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

08/05/07: Blonde Redhead @ McCarren Pool, Brooklyn

The website said 3:00-8:00 so i got there just before 5:00 thinking I'd catch 'I'm from Barcelona' and Blonde Redhead. I missed all the opening acts and 30 minutes of Blonde Redhead's set because the line to get in took us over an hour. What was the point of RSVPing? It was well worth it thu, and i did heard the music from the outside. They are a fantastic band.

They played most of the songs from their new album, which is one of the best albums so far this year. They opened with "Dr. Strangeluv", and not in any order they played "23", "Top Ranking", "Spring by summer fall", "The Dress", i think they played "SW", and their last encore of the three was "Silently", one of the best songs from the new album. They also played a few songs from the past including "Falling Man" and "In Particular" great songs. Some long ambient kinda jam, strange, enjoyable, yet somewhat unnecessary, I would have liked to hear a few more songs from "Misery is a butterfly", perhaps "Pink Love" or "Melody". I was very pleased with the selection of songs in general.

05/03/07: Bjork & Konono #1 @ Radio City Music Hall, NYC

Amazing show, but waaaaaaay to short! She was onstage for about 70 minutes. To the music, I though everything from Medula was horrible, and i thought most tunes from the new album were hit or miss... Some new songs i hated (Earth invaders, Declare independence), but i really enjoyed "Dull flame of Desire" with Antony, which I really loved, my fav song of the new record. I also enjoyed "I see who you are" which is another highlight to me. Yoga was perhaps my favorite song of the night, although Venus as A Boy was great all stripped down.

It did sounds like they lost the beat a few times, a friend said it sounded like a DJ trainwrecking. I know the keyboard player was off time at least twice which surprised me. Also, to me the horn section was a bunch of amatures, they sounded bad. Musically i enjoyed the horn section, but their tone was horrible. Oh and should be illegal to encore with 2 new songs! Thats crazy! I think artists should reward the audience with something they know and enjoy, i would have liked to hear "Unravel", "Cocoon", or "human behavior" at the end.

All in all, great show, Bjork is amazing. Her voice, presence, and passion is inspiring. Although i paid over a dollar a minute (which is insane), this show was worth it and more.

The Opener Konono #1 was fantastic. Really fresh to my ears, something i've never heard before, amazing grooves. I will be checking these guys out for sure.

04/09/07: Arcade Fire @ Radio City Music Hall, NYC

Wow. That was freaken awesome! I went with my girl friend Vanessa, and we both loved it. Few songs in the middle from the new album were flat and the crowd hardly seemed to respond to them (at least compared to the old stuff). But the show started great, and ended spectacular. The last 4 songs were exactly where the crowd wanted. One of the most passionate crowds i've ever been in, by the end of the show the place was going crazy! I had the front row of the first balcony, amazing seats. Only thing i would have liked to hear would have been a few songs from the first EP which is amazing, as good as Funeral, aside from that they played everything i wanted to hear.

Don't miss this band if they come to your town, they have so much energy and enthusiasm when they play, great great concert!