Rpeluso,
I'd love to get your take on the eels show if you'd be willing to post about it. |
Thank for the review, Notec. |
Telluride Chamber Players at the Telluride Opera House, just the other day. Pretty mainstream program, but very nicely played in a great sounding little venue. |
Notec,
If you don't mind posting, how was the Ferrar show?
All acoustic, all electric, or a mix?
UT, Son Volt, solo material, or a mix?
Just kinda curious.
TIA. |
Journey and Steve Miller last Friday. Not my choice and definitely not my cup of tea - but the beer was good and it was a fun night at Hollywood Bowl with friends, mostly crappy music notwithstanding. |
RPeluso,
I've seen them a bunch of times over the years, tho not in the last 5 or 6. E (Mark Everett) is kind of unpredictable. I've seen shows where he didn't say a word and others where he was engaging - it's part of the reason I was eager to get your take.
I personally think he's a really gifted songwriter with great command of pop, rock, and folk forms, so I'll always be curious about what he's up to. Thanks for the feedback. |
Saw my 8 year old play at a piano recital last night along with two dozen of her friends. Unforgettable show.
I'll also try to catch the Eels tomorrow night in LA and will definitely see World Party in two weeks. |
I'm pissed at Tommy E. He's doing a ton of shows on his US Tour, but none in SoCal. I've never seen him, live either, dammit, and I agree that he's a just about incomparable player |
Agree re: Lobos. I always try to catch them when they play nearby (pretty often, since I live in LA) so I've seen them more than a dozen times. David Hidalgo is a truly fantastic player and Cesar Rosas and Louie Perez (when he steps out from behind his kit) are both impressive guitarists, too. Steve Berlin is a great sax man and the overall level of musicianship is pretty much off the charts (so to speak).
I also love their repertoire. Straight-up blues, rock, quirky covers, and a half-dozen Mexican folk styles. You never know what you're gonna get, you just know it's gonna be great. |
I saw Sarah McLachlan at The Greek Theater in LA last night. It's a fantastic outdoor venue, the weather was perfect, the band was tight as a drum, and Sarah is a charismatic performer who can sing her ass off. Unfortunately, most of the music was a snooze.
Overall, a nice night out with friends at The Greek with pleasant, tho unremarkable music.
BTW I completely agree re: the great appeal of Montreal, but if you want to feel better about leaving that town, I say visit in February. |
Not a giant Mahler fan. so I don't know the repertoire all that well, but I did see a performance of Symphony #9 many years back that was a knockout. It was memorable enough to prompt me to explore his work a bit further, but I never found much else that grabbed me. |
Fjn,
Not akg, but I was at the show opening night in Minny, so I'll offer my take. I thought that it was a great show, but very different from last year's set. Christine got a third of the songs this time and the net effect was a show that was a bit less rockin' (IMO), but still very high energy. Mac showed more of its pop side this time around as some of last year's Lindsey Buckingham rock songs were traded away for Christine's pop hits. OTOH, I thought that both McVie and Nicks were in peak form.
I'm a Buckingham first guy, so I preferred last year's set, but - for me - this one was still better than 99% of the shows I've seen this year. |
Fleetwood Mac last night at the LA Forum. Second show I've seen on the current tour and substantially identical to opening night in Minneapolis. Which is to say, absolutely wonderful. |
I saw the opening night of the Fleetwood Mac tour in Minneapolis last night. Christine McVie is back and her vocals were very impressive. It's amazing that she can sing like this at age 70+. This band is always great IMO, but Christine's presence definitely changes things up a bit. One third of the set list that had previously been given over to "deep tracks" is now used to play Christine's hits. Coupled with the fact that Lindsey Buckingham's allotment of songs included several solo acoustic numbers, the net effect was a less rocking affair than the last few Mac tours.
Buckingham did redress one quirk of the last tour. While that set list included a mini-suite of tunes from Tusk, it omitted "I Know I'm Not Wrong", the IMO the fiercest straight ahead rocker on the record. He played it this time and absolutely tore it up. My highlight of the show.
Overall, however, this is definitely a somewhat gentler Mac show, but still tons of fun.
BTW, Stevie Nicks' voice was also in much better shape than I remember from the last tour. Maybe opening night gets you in before the wear and tear of touring takes its toll on vocals, but the singing last night was overall amazing. |
I saw Culture Club with the LA Symphony Orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl last night. Boy George has long been a favorite singer of mine but he was merely good enough (rather than impressive) last night. It may be what he's always sounded like outside of the studio or time may have taken its toll on his voice (or maybe some of each), but the singing didn't carry the show the way I expected. OTOH, one fun, familiar, bouncy hit after another made for an enjoyable evening. George has surprising charisma and a great sense of humor regarding his public image (and a lot of their stuff, too).
The LASO is always a great time as well, and they did a short "pops" (Pomp and Circumstance, et al) set before CC. In all, it was great good fun. |
Good to see all the Richard Thompson love here!
My wife and I arrived in Las Vegas yesterday to see tonight's Buckingham McVie show (which stars in about 5 hours). After we checked in and got dinner, we wandered over to Planet Hollywood and bought tickets to see Pitbull. Evidently he's a Big Deal these days and my bride wanted to go. It was a quick show and entertaining enough - he played 75 minutes - although I'm not sure how much more he could have gone on before it got annoying.
The odd part (for me) was the large overlap between "street attitude hip-hop" (not sure that's the right genre, but it's as close as I can come up with) and traditional schmaltzy Vegas spectacle. Loud pop music, highly choreographed, big lazer production, lots of "feel blessed to be here" / thanking the audience speeches, and the requisite scantily clad, top heavy dancing girls. In a way, it wasn't much different from the Rat Pack. I guess it was very different in some ways, but it felt very much "in the Vegas tradition".
Incidentally, while there wasn't a ton of musical ability on display, Pitbull's drummer is a beast.
Later tonight - Lindsey and Christine.
|
Lindsey and Christine. Terrific show. The new material works better/rocks harder live than on record IMO. Buckingham's voice was in much better shape than it's been in for years. McVie still has great pipes. The new rhythm section is hard edged and great on the more aggressive material. They skipped a few songs that I'd have loved to hear, but that's usually the case when the band has so much material that I love.
BTW - The Wallflowers opened. Their set started slow, but picked up steam throughout. Coincidentally, given all of the Richard Thompson love recently exhibited in this thread, they covered "I Want to See The Bright Lights" and it was a high light of their set. |
Bdp
I know of Fritz and the Fritz story, and I’ve seen a few photos, but I never heard them. Unfortunately.
BTW, Buckingham and Nicks moved to LA after they got a deal with Polydor. Fritz auditioned, but the label just wanted the two of them. Their record flopped, but Buckingham happened to be in-house when Mick Fleetwood walked in looking for a studio and new guitar player. Fortuitous meeting. |
