Music Snobbery

Los Campesinos!/The Orion Experience @ Maxwell's: Free the Adequate Seven

It doesn't seem that long ago since I last saw Los Campesinos!, the intensely, rambunctious college grads with a record deal. Then when I looked, it was last summer. Holy cow! The kids from Cardiff have finally come into their own with a full-length debut album and their first proper extensive U.S. tour, which began tonight in Hoboken.

I knew I would love them all over again, but I didn't expect it to be a friggin amazing experience with one pumped up crowd. As I always say, the true music fans go to Maxwell's because it's a tad out of the way and people recognize the importance of this little haven.

The setlist:

• Broken Heartbeats Sound Like Breakbeats
• Don't Tell Me To Do The Math(s)
• Death To Los Campesinos
• This Is How You Spell Ha Ha Ha We Destroyed The Hopes And Dreams Of A Generation Of Faux Romantics
• Drop It Doe Eyes
• The International Tweexcore Underground
• Knee Deep At ATP
• My Year In Lists
• Frontwards
• We Are All Accelerated Readers
• ...And We Exhale And Roll Our Eyes In Unison
• You! Me! Dancing!
• We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives
• Sweet Dreams Sweet Cheeks

I've never seen a crowd try so damn hard to get the band back for an encore. It was a good five minutes of loud cheers and claps, even spontaneous outbreaks of "One blink for yes, two blinks for no. Sweet dream sweet cheeks. We leave alone." It wasn''t just a handful of people, it was a good half of the crowd. They didn't cone out, because that's pretty much all the songs they know. "It Started with a Mixx" has been scraped from their repertoire and "C is the Heavenly Options" and "2007" is not fully ready for live consumption. I say leave on high note, kids, but valiant effort to get them to come out.

The seven piece still look like they are staying up past their bedtime. I kid them, but with that youthful glow comes a youth exuberance in their music. On stage, they are a shy bunch, still getting use to the newfound attention. Like many bands in the myspace era, they were discovered and signed within six months of being formed. One day you're late for class, the next day your touring with Broken Social Scene.

Tonight's show was good stuff. Even when their new gear was wonky, they turned into a positive. When the guitar string broke at the beginning of "You! Me! Dancing!", the drummer just kept on keeping the beat. That aloud the crowd to get pumped up for their big rave-up favorite. Then, it happened again for the other guitarist during "Sweet Dreams Sweet Cheeks".

What comes off great during the show is the male-female vocals from my man Gareth and Aleksandra. In time, they'll build on that dynamic. They are a still a young band, but they play with such excitement and bravado that it doesn't matter in the end.

So after name-dropping them 15 months ago, they have a full-length out called Hold on Now Youngster. With all the elements coming together, it's an exhausting record at first listen. Even when they have sad, depressing songs, they throw in some high-speed guitar riffs, keyboards and glockenspiel bangs. It's the best Power Pop album to come out this year, and you'll be hard-pressed not to get caught up in it. It's a crazy, exciting, frantic and robust piece of BritPop in an era of fashionable, trendy bands.

Do check them out in your next of the woods. I was tempted to see them again Saturday in Philadelphia, but going switch it up with some DeVoTcha action, who are in Philly on Saturday as well.

As a side note: the drummer was wearing a T-shirt that said, "Free The Adequate Seven". The Adequate Seven are a defuncted band from their old Cardiff stomping grounds.

Previously:

• An interview with Gareth
• Their August 2007 show where me and a few members of I'm From Barcelona crew pick up Gareth so he can crowd surf.

You think living in this area for eight years, that I would know or at least heard of every popular New York indie band. Then you come across The Orion Experience, and they've been around since 2005. Even through they are local, they sound more Californian, with the nods to sunny mid-60s bubble gum pop. Mix that with some modern indie rock, even a little ska pop and you get their sound. I caught a handful of songs and some of it fun. I definitely like the more bubble gum elements of their songs.

Adam Green/Tim Fite/Laura Marling @ Town Hall

Adam Green, the beloved New York singer-songwriter with the deep baritone voice and quirky sense of humor, played his largest headlining show to date last Saturday at Town Hall. When he said on The View that he was playing there, I thought it was the perfect setting for him and it was about time. He may come off as this jokey musician with nonsensical lyrics to Joe Public, but from following his solo career, I knew he takes his music seriously. So, Town Hall suits him fine.

The setlist:

• Festival Song
• Hollywood Bowl
• Broadcast Beach
• I Wanna Die
• Leaky Flask
• Cannot Get Sicker
• Friends of Mine
• Gemstones
• Chubby Princess
• Nat King Cole
• Her Father and Her
• Drowning Head First
• Getting Led
• Be My Man
• Novotel
• Grandma Shirley
• Salty Candy
• Dance With Me
• Morning After Midnight
• Baby's Gonna Die
• Encore: Tropical Island
• Carolina
• Where Not Suppose To Be Lovers
• Jessica

You got to see an Adam Green show for two reasons, to hear your favorite songs and sing-a-long or have a good laugh with him. I hadn't seen Adam live for about four years since the Friends of Mine album, and his performance hasn't changed much. He still likes to goof around on the whole rock star performer thing, so he twitches and jumps like a spaz. It doesn't make the show, but it keep me guessing at what kind of tom follery he'll be up to next.

Above all, I dig Adam for his adorable songs, that, yes, can make you laugh. Whether it's intentional or not that's another story. While his Moldy Peaches partner Kimya Dawson has made music that's more stripped down, Adam gravitates toward more fuller music with strings, backing musicians and gospel singers. He straddles that line from being a serious musician and novelty act. It's no wonder it took Juno to highlight his Moldy Peaches work, because that appealed as a goofball comedy and artsy dramedy. Adam even mentioned that some of the people at the show discovered him because of the movie. I'm thinking 10% maybe. He's always been popular in New York. By comparison, he's playing the much small First Unitarian Church in Philly and Black Cat in D.C on this tour.

The guy has been a prolific music maker. His newest opus, Sixes and Sevens, is his fifth album in six years. Like his previous albums, the songs are short on time, but long on enjoyment. He packs in 22 songs ranging from full-on big pop orchestral tunes like "Morning After Midnight" or simple guitar-backed songs like "It's Fine." What brings me back are those big, catchy songs, all of which he played tonight. "Friends of Mine", "Carolina", "Gemstones," and "Baby's Gonna Die" are the ones that make the kids rush the stage and crowd the aisles. Yeah, all those whipper snappers crowded my side of the floor towards the end. More power to them because the crowd could have used some energy.

As much as I like his music, his sense of humor takes the best of him. I do wonder how much of it is intentional when he falls over the microphone cord twice and everyone gets a good laugh. During one point, his mic became unplugged, leaving the song without a whole chorus as he fiddled with it. His stage banter ranks with the best of them because he answers everyone's random shouts. Some dude screamed, "I love you." Adam responded, "I love you, too. Are you Italian?" Other random lines from Adam: "Any of you people on the guest list? I love guest list people." "This is my drummer .... he's Jewish." My favorite: "I grew up in Times Square. I use to love going to the Dunkin Donuts, so this really brings back memories."

No complaints about the show. His deep baritone voice fits Town Hall well. That same old photo of him as a kid blown up to Citizen Kane-sized proportions gave the show its off-kilter nature. Loved the gospel singers. Loved the setlist since he played what you would expect.

A few side notes. I was seated five people down from supermodel Agyness Deyn, who was also at The Kills show. She dresses like Ducky from Pretty in Pink, which I guess is what the cool kids are wearing these days. Finally, Town Hall is a nice venue, it could be a great venue if it wasn't in Times Square. On a Saturday night, Times Square is a hell hole of tourists. The Cuban Revolution wasn't this frenzied. I know tourism is probably the No. 1 source of income for the city, but people, there are other things that New York offers beyond the six blocks of Times Square. Please discover them so that I'm not poked in the eye while people are pointing at billboards of M+Ms.

It had to be said, now my fabulous pictures.

Tim Fite was one of the opening acts for the night, and he fits right along with the eccentric Adam Green. I knew of Tim when he went by the name Tim Sullivan. He was in the band Little-T and One Track Mike, which is the only band that really ever did anything from my alma mater of Rutgers ... and that's not saying much. As Tim Fite, it's more of a performance art thing he does with animation as scored by him and a guy on a laptop. The music itself is They Might Be Giants merged with Beck hybrid. By itself it is decent enough to check out. His live show is hit or miss with me. He acts like a dink (it's a Rutgers trait, trust me) with all his facial expressions and you get what his shtick is early on. I do like some of his songs live and you get a nice chuckle from time to time. "Let's go out and kill a mother fucker ... Okay, can I finish this sandwich first?" Other times, the country twang degenerate act becomes tired.

The fine new talent from the U.K., Miss Laura Marling, was an excellent edition to the line-up. Her fantastic debut album, Alas, I Cannot Swim, will probably get a Mercury Prize nomination this year. She has a great grasp of harmony. It's an earthy album in that you get images of forests, beaches and any landscape you choose. For now, she's comes off better on the album, then she does live. While it was just her and her guitar, you can focus on her flawless voice. I kind of wished I heard all the elements on the album that made it such a pleasure. I'm sure eventually she's have a backing band. On Saturday, she played six songs to a handful of people who came early. You all missed out a major new talent.

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 drumming 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 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."

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.

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.

Elbow/Jesca Hoop @ Webster Hall: I Remember Myself

This was an interesting show for me and requires a bit of background.  Saturday night, I couldhave easily done the I'm From Barcelona thing again in Brooklyn on Saturday, but went with Elbow and Jesca Hoop at Webster Hall. The main reason being that I've haven't seen them live since 2002, well before I had this contraption of a blog. I have no excuse why I haven't seen them since. I've bought every album, even the special two-disc sets they've put out. I should have seen them at least once since then, but when you have 2,300 CDs and an untold of amount of music to listen, you tend to forget some bands or they just fall by the waist-side.

Basically, I stink because Saturday was a monster of a performance. I knew I would like it even though I had to re-listen to every album to get caught up and equate myself with their fourth album, The Seldom Seen Kid. By the end of the show, I was completely impressed, enraptured and kicking myself for not paying attention to then band more often.

The setlist:

• Starlings
• The Bones of You
• Leaders of the Free World
• Great Expectations
• Mirror Ball
• Red
• Grounds for Divorce
• Forget Myself
• The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver
• The Stops
• Newborn
• One Day Like This
• Encore: Puncture Repair
• Station Approach
• Grace Under Pressure

The big thing I remember from their opening slot on the Doves tour in 2002 was they started out with a bang. They secretly filmed people coming into and walking around Hammerstein Ballroom before the show, then projected it over their song, Any Day Now, to kick off their set. I remember, "Holy shit! That's me sitting against the barricade waiting for the show to start."

Fast forward to last Saturday, the mood is set with a fog machine and some blue mood lighting for the song, "Starling". The band members enter the stage with trumpets. Guy Garvey sings a few quiet verses and BLAMMM. They all play a high note on the trumpet and the stages is flooded with a blinding white light for two seconds. Then, it's back to being moody. I would consider that another holy shit moment.

The show had so many great moments. It's interesting how just recently they scored a minor hit with "Forget Myself" from their last album, Leaders of the Free World, because it was featured in the movie, Southland Tales. So when they played that live, it was a real crowd pleaser and Guy indulged the crowd by singing to specific people. He even high-fived me. Right back at you, mate. He also got Webster Hall's disco ball to come down on command.

I think it helps the show that lead singer Guy seems like a genuinely nice guy and was truly pleased to be performing tonight. To me, he kind of looks like Ricky Gervais. It must be that Manchester sense of humor. He chatted up the crowd between songs and even got everyone to sing "Killing Me Softly" before the encore. I must admit, that was brilliant when everyone joined in. He comes out and was just laughing his ass off.

Musically, Elbow is in the same music spectrum as Doves, a lot of melodic soundscapes and strong vocals. They are not a big, BritRock band in the Oasis vein. They are more concerned with creating mood and atmosphere, then rocking out or being rock stars. The new album has a strong outer space quality with different elements like orchestrations and echoing vocals. The song that stood out to me was "One Day Like This", a quasi gospel rock track,  which the crowd instantly took to with their sing-a-long chorus.

So I think I made up for lost time by seeing them on Saturday. By the end of the show, I looked around and saw everyone beaming with joy from the show.

Another reason I came to the show was to see Los Angeles songstress Jesca Hoop. When KCRW named her album, Kismet, the best album of 2007, it made me scramble into my stack of unlistened to CDs. The name sounded familiar. Sure enough, I've had the album all this time. When I listen to it, I knew she was right up my alley. It's a screwy album because she crams all her musical tastes in one album. She likes old timey folk and inspiration songs, then she likes chamber music and more theatrical elements. Before you know it, she throws into some funky beats in a song like in something like "Intelligentactile 101" or 'Out the Back Door"

I was hoping to hear those eccentricities tonight, but Jesca just showed up with a guitar and a early 20th century dress. She looked like she just stepped out of an Coke-Cola ad from the 1910s. Since she was the opener and her music is in a different realm from Elbow's, Guy came out and politely asked the crowd to be silent for her show. It's a good thing because I get nervous for singer-songwriters when the open for big rock bands at Webster Hall. Nobody seems to shut up by the bar and you hear crappy techno music coming from the club below.

In any event, I think she has an amazing voice, similar to P.J. Harvey mixed with Annie Clark. I like how Jesca songs sound antique, like they were transported from another time, like from The Great Depression era California. With that said, I'd still like to see her with a full band so that her more eccentric qualities and miss-mash of genres come to life.