Concerts, Shows, Orgies, etc.
20th August, 1996, Memorial Stadium, Charlotte, North Carolina: Toad the Wet Sprocket. - I was ten feet away from my idols. As they stood off to the side of the stage waiting to come on, I spotted them. I leaped into the air waving my arms back and forth. Then, Dean Dinning, Toad's bassist, spotted me and did the same back to me. My life was complete. heh. The show was marvelous, even if it was only 50 mins. (They were opening for Hootie and the Blowfish.) They debuted a lot of songs that night that would end up on their album "Coil" that would come out the next year. The only one of those I definetly remember them playing is "Desire." Also played: "Good Intentions," "Fall Down," "Something's Always Wrong," "Hold Her Down," "Walk On the Ocean." Amusing story: (Glen Phillips, paraphrased) "These are new songs we've been working on for our next album. If you like them, then they're our new ones..if you don't, then they're really obscure Jethro Tull covers."
?? March, 1997, Charlotte Center City Fest: Son Volt. - Again, I was 10 ft. away from the band I came to see. Marvelous show of their marvelous songs. I stood next to a guy who played in a band called Three Walls Down who had done some shows with Son Volt before. He was very cool. Told me a lot of interesting stuff. Songs I remember them playing: "Drown," "Tear-Stained Eye," "Caryatid Easy," "Back Into Your World," "Last Time Around" (a cover, but by whom I'm not sure.) The guy from Three Walls Down's daughter (who was like..6 or 7 years old) knew the words to "Tear Stained Eye" and could sing along. I hope I have kids that cool. :) They left the stage and the crowd kept cheering, so they came back for an encore. A killer version of Jay Farrar's old band, Uncle Tupelo's, classic, "Chickamauga." Jay did the soloing on it and he tore it up.
1st March, 1999, Tremont Music Hall, Charlotte, North Carolina : Placebo. - You know the people who won't show up to see the opening acts? The ones that wait until the main band is getting their stuff set up? They suck. I came extra early for this show to see the opening-opening act, Flick. And man, was I blown away. Flick was stellar. I would highly suggest picking up their debut album, "The Perfect Kellulight," on Colombia Records. Their lead guitarist looks a good bit like Paul Westerberg, so I shouted after their show, "Hey! You look like Paul Westerberg!" The following succession of shouts took place: "He looks like my mom!" "Your mom looks like Paul Westerberg?" "Who the hell is Paul Westerberg?" But I digress. Then came Placebo, and they opened with that rip-roaring tune, "Scared of Girls." The entire show, all 50 minutes of it, was fantastic. They also played: "Bionic," "Pure Morning," "Lady of the Flowers," "Nancy Boy," "Without You I'm Nothing," "Brick Shithouse," "Every Me and Every You," "You Don't Care About Us," "36 Degrees." Stabbing Westward, who was the main act, came on after that, but we left. Heh. As I walked back after Placebo's show, I saw their drummer walking in the audience, so I ran up to talk to him. Apparently he had really hurt his fingers during the show and was seeking medial attention. "Hey, I really love you guys. Your music is just wonderful." "Oh? Fuckin' right, eh? That's cool..well, I think I broke me fingers here, so I need to go get this taken care of" (He then shook my hand with his good hand.) "Good luck with that." CLICK HERE FOR PICUTRES FROM THE SHOW.
?? May, 1999, Tremont Music Hall, Charlotte, North Carolina : Spite. - Spite is a local hardcore punk/post-metal band that recently got signed to a semi-major lable and put out a kick ass release called "Bastard Complex." I'd highly suggest picking it up if you're into that style of music. The opening bands, Big MF Stick and Fat Tortoise Butcher weren't really that great. This was punctuated by the guitarist of Fat Tortoise Butcher's yelling into the microphone of: "I love pussy!" The crowd roared. I tried not to laugh. Honest. Spite's show was pretty intense. Their lead singer has a lot of showmanship and is quite dramatic. The rest of the band, however, was just kind of goofing around and it cancelled out any dramatic effect the lead singer was getting across. The cd is very much worth picking up, however.
13th July, 1999, Blockbuster Pavilion, Charlotte, North Carolina : Son Volt. - These were only lawn seats but the show still ruled. Unfortunately, this time, Son Volt wasn't by themselves. Instead, they were opening for John Melloncamp. I won't go any further regarding that aspect of the show, but it was great none-the-less. Songs they played: "Windfall," "Tear-Stained Eye," "Drown," "Caryatid Easy," "Picking Up the Signal, "Left a Slide," "Flow," "Medicine Hat," "Blind Hope," "Straightface," "Driving the View," and again, the cover of "Last Time Around." It was over far too quickly. *sniff*
27th July, 1999, Blockbuster Pavilion, Charlotte, North Carolina : Lilith Fair. - I went mainly to see Battershell, who was playing on the 2nd stage to start off the festival. Needless to say they kicked arse. They played a cover of Billy Idol's "White Wedding" as well as one of my fav songs, "Mess." The second person to play on the second stage, Kacy Crowley, was also quite impressive. She's an acoustic/singer kinda person, but she's not boringly mediocre, which is something that plagues females in that genre, unfortunately. None of the other people playing really overly impressed me, but I did meet this fabulous girl named Jen whom I really identified with. And I also met this other girl, Sarah, who was very cool and whom I got along with famously. A great day all in all.
8th September, 1999, Ziggy's, Winston-Salem, North Carolina : They Might Be Giants w/ You Were Spiraling. - Ziggy's reminds me a lot, size wise, of Tremont back in Charlotte. The show enabled you to be really close to the performers, which was very nice. You Were Spiraling came on first and was quite good. I enjoyed them enough to sign up for their mailing list and they gave me a free sticker. I met the lead singer who was very nice and spoke to me about where the tour was taking them and such. Then came They Might Be Giants, whose stuff I'm not that familiar with but who blew me away. Their performance was high-energy and got me in a wonderous mood. It makes me want to actually go purchase some of their music. The songs I recognized: "Istanbul," "She's Actual Size," "Particle Man," "Birdhouse in your Soul." CLICK HERE FOR PICTURES FROM THE SHOW.
11th September, 1999, 533 Uprisings, Winston-Salem, North Carolina : Ann Baretta, The Runarounds, The Scaries - I went to this show to see The Scaries, whose bass player is Matt Tomich, runner of The Skyway. (There's a link to it in my links section.) They were excellent, energetic pop-punk which was dynamite. The Scaries are from Chapel Hill and are right now on hiatus while their drummer goes on a Semester at Sea. Interesting, no? Next up were the Runarounds who were fairly talented, but I didn't hear a lot in their music that I really dug. Although they did quite an excellent job on a Deep Purple cover. Finally up came Ann Baretta, from the Lookout! lable. They were fabulous and really put on an excellent show. I'd highly recommend them to fans of the Lookout! lable.CLICK HERE FOR PICTURES FROM THE SHOW.
13th January, 2000, Tremont Music Hall, Charlotte, North Carolina : Fugazi and Faraquet - Fugazi. The name alone conjures up images of punk's ever-lit flame burning brightly and making a critically-acclaimed name for itself. Opening for them was a stellar fellow-D.C. band, Faraquet, who have this amazing style. It's hard to describe, but if you follow the link you can hear samples of their stuff. Then came Fugazi. 2 hours, 3 encores and a lot of dancing. What a show. Songs I remembered they played: "Birthday Pony," "Sieve-Fisted Find," "Reclaimation," "Five Coorporations" (damn, that one rules live), "Instrument," "Long Division," and a lot more. Those are just the ones I remember off the top of my head. After the show, I stuck around and got to meet all the members and get their autographs. Meeting Ian Mackaye was like shaking hands with punk rock itself. :) I'll have pictures of the show up soon.
17th February, 2000, Guilford College Passion Pit, Greensboro, North Carolina : The Butchies - These chicks rock. Based out of Durham they're on Mr. Lady Records. The Butchies are one of Kill Rock Stars' "cousin" bands, since Kathleen Hannah's (formerly of Bikini Kill) new band, Le Tigre, is on Mr. Lady as well. I'd only heard of them before and was quite pleased with the show, all in all. Their show wasn't that long (it was free, afterall) but was able to convey their variety and versitile songwriting well. I got to talk with guitarist/lead vocalist Kaia afterwards. She was quite cool and willing to talk about stuff. (I was complimenting her on her Hamer with this wicked sunburst.) I also bought their older album, "Are We Not Femme?" Good stuff.
31st March, 2000, 9:30 Club, Washington, D.C. : Matthew Sweet - First off, I'd missed my man Matthew twice in my life before. Once, just a scant few months ago because of a cancelled show. So here was my chance. I love D.C. so it was a treat to go spend the day up there and then off to the show. Opening the show was the Tender Idols an Atlanta based band who pulls out all the rock clichés and does it nicely. They were quite rockin'. Matthew opened with the three song run-together that leads off his album "In Reverse." He has an amazing touring band with a lead guitarist (Pete Phillips) that was simply amazing, as well as studio/tour drummer Rick Menck. Songs he did: "Girlfriend," "Divine Intervention," "Someone to Pull the Trigger," "Faith In You," "Sick of Myself," "We're the Same," "The Ugly Truth," "Evangeline," "Thunderstorm," "Hide," "What Matters," "Come to California," and a good handful of others. There were 2 encores and the show lasted about 2 hours. I was blown away.
26th May, 2000, Cat's Cradle, Chapel Hill/Carborro, North Carolina : Sleater-Kinney w/ Sarah Dougher and The Gossip - Next to the Fugazi show (and perhaps, more so than it) this was the most energetic show I'd ever been to. The crowd was just incredibly nice and everyone was just kinda into everything. The Gossip started it off. They're a band made up of a singer, one guitarist, a drummer and a dancer and they played this kind of dirty, rock and roll fueled with vocals that were reminiscent of Janis Joplin cum Mama Cass. Quite good. Next was Sarah Dougher, a more traditional singer/songwriter who had some really, really good lyrics, so if you're into poetic things I'd highly recomment looking into her. (She's on the Mr. Lady lable.) Next, came the amazing Sleater-Kinney. They kicked it off with a surprise, "Not What You Wanted" from the "Dig Me Out" album. They proceeded to tear it up with songs like "Ironclad" (one of the best versions of that song I think I'll _ever_ hear. It's one of my favorites of all time), "You're No Rock and Roll Fun," "Hubcap," "Ballad of a Ladyman," "Milkshake and Honey," "Was It a Lie?," "Youth Decay," "Male Model," "The Professional," "#1 Must Have," "All Hands on the Bad One" and a few others I probably can't remember. They left and then came back for a three song encore: "One More Hour," a cover of CCR's "Fortunate Son," and then the blistering, massive sonic attack of the lead off title track from "Dig Me Out." I was able to get on stage (along with about twenty others) and dance on stage while they played the song. I even got to meet Carrie (one of the guitarists) afterwards, and click here for the pics to prove it!
13th July, 2000, Cat's Cradle, Chapel Hill/Carborro, North Carolina : Sunny Day Real Estate w/ No Knife - First off, I lucked into the tickets to this show. I've made a connection who set me up with a pair of tickets to this show. Lucky me, as it was sold out by the time my friend and I got there. The opening band, No Knife, started their show with a cover of Mission of Burma's "Academy Fight Song" and the rest of the show went just as well. They are a great li'l indie-rock band so definetly check them out. Sunny Day Real Estate, I wasn't as familiar with as I am most bands I go to see. I'd heard of them, yes. Downloaded a few songs off Napster the night before, sure. But never heard an entire album. I was blown away and very much impressed, so the next day I bought one of their cds. The show, really wasn't that long, starting at 9:30 (No Knife ending about 10:30, SDRE coming on at 10:50 or maybe 11) and ending at 12:15. But it was worth it. Well, I did get in for free, so definetly worth it. Plus, it's always a pleasure to see shows at the Cat's Cradle, a wonderful club.
12th November, 2000, Ziggy's, Winston-Salem, North Carolina : The Mighty Mighty Bosstones w/ Flogging Molly and Stickboy - Admittedly my interest has been flagging in the Bosstones. I own their fantastic album "Question the Answers" but ever since "Let's Face It" blew up and they became the monsterous (and unfortunate) representative of ska music, I haven't had as much interest. I'm a renewed man, however. First things first. Stickboy was a rather good (and slightly entertaining) power-pop band. Funny performance and good, decent pop hooks. Definitely someone that could do some damage in the future. Flogging Molly overshadowed them, however. FM is a mix of traditional irish folk music and punk and never have two things been so made for one another. They're amazing and if you _ever_ have a chance to see them live, for god's sake do it! The Bosstones were incredible. I've never seen such an energy filled and boisterous live show. It was just infectious and I found myself dancing the entire night. I bought one of their older albums and find that I still have a love for their music, so hopefully I'll be buying more in the future. As well as seeing more of their live shows. Click here to see the one picture from the show.
26th January, 2001, Gate City Noise, Greensboro, North Carolina : Q and Not U w/ XBXRX - Gate City is a fabulous indie-record store in downtown Greensboro and occasionally they have shows there. This was a free show they had and I went 'cause I'd heard Q and Not U in the rotation at WQFS. XBXRX is on the KRS sister lable, 5RC. They put on one hell of a show, blasting about ten minutes of noise before trashing their instruments and leaving stage. It was quite an aural assault and very entertaining. Q and Not U is on Dischord Records and their newest cd, "No Kill, No Beep Beep" is very, very good. Q is a good, post-punk band with a unique sound. Very much worth checking out.
27th January, 2001, Trax, Charlottesville, Virginia : Glen Phillips w/ John Mayer - Time to see my hero. I car pooled with 5 other people up to see this show. John Mayer is a brilliant acoustic, jazz and blues influenced guitarist whose music is very much well worth picking up. Especially for the songs "Back To You," "Your Body Is a Wonderland," and "Comfortable." Then Glen. He's an amazing songwriter and an even more amazing performer. He played all of my yelled out requests ("Easier," Neutral Milk Hotel's "King of Carrot Flowers," "Men Just Leave," "Nightengale Song,") save one. (I yelled out for the 'Mats "Unsatisfied," but he said he didn't remember it.) I also got to meet him afterwards and he signed my vinyl sleeve of Toad's "Bread and Circus." Such a cool guy, and a wonderful show.
5th February, 2001, Ziggy's, Winston-Salem, North Carolina : Flogging Molly w/ The Blue Meanies and World Inferno Friendship Society - Back again to see the wonderful Flogging Molly live. First, we sat through the kind of funny but slightly, musically interesting World Inferno. A bit over the top in their performance. Trying too hard almost. The Blue Meanies kicked ass. Very fun, very punky third-wave ska influenced stuff with style. Their lead singer is so cool on stage. He looks like one of those cops from a 70's tv show. They closed with a ripping cover of The Clash's "White Riot." The skinheads went nuts. *eyeroll* Flogging Molly tore it up and did a stellar job as usual. They are one of the best live acts I've ever seen and are great every time. If you get a chance to see them live, go for it.
10th March, 2001, Tremont Music Hall - The Casbah, Charlotte, North Carolina : Five Eight, The White Octave and Ginger Briscoe - Alright, so we're talkin' about straight-up, Deep Elm (Charlotte's own!) indie-emo rawk. Ginger Briscoe has a really great vocalist who really has some power behind his voice and their songs were sweet. Very proper, very rockin' tunes. Reminiscent of the good days of alternative rock in the 80's. The White Octave were stellar as they were the last time I saw them at Guilford. Five Eight, I'd never heard before, but being a fellow Deep Elm lable mate to White Octave, I figured they must be kickin' and they were. Very good, sometimes noodly guitar rock. But never over the top. Always just the right seasoning.
27th March 2001, Cat's Cradle, Chapel Hill, NC : Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks w/ The Kingsbury Manx - Great, great show. The Kingsbury Manx were a great swirl of Brit shoegazer music and indie-sensibility. Overall a really good performance. Stephen Malkmus rocked the house. He played all of the songs from his solo cd with the exception of "Deado" and just sent the place into a rockin' space. Definitely a leg up from his pretentious days in Pavement, even though they were one of the best American bands of the past 20 years.
31st March 2001, Guilford College - The Pines, Greensboro, NC : The Scaries - Rawk at its best. These guys put on no aires, no false fronts and just rock your ass from front to back, beginning to end. They are a superior live show so check them out if you get the chance and check out their website for tour dates and all that. Rock!
? and ? August 2001, Ziggys in Winston Salem, NC and Amo's Bar in Charlotte, NC : Glen Phillips and Peter Searcy - Two stellar performances by both gentlemen, including Peter Searcy doing a really decent cover of Matthew Sweet's "Winona." Glen seemed kind of down beat the first night (although he broke out "Nanci" for the first time since I'd seen him live) but the second night he came alive with an amazing set of songs. The final encores consisted of crowd sing-alongs on "Something's Always Wrong," "Walk On the Ocean," and Kool and the Gang's "Celebration." Then a jaw-dropping finale of "I Will Not Take These Things For Granted" which left me absolutely spell bound.
23rd September 2001, Shepards Bush Empire, Shepards Bush, London, England: Gary Numan - How could I pass up a chance to see Gary Numan while I was in England? I couldn't. And although he stuck to mostly his new material, he still pulled out the old stuff including an incredibly version of "Are 'Friends' Electric?" that totally sent me into ecstacy. Brilliant. I met him and got his autograph on my ticket stub and vinyl 45 of aforementioned song afterwards also.
? October 2001, The Garage, Highbury and Islington, London, England: Superchunk - The Irony of having to go to England to see a North Carolina band. For my first Superchunk show ever though, was a marvelous time. They didn't play many of the songs I wanted to hear, but it was still a rave-up show. Met and got Laura Ballance's autograph on my copy of here's to shutting up afterward also.
30th October - 7th November, Barbicon Arts Center, London, England: Beyond Nashville Festival - God, too much to go into but the artists I saw (with an * if I met them): The Handsome Family, Jim White*, Peter Bruntnell*, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Steve Earle, Eileen Rose, The Jayhawks, Menlo Park. I didn't even go to nearly half the performances, but they were all brilliant.
30th November 2001, Brixton Academy, Brixton, London, England: Pulp - Wow. This was the reason I wanted to go to England to begin with. A new Pulp record and an incredible live performance. Had me on my arse. They were so good. Great versions of "F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E." and "Babies" and closed, of course, with "Common People." Orgasmic.
? January 2002, Cat's Cradle, Carboro, North Carolina: The Jayhawks w/ the Cash Brothers - So, I've loved the Cash Brothers for awhile. And having never actually seen them (and not knowing there was an opening act) these two guys saunter onto stage and I'm wondering who are these fellas? They answer: "Hi, I'm Andrew and he's Peter. We're the Cash Brothers." My jaw hit the floor. They proceeded to knock me out cold. What a performance. And they closed with "Nebraska." Mesmerizing. The Jayhawks pulled out an acoustic set (with just Tim O'Reagan, Marc Pearlman and Gary Louris playing) and wowed me by reworking some of their older tunes and making the new ones sound even more golden. Amazing.
From this point on, since I took like a year break (from March 2001) of recording all these shows, it's getting difficult to remember who I saw. So I'll just start listing them (with dates if possible) and such. Sorry for the inconsistancy.
Fugazi (for the second time)
Sorry About Dresden
The Scaries (March 2002 and April 2002)
Josh Rouse (October 2001, Borderline, London, April 2002 Pine Hill Farm, Durham, NC, June 2002 Cat's Cradle, Carboro, NC)
Hayden (April 2002, Go Studios, Carboro, NC)
Dan Bryk (April 2002, Go Studios, Carboro, NC)
Superchunk (March 2002, Cat's Cradle, Carboro, NC
Paul Westerberg (August 15th 2002 Cat's Cradle)
Bruce Springsteen (November 2002, Greensboro Colliseum)
Denison Witmer (October 2002, Gate City Noise, Greensboro, December 18th 2002, Go Studios)
Q and Not U (October 2002 Go Studios)
Sleater-Kinney (October 2002, The Metro, Chicago, Ill. October 2002, Cat's Cradle)
Girls Against Boys (Spring 2002, Go Studios (with the Pattern), September 2002, Go Studios (with Radio 4) )
Ash (November 2002, Ziggy's, Winston-Salem, NC)
(International) Noise Conspiracy (October 31st 2002 Cat's Cradle)
Division of Laura Lee (October 31st 2002 Cat's Cradle)
Here's to more shows soon!
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