to a rap concert!”, then kicked a freestyle over the beat for a song called “Rack City” by Tyga. Then he said “Ya wanna hear some new shit?” before jumping into songs recently released like “Eat Your Vegetables” and “Unnecessary Roughness” which Schoolboy Q was called out to perform his verse he has on the track.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP9rnuXQoa0&feature=youtu.be
One problem for Schoolboy Q, his mic seemed to be low or totally out. So Gambino, so aware of the situation, goes from just ad libbing the line to outright rapping Q's entire verse for him. What a save. Now it's Danny Brown time, I knew that weirdo would be out sooner or later. They drop a beat and Danny Brown ripped a freestyle, followed by Gambino ripping one of his own and then Schoolboy Q's mic was fixed in time for him to rock one out too before the night was closed out with “Lights Turned On”. 9:55PM, right on time for the Summerstage curfew.
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/childish-gambino-central-park-summerstage-062512/p1010065/" rel="attachment wp-att-26247"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-26247" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/P1010065-400x300.jpg" title="Central Park Summerstage" width="400" /></a></div>
Wow. Seriously, wow. Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino comes home to destroy this place. Left it all on stage like he does in every town every time. I can't wait til July 4<sup>th</sup> for the new mixtape to drop! This was some fun times tonight, so much fun had. If you've been keeping score at home, that's two nights of Metallica followed by a barn burner by Childish Gambino. I'm wiped. Thanks for taking the time. Leave some comments! We have a new comment thing down there as of a few weeks ago. It's cool tits.
LATEJay Porkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14554794404516615556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896832578282022815.post-25656640712093167442012-06-27T15:28:00.001-04:002012-06-27T15:28:25.573-04:00Orion Music + More Day 2 Recap (6/24/12)<div style="text-align: right;">
Orion Music + More Festival (Day 2) - 06/24/12</div>
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Bader Field - Atlantic City, NJ</div>
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Words/Photos by Jay Porks</div>
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<strong>Orion Music + More Festival Day Two Recap 6/24/12</strong></div>
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/orion-music-more-festival-day-two-recap-62412/p1000284/" rel="attachment wp-att-26129"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-26129" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/P1000284-400x300.jpg" title="Orion Music + More Day 2" width="400" /></a></div>
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Orion Festival- Day Two: Running later than yesterday because my alarm didn't wake me and I just happen to have drank enough fluids on day one that I had a built in alarm clock as a back up. But wow, do you know how much worse that could've been? I coulda woke up at 4 and missed <strong>Ghost</strong>! Or <strong>The Black Dahlia Murder</strong>! Well luckily, in the 72nd edition of the Jay Porks Never Ending Concert Series, I was at Bader Field here in the beautiful Atlantic City, New Jersey, at the Fuel Stage right on time to kick today off with <strong>A Place To Bury Strangers</strong>.</div>
You see an editors note on <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/orion-music-more-festival-day-one-recap-62312/" target="_blank"><strong>yesterday's recap</strong></a> about me writing this review at the show. That's true. With memory card space and battery life on my mind, instead of filming all I can I'm taping one song per set, therefore leaving me more time to take little notes and stuff. Hence why some of the wording seems as if it's happening live. It was at the time.
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<strong>A Place To Bury Strangers</strong></div>
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/orion-music-more-festival-day-two-recap-62412/a-place-to-bury-strangers-2/" rel="attachment wp-att-26138"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-26138" height="260" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/A-Place-To-Bury-Strangers-2-346x260.jpg" title="A Place To Bury Strangers " width="346" /></a></div>
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Who's the one who told me to check this band out like 3 years ago? Anyway, thank you whoever you are, because they ain't too shabby. You'd think with a name like <strong>A Place To Bury Strangers</strong>, they come and rip your heart out with the death grips of metal. I mean, they're loud as fuck, and quite heavy-but the elements of distortion (I don't if that's an effects box on the drum set or what), they're more "alternative-ty". They kicked off at 1pm and a few songs in I'm thinking "wow these dudes are wrecking shit up, what time is it now?" It was only 1:18pm. I caught maybe 6 or 7 of their songs before I headed cross the field to the Orion Stage to get a good spot(behind the empty VIP area) for Ghost.</div>
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<strong>Ghost</strong></div>
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/orion-music-more-festival-day-two-recap-62412/ghost-2-2/" rel="attachment wp-att-26134"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-26134" height="260" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Ghost-2-346x260.jpg" title="Ghost" width="346" /></a></div>
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Yesterday, Lars and Kirk introduced a few of the bands that they said they were fans of. Well, Ghost got that same treatment today, only from James Hetfield. I was chatting it up with a fellow rail rider and a security guard in front of us. Kid next to me mentioned that they changed from all black to all white for this tour "so they look like Klan members". The security guard happened to be black, so I said to him "so don't run when you see them!" jokingly. It was all fun and games- even when <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/tag/ghost/" target="_blank"><strong>Ghost</strong></a> came on. These guys definitely have a sense of humor. The costumes, the whole thing. When they walk out you can't help but chuckle. I was no longer afraid, but intrigued. And they don't seem to me to be this "heavy death kill your face" metal as assumed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzFyVnuZLOs&feature=youtu.be
Ghost rocked. We got that cool ass "Here Comes the Sun" cover, and I think that last song was called "Ritual". I noticed their drummer was kicking up something wicked over there. Awesome band- now go take those outfits off boys it's hot at hell out here</div>
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<strong>Gary Clark Jr</strong></div>
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/orion-music-more-festival-day-two-recap-62412/gary-clarke-jr/" rel="attachment wp-att-26132"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-26132" height="260" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Gary-Clarke-Jr-346x260.jpg" title="Gary Clark Jr" width="346" /></a></div>
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Fuck yeah! I had and still have no idea who this guy <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/tag/gary-clark-jr/" target="_blank"><strong>Gary Clark Jr.</strong></a> is, and you know what, that's a bad job on my part. Shame on me. Apparently I was the only one who was new to dude, because the crowd really packed in for this one. If you're a fan of awesome bluesy crazy guitar work- emphasis on awesome-then you need to see check this guy out. The solos were freaking epic- some take you to space type stuff. Kirk Hammet introduced him as "one of my new favorite guitar players" and praised his interesting sound. Well, as Kirk watched from the side of the stage the riffs from Gary Clark Jr were hitting me in all the right places song by song. I got the name of one cause the lyrics were easy "If You Love Me Like You Say". Seriously, where'd this guy come from? Does Jack White know about this guy? Because I can guarantee once he hears him they'll form some sort of awesome side project for Mr. White.</div>
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<strong>Best Coast</strong></div>
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/orion-music-more-festival-day-two-recap-62412/p1000257/" rel="attachment wp-att-26143"><img alt="" height="260" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/P1000257-346x260.jpg" title="Best Coast" width="346" /></a></div>
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Yesterday saw the indie acts the likes Modest Mouse and stuff. Today leans more towards the metal side of things- therefore, more drunk metal fans, hence peaking my interest to see Best Coast get stuff chucked at them. While I walked over I heard <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/05/voodoo-music-experience-2012-announces-details-and-initial-artists/" target="_blank"><strong>Soul Rebels</strong></a> doing a jazzy version of "Enter Sandman" wish I could have caught that. But instead I was catching these wusses. With their soft, boring music. How old is that chick like 14? They're like emo kids who heard a song with a distortion pedal and started a band with their parents money. I'm chatting it up with this female security guard as they play. Forget these losers. Such uninteresting songs I could write in my sleep.</div>
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<strong>The Black Dahlia Murder</strong></div>
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/orion-music-more-festival-day-two-recap-62412/bdm/" rel="attachment wp-att-26130"><img alt="" height="260" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/BDM-346x260.jpg" title="The Black Dahlia Murder Orion Music + More Festival" width="346" /></a></div>
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Ghost and <strong><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/tag/the-black-dahlia-murder/" target="_blank">The Black Dahlia Murder</a> </strong>are the two acts of Orion that <strong><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/author/reverendjustito/">Reverend Justito</a> </strong>has been in my ear about. I'm on the rail at 4:46( their set is at 5:15) and as they're setting up at the Damage Inc. Stage one of the guitar players screams to the crowd "Take off the glasses so I can see your eyes!!". These guys have a sense of humor they were joking around with fans the whole time they set up, and between songs. Once they started, it was the fastest played instruments I've ever seen in my life. THIS band, is the first band at this festival with the exception of Metallica that I'd hear one second of and immediately say "metal". The lead singer has the full growl going, I don't know how that can be done night in night out without killing your voice box. Few songs in dude tells the crowd he wants to see the biggest circle pit of all time. So this, already rawkus crowd with some epic crowd surfers just got a tad more violent. Awesome. Thought I enjoyed the band, not sure if it's something I can do full albums of. I got out of there 10 minutes to 6, I have to find a spot with some shade.</div>
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<strong>Eric Church</strong></div>
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/orion-music-more-festival-day-two-recap-62412/eric-church/" rel="attachment wp-att-26131"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-26131" height="260" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Eric-Church-346x260.jpg" title="Eric Church" width="346" /></a></div>
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Back to the Orion Stage and another act introduced by James Hetfeild, this one being <strong>Eric Church</strong>. I'm giving it the blind listen for the first 2 songs, I found an shaded spot where I can sit on the floor behind the handicap seating( I need a breather!). I can say this much- I didn't need Hetfeild to tell me this dude is from Nashville, because from the first lyric he sang his voice conveyed the sounds of he south. He said "We're from Tennessee, we just wanna drink and party like you guys". Sweet. His voice would fit in well with country music- but his band sounds like they belong at a place like this. Songs I didn't hate, even if it is country music. Church mentions he drinks "94 proof, single barrel Jack Daniels" while holding up a red cup and says "I wrote a song about it, for those who won't remember all this in the morning.. called Jack Daniels". Did I mention there is no liquor on sale here? Just beer and I saw wine. With this crowd, probably a safe idea.</div>
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<strong>Titus Andronicus</strong></div>
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/orion-music-more-festival-day-two-recap-62412/p1000273/" rel="attachment wp-att-26139"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-26139" height="260" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/P1000273-346x260.jpg" title="Titus Andronicus" width="346" /></a></div>
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While everyone heads over to the Fuel Stage for <strong>Avenged Sevenfold</strong>, a band I tried so hard to get into but couldn't, I figured I'd check out <strong>Titus Andronicus</strong> at the Frantic Stage. Of course now that the sun is setting I'll make my first trip to the tented stage. I know Titus did one of those covers on that Spin magazine Nirvana Nevermind tribute album that I didn't hate. So there's one I'll know if they play it.</div>
Once they started I'm thinking: "Now this is more up my alley". Three guitar players, front man who's looks like his girl friend dumped him and they're here to tell you about it type of band. Slightly whiney, but I can't blame them they're from Jersey and they get loud enough to make up for it. They're more punky than anything else. Really enjoyed their set, it was fun- made me bounce. Towards the end the lead singer is like "Metallica is up next.. never thought I'd be saying that".
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<strong>Metallica</strong></div>
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/orion-music-more-festival-day-two-recap-62412/metallica-close-2/" rel="attachment wp-att-26136"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-26136" height="260" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Metallica-close-2-443x260.png" title="Metallica zoomed" width="443" /></a></div>
Now let me preface this following paragraph by saying I think it's really cool what <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/tag/metallica/" target="_blank"><strong>Metallica</strong></a> did here with this whole “inviting bands outside the genre of Metal” to a festival thing, and I loved it. Orion Music + More was something I'm going to remember.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXpqTUSp9BY&feature=youtu.be
They're set to hit the stage tonight at 8PM tonight as oppose to 9PM, it is a Sunday after all. Once their set started I received three texts from three people who shall remain nameless (<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/author/thenaturalstoner">thenaturalstoner</a>, <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/author/mr_sparkly/">Mr. Sparkly</a>, and I made up the third one it was only two) asking me if Fuse is running a repeat of last nights show on the stream. Add an hour more of daylight, and I kind of felt the same way. They went with "Ecstasy of Gold", “Hit The Lights” and “Master Of Puppets” to kick it off again. Last night I played the role of “first Metallica show” guy. The guy who'd never seen the band before and I just sat back and really was able to take it all in. . But can you tell me something? What the hell guys?? What the hell? If you exchange "Ride The Lightning" with "The Black Album" tonight was basically almost a carbon copy set of last night. Okay, at 8:42 we got "Fuel", I'll give you that-it was freaking awesome. But even the way Hetfeild worded everything exactly the same way as he had did the night before, as if he had all that stuff memorized. He keeps saying stuff like "Orion and Metallica are family" and making us chant it, as if he's taking this Orion Music + More brand and trying to pitch it for next year already. First of all you're Metallica, if you wanna have a festival I'm sure you can afford to have one every single year. And second off , dude, if you book good bands, we'll come back again-stop forcing it on us.
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/orion-music-more-festival-day-two-recap-62412/metallica-pyros/" rel="attachment wp-att-26137"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-26137" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Metallica-pyros-512x300.png" title="Metallica Pyros" width="512" /></a></div>
I was really happy to be able to grab footage of Metallica doing my favorites though, even if they were played last night. This new camera is such a beast. Last night my battery died before I could get pics of any of their pyrotechnics fireworks explosions that started with "Enter Sandman" (on both nights that's where the bombs went off). 'Unforgiven' was epic, thank the sweet lord they didn't play versions II and III. It wasn't til after 9Pm when we got into the Black Album-<em>backwards</em>. I don't listen to albums in reverse order unless I'm trying to find out if Paul is dead, so what the hell is up with that? They did the same thing last night. And don't call me a noob, because when I got in the cab after the show and I asked the people I shared it with if they stayed for the entire encore, the answer was a quick "No way they played all the same songs". And don't talk my word and the word of someone I asked for it, as the Concert Confessions peeps who were watching the stream and had their own thoughts:
<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/author/jakobross424/">Jakob</a>:
-"They could at least switch up the intro! Don't do the Ecstasy of Gold two nights in a row at your festival"
-"It's your own festival! Switch it up! Jesus christ"
<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/author/thenaturalstoner/">TheNaturalStoner</a>:
- "Are you shitting me right now???? apparently Metallica still has some shit to learn about playing multi night stands"
-"Seriously... did we get last nights feed? this is weird"
-" Jesus christ they got like 15 albums of songs, why they gotta do this?? If Phish did this all hell would break loose"
<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/author/mr_sparkly">Mr Sparkly </a>:
-"Just play a two-hour long Enter Sandman...call it a night."
-" Yes, James...you are at Orion and your band is Metallica."
-" Alright, playing the Black Album was cool and all, but there was so much more they could have done with the second night."
-"A wasted opportunity"
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/orion-music-more-festival-day-two-recap-62412/p1000303/" rel="attachment wp-att-26146"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-26146" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/P1000303-533x300.jpg" title="Metallica Orion Music + More Festival" width="533" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/orion-music-more-festival-day-two-recap-62412/bdm/" rel="attachment wp-att-26130">
</a>Ooooo look they're encoring with "Seek And Destroy". Yeah, like a lot of stuff during this set, I got this last night. During that encore I was heading towards the exit. Tonight Metallica set was kind of a let down all things considered. Last night they seemed like cool guys, like changed men. Tonight all I see on stage is a band looking at a sea of about 22,000 fans while calculating profits in their heads.</div>
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At least I saw Metallica two nights in a row-I mean in the general scheme of things having never seen them before this weekend. But I do have one last question. Metallica has a song called "Orion" right? This is Orion Music + More festival right? Why not play that song, do you guys think it sucks? Then why name you're festival after it? But besides a 2nd night headlining let down, the whole weekend was really great and I got to branch out my musical tastes a little bit from stage to stage, set to set. First "festival" I've attended was a success, even catching that 4:30AM bus back to NYC at Ballys.</div>
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Notes: The Medical staff gets all the blame when shit goes wrong, well let's slurp them when shit goes well. Their were tents everywhere if you were feeling even the least bit dehydrated or anything. Drunken passed out people on the floors were quickly scoop up brought into the tent and revived in time for Metallica.</div>
[gallery columns="4"]Jay Porkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14554794404516615556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896832578282022815.post-9286135533128538272012-06-27T15:25:00.001-04:002012-06-27T15:25:41.396-04:00Orion Music + More Day 1 Recap (6/23/12)<div style="text-align: right;">
Orion Music + More Festival (Day 1)- 06/23/12</div>
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Bader Field - Atlantic City, NJ</div>
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Words/Photos by Jay Porks</div>
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<strong>Orion Music + More Festival Day One Recap 6/23/12 </strong></div>
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/orion-music-more-festival-day-one-recap-62312/orion-ballon-pic-2/" rel="attachment wp-att-25993"><img alt="" height="260" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Orion-Ballon-pic1-443x260.png" title="Orion Balloon " width="443" /></a></div>
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<strong><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/orion-music-more-festival-day-one-recap-62312/metallica-lars/" rel="attachment wp-att-26003">
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<em>Editor's Note: Jay Porks is so bad ass, he wrote this review during the festival. We hope you enjoy. </em>
And welcome to the Jay Porks Day One Re-Cap of Orion Music + More Festival here in Atlantic City, NJ. For those who weren't aware, this is the festival curated by <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/tag/metallica/" target="_blank"><strong>Metallica</strong></a>, containing a bunch of acts you raise eyebrows to when you take a look at the list. Not only that, but Metallica is closing both nights, playing <em>Ride The Lightning</em> tonight, and <em>The Black Album</em> tomorrow night. Both days look awesome, but my plate for today is full of acts that I've been dying to see for a while, like <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/tag/arctic-monkeys" target="_blank"><strong>Arctic Monkeys</strong></a> and <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/tag/modest-mouse" target="_blank"><strong>Modest Mouse</strong></a>. Also got some <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/tag/cage-the-elephant" target="_blank"><strong>Cage The Elephant</strong></a> action in there, along with the obscure (in an awesome way) <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/tag/fucked-up" target="_blank"><strong>Fucked Up</strong></a>. Oh and two legendary performances, one being the aforementioned Metallica and the other being Roky Erickson. Roky is my highlight going into today until Metallica destroys me later on tonight. Any friend of the <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/tag/meat-puppets" target="_blank"><strong>Meat Puppets</strong></a> is a friend of mine. Saturday is set to kick off for me with <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/tag/baroness" target="_blank"><strong>Baroness</strong></a> at 1PM. The 71st episode of the Jay Porks Never Ending Concert Series won't feature more than one or two videos from each act, as battery is a factor along with memory (I'm packing 32gigs), and we want to get all the Metallica we can get, because after all, they're freaking Metallica. Anyway without further ado, let's call this cab and get my ass down to Bader Field and get this party started!
I got out of a cab at like 12:20 and walked a few blocks to the entrance side by side with a sea of folks all done up in their Metallica gear ( with a few scattered Iron Maiden and Avenged Sevenfold tees- as I sported my Meat Puppets). It's hot, like really hot. This is my first "festival", I don't normally know the goings on of a four-stage event. This place is HUGE! Like, I can see for miles- and there's all types of side things going on. Rows and rows of concessions ( water was $3- that's a deal these days) . There's a Metallica museum, which I'll check out tomorrow because the Orion stage looks so far away from here for Baroness I don't want to mess around. There's 100's of old school custom cars in a car show tent type thing. Lots of people, lots of hot metal chicks wearing the appropriate attire for a 90+ degree day in the sun (life is so good). I was worried I couldn't get my camera in, then I saw the sign that said " no professional recording devices". Well, if there's one thing I'm not, it's professional. The band the Orion stage had blasting was what every heavy metal fan would dream of- The Cure.
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<strong>Baroness</strong></div>
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/orion-music-more-festival-day-one-recap-62312/baroness/" rel="attachment wp-att-25989"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-25989" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Baroness-400x300.jpg" title="Baroness" width="400" /></a></div>
I didn't know Tyson Chandler joined a band! That lead singer does look like him tho- but all kidding aside if you're kicking off a festival headlined by Metallica, I don't see a more perfect band to do so then that in Baroness. My questions of "will you be able to hear other bands on other stages at the same time" was answered when these kicked off their set. I got almost all of that first song, only failed because they fooled me towards the end. The Orion stage has video screens on each side- giving it this "Hey, we're a real festival” kind of feel. Me, the guy who's not heavy on metal, found myself with a slight head nod and maybe a little strumming of my thigh as they past 1:30pm with "<a href="http://www.antiquiet.com/news/2012/05/download-take-my-bones-away-by-baroness-for-free/" target="_blank"><strong>Take my Bones Away</strong></a>". Wow, they played the ONE song I actually knew the name of ! Good times, energetic set. They ended at 1:56pm
http://youtu.be/AkLxcfQmXh4
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<strong>Roky Erickson</strong></div>
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/orion-music-more-festival-day-one-recap-62312/roky/" rel="attachment wp-att-25978"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-25978" height="260" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Roky-346x260.jpg" title="Roky Erickson" width="346" /></a></div>
I showed up to the "Frantic" stage early, mostly due to the fact that it's the only stage that's tented. Some relief from the sun for a few minutes as they set Roky up. And that's when I decided to take advantage of the free water re-fills they have on site here at the festival (warm water, but free water).
With full band (keyboardist, back up singer , drummer , 2 other guitar players and a bassist) on hand, Roky and the crew came out at 245. How old is his guy? Hot chick on keys. The lead guitarist is like "damn, it's hotter here than it is in Texas". I'm like in opposite Baroness mode as I ride the rail, but still so loud. The band backing him was tight as hell, they helped carry him and everyone else into space for a little while. Played some of my favorites like 'Two Headed Dog', 'Night of the Vampire' and “You're Gonna Miss Me”. It looks like Roky honestly doesn't know what planet he's on. I wish I could be so lucky. They were done rocking at 3:20-3:30pm.
http://youtu.be/OGMyGZ45cgM
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<strong>Fucked Up</strong>
<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/orion-music-more-festival-day-one-recap-62312/fucked-up/" rel="attachment wp-att-25979"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-25979" height="260" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Fucked-Up-443x260.png" title="Fucked Up" width="443" /></a></div>
So when I arrived at the "Fuel" stage for Fucked Up, I noticed some dude in an "OFF!" tee shirt. Must've seen a show on that <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2011/06/dinosaur-jr-henry-rollins-off-fucked-up-62311-terminal-5/" target="_blank"><strong>Dinosaur Jr/Fucked Up/OFF tour I caught last year</strong></a>. First song into their set this dude is leaning on the rail screaming lyrics at the crowd- ripped his shirt off and the epic back sweater was in full force. Only took til the second song to get him completely in the crowd. Such a fun time, this band is too obscure and unique for me to call them punk, but they are some sub genre from that. A few songs they played were “David”, “I Hate Summer”, “The Other Shoe” (which I thought was called Dying On The Inside, because that's the audience sing-along part) and “Turn The Season. Damien(the lead singer with the back sweater), says he would've stayed the whole weekend, but him and his wife are expecting their 2<sup>nd</sup> child tomorrow. I ducked out about 4:40, I was hoping to be able to walk to some other stages to see what's happening, I know these dudes (and bass playing chick) are awesome, let me see if I can discover something.
http://youtu.be/T1LuNbylbkU
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<strong>Jim Breuer</strong></div>
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/orion-music-more-festival-day-one-recap-62312/jim-breuer/" rel="attachment wp-att-25986"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-25986" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Jim-Breuer-400x300.jpg" title="Jim Breuer" width="400" /></a></div>
Caught the end of Jim Breuer's "Heavy Metal Comedy Tour" set back at the "Frantic" stage. He was explaining how he started doing voices by prank calling his fellow Sears co-workers with Kaddafi bomb threats. Heard some dude say “I'm not into that whole 'pot head comedy' thing he does”. I don't really get that statement, I don't think Half Baked 2 is due out anytime soon. It was a fun few minutes over there
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<strong>Gaslight Anthem</strong></div>
With time to kill til Cage the Elephant, and the"Fuel" stage is already getting packed by the front. So I decided to go listen in on a few Gaslight Anthem songs, Since it looks like the entire state of New Jersey has made their way over to see the hometown boys. I don't mean to steal anyone's line but fuck these guys. No seriously, fuck these guys. I came in right at that "American Slang" song, and heard a few after that. Why are people into this band? Even the jokes they make between songs are lame: "Here's a slow song, so it's your chance to talk to that girl with the tattoos next to you, because you know they don't hang out where we hang out". Where "We" hang out?? You guys are in a rock band that a bunch of sheep worship- you guys hang out where people like Jay-Z hang out. You are not us- we paid to get in. Oh yea, did I mention your band fucking sucks?
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<strong>Cage The Elephant</strong></div>
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/orion-music-more-festival-day-one-recap-62312/cage-the-elephant/" rel="attachment wp-att-25988"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-25988" height="260" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Cage-The-Elephant-443x260.png" title="Cage The Elephant" width="443" /></a></div>
Like the lead singer said after the 1st song "we're weird people". Weird in a good way, I like the kinda half rap thing they do on some songs, and the music is funky as fuck! No wonder Kirk Hammet introduced them. I was at this same stage for Fucked Up and was like 3 rows deep- now for Cage( who played House of Blues last night) I'm at least a football field away. Not only that, but just as I'm getting into this I see people already heading towards the Orion stage for Modest Mouse. Do I leave this set and scout a spot that's maybe only 90 yards away for MM, or do I stay? I'll hang out till they play that song of their's that I used to hear on the radio all the time.
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<strong>Modest Mouse</strong></div>
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/orion-music-more-festival-day-one-recap-62312/modest-mouse-2/" rel="attachment wp-att-25990"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-25990" height="260" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Modest-Mouse-443x260.png" title="Modest Mouse" width="443" /></a></div>
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There are SO many people here! I guess lots of folks skipped the early day activities and are arriving late , but I'm deep behind easily 1000 people standing. But I'm so far back, I can see over the heads. Awesome. Guys came out blazing, opened with "The Whale Song". Modest Mouse has like a million albums, so even being handed a set of not-so-familiars didn't piss me off like it would with some other bands. "Float On" was a pleasant surprise at about 7:35ish. "Shit Luck" was mixed in there too. People are already at this stag setting themselves up for good Metallica spots while I'm still peaking across the way to see how bad (in terms of me not being up front) things were getting for Arctic Monkeys.</div>
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<strong> Arctic Monkeys </strong></div>
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/orion-music-more-festival-day-one-recap-62312/arctic-monkeys/" rel="attachment wp-att-25991"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-25991" height="260" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Arctic-Monkeys-346x260.jpg" title="Arctic Monkeys" width="346" /></a></div>
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And the trek back to the Fuel stage for Arctic Monkeys. Jeez am I getting a work out today or what? They were introduced by Lars (who introduced Baroness earlier), and they proceeded to prove their coolness. Lots of dancing going on during this set. And not just during that song with dance floor in the name.</div>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kU8EJkyz4js&feature=youtu.be
They played "Fluorescent Adolescent" ( my personal fav) 2nd to last, after he introduced a song called "Brick by Brick", in which the drummer handled some of the vocal duties. Ended it with "Are you Mine" 9:06
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<strong>Metallica</strong></div>
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/orion-music-more-festival-day-one-recap-62312/metallica-2/" rel="attachment wp-att-25992"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-25992" height="260" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Metallica-2-346x260.jpg" title="Metallica " width="346" /></a></div>
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At this point and time it's past 9 o clock, and you look down at the Orion stage and see blue lights on stage, now everybody is facing that way, and you couldn't get close if you tried. Didn't need to, when Metallica came out and played "Ride The Lightning" in it's entirety it did a couple of things for me. One, Metallica will kick your balls in live. That is a serious professional band. Seeing the guys have sort of a sense of humor up there and with putting on this festival and all almost makes up for that whole Napster thing. They said they "flipped it up" on us a bit-they played some stuff not on the record first like "Master Of Puppets," "Sad But True," "The Four Horsemen," after kicking it off with "Hit The Lights." I didn't have the battery life on my phone to Google the album's track list so I marked down the highlights with times next to them in my notes here.</div>
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At 10:05Pm, they played "Escape." Am I a lucky bastard or what? My first ever time seeing this band, and I get the song they haven't played-EVER. Of course my camera's battery is dead for this, (as it's been since Master Of Puppets) they didn't like mess it up or anything. Sounded good.</div>
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10:25PM "For Whom the Bell Tolls" was insane. People raising fists (it is Jersey after all)-this one guy came in from of my camera and screamed the lyrics into my phone while I was trying to snap that last picture before the battery died. Thanks asshole.</div>
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Encores: To me, an encore means "songs played when you were about to walk towards the exit". This happened at least 5 times on Saturday, where the boys said goodnight and you really thought they were going off and they came back on. First of all, they saved their cool pyrotechnics til the end. Pictures of those fireworks and the flames rising would've been pretty wicked. So encore goes as follows "Nothing Else Matters", "Enter Sandman"(this is where shit started blowing up. Note to self to save some battery life today). Then they ducked off stage for a minute and I started walking towards the exit. Then they came back out to play "Battery" and "One" then ducked off again. I started walking again, because surely it's over. Nope. Came back out to play one more, "Seek And Destroy." They went way past 11.</div>
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<strong><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/orion-music-more-festival-day-one-recap-62312/metallica-lars/" rel="attachment wp-att-26003"><img alt="" height="260" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Metallica-Lars-346x260.jpg" title="Metallica " width="346" /></a></strong></div>
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To read all about Orion Music + More Day Two - <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/orion-music-more-festival-day-two-recap-62412/" target="_blank"><strong>Click Here</strong></a></div>
[gallery]Jay Porkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14554794404516615556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896832578282022815.post-43109538750706943742012-06-15T06:35:00.003-04:002012-06-15T06:36:14.269-04:00Scott Lucas And The Married Men @ Mercury Lounge 06/14/12<div style="text-align: right;">
Scott Lucas And The Married Men- 05/16/2012</div>
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Mercury Lounge -New York City</div>
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Words/Photos By Jay Porks</div>
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/scott-lucas-and-the-married-men-mercury-lounge-nyc-061412/slandmmsnv/" rel="attachment wp-att-25509"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-25509" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/SLandMMsnV-512x300.png" title="Scott Lucas And The Married Men" width="512" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span>Back in April when I was at the Mercury Lounge checking out Local H I said to myself “How the hell are they gonna fit 37 other people on stage when Scott comes back with the Married Men?”. Anyway what the hell goes on people? Long time no speak it seems as we roll into the 70th Edition of the Jay Porks Never Ending Concert Series, bringing us back to the aforementioned Mercury Lounge (217 E Houston Street NYC) to see the almighty Scott Lucas and The Married Men hit the stage. I joke around of course about the 37 people on stage, as the band's 6 other members-Jason Batchko(Organ & Piano),Aaron Duggins (Accordion), Rebecca Brooke M. (Violin) ,Pete Muschong (Guitars & Vocals),Randy Payne (Drums) & Tom Szidon (Bass & Vocals) really keep things interesting with Scott on guitar(as oppose to the bass pick-ups set up) and lead vocals. If you came to see a band resembling Local H tonight, then you were mislead. Although equal in awesomeness, this is not that. This is, as printed somewhere I can't recall at the time “<em>Country-ish, Alternative Rock for people who like Metal</em> ”. Interrupt that as you will. Anyway, doors open at 9:30PM. Yea, 9:30PM, this is the “Late Show” at Mercury Lounge tonight, as they have an earlier show with some other bands happening that's set to end at 9-9:15PM I'd assume. Ticket says Doors 9:30, Show 9:30. So my guess is it won't be long after I walk through those doors before opening act Shelter Belt is on stage. This is gonna be awesome! </span>
So at about 8:20, I had made it to the venue, and what's usually a line of at least a few outside waiting to get in, was almost vacant sidewalk. Two dudes talking, one of them is in the Married Men, and another dude who was in some band( probably one of the openers from the early show). Tried to eavesdrop as much as I could without being a creep- no juicy information to report. Saw Scott Lucas walking around outside. The difference between this and Local H: his cool ass hat. The openers were setting up by the time we (I) was let in at 9:32..
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/scott-lucas-and-the-married-men-mercury-lounge-nyc-061412/p1000098/" rel="attachment wp-att-25510"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-25510" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/P1000098-533x300.jpg" title="Shelterbelt" width="533" /></a></div>
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My only problem with Mercury Lounge is their lack of good lighting. I mean, I have a flashlight on my lighter but am I really looking for Scott to punch me tonight?</div>
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At 10 on the dot here comes Shelter Belt on stage. Now there's exactly 7 of us in the crowd. Hey at least I'm not alone. This band seemed to be riffin' something fierce during sound check... well, that was all the fierce they'd get. They were like southern (even though I thought they mentioned being from Boston),their bass player looked a tad like Cris Kirkwood, and we hee-hawed our way through their 44 minute set. They had 2 false starts on their 2nd to last song. They also performed a cover that I taped. At least I got to sit down for it.
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/scott-lucas-and-the-married-men-mercury-lounge-nyc-061412/slandmmbandshot/" rel="attachment wp-att-25511"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-25511" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/SLandMMBandShot-512x300.png" title="Scott Lucas And The Married Men" width="512" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Suddenly a bunch of dudes in suits start setting stuff up on stage. Those would be the Married Men, and it was at about 11 o'clock when everyone was on stage ready to go, and kick off the set with <em>"Cotton Fields"</em>. I'm in my same spot I usually snag at Mercury Lounge, up front to the right. It being my usual spot is the 1st reason I grabbed it, 2nd reason is that the chick who plays violin stands on this side-and she's the only guaranteed female in attendance tonight.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Wish this review was filled with phrases like "the crowd went nuts" or "to a resounding applause"- but I kept turning around and I counted no more than 35 people by nights end. So many people missing this great band.</span>
<em>"Lovers Lullaby"</em> was 2nd, and it's here the perfect example of what this band can do with it's loud/quiet dynamic-from extreme folky to extreme feedback . I never thought a band with a violinist and accordion player could get THAT loud and rock THIS hard. And with no one in front of me I'm free to sway left and right as I please. Lovers Lullaby went into <em>"Extra Special Bitter"</em>, and then <em>"Blood Half Moons"</em>-the title track from their latest record, <a href="http://www.antiquiet.com/news/2012/05/scott-lucas-the-married-men-release-blood-half-moons-music-video/">you may have read about it on Antiquiet</a>.
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/scott-lucas-and-the-married-men-mercury-lounge-nyc-061412/slandmm4scott/" rel="attachment wp-att-25512"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-25512" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/SLandMM4Scott-512x300.png" title="Scott Lucas And The Married Men" width="512" /></a></div>
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You can file this in the "h<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">ere's something you don't see everyday" section: Before they played <em>"Heavy Little Love"</em>, Scott asks "Does anyone have a phone?". Then , realizing how dumb the question was sarcastically continues "yeah, does anyone in New York City have a phone? Well we're gonna make a video for this next song so shoot it and send it to us". Really? That's pretty sweet. Hope when I tweet the video at Scott repeatedly he eventually replies. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"> This band's not together that long, so I'm always on YouTube looking for live footage of them. And I always wondered why Hey Rita and l Got A Feeling always show up in the same clips. Like it's always Hey Rita/I Got A Feeling. That bothered me, and I was careful tonight when they jumped into "Hey Rita"<em>-</em> kept telling myself "pay attention to when the song ends you idiot". Well, guess who's currently uploading a video titled <em>"Hey Rita/I Got A Feeling</em>"? This guy.</span>
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/scott-lucas-and-the-married-men-mercury-lounge-nyc-061412/slandmm3/" rel="attachment wp-att-25513"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-25513" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/SLandMM3-512x300.png" title="Scott Lucas And The Married Men" width="512" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span>To close out the evening was a cover(the cover they seem to be doing on this tour) of Johnny Cash's "Ain't No Grave(Can Hold My Body Down) ". I got a taste of this when I was here in April to see <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/04/local-h-double-dip-sort-of-in-nyc-41512/">Local H and Scott opened</a> with some Married Men tunes, but the full band version was un-freaking-believable. The band just explodes into the chorus part-got the accordion guy all over the place on stage, chick with the violin is spazzing out as she ferociously hits every lick on that thing-it was f#%king epic man. It was so intense, it was so awesome, it was so....over. Damn.</span>
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After the set, I waited for the band to come off stage as I told them how awesome they were. When Scott passed by I casually said "Amazing, as usual" and he was like "Thanks man" and shook my hand. This Scott Lucas who plays with the Married Men seems to be a much more laid back Scott Lucas. No fans called out during the show or anything. I grabbed the set list while saying to the drummer "As I fan-boy, can I grab this??"</div>
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<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/06/scott-lucas-and-the-married-men-mercury-lounge-nyc-061412/slandmmsetlist/" rel="attachment wp-att-25514"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-25514" height="300" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/SLandMMsetlist-225x300.jpg" title="Scott Lucas And The Married Men" width="225" /></a></div>
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Then I'm walking out and the accordion player is at the doorway and he's like "Got a light?". So while outside for this 2 minutes or so I noticed Scott is at the merch table selling stuff-and since I don't feel like doing laundry for another day I gotta grab myself a tee shirt! Scott was nice as always at the table, I got my Blood Half Moons tee shirt for 17 bucks. I don't remember buying a concert tee at a better price before. So I asked him to sign my ticket stub (you know, cause I only have 2 already) and I said that they better come back as I made my way out the door into the New York City streets a few minutes after Midnight to try and hail down a cab.</div>
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Fun times. Have no complaints besides Mercury Lounge barely having any freaking lights. It's dark as hell in there! But besides that, awesome night, awesome tunes. Hope I kept you entertained for the time being, and next time you'll be reading me is when I'm at Orion Music + More Festival in Atlantic City, NJ. Til next time</div>
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LATE..</div>Jay Porkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14554794404516615556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896832578282022815.post-9967153310386895912012-05-17T05:17:00.000-04:002012-05-17T05:17:07.018-04:00Foxy Shazam @ Bowery Ballroom 05/16/12
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2WAJRFHnSd0/T7S3MYu6oTI/AAAAAAAABKo/x2oTZxqttYA/s1600/Foxy15.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2WAJRFHnSd0/T7S3MYu6oTI/AAAAAAAABKo/x2oTZxqttYA/s320/Foxy15.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Usually for me, the opening bands at shows are a time for me to get annoyed-quickly. Yet somehow back in February when I saw <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/02/the-darkness-w-foxy-shazam-2412-irving-plaza-nyc/">The Darkness</a>, there was just something about Foxy Shazam. Something about them that made me want to learn more. How long have I been missing out on this? Then, the band headlined there own tour and hit the places like<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/04/foxy-shazam-with-maniac-and-cadaver-dogs-the-vera-project-seattle-41412/"> Seattle</a>, and <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/04/i-went-to-the-church-of-rock-and-roll-and-got-saved-by-foxy-shazam/">Utah </a>where I was able to read more about the Church of Mother F%#king Rock & Roll. Then, out of no where comes the Bowery Ballroom in NYC, who announce a Foxy show at the cost of, brace yourselves, $17. That my friends is a baptism fee I'm willing to pay. So let's kick back, and enjoy this little journey out to the Lower East Side, 6 Delancey St, for Foxy Shazam, Doors at 7, show is at 8. And hey, it just wouldn't feel special if it wasn't The 69th Edition of The Jay Porks Never Ending Concert Series. Let's hope for a spot up on the balcony so I can tape.
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rSJeUG7RvBY/T7S3krKkVaI/AAAAAAAABLo/glakJAfZdSg/s1600/Foxy16.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rSJeUG7RvBY/T7S3krKkVaI/AAAAAAAABLo/glakJAfZdSg/s320/Foxy16.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="text-align: left;">Got to the venue at 6, and I'm no where near the first one here. Seems the high school crowd cut out of their afternoon classes and head to this 16+ event. Usually young girls like garbage, so I'm glad they're here to be baptized tonight. I grabbed my spot upstairs at a table and saw my two compadres from the line downstairs(who were kind enough to offer me some Mary Jane). So I shouted to them "hey, I got two seats up here", to which they came up. They bought me a jack and Coke for it. Sweet.</span>
<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/?attachment_id=22166" rel="attachment wp-att-22166"><img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="225" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/P1000070-300x225.jpg" title="New York Rivals" width="300" /></a>
New York Rivals(who I thought were "Rival Schools" ) came on at promptly 8PM. I don't know how to put this, but I'll try. They seemed to be way heavier than they needed to. They were loud in a Weezer-esque sense, with the lead singers pants clinging to his legs like Yosemite Sam's jeans. Towards the beginning of the set they said they'd be playing Bamboozle. I shouted "who wants to see Bon Jovi?". This guy belted out wuss tunes over instrumentation that was almost good if it was alone. The one time this dude mentioned the name of the song they were gonna play he was strummed over by his bassist. They went off at 8:36.
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8-CH9HcDOjw/T7S3cUfKMiI/AAAAAAAABK4/_1heTa8Ycow/s1600/Foxy10MoneyShot.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8-CH9HcDOjw/T7S3cUfKMiI/AAAAAAAABK4/_1heTa8Ycow/s320/Foxy10MoneyShot.jpg" width="320" /></a>
Finally after waiting what felt like forever, the lights go down and ladies and gents, we have FOXY SHAZAM!
The band hit's the stage at about 9:20 maybe a little before to a resounding ovation as Eric Sean Nally grabs the mic and screams “ I FEEL LIKE A CHOCOLATE BAR!” as they opened up with “ Welcome to The Church of Rock and Roll” (while he pointed out some dude's Cincinnati Reds hat) and “Holy Touch”. Two things I notice at the same time: One, the whole set is getting taped. I got my arm resting on the railing and all that, and I've got a bird's eye view of the only event staffer in sight. Second thing was how hard is it to keep a camera on Eric. To the regular fan, everyone knows his on stage antics do not include standing still. My wrists got a work out with my lens dancing with him all night. He's like Iggy Pop minus the blood and Peanut Butter.
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-it9SoU027_E/T7S3x_nCj9I/AAAAAAAABMo/oGrZB9I1kO4/s1600/Foxy9.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-it9SoU027_E/T7S3x_nCj9I/AAAAAAAABMo/oGrZB9I1kO4/s320/Foxy9.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NS4OOQZsjfk/T7S32lVaz_I/AAAAAAAABNA/Fafko47ExUU/s1600/FoxyKeyboards.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NS4OOQZsjfk/T7S32lVaz_I/AAAAAAAABNA/Fafko47ExUU/s320/FoxyKeyboards.jpg" width="320" /></a>I was once told there was no such thing as a 'Happy Panda'. Well, take a look at the keyboardist Schuyler Vaughn White for a few minutes and tell me that's not one happy panda right there. The beard that's a grizzly Adams-ZZ Top hybrid brushing the heads of fans in the crowd repeatedly while smiling for pictures (even looked up at us once),
before and after he floated his
keyboard out on the audience from time to time. When I first saw them I thought it was one of those stupid hydrolic set ups but then I realized this dude is just bad ass and he lifts it every which way / direction that is imaginable. He stands on it, stomps, lays sideways on it. Then for the unimaginable, him and the keyboard set sail into the crowd. Crowd surfing playing keys. Are you kidding me right now?
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-V20F2CdxNps/T7S3h2MfrwI/AAAAAAAABLY/DMvNz_sd6gg/s1600/Foxy14.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" height="180" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-V20F2CdxNps/T7S3h2MfrwI/AAAAAAAABLY/DMvNz_sd6gg/s320/Foxy14.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Songs like “Oh Lord” and “Unstoppable”, and of course the epicness of were crowd pleasers mid-set. Eric at one point said “Nowadays music really sucks. It feels good to say that. You should say it as much as you can” I shouted “I try! I try!”. If we're gonna get into crowd pleasers than we have to address my personal highlight, and that's when they played "I Like It". I flipped out simply because, come on, when else does a white dude like me get to verbally express his enjoyment of big black asses? I got to shout “That's the biggest Black Ass I've ever seen and I like it! I like it!” out loud and not get punched.
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BlPwE9Zfvd8/T7S31jg5m_I/AAAAAAAABM4/7b6xtVeaB5Q/s1600/FoxyEatsCigs2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BlPwE9Zfvd8/T7S31jg5m_I/AAAAAAAABM4/7b6xtVeaB5Q/s320/FoxyEatsCigs2.jpg" width="320" /></a>
During the duration of the set, I had a cigarette placed on the table in front of me ready to throw on queue. One of the dudes I was up there with kept telling me "throw it!". I kept putting it off, I didn't want to interrupt any of the funny speeches. Then finally, before the last song, he ends his soliloquy with "and the man asked: does anyone have a cigarette ?". Hell yeah I do! I tossed it down on stage left handed and it landed behind him. He already had a full pack of Newport in his hand, but he's looking around on stage and grabbing all he sees, including mine! We were screaming, probably hear us in the video(don't leave me comments about it). Then he lit what had to be 5 or 6 at once in his mouth and puffed before turning them around and sticking them down his throat. Eric ate my cigarette! Unreal.
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-N0BZGEd8RdA/T7S3zi_kLhI/AAAAAAAABMw/6A-B56qi4Yk/s1600/FoxyEatsCigs.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-N0BZGEd8RdA/T7S3zi_kLhI/AAAAAAAABMw/6A-B56qi4Yk/s320/FoxyEatsCigs.jpg" width="320" /></a>
By nights end, Eric was asking if we liked his jacket (which I made a mental note of how cool it was when they first came out), then informed us: “I know Rock & Roll is dead.. But that doesn't mean we can't dance with it's fucking ghost!” and that's when it was time for “The Only Way To My Heart”-basically the song that got me hooked on Foxy the first time, is now serving as a merely the cherry atop of some of the best cake I've ever had.
So for those keeping score, end of the show was “The Only Way To My Heart”, then “Temple”, then the “drunken guy” soliloquy in the middle of Temple, followed by eating cigarettes while dragging out the end of Temple. With the keyboardist on the floor of the stage collapsed with his rig laying on top of him, the band made their way off stage as Eirc grabbed the mic to leave us with one final message: “If I was able to get into people's minds and make them decide things it would be easy to be the biggest band in the world” as he slams the mic down and the house music hits.
My name is Jay Porks, and I went to attend sermon at the Church of Rock & Roll and have been baptized.
Late.
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mOuUVs8BqAQ/T7S3wtj7RpI/AAAAAAAABMg/fY7O7A7PdoA/s1600/Foxy8.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="180" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mOuUVs8BqAQ/T7S3wtj7RpI/AAAAAAAABMg/fY7O7A7PdoA/s320/Foxy8.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Jay Porkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14554794404516615556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896832578282022815.post-15124907569609236862012-05-03T05:43:00.000-04:002012-05-04T17:27:25.119-04:00Mike Watt & Friends 05/02/12 - Le Poisson Rouge, NYC<p style="text-align: right;">Mike Watt & Friends 05/02/2012</p>
<p style="text-align: right;">Le Poisson Rouge -New York City</p>
<p style="text-align: right;">Words/Photos By Jay Porks</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/05/mike-watt-friends-050212-le-poisson-rouge-nyc/p1000049_xvid-avi_000045640/" rel="attachment wp-att-21226"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-21226" title="Mike Watt" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/P1000049_xvid.avi_000045640-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a></p>
Tonight is going to be a treat to say the least. “Tonight 'Three Rooms Press' presents: May Day 2: Mike Watt + Friends w/ Mike Watt + J Mascis + Murph , Appomattox , Dead Trend and the NYC Launch of Mike Watt: On and Off Bass + very special guests”. How could I not go to this?? Especially since I got the Flu (which I'm still laboring from) at the Melvins/Unsane gig and with no medical insurance took the safe route and made the sacrilegious decision to leave the show midway through-Didn't even see the Melvins. So All Apologies on my end, that's something that will not happen again. That's what made me get these tickets, because I felt I needed to make up for missing the Melvins. What better way then Watt From Pedro? And Le Poisson Rouge no less? At 158 Bleecker Street this is where I saw <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2011/11/puppets-take-manhattan-meat-puppets-11411-le-poisson-rouge/">The Meat Puppets back in November</a> tear the roof off this place. Small venue, and I arrived first on line as usual, about 6 with Doors at 7, Show at 8. Spotted J Mascis outside around 6:30. This night could get interesting..So let's kick off the 68<sup>th</sup> Episode of the Jay Porks Never Ending Concert Series, I promise you this is a good one!
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/05/mike-watt-friends-050212-le-poisson-rouge-nyc/p1000044/" rel="attachment wp-att-21227"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-21227" title="Dead Trend" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/P1000044-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a></p>
Once I nabbed my spot up front I was ready to rock and roll. Last time I was here there was a “Dance Party” scheduled for after the show. I'm not sure what the case is tonight, but they moved quick in setting up and being ready to roll by 8PM. Three Rooms Press put this gig together so there is this woman introducing the bands and hyping up the aforementioned publisher. She thanks us for coming repeated, etc. Anyway, she introduces a band called Dead Tread and 8PM. I would their sound as “kinda punky” if you times what's in quotations by 11. I saw a 12 song set list and I was pissed. I thought we were in for some 40 minute set. Get this, these dudes may not have even had a song that clocked in at over a minute. The took their shirts off, this dude screamed at us. Songs called “Lunch lady” if my vision serves me right. They played from 8 to 8:17. Twelve songs in 17 minutes then the guitar player who has already broken two strings takes his guitar and slams it on stage. Freaking awesome! Someone screamed “You guys suck!” after the set, and the drummer said “Tell us something we don't know”.
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/05/mike-watt-friends-050212-le-poisson-rouge-nyc/appromax/" rel="attachment wp-att-21229"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-21229" title="Appomattox" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Appromax-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a></p>
At 830, Brooklyn's own, Appomattox hit the stage. Introduced as "Mike Watt's favorite band from Brooklyn".. They were a lot more towards the side of traditional rock and roll and weren't punky at all as Dead Trend was. Their songs had hooks and stuff, and the lead singer was switching off between keyboards and guitar. They played about 25 minutes and the last song they played, "Radiator", is available to listen to on the web( so they say) they went off at 8:55..
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There was an interview with Mike Watt before he went on "with friends"..I filmed it, so I figure why write about it when I can show you. There's some hilarious stuff in this. It's worth the check out.
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/05/mike-watt-friends-050212-le-poisson-rouge-nyc/jm-watt/" rel="attachment wp-att-21228"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-21228" title="Mike Watt, J Mascis" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/JM.-Watt-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a></p>
Right after the interview, Watt headed towards his bass to start setting up. JM and Murph come on stage and set up quickly. It seems J has found a new bag in which to keep his effects pedals because he usually packs a hefty looking case where this was able to fold up easily when they went off later. Maybe it's the “Non-Dinosaur Jr” pedal board, he probably has tons. There's a few things I've been wondering since I bought this ticket yesterday: Whose catalog are they going to be dipping into? Would it be more Minutemen stuff, or will they mess around and do some Dino stuff too? Who is singing? Few minutes before 9:30, and those questions were about to be answered.
When the lights dimmed and the show got started, the dude who's gonna kick off the night on vocals was unknown to me, but thanks to comments left by awesome people reading, I now know that was Don Fleming (of Gumball). The riff was familiar, but I couldn't hear any lyrics because, I've AGAIN made the mistake of place myself an arms distance from JM and his amps, giving my eardrums a beating. This is the kind of pain I enjoy, as I realize it was “Real Cool Time”, a Stooges song! I was floored when they played “TV Eye” next (John Petrovic from Cobra Verse sang that), because now I get it. We are gonna jam out to Stooges songs all night with Watty's mean bass plucks and JM basically turning his 6 string into a blow torch that blew the minds of us close enough to be completely taken in by it. I love the original versions, but hearing JM's take on it was like something you can only imagine. You don't get these types of shows at the big venues.
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/05/mike-watt-friends-050212-le-poisson-rouge-nyc/p1000052_xvid-avi_000004480/" rel="attachment wp-att-21230"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-21230" title="Mike Watt, Thurston Moore" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/P1000052_xvid.avi_000004480-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a></p>
Just when I thought things couldn't get better, here comes out on to the stage none other than Thurston Moore (of Sonic Youth)! Thurston! Seriously!?! Is this “fill the venue with my favorite musicians” night or what? They played “Loose”, another Stooges cover as it was confirmed that this is Stooges tunes all night, and I'm freaking creaming my pants over here third song in.
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Steve Shelley, also from Sonic Youth came on stage to drum on “Dirt” next. The vocalist was an unknown to any of us, only reference Mike Watt made to her was “J's friend”. Come to find out that was <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/03/sharon-van-etten-performs-leonard-on-conan/">Sharon Von Etten</a> In a night of uncertainty at first, rocking out throughout the evening over everything, was the man who was on Bass, and that's Watt From Pedro (his twitter is @wattfrompedro ). The bass lines were prevalent everywhere. Every time JM took his foot off a pedal you hear that funky bass riff bouncing all over the place.
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/05/mike-watt-friends-050212-le-poisson-rouge-nyc/p1000056_xvid-avi_000001720/" rel="attachment wp-att-21231"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-21231" title="Kurt Vile" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/P1000056_xvid.avi_000001720-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a></p>
When it was time to play “Down on the Street”, Thurston Moore made another appearance. After that, I see this kid come up on stage with lyrics in his hand. It's Kurt Vile. I've heard of him, but never heard his stuff. He held his own on “No Fun”, even though is that really the song you need the lyrics for? That's barely a critique, just an observation. Did I mention I was rolling film throughout the duration of the evening? Yea, I got the whole set minus about a minute from the encore because my 16 gig Memory Card was apparently full. The encore was Thurston returning to the stage to do an epic version of “Funhouse” , and I saw myself with the rest of the crowd moving towards the exits at 10:26PM.
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/05/mike-watt-friends-050212-le-poisson-rouge-nyc/p1000054_xvid-avi_000198560/" rel="attachment wp-att-21232"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-21232" title="J Mascis, Mike Watt" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/P1000054_xvid.avi_000198560-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Set List</strong>(<em><a href="https://twitter.com/#!/wattfrompedro/status/198278404611649536">Mike Watt </a>was kind enough to Tweet this over)</em><strong>:</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Real Cool Time with Don Fleming
TV Eye with John Petkovic, John Maloney on Drums
Loose with Thurston Moore, John Maloney on Drums
Dirt with Sharon Van Etten and Steve Shelley
Not Right (watt on vocals) John Maloney on Drums
Down on The Street with Thurston Moore, Murph on Drums
No Fun with Kurt Vile, Murph on Drums
1970 with Noel (former soundman from the Continental on vocals) Steve Shelley
Little Doll (Watt on vocals), Steve Shelley
Fun House with Thurston Moore and John Petkovic on Clarinet
LA Blues - with Byron Coley and John Petkovic w/ Murph & John Maloney on Drums</p>
Jeez, that was so awesome. Like, I wish I could put it to you in a intellectual sort of way but I can't. Mike Watt, J Mascis, Murph, Thurston Moore, Steve Shelly, Kurt Vile came into Le Poisson Rouge and jammed on Stooges songs on a Wednesday night in New York City. What more could you ask for?
Late.Jay Porkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14554794404516615556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896832578282022815.post-32809463312549088652012-04-16T15:32:00.000-04:002012-04-16T15:38:07.658-04:00Local H at Mercury Lounge 4/15/12<p style="text-align: center;"><a style="text-align: center;" href="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/money.jpg"><img title="Local H" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/money-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a></p><br />I have no idea why people don't support/know of this band. In my seeing the Zion duo and it's no secret that New York City hasn't gotten the full Local H platter the last 3 visits to town. First it was way back when they opened for the dreadful Electric Six at Webster Hall, then the next time they played, <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2010/05/localhnyc/">Livenation bumped them out of the building early</a> due to a Midnight Showcase the Stone Temple Pilots had scheduled at the same venue a week prior to the Local H gig. . Finally there was around this time last year, where Local H came to the Mercury Lounge and rocked out yet another “<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2011/04/local-h-rocks-mercury-lounge-42111/">early show</a>” . That's not the case tonight as we head back to the Mercury Lounge(the SOLD OUT Mercury Lounge), and we have Local H here with no time limits, no 'Early show', no album themes (even tho I did think that was cool). Tonight is Local H untamed, and you bet I'm freaking psyched for it. Adding to excitement, the opening act besides “The Apple Bros.” is, none other then Scott Lucas, who is said to be performing solo acoustic 'Scott Lucas and the Married Men' material. A Scott Lucas double dip, it feels like my freaking birthday. Ticket says doors are at 7:30, but I'm getting there as early as possible and snag a spot up front as usual in the latest episode(67) of the Jay Porks Never Ending Concert Series.<br /><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/settimes.jpg"><img title="Local h set times 4/15/12" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/settimes-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a></p><br />So I got to the venue at 5:30. Yes, 5:30, two hours prior to doors opening. I have this extra ticket that I hope I could give away, so what's the harm in being 1st. Wasn't 1st anymore after a walk around the block as there are two dudes who are about to become my friends(one wearing an Elephant skull cap, you may want to take note of that hat) standing on the line wondering about Will Call and what the story is there. Again, doors not open for another 2 hours.<br /><br />Sign you're on line with people that know music: my Meat Puppets shirt was immediately recognized. Then my buddy who I met at the Lemonheads show arrived. He was here last April when Local H played, but we didn't know each other then. So the 4 of us kicking it before the show, we're all sick of seeing epic video from epic Local H shows at the Double Door, or whatever other places in Illinois they play, and not getting a chance to have one of those memorable experiences in NYC. We gotta move to Zion. They opened up the doors at 7:30, and within seconds we were in the spot we'd be spending the next 4 hours or so.<br /><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/P1000007.jpg"><img title="Scott Lucas" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/P1000007-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a></p><br />Scott came on at 8 o clock with his acoustic guitar and a chair(the chair which was used to place his drink and phone on, not for sitting) and I'm just so damn excited that this is going down I almost forgot to mention the biggest adventure of my night-my new camera! Now I can get video in this venue that you can actually see (or so I thought"Extra Special Bitter" was second, and that's my favorite Married Men tune. A couple songs later he played a song called "Blood Half Moon", (the single off the new Scott Lucas and the Married Men record) where towards the end of the song, a slow rhythmic clap begins with a couple of people in the crowd. Scott during a pause says "No" to the assistance as we all laughed. Song ends and Scott looks at whoever started that and says "Thanks Dolche Gabana asshole for fucking up my pretty song. Is that what the DG stands for, Dick Gump?" Finished that set off with "Hey Rita" and Johnny Cash's "Ain't No Grave" .He played from 8pm to 8:35pm. Total of 7 songs, and notes that he'll be back at this very venue in June with the Married Men. I have a feeling all of you will be reading about that experience right here, at Concert Confessions (and JayPorks.Com!!!)<br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/eHosYVapYoY?rel=0" frameborder="0" width="420" height="315"></iframe><br /><br />The second opener (or the only opener not a member of thr headlining band) The Apple Bros came on at 8:44. First thing I notice is their front man has a lefty guitar that he's turned upside-down and re-strung.. To that i say, don't they have tons of right handed guitars for sale already?I found myself throughout the set trying to find reasons to make fun of these guys, (like I did in one sentence ago) But whatever these guys are playing, it's not terrible. I've seen way worse opening acts then this. There were 10 songs listed on the set list paper in front of the bassist(none or which I could read the name of!). They had to have played more-they came on 15 mins earlier than scheduled, and when off at 9:26<br /><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/P1000016.jpg"><img title="Scott Lucas 4/15/2012" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/P1000016-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a></p><br />Shortly, like within minutes after Apple Bros. went off , the post-grungers scrambled to get their gear set up on stage. Then at 10 o' clock folks it was time for the headliners: St. Clair and Lucas, LOCAL H!<br /><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/P1000017_xvid.avi_000170880.jpg"><img title="Local H" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/P1000017_xvid.avi_000170880-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a></p><br />They started played lots of new stuff tonight. Last year they played us 2 new ones, and this year they started the show in full effect with it.. 'Cold Manor' came second, and being such a fan of this band obsessing with YouTube watching my own taping of this song last year, I'm already singing along to this song and it hasn't even come out yet. And last year was on a crap camera, this thing I'm wielding is real deal, . Then drummer extraordinaire Brian starts poking at the lights. Remind you folks this is a bar with a room in that back that just happens to have a stage-it's about the twice the size my living room. It's not like, a “light show” more then it's just generic lights hanging maybe the band gets to pick the color who knows. Anyway, Scott asked them to dim these lights and now after the 2<sup>nd</sup> song in I'm back to basically the same lighting if not worse, then last year. That was a serious “FML” moment right there.<br /><br /><br /><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/P1000016.jpg"><br /></a></p><br /><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/P1000035_xvid.avi_000207680.jpg"><br /></a></p><br /><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/money.jpg"><br /></a></p><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/sNW9eT0xw7k?rel=0" frameborder="0" width="420" height="315"></iframe><br /><br />It's my favorite line and you'll see me write it every time I see this band. 'The man I despise but the song I adore': “Eddie Vedder” kicked off the first back to back of old school tunes of the night when it was followed by “Everyone Alive” before we busted into another newbie: “Paddy Considine” then the ever so epic “Hands on The Bible” before another new one that Scott said was “about Fox News”. Not sure if that's the name of the song. But during Hands on the Bible, oddly, when the lyric “A pretty baby never born”, the New Yorkers let out a light cheer. Hooray abortion? Anyway, there's two kinds of people at Local H shows: Intelligent folk who grab their spots up front quickly. That's my little outside clique from earlier and the rest of the people along the first row. Then behind that you have these people who behave like psychopaths-the people who think Local H is like a heavy metal band or something and they're here to slam dance and mosh. They f%&ked stuff up, including lifting two of the tables used to support amps onto the stage, and it wasn't a direct hit, but a drink was tossed in my area. Turned to the hot chick next to me and mouthed to her “what the f%&k?” as she was also bewildered. One drunk dude got on stage and wanted to stage dive(the entire 2 and ½ feet up on stage) and Scott literally just pushed him off stage. It was awesome.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />“Another February”, which is another one off the new record was next up. Usually bands piss me off when they play a bunch of new stuff at a show, but the new Local H material is freaking incredible and I cannot wait for that to come out. But next they played “Fritz's Corner”, “All The Kids Are Right” and “High Fiving MF” back to back to back next and by the time we got to High Fivin' that place was back to being exactly what that song is about. The lyric “Highjack the pit you shit!” while these assholes go bananas is life imitating art. That had to be the biggest hit of the night with them. With me, the biggest hit is also this song, because right before Scott starts singing (about 55 seconds in on my video), he leans towards my camera and taps it with his guitar-he knighted my camera. Wonder if he remembers me from last year.<br /><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/P1000035_xvid.avi_000207680.jpg"><img title="Scott Lucas Elephant hat 4/15/2012" src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/P1000035_xvid.avi_000207680-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a></p><br />“California Songs” was another heavy hitter right towards the end when they went into “Bound For The Floor”, and in the middle of the song the gave us a little shot of the Stooges “T.V. Eye”. (Hopefully a Local H's Awesome Mixtape Part Two coming soon?). Oh and remember that elephant hat I mentioned earlier that one of my new found buddies was wearing? Yea, that's Scott wearing it, at the end of the Bound for the Floor video Lucas mentions how cool the hat is. It was a great night, I just really wish it wasn't so damn dark!<br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/myqwVeG1Cgg?rel=0" frameborder="0" width="420" height="315"></iframe><br /><p style="text-align: left;">So long story short, Local H comes to town and Scotty Lucas gives us a double dip. I'm still trippin' on that "Ain't no Grave" he busted out during the acoustic set. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'll see these guys every time they come to town. There's a band that gives their all every time.</p><br /><p style="text-align: left;">I've already passed out on my keyboard several times writing this, so internet trolls please feel free to point out punctuation I may have missed. So next time you'll be reading me is two weeks from today, when we hit the Melvins at Webster Hall..</p><br /><p style="text-align: left;">LATE.....</p>Jay Porkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14554794404516615556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896832578282022815.post-57348714644612797292012-03-23T02:04:00.009-04:002012-03-23T03:39:20.297-04:00Kasabian @ Terminal 5 NYC 3/22/12<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8yKmBd2urhE/T2wngkXihII/AAAAAAAABKY/b9A0SsjuB84/s1600/146_1174_xvid.avi_000056520.jpg"></a><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Qk7g_x0_-Oo/T2wmY7TXcAI/AAAAAAAABKM/_MpBMUmxRKE/s1600/Twitter%2B2.jpg"></a><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h5w7vi-iqv0/T2wlvDXaUBI/AAAAAAAABKA/KR_YXSct69g/s1600/Smoke%2Bdeck.jpg"></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6IWolfREEEQ/T2wlbqslUtI/AAAAAAAABJ0/xUnv7ifUcD4/s1600/twitter1.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6IWolfREEEQ/T2wlbqslUtI/AAAAAAAABJ0/xUnv7ifUcD4/s320/twitter1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5722990383729038034" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hCkKsHkVU1s/T2witQqqI8I/AAAAAAAABJo/q1j8MaRid1s/s1600/Hacienda.jpg"></a><span style="font-size: 100%; ">They've have finally returned to America! That's where Episode 66 of the Jay Porks Never Ending Concert Series kicks off, bringing us to Terminal 5 in New York City to see the one and onlyKasabian. This is a special night for all of us fans out there who've waited for this band to return to the United States. </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/groups/395335356101/" style="font-size: 100%; ">Facebook</a><span style="font-size: 100%; "> groups have been started, </span><a href="https://twitter.com/#!/kasabianusa" style="font-size: 100%; ">Twitter</a><span style="font-size: 100%; "> accounts have been created, all in efforts to get this band back to U.S. Soil for the first time in 5 years. So when a tour was announce a few months ago, there was no question that I was on my way here tonight. I kinda feel bad for my man </span><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/author/reverendjustito/" style="font-size: 100%; ">Reverend Justito</a><span style="font-size: 100%; ">, because he turned me on to this band and I'm getting to check them out live before him on this tour. It's alright, he get's them at </span><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2012/01/coachella-2012-lineup-announced/" style="font-size: 100%; ">Coachella</a><span style="font-size: 100%; "> and an LA date that week-PLUS, he and the rest of the world get to watch this concert stream live online. YouTube in conjunction with the Bowery Presents have made it possible for tonight's proceedings inside the epic Terminal 5 to be broadcast around the world. The event is sold out so without tickets I hope you all are getting ready to do it up Couch Tour style, as I try to coax my coworker to let me leave work early, so I can get that sweet spot on the 3rd floor left of the stage I love so much. Doors are at 7, show at 8. I want to be on that line at 5:30. This night is too important to have some hipster from Williamsburg standing in my favorite spot. Maybe I'm over playing this, maybe I'm not. Only one way to find out......</span><br /><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br /></p> <img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h5w7vi-iqv0/T2wlvDXaUBI/AAAAAAAABKA/KR_YXSct69g/s320/Smoke%2Bdeck.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5722990716768636946" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: underline; float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><p style="margin-bottom: 0in">So I arrived at the line at 5:23.. That's right I said line- I guess 2 and a half hours was not early enough to land me 1st on line. At 6 they opened the doors and shuffled all of us upstairs to the rooftop smoke deck-stairs leading to a 2nd deck actually.. Benches, bathrooms, a bar. Hell there's even a video screen if people wanna watch the show from up here. Anyway, they roped off the rest of the place, and now everyone formed a line up here in hopes of snagging their favorite spot up front. 3 different people asked me whats the best spot in this place-I gave them 3 different answers.<br /><br />So at 7 when all of us were let in, the mad dash began. People must not read enough of my reviews: if you're going to a show a Terminal 5 I don't understand why you wouldn't head upstairs to get a nice railing spot on the 2nd or 3rd floor.. I mean I'm looking directly down at the stage, unless you're one of those 1st 20 or so people who gets a front railing spot the 1st floor is pointless. Anyway, I'm overlooking the stage from the 3rd floor. Not only a perfect view but a chair ALONG with an ottoman. So with my feet up in total relax-mode, time to wait for Hacienda, the opening act listed to go on at 8PM..<br /><br /><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hCkKsHkVU1s/T2witQqqI8I/AAAAAAAABJo/q1j8MaRid1s/s320/Hacienda.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5722987387444405186" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: underline; float: right; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">Promptly, Hacienda came on at 8. 4 man piece, with a keyboardist, they hail from San Antonio and have been on this entire U.S. tour supporting Kasabian. They bassist and guitar player switched off vocal duties-it was almost like 2 different bands depending on who was singing which song. They weren't bad, the guitar player had some filthy licks when the song called for it. The 45 minutes flew by. They were off by 8:45..<br /><br />You can feel the anticipation building as the stage was set up, all the camera were checked, more tweets hashtagged Terminal 5 were being tweeted. At 9:10 I'm thinking to myself "Wow this is gonna be freaking CRAZY!"<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H2iW41-y4qg/T2wiGvqYoBI/AAAAAAAABJc/qqP4mdz9BD4/s320/146_1165_xvid.avi_000021880.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5722986725749858322" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: underline; float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">At about 9:20, out came the main event: KASABIAN. And they came out with a thunderous "Days are Forgotten" followed by "Shoot The Runner". I was mesmerized. For once in my life I can say I was around when New York City decided to get into good bands- the building was literally shaking. A crowd that was frozen still during Hacienda's opening set was jumping around, slamming into each other. Everyone in unison just making the most of every single second they had in the building with this band. It was awesome.<br /><br /><br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in">Now all good comes with bad, right? You would think so-but that was surely not case here at Terminal 5. After "Underdog" was the 4th song in, I pretty much thought I was done with the songs I liked. I knew they had "Re-Wired" on previous set lists, so I waited. But as I did they played more amazing songs that I found myself to really be enjoying while taping, I mean more so than I would have. "Thick as Thieves" was the only jam tonight to have the acoustic guitar involved, and that's the point where you look around and think to yourself-this is way better than advertised!<br /><br /><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Qk7g_x0_-Oo/T2wmY7TXcAI/AAAAAAAABKM/_MpBMUmxRKE/s320/Twitter%2B2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5722991436158693378" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: underline; float: right; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 238px; " /><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">Then I remember we're being live streamed on YouTube- the whole world is inside Terminal 5 tonight. Did you see us rocking that place out? Hell, even my hidden spot on the 3rd floor got packed with people standing on chairs trying to see over us along the railing. So I guess that "showing up late to avoid the opener" plan backfired. Sucks to be you-but if you Bump me again, and my elbow meets your chest.<br /><br />"Re-Wired" eventually came, but before that it was "Club Foot" (isn't that song in a commercial? I'm too familiar with it for it not to be). I want to say this about every song, but the house was seriously about to come down during Club Foot. It just seemed to get louder and louder in there as the night went on. "Man of Simple Pleasures" and "LSF" were played towards the end of their set before the encore. The place got increasingly louder with screams while we waited for the band to come back out.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br /><br /><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8yKmBd2urhE/T2wngkXihII/AAAAAAAABKY/b9A0SsjuB84/s320/146_1174_xvid.avi_000056520.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5722992666952762498" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: underline; float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">“Switchblade Smiles” was absolutely insane when they kicked off the encore with it. The colors-their light show is really cool the way it bounces off the walls of the tight, yet roomy Terminal 5. This was the perfect venue to have them perform, and they put on a flawless set that left everyone in the place trying to regather themselves outside; trying to comprehend the epicness they have just witnessed. I don't think there's anybody in the world who thought this show would be so... so... well 'Perfect' is the only word that comes to mind. . Ended their flawless evening of tearing down Terminal 5 with a 7+ minute version of “Fire”. Incredible.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in">I've seen some shows, but this is like top 5 in “Live up to the hype”. I mean I've heard the band on record and I enjoy them. But live, it's a whole different experience. So much energy, so much ferociousness, and most importantly, having so much damn fun on stage. In five years when they come back to America(Let's hope it's not that long!), you can already book it that it'll be on the Jay Porks Concert Calender.. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in">LATE</p>Jay Porkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14554794404516615556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896832578282022815.post-88095926445225786142012-02-24T06:36:00.010-05:002012-02-24T16:47:01.588-05:00Concert Review: DMX @ SOB's 2/23/12<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lqdG3mQio0A/T0d6lttpVEI/AAAAAAAABIo/wxq0oe7REmo/s1600/DMX1.jpg"></a><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aGnlco0YOsg/T0d4jmvEOAI/AAAAAAAABH4/Z_Bp7aNkL6s/s1600/DMX4.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aGnlco0YOsg/T0d4jmvEOAI/AAAAAAAABH4/Z_Bp7aNkL6s/s320/DMX4.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5712667205431474178" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span>There's a venue in New York City located at 204 Varick Street called S.O.B.'s that will probably not show up in any more Jay Porks Experiences... We're here for DMX's Return To New York City Presented by Ghetto Metal ( Twitter: @ghettometal) tonight. The SOLD OUT S.O.B.'s I should say, as the tickets for this 400 person capacity venue are gone. I remember in High School circa 2000 when I was introduced to DMX in a music class-not by the teacher but by an obnoxious kid sitting back rock with headphones on reciting the lyrics live from I.S. 75. I mean, if you're going to be screaming lyrics out in class, I think those were the most explicit one's you could have picked at the time.. The delinquent was booted from class, and I found myself adding another artist to that “Handful of Hip Hop Artists I would go See live” list. So the 65th installment of the Jay Porks Never Ending Concert Series brings back memories of <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2011/05/slaughterhousejoe-budden-royce-da-59-joel-ortiz-crooked-i-sobs-52511/">Slaughterhouse last year </a>, at SOB's, (which at the time I considered) an awesome venue. Just a big room: Bar in the back, a stage that's literally three steps up from the ground, dinner seating to the left of the stage, and the back stage area being downstairs-which leads the artists to no choice but to come through the crowd to enter. Awesome. I mean, the only way this night can go bad, is if there's like 40 unnamed openers that perform til midnight. Whatever “Ghetto Metal” means, I'm pretty sure that whatever happens tonight, my buddy Chach (@oneshotchach) gets the blame for dragging me to this one. Doors at 7:30, show is at 9PM.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span><iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/FNPfwmXUJXs?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span>We get in, go up against the stage next to the the stairs leading up to it. Cool. Good spot. TONS of press here, I mean everywhere I looked someone's got one of those thousand dollar cameras. I mean the whole shebang-the flash extension thing-a-ma-bobs attached to Nikon's and Canon's surrounding this room. For a place with no special press area, I was puzzled. Then Chach informed me of DMX's interview on Power 105.1 earlier this morning (video above) which I just watched and now totally understand the hype now.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span><br /></span></p> <img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-77MSATvVrh8/T0d5EWFQo5I/AAAAAAAABIE/MEyTInIjU4U/s320/146_1135_xvid.avi_000067480.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5712667767896843154" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-align: left; text-decoration: underline; float: right; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span>So here's something unexpected: instruments on stage. Drums and amps set up for, like, a band. Maybe this is the “Ghetto Metal” they're talking about. And another shocker, show is said to start at 9PM, and a band hit the stage at 8:04. Cool, let's get this started early, is this 'Bazaar Royal'? They're the only opener listed. No it isn't at all. It's a band called “Murder League All Stars”. Make fun of the name all you want, but 30 seconds into their first song they were already better then Limp Bizkit-True Story. They had a bassist, guitarist and drummer rocking out while a two man lyrical attack that had the funky rhymes a la Beastie Boys combined with a splash of band like the Deftones. Both guys were rapping, but they were also screaming at heavy volume at times too. Me, Chach, and the photographer chick representing The Source magazine were really digging them... </span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span><iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Qd1hj0Rc7rA?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span>The next band up, still pre-9pm, was, and forgive me for the botching of the name I was really being pushed out of my spot during this time towards like, behind the DJ rig where I was going to have zero video chances. I think it was “A the Future Featuring A.D.D.”. Back up singers on stage, another guitar player and drummer, along with a violinist, and a female up front singer who's hot. Then the lead singer/rapper dude comes out in a 'Misfits' jacket. They were groovy too, but what the hell is happening here? I'm in the right place right-this is the DMX show? At Hip Hop shows I always feel like I'm out of my field of connoisseurship, but this felt like the norm to me. They played a few quick ones because noted that they were off at 9.. </span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span>Right during this break they're setting up another bands gear on stage and we're wondering if this is like, maybe the back up band for DMX or something, because obviously Bazaar Royal must not be playing, we've already seen two bands. It's at this point I'm beyond the point were I can see the stage, as people who have no concert manners like to shove themselves to the front with little regard to the people who stood outside over an hour and have been standing in this spot for an hour and a half already after coming here straight from a 11-4 waiter shift... People almost got punched tonight, but this when I told Chach I'm gonna stray towards the back for DMX scout a better spot while he snaps shots on his iPhone. </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span><br /></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span><iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/RRLf-ptsHeM?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span>So we wait, and we wait and then at 10 o'clock Bazaar Royal comes on. And if this dude doesn't even deserve my words but I'll have them none the less. First let me say that everybody in the band backing Bazaar Royal was tight as freaking hell. They did some cool stuff, a six stringed bassist. Open letter to those musicians: Get away from that guy. Every time you started to nod your head with the band this dude's obscure voice ruined every song. Not Eddie Vedder ruined, but I really don't get what he's trying to do, and I don't think he does either. Before the last song, chants of D-M-X started, and his repsonse was “Hey! Show some fucking respect! Because I'll keep you waiting. If you don't like my music you can find me downstairs or outside..” That's not exact but it's the jist. Is he implying that I should fight him if I don't like his music? First of all, you have no talent. Second off, you have ZERO taste in music and I can tell. The DMX chants started right after him and his band did a cover of Kings of Leon “Use Somebody”. And I'm not talking “hip hop sampled and made a new song out of it” cover-the band played it straight. I should've gotten that on video, it would've been viral for sure- but I was too busy screaming at the top of my lungs: “Holy F#&king God ARE YOU SERIOUSLY PLAYING KINGS OF LEON RIGHT NOW!?!” repeated to everyone surrounding me. People I know(not by choice), who don't like Hip Hop even for a second have told me that the perception is that their fans have bad taste in music. Well, when these fans heard Kings Of Leon being covered, the whole building knew it was about time for this dude to bounce. So Bazaar Royale, or Royal or whatever the hell it is . Don't you EVER disrespect people at a concert for wanting to the headliner. You mentioned how you been with DMX since day one and all that stuff-yet I've never heard your name in life dude-and I listen to a lot of music. You have the nerve to step on a soap box </span><span style="font-size: 100%; ">(metaphorically)</span><span style="font-size: 100%; "> and annoy the hell out of the 400+ people the squeezed into this place. This schmuck didn't go off til 10:50.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span><br /></span></p> <img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0n2T7-lbJdg/T0d5m1tAKEI/AAAAAAAABIQ/Kk5XQkf_To0/s320/DMX3.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5712668360500586562" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-align: left; text-decoration: underline; float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px; " /><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span>That's when I high tailed it outside to smoke a cig, and I noticed that if the fire Marshall showed up he's shut this place down. I can't even get out the door. Finally did and a dude leaning against the door asked me if I needed any Heroin. What the hell goes on with life?? I got away from him quick and got back in to eventually find a spot on the same side of the room but in the back, I'm probably 20-30 heads back from Chach at this point, and any videos I want to take are blocked by tall people. My arm hurts. </span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span>For the last two paragraphs of stuff that annoyed me, this night was a serious win. I mean I was having a great time for those first two bands, and at 11:38 the night go that much better, when there he arose from the basement: DMX! </span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span><br /></span></p> <img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dSCAKZoCxaQ/T0d6RXTPY5I/AAAAAAAABIc/8nG439J0yno/s320/DMX2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5712669091073844114" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-align: left; text-decoration: underline; float: right; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px; " /><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span>Kicked things off with “One More Road To Cross”.Now this is fun. The whole vibe of this place is shifted. We're all here looking at the stage and seeing DMX perform for the first time in New York in years. A lot of us first timers, he did nothing short of give SOB's everything he had. Pulled Swiss Beatz up for a few tracks including “Ruff Ryders anthem” and “Get it on the Floor”. Rumors had it that the Lox and Drag-On were downstairs set to appear, but that didn't matter. We're getting the DMX greatest hits set here. As much as my arm hurt from stretching it up for my camera, and as annoyed as I would normally be when people sway their hands in my way-when “Party Up” came on I was glad Chach dragged me to this. “Lord Gimmie A Sign” and “What They Really Want” were crowd pleasers. </span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span>Let's not underestimate the humor of DMX. I mean, he was smiling, cracking jokes, passing around a bottle of Hennesy to the crowd and telling everyone to “Sip and pass”. Also the way he talks, with the growl serving as periods on sentences Awesome. Another phrase that was scream out by DMX throughout the evening “Flesh of my FLESHHHHH” (before he would do a song off of the “Flesh of my Flesh, Blood of my Blood” record). And “It is NOTTT a F#%king GAME!!”. While the set was reaching it's end I heard people behind me talking. They were chatting between songs and the beat came on for the next one and the dude says to his friend “Wow DMX has SO MANY great songs!”. To quote Ed McMahon “You are correct sir”. The night ended in the darkness when X instructed the house lights be turned off and everyone hold up ligthers and cell phones, and that's when he ended the evening with “Slippin'” I clocked it at a 12:56AM ending.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span><br /></span></p><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lqdG3mQio0A/T0d6lttpVEI/AAAAAAAABIo/wxq0oe7REmo/s320/DMX1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5712669440687559746" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-align: left; text-decoration: underline; float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px; " /><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><span>Can't ask for anymore then that. See, when I went to see Joe Budden at Irving Plaza he rapped like one verse a song and they'd switch the beat up and stuff like we're listening to the radio or something. DMX came to SOB's and left it all on stage. He was cer</span>tainly not just going through the motions. It was a great show. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in">I'll hopefully have some more video uploaded before the day's end, I got some queued up.. thanks for tuning in.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in">LATE</p></div>Jay Porkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14554794404516615556noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896832578282022815.post-67987993919009569142012-02-05T05:16:00.013-05:002012-02-13T11:20:23.083-05:00Review: The Darkness w/ Foxy Shazam 2/4/12 Irving Plaza<span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Yx9D2rShl-0/Ty5c3D_lvvI/AAAAAAAABHo/RAm--r2_bmw/s1600/Darkness%2BTee%2BSHirt.jpg"></a></span></span><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HzAGLTpdl54/Ty5Yv2CYQwI/AAAAAAAABGI/D22AlIG1xuc/s1600/money%2Bshot.jpg" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HzAGLTpdl54/Ty5Yv2CYQwI/AAAAAAAABGI/D22AlIG1xuc/s320/money%2Bshot.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5705595356907586306" /></a><br /><span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jqOnlnCGPq0/Ty5X74SCXZI/AAAAAAAABF8/Gwq6tBf2ztU/s1600/146_1132_xvid.avi_000137640.jpg"></a></span></span><br /><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; ">On the same evening that New York Jets Running Back Curtis Martin get's elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, can you believe that's only the second best thing that happened today? Well, The 64th installment of the Jay Pork Never Ending Concert Series may have had something to do with that. Tonight brings us to Irving Plaza in NYC for an epic evening with The Darkness! Along with Foxy Shazam (Which '<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/author/thenaturalstoner/">thenaturalstoner</a>' praises for their latest stellar release), and I believe some other band they threw on the card that will be named in the next paragraph or so. This is great for so many reasons. First trip back to Irving Plaza since the <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/2011/06/joe-budden-irving-plaza-6172011/">Joe Budden debacle</a>, and as I recall I noted to show up earlier this time and make it a must to get a better spot. Irving Plaza is also the venue <a href="http://jayporksmusic.blogspot.com/2009/09/ever-scalped-ticket-only-to-find-out-at.html">me and my friend Pam scalped the fake Alice In Chains tickets</a> and got beat on 100 bucks. Bad things have happened here. But, it's the freaking Darkness! A band that people don't know til you sing them the chorus from “I Believe In A Thing Called Love”, and even then they snort in derision. “You're going to see that band?”. Yea actually I am. I can recall actually having a professor of mine at the College of Staten Island last semester breakdown the Epicness of the Darkness to some classmate who claimed they were a “one hit wonder”. That teacher said he'll be in attendance tonight, and I will be looking for him(Brian Cogan author of many books available on Amazon, including the “Encyclopedia of Punk”). So there's that and hey, it's our first 2012 show-time to get back in the swing of things. I kicked it off huge last year with GWAR, and I expect The Darkness deliver as well (Well, except the “one of the guys in the band dying” part anyway). So let's get this show on the road shall we?</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; "><br /></p><span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jqOnlnCGPq0/Ty5X74SCXZI/AAAAAAAABF8/Gwq6tBf2ztU/s320/146_1132_xvid.avi_000137640.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5705594464156933522" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: underline; float: right; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /></span></span><br /><div> <p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; "><span><u><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></u></span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; "><span><u><br /></u></span></p> <p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; ">So after freezing outside on a line for about an hour, they decided to open the doors. I happened to be standing next to a couple outside who I got to chatting it up with. Totally cool people, it was all laughs and talking past show experiences. Love that shit. And it was either Connecticut or New Hampshire they were from I can't remember because I'm a terrible friend. But I know they were in a hotel and I know they were nice enough to warm me up with some of their Jagermeister while we waited for doors to open. Awesome. Finally some people who are friendly! I'm standing next to someone who says there is a second opener in addition to Foxy Shazam. I'm sure as hell hope not. Anyway I was able to snag a standing room spot upstairs, so video is happening tonight (we hope). </p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; "> <img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-y6JE8GygCYQ/Ty5ZjUMMO4I/AAAAAAAABGU/dn8K6OzjGTM/s320/510338164.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5705596241175133058" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: underline; float: right; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><br /><br /></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; "><br /></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; ">At 9 on the dot, a band fronted by a guy wearing rainbow zebra pants hit the stage. This band turned out to be Crown Jewel Defense- they've been on tour with Darkness overseas they say, and by the looks of their wardrobe I believe them. These guys look like before they formed this band they played as a Darkness cover band the way everyone's pants hugging testicles. I mean, these guys aren't that bad- they're tight as a band. This guy has painted lines under his eyes like a Native American chief or something. What the hell goes on with life? A whole 24 minutes of their set went by fairly quickly, before the last song there was chants of "No more songs!" from the Irving Plaza crowd. Wasn't me this time I swear.</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; "><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZX2Q_BnShxk/Ty5Z2hTC0II/AAAAAAAABGg/SIuA0Gy1C3I/s320/146_1128_xvid.avi_000083480.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5705596571111051394" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: underline; float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; "><br /><br />Foxy Shazam came out at 9:40, and were totally freaking cool from the get go. Lead singer grabs the microphone and says: “I know Rock and Roll is dead but that doesn't mean we can't dance with it's fucking ghost!!”. Hell yes! THIS is a band I can get into. They kicked it off with a song called “The Only Way to My Heart”-you had me at “The”! The lead singer jumps on the lead guitarist's shoulders as he's playing his little solo part, humps the back of his head. They got what I thought was hydraulic keyboards going on over there, but that was just the dude enjoying lifting it and moving it into obscure angles, including upside down to end the set. He was standing (and stomping) on that keyboard for a while there. Their lead singer is something else. All over the place, crazy swinging the mic-stand around and catching it.. Little bit of Iggy in him, </p><span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lRl5jUBnzxE/Ty5aK5PvjlI/AAAAAAAABGs/pywh3TvDeAs/s200/146_1126_xvid.avi_000183040.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5705596921137040978" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: underline; float: right; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px; " />you know, minus the blood and peanut butter. During the set he asked if anyone in the crowd has a cigarette, he was tossed one with a light and lit it up. He takes a few puffs, and EATS IT. The dude ate a lit cigarette on stage! That's what I call showmanship right there, that's a front man I want to see more of... I feel like I've said this before, but this band sounds exactly like it's name. Foxy Shazam.. just say it like this Foxy Sha-ZAM!!..Their set was over at 10:09. Then the wait for the Darkness had begun. </span></span><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; "><br /></p> <p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; ">Hey, message to the dudes behind me-bump me again, and I'm going to turn around and punch somebody. The dance floor is downstairs if you wanna boogie, there was 5 of us that ran up here for a reason-to get away from you idiots.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-im4GGAW5rmU/Ty5apoZFlfI/AAAAAAAABG4/3d42aly8mok/s320/146_1132_xvid.avi_000128400.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5705597449188775410" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: underline; float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">So at like 10:50, the lights went off and a little intro music for a minute or so before they appeared before us: THE DARKNESS !<br /><br />Rocking a stache like no other, decked out in an American Flag themed outfit looking like Johnny Depp meets Freddie Mercury. The place has filled out to the gills and going completely crazy.. these people are screaming so loud I could barely hear the notes at first. Started it with “Black Shuck” and went into “Growing on Me” from there. As someone who writes stuff on the interwebs, this point of the show I'm in heaven with a great spot and no event staffers in sight. I'm rolling, I'm gonna get this whole freaking thing! “The Best of Me”, “One Way Ticket to Hell and Back”, “Nothin's Gonna Stop Us”(The music video they release a few days ago), and “Get Your Hands Off My Women”-with the only one I wasn't recording was the new one.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; "><span><iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/CK7iUYynGuY?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; "><span><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; "><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0V5ztBkjpHg/Ty5biIMuNOI/AAAAAAAABHE/qjWu7cdx0bs/s320/justin%2Bhandstand.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5705598419799520482" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: underline; float: right; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; ">-<br /><span><u><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></u></span>To me, this set happens in portions. The above paragraph is me rocking out doing my Social Media Journalistic duties from the 2nd floor leaning over the railing, recording songs like the rest of the room-except I'm not using an iPhone. So this schmuck starts tapping me on the shoulder during “Can't Believe It's Not Love” and demands I put the camera away. Really dude? Again, I can't stress this enough, IF YOU DON'T WANT ME TO BRING A CAMERA, THEN PUT IT IN THE EVENT INFO! You can't just make up rules. Besides the fact of all the pot smoke and cigarettes being smoked downstairs. But no, me standing next the mom of one Foxy Shazam's photographers with a little tiny camera is a problem. Screw you guy, you almost ruined my night.</p><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; "><br /></p><span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ntr42W8OBDc/Ty5cYZxM6DI/AAAAAAAABHQ/rsuOhGAsz3E/s320/146_1131_xvid.avi_000062840.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5705599352228866098" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: underline; float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /></span></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"> <p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; ">-</p> <p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; ">It was at that point I realized my kidney's were not up to the task of holding this urine in much longer, and since this great spot has gone to waste thanks to that event staff prick, might as well hit the head right about now. And I promise you this is how it went down, I can't make this up. I run downstairs as I hear that Justin Hawkins is strumming an acoustic, but now I'm on the run to the stall and as soon as I close that door and begin to relieve myself, I hear that the song they're playing is “Holding My Own”.. as I look down and, let's face it, I too am also holding my own. I ran back upstairs because I heard “Love Is Only a Feeling” about to get started and I got up there and couldn't see a freaking thing it's so packed out. I was so mad for that split second I swung my fist towards the wall and almost punched it, I pulled back before I hit it (damn people watching me must think I'm a nutcase). I walked downstairs and sat back to enjoy this great song, and this great night. Eff that guy-I got “Growing On Me” that's gonna have 100's of views by next week. Porks 1, Event Staff 0. </p> <p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; "><br /></p> <span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-suzPQbe4-bU/Ty5ctP-fAOI/AAAAAAAABHc/gcuTcyEuzVc/s320/146_1131_xvid.avi_000130440.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5705599710377476322" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: underline; float: right; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /></span></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; ">Some bands let you down with their live performance-that is not the case here tonight. I cannot believe this guy can hit those high notes like that in real life-too bad Queen isn't still looking for a front man to tour with-because THIS would be the guy. And keep now I've moved to the bar, and I'm watching the on stage happenings on a flat screen TV. I'm being blown away through a Television! This back end of the set they actually mixed in a few new songs too, that Justin said is on an album they're working on. Good news for us Darklings. “Friday Night”(I love that song) was followed by a new one called “Everybody Have a Good Time”. He said it was “Everybody Have a Mother Fucking Good Time”, but the chorus didn't have the expletive in it, so I'll assume it's not going in the title. “Givin' Up” was in there too at some point, my iPod was dead I couldn't take the songs down in order..Their were at least 2 more new ones in there that we weren't privileged to be given the names of before the night was over. They went off well after Midnight, with “I Believe In A Thing Called Love” being the last song before the encore, and it was already 12:10 by then. </p> <p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; "><br /></p> <span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Yx9D2rShl-0/Ty5c3D_lvvI/AAAAAAAABHo/RAm--r2_bmw/s320/Darkness%2BTee%2BSHirt.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5705599878959578866" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: underline; float: right; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /></span></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; ">What a night. Feels so good to get back in the swing of things for 2012-as much as I love discussing festival lineups and trying to plan trips to Beale St., it fells so freaking good typing every single word of this as the clock ticks past 5AM. Tons of other shows coming this year, as we try and top last years total of 23: We got DMX coming up, Kasabian at Terminal 5 in March, Local H coming back at the Mercury Lounge in April. Fun times, fun times indeed. But here's something not fun: I have a restaurant to open up in 4 hours-working til 9PM. And you know what, maybe someone get's Merlot instead of Cabernet later because I'm so shot from all this madness... but it was all so damn worth it. Thanks for sticking around for all this jibber jabbar-stay tuned.</p> <p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; "><br /></p> <p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; ">LATE</p></div>Jay Porkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14554794404516615556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896832578282022815.post-80574673813964405822011-12-29T03:42:00.001-05:002011-12-29T04:28:59.481-05:00Phish at Madison Square Garden 12/28/11<div><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/146_1114_xvid.avi_000022960.jpg"><img src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/146_1114_xvid.avi_000022960-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-14337" /></a></div><div>Tis the season for giving, and if you're this writer, receiving. When given the opportunity to be bought into Phish tonight for their first of a 4 night New Years Eve at Madison Square Garden, how could I pass it up? Before anything goes further we must <a href="http://concertconfessions.com/author/reverendjustito/">slurp the Revered Justito,</a> who gifts me with this ticket to the show tonight (and note that his holiday gift is to be mailed shortly), gifts me with the chance to see Phish. I've heard a lot of Phish-surprisingly enough not much of their music. I know several 'Phans' who speak of the band is Christ-like proportions. To give you an idea, the night before the show and throughout the morning I was reading tweets hashtagged with stuff like #OccupyMSG, and <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23yemsg">#YEMSG</a>. Some folks were camped out all night-and they HAVE tickets. So there's that side of the fence. Then I also have ran into a few friends who behave like, for lack of a better term here, “Haters”, when the band is mentioned. These people would compare a Phish concert to nothing more than a traveling circus of hacky sack and drugs. I chose to walk into this one with a non-bias attitude. I didn't study up on the Phish catalog days leading up to the show-I didn't read blogs or set lists. I'm a fan of spontaneity, that's what the Jay Porks Never Ending Concert Series is all about; so here I bring you the 63rd installment, from the (newly renovated) World's Most Famous Arena-Madison Square Garden in the heart of New York City, for 1st night of the Phish 4 night New Years Eve 2011-2012 run.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div> I get off the train around 630ish, and literally all I see is a sea of people standing in front of the Garden all holding up their index finger screaming "one?!?-who's got one for tonight?" . Usually I'm at the show with extra tickets and I can't give them away. All sorts of signs suggesting trades-I seriously considered a sign that was a two for one offer with me giving up tonight's ticket for 2 tomorrow night. But I'm already here, so I'm sticking with it. </div><div><br /></div><div> So a little after 7 I made it up to section 404, row G, seat 9. Holy crap- they sold out the seats behind the stage too ? I've never seen that before done at any arena. Usually they cut that area off the to public. If every seat gets filled(which it should be because it's sold out), we'll have at least 20,000 people here tonight. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div> </div><div><span ><u><iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Vclx1fGWNwA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></u></span></div><div><br /></div><div>At 8:07 We kicked off the night with "Free", "Glide", "Possum", "Cities" and "The Ballard of Curtis Loew".. It didn't even take more than the first half of "Free" for me to begin enjoying myself. What would drive people to hate this? I mean, I guess if you don't like musicians jamming out to groovy tunes then I could see your dilemma. But then you look around and realize this place is packed to gils-not an ass in a seat throughout the place..</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/146_1114_xvid.avi_000065640.jpg"><img src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/146_1114_xvid.avi_000065640-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-14339" /></a> </div><div><br /></div><div>The lights are something I've never seen before-how do the lights colors change mid-beam? How do you make the lights look like smoke rings? Haven't seen a light show like this this side of Roger Waters.. And at the beginning of certain songs glow sticks are tossed by hundreds from the 400 sections raining down on the people in the lower levels. An arena wide celebration was what this night was about. My section was getting me a contact high before the set even began(thanks for sharing by the way #Sarcasm), people walking past me behind me asking each other "is that real?" referring to the wall. And I still don't understand how many glow sticks needed to be purchased for the raining to still be going on an hour into the set.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/146_1108_xvid.avi_000071560.jpg"><img src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/146_1108_xvid.avi_000071560-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14341" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>"Stash" and "Contact"(a song the Rev Justito hasn't seen live in 24 Phish shows) followed by "Sample in a Jar", "Kill Devil Falls" and "Bathtub Gin" finished out what was to be Set 1.</div><div><br /></div><div>So is this an intermission at 9:33? I would assume so considering nobody has left. If I was on a lower level, I'd duck out for a second for a cigarette since there's a Nazi event staff guy who threatened to throw me out if he caught smoking again. So that's right folks, the only person in this building not indulging in illegal drugs is the one who gets his shoulder tapped. Do I have a sign on my back that says "hey event staff please bother me at every show I attend in life!". What the hell man, there is smoke EVERYWHERE, I mean everywhere. There's probably more pot in this arena then I've ever smoked in my life and yet, my cigarette is causing a disturbance to this asshole stuck in a menial service position.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/146_1108_xvid.avi_000138160.jpg"><img src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/146_1108_xvid.avi_000138160-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14343" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>"Birds of a Feather" kicked off set number two at 10:02... And everyone is back to standing up. I tried to tape a couple a songs throughout the evening, but theres like a ceiling a few feet up, so I can't exactly hold my camera above the swaying bodies in front of me. After Birds of a Feather it was "Carini" time, which was followed by "Tweezer" for the foreseeable future-they are jammin' on this one.. This had to have gone over ten minutes (like most of the evening's songs)n"My Friend My Friend" was up next. Isn't the internet a wonderful thing? Without knowing the name of one song coming into this The setlist is being tweeted song by song. Now if only I could get this many web savvy people into the Meat Puppets, then I'd be doing my job as a social media assistant.</div><div><br /></div><div>Then, wait a second I know this song-a cover of the Velvet Underground's "Rock N' Roll"! Hell freaking yes! This is my FAVORITE Velvet underground song-had I got my camera out quick enough I would've been rolling film. "NICU", "Bouncing Around the Room","Harry Hood", and "Bug" all checked in before it was encore time..</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/146_1109_xvid.avi_000466400.jpg"><img src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/146_1109_xvid.avi_000466400-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14345" /></a>"Tube", "Rocky Top" and "Tweezer Reprise" served as a healthy encore for a "Phuphilling" night of Phish. The night came to an official end at 11:35pm. That leaves us with set one clocking in at an hour and twenty six minutes, and set two was an hour and thirty three minutes. I've seen bands not even play that long for ONE set, Phish come through MSG fries hearts and minds. Walking down the steps on the way out, I couldn't help but overhear two buddies talking about how this was an "old school type of show". As a first timer, I can't tell you if that's accurate or not-the Phans will judge by the setlist. </div><div><br /></div><div>If you made it this far down, then you've probably enjoyed my first Phish experience, and I've enjoyed having you. Now I bid my readers a goodnight, because as I post this I have less then 2 hours to nap and get to my day job. Life and times of social media rockstar journalism. Again, huge thanks to the Reverend for giving me the chance to attend. Feels good to be baptized in the Phamily... LATE.</div><div><br /></div><div>SETLIST: Set I: <em>Free, Glide, Possum, Cities, The Ballad Of Curtis Loew, Stash, Contact, Sample In A Jar, Kill Devil Falls, Bathtub Gin</em></div><div></div><div>Set II:<em> Birds Of A Feather, Carini > Tweezer > My Friend, My Friend, Rock & Roll > NICU, Bouncing Around The Room, Harry Hood, Bug</em></div><div></div><div><em>Encore: Tube, Rocky Top, Tweezer Reprise</em></div><div><br /></div><div>Notes: I have a note to share about the show tonight. If there was one thing I could've done without, it would've been the intermission from 9:33-10:02. I'm not saying it took away from time that could've been spent playing songs-they do this every year I'm sure they can go as long as they want (especially with the Knicks are on a west coast swing)-I just don't understand what was getting done in that half hour. It's not like we can go grab some air here- it's takes like 20 minutes to exit the building. Maybe if I was with Phriends I would've have something to do during that half hour. Oh well, there'll always be next time. </div>Jay Porkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14554794404516615556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896832578282022815.post-57486329863271468742011-12-18T03:05:00.001-05:002011-12-18T04:14:52.889-05:00Joseph Arthur, James Maddock Bowery Electric 12/17/11<a href="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/IMG01026-20111217-1946.jpg"><img src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/IMG01026-20111217-1946-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-11679" /></a><br /><br />The 62nd Edition of the Jay Porks Never Ending Concert Series is a special one indeed for a couple of reasons. One, we're heading out to the Bowery Electric (Joey Ramone Pl & 3rd St) down in the East Village for a charity event benefiting the <a href="http://www.toysfortots.org/" title="Toys for Tots">Toys for Tots Foundation</a>( ) featuring the musical styling of Joseph Arthur (and opener James Maddock). Never a bad thing to gain some good karma. Second reason this is special, it's because I've officially taken a semester off of school to pursue my dreams: doing this...fighting on the front lines of the social media takeover of traditional rock journalism as we know it. Anyway, should be a fun night. Doors are at 8PM, show at 8:45PM. I'm off work on little ol' Staten Island at 4, giving me plenty of time to pick up some last minute holiday gifts in Times Square.<br /><br /><br /><br />Walking downstairs into the Bowery Electric, I enter a room about the size of the one I sleep every night-equipped with a stage. There's a floor that's gonna hold maybe 20 of us, with steps leading up to a bar in the back-theres a railing when you get up there-considering changing my spot when the music comes on. There's a sign that says "Occupancy by more than 108 persons is dangerous and unlawful". Obviously the fire Marshall hasn't been here in a while-hope they're counting heads at the door we're about to eclipse that occupancy.<br /><br /><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/James-Maddock.jpg"><img src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/James-Maddock-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-11682" /></a>Everyone I spoke to at the bar and in the room were all here for James Maddock, so when he fronted the 3 piece that took the stage at 8:50, it was to a gracious applause. I taped the first song-Maddock is strumming an acoustic guitar, with a bass player and drummer keeping pace, almost quietly. I've given up my seat and headed to the front of the room to the far left of the stage-now I'm too close. But this bluesy bastard has got me into it! Harmonica hanging from his neck, singing folky tunes sounding so much like Bon Dylan- if Bob Dylan's song were recognizable live. Heads are nodding to a song I'm gonna take a guess is called "When the Stars Align".. They turned me into a fan, and went off around 9:40..<br /><br /><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/144_1102_xvid.avi_000047920.jpg"><img src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/144_1102_xvid.avi_000047920-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-11684" /></a><br /><br />All cards on the table, I didn't know anything about Joseph Arthur until I started contributing to Concert Confessions. Only through the ceaseless praise from Reverend Justito was this show even on my radar. After finding out I was attending a few weeks ago I started listening to all the available stuff on YouTube. Trying to familiarize myself with some of the work, listening to the songs didn't give me any indication that I made the wrong decision here; if anything got me more excited. <br /><br />At 10:17, Joseph Arthur took the stage with band. And here I thought we were in for a night of slow jams-don't let the wine goblets fool you-roof is about to come off. The girl next to me(who took a bus down from Toronto specifically for this show) says she's never seen him with a band and that it's usually him alone with like a million pedals. He's a got a drummer channeling his inner Keith Moon, and a guy playing an acoustic guitar as he plays a very weathered electric guitar.<br /><br /><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/144_1106_xvid.avi_000023760.jpg"><img src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/144_1106_xvid.avi_000023760-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-11686" /></a><br /><br />Every song, even the softer slower building tunes- had a crazy little effects box jam out portion of it. I taped a few songs, and I noticed them all going over six minutes. Hopefully the girls chatting it up to the right of me don't show up on video. Bout 3 songs in, Arthur addresses the crowd and says "happy toys for tots day". Then he's like "this one is inspired spefically by Toys for Tots.. song's called 'Even Though'"-And before even strumming a chord he smirks and says "yea this has nothing to do with that at all..you totally caught me".<br /><br /><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/144_1104_xvid.avi_000008360.jpg"><img src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/144_1104_xvid.avi_000008360-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-11689" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br />Parts jammy and bluesy-parts distorted pedal busting madness; this night was nothing short of a win. Then, just when I start to really relax and enjoy myself he asks for the time. It was 10:57. He's like "we only have 15 more minutes". Due to venue restrictions, show has to end by 11:15... People in the crowd screamed "Occupy Bowery Electric!"-which was awesome. He played a few more. One being "Fistful of Mercy", and the final of the night being a song about the Occupy movements-which he needed to reach to his iPad for assistance with the lyrics (awesome). After the song, it was like 11:20 and they said goodnight. Couldn't have been more than 12, maybe14 songs at the length they were going. Yet with the sheer epicness in which they were delivered, I felt so fulfilled. <br /><br /><a href="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/JA-Blackberry.jpg"><img src="http://concertconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/JA-Blackberry-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-11692" /></a><br /><br />Here's something you don't see everyday: once the guitars were unplugged some guy was screaming stuff toward Joseph Arthur-all I heard was "mother fucker" and the phrase "Toby Keith" repeated as he stormed out the venue doors. Joseph, who is walking right by me as he's exiting stage, looks at me and my Toronto friend and is like "what was he saying?" and I was like "he was screaming something about Toby Keith". He headed off stage. Toby Keith? What the hell was that?? We just had ourselves an awesome night here, and some idiot gets drunk and starts shouting names of terrible artists. I'm so bewildered, I just can't put it together. Hope Joseph Arthur and his band know that there was only one moron in the crowd, the rest of us were extremely satisfied with an evening of good tunes. <br /><br /><br /><br />NOTES:<br />-Joseph Arthur plays City Winery on January 1st. The trooper from Toronto-who I hopefully learn her name by then-says she'll be at that show too.<br /><br />-I like how they named the street Joey Ramone Place. And by like I mean I think it's stupid. This whole “The Ramones created punk” mystic is idiotoc-bands like the Stoogies and MC5 were playing that kinda music in Detroit 5 years before The Ramones ever took the stage. <br /><br />-What's up with all these “Rock” venues having performers needing to get off at 11 o clock or even 10 o clock sometimes for “Dance Parties”? There's tons of places in NYC to find a nice dance floor where all the 19 year old girls can go, sniff Percocet and get slutty. Stop taking over the little cool dingy places I'm trying to attend shows-you are f#%king with my sh!t.Jay Porkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14554794404516615556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896832578282022815.post-74107242102649356792011-11-18T06:25:00.006-05:002011-11-18T06:35:37.065-05:00The Band Touring as "Guns N' Roses" at Izod Center 11/17/11<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Gba7ZR7vWS0/TsZCFTR3BnI/AAAAAAAABEA/yQoHZHbzX84/s1600/144_1097_xvid.avi_000008960.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"></a><div><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Gba7ZR7vWS0/TsZCFTR3BnI/AAAAAAAABEA/yQoHZHbzX84/s320/144_1097_xvid.avi_000008960.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5676297039189050994" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: underline; float: right; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /><p style="margin-bottom: 0in">The band currently touring under the moniker of Guns N' Roses hits the Izod Center at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in Dirty Jersey tonight for the 61<sup>st</sup> edition of the Jay Porks Never Ending Concert Series. The Izod Center: Home of the... well, actually no pro sports teams play here anymore since the Devils moved to Newark and the Nets are moving to Brooklyn (when the NBA Players Association caves and takes that deal). So upon walking in after 8PM the banner hanging from the ceiling was commemorating Bruce Springstein's 50 consecutive sold out shows. It's New Jersey, that banner should say “Will be sold out for the rest of life”. Anyway, you may have noticed my “touring under the moniker” pun back there. We all know the story, I shall not bore you with it once more. Axl is touring, performing the hits of Guns N' Roses with no Guns, and the lone Rose being himself. The only remaining member of the band besides Rose is Keyboardist Dizzy Reed-or who I like to call “The Man Who Killed Rock & Roll”. Doors were at 7PM, and show was listed at 8PM We got to our seats in section 206 Row 20-and let's look on the bright side, at least we weren't in the last row! (we were 5 rows away from it). Those steep steps were a killer. But finally at our seats little after 8, let's do this-it should be interesting to say the least. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in">It was brought to my attention via Twitter en route to Izod Center that a band called “Asking Alexandria” was to open tonight. Found some post that mentioned the band was “Handpicked 24 hours prior to the show by Guns N' Roses”. Not for nothing, the Axl Rose interview on That Metal Show-whatever show they were at had Buckcherry opening, we get saddled with some band from England I've never heard of.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"> </p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"> I kept an open mind up until about they went on after 9-then I heard their songs. Oklahoma got Hinder as an opener-now that's pretty bad, but halfway through this second song I'd kill for Hinder right now rather than this craptastic fiasco. I don't understand a word this dude is saying besides his greeting to the crowd, which me and Pam interpreted as “Hello New York”. I sure hope we heard that wrong. Anyway, with all the screaming the lyrics were incomprehensible. I don't get the whole deep voiced screamer lead singer thing that's become a trend in bands people surround me enjoy. Just vocal wise let's take Mastodon for instance, (not comparing their sound other than the screaming)Mastodon I'm not into because they're a little on the heavy side for me. But Mastodon opened for Alice In Chains and Deftones-Mastodon opened for Soundgarden at the Gorge in an inconceivable for that band sandwiched between the Meat Puppets and QOTSA. Shit , Reverend Justito and even Cris Kirkwood for that matter speak highly of the band. They have acclaim critically and socially. What does Asking Alexandria have? Axl Rose likes them?? If this is what Axl is into then I never wanna get a hold of his iPod. Pam and I discussed if Axl picked a band this band to ensure that his band looks good. But that can't be, the “GNR” reviews from this tour have all been positive. To make a long, really horrific story short-Asking Alexandria, I can make better music than your band. If this was a Tweet, I'd add a hashtag right before the word 'fact' to end that last sentence.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aSLF1zg3QB8/TsZBhTlt7qI/AAAAAAAABDc/TVq0NLvPMEg/s320/144_1096_xvid.avi_000030160.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5676296420797050530" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: underline; float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /></p><div><br /></div> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in">They went off a little before 10 and now we have the wait... the infamous “Will Axl come out?”. The ambiance of this band is it's tendency for the unexpected. They were once labeled the world's most dangerous band.. then they (Guns N' Roses) morphed into He(Axl) and he became a recluse spending 15 years on a secret album with 2 good songs on it after all that. Who knows if this lunatic loses a contact lens before the show and freaks out or something? What if he looks in the mirror on his way out to stage and says “Holy Sh!t I'm Kid Rock” and lights himself on fire? It was an interesting HOUR, but at 11PM the lights went down and it was time to see what we had on our hands-ladies and gentleman, the band currently touring as GUNS N' ROSES!</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br /></p> <img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JmN5Q_AQhVQ/TsZBbSlRRHI/AAAAAAAABDQ/NwNeQCVXRYM/s320/144_1097_xvid.avi_000007320.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5676296317447521394" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: underline; float: right; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /><p style="margin-bottom: 0in">They had some AWESOME pyrotechnics going on.. and a stage equipped with this staircase... Kicked it off with “Chinese Democracy” which is the title track from the latest effort(the one that took 15 years to make) and its one of the two songs I like, so I taped. Next was “Welcome to the Jungle”, which I purposely wasn't in record-mode for because I wanted to experience this one hands free, you know, like a regular person(besides I know video will turn up- there's a guy a row in front of me with a camcorder-not a little camera, I'm talking screen folded out and all. And he's not even using the hat on his head to block!). Now I don't know if it's the acoustics in the spot I was sitting, or maybe the three guitar onslaught is just overwhelming-but I wasn't hearing his vocals that loud. I hear the band loud and clear-and hey give em credit, no one ever called them bad musicians.. they rocked that sucker out... when they jumped into “Mr. Brownstone” after “It's So Easy”, I was taping and growing frustrated, I hear myself turn to Pam and say “I can't hear this mother f#%ker!”. They got into “Sorry”, and continuing into the next two I'm watching this band like “Wow these guys are tight as hell” then looking over at Axl Rose thinking “What a douchebag”. Then it occurred to me, I probably only like 6 or 7 “Guns N' Roses” songs.. what the hell am I doing here? I'm no die-hard. I was hoping for a train wreck-and they're not complying with my expectations. I think I'm more of an oddball than Axl at this point, being upset about being impressed by the guitar work of “BubbleFuck” and DJ Ashba(shouldn't it be Guitarist Ashba?). But as technically impressive as anyone can be-hell, you could put Eddie Van Halen and Clapton up there-just stop calling it Guns N' Roses. And I don't want to do this..do the whole “it's not GNR without Slash and Duff”.. but if I'm going to get lectures on Sublime w/Rome not being real Sublime and Alice In Chains w/ Duvall not being the real Alice In Chains-then EFF all you people I'm gonna give that same lecture when given the chance-especially when those two bands have more original members in them then the current band I'm watching. The essence of “cool” that is Slash cannot be matched by “Bucketfoot” or whoever you bring in there. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br /></p> <img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-s54MC8yO_xA/TsZB7-CHTvI/AAAAAAAABD0/fPa8wWiCBE8/s320/144_1095_xvid.avi_000018440.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5676296878867042034" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: underline; float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /><p style="margin-bottom: 0in">“Better” is also off the new record, and the other one of the two that I like from it (so technically this new Axl band is two for two on stuff they recorded tonight). I taped it, and at this point of the night I really think it's me being a mile away in the 200 section causing harm to the vocal acoustics, because it is skewed as hell up here-and everyone's tweeting about an awesome time. It has to be me. I mean I loved “Rocket Queen”.. but these little instrumental jams they do with each individual band member leading into some cover of another song does nothing for me. I got an idea Mr. W. Axl Rose, why don't you come out and sing “My Generation” instead of Stintson? Do that little “hey-hey-hey-yea-ya” thing you do, you know, the one you ruined “Knockin' On Heaven's Door” with. Dizzy Reed on keys doing leading “Baba O' Reilly”? Imagine Axl screaming the lyric “Out here in the fields!” in that Axl Rose voice-wouldn't that have been awesome? But no, instead this is sort of killing time while Rose continuously runs off stage to change cowboy hats. He had two white ones and two black ones at least. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br /></p> <img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mG7pfhweNBs/TsZBs_0EqNI/AAAAAAAABDo/3XdaPGfoMFY/s320/144_1091_xvid.avi_000292040.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5676296621646981330" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: underline; float: right; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /><p style="margin-bottom: 0in">I mean, they didn't go off til 1:20AM or something, that's 2 hours and 20 solid minutes before the encore, which neither Pam nor I were interested in. So yes, most likely pushed a 3 hour set there-but everyone on stage is a professional musician who I had no doubt would make it through the show, everyone besides Axl. If they would've played 20 minutes it would've been marked as a Win. Axl Joked midway through the set “Yea, I know how you feel I was hoping I'd make it here too” or something to that effect. That's funny? Tell that to the 10 thousand plus fans with tickets starring at them all day hoping you don't freak out and move to South America in search of 'yage' or something. I thought there was no chance this tour made it to the tri-state area, a miracle in it's own right. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in">Tonight at Izod Center was an absolutely amazing night for Die-Hard Axl Rose fans. You know, women in their 50's plastered up with make-up attempting to hold on to their youth with their Harley riding husbands right by there side. And hey I'm glad to have say I at least saw it.. so I know to like.. make sure not to go next time. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in">LATE </p></div>Jay Porkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14554794404516615556noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1896832578282022815.post-82753529242009260412011-11-07T05:43:00.009-05:002011-12-24T19:46:22.340-05:00Meat Puppets @ Mexicali Live Teaneck, NJ 11/6/11<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K_TtCSI_Kv4/Tre5QUDO1LI/AAAAAAAABC0/SG3tbvXHflo/s1600/144_1074_xvid.avi_000064160.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aSBVNvuu3EA/Tre49chEEYI/AAAAAAAABCo/AoRheH8LAXA/s1600/144_1088_xvid.avi_000072960.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GHc1KsxtiT0/Tre39a17vyI/AAAAAAAABCc/sW07tWSeHXo/s1600/144_1084_xvid.avi_000042160.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kxGlPqVhnr0/Tre3u_iF9mI/AAAAAAAABCQ/DoTseiu04GE/s1600/144_1086_xvid.avi_000086640.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nG5DGTX5RNY/Tre3WJRKZLI/AAAAAAAABCE/cnjCdqc_gQE/s1600/144_1073_xvid.avi_000249680.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mFBXWQ-01yg/Tre2g6B-uqI/AAAAAAAABB4/f3r5i8r2u_Q/s1600/IMG00986-20111106-2234.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mFBXWQ-01yg/Tre2g6B-uqI/AAAAAAAABB4/f3r5i8r2u_Q/s320/IMG00986-20111106-2234.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5672202932146059938" /></a><br /><p style="margin-bottom: 0in">It would've been Doug Sahm's 70<sup>th</sup> Birthday today, and what better place to start the 60<sup>th</sup> edition of the Jay Porks Never Ending Concert Series the trekking out Teaneck, NJ and Mexicali Live for another shot of the Meat Puppets! They fried hearts and minds this past Friday at Le Poisson Rouge in the city, and upon purchasing the tickets I figured this venue was a lot closer than it was-so how can I turn up this up? 15 bucks? Then to sweeten the deal, my father (Call him anything besides Sr. Porks-he'll kill you) offers to drive me up to the place, bout an hour from my house. PLUS with have Pam(sans van) meeting me here to take in the epic madness that is this band, and she offered to drive me home afterward. Although I've yet to find a cool name (like Pam-Van) for the new Volkswagen Jetta, but I'm sure one will come to me. Anyway, doors are at 6PM, show's at 8, I roll up front around 7-it is party time my friends. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in">I don't know where they found this place, hidden in the depths of northern New Jersey lays this really cozy, cool music venue/bar/restaurant. I mean, even though I don't plan on eating, as a fat guy it's good to know food is at least available. The have tables set up where you can order dinner and watch from there, but the standing room in front of it would kill your view. Upstairs had a few tables and looked like it could've been a sweet spot to film from, but again you need to order stuff to sit at a table-pshht, please. Saw Elmo Kirkwood at the merch table, had to go over and compliment him on the fine performance I got to witness on Friday.. Shandon passed by, I patted him on the back as I ran out to meet Pam-Curt and Cris where down the block by the van.. In time I'll make it there, in time. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br /></p> <img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nG5DGTX5RNY/Tre3WJRKZLI/AAAAAAAABCE/cnjCdqc_gQE/s320/144_1073_xvid.avi_000249680.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5672203846769337522" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: underline; float: right; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /><p style="margin-bottom: 0in">We settled in and actually decided to see what this first band 'Jounce' was all about. Their twitter page describes them as “Not unlike Kings Of Leon”.. Well, that would explain me not exactly being blown away, I mean they were tight and all-lead singer was playing bass.. They played from like 8:03 to 8:49.. but the more interesting part came outside afterward while I was smoking a cig talking Puppets with fellow fans, this dude in the group upon google search says “Hey man you know who the lead singer of Jounce is? It's that kid from the show 'The Adventures of Pete and Pete' that used to be on Nickelodeon in the 90s”.. Now that's hilarious-I mean in good way. I liked that show, and maybe had I known this previously I would've cared a little more about their set! Danny Tamberelli. Wasn't he in those Mighty Ducks movies too? Now he's opening for the Meat Puppets-not a bad deal at all. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in">Next up was Black Box Revolution, going with the 2 man line-up just drums and guitar. The lead singer had this voice that sounded exactly like Iggy Pop to me-maybe I'm crazy. And during their set I saw someone who was in the posse of laughter outside that was the Pete and Pete discovery standing near by-I leaning in and said “So what-is the dude in this band from the show 'Are You Afraid of The Dark' or something?”. ZING. A timely punchline is one of my strong points. Anyway, these guys played from like 9:09 to 9:50ish.. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in">Main event time: At 10:04 out stroll the legends themselves, THE MEAT PUPPETS!</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kxGlPqVhnr0/Tre3u_iF9mI/AAAAAAAABCQ/DoTseiu04GE/s320/144_1086_xvid.avi_000086640.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5672204273652725346" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: underline; float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /></p><div><br /></div> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in">This whole set had a different feel, even with a lot of the same songs from the other night. I mean, maybe it's Mexicali Live in the air-because after “I'm a Mindless Idiot” and “Coming Down”-we had ourselves a good old fashioned ho-down going to the right of me and Pam. We had a nice spot along the wall so I could take video from way closer than the other night-maybe a bit too close but at least tall people didn't dominate the front row. And I'm right in front of Elmo, who jams out with Cris on this side of the stage. Every time I'm in front of Curt I leave not being able to hear for days, figured a new method should be employed here. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br /></p><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GHc1KsxtiT0/Tre39a17vyI/AAAAAAAABCc/sW07tWSeHXo/s320/144_1084_xvid.avi_000042160.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5672204521501867810" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: underline; float: right; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /><p style="margin-bottom: 0in">I'm pissed I didn't get it on film, but that had to be a plus 10 minute version of “Up On the Sun”.. it was crazy, it just kept blasting off into space. See that's the thing about this band-every show, every song, every time Curt backs away from the mic and lets loose it's like we blast off into space.. I've never taken LSD, but I'm pretty sure the psychedelic euphoria I experienced tonight is up to par as far as intensity. With no ceiling tonight, they can really get jam out for extended periods on songs. Clocked an 8 minute version of “Backwater” later on in the set. Even with the same group of songs all of this is new to me, and this is my 9<sup>th</sup> Meat Puppets show.. Guessed I'm hooked on that drug called good music.</p><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><u><br /></u></span> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br /></p> <img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K_TtCSI_Kv4/Tre5QUDO1LI/AAAAAAAABC0/SG3tbvXHflo/s320/144_1074_xvid.avi_000064160.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5672205945607738546" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: underline; float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /><p style="margin-bottom: 0in">Pam was amazed at my ability to hold a camera and type songs down on my iPod trying to get the whole set list. “Sam” got hectic-this dude was really getting down with his bad self over there, and after the song he looked at me and recited the lyric “That's the way Sam plays around”. Rock on brother-it's all good times. “Where Does a Little Tear Come From”, (which people are crediting to George Jones, but he had just as much input writing the song as did Perry Como-so it's your decision on that one. Great song either way went into, again, on of my favorites they've been playing on this tour- “Open Wide”. When “Sloop John B” started, I turned to Pam and said “it's this right into Lake of Fire”-which is exactly what it was. Lake of Fire had this siren-like guitar effect going at the beginning, which I screaming 'Mind Boggling!' to. Clocked it at 10 minutes and 10 seconds-they rock that bitch out. And here's one thing I find amazing, Curt throughout the show was walking over to Cris and Elmo, while playing and having like, conversations with them. I can't hear myself think, these guys are flying us full speed into outer space while discussing things. I could barely talk and walk at the same time! Genius's. They ducked off at 11:45.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br /></p> <img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aSBVNvuu3EA/Tre49chEEYI/AAAAAAAABCo/AoRheH8LAXA/s320/144_1088_xvid.avi_000072960.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5672205621462831490" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: underline; float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in">Came back out a few minutes later, and Curt announced that it was(would have been) Doug Sahm's 70<sup>th</sup> Birthday today to a load roar of the crowd, as anyone with Wikipedia knows that the drummer of the Meat Puppets, Shandon Sahm is the son of Doug. So they played another fav of mine-”Hey Baby Que Paso” before Curt went over to the drums and was talking to Shandon before giving him a hand wave and walking away to the mic saying “Let's get Shandon to sing one!” and everyone in the building was on board. So out comes Shandon from behind the drums where Curt takes over after handing his guitar off to him. Awesome, this should be fun. Never seen Shandon sing before-if anything this could be kinda goofy. Goofy it was NOT. Wow! Shandon went totally IN on “She's About a Mover”, a Sir Douglas Quintet song, one of the many Doug Sahm projects. And Curt held his own behind the drums as Shandon destroys it over there in Curts spot. When it's solo time he screams “Play some solo Elmo!” to which Elmo shreds for a few. Listen to that video I posted one time and tell me that's not in your head all day. Shandon says “That was for Pop!” and Curt comes out and says goodnight to us.. Great song, great end to an amazing night.. it was about Midnight.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/EV0pgNHRwBw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in">I got what I'm calling a partial set list because I think I'm missing one or two here that I didn't write down... And I have video of what I think was “Going to Graceland” that I kept rolling into “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights”, but I'll need to upload it and have some troll correct me just to be sure. What a two show stretch.. Wish there was another show in town I could catch-I could do this every night of my life! </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br />Partial Set List missing a song or two probably<br /><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in">I'm a mindless idiot<br />Coming down<br />The monkey and the snake<br />Up on the sun<br />Touchdown king<br />Plateau<br />Lantern<br />Sam<br />Lost<br />Where does a little Tear Come From<br />Open wide<br />Oh me<br />Backwater<br />Seal Whales<br />Orange<br />-Going to Graceland(?)<br />Wasted days and wasted nights<br />Sloop John b<br />Lake of fire<br /><br />Encore:<br />Hey Baby Que Paso </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in">She's About A Mover (Shandon sings/guitar, Curt on drums)</p></div>Jay Porkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14554794404516615556noreply@blogger.com1