Ryan Adams Higher Ground 6/24/07

The sold out Ryan Adams show at Higher Ground finally happened. Deep down I felt like it might go the way of his show in Oklahoma and get canceled at the last minute but it came off and i was there. Let me start by saying that i somehow got sick in Oklahoma and was running a fever the day of the show, in fact, i was in such bad shape that my wife drove me up to Burlington, dropped me off, hung around town with Dylan and then picked me up after the show. I know, she's an amazing lady.
No Ryan Adams show is ever uninteresting and this one was no exception. With no opener the stage was already set up for the band with a simple line of chairs with the piano on one end and pedal steel on the other. When they came out Ryan and the rest of the cardinals were simply dressed. The lights were a little strange, the band was lit from above with low reds, blues and purples. You can see more in the pictures then we actually could in the venue. The lights were so low that it was impossible to make out expressions on the bands faces and i was pretty close to the stage. The scene was set for a chilled out set.
The show was great, it was the lowest keyed show i've ever seen him do with Let it Ride being the most uptempo song he played, they had even reworked Halloweenhead, the rockingist song on the new album, to fit into the tone of the set. Ryan Adams opened with Please do not let me go followed by Dear John. The band played through several songs before Ryan ever addressed the crowd. When he did speak most of what he said was low and mumbly but he did clearly introduce each of the cardinals and said something funny about each one. After the song two Ryan declared that they would have to play it again because his shirt tail had come untucked and that was unprofessional. He then proclaimed that the crazy bug had bit him on the ass during the song and then blamed it on the two diet cokes he'd drank so far. Goodnight Hollywood blvd from Gold was the oldest song in the set. The majority of the set was from the new disc Easy Tiger and Ryan had to refer to the lyric sheets in front of him a few times during the show. The band ended up playing about an hour and forty five minutes with a one song encore.

Let me stop here and say that this is the first time i've seen Ryan Adams sober. He drank diet coke and didn't even smoke while on stage. He made a few jokes about how his name was synonymous with professionalism which sounded like a plea to us to reconsider how we think of him. His voice sounded great, probably the best i've heard him.

Some musical highlights:
Please do not let me go. The opener, the crowd was amazingly quiet during the first two songs. It was evident from the first note that his voice was in rare form.
Dear John. Somehow all the high notes were hit, lovely.
Let it Ride. I love this song regardless but it really got the set moving for a few minutes and sounded great.
Two. A great song from the new album sounded heartachingly exquisite.
I see Monsters. Spot on, it gave me goosebumps.
Down In a Hole. An Alice in Chains cover that they've been doing lately. It was the encore of the show and sounded good.
The rest of the songs i remember:
Oh My God, Whatever, etc.
Starlite Diner
I taught myself how to grow old
Goodnight Hollywood Blvd
Halloweenhead
The sun also sets
These are the only pictures and videos i was able to get. Higher Ground usually allows pictures but after being lit up by a flashlight and talked to by three members of security in the space of a minute I didn't take any more. The last guard explained that "Mr. Adams requested that there be no photography". The sound on the video is bad but it gives you an idea of what we could see.

Did you notice the limited edition poster at the top of the post? I admit i'm a concert tee junkie so i bought a cool one with the date on it but they also had a nice belt buckle and a great looking watch with the rose logo on it.

Wolfmother Videos

Ryan has the vodeos from the Wolfmother show posted on youtube. You can see all of them here.


Warning:
Hard rock may make you pretend to fight.
And it may cause you to eat pancakes and burgers in one meal.

Wolfmother/ Cain's Tulsa, Ok

I spent a few days in Tulsa, Oklahoma last week and was able to catch Wolfmother at my favorite venue, The Cain's Ballroom. Wolfmother is a much louder and harder rocking band then i've been out to see in quite some time. I wasn't expecting too much from the show but was thoroughly blown away by the power of Wolfmother. While they don't have an extensive catalog to draw on they had a commanding presence on stage and sounded great. The pictures below say a lot.
You know you are going to be rocked when a band brings out a double necked guitar. That afro was made to be rocked back and forth in time to heavy Rock and Roll.
Yes sir, that is a Gibson flying V and it is rocking.
What's more rock than a flying kick from the bass drum? You can tell that this is the encore because the jacket has come off.
All in all this was the best hard rock show that i've been to in years. Try to catch this band if you can, they have a power and intensity that you've got to experience live. I won't even bitch about the $30 t-shirts because i'm sure they are using the money to buy more rocking guitars.
Hopefully Ryan will post some of the videos that he shot.

Download - Wolfmother - Dimension
Download - Wolfmother - The Joker and the Thief

Off line

I'll be in Oklahoma for the rest of the week so probably no posts for the two of you that read this. I'll be back in time for the Ryan Adams show on Sunday. It looks like he might still be laying off of the guitar after his recent wrist accident so the show might be interesting. Look for me at the show, I'll either be in this sweet shirt(thanks Andrea) or the timeless Ryan Adams for President(again props to my resident t-shirt wizard).

Arcade Fire/ St. Vincent Montreal

I just realized that I haven't posted this review of the Arcade Fire show G! and I attended last month. Bad Blogger, Bad Blogger.
The Arcade Fire's homecoming gig took place in the Maurice-Richard Arena, which is where the hockey and ice skating events took place during the '76 Olympics. Despite that distinction the space wasn't all that big and the acoustics were fine and we were there early enough to grab a great spot(thank god we had floor seats).

Highlights:
The entire band ended In the Backseat with a goose bump inducing acapella finish.

The opening organ on Intervention shook all of my internal organs, but in a good way. You knew it was going to rock after just two notes.

My Body is a cage was another outstanding song. Win played the organ and sang from a raised platform behind the rest of the band, not unlike a preacher perched up in his pulpit.

Laika, which occurred towards the end, finally got the crowd moving and singing along. G! almost jumped over my head during the chorus.

One of my favorite songs is Tunnels, which they played.

The Merch was awesome! I know it's not hip to get excited about stuff like this but i love me a good concert t-shirt. It was a terrible tough choice. G! and I both got great shirts. They also had a great limited edition hoody, stickers, buttons, a bitchin messenger bag and every album and single on vinyl. It was a tad bit pricey but it was The Arcade Fire.

A short complaint:
The only gripe i have with the show has nothing too do with the band, i is with the crowd. I've been to shows in Montreal and have always found them a very polite bunch but the crowd at this show didn't perk up until the very end of the concert. I would have thought they would be going ape shit to see their hometown band. It might have something to do with the fact that there were two long lines to get in the door, one was marked Tickets/Billetts the other was marked Guest List.
I was a little disappointed that Will wasn't running wild the entire show, I remember him spending an entire song just literally running into the wall when I saw them at Stubb's. Apparently he has a lot of new musical duties that keep him from tormenting Richard or running into walls so in service to the music, I'll let it slide.
Just a few lines on the opener St. Vincent(Anne Clark) of Polyphonic Spree/Sufjan Stevens fame. She sounded great, I wasn't really feeling the first two songs that she did solo but when the full band came out things really picked up. I had no idea she could wail on guitar. She closed with a Jefferson Airplane cover that I can't remember the name of at the moment. Unfortunately St. Vincent suffered from the curse of most opening bands, the audience wasn't there to see her. You could tell that the majority of the crowd wasn't really paying attention but thems the breaks.

Zombies

If you are interested in zombies the stars of Shawn of the Dead lay it all out for you.

Mount Cardigan

It's cold at the top of Mount Cardigan, but check out that view.
Last week D and I hikes Mount Cardigan in New Hampshire. My hiking guide rates it very challenging for children with an 1800 feet elevation gain. It was a lot of fun. Here we are at the top. The top of the mountain caught fire about 150 years ago and all of the soil blew away before any vegetation could grow back so now the top is completely rock.
It rained a bit last week so the trail up was pretty muddy and there were great cold pools near the top.
Here's D right at the tree line appreciating the amazing view.

Easy Tiger

As most of you know Ryan Adams and the Cardinals will be playing Higher Ground on June 24th. I, of coarse, will be there as close to the front as possible clutching tightly to a Long Trail and trying not to squeal like a little girl on Christmas morning. The tour, with the newly sober Adams, has been getting some amazing reviews. I've never been disappointed at one of his shows, whether he was cursing out members of the audience, drunkenly insulting Mariah Carey or leading a sing along of Come Pick Me Up while standing on the bar, he always delivers. I hope to see you there.
We all know how litigious Ryan Adam's label Lost Highway can be so let me just say if i had happened to hear the new album Easy Tiger i would probably say that it is better than i expected. I would probably say that there are some amazing cuts that find Ryan in rare form. You can preorder the album here.

Video roundup

Video roundup

A brilliant lo fi video from the Silver Jews


Probably the best thing to ever emerge from Texas.


I was acting indifferent at the merch booth putting on makeup. One of the best lyrics of all time, The Faint.


Everytime i hear Pavement i wonder why i don't listen to them more.

The Dead milkmen

We listened to the best of the Dead Milkmen at work yesterday. Here are a couple of clips, the first is from the Dave Blood memorial show and contains three of my favorite Milkmen tunes. The second clip is the Punk Rock Girls video.

Paris More Art

This statue is trying to rest its junk on my head, I'm not amused.
Mary's tomb is where?
Matisse paints a lot. My mind is blown.
You mean we were in the Picasso museum for an hour and didn't take any pictures? Me in the courtyard of the Picasso museum moments before finding a smoked joint.

Eiffel Tower: The Big Phallic Lie

Happy man, Big historic tower, what's wrong with this picture? The damn thing is brown, tan to be precise. Where is the big black tower that I've been envisioning all these years. The Eiffel Tower is dead to me now. Notice the smile on my face, I'm in denial at this point.
This picture was taken later in the day, notice how the tower appears black. At this point I've moved on to anger.
Here i am at the Palais De Tokyo while the tower mocks me in the background. At this point in in the paranoid stage.
Stupid tan monument.

pARIS aRT

This gay Da Vinci painting was funny. The Louvre.
I usually don't look that bored when there are boobs around.
Neon is cool.
G! look out.

Boobs, where? Picasso museum.

Paris Shoes

Those of you that know me knew this post was coming. There are a lot of great shoe shops in Paris but apparently we were there to see other, older things but i did manage to make it to a few shops.I ended up getting this pair of Pro Lawn Adidas. This is part of the European graffiti artist collection end to end. My shoes were done by UK artist SKORE. Black and Brown, lasered piece on the side and the same design on the footbed and as you can see, the laces are also done.
Nike Paris was something else. They have a Nike ID studio on the bottom floor. After almost getting a pair of Air Max 360s from the kite series i opted for a sweet Nike Paris Cap.
G! loved Nike Paris so much she insisted we have a cup of coffee at the cafe next door so she could bask in its glory.
We also hit Adidas in Paris, according to a sign at the store, it is the largest Adidas store in the world. I somehow stumbled across Opium without even trying. They had an amazing collection of OG Jordans. We were also able to find Colette which was an amazing store. It is mainly a clothing boutique that skew "street" but they had a nice selection of hard to find shoes including the new European version of the talaria from Nike.

Modest Mouse Video/ Random Stuff

The street art site Wooster Collective has a great Video created for a Modest Mouse contest. Check it out, it's rare that such original stuff makes it to the Mtv. Phil and i were talking about the new Modest Mouse album a few days ago and i think we would both give it the thumbs up. They may have let me down in concert but their albums continue to impress.

You need to stop here and check out the greatest rap of 07, respect. I need a couch.

What would Jesus Blog comes through with another hilarious post, do not attempt to drink anything while watching the video. Watch the whole video and prepare for the break down.

I remember loving this Harvey Danger song several years ago, The Assimilated Negro brings a great home made video. And one more from TAN.

France

The next several posts will probably be about France so tune out if you aren't down with our French speaking friends. Graffiti was everywhere.This is tile, it made the news a few years ago. There were several examples of this but this one was in the best shape.
kinda looks like famed French artist WK doesn't it?
These are all examples of the paste up style that was pretty prevalent in the more heavily traveled parts of the city.

25 years

At work on Saturday I noticed that Transworld's 25th anniversary issue was on the newstand, I picked it up opened it and the first picture I saw was a picture that had been on my wall for years when I was a kid. I bought the issue, took it home and read through the entire issue at one sitting. I lived in a transworld skateboarding household as a child. I brought a thrasher home once and my mother went ballistic so Thrasher was the magazine I read at school. Transworld was the magazine stacked all over my room with the especially rad pictures torn out and taped to the ever changing collage on my wall. It was the magazine I poured over each month. The 25th anniversary issue brought back a lot of great memories. It's funny that my kids have all recently shown an interest in skateboarding.
Note the Vision shorts, the sweet glasses and the bitchin grip tape job on the board.

Overplayed

Busy week, Arcade fire this weekend and then off to Paris. Today i gripped a skateboard and printed up new t-shirts got G! and I. Here are a few of the songs that i overplayed this week.
Download - Cold War Kids - Hang me out to dry
Download - Art Brut - Good Weekend
Download - Rancid - Ruby Soho

Beirut Elephant Gun

My favorite Beirut song has a video that is pretty sweet. I admit that i've probably overplayed it in the last few weeks but i love the song Elephant gun. Make sure you watch at least until the 1:20 mark, the dance sequence is awesome.


p.s. What would Jesus Blog has a bunch of female done covers that i've spent way too much time listening to.
p.p.s It's been up for awhile but check out False 45ths review of the Clap your hands show. Brilliant.