Concerts

now that i'm out of the woods on argentine posts, i've decided to flip up the chronology of posts a little bit to write about some more recent events. yes, i'll still likely post regarding my trip to norway and latvia as well as my experiences sponsoring lake harriet united methodist youth trips, but i wanted to hit a couple others.

one topic currently on my mind is music. as seen in my previous post, there has been lots of music purchasing/acquiring going on lately and i managed to follow suit by attending several concerts this summer. here is a quick rundown on some of the shows i've been to, what i generally thought of them, and anything else worthy of note.

devotchka at first ave: i had no plans to go to this concert until my friends Liz and Tyler had an extra ticket. i had not been particularly familiar with them but did a little research and found out they had done the soundtrack to the film "little miss sunshine" and had been touring in support of a recently released album. two opening acts - the first forgettable enough that i don't recall the name. the second, basia boulet, was a show stopper in her own right, playing mostly by herself but with a voice that got the sold out crowd really moving. Liz was so impressed she bought her cd although i think it was not as good as her live performance. devotchka came out with an interesting sound. guitar, tuba (or maybe it was a sousaphone...), and piano or drums or violin depending on the song. what seemed novel at first soon came to sound rote by the fifth or sixth song. however, to spice up their encore, devotchka brought out two girls who did cirque de soliel type of moves from large pieces of fabric hanging down from the ceiling. that was neat. the music itself, not as neat due to repetitiveness. but check out the album version of the song "transliterator." that is my favorite of theirs.

the rock opera "lacplesis" in some field in latvia: yeah, i saw a rock opera whose title translates to "bear slayer" in a field on latvia. not only that, but it was written in 1988 and this was the 20th anniversary of that first performance. while this all sounds perfectly ludicrous (and believe me, it was), there is actually a nice story that i'd like to share. the plot derives from a latvian folk tale and was one of the first expressions of a cultural identity and heritage allowed by the soviet leaders who typically suppressed all the local flavor. so this was a BIG deal at the time. for this commemorative performance, they brought back as much of the original cast as they could. this meant that the hero now had a pot belly, another had a receding hairline, etc. the original performance had been taped and that was sometimes projected on the large screens while the singers performed presently. this is some of the original. the night got kind of long, cold, and dewy, but i'm glad i had this experience although the 80s rock ballads drove me crazy.

gnarls barkley at the grandstand, state fair grounds: i really liked their first album st. elsewhere. got a chance to listen to the odd couple upon my return and found a different sound i also enjoyed. went with Andrew and Lisa. rain threatened. cloud cult, a minnesota act who was kind of getting big, opened. their music was hit and miss. the fact that they had two people painting pictures on stage was more interesting. gnarls barkley, though, was great. cee-lo came out in a legitimate cape and dangermouse tinkered at his piano-looking instrument like a mad scientist hunched over his latest button-heavy invention. highlights of the night: getting to sit for the majority of the concert, their cover of radiohead's "reckoner" (cee-lo hit it out of the park), and fireworks going off during the climax of their encore.

rage against the machine at the target center: a large part of my high school experience was set to the music of rage against the machine. i was thrilled and scared the first time i heard and saw the video for "bulls on parade." the music was electric, about something, and appeared to make people go absolutely crazy when heard live. however, as a scrawny high schooler who had never been to any concerts let alone a rage concert, i kept my distance. then they broke up and i thought my chance had passed. well, if the republican national convention spurred anything worthwhile for me personally it was the additional date rage added in the twin cities to play opposite their meeting. along with friends Micah and Ryan, my immediate fear for my body was relieved to find we were not in general admission (since at this point i am now a scrawny professional in my mid 20s). from the safety of the balcony i enjoyed living out one of my high school dreams. rage came out wearing orange jump suits and masks a la guantanamo bay and ripped into "bombtrack" to get the party started. what followed was an hour and a half of music to make your blood boil, head nod, and fist pump. the atmosphere was electric, heightened by the hundreds (seriously, hundreds) or riot police waiting outside in case the crowd was stoked into rioting, which happened when rage against the machine had played in los angeles during the 2000 democratic convention. i managed to leave the venue peaceably, get on my bus and head home. others did not.

a place to bury strangers at the triple rock social club: Liz and i decided we wanted to see live music. we both had always wanted to go to the triple rock whose location is only blocks away from augsburg and been passed many times. what we got was really really loud music. a place to bury strangers is in the vein of my bloody valentine and plays the loudest, most abrasive music i have heard live. using special guitar pedals and effects, it was just washes of jarring feedback. the next day i listened to an album track and could hear some of the musicality underneath but that was all lost in the live show. it was bad news when we looked around and realized we were the only ones without earplugs.

beck at the roy wilkins: i had seen beck perform one other time, while promoting sea change with the flaming lips, and it was a stellar show. this iteration suffered a bit from comparison, a bit from the venue, and a bit from the others near us at the show. while i think modern guilt is a fine album top to bottom, it doesn't have the over arching feel of sea change and the set list showed that. what we had was mostly a medley of hits off of his post-mellow gold albums. a couple b sides. a cover. when the vocals went out on a three song portion, it kind of seemed like he quit after that. apparently the acoustics in the place are notoriously poor and it seemed like he noticed it. the worst piece was some of the people around us in the crowd who insisted on moshing and crowd surfing. they were extremely drunk and annoying and took away from the overall enjoyment for several sets. however, beck and his (female) lead guitarist sang a beautiful duet of "lost cause" that made the show worthwhile for me.

beastie boys/ben harper/tenacious d at the roy wilkins: another high school wish fulfilment. although the beastie boys are now 45, 42, and 42 years of age, they still bring it. ostensibly for getting the vote out, the political posturing was kept to a minimum. they ran through the hits (sabotage, root down, no sleep til brooklyn, intergalactic), mix master mike was a demon on the turntables (even working in a snippet of swizz beats' "it's me snitches"), and i danced for their entire set. as odd as it might sound, however, i may have enjoyed tenacious d's opening set even more. sticking closer to their self-titled than to the movie soundtrack, the antics of kg and jack black were pitch perfect for getting the party started. jabbles' voice definitely holds up live and kyle gass plays the acoustic guitar as if he were a bald, pot bellied, middle aged man who had done nothing else with his previous 38 years of life. that is to say, he plays very well. highlight of the night: tie between tenacious d and ben harper covering queen and david bowie's "under pressure" and the anticipation of hearing the beastie boys famous introduction moments before they ran on stage. Ashley Tangen and i danced through the entire beastie boy's set. which served as a solid warm up for the next show.

girl talk at first ave: i feel like i came late to the game on this act, but i feel like it was just in time since he was coming to minneapolis. while he claims not to be a DJ, he mashes up just about everything from the pop landscape into something new and entirely danceable. Ashley brought along two friends who bought tickets at the door and we suffered through the opening acts. cx kidtronik was up first and had an undeniable fascination with butt cleavage, littering all the screens in first ave with crack hanging out from low riding jeans. and their music sucked. imagine noises from those guns that toggled through 8 electronic sounds when pulling the trigger mixed with indistinct grunts and heavy bass hits. the next act, a miserable punk act named the death set, only seemed better by virtue of their band logo being a three eyed cougar face instead of where poop comes from. however, Ashley and i did not let that deter us from our will to go crazy with dancing. we worked our way into the middle back of the floor and by the time he was on stage and the music had been going for a minute, we were center front. this was helped by the fact that security was pulling people onto stage to get the dance party aspect going everywhere. anticipating the sheer amount of sweat i would produce, i wore two sets of basketball shorts and a short sleeved polo with and undershirt and matching sweat bands for head and wrist. i completely sweat through both layers, rivaling the grossness i would breach on at camp dances, and it made for a chilly bus ride home as the lady with the coat refused to shut her window in spite of my teeth chattering. with a sold out crowd pulsing on all sides, the music and dancing swelled to points of transcendence in which i felt like i was beyond myself. simply amazing stuff. a thousand high points in that set, but extra-highlighted by the mix of m.i.a.'s beat to "paper planes" with jay z's verse from "can i get a..." also notable, dancing in the throng of people, turning around to see who bumped into my back and looking straight into the face of my friend Tyler Suter whom i did not know was going to be there, sweaty from dancing and smiling all the same like myself. Ashley took before and after the set pictures and with enough convincing I could be coaxed into posting them (assuming i get them from her).

it's been a good summer for concerts.