Music Snobbery

Stereolab Cooks Up U.S. Tour for Fall 2008

Always good news when Stereolab maps out a U.S. jaunt. One of the most important bands in modern music has a new album called Chemical Chords that will be released on August 19. The tour will hit all the necessary places including a 3-night stand at Irving Plaza, which they've done before in 2001 or 2002 -- just don't remember the year. Last time, they did two nights at Town Hall.

• Sept. 20: Detroit Bar -- Costa Mesa, CA
• Sept. 21: Glass House -- Pomona, CA 
• Sept. 24: La Zona Rosa -- Austin
• Sept. 26: Variety Playhouse -- Atlanta
• Sept. 27: 40 Watt Club -- Athens, GA
• Sept. 29: Cat's Cradle -- Carrboro, NC
• Sept. 30: 9:30 Club -- Washington, DC
• Oct. 1: Trocadero -- Philadelphia
• Oct. 2-4: Irving Plaza -- New York
• Oct. 6: Paradise -- Boston
• Oct. 7: Club Soda -- Montreal
• Oct. 8: Phoenix Concert Theatre -- Toronto
• Oct. 9: The Crofoot -- Detroit
• Oct. 10: Vic Theatre -- Chicago
• Oct. 12: First Avenue -- Minneapolis
• Oct. 14: Gothic Theatre -- Denver
• Oct. 17: Showbox -- Seattle, WA
• Oct. 18: Wonder Ballroom -- Portland
• Oct. 19: Commodore Ballroom -- Vancouver
• Oct. 21-22: The Fillmore -- San Francisco
• Oct. 23: Henry Fonda Theatre -- Los Angeles
• Oct. 24: Belly Up Tavern -- Solana Beach, CA

Sounds good to me, but more than likely, I'll be no where near the U.S. during their NYC and Philly dates. EuroTrip 2008 is brewing for me at that time.

Dr. Dog @ Mercury Lounge: Year of the Dr. Dog?

Tonight, the boys from Philly re-started that train. Destination: acceptance in the music community. Heck, maybe they can finally quit their day jobs and not go back to their old ways.

For years, the guys have had the backing of such luminaries as the Strokes, CYHSY, Wilco, Jack White, New Pornographers and My Morning Jacket -- touting them as band that will blow your mind. Hey, I don't need those bands to tell me what their deal is.

The band road tested new material from their third properly released album, Fate, which will be out on Park the Van records on July 22. As the band acknowledged and said, "We recorded some new material. In the process, we've forgotten how to play our old stuff." No way, these guys are just going to knock some socks off this year. The new material had people cheering, screaming and wondering what the new songs are called. It began with a spacey, psych jam called "Ark" (I think) which sounds like some music Glenn Frye use to score for Miami Vice, very blues-like and mellow with high-pitched guitar notes. The five-piece spent the first song pacing the stage and building momentum.

Other tracks had some big time pop melodies very much in line with the Dr. Dog sound. Somewhere between Brian Wilson, The Band, Neil Young and Philly doo-wop lies Dr. Dog's ramshackle sound. Of course, the old material from We All Belong and Easy Beat still resonates with fun grooves and foot-stomping jams.

As leaders of the new Philly music scene, Dr. Dog is poised for some stardom I think. Maybe Fate will do to the Dog as Z did for My Morning Jacket. Nothing but good can come from it. I count down the days until it arrives in my hand.

Previously:

• Dr. Dog at 2007's Siren Festival
• The guys meet the Philly Phantic
• The new Philly music scene

As a funny note, the Park the Van label were giving away old Teeth CDs at the merch table. Tee hee

Foals/The Ruby Suns @ Maxwell's: They Like Pina Coladas

It was big British buzz band Foals taking the stage tonight at Maxwell's. The sold out crowd received a big dose of quasi-math rock and post-punk, dance rock.

I think it's safe to say that Foals has the best buzz of any new U.K. band. Their debut album, Antidotes, is a stellar album that's a big bundle of energy with precise syncopation of beats and rhythms. Their show tonight had a lot of energy that the band is know for. That's how I'll remember it. Yannis Philippakis is spastic guitarist and front man, who plays his guitar likes it's trying to bite his crotch off. It's a balancing act of his shyness on stage and having the music take over his body.

The band is based around their heavy bassline and intense drumming. That drummer is a monster I tell you. He tested out his drums might on every song. While they might be compared to contemporaries like Bloc Party or Arctic Monkeys, they remind me more of the American band, Battles. Foals music is based on repetition that results in a spacey groove and dance beat. I'll looked around and saw plenty of people nodding their head to the beat. I tend to do the swing my head from side to side move that I stole from Alex James.

Antidotes is a strong contender for this year's Mercury Prize. Depending on where you read from, it was producer by TV on the Radio's Dave Sitak. There's a little gray area on his involvement and what was left of his mix on what we hear on the final release. In any event, I'm surprise how modern it sounds. It just seems everything coming out has some sort of 80s synth basis. Antidotes comes along and it doesn't sound like it stealing from that era at all. The structure  is complex with the different rhythms being bounced around amid tempo changes and long-instrumental passages.

I'm not 100% ready to anoint them the next big thing from the U.K. The band will probably acknowledge that tonight was not their best effort. They were caught in traffic, resulting in a short sound check from a tired band at the end of their tour. They even mentioned how frustrated they were with how they are sounding, but they enjoyed Maxwell's Pina Coladas.

The situation reminded me of the Klaxons when they did a few U.S. dates. At that time, they were on the cusp of taking the U.K. music scene by storm. Their album was brilliant because of the clean production, but their live show was a little shaky. Foals' live show is not a full-reproduction of the album. The result is that you feel that energy from their performance and that's why we go to shows. Then again, you can sense their frustration in their performance tonight.

Thus, I think Foals is going to be a hell of a live act once they've played more together and are use to touring in the U.S. I do think they'll make a difference in the U.K. music scene once more people listen to the album.

The Ruby Suns are alright in my book. Like their friends and neighbors Architecture in Helsinki and the Brunettes, these New Zealanders take everything at their disposal to create their own band on pop music. They'll take different instruments and processed sounds and blend together different ideas to make some wonderful, creative music. The one thing that sets them apart from their friends are their heavy use of live procession on top of a drum machine, giving the music a tribal feeling. Their live set was more of an circus act to get all their instruments straighten out. It's like, "You go there and play whatever is nearby, while I turn this nob to the beat and hopefully it will come together."

In Praise of Craig Newmark of Craigslist

I haven't done one of these in a long time ... a drunken blog post. Four white wines in an hour will make for some fine writing.

Tonight, I found myself at a function honoring Mr. Craig Newmark, the man behind Craigslist.org. If you're a frequent concert goer like myself, it's an invaluable tool for finding over-priced, unwanted tickets and for dispensing of your tickets at the last moment.

I've actually never bought tickets for a show. I waited twice outside venues and the person never showed up. Once it was for Of Montreal in 2005 at the late NorthSix and the other was British Sea Power at Bowery Ballroom in 2005. The opening act that night, Feist, and she sounded great outside on Delancy. Of course, I've sold my unused tickets many a times (hint, add me to your friends list on myspace, I usually have plus ones for shows and dump unused ones). One time I remember, I was getting rid of Animal Collective tickets a few year ago, and the dude who replied first was coming from Bay Ridge Brooklyn. He decided the best way to get to mid-town Manhattan was through Staten Island and Jersey at 5pm rush hour. He did not get the tickets.

Feel free to post in comments your Craigslist stories.

The other side of the site that I find humorous are the missed connections, especially at shows. Most of them are from guys for girls and they go something like this: "You were the girl in the black tank top, I was dancing near you at the Cut Copy or Def Leppard show, we caught each other's eyes a few times but I was too shy to go up and talk to you. Write me so we can awkwardly meet in public so that I can attempt to make-out with you."

Here are some of the previous Craigslist posts:

• High Comedy for Arcade Fire tickets (January 2007)
• More Comedy for Arcade Fire tickets (February 2007)
• Desperate People for White Stripes tickets (June 2007)
• Missed Connections at shows (February 2008)
• Trying to get tickets for my show (April 2008)
• Craig was sitting behind me at The Colbert Report (June 2006)

In any event, thanks to Mr. Craig for your unwaivering dedication to your site and for making it the easiest site to use. Even though I'll hear on the news, "The 13-year old boy met the man on the web site Craigslist," I still think the site has been a benefit to us all. More importantly for me, I found MusicSnobbery headquarters via the site and saved me $1,500 in broker fees. Finally, we share a creed not to have advertising on our site.

In chatting with him, I was trying to think of jokes he could use in his speech. I was thinking everyone should wear a name tag that says, "This Person Has Been Flagged for Content". Then, everyone can sell the free stuff they got in the For Sale section. He figured he'll try to make the speech basic, similar to the style of the site. So I suggested it should be riddled with bad grammar and poor phrasing.

If you want more from Craig, he'll be the guest on The Colbert Report tomorrow (Wednesday night).

Now, these kind of events -- sometimes I just don't fit in. I feel like a little kid who's sneaking downstairs to my parents dinner party wanting some food. I had to remind myself to look respectable and wear pants.

While trying to snarf down as many alcoholic beverages, I have to look like I belong. Eventually, I need to divulge that I am a semi-known, barely functioning alcoholic music blogger from Jersey. Yup, that will sure impress the ladies. Here's my missed connection: "You were the good looking girl in the flower dress with the v-neck. You put your drink on my table so you can text on your Blackberry.  You look like one of those vaguely-European models you see on the front of the Sunday Target ads wearing the limited edition fashions. Drop me a line and we'll talk." I looked around and I saw people I should know. It's like, "Yeah, there's the guy who wrote that book that I'll never read." Meanwhile, if you were wondering where the MisShape DJs are, they are DJing functions like this one.

The Walkmen were there to play a few songs. The new album will be out August 12, with a title still being worked on. 

Neil Diamond to Play MySpace Secret Show Tomorrow At The Bitter End

First come, first serve, line up now. See you jerks in line...

Top Prom Songs of 2008: As if Going To The Prom Is Bad Enough

I look forward to seeing this About.com list every year, because it reminds me how much the prom is a waste of everyone's time and money. Good thing I'm not a high school teacher and don't have to chaperone one of these things. Haven't our kids suffered enough?

In any event, this is for the kids out there and here's what you have to look forward to this year:

1. Chris Brown, "With You"

2. Lifehouse, "You and Me"

3. Jonas Brothers, "When You Look Me in the Eyes"

4. OneRepublic, "Stop and Stare"

5. Aerosmith, "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" (Hey, let's slow dance like it's 1998 ... old skool style!)

6. Elliott Yamin, "Wait for You"

7. Paramore, "Misery Business"

8. Taylor Swift, "Our Song"

9. Pretenders, "I'll Stand By You" (Oh, sure. They pick the worst Pretenders song ever.)

10. Timbaland featuring Keri Hilson - "The Way I Are"

I love the little explanations after each song. "This is simply the hottest groove of the past year, bar none." It sounds like something a Top 40 DJ would say is a parody sketch. "Heeyyyy. This is DJ Dan with the hottest grooves. POW. Now, let's Ride Like the Wind with Christopher Cross."

Everyone one of the song descriptions in the About.com article is pure gold. I live for this stuff -- it brings out the snobbery in me.

Elliott Yamin quickly graduated from American Idol also-ran status with this huge hit single. I think more people have seen the Loch Ness monster than seen Elliott Yamin in concert.

OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder is something of a melodic genius. Yes, it's about time this generation has their own John Lennon type genius, and it is a form of another thinly-veiled Christian Rock band.

This list comes from this fellow: Bill Lamb, who's a music journalist and their Top 40 expert. He also looks like he can detail your car for $39.95. That's the kind of photo you see on shopping carts in PathMark or A&P.

The School Bring Out Their Umbrellas for Debut Video

I'm always down for a video that makes reference to the French film, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. The Cardiff collective, The School, tap into their inner-Concretes and Belle & Sebastian for their debut video for the song, "All I Wanna Do."

Nick Lowe @ Maxwell's: The Jesus of Cool Returns

To finish off my five gigs in four night extravaganza on Friday night, I garnered up enough awake time to see a true legend in music, Mr. Nick Lowe. To the general populous, he's the man behind "Cruel to be Kind," but to those in the know, he's one of the most important writers, producers and performers in late 70s British music.

So seeing him at Maxwell's was a major happening, even if it was just him and a guitar. He played for a good hour and some change and he was engaging to say the least. You kind of have to pinch yourself when your within feet one of the greats.

The setlist:

• People Change
• Soulful Wind
• When I Write the Book
• What's Shakin' on the Hill
• Long Limbed Girl
• Lately I've Let Things Slide
• Has She Got a Friend
• All Men Are Liars
• I Trained Her To Love Me
• I Read A Lot
• My Heart Hurts
• Man That I've Become
• I Live on a Battlefield
• Without Love
• Rome Wasn't Built in a Day
• Shelley My Love
• I Knew The Bride When She Used To Rock And Roll
• What's So Funny About (Peace, Love and Understanding)
• Heart of the City
• Encore: Beast in Me
• Seven Nights to Rock

As you can see, The Basher delved into his well-known songs, as well his recent songs from At My Age. His best-known album, Jesus of Cool, got a fancy new reissue via Yep Roc records, home of Billy Bragg, Paul Weller, Robyn Hitchcock and Bob Mould.

You do have to acknowledge Nick Lowe's place in music history. Beyond his own catalog of finely crafted songs with brilliant lyrics, without Lowe there would be no Elvis Costello. Then we would be in a world with no Armed Forces, This Year's Model or My Aim Is True. Just check out his biography and you'll see the man has been a success through out his 40-year career. What's So Funny About (Peace, Love and Understanding) and Cruel to be Kind are two of the best pop songs of all time.

With that in mind, it was a treat to see the man stripped down to him and his guitar, so you can appreciate his storytelling songwriting and sometimes witty lyrics. You can tell that he held the crowd's attention because it was silent when he was playing and then broke in thunderous applause when he played his better known tracks. His banter was brief, but he explained that this was his first visit to Hoboken, home of Sinatra.

I think I just dug being there and seeing him. He could have sat on a chair and read his lyrics and I would have thought it was amazing. In any event, the stripped-down show was a good tribute to the man and how he shows no sign of slowing down.

The Basher brought out some of my favorite locals -- comedian Todd Barry, Ira and Georgia of Yo La Tengo and WFMU's Glen Jones. Come on, how often are you going see a Nick Lowe-type legend in such a small place? As a side note, I caught a few songs from opener, Bill Kirchen, who graduated Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan with a man by the name of James Osterberg.

White Lies Releases First Video for Unfinished Business

Soak in the glorious sadness and big noise power of White Lies debut video for the single "Unfinished Business" before the NME over-hypes them. If you think it's a little too-Joy Division in the beginning, give it a little time and wait that booming chorus.

The lads just kicked off a U.K. tour, as part of the NME New Noise Tour. They'll be joined by Crystal Castles, Team Waterpolo and Friendly Fires. After that's they'll do the festival circuit for the summer, then a headlining tour of their own in the U.K. They'll stop in the U.S. in August for Lollapaloosa, and one can hope they'll stop in New York before or after that.

• May 2: Carling Academy - Oxford
• May 3: Thekla - Bristol
• May 4: Waterfront - Norwich
• May 5: Concorde 2 - Brighton
• May 6: Rescue Rooms - Nottingham
• May 8: Carling Academy 2 - Birmingham
• May 10: Radio 1 - One Big Weekend Maidstone
• May 11: Carling Academy 2 - Newcastle
• May 12: Academy 2 - Manchester
• May 14: Astoria 2 - London
• May 15: The Sugarmill - Stoke
• May 16: The Great Escape Festival - Brighton, South
• July 12: T In The Park Festival - Kinross, Scotland
• July 15: The Eden Project - Bodelva, Cornwall
• July 19  Latitude Festival - Southwold
• July 20: Lovebox Weekender Festival - Victoria Park, London
• July 27: Fuji Rock Festival - Fuji
• July 28: Liquid Room - Tokyo
• Aug 3: Lollapalooza - Chicago
• Aug 9: Field Day Festival - Hackney, London
• Sep 21: Club for Bach - Cardiff, Wales
• Sep 22: Night & Day - Manchester
• Sep 24: Little Civic - Wolverhampton
• Sep 25: Bodega - Nottingham
• Sep 26: Leadmill - Sheffield
• Sep 28: Thekla - Bristol
• Sep 29: Komedia Brighton
• Oct 1: Arts Centre - Norwich, East
• Oct 2: The Cluny - Newcastle Upon Tyne
• Oct 3: King Tuts Wah Wah Hut - Glasgow
• Oct 4: Faversham - Leeds
• Oct 6: Carling Academy - Oxford
• Oct 7: ICA - London

The Kills @ Webster Hall: The Badassadors of Indie Rock

There's so much to talk about with this unreal, mind-blowing show. I can start with how the duo were so on fire that New York's finest had to come in and shut it down. Members of NYPD, the Fire Department, the F.B.I., the C.I.A., the Office of Naval Intelligence, the National Guard, the National Football League, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The Prize Patrol and Cap'n Crunch all had to be called to investigate the smoke that Allison and Jamie were causing with their intense brand of modern rock. Now, that my friends is hard core, TWO times.

Forgive me if I'm still pumped from the show at 2am. I have no idea why about five songs into their show, there were men in fire gear storming the stage and pointing to the roof. Even before they were there, I noticed three security guards on the side of the stage pointing to what I thought was the balcony. I was thinking someone was smoking weed or a fight was breaking out. Next thing you know, the Fire Dept. came and shut down the show.

An announcement was made that the venue was having technical difficulties. The look on Jamie and Allison's face were ones of befuddlement. I then took note of the fire exits. Twenty minutes later, the fire department was back on stage and on their way out. One of the guys yelled into the microphone, "ROCK 'N' ROLL!!!!!" Your tax dollars at work, New York *rolling eyes*. No clue what the deal was, cousins. All I know it was a buzz kill at that point. The band came out and got things on track with "Alphabet Pony."

The setlist (corrected, thanks for the heads):

• U.R.A. Fever
• Pull A U
• Sour Cherry
• Tape Song
• No Wow
• Alphabet Pony
• Wait
• Last Day of Magic
• Kissy Kissy
• The Good Ones
• What New York Used To Be
• Cheap and Cheerful
• Fried My Little Brains
• Goodnight Bad Morning
• Encore: Love Is A Deserter
• The Search For Cherry Red
• Fuck The People

Now that's out of the way, let me tell you that The Kills show tonight was crazy rocking. That's due in part to a genius new album, Midnight Boom, and that Jay and Alli Mo have sobered up just a little bit. I had seen them three years ago in Philly and I liked the idea of the band. Two guitarists/singers who are backed by a laptop who have a modern take on 60s garage rock and 70s punk. At that time, they didn't seem all together. Alli had been known to chain smoke and pace back and forth on stage in a nervous rage. All the while, she would have her back turned to the audience or hide behind her big jet black mop of hair.

Fast forward to 2008 and the band has made an album that will find its way in my top 10 and hopefully a Mercury Prize nomination. Midnight Boom is an animalistic, in-your-face head fuck of dirty guitar riffs, sexy/scary vocals and a cool rock attitude. The album bristles with grittiness that will make Royal Trux jealous.

With that in mind, I had been looking forward to this show the most this week, even higher then The Verve show. I wanted to see the two of them grind this new material on stage. They nailed everything. Jay, with his girlfriend Kate Moss sitting on the side, was giving Jack White a run for his money. He might not be flashy, but he plays with unhinged intensity. At the end, he was pulling out guitar strings and banging a water bottle against it. He even gets to unleash his inner-demon with his low-toned vocals on "U.R. Fever." As a side note, does Jamie look like the actor Mathieu Amalric from Munich and The Diving Bell & The Butterfly? That actor is also the new Bond villain.

If there wasn't firemen during the show, I would have started out with how Alli Mo was checking me out during the show. I'm not talking about coming over to me and singing a few bars. While she was walking in circles, she would glance over at me, then come back around again to look at me. She has lasers on me, I swear. She was toying with me. At one point, she was standing by me with her hair dangling over me. I'm looking up and I can see in her eyes that she was in the rock 'n' roll zone. The look was, "Yeah, I'm looking at you. What are you going to do about it?"

Let me just speak to her for a second folks....

Allison, I am but a simple music blogger born in Brooklyn and living in Jersey who drinks a lot wine and eats cookies. I do not live your rock 'n' roll lifestyle of hanging with artists and supermodels at fancy clubs and wearing trendy clothes. We're just in two different worlds. We can still be friends. *sigh*

Now that my friends is a cool chick. She's gotten it together since they put 2005's No Wow. She's embraced the rock star role better. She's like that chick in art class in college who sits in the back and doesn't say much. She has jet black hair and a tad on the goth/punk side. Then when you get to know her, she's actually really sweet and shy. Only if she took care of herself, she could be a really hot chick. Well, that's Allison Mosshart in a nut shell -- a tremendous fireball of energy on stage with a snarl of a singing voice. When she sings on something like "Sour Cherry," you don't know if she wants to seduce you or kill you. It's apparent that she's playing a character on stage and outside the glare of the spotlight, I'm sure she's just a fun, shy girl.

I do have to point out the back projection was cool as hell because at one point they showed the ending of this great French film called The Lovers on the Bridge. It stars Juliette Binoche and Denis Lavant as homeless bohemians living under a bridge in Paris. The ending is remarkable and beautiful as Paris is lit up in fireworks. They also showed scenes from Godard's Sympathy for the Devil documentary and old footage of Sonic Youth and Patti Smith.

I was actually suppose to see them on Saturday at Johnny Brenda's in Philly, but had to back out ... le sad. If there's one thing I'll take away from this show is that these two cats are just as cool you can be and at the end, I felt like I was cool as well.

Feist @ Hammerstein Ballroom: Hi-Def Is the End of Sexiness

I must admit that I was skeptical about seeing Feist again, now that's a huge success and supply & demand dictates that she play large venues. One of the main ideas of music snobbery is that an artists is always better before he or she becomes popular. Then you can say, "Well, I saw her back in the day where she was playing Knitting Factory," like I did just now.

Here's the deal, gang. Good music deserves to be heard by as many people as possible. If soccer moms and people who don't live and breathe indie music discover her through an iPod ad, so be it. Nothing you and I can do about that. Feist is a great singer and unbelievable talent and it was only a matter of time before people caught on.

With that said, this is my fourth time seeing Feist since 2005 and it was by far the best she's ever sounded and played. With her delicate voice combined with the vocal riffs she sprinkles into her songs, she embracing the new attention, while remaining true to the person I saw back in Knitting Factory when Let It Die probably sold 10,000 copies tops.

The difference now with her shows is that she can ad more artistic elements, which included some low-tech art projections. You got simple drawings being created on the spot that was blown up for the back of the stage. Then, there was some abstract puppetry that set the tone for some of her more mellow songs. Now that's a good job to have on a tour -- make drawings, move shadow puppets and hold light bulbs for Feist.

The music is really the constant with her live shows. She still likes to break out the looping pedals and muted microphones during her set. "Sea Lion Woman" from The Reminder has become sort of her big finale with everyone in the band clapping and yelling to the beat. Obviously, "1234" is her calling card now, and she gives that her all. I'm still of the belief that Let It Die is more enjoyable album for me, being that I am child of the AM Gold/Singer-Songwriter era of the 70s. That album with the slight disco ballads, muted horns, electronic flourishes still has a soft spot for me. She's dropped the Bee Gees cover of "Inside and Out" from the setlist, in favor of Sarah Harmer's "Open Window" and boyfriend Kevin Drew's "Fucked-Up Boy".

I've never seen her so spunky and goofy before. She went on for five minutes singing people's names for the whole alphabet. Must be that Canadian sense of humor. With all her funny quirks, it shows that she wants to make these large rooms as intimate as possible. With this 4,000+ crowds in New York (motto: City of Endless Distractions), she needs to hold their attention the whole time when breaks out the quiet torch songs like "Let It Die" and "The Water".

When I was reading BrooklynVegan commentors (a fine lot indeed) about how Tuesday's crowd were a bunch of yappers, I was prepared for that. I was separated from the crowd, so I didn't think it was egregious. Hammerstein holds about 4,000 and you're going to get the majority being people who don't go to shows on a normal basis. The only thing you can do is mock them for afar online.

Anyway, there are so many good things for Leslie in becoming a household name. If people discover her work with Broken Social Scene, Kings of Convenience and Gonzalez, that's a good thing. More importantly, new material can be interesting. I'm hoping she rocks out a little more and goes more into the alt-country vein that was hinted at in "I Fell It All".

As per usual, Feist prefers dim lights for her shows. It's all mood for lovers out there.

Previously:

• An early post from me when I didn't know how to write a blog, and I'm missing the photos from the 2005 Knit Factory show. *blush*
• Feist played Webster Hall back in the day with Mates of State and Jason Collett.
• Moving on up to Town Hall last year.

The Verve @ The Theatre at Madison Square Garden: Never Drop Acid of a Wednesday

No longer does Richard Ashcroft have to pimp out Verve tunes with his backing musicians on a solo tour. He can get his old mates, The Verve, to do it for him.

Welcome back, guys. Although, you would never have guessed that these lads have been on hiatus for a decade. They look and sound like they've been going strong since 1991. I'm always skeptical of reunion shows because they are mainly done for paychecks. Tonight, I didn't get a sense at all that this was one of those "cash a paycheck" reunion shows. Ashcroft made no references about reunions or getting back or "it's been so long" speech. He just showed up to blow your mind.

Amazing amazing amazing show. Me and Jason from ProductShop NYC kept on looking at each other between songs with the expression, "Man, this is fucking great."

The setlist:

• A New Decade
• Sonnet
• This Is Music
• Space & Time
• Life's An Ocean
• Already There
• Weeping Willow
• Sit and Wonder
• The Rolling People
• Gravity Grave
• Velvet Morning
• Drugs Don't Work
• Lucky Man
• Come On
• Encore: Bittersweet Symphony
• Love Is Pain

I can't over-emphasize how on point their performance was. Ashcroft has the best voice from the 90s BritPop/Rock era and tonight his voice is as fluid and soul-stirring as his last performance in 2006 at Webster Hall. This was my first time seeing The Verve, so I got to see Nick McCabe and all his guitar glory. It wouldn't be a band without him in the line-up.

While The Verve are not an arena rock band in the Oasis vein, they are more a spiritually uplifting band with songs about strength, hope and devotion. It's important to note that most of their music is based on the Northern Soul movement from 1970s England. They are from Wigan, the epicenter of that scene, so they are more about moving the mind than the body.

The show felt like a spiritual revival with people holding their hands above their heads as if they are praising the high power of The Verve. It was also good to see that the band themselves are enjoying being together again, with Ashcroft looking over at McCabe and being marveled by his guitar skills. Again, you would have never guessed that these guys took such a long break.

A new album from them this year should be interesting, considering Ashcroft's solo work has been a subdued, more romantic affair. Since Urban Hymns came out in 1997, so much has happened to British music. You have Franz Ferdinand and Kaiser Chiefs revitalizing the BritPop era, Bloc Party bringing dance rock into the fold, Arctic Monkeys and The Libertines doing their brand of post-punk rock and slew of 80s-revivalist bands infusing the British music scene. It will be great to have The Verve remind people that rock music can stir the soul and can have influences beyond The Smiths, Blur and The Clash.

 

Amy Macdonald @ Mercury Lounge: Miss Brightside

Before I begin, did you have a happy Free Ben & Jerry's Cone Day or happy Grand Theft Auto IV Release Day?

Before I took in The Verve, I had to at least see a few songs from Miss Amy Macdonald, the Scottish singer-songwriter who no doubt will make a lot of people happy in America once word gets around about how good and skilled she is. The T-MEG (Typical Music Executive Guy) who introduced her was beaming with pride about her New York debut and how big she is going to be. I leaned into my friend and said, "This is type of guy who's ruining the music industry." I joke.

I picked up on Amy a year ago because I found "Poison Prince" such an engaging, upbeat song and it came off beautifully tonight at Mercury. Yeah, she'll get some foot-stomping in these parts.

The setlist

• Poison Prince
• Los Angeles
• Youth of Today
• This Is the Life
• Footballer's Wife
• Mr. Rock n Roll
• Mr. Brightside (The Killers cover)
• Road to Home
• Run
• Let's Start A Band
• Encore: Caledonia
• Barrowland Ballroom

I darted after Road to Home, a song about her dead dog which she licensed for use in football stadiums. Whatever works.

Her voice is so rich for a mere 20-year old woman from Glasgow. She doesn't hide her accent at all in her performance. Al thought she's a Scot, she has a tone similar to Ireland's Dolores O'Riordon. Her songs have a good balance between traditional folk and alt-country/roots, but with a lot of pop bounce.

As a person, she seems like such a cool chick. Obviously, she's easy on the eyes -- looking like a better adjusted, better-nourished version of Christina Ricci. This being her NY debut in front of some record people and the like, she tried to loosen thing up by telling wacky stories or observations like how she ate a pastrami sandwich from Katz just 10 minutes before the show. Not a good idea. Like most Scots, she has easy demeanor.

This Is the Life will get a proper stateside release on August 12th, a good year after its U.K. release. Since then, she overtook Radiohead's In Rainbows one week as the top album in the U.K. Consider me impressed.

She'll probably get pegged as a KT Tunstall type, the folkie, poppie girl from Scotland. She'll get some underground buzz eventually, then she'll hit the mainstream and be made to appear on The View and do corporate gigs for makeup products.

In the end, the music is worth a listen.