Thursday, April 9, 2009

I will one day sleep with all of you - Mountain Goats AND John Vanderslice @ the Portage Theater - 1 April 2009

Sometime, I would like to see both John Darnielle and John Vanderslice play with big giant bands including strings and keys. Their recordings keep getting more orchestral,and I want to see that onstage. But, I knew this "Gone Primitive" tour was to be solo acoustic, so I was prepared for bare boned Johns.

That said, I was very pleased with both sets at the Portage. Initially, this show was supposed to the at Epiphany, one of the Empty Bottle myriad venues, but then it was moved to the Portage. My new favorite venue. You can buy popcorn and wine. And you get to sit down.

Both of them worked great with the crowd. I got the feeling most people were not there to see JV though, but the theater seating lended to them generally behaving. He was great though. Even "Trance Manual," which I've always been sort of lukewarm about, moved me.

But John Darnielle - he needs the energy of the crowd, and by the end of the set, he had everyone on their feet and in the aisles. He spazzed out and barked into the darkness, sure to play a lot of favorites, including closing with No Children, sending us all home happy. (After telling us good night and promising that he would one day sleep with all of us. Nerd alert.)

Bloc Party @ the Aragon - 28 March 2009

...and I hadn't been to the ARAGON since November 15th, 2004. How do I remember the date? I'm pretty sure that was it, because it is my sister's birthday, and it was my first day of work at Rotary. I went with Andrea and Mari to see the Pixies. And to this day, I regret not really being in the moment. I think I was still just too overwhelmed with being back in Chicago to really take in the beauty that is the Aragon.

So, I think when I agreed to go to Bloc Party with Nicki and company I may have thought it was at the Riv. So when I heard it had been moved to the Aragon, I was pretty psyched.

Due to a certain Pitt/Villanova game, we were waylaid at T's, arriving at the Aragon after Longwave finished. That's good, since I don't know who the f*&k they are anyway.

And bloc party was fine. I still think all their songs sound the same. But the Aragon is beautiful, and we had a perfect vantage point up in the balcony, stage right. When a couple of people hauled out the umbrellas in the encore, spinning them over their heads, I almost cried. And then... and then... when the show was over, they played "I've Had the Time of My life" and I flashed back to my 7th/8th grade dances, all was well with the world.

A.C. Newman @ Logan Square Auditorium - 25 March 2009

I hadn't been to the LSA since a post-Thanksgiving Andrew Bird show in 2006. They've spruced up a bit. It even smelled like paint, and reminds me a bit of Turner Hall in Galena.

Hanging out at Dunlay's with my friends caused us to miss the Broken West, but that's okay. I've listened to them a bit, but nothing's every really stuck.

I was so happy with this show. I'd been looking forward to it for quite some time. I discovered Newman's first solo album a little over a year ago probably, and knew it was probably time for a new one soon. So when I hear about Get Guilty's impending release, and Neko Case's new album, I put two and two together and correctly predicted that they'd both be doing solo tours this spring.

When you have two albums of short-ish pop songs, it's pretty definite that you'll play almost all of your songs at a show, and they did. Since it was a solo tour, I was a little apprehensive, thinking they might be bare-bones, so I was pleasantly surprised by the huge band, including violin and and ultra-peppy guitarist. They delivered almost exactly what's on the albums.

The icing on the Carl Newman cake was the array of limited edition silkscreened posters for sale. They were only $10 each, but I held back... didn't buy the submarine one, or the gun, or any of the others leftover from the pevious stops on the tour. I just bought the Chicago bridge poster. And it's still rolled up on the dining room table, waiting for me to get my shit together and frame some stuff already.

Shiny Happy Swedes - Loney Dear w/ Anni Rossi @ Schubas - 1 March 2009

I love Schubas. And I love going to shows with my friend Joe. But even both of those combined didn't really put me in the mood for this Sunday night. What can I say? This has been a rough winter.

Anyway, when this Anni Rossi got on stage, I thought, oh great, who is this Andrew Bird wannabe with a damn viola? But, she was actually pretty intriguing. It's been 6 weeks now, so I don't remember exactly why, but I'd go see her again.

And Loney, Dear.... well they were just fun. I love the awkwardness of Swedish pop, and I really enjoyed the banter in between songs. It was nice to see them play these songs on actual instruments, when the recordings sound a little more digital. I did not get to hear "I am John" which is the song that drew me to them in the first place, but I heard all my other favorites.

It was a short set, but, as Emil Svanängen himself said before the encore, "after all, it is Saturday, and tomorrow you have to go to your works." So, maybe he gets his days mixed up, but he's adorable, and I had a big smile on my face when I left.

Getting too old for this...Blitzen Trapper with Alela Diane @ the Empty Bottle - 19 Feb 2009

Detours to Enoteca Roma and the California Clipper made us a little late for the opening act, Alela Diane. Reminiscent of Stevie Nicks and or young Emmylou, she was a nice little surprise when we did catch the last half of her set. On the other hand, the main thing I learned from that night is that I need to draw the line when it comes to bands I don't know well who are playing 10:00 shows on weeknights. I liked Blitzen Trapper based on two songs: The older Pink Padded Slippers and the newer Furr. However, the bulk of their southern frat rock was not my cup of tea. And they didn't play the former, anyway.

It was fun watching the frat-cult following, and the random dude in the bear hat really getting into the show, but it definitely sunk quickly to the bottom of my list of rock shows for the 2000's.

The evening's highlights included: California Clipper, Playboy Pinball machine at the Empty Bottle, and "Every Path" by Alela Diane.