Welcome to my mid-year show review. It’s actually not quite mid year yet but I have free time right now and who knows when I’ll feel up to the task again. So here we go.
I was pretty happy with the number of shows I attended last year. I was even able to cross bands off my “must see before I die” list, the list isn’t very long so it was relatively easy to do for me. Living in Los Angeles, helps quite a bit too.
My first show of the year was actually not until February when I saw The Blow at The Echo with Julie. Actually it was just Kaehla from The Blow, Jona was touring with Yacht at the time. Still it was a pretty high energy, feel good time and I even got to meet Kaehla.
Next was Do Make Say Think at The Troubador with Sean. That was a really relaxed show, how can you not be with DMST? This was the show where I realized one of the best places to sit at the Troub was way in the back behind the bar. Not only do you have a seat but generally it’s far back enough that you can see over everyone, with the exception of maybe unbelievably tall person.
Then South by Southwest came and it was a big “showfest” for me. I tried to take photos of each band I saw. The flickr set is here if you’d like to see. The most notable band for me was The Faint. I’ve loved them for years and was ecstatic when I heard they were going to be playing SxSW. Of course, I have no proof of this because my computer and camera didn’t want to talk to each other that night and deleted all the pictures from that show. I’m going to do this list style:
- Â Yacht
- The Mae Shi
- Ghostland Observatory
- The Black Lips
- Andrew Bird
- Tokyo Police Club
- Bloc Party
- Apes and Androids
- Apostle of Hustle
- Thunderbirds Are Now!
- De Novo Dahl (I’d never heard of them before)
from the party we threw:
- Deep Sea Diver (really great local band from Long Beach, CA)
- Chuck Ragan
- This Providence
- Limbeck
- MC Lars
- Brazil
- Â The Oohlas
There might have been a couple more bands that I just don’t remember or didn’t catch their names.
Upon returning, I’m not sure if this counts but, I went to a club to see Prince Paul do a DJ set. I think that sort of counts as a show.
Then Man Man at The Roxy to start April off. That was an awesome show. I’d never heard Man Man before and it was a pretty great introduction. They have so much energy. It was so fun with lots of yelling and stompyness. I’ve started listening to them regularly since that show.
The next night I went to see Dntel (the non-Gibbard half of The Postal Service) spin at The Natural History Museum. I also caught a set by The Submarines and Plaid while I was there.
The next week it was Triple Chicken Foot in Pasadena. They’re this local twangy banjo threesome I found online. Sort of bluegrass, folky, Appalachian music. It was quite pleasant.
The week after that I saw Lavender Diamond at the Disney REDCAT theater. They played with Indian Jewelry, which I wasn’t too fond of. I think I actually took that time to take a nap. Totally disrespectful, but it really wasn’t my cup of tea. However, Lavender Diamond was so entertaining and cute. It was quite an experience, I was a little bored at times but I’m sure any Diamond fan would have been thrilled to have been there.
Art Brut at the Troub three days later. Then Sunset Rubdown and Xiu Xiu at the Troub again about three days after that. April appears to have been a busy month for me! I didn’t even realize until now.
Next on the list is one I’ve been anticipating for awhile now. Arcade Fire at The Greek. I’m hoping it will be amazing, how could it not be? But I’m trying to play it down in my head, not get too over excited for this. I’ll let you know how it goes.