Queens of the Stone Age

 

For Andy's birthday, we went to see Queens of the Stone Age at the Beaumont. What a great show.  It seriously exceeded my expectations.  We got there early enough that we were able to find a decent standing spot on the 'balcony' (more of an elevated bar area really).  We went with a couple of our friends, and met up with a friend and former bandmate of Andy's.  The boys got these sweet x-ray posters that are already worth far more than they paid for them (Thanks to Miguel!).  

Anyway, the show.  Josh (Homme, the frontman) didn't interact with the crowd as much as I expected, especially not at first.  I later read some articles that said he'd been ailing that week, so perhaps that was why, I'm not sure.  He might just not do a lot of that anyway.  The good news was, he didn't really need to.  The show was incredibly tight, and it was all about the music.  This tour was to mark the re-release of their debut self-titled album, so they played that in its entirety, with "The Bronze" tossed in there.  After they played that album they essentially did 2 encores: 1 of requests, and 1 that acknowledged Songs for the Deaf (their most popular album...ya know, the one with "No One Knows"), and also included "Make it Wit Chu", much to my delight. 

All in all, it was a great show.  When I think back on it, it's almost as if I were in a trance.  I remember dancing and enjoying myself, but it's all kind of one blur.  It might have just been that I was about to pass out from the heat, though.  

Two thumbs up!

The Decemberists/Mountain Man

Months ago, I heard a rumor the Decemberists were coming to town.  That was on a Friday.  The following Monday it was made official, and the date was announced - Feb. 7 at Uptown.  Prior to the date announcement my friend Katie (who lives in St. Louis) was talking of coming up to see the show, but when it turned out to be on a Monday she couldn't justify the 4-hour drive and/or missing work for it.

I was still bound & determined to go, until I got a bill from American Family for my homeowners' insurance.  I'd never gotten a bill from them, as it is supposed to be billed to my mortgage company.  I had to pay it in order to make sure my house stayed insured, and they are supposed to reimburse me after Wells Fargo pays them, 'within 3 weeks or so'.  Basically, I had no spending money.  So when The Wayward Blog posted that anyone could comment on their Decemberists Facebook post with why they should give you tickets, and they'd pick a winner, I figured I'd give it a shot.  I posted about the insurance mix-up, AND I WON!  WOOHOO!


So Jenny & I went.  AND THEY WERE AMAZING LIVE.  Also, Mountain Man was the opener.  It's 3 ladies and an acoustic guitar that 2 of them pass back & forth.  I really really enjoyed them.  I planned on buying the LP on my way out but they didn't take cards, and I didn't know my PIN to get cash out of the ATM (long story). 

So Mountain Man came out and wowed with their vocals.  They all had kind of old-fashioned voices, but in very different ways.  They were also great as far as crowd interaction.  They ate up the crowd's energy.  It was just a fun, light-hearted show.  The people behind me were making fun of them, but you know how hipsters are.  If they haven't heard of something, it's obviously because it sucks.  Before the show, I read a quick review of them that compared them to Fleet Foxes.  My first reaction was skepticism.  I love Fleet Foxes, and wasn't sure that anybody quite compared to them...but sure enough, it was a pretty apt comparison.  Only the female version.  Mountain Man's Facebook page lists their genre as night music, which is also pretty appropriate.  Check them out!

Then the Decemberists took the stage.  Having never seen them live, I wasn't sure what to expect.  My first impression was that they were a tight band, but didn't do much to engage the crowd.  A solid show, but a tad stuffy...which would have been disappointing after the humorous, if somewhat goofy, introduction from the mayor of Portland.  Luckily, I turned out to be VERY wrong.  After a few songs, Colin Meloy started talking to the audience more, and he and the drummer John were funny.  By the end of the set, when they closed with a version of  The Outfield's "Your Love" (You know it - 'I don't wanna lose your love, to-niiiiight'), with Colin on drums and John singing, I was smitten.  I wanted to take Colin home with me (not in a dirty way!  although that'd probably be okay too), and be best friends with Jenny (Conlee, the keyboardist/accordion player).  They were incredible live, I can't say that enough.

At one point Colin ended up in the right balcony, a la Ben & Tyler, with the owner of the Uptown and his family.  He stood above the crowd and played the guitar behind his head, showing off just a little bit.  Oh!  And Sara Watkins, that was a nice surprise!  Nobody is quite like her on the fiddle!
  
Anyway, I'm told they did 2 encores, but I had to find Jenny after the first one and we ended up leaving.  But I left happy.

Things I Love, Vol VI: Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros

So...  Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros are recording their second album!!!

This maketh me ultra happy.  I actually read this article the day it was posted, a couple weeks ago, but didn't think to comment on it here since I was being something of a blog slacker at the time.

As I'm reading this article, and being excited about the prospect of it all, and loving them a little bit more with every sentence, I get to this part:

"There's animals everywhere!" singer Jade Castrinos adds. Three orphan dogs that the band has named Angie, Andy and Precious -- as well as a still-nameless cat -- have wandered in from the thicket and made themselves at home.

I nearly spat out my water!  Seriously, of the 3 animals they've named, there is one named Precious (totally not a person name), and the other two are Andy and Angie?!?!  I know I'll sound crazy, but it's almost like some sort of sign....In any case, it made me quite happy.

I haven't officially written anything about Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros yet, but I did mention Jade & Alex in my post about couples.  I would have to say that, although I first heard about/saw them in 2009, ES & TMZ are probably my favorite band of 2010 (Speaking of which, I should do a post about my favorite things of 2010...).  Chances are you've heard them somewhere: Their song "Janglin'" was featured on the Ford Fiesta commercial, and "Home" has started to get a lot of radio play more recently (and has charted on Billboard), but was also featured on an NFL commercial, a trailer for Cyrus, and a viral video of a man walking across America.

My first experience with them was in the summer of 2009.  Emily and I had a trip planned to go to Monolith Festival (Please come back next year!) at Red Rocks (My absolute favorite concert venue) in September.  I was downloading some music by some of the artists I wasn't familiar with in order to determine what stages to hit up, when I found "Home".  It was instant love, and when I saw them live at Red Rocks it was increased exponentially.  They were my favorite performance at the festival, and I listened to them religiously afterward.  I bought their album on vinyl and the needle never stopped.

When they came to Kansas City in June, I dragged Andy along with me.  I don't think he was too excited.  It was the night before my colonoscopy so I couldn't eat or drink, and when I got home later that night all I had to look forward to was camping out on the toilet... I was pretty cranky, and the show paled in comparison to the one at Red Rocks, to no fault of the band - stupid high-schoolers shoving me and standing in front of me was to blame.  However, in spite of all of that, by the time we left Andy had become a believer.

For my birthday, he took me camping in Minnesota and to see them in Minneapolis.  It was glorious.  We were right up in front, I touched Alex, they opened for themselves - It was perfect.

Do yourself a favor and catch them live somewhere before they really blow up and start playing godawful giant venues.