Monday, September 28, 2009

Gaslight Anthem Concert Review



On Saturday September 26th a great quadruple bill come through town at The Edmonton Events Centre (Red's), yay, finally a weekend show, thank goodness, cause every band on this bill I wanted to see.I was in for a long night of some wicked music. The bill consisted of Gaslight Anthem headlining (this was there second time here this year, having played The Starlite Room in April) other bands on the bill were Frank Turner from England, The Loved Ones and Murder By Death.
The evening started early with Frank Turner hitting the stage a little after 7pm. Earl and I made sure to be there for Frank and weren't disappointed. It was just him and his guitar and fuck was he ever good. He played with a lot of emotion and really belted out his songs. I was very impressed with him. he reminds me of Billy Bragg a bit.
One of my favorite parts of his set was when he played the song Photosynthesis with the great sing along chorus, which everyone that was there sang along too " Now I'll Play, And You Sing - The Perfect Way For The Evening To Begin, I Won't Sit Down And I Won't Shut Up And Most Of All I Won't Grow Up" what a great line.
After his set, I went to the merch table to buy something, when I ran into Frank himself working the table. He was nice enough to autograph a CD for me and thank me for coming out.


Next band of the evening was The Loved Ones from Philadelphia. I have to admit, I didn't know much about this band other then my brother telling me that they were really good. And he was right, The Loved Ones rocked the joint, they were loud and played with a lot of energy. The music they play is I guess punk rock, kind of reminded me of The Bouncing Souls actually. I was very impressed by them. They had their second guitarist back in the fold after having missed the previous 3 shows cause of a family crisis. They sounded great and would go see them again the next time they come through town.



Next up was Murder By Death a band from Indiana, with a name like this you would expect a thrash metal kind of sound, but they actually kind of have a alt-country/punk sound. I thought they were pretty good, they had a lady that played the electric cello, she was fun to watch. I enjoyed there set, but by then, it was time for a smoke and the bladder had finally sprung a leak, so I didn't actually see there whole set. What I did hear, I liked.


The final band of the evening was of course Gaslight Anthem. And they fucking rocked again. This is one of my favorite bands in the past year. They are from new Jersey and have a bit of the Boss sound in them, great songs with great stories. They were tight and sounded excellent, playing for about 75 minutes. Can't wait til they put out some new music again. By the time they hit the stage the place was quite full and Earl and I were well on out way to a good glow on. Great evening of live music with four good bands. I give this show a 9 out of 10. The only reason it doesn't get a 10, is cause I fucking hate the venue where the show was.
Good times!!!!


Saturday, September 26, 2009

Favorite Shows Of 2004

The year 2004 for concerts here in Edmonton was a hurting year. This is probably the least amount of shows I have ever been to in the course of a year. I did manage to see a some good ones, which I will now tell you about.
April 9th, I got to see David Bowie, my second time seeing him in concert. I won these tickets from the radio station K97, nice tickets too, row 2 centre on the floor,sweet.
Opening for Bowie this time was a band called The Polyphonic Spree, whom I have liked for a few years before I got to see them live. This band consists of like 20 people or so. Almost cult like, all dressed in the same outfit.
I missed some of the opener because I was arguing with security, little did I know, that after buying a couple of 7 dollar beers, that I wasn't allowed to bring my drinks to my seats on the floor, what the fuck is that. There was no sign at the beer stand saying I couldn't take my drinks to the floor, utter bullshit that is. So there I am, trying to down two fucking draft beers, which sucks to start(hate draft beer) have never seen that enforced at a show or since, no beers on the floor, fuck you.
Anyways, after logging a complaint with security about this stupid rule, I managed to down my beers and getting to my row 2 seats and catch the last couple of songs from Polyphonic Spree, which was excellent, great opener for Bowie.
David Bowie sounded great at this show, I was very impressed how good he sounded, the man still has his voice intact. This was an awesome show. I went to this show with my Cuz, after having to talk him into going, Cuz not being a fan of Bowie, and I had no one else to go to the show with, he fiinally releneted and came to the show with me. I believe after seeing Bowie in concert, My cousin ended up really appreciating who Bowie is, and how good of an entertainer Bowie really is.
Great show and a really good time was had, and for free :)
Another band I finally got to see was WASP. I have been a huge fan of WASP since the mid eighties. I never got to see them in there hey days, with Chris Holmes on guitar, but nonetheless, I finally got to see Blackie Lawless and his hired band. And I was not let down at all, this was an excellent show and a really good time, this show brought out all the old metal fans. WASP were an extreme band back in the day. Balckie still flinged his hair around like he used to, way back when. I went to this show with my Cuz and A-Bomb and had an awesome time. Brought back some old memories, that's for sure.This show was a long time coming being such a big WASP fan when I was a teenager. Good time was had by all!!!!


On December 7th of this year Janis and I went to see the Godfather of Soul Mr. James Brown in concert at the Shaw Convention Centre. Janis actually won these tickets from The Edmonton Sun. This was a pretty good show, James sounded good and his back up band was tight. At the age of 71, James could still bust a move and belt out I Feel Good through out the show. What surprised me, was that there were only a few thousand people at the show. I'm glad I got to see him when I did, he passed away two years later.


Other concerts I went to in this year of very few shows were, Henry Rollins spoken word performance at the Winspear Centre, Clutch with The Bakerton Group at Red's, Maximum Rock n Roll at Stars, SNFU with Misery Signals and Too Pure To Die at The Starlite Room, and finally Gwar with Dying Fetus and All That Remains at Red's.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

The Hold Steady at The Starlite Room



Monday night at The Starlite Room here in Edmonton hosted the band The Hold Steady from Brooklyn, New York with opening band Still Life Still from Ontario.
This was the first time The Hold Steady have ever played here, and what a fuckin' show they put on. You would never have guessed it was a Monday night with the way they performed and the way the crowd reacted and partied. It was a hot and sweaty night in the ol' Starlite this night. This seemed like a small venue for a band like The Hold Steady, but they couldn't have picked a better place to play. The place was packed and everyone was having a good time.
The band was super tight and loud, and lead singer Craig Finn, was so on. he sounded excellent and rocked out hard, playing the guitar and spiiting out the lyrics about drugs,drinking,relationships and good times, some real good stories that I am sure most of us can relate with. I know I did. Craig is a fuckin' freak, dancing about (damn, he's a worse dancer then I am,lol) so much energy is put into his performance, you couldn't help but have a good time. He gave it his all through out the almost 2 hour long show.
And keyboard player Franz Nicolay is equaly as weird, singing background vocals, rocking out and making funny faces all night , all the while chewing on a toothpick the whole time.
This was a great show,they even played a new song at the show, which sounded awesome too, opening band sucked ass. But The Hold Steady more then made up for us having to wait them out. I am hoping that The Hold Steady stay true to there word about making Edmonton a regular stop on their tours. I would go out of my way to see these guys play live again. I give this show a 10 out of 10. Two great concerts in 3 days. Good times!!!



T-shirt front.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Mike Plume In Concert



On Saturday September 19th Mike Plume played a free show at The Myer Horowitz Theatre on the U of A campus. My friends Earl and Buzzard and myself went to check this show out as it is something we all could afford. I only foumd out about this show Friday afternoon in See magazine, there was no advertising for this show, which would explain why there were only maybe 150 people at the show. What a shame, because this was an excellent performance.
Mike Plume has been kicking around since the 90's but disapeared for a few years. He is from Edmonton but has been based in Nashville for the past 10 years or so. It's nice to see him back in Edmonton has he has been doing more shows around Edmonton lately, opening for Big and Rich a few weeks ago, did a song at the Tom McGraw concert at the Coliseum last week, and then the show on Saturday at The Myer Horowitz Theatre. The show Saturday was just him and his guitar which was awesome, this was the second time I have seen him play live, both times have been just acoustic shows, I would love to see him play with his full band. Which I will get to see as he his playing with full band on November 12th at The Starlite Room.
Before the show, Mike was hanging out by the merchandise table talking with the fans and signing autographs and taking the time to have his picture taken with his fans. I had the chance to get his autograph and talk to him. He is a very nice man, and took all the time in the world to talk and pose for pictures, very humble he is.
Opening the show on Saturday was a band from Calgary called The Dudes whom played straight out rock n roll, they were alright, nothing special and the other act was a local rapper called Caedance Weapon, which did nothing for me. Headlining was Mike Plume who played for about an hour and a half and roocked the place, small crowd or not, he played like he was playing to thousands. All and all this was a very fun night. I give Mike Plume a 10 out of 10 for this show.
I highly recommend buying Mike Plume's new album MPB830NFLD, it is a great fucking album and has been getting lots of spins at my place in the last 2 months.




Thursday, September 17, 2009

Funniest Shit Heard In Ages


I recently came across a band called Steel Panther whom hail from Hollywood, California which is no surprise after seeing a picture of them. They are the epitamy of glam rock. They look and sound like they come right out of the early 80's glam scene. And their music, wow, if you need a fuckin' laugh and are not easily offended by sexist and rude lyrics, you need to hear there album Feel The Steel. They are beyond rude, with song titles such as Eatin' and Cheatin', Fat Girl(Thar She Blows), Party All Day, Asian Hooker and many more, there isn't a song on here that isn't rude and sexist. I'll admit after a few listens it gets old in a hurry, but if you need a good laugh or a fan of the 80's glam scene, this is the shit for you. Checkout the video Death To All But Metal, you can find the video on youtube.com

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Stompin' Tom Connors Honoured


As many of my friends and family know, I have been a huge Stompin' Tom fan since I was a little kid. Actually, one of the very first albums I ever owned was a Stompin' Tom album called The Hockey Song which I still own to this day.
Well, this summer Canada Post honoured him with his own stamp. I thought this was a cool way to honour him, as he wants know part of a Juno award, which is a stupid reward that they give out to Canadian musicians (like a Grammy in the USA) he has actually won a few Juno's back in the day, but ended up giving them back as he wanted no part of them.
Stompin' Tom has never got the accolades he deserves, the man has put out countless albums and has wrote well over three hundred songs, most of which are about Canada and its people. I have seen Stompin' Tom three times and has never put on a disappointing show. I hope I get to see him again soon, as he is now 73 years old.
I am very happy to see Stompin' Tom Connors honoured on a Canadian stamp. I was lucky enough to get myself a few of these stamps. Congratulations Stompin' Tom, you deserve it. 54 cents well spent!!!!

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Black Crowes Album Review


The new Black Crowes album Before The Frost... came out on Tuesday Sept.1st, I was lucky enough to get myself a copy of it on vinyl (white and green vinyl). The vinyl issue comes with both albums, as on CD you get the Before The Frost... album, and it comes with a code to download the other part of the album ... Until The Freeze.
I have been a big Black Crowes fan since there inception in 84, I believe, have seen them numerous times live, opening for Heart and Robert Plant when they only had the one album out. Since then have seen them headline more then a few times. So I may be a bit biased towards them being such a fan of all their albums. But have to say this new album is one of there better albums in a while. They are now an independant band, doing there own thing on there own label (Silver Arrow Records) this album was recorded at Levon Helm's (drummer and singer of The Band) studio in Woodstock,New York. Some of this album was recorded live at Levon's Midnight Rambler sessions in his barn venue. Sounds like that would be a really cool plce to see a show.
I have listened to the album 3 times now, and each time I like it that much more. Stand out tracks thus far are, Garden Gate, Shine Along, Good Morning Captain and the single which is kind of disco like, but really really good I Ain't Hiding, Chris Robinson's voice is sounding awesome, there is no mistaking his voice.
I have been watching tour dates for The Crowes and see they have played a few dates opening for Levon Helm, now that would be a fucking wicked double bill to see. Hope that bill makes it's way to Edmonton.
Overall I would give this album a 7 out of 10. Great Sunday morning drinking music!!!!