Tag Archives: Concert

Bonnaroo 2009 – Day 4 In Review / The Wrap Up

Editors Note – Sorry for the delay, Bonnaroo took a lot out of me and after the long drive home I went to see Rancid/Rise Against at the Tower City Amphitheater with very little sleep.

The final day of Bonnaroo came and went faster than any of the other days and before I knew it I was headed for the first real meal in four days thanks to the Cracker Barrel in Murfreesboro, TN.  The Southern Belle served catfish was an absolute delight and the three of us relaxed and talked about the whole weekend and unexpected events.

More on that in a moment.  First I should note that I was able to review the final day for BlogCritics.Org:

Concert Review: Bonnaroo 2009 – 06/14/2009 – Day 4

I kept my reviews on BlogCritics pretty simple mostly focusing on the music aspect and seem to be getting some interesting comments stating I am a “newb” and so on.  I did not want to go into detail about Bonnaroo on those reviews because the read would be way too long.  It was a music review, not a Bonnaroo journal.  After reading them I think I could have done better but what I was trying to do was review each day nightly and sometimes I was up till 5am while doing so.  It is what it is…

Thankfully I have this site to blabber on about everything else…read on in a moment for a Bonnaroo wrap-up.

The final day at Bonnaroo was short and quick mostly because I had to cart an ill fated Matt from one hotel to another.  The poor kid woke up feeling like hell and asked me how I felt about staying another night at the hotel.  I was honest with him and told him I preferred not to backtrack so I found a hotel in Murfreesboro, a city about a half hour North of Manchester.  We all drove to the new hotel and dropped Matt and our stuff off.  It was bittersweet to see the room number was 420.

By the time we dropped sickly off and got back to Bonnaroo it was going on 2pm.  Luckily day four doesn’t get hopping until about that time.

To sum up day 4 at Bonnaroo I will say it was the perfect way to end the four day festival.  I saw a great performance by Jessica Lee Mayfield, a Kent, OH artist.  I saw Andrew Bird for a quick moment before heading over to see Merle Haggard take the stage.  I can not even tell you how awesome it was to be in the crowd as the legendary country artist played.

Coheed & Cambira threw on a killer performance full of interesting covers and a 10+ minute drum solo during their closing song “The Final Cut”.  I sang at the top of my lungs throughout all of their songs and enjoyed every minute of it.  I am thrilled that they were on the Bonnaroo bill.

Coheed & Cambria Setlist @ Bonnaroo:
In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3
Ten Speed (Of God’s Blood & Burial)
Apollo I: The Writing Writer
No World For Tomorrow
Gravemakers & Gunslingers
Can’t Find My Way Home (Blind Faith cover) / Under The Milky Way (The Church cover)
A Favor House Atlantic
The Crowing
Blood Red Summer
Mother Superior
Red Rain (Peter Gabriel cover)
Welcome Home
The Willing Well IV: The Final Cut

The last show of the festival for Adam and I would be the amazing performance by Coheed & Cambira. I opted to skip out on Phish and yes I am kicking myself for missing it as I heard it was an amazing close to the festival with Bruce Springsteen joining the jam rockers on stage for a couple of songs.

Oh well…  I am just not a Phish fan and preferred to get on my way.  Adam and I drove back to Murfreesboro and were looking for somewhere to grab a real meal when suddenly Matt texted Adam asking us if we had eaten yet, good timing.  We picked up Mr. Sniffles and went to Cracker Barrel and pretty much took turns summing up the weekend.

It was a good time had by all.

Bonnaroo Wrap-Up Pissed Off Edition:

If I has to sum up the weekend with five words it would be: “Bro toss me the frisbee”

The three of us had a blast driving from Ohio, pit-stopping in Nashville, and of course kicking it at Bonnaroo.  Granted Matt only made it to two of the four days, the three of us have enough musical memories to last a lifetime.

Let’s discuss some shall we?

First there is the good folk at Thirty Tigers who invited us to stop at their office and hang out for a moment.  I can not even tell you how nice Katie and John are.  We even met the owner later on Thursday, sadly I can not remember his name.  Anyways, if you are a folk/country/rock music lover do youself a favor and check out their site and sample some of the bands on their label and thank me later.

Our hotel was in Kimball, TN.  I thought it was not going to be terribly far away but I was a little off on distance.  The room was booked as it was the cheapest in the area as the surrounding communities tent to hike up their prices of the nightly rates for those who refuse to camp.  Extra money or not I am glad we got a hotel because there is no way this guy could camp at Bonnaroo.  No showers, no AC, no way.

Let us not forget about Matt who wanted to skip out the first day of Bonnaroo to just relax at the hotel.  I was ok with his decision.  During breakfast I joked that the B-52’s were playing in Chattanooga, TN and I almost regret that…haha.  Matt was dead serious when he asked me to drive him to Chattanooga and leave him there for the day so he could see the B-52’s play on the river.  I was not exactly happy to drive out of my way but he does love that band and I know he had a blast there so I am glad I could help a friend out.  Spite my little disagreement with a local officer we were able to pick up Matt up late night and get the hell out of there and back to the hotel for some sleep.  He wrote a little blog about his solo experience.

Seeing Those Darlins live made my day.  Kelley Darlin giving me a hug after their set was even better.  Too bad it was pouring rain, thunder storming, and there were announcements of Tornado watches in the area.  Those Darlins had to bail to save their equipment and Adam and I had to save our Matt.

Friday while stuck in a traffic jam on a side road the three of us were quick to see a colossal sized lady selling fruit in once of the random vendors set up on the side of the road.  She sat there stuffed in a lawn chair ever so un-ladylike with her chubby legs wide open for the world to see.  Poking fun at her with closed car windows did not pay off though…karma is a bitch.

Not even five minutes later we were subject to a random car search courtesy of the local drug task force.  As the officer explained how and what they would be doing I am pretty sure that at least 50 pounds of marijuana drove past us.  For being a random car search they sure picked the wrong car.  We had nothing.  Still determined to find a single speck of weed they tore through my CDs looking to see if I hid weed in the CD cases.  I honestly wanted to kick all of them in the asses for being so dumb.

Freedom of choice was a good thing too.  With such a wide span of performaces Matt did his own thing over the weekend and Adam and I cruised the grounds checking out as many sets as we could.  We managed to come across some bands we had never even heard of including Justin Townes Earl (Steve Earl’s son) as well as talk to folk from all over.

I was joking about all the hippies raiding the grounds but to be honest there were music fans of all types filling up the farm.  There were indie kids, country kids, punk rockers, douche bags, and even older folk all there to listen to music and for some to get as hammered as possible, slam down drugs, and make failed attempts at picking up members of the opposite sex.

Say what you want about me, I am not one who does drugs.  I had my fling with them when I was younger and left it at that.  I am not going to judge anyone either for doing them but I was getting a little annoyed at all the wide pupiled, acid dropping, ‘shroom eating, nitrous oxide huffing, ragers bumping into me, asking me where they could score stuff, and even at one time falling on me.  That my friends is another reason why I did not camp there, it’s not my style. Sadly one person never made it home from Bonnaroo.  It was reported that the Bonnaroo cleanup crew found a 20 year old male deceased in a tent.  I am thinking drugs played a part in his death and that my friends is why I do not EFF with that crap.

The entire experience was amazing if not better than when I attended in 2006.  Where else could one go to and see that many bands with some major label artists?  At no moment the entire weekend was I miserable.  I was happy to be a part of the festival and am already planning on next year’s.

All the ladies and their hula hoops were fun to watch.  There is something so hypnotizing about a beautiful Bonnaroo lady and her hula hoop.  I chatted with a girl before the Beastie Boys performance who was telling me how she made hula hoops and sold them at festivals.  That might explain why there was an abundance of hula hoops on the farm.  Novel idea if you ask me…  In fact I just discovered that I sold my Bonnaroo ticket to a great girl who actually makes and sells hula hoops.  Check out her site for more info!

Being a part of 80,000 people is so surreal.  You look around and all you see are people who came to the farm the very same reason you did.  The only way to really experience Bonnaroo is to be there.  I am sure the experience is even more intense when you camp too but again, that is just not me.

The plethora of genres of music kept me going all weekend. Surprisingly I found myself only watching the entire sets of very few artists and instead cutting sets short so that I could see someone else perform.

The weekend was a great success.  We made it to and from without any causalities. I did not want to punch anyone in the face, shocking…  I am actually considering doing it again next year.  I know Matt will be sitting that one out but I am pretty sure Adam is all about coming with.

Now if only I had a hint of what the Bonnaroo 2010 line-up will be??? I am sure it is going to be awesome.

Those Darlins, The Dexateens, The Features – Grog Shop – Cleveland , OH – 05/19/09 – Concert Review

It’s no surprise that all who attended the Grog Shop last Tuesday night to see Those Darlins, The Dexateens, and The Features had a blast.  The sad thing though was the turnout for the evening and with tickets only $8 I really expected a bigger turnout.  Nevertheless all the acts that night played just as hard as they would to a full crowd and I along with the handful of fans got our money’s worth.

Arriving early I had a picture perfect moment when Those Darlins came rounding the sidewalk outside of the Grog Shop.  Clearly the ladies decided to check out their surroundings on a possible quest get a bite to eat and were returning to work.  Respecting their privacy I kept the camera down and shyly smiled at them as they walked in the doors of the venue.  I laughed when one of them screamed “blech!” as a Radiohead song greeted them when they entered.  Not everyone can be a Radiohead fan I guess…

A couple of months ago Those Darlins had their first taste of Cleveland when they opened for Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys at a sold out show at the Beachland Ballroom.  A nice size crowd greeted them as they took the stage.  Sadly their return to Cleveland to play again had a crowd that barely made it to twenty.  Still the sassy ladies of Tennessee did not let the lack of attendees kill their spirit and started playing through their songs at full force.

Ripping through tracks from their upcoming self-titled debut release Those Darlins played just as good, if not better, as the first time I saw them.  Hearing “The Whole Damn Thing” cracked me up as the ladies sang about getting drunk and eating chicken.  Other tracks like “DUI or Die”, “Snaggletooth Mama”, and “Wild One” seemed to get some of the folk sitting at the bar to turn their heads and pay attention to the three country cuties up on stage.  Their mustache wearing drummer even had a moment when one of the toms on his kit fell off while playing.  All of the girls laughed mid-song and continued to stomp their boots and play hard.  Ripping through a nice sized set I could not help myself from getting excited when their album is delivered to my front door (I pre-ordered it).

I am sure Those Darlins were a tad frustrated with the small amount of people at the Grog Shop seeing they drove all the way up to play out, but thanks to their great set they won a few new fans and I am sure the next time they return to Cleveland there will be a much bigger crowd waiting to see them.  I’ll do what I can to make sure that happens.

Not knowing the two other bands I decided to stick it out and see what each had to offer.  Alabama’s The Dexateens took stage and it seemed like a few more people actually surrounded the stage as they played including the mustache clad drummer of Those Darlins.  Some of the fans looked to have been friends of the band but still, fans are fans.  The band’s mix of southern rock and folk really won me over and I made sure to pick up one of their vinyl albums from the merch booth just so I could check them out more.

The main act of the night, The Features, took stage to a very small welcoming crowd including a handful of folk who traveled all the way from Erie, PA just to see them.  The Tennessee indie rock band played well but was not what I was looking for so I called it a night.

As I headed to the door I spotted Kelley Darlin sitting at the bar with one of the guys who works at the vintage shop below the Beachland Ballroom called This Way Out.  I did not want to pass up the opportunity to thank her for playing Cleveland again and also wanted to tell her that she would be seeing me at Bonnaroo in less than a month.  Kelley Darlin smiled from ear to ear and give me a high-five / handshake / hold hands type response that had me smiling too.  She was a real pleasure to meet and I hope to see her again next month.

Yes, I have a crush on all three Darlins.  So what!?!

I really wish that more folk would have come out the the Grog Shop that night not just because I felt that the band deserved a fuller crowd but also because I think a lot of people would have had a great time even if they never heard any of the acts before.  Better luck next time to the bands and the fans I guess.  I am just glad I was there.

Here are some photos I took of the evening:

Those Darlins at SXSW:

-Visit Those Darlins to pre-order a copy of their debut release.  LP drops on 6/23/09 and the CD drops two weeks later on 7/7/09.

-Visit Amazon.Com to download Wild One (or maybe check out one of my previous blogs)

-The Dexateens are giving away one of their albums for free (donations accepted!)

The Bouncing Souls, The Loved Ones, Black President – Grog Shop – Cleveland , OH – 05/07/09 – Concert Review

The Bouncing Souls
The Bouncing Souls

It was a memorable punk rock event Thursday night at the Grog Shop thanks to The Bouncing Souls, The Loved Ones, and Black President.  The three bands actually had just performed to a packed the house the night before as the bands made a two night stop at the well known Cleveland venue.  Having not been able to attend both shows I am glad I was at least able to be at one seeing how great of an evening I had.

New Jersey’s The Bouncing Souls have taken this entire year to celebrate being a punk rock band for 20 years. To commemorate their success the band has been releasing a song a month for download available on their own label’s website Chunksaah Records for the entire 2009 year. The band also will be releasing a limited edition 7″ every third month of the year available online, at select music shops, and of course at their live shows.  If that was not good enough for a festivity, the band decided to hit the road on a string of tours to select cities.  Accompanying The Bouncing Souls were friends The Loved Ones and punk rock super group Black President.

Bouncing Souls Celebrating 20 Years
Bouncing Souls Celebrate 20 Years

The venue filled up quickly and featured all sorts of fans, many who were at the previous night’s show.  Punk rockers of all ages hung out in the dark venue waiting for what was to come.  I joked to my friends how old I felt seeing that I saw The Bouncing Souls open for NOFX in 1998.  Still I refused to let age affect me and was excited to be a part of the evening as I had been looking forward to this show for weeks.

Black President started off the evening and pretty much set the mood for the rest of the evening with their energy.  Formed in 2005 well before Barack Obama because his quest, a lot of ticket holders thought that the band name was created after the fact of our current president. The band consisting of some pretty important punk rockers like Charlie Paulson of Goldfinger and Dave Raun of Lagwagon did not get the full credit they deserved by all who attended from the start but the crowd seemed to warm up to them.  I myself was enthralled the moment the band broke into a Motorhead cover of “Iron Fist” and then announced it was their first time playing the song live. Blasting through selected songs from their self titled debut release including “Last F#cking Hope” the band won me over and much of the crowd as well.

The Loved Ones, hailing from Philadelphia, may not have been around for twenty years but they took stage and played their hearts out to the welcoming crowd. This Fat Wreck Chords act has been a favorite of mine for a couple of years now so it was great to finally see them play the stage. Playing songs from their recent EP Distractions as well as former releases Build & Burn and Keep Your Heart, including the catchy song “The Bridge”, the band sounded solid and looked to be having a great time performing to the near sold out crowd.

Before The Bouncing Souls even took stage fans were screaming the trademark Bouncing Souls soccer chant “Ole” jointly.  The moment the Bouncing Souls took stage and started playing the temperature rose a good ten degrees in the venue from all the movement in the crowd.  With arms in the air, and some legs too, the fans were truly going ballistic for the main act of the evening.

Greg Attonito and crew were all smiles as they ripped through show starter “True Believer”.  Classic tracks such as “That Song”, Here We Go”, Lean On Sheena”, and “I Like Your Mom” continued the set with almost all the fans singing along to.  At times the lead singer looked more of a lounge act as he slowly graced the stage to the left and right and just seemed so at peace with the environment surrounding him.

Towards the middle of the set Greg Attonito grabbed an acoustic guitar and played a very chill version of the Misfits‘ “Hybrid Moments” which brought grins to the faces of all the real punk rockers in the crowd.  I sang along with everyone else and for a brief moment felt like a kid all over again.

I was not at a Bouncing Souls show that night, I was at a Bouncing Souls celebration for them being a punk act for 20 years.  Having been a fan of them for most of those 20 year I felt so fortunate to be a part of the festivities and enjoyed every moment of the evening.  Openers Black President were a treat to see live as were The Loved Ones making for an ultimate night of punk rock fun.

I managed to take a couple of photos that night at the show but the Grog Shop has terrible lighting and I do not use a flash out of repsect for the artists performing.  Here are a couple that came out that looked ok in black & white.  I would have gotten closer for some shots but the pits for all three performance were pretty insane and I love my camera too much to risk damage to it.

(ok, I’m not going to lie…these pics SUCK.  Better luck next time I guess…)

Here is a video of the acoustic version of “Hybrid Moments” taken from another venue:

Black President music video:

The Loved Ones music video:

The Beastie Boys, A Handheld Recorder, & Me

While clearing some space off of my desktop today I found a certain WAV file I was sure I lost forever.  Perhaps it was a sign of sorts that I found it today so I thought what better thing to do but share the WAV file with the world. The WAV file I speak of is actually a recorded interview with yours truly and NYC’s finest, the Beastie Boys.

The year was 2007 and I was just a freshman at this whole online blogging thing.  I was just getting comfortable with reviewing CDs and live shows for the wonderful Blogcritics.Org.  I was having a good time doing this and decided to try something a little more challenging, review a 2 day festival.

Somehow, some way I scored a press pass to the 2007 Virgin Mobile Festival and successfully covered the 2 days for Blogcritics.Org.  The experience was a positive one and made me want to review more festivals from my perspective because I had so much fun doing so.  You can read the review HERE but I never really got into full detail about the behind the scenes portion of my experience.

Just days before we (Matt, Rad-am, and myself) were to leave for Baltimore I received an email asking me if I wanted to interview the Beastie Boys as they were supporting their latest release The Mix Up by doing select tours and one of the stops was at the Virgin Mobile Festival.  Having never interviewed anyone in person before I was quick to the accepting reply for the opportunity and was told I would receive further instruction.

Day one of the festival once I got situated I received a text message telling me to meet at the press tent to interview the Beastie Boys.  I remember the girl and the guy coordinating it were super cool people and as we made out way through the VIP area I actually passed Virgin owner Richard Branson and gave a “what’s up” nod to the lead singer of the Fountains Of Wayne.

We kept walking till we got to a fenced off area where a couple of the Beastie Boys security members were seated in almost a outdoor living room canopied arrangement and were told that the Beastie Boys were situated inside the trailer next to them.  Security told us to stand aside the fence and wait for our turn.  I chatted with a couple of the guys standing with me and one of them ran an online Detroit radio program and the other was a reporter for MTV online.  Even though I had no idea what I was doing or what to expect I felt good about the situation.

When it was my turn to approach the trailer John Norris of MTV cut me in line and made his way into the trailer.  Time was passing now and I was not sure I was going to be able to interview them.  I was sweating my ass off too as it was hotter than hell outside and the security guys would not share their canopy with us.  No complaints from me though, I was still pumped.

I finally was told I had six minutes to interview the Beastie Boys and made my way into the trailer.

The first thing I noticed when I walked in the trailer were the three Armani suit wearing Beastie Boys all with smiles on their faces.  The second thing I noticed was that the trailer was air conditioned… Score.

I was asked to sit down on one of those fold out chairs and I hit record on my digital recording device.

Here is what happened:
Beastie Boys Interview 2007

As you can hear I was interviewed more by the Beastie Boys but I did not care.  The Beastie Boys are known for not being serious during interviews and I think if anything they really had fun chatting with me.  I was not looking to perform the most amazing interview of my career anyways, I was just looking to hang out with a band I have been a life long fan of.  Talking about LeBron James, breakfast bar buffets, and my Ween t-shirt just made the conversation all the more enjoyable.

I left that trailer with the biggest smile on my face and soon met up with Matt and Rad-am who were both wondering if I was ever going to come back to the festival grounds.  Moments later the Beastie Boys took the stage and blew the three of us away.

When I hear myself speak I think I sound like an idiot but then again I was a little nervous and did not know what the heck I was doing.  I never did so anything with the recording as I was unable to decipher some of the member’s voices from one another when I was transcribing it….then I lost the file (or so I thought I did).

Good times.  I hope you all enjoyed the little WAV file I found.

Here’s a recorded interview I found that SPIN Magazine did with the Beastie Boys on the very same day.

Here are some more vids of the performancee in 2007:

Mastodon – Beachland Ballroom – Cleveland, OH – 05/02/2009 – Concert Review

I am sure it is safe to say that there was a lot of ringing going on in the ears of many fans who attended the Mastodon show at the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland, OH.    Of the hundreds of shows I have attended in my time, this was by far one of the loudest.  The show was sold out, and had been for months, so needless to say there were a lot of excited folk in the house.

When I first heard that Atlanta heavy metal / prog rock artists Mastodon were going to be playing at the Beachland Ballroom with special guests Intronaut and Kylesa, I knew it would sell out quickly because of the smaller capacity venue.  Sadly I was not able to get a ticket in time and I really thought that I was going to miss this show.  As luck would have it someone reached out to me with an extra ticket.  Matt, you are my hero.

Before I even continue I need to make it clear that I am “one of those fans” meaning that I am not a long time Mastodon fan.  I have heard of them since they started and checked out their material but it was not until Crack The Skye that I really started to appreciate them.  Since the release I have collected the band’s entire catalog and realized what I had been missing.  Call me what you want, Crack The Skye is still my personal favorite album by the band so one could imagine my excitement to witness the entire album being played start to finish with no interruptions.

My two friends Shannon and Josh from West Virginia had mentioned they were making the 4+ hour drive to see Mastodon and that they had purchased tickets earlier.  We decided to meet up and attend the show together.  After many hours of showing them around Cleveland (My Mind’s Eye was a fav stop for them) we finally arrived to the Beachland Ballroom three hours prior to showtime.  We arrived early to meet up with Matt and also check out Music Saves as well as other shops on Waterloo.

Brann & Shannon
Brann & Shannon

As luck would have it members of Mastodon, more specifically Brann Dailor the drummer, and guitarist Bill Kelliher were checking out Waterloo Ave, mostly looking for some food.  Shannon spotted Brann while we were shopping inside Music Saves, and being the huge fan she is she took off out the store and was able to get the ultimate concert souviner, a photograph of her and Brann.  Brann was more than kind to pose with her and even thanked her for having the picture taken with him.  Shannon’s day was complete and the show hadn’t even started.

Metal fans young and old filled up the Beachland Ballroom at a quick rate and Intronaut began the show to cheering fans.  Having never heard their material before I got a kick out of how they would throw in almost jazzy sounding instrumental breaks in between their brutal heavy metal playing.  Sadly they only knocked out a couple of songs and left the stage leaving some of the fans wanting much more.

Kylesa was up next and having never heard them either I was not sure what to expect.  While the band set up Josh noted that there were two drum sets on stage and in no time the sludge metal act were hammering out songs impressing me and my out of town concert buddies.  I loved how the singing duties revolved around the stage while the duel drummers almost seemed to out drum one another.  I’ll be checking this Georgia act out some more soon.

The crowd in the venue seemed to double just before Mastodon took stage.  Just prior to them doing so I was able to exit the Beachland Ballroom and hand off a ticket to Adam who had to work late but managed to meet us there just in time.  We all found a spot just in front of the soundboard and planted out feet for what was to come.

It seemed that Mastodon came to Cleveland to do their job and then leave.  They never said hello, they just picked up their instruments and began playing “Oblivion”, the first song off of Crack The Skye.  The stage was clear of distractions with the exception of a giant screen hung behind them.  During the performance, strange visuals were propped up on the screen showing black and white images that reminded me of something H. P. Lovecraft might have written a story about with helmeted warriors, wizards, and fair maidens as well as a cosmic atmosphere.

The band members some bearded and messy haired, minus drummer Brann Dailor who is more of a clean cut chap, were not there to entertain, they were there to perform.  The band collectively kept concentrated while executing their latest masterpiece to the fans and did so very well.  The band continued playing until the album was covered start to finish and then left the stage for a break.  Hearing the entire album played live was just incredible.

While on their short break a great Mastodon album cover morph animation displayed on the screen that kept repeating itself almost hypnotizing the fans making them scream louder and louder for the metal band of the night to continue their performance.

The band returned to stage and offered a selection of tracks from their past albums Blood Mountain, Leviathan, and Remission.  The songs were much faster and, to some, were songs fans came to see.  Even if I am “one of those fans”, I enjoyed what I heard and a couple of the tracks were familiar to my ears.  I was enjoying every eardrum destroying moment and felt cheated when the band finished their final song and exited stage.  I was selfish and I wanted more.

Considering the band will be touring with Metallica this summer I think it is safe to say this is the last time Mastodon will play smaller venues.  I am glad to have been a part of a more intimate show that evening as were everyone else surrounding me.  It was a top notch performance by an up and coming metal band I have the feeling will be going places in the music world.

Here’s a video a fellow concert goer took of Mastodon opening the show with “Oblivion”. Not the greatest quality but it should give you a taste of what I experienced that amazing evening: