Local H at Mercury Lounge 4/15/12

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, Livenation bumped them out of the building early 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 “early show” . 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.

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.

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.

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!!!)



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

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!

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^nd song in I'm back to basically the same lighting if not worse, then last year. That was a serious “FML” moment right there.

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.





“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.

“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!

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.

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..

LATE.....

Kasabian @ Terminal 5 NYC 3/22/12

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. Facebook groups have been started, Twitter 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 Reverend Justito, 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 Coachella 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......

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.

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..


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..

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!"



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.

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!


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.

"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.

“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.

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..

LATE

Concert Review: DMX @ SOB's 2/23/12

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 Slaughterhouse last year , 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.

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.

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...

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..

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.

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 (metaphorically) and annoy the hell out of the 400+ people the squeezed into this place. This schmuck didn't go off til 10:50.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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 certainly not just going through the motions. It was a great show.

I'll hopefully have some more video uploaded before the day's end, I got some queued up.. thanks for tuning in.

LATE

Review: The Darkness w/ Foxy Shazam 2/4/12 Irving Plaza

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 'thenaturalstoner' 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 Joe Budden debacle, 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 me and my friend Pam scalped the fake Alice In Chains tickets 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?

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).

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.

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,

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.

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.



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 !

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.

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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.

-

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.

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.

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.

LATE

Phish at Madison Square Garden 12/28/11

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 slurp the Revered Justito, 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 #YEMSG. 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.

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.

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.

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..

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.

"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.

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.

"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.

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..

"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.

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.

SETLIST: Set I: Free, Glide, Possum, Cities, The Ballad Of Curtis Loew, Stash, Contact, Sample In A Jar, Kill Devil Falls, Bathtub Gin

Set II: Birds Of A Feather, Carini > Tweezer > My Friend, My Friend, Rock & Roll > NICU, Bouncing Around The Room, Harry Hood, Bug

Encore: Tube, Rocky Top, Tweezer Reprise

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.

Joseph Arthur, James Maddock Bowery Electric 12/17/11

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 Toys for Tots Foundation( ) 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.



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.

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..



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.

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.



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".





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.



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. 



NOTES:
-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.

-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.

-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.

The Band Touring as "Guns N' Roses" at Izod Center 11/17/11

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^st 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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

“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.

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.

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.

LATE

Meat Puppets @ Mexicali Live Teaneck, NJ 11/6/11

It would've been Doug Sahm's 70^th Birthday today, and what better place to start the 60^th 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.

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.

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.

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..

Main event time: At 10:04 out stroll the legends themselves, THE MEAT PUPPETS!

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.

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^th Meat Puppets show.. Guessed I'm hooked on that drug called good music.

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.

Came back out a few minutes later, and Curt announced that it was(would have been) Doug Sahm's 70^th 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.

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!

Partial Set List missing a song or two probably

I'm a mindless idiot
Coming down
The monkey and the snake
Up on the sun
Touchdown king
Plateau
Lantern
Sam
Lost
Where does a little Tear Come From
Open wide
Oh me
Backwater
Seal Whales
Orange
-Going to Graceland(?)
Wasted days and wasted nights
Sloop John b
Lake of fire

Encore:
Hey Baby Que Paso

She's About A Mover (Shandon sings/guitar, Curt on drums)