2 Aug 2008 - Lollapalooza (De Novo Dahl, The Postelles, Mason Jennings, Devotchka, Okkervil River)

De Novo Dahl
A prefect start to a nice sunny day - this band greeted the morning in bright orange and yellow rompers, which stood out nicely against the walls of the band shell. I'd never heard of them before, save for one song that I'd downloaded from the Lollapalooza site, but they kept me occupied and glad I'd gotten up early and made it downtown.

The Postelles
Next up was another group of fresh young faces. The crowd wasn't too big - they had a solid performance, and they really seemed to be enjoying themselves. I kept listening to their catchy little pop songs for several weeks after the show.




Mason Jennings
I've seen Mason several times since I first "discovered" him 9 long years ago. It's been interesting seeing his style, lyrics, fan base and band members change. I enjoyed Robert Skoro as his bass player for a few years, but since then haven't noticed anyone of consequence in his band. That sort of hints to me that he might be a pain to work with, but what do I know? He has a woman playing bass now, and that's cool in my book.




Devotchka
This is a band that has come a long way since I first saw them as a random opening act when I was living in Denver back in 2000. They were fun, and I'm glad that a band with sousaphone, accordion and theremin can get invited to play such large venues. ah, the power of indie film, because I don't know that they'd have had so much exposure without Little Miss Sunshine and the like.





Okkervil River
And finally, I worked my way to the front for Okkervil River. I'd seen them once before, but being right against the rail was much more exciting than being in the balcony at the Riv. The whole band has such a great energy, and seemed to really be enjoying the day, (except for the lone female, sort of absently playing guitar off to the side.) I had fun playing with my new camera while they performed. "The President's Dead," and "For Real" were standouts, but "Westfall" blew my mind.

1 Aug 2008 - Lollapalooza (Yeasayer, Gogol Bordello, Mates of State, Cadence Weapon, The Cool Kids, Stephen Malkmus, and just a smidge of Radiohead)

Here it is Boxing Day, and I'm attempting to update ye olde blog. I figure I'll start where I left off, and see how far I get.

When we last spoke, I had just returned from the mega-festival that that takes place in beautiful downtown Chicago: Lollapalooza. When I first bought my three-day pass, I thought for sure one of my friends would join me for at least part of it. But, alas, I was flying solo, left to navigate to sea of pot smoke and sunscreen on my own.

Even though I got down there pretty early on Friday, the time I'd planned to spend listening to Rogue Wave was spent waiting in line instead. When I finally got in and made my way to the stage where #2 on my list (Yeasayer) was playing, I was starting to feel pretty old and uncool compared to all of the teenage hipsters surrounding me.

I couldn't get very close for Yeasayer, and that was a bad moment. I wondered if I was going to spend the next three days craning my neck to see bands that I liked, but didn't love. I couldn't imagine that that many thousands of people were there to see Yeasayer, who I didn't think had garnered such a following yet. Eventually, I got into the flow of things - learned some of the tricks to getting closer to the stage - and became thankful that I was there alone, and could follow my own agenda.

I'll just provide a few words on each act I caught, and throw in a couple of pictures where appropriate. More for sake of my own documentation than for your enjoyement, but if you like it, awesome.

Yeasayer
I was too far away to really get anything special from their live performance. After listening to their album, I was expecting to see some more interesting instruments (steel drums perhaps?) Chris Keating was a bit of a diva - refusing to take off his jacket despite the 90s temps. It was just okay, from my vantage point.


Gogol Bordello
If I had moved to the front after Yeasayer, I probably would have been able to get a great spot for this set. They sounded great, and put on a good show visually, complete with dancing ladies. Eugene Hütz really connected with the audience, and helped to put me in the mood for the rest of the weekend of rock.



Mates of State
Major disappointment here. I'd been listening to them sporadically for the last couple of years, and thought it would be neat to see them live. But, really they didn't bring anything new to a live performance than a recording. The keyboard and drums were about as far away from each other as possible on the stage, and, with Kori's head always hanging down (see below photo) there didn't seem to be any connection between them.



Cadence Weapon
Finally, I got was just a couple rows back from the stage for this young Canadian's set. Despite being afriad that the bass was going to change the direction of my blood flow or make my eyeballs implode, I had a lot of fun. I took a few mediocre pictures, but I liked what happened to this one when I started playing around with it.



The Cool Kids
Now, despite living in Chicago, and hearing the name before, I'd never heard The Cool Kids, so their hometown energy was a nice treat. I didn't stay for the whole set though, because I'd had enough life-changes bass for one afternoon, and I wanted to catch Stephen Malkmus.




Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks
I felt a little more in my element watching them - I recognized a few of the songs from Real Emotional Trash, had a relatively good view for showing up halfway through the set, and I was among my peers, so therefore didn't feel old and uncool. I liked that he had so many women playing real instruments in his band. After it was over, I listed a little to Radiohead as I left the park. I was probably more than a quarter mile from the stage, and I'd had enough for the day.

Lollapalooza - review coming soon.

Well - I survived my first Lollapalooza, and it was okay. The highlight for me was getting to the front row on Saturday for Okkervil River. Other fun bits included Gogol Bordello, the Postelles, and Cadence Weapon. I'll try to give you a little bit more of a review somtime in the next couple of weeks, and I'll post some more photos.

Until then though, I posted a whole mess of photos on my facebook page. So, if you partake in the facebook, check them out there.

Boban Marković Blows (The Boban i Marko Marković Orkestar - Martyrs', 21 July)

Imagine a mariachi band, oompah band, drum and bugle corp and punk band, rolled into one. Now cast a Danny Devito doppleganger with the voice of Mario Lanza and some serious horn skills, and you've got Boban Marković and his band of merry men.

Coming off a weekend of Chicagoland performances that included the likes of the Pitchfork Festival and the Evanston Ethnic Arts Festival, this troupe wrapped up their stand in our city with a raucous set at Martyr's on Lincoln Avenue. The sold-out show started (over an hour late...) with a couple of instant crowd pleasers, including a rendition of Hava Nagila before moving into even more crowd pleasers, that continued to please the crowed even more and more as the evening wore on. The played for a couple of hours, working the crowd into a soggy frenzy with each number. The finally ended just after 11 with the barreling "Kalashnikov," which had the entire audience, from 70-year-old Serbian men to world-music-savvy token hispters clapping and dancing along.

If you like loud brass and watching musicians who love their jobs, this band's for you, partiularly if you can catch them live. The Boban i Marko Marković Orkestar is a blast, and even though I don't know what the heck they're saying, everyone around me did know, and they were elated about it, so I was too.

Meanwhile, Back at the Manse.... (Shearwater with Frog Eyes and Evangelicals @ The Mansion - 24 June)

After a nice bike ride down to my old stomping grounds in Logan Square, my friend Joe and I enjoyed a bite at El Cid (featuring a new upstairs tequila lounge and too-loud music on the patio - gone are the days of the plum tree dropping rotting fruit around the strolling guitarist, I suppose) before peddling down to "The Mansion." Located just north of Fullerton and Kedzie, this venue is a former "asylum" of the masonic organization, the Knights Templar. Hence, I think "the asylum" would have been a better name than "the mansion," but who am I?

We arrived two songs from the end of the the Evangelicals' set. They may have potential, but I can't really judge them on that brief performance.

Frog Eyes was just awful. I've listened to a few of their tracks, and though that maybe, like Animal Collective, they were something that would grow on me... but no such luck. I've tried, but apparently it's not my thing. I do not like Frog Eyes, Sam I Am. And after an insufferably long soundcheck that had the vocalist warbling and wailing into the microphone ad nauseum, I was almost regretting the trip down there.

I was glad when Shearwater came out. They have a strong sound, and that guy (I don't feel like looking up his his name right now) has an amazing voice. The first two songs - with banjo and a nice rhythm were good, but then I think more of their longer pieces suffered from the sketchy acoustics in the room. It's got these really high ceilings, and this tiny little stage, and I don't think too much though has gone of what this combination does to the sound yet. So, I felt a little cheated out of the Shearwater experience, and will wait patiently for their next engagement, and hope that it's at Schubas.

mismatched pair - Jennifer O'Connor and Jamie Lidell @ The Abbey Pub, 4 June 2008

I had heard good things about Jamie Lidell. And I'd been wanting to see Jennifer O'Connor live for quite some time. However, the Abbey being a little out of the way, I often forget it's there. And when I read about this show, I kind of thought about going, but then changed my mind... until, my friend Shannon suggested going, and I marched right over to her cube and DEMANDED she buy the tickets right away.

It was a funny coupling. Jennifer O'Connor - a normal looking singer-songwriter, who can really rock out when she wants, and Jamie Lidell.... the British soul sensation, who has been riding easy on the Grey's Anatomy gravy train ever since one of his songs ("Multiply") was featured on a soundtrack.

There was no question that everyone was there to see the latter. Jennifer almost had the audience at the beginning. She and her band started with a couple of her sophisticated rock tunes, but then she made this fatal mistake of playing quiet slow songs from her forthcoming album. That might have succeeded if she were headlining at Schubas (which she did earlier this week, but I didn't go) but when you're opening for a character like Jim at a late late show, you've got to bring it a little more. Everyone was talking over her, and by the time she finished, I was pretty relieved.

Jamie on the other hand, had he crowd eating out of his goofy palm. He had a full band, which is apparently a treat for him, and I particularly liked the pants-less sax player, who could play two saxes at once. I had a stomach ache. I was exhausted from working long hours, and it was really warm in there... but I still had an awesome time, and I hope to catch him at Lollapalooza, though I don't know who he's up against there.

That's what it's all about.

So, I paid my ten bucks, and I went to the Death Cab show in Millennium Park. I enjoyed it, being pretty familiar with a lot of the music, and having a a few songs that I definitely love.

I was in a bad mood most of the day though, and during the show I was very happy. After a terribly rainy day, the weather was beautiful - you couldn't tell there the fog stopped and the fake fog started. But then it was over, and I was back to my sour disposition, but I suppose that sort of happiness in sadness is what "emo" is all about, even though I still sort of refuse to recognize that word.

Whatever.

(probably my worst concert review ever, but being so far away and given the remote (yet beautiful) orientation of the Great Lawn to the actual stage, it's the best I can do. Maybe tomorrow's will be better.