12/16/08 Neil Young @ MSG

Last year at this time I attended one of Neil's many shows at the Palace Theater uptown. Even with my seats being near the last row it was one of the best concerts i've been to. That said i went into this show with high expectations and unfortunately was somewhat let down.

Not wanting to hear either opening band, i arrived at 9:00, thinking Neil would take the stage around 9:30 or so. I was wrong. I had to sit thru about 45 minutes of Wilco. I can appreciate that they play their instruments well and sing in key, but these guys did nothing for me. To be fair, the audience was very into their set, so i assume they performed up to their usual par. I just don't like their sound and i wast bored me to death. There was one part i really enjoyed, the crowd sang happy birthday to the son of the lead singer, then he (at 13) replaced the drummer for 1 song. It was a very cool moment and the kid was good on the drums. The lead singer followed with the line of the night, "It all goes downhill from here" referring to his son's musical ambitious. Funny moment.

Neil Young and band ended up going onstage at 10:15, which is my opinion and those of the people around me is way to late for a Tuesday night, especially when the main headlining act is Neil Young, who should be playing for hours, preferably 2 sets. Being that it was a Tuesday night and i'm a 9-5er, I ended up leaving around 11:30.

What i enjoyed so much about last years show was his first set. He played 60 minutes solo. It was incredible. I knew he would not play solo that long being that MSG is massive and needs a full band, but i did expect to hear a few more on the acoustic. I did not get a set list, but i know he played "Oh Lonesome Me", "Cortez the Killer", "Cinnamon Girl", "Everyone Knows this is Knowhere" and "Needle and the Damaged Dun" (!!!!).

Most of the songs were full band, playing that grungy, loose, anthemic, southern rock style that Neil is so famous. Unfortunately many of the songs hovered around the 10 minutes mark, "Cortez..." hitting 14, which limited the number of songs he played. I heard about 10 songs in the 75 minutes i was there. Mostly old, a couple of new ones that were decent, and one or two that just missed the mark. The crowd response was minimal, perhaps as a result of it starting so late, although the classics do still get a good reaction. "Needle..." and "Everyone knows...." were the highlights to me.

While i did not enjoy all the full band songs he played, Neil was excellent vocally and on the guitar/organ/harmonica. He is still passionate about music and about life, he is a pleasure to watch live and always seems to appreciate what he has. "Thanks so much for coming out" he said at one point, earnestly.

The show was not at all sold out, and in fact they upgraded our seats which was a nice bonus. Still, at $55 a ticket for the way upper level, i expected more, and an earlier start. That said I'll still go see him again every time he returns to NYC, he is a legend for sure.

11/17/08 Iron & Wine @ Terminal 5

Going into the concert I was a bit worried that the venue would be all wrong for I&W. Sam is one of my favorite singer/songwriters, I really wanted to be able to sit down to watch him. Seeing him last year at Town Hall was perfect, great seats, great sound. Since his first release and thru the latest, I&W has shown progress not only as a musician and writer but also a band leader. No longer is he solo, the band is ever evolving. Last night the 7 piece band was very tight moving from one style to the other.

That's one thing that really stood out to me about the progression of his sound, he is still the acoustic folky guy that most of us fell in love with, but now his sound encompasses jazz, bluegrass, country and his most recent venture seems to be jam based. He even asked us if we had the room to dance, which was unexpected, until he busted out a 10 minutes jam in between verses of a song. The band pays attention to the details. The music is full, lush, deep and strangely small and large sounding at the same time.

The setlist included a good selection of older tunes, while mostly playing selections of the last record "The Shephards Dog". What I find so fascinating and intoxicating about I&W is how he adapts every song for the full band. Nearly every song he played with the full band, was significantly different than the album version. All longer, more drawn out, changes in tempo and even in song structure, adding room for the music to breath. Most of the times i think he connected on improving the song, but one or two did not. A few of the songs seems a bit looser then they should, boy with a coin and house by the sea were not as good as on the album. He played 3 or 4 new tunes and i thought they all sounded excellent, and the crowd seemed to appriciate most of them as well. Its good to see him working them out live, hopefully that means they will be ready when it comes time to record again.

Sam was much more lively and talkative than the last show at town hall, which he alluded to. He seemed to enjoy the loud and often obnoxious NYC crowd, when the usual call for "freebird" was heard, he obliged to play the song for a few seconds, saying "you get what you ask for, bitch", the place went nuts, he had a big smile on his face, it was awesome. He showed alot of personality onstage this time. Vocally he was perfect, i don't think i heard an off note all night, the same can be said musically. While it still would have been nice to see him in a larger seated venue, (Radio City would be magical), the show was still fantastic, and i cant wait to see him again.

I did not get a set list, but i know he played: Sodom south Georgia, each coming night, boy with a coin, upward over the mountain... Resurrection fern was a highlight to me. He did not play Innocent Bones, which i really would have liked, or Naked as we came, still a very good overall selection of tunes. It sucked to be standing and have the show start at 10:15 on a Monday night, and i still dont like the venue at all, but that was an amazing show and i will got back again for the right act

10/06/08 Andrew Bird @ Hiro Ballroom, NYC

Amazing!

10/05/08 Fleet Foxes @ Webster Hall, NY

Wow. This is a show i will remember for a long long time. Since they released thier debut album i've been a huge fan of these guys. The CD has been in constant rotation. The newer EP is amazing too, every song is great. This was my first time at Webster Hall and i enjoyed it. As with most NYC shows i tend to go to, this was sold out and the audience was knowledgable of the music. They opened with "Sun Giant" which was amazing and a great way to start the show. They sounded great live, the harmonies were on point. They went right in to "Sun it Rises", great way to start the show. Overall they played exactly what was expected, nearly the entire album plus most of the EP. Robin played a few songs solo on his acoustic. The crowd was really into the show and so was the band, at one point them mentioned that this was the largest crowd they have played for or something like that. Funny cause its not a huge place for a band that is massive in the eyes of their fans. Very enjoyable and memorable, i'll be sure to catch them next time they come around.

08/10/08: All Points West Day 2, Liberty State Park, NJ

Animal Collective, Main Stage

Animal Collective, Main Stage

The Roots

Main Stage (During Kings of Leon)

The Black Angels

The Black Angels

Animal Collective, Main Stage

The Roots

The Roots

The Roots

Radiohead

The 2nd day was lots of fun, but also more frustrating. It took me over 3 hours to get there, i waited in line for the ferry for about 40 minutes, then the line to get into the venue was about 30 minutes. It was a total mess, they had about 3 people padding the crowd as they walked in, all 30,000 of us were padded down by the same 3 people. This trend would continue the entire day, as the lines for everything were very long. I passed on the beer area because it would have meant waiting at least an hour to get an awful beer anyway, they only had bud when i was there Friday, all out of the Stella, no surprise there given the options.

Despite leaving my housing at 2:00 i did not get inside the venue in front of the main stage until 5:20. At that point i had missed 20 minutes of the band i was mainly paying to see, Animal Collective. I was not going to let that bring me down, and I really enjoyed the next 40 minutes. They did a fantastic version of "Fireworks", which is such a great song. They are totally interesting live, lots of ambient noise, lots of what appears to be improvisation but somehow it all makes total sense and often its song driven. Some people were not impressed, but I think that was the case the entire festival. With such a diverse group of bands, most people did not seem to be very knowledgeable about each band, except for Radiohead. It was fun seeing them on such a grand stage, their sound and sounded great outside.

After they ended i made my way over to the "Bullet" stage to catch the last few minutes of The Black Angels. I've heard them promoted as part experimental, but they seems very straight forward to me, albeit with lots of delay and reverb on the main vocals. They were good, nothing very memorable, and a bit repetitive, but a good band. I might pick up their last CD. The singer would have sounded much better if he was not drowned out by the various effects on his vocals, but that was what they are going for i guess. That point is lost of me, but still enjoyable.

I went back to the main stage to check out Kings of Leon. I really did not enjoy them at all. I don't understand the logic of putting this band on after Animal Collective and before Radiohead. I really don't think they fit at this festival. Boring, pop hard rock music, i moved on after 2 songs.

I went and found a nice shady spot back at the 2nd stage before the Roots came on. I have seen them a couple of times a few years ago so i thought i knew what to expect. They blew away my expectations with an incredible show. Instead of mainly being what i would call a hiphop band, they have really transformed themselves into a funky jazzy act with an MC. Its amazing how tight they are and how good musically. I'm not sure how long it has been since they have added the guitar player (Cody Chestnut?) to the band as a full time member, but we was an excellent addition and a great guitar player. The addition of a Tuba player was also great, thu at times it may have clashed with the bass player. Very high energy set, with incredible attention to detail. They had the set of the weekend for me, i'm excited to pick up their latest CD which i hear good things about.

Then on to Radiohead, as i mentioned in my last post, i used to be a HUGE fan. When OK Computer came out i thought it was the greatest album ever, its still one of my all time favorites, so is Kid A. I tried to get a better view of the show that i had the night before, but there were what seemed like twice as many people, it was a bit much. It took me over 5 minutes to get out of the middle of the the crowd. I stayed for about 8 songs and it was just a boring as the night before for me. Way to many DOWN slow tunes for a headlining festival set. Maybe if i had a seat and it was at MSG, but after a day in the sun and some decent to great opening acts i was ready to rock, and unfortunately that did not happen. I did enjoy The National Anthem very much, and it was nice to hear the Bends, even from the way to the Ferry.

Overall i had a really nice couple of days. There were a bunch of things people were complaining about, such as the problems getting in, alcohol designated area's, and the lines for everything. Those were all valid complaints, but at the end of the day i still really enjoyed myself. I will be back next year if the lineups impress me, i really hope they learned from the many mistakes they made this year in the booking department and try and secure some good bands, besides just an impressive headliner.

Video of The Roots:

8/09/08: All Points West Day 1, Liberty State Park, NJ

Radiohead

Andrew Bird

Andrew Bird

Andrew Bird

Andrew Bird

Andrew Bird

Great day! I was skeptical about All Points West since they announced the lineup, which in my opinion was pretty awful. Even the few bands i wanted to see barely made up for it, or were on the smallest stage. I don't understand the crowd they were going for at all, it's part jamband, part folk, part indie, and a whole lot of pop, especially the headliner on Sunday, Jack Johnson, who I think is just awful. Then they announced the schedule and i saw that i could see Grizzly Bear --> Andrew Bird --> Radiohead which really excited me, and thankfully i scored 2 tickets to the Friday show on Ebay for less then 1/2 price. 1st time seeing GB, 2 for AB, and 4th time for Radiohead.

For reasons beyond my control i ended up arriving late to the event and showing up to hear the last 2 songs by Grizzly Bear. The boat ride there was fast and easy, and i saw someone i knew on the boat, small city. The lines to get to the boat were non-existent, a real pleasure to get to, although it was really expensive at $30 round trip. I have to admit the boat ride itself was almost worth that price along, it was great to see NYC from that view and at night on the way back it was even move amazing. We were close to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, nice experience on the way to the festival.

The walk to the venue from the dock was actually kinda long, but really nice as it was along the water. There was no line to get in and in minutes we passed the EDM area, which was extremely cheesy breaks, and to the 'Queen of the Valley'. Grizzly bear was good for the last 10 minutes that we saw them, but not great, and we did not see enough to really appreciate it. The crowd did not seem that into them. They ended 15 minutes early which really bothered me. We would have caught the majority of their set if not for the short ending. The crowd was not huge and i was a bit disappointed how not into the music they seemed. This was before i saw the other stages.

The park was beautiful and even thu they said on the website that blankets were not permited, many people did bring them including us. We sat down in the sun and waited for Andrew bird, the view of NYC and what i think is Hoboken from the park is great and worth a visit to see. Andrew bird took the stage i think 15 minutes early and played a fantastic 75 minutes. They added a bass player a few days before Andrew noted, he sounded like he has been playing with them for year, maybe he records with them. They sounded fuller while still maintaining the loop based formula. Wonderful tones, Andrew is a genius. He played 2 new songs, "Anonanimal" was excellent, i really enjoy that song. The other new song i missed the name of, it as alright. I think it was kinda of insulting to see him on such a small stage, he should at least played the 2nd to largest stage.

I caught a 10 minutes of Girl Talk, really not my thing at all. Not sure how a guy with a laptop i assume using apleton playing other people's music gets the bigger stage than Andrew Bird who played 4 or 5 instruments last night and had the crowd with him the whole time.

We waited forever to purchase a few beers at $7 each and downed them fast before heading to Radiohead because unfortunately you could not bring alcohol outside of the designated purchase/drinking area's. An unfortunate restriction.

There were plenty of people there for radiohead's set, i had very high expectations. Last time i saw them was 2003 or so, i have not really enjoyed their last 3 albums, i miss the days when they had verses and choruses and could write songs. Now most of their material to me is boring and repetitive with no direction. The set just confirmed that for me. That and the fact that they have mellowed out alot. The set was basically the entire new album plus a few old songs, mainly random ones. My company and I did not enjoy it very much and decided to leave, mainly to beat the rush home. The sound was fantastic, especially considering it was a outdoor venue. Nigel seemed to mess up a few times during Idioteque, mainly being off time with the electronic drum track, very noticeable. Besides that they were technically very good, Tom's vocals were great, thu somewhat whinnier then i remember. They did play a few tunes i loved, "Lucky" being the song of the night for me. Would have really enjoyed to have a high energy headliner, perhaps My Morning Jacket.

Overall even missing most of Grizzly Bear and not loving all of Radiohead, it was still lots of fun. So much fun infact that i decided to return the next day.

02/01/2008: Joanna Newsom and the Brooklyn Philharmonic

I've been waiting a few years to see Joanna live, this was well worth the wait. I can easily say this was the best concert i've ever been to. My eye's welled up a few times, including hearing the first notes of Emily. Joanna's music is so deep, moving, emotional, beautiful, intelligent, though provoking, and at time melancholy. Hearing the Brooklyn Philharmonic behind her brought Ys to life, thicker and richer then the album. The horn section especially was a welcome addition. Based on stage banter and body language, Joanna appeared funny and not pretentious at all. For someone with her talent and appeal she has a tremendous amount of humility, which is greatly appreciated. Her vocals were dead on, as was her playing. This was a truly special performance that i really cant do justice in this write up. I do hope they recorded one night on the tour and that i will get a chance to relive this experience again. My personal highlights were "Sawdust and Diamonds" (solo), "Cosmia" and "Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie". Setlist below, if there was a 2nd encore i missed it as i had to run to a gig of my own in NYC. Thank you Joanna for an amazing memorable night!

Set 1 w/ The Brooklyn Philharmonic
Emily
Monkey & Bear
Sawdust & Diamonds (Solo)
Only Skin
Cosmia

Set 2 w/ her band
Bridges and Balloons
Book of Right On
Colleen
Inflammatory Writ
New Song (untitled)
Peach, Plum, Pear
Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie
New Song ("phantom limbs....")
Encore: Unknown (to reviewer) with Kevin Barker