Play "Where Do You Run To!"

Vivian Girls, acoustic set
Permanent Records In-Store
August 30, 2009

"No, we don't play that song live."

Scenes from the past

Brandon: Hey Juan, have you ever listened to the Delgados?

Juan: Are you just asking me because they're Hispanic?

Brandon: No, I'm asking because they're Scottish.

Juan: Oh...ok.

We're number five!

The Society of American Travel Writers has named Chicago the number five city in North America for live music behind New Orleans, New York, Austin, and Nashville. We're followed by Memphis, Montreal, Las Vegas, Branson (, Missouri), and Denver.

Having only been to Chicago I can't say anything about any of those other cities, but it doesn't seem that off base, at least in the top seven. Funny how no west coast cities made the list, although a general "music scene" is probably different from an "indie scene," at least to the Society of American Travel Writers. No Seattle, no San Francisco...hm. Curious omissions, I think, but that's just me.

Still though, hey Chicago!

[via gapersblock.com]

This one is for the '88 Oilers

Red Red Meat and Rural Alberta Advantage
Pritzker Pavilion
August 24, 2009
RAA = my new favorite "new" band



"WOOOOO!"
"Hey, you're from Alberta?"
"Absolutely not, but I love that song!"

How many gazebos do you shemales need?

Tom Schraeder.
Wells Park Gazebo.
August 18, 2009.
Great way to spend a summer evening.


'Cause every night is like our first date.

Ted Kennedy has nothing to do with indie rock

but damn, yo.

Time to kick some major ass on health care. Do it for Ted.

The mixtape making process is completely and totally gendered

well duh.

Don't let this fading summer pass you by

I made a list of things I wanted to do before starting work in late September. One of the items was "Attend 4+ concerts," which shouldn't be too hard. Another of the items was "Learn at least one guitar chord." That one is "lol"able.

We'll see how this goes.

We yelled "LIST THE RAT!"

...and then they did.

Good list. It's worth checking out back from number 500. Nice job, Pitchfork, it was fun.

Fabric of our something something

Saw this during Project Runway tonight...



Makes cotton seem...better.

Lollapalooza 2009 wrap

That's it for Lollapalooza 2009 stuff, as far as I know. It took me a while to get through all of what I wanted to post, but there it all is.

Recap:

The Killers
Depeche Mode
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Band of Horses
Lykke Li
Decemberists and Animal Collective

My final word on Lollapalooza is basically this:
It's hot, it's sweaty, it's unsanitary, but it's just so much damn fun.

and I got my $60 passes for 2010. Can't wait!

When You Were Young

There was one song that I knew I wanted to hear at Lollapalooza, going in. There was no way that the Killers weren't going to play their hits, ("Mr. Brightside," "All These Things That I've Done"...all great tracks) and there's no way the Killers weren't going to play "When You Were Young."

Then they did, and it was everything I'd hoped.



I'm not the biggest Killers fan or anything, but man can they put on a show. We were super late after Band of Horses, but all we really needed to see was the last 40 minutes or so. They ended with Mr. Brightside - All These Things That I've Done - [encore break] - Jenny Was a Friend of Mine - When You Were Young. Holy shit. [complete setlist here] Brandon Flowers said this was the biggest crowd in front of which they've ever played. They do this every night, and it looks like they do it every night, and you know what's coming, but they just do it so well.

As we're leaving I say "Hey Juan, wanna see if Jane's is still doing their encore?"

"No."

And after this, why the hell would we?

Policy of Truth

Now, as opposed to Band of Horses and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs who were just happy to be there, Depeche Mode does this sort of thing all the time.

They do what they do, and they do it well. Even if they're on autopilot (and it seemed like they might have been) they still do a really great show. They just have to know that at a festival gig, not everybody is going to know the words to the songs that aren't "Enjoy the Silence." [setlist here]

Highlight of the set: Martin Gore taking vocals on "Home."



After Chicago they headed to Seattle, and they had to cancel their two shows after Seattle, in San Francisco and San Diego.

I'm glad they didn't cancel, and I'm glad I saw them. They're big, they do what they do, they do it well, and they've been doing it for a long time. Great way to spend Friday night after a shitty, rainy day. One of the guys next to me was really mad that they only did one encore when Madison Square Garden got three. Oh well. It wasn't transcendent or anything, but it's hard to top "Personal Jesus" to end a festival day.

"Best! Crowd! Ever!"

There's something to be said about being happy just to be there. Band of Horses seemed happy just to be there. They were so happy that they played 20 minutes over their time, right over Jane's Addiction.

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs were incredibly happy to be there. I mean, here they are, the little headliner that could. Are the Yeah Yeah Yeahs big enough to headline a festival the size of Lollapalooza? I dunno. Probably not. Not right now, anyway. Maybe in a couple of albums.

Now, how are you gonna top the Beastie Boys? I don't know. I mean, they're the fucking Beastie Boys. Sort of like how Lou Reed is Lou Reed, the Beastie Boys are the Beastie Boys, and it's going to be fucking hard to step up and say "Yo, we're filling in for the Beastie Boys."

Now, I wanted to see the Beastie Boys. When the original Lollapalooza lineup dropped, they were the one act that I really, really wanted to see. If I didn't get the $60 presale tickets, I would have gotten a one-day pass to see the Beastie Boys. So, when they had to cancel their tour I was disappointed, but what can you do, right? MCA has cancer, and you gotta put everything on hold. So was I less enthused when the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were added to the bill? A little big. I know...three Yeah Yeah Yeahs songs. I was mozy-ing on over to see them after Animal Collective, taking my sweet time. No need to rush, right? Wrong.


The Yeah Yeah Yeahs fucking brought it. They made Saturday at Lollapalooza. Would it have been "better" than what the Beastie Boys would have done? Who knows. It probably doesn't matter. The crowd was very into it, the songs played fantastically in downtown, and Karen O is...well, I can't even think of the right words. "Amazing" seems too generic. She also changed clothes almost as many times as Kevin Barnes. They had energy, and the crowd fed it right back. The situation seemed nothing less than perfect from where I was standing on the east side of the stage. Again, they were just happy to have been invited, but they were also able to step up and put on the show of the day. Sure, Karen O forgot the lyrics to "Maps" but nobody gave a damn. No, there wasn't an encore, but how were you going to top the first 80 minutes? It was one of those nights, one of those situations where nothing could go wrong, even if it did. Only the most hardcore of Beastie Boys fans who only showed up begrudgingly because they had already purchased tickets would have been disappointed by this, if even them. I don't know how you could have left this show without a big smile on your face. It's hard to even describe, but they just...did it.



The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are here, they're legit, and as a festival headliner, on this night, they were great. Karen O said we were the "Best! Crowd! Ever!" Thanks Karen. You guys were pretty fucking great, too. I believe in the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Banned of Horses

I actually saw Band of Horses twice during Lollapalooza. The first time was at the Kidzapalooza stage where they played three songs on Saturday, including "Nature," which they say will be on Yo Gabba Gabba next season.



Caught them again on Sunday after Lou Reed. Now, Lou Reed is Lou Reed, so he can start 15 minutes late and go 20 minutes over and nobody's going to complain. He's Lou Reed, he was in the Velvet Underground. You're not Lou Reed, and chances are you weren't in the Velvet Underground. Got it? So, when Lou Reed goes 20 minutes over, there's not really much Band of Horses can do.

So, Band of Horses finally gets the chance to rock out, and they do obviously, 20 minutes later than planned because Lou Reed wanted to read the lyrics to "Walk on the Wild Side" from his teleprompter. Band of Horses is great at rocking out, they bring it, all the way 'til 8:30, which is when Jane's Addiction is about to start.

Perry Farrell said that this year he was going to get a helicopter, and sure enough, starting at about 8:25 you could see a helicopter circling around downtown. Then once 8:30 came around it got closer and closer. I keep pointing it out to Juan, we keep laughing like "oh man, what the hell, Perry."

Now, what does Band of Horses do? At 8:30 they're wrapping up "Funeral." There were still a lot of people around the stage, and apparently everyone knew the words. Who'd've thunk it.

Then they kept playing.

Like, whoa.

"Should we play some more?" And the crowd goes wild.

"How about another?" Yes please.

They played for a good 20 more minutes. Jane's Addiction even started their set while Band of Horses was still playing.

Now look, Lou Reed can go 20 minutes over and nobody else is going to start their set. Band of Horses goes over, and Perry Farrell, the man who created this festival, is going to start. I'm sure in the middle of the stages there was some incredible [pejorative] sound bleeding, but where we were standing all we could hear is Band of Horses. Sure if we turned around we could see Perry and Dave Navarro on the jumbotron, but who wants to look at that when Band of Horses refuses to stop rocking the fuck out?

Chances are, Band of Horses is never getting invited back to Lollapalooza, considering the played over the headliner, who happens to be the dude who invented this thing. But really, it doesn't matter. This time, this one time, this night, they had the best damn set. It was the best set of the day, if not of the weekend, for me. Festival-affirming, right there. Way to go, Band of Horses. On this night, you were fucking heroes.

Gotta love Sub Pop recording artists from the pacific northwest who have beards and are named after quadrupeds.

Right?

[that's Fleet Foxes. They are also on Sub Pop, they also have beards, and they were also good at this festival]

Glut

This was my fourth year at Lollapalooza, and for the first time in my four years did I skip a show because of the size of the crowd.

I definitely wanted to see Santigold on Saturday, and perhaps catch a little bit of TV on the Radio before heading to catch a little of Lykke Li and all of Animal Collective.

However, headed towards the north end of the park, where Santigold and TV on the Radio played, was absolutely awful.


That incredible glut of people leaving Arctic Monkeys and watching Santigold pretty much forced us to do an about face and see Lykke Li (above). It turned out to be an alright choice because her set was pretty good, but goodness gracious, that was insane.

Usually I can tolerate crowds. Hell, I go to Lollapalooza every year, and that's 75,000 people a day. I downright enjoy them sometimes. But that was impossible. I should've taken a picture.

"Screw You, Festivals"

Or at least it seemed like that's what the Decemberists and Animal Collective said when deciding their set-lists. Not that there's anything wrong with that.


The Decemberists played The Hazards of Love straight through on Friday, as they have been doing their whole tour. They've been doing one set of Hazards of Love, and then one set with old Decemberists songs. It was great hearing Hazards of Love, but I will say that it made me wish I had gone to the Metro show the night before, which was all fan requests. I think it made me like The Hazards of Love a bit more. On first listen I'll say that I really liked it, but I haven't had the inclination to listen to it since. I still think Side C is really strong, and I've gone back to listen to that side, but I haven't sat down and listened to the full album again. Maybe seeing them perform this will get me to do it. Knowing that the just announce Riviera show in October will be a Hazards of Love show will likely keep me away, but you never know.


Animal Collective then comes up on Saturday and they play their more slower, loopy, yelpy, pieces (setlist here). For the first half of the set, in the sunlight, they mostly stuck to that. For the second half they pulled out "Fireworks" and "Brothersport" to close their set, and the last 25 minutes were nothing short of incredible.

I'm hesistant to say that Animal Collective and the Decemberists are festival bands. In fact, I think I would say that they're incredibly not festival bands. Some bands are festival bands (probably Phish), but not these bands.

These set lists were very "we'll do what we want," and I can definitely appreciate that (especially from these guys moreso than, say, Billy Corgan). Sure, people didn't get to sing along at the top of their lungs to "Sixteen Military Wives" or "Summertime Clothes," and maybe sometimes that's for the best. Maybe, though, it would've been nice. Maybe.

Snare Drum

Steve Albini's favorite member of the 1994 Expos is Pedro Martinez.

I'm just saying, that team was all about Cliff Floyd and the young Rondell White. Just sayin'.


Shearwater was cool, too.

Lollapalooza pre-post

This is not the Lollapalooza update, sorry. That will come once I figure out how to get pictures off of my phone. I will say these things:

- Fried Twinkies, yum.
- I lost a pound on Saturday and a pound on Sunday, just from going to Lolla.
- The shoes that I wore on Friday are still out of commission.
- omg the Killers.
- omg Band of Horses.
- Brothersport!
- omg Karen O

That's all for the time being. Now it's off to Shearwater/Shellac.

Like a Boa Constrictor

There are these free dance classes in Chicago and they were just doing a promo and demonstration on the ABC 7 news. The dancers were dancing to "Boa Constrictor" and "Absolutely Cuckoo" by the Magnetic Fields.

Good choices.

More like Banned of Horses

Gonna do more Lollapalooza updates over the next day or two, but oh my god, that Band of Horses performance was incredible. I also doubt they'll play at this festival ever again, but goodness did it rock.

More later.

A brief Lollapalooza update

Will post more later, but for now I'm going to say that I think the most apt question for the headliners on Saturday night shouldn't be "How could the Yeah Yeah Yeahs live up to the Beastie Boys?" but rather it should be "How could the Beastie Boys top the Yeah Yeah Yeahs?"

and I love the Beastie Boys, but holy wow, the YYYs tonight.

[might be too soon to say any of this, and I'll see how I feel in 24 hours, but that performance was something else. Will expound later]

Preliminarypalooza

Gotta admit, at this point there are no bands that I really, really, really want to see at Lollapalooza this year. The Beastie Boys were the one that I really, really, really wanted to see. As of now, here's what's on the docket:

FRIDAY
Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears (or the Knux)
Bon Iver
Fleet Foxes
Decemberists
Of Montreal (sorry Andrew Bird)
Depeche Mode

SATURDAY
Ezra Furman and the Harpoons
Langhorne Slim
Los Campesinos!
Joe Pug
Santigold
TV on the Radio/Lykke Li (still deciding)
Animal Collective
Yeah Yeah Yeahs

SUNDAY
Yello Fever/Ra Ra Riot
Dan Deacon
Neko Case
Passion Pit
Lou Reed
Band of Horses
The Killers (although it sounds like Parry Farrel is pulling a ton of crazy shit, including but not limited to helicopters and a Chinese Dragon Dance crew)

It's supposed to rain on Friday, and be hot as hell on Saturday and Sunday. Gotta stay hydrated, yo. I'll be sure to let the blog know how it goes. Here's to the weekend.

Got My Name From Rock and Roll

American Songwiter counted down the Top 20 Jeff Tweedy Songs. Here's the list, along with a link to their post on each song:

20. The Long Cut
19. That's Not the Issue
18. Promising
17. She's a Jar
16. I Can't Keep From Talking
15. Impossible Germany
14. Wilco (the Song)
13. Gun
12. Sunken Treasure
11. Laminated Cat aka Not For the Season
10. Remember the Mountain Bed
9. Please Tell My Brother
8. Jesus, etc.
7. Heavy Metal Drummer
6. New Madrid
5. Hummingbird
4. A Shot in the Arm
3. I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
2. Ashes of American Flags
1. Misunderstood

I don't disagree too much with this list, and especially not number one, since that song provided the URL for this blogspot.

Brandon's top 20 Jeff Tweedy Songs (not in any order except for Misunderstood)--

Misunderstood
I Am Trying To Break Your Heart
Sunken Treasure
Jesus Etc.
Via Chicago
Shot in the Arm
Radio King
Dreamer In My Dreams
Someday Soon
Spiders (Kidsmoke)
Acuff-Rose
Screen Door
Gun
Too Far Apart
That's Not The Issue
Muzzle of Bees
Ashes of American Flags
Pot Kettle Black
Hummingbird
Hotel Arizona

My other list is: "The 19 songs from Being There, and 'I Am Trying to Break Your Heart'"

Edited to add: I don't really think any songs from the two most recent albums should make the list, but I will say that I feel really good when I listen to Wilco (the song).

Watch the world die

I think that once I go to bed (whenever that'll be) I'm just going to put this song on repeat and fall asleep to it. It's been stuck in my head all night. I just watched that video for the first time, though, and it wasn't very good.

I do sing along to this song at high volumes every time it comes on the radio, and I plan on at least softly singing the words to myself tonight.

Fun [not really] story: Everclear played a free show at North Avenue Beach, like, three or four years ago. Art Alexakis was sick on the night of the show, and it was incredibly...low energy, to be nice. But, they still played this song, and it was great. He had a very limp handshake that evening. Hank Hill would've been upset.

Overheard during an unbearably long Cubs game

Len: We could pull up some Pavement, from the mid-90's.

Bob: Ya know...pave paradise and put up a parking lot.

Len: ...yeah...Big Yellow Taxi...