The Walkmen @ Metro – 1/14/12

The Walkmen celebrated their 10th anniversary as a band Saturday night at a sold out Metro, in the first of a 3 show run commemorating their decade together. (They are playing 2 more anniversary shows in San Francisco next weekend)

The show was divided into two sets and spanned the bands career.  Set 1 pulled heavily from their debut Everyone Who Pretended To Like Me Is Gone which has just been released for the first time on vinyl.

The sets were sprinkled with new songs they are working on completing in Seattle for an expected summer release.  The new material feels looser and with a harder edge than some of the more refined manicured sounds of their most recent albums.

Set 1:

1. LineBy Line [new song]

2. They’re Winning

3. Wake Up

4. Everyone Who Pretended To Like Me Is Gone

5. Revenge Wears No Wristwatch

6. Hang On, Siobhan

7. The Blizzard Of ’96

8. We’ve Been Had

9. Love You Love [new song]

10. Left You A Million Times/No No No [new song]

11. Love Is Luck [new song]

12. Dónde Está La Playa

13. On The Water

14. In The New Year

15. Red Moon*

16. Stranded*

17. Canadian Girl*

18. Louisiana*

——————————-1 hour 15 minutes / *4 piece horn section

Set 2:

19. Southern Heart [new song]

20. Blue As Your Blood

21. All Hands And The Cook

22. Woe Is Me

23. French Vacation

24. The Rat

25. No Christmas While I’m Talking

26. I Lost You**

27. 138th Street**

28. Postcards From Tiny Islands **

29. Thinking Of A Dream I Had**

30. Heartbreaker [new song]

———————————-1 hour / **Hamilton fielded crowd requests for these songs

New Release Calendar: 1st Quarter 2012

These are some preliminary releases that are on my radar for the start of 2012:

Guided By Voices – Let’s Go Eat The Factory (1/17)

Sharon Van Etten – Tramp (2/7)

Air – Le Voyage Dans La Lune (2/7)

Dr. Dog – Be The Void (2/7)

Of Montreal – Paralytic Stalks (2/7)

Field Music – Plumb (2/14)

Sleigh Bells – Reign of Terror (2/14)

Perfume Genius – Put Your Back N 2 It (2/21)

Fanfarlo – Rooms Filled With Light (2/28)

Disappears – Pre Language (3/1)

The Magnetic Fields – Love At The Bottom Of The Sea (3/6)

Andrew Bird – Break It Yourself (3/6)

The Shins -  Port Of Morrow (March)

Spiritualized – Sweet Heart Sweet Light (March)

Lee Ranaldo – Between The Times And The Tides (3/20)

Best Of 2011 Playlists

Here are the playlists for my Favorite Tracks of 2011.  This was an attempt at concisely summing up the year and believe me I could have filled at least another disc.  Happy listening and your comments are welcome.

CD 1:

1. Real Estate – It’s Real

2. Kurt Vile – Jesus Fever

3. Jessica Lea Mayfield – Our Hearts Are Wrong

4. Telekinesis! – Please Ask for Help

5. PJ Harvey – The Last Living Rose

6. J Mascis – Several Shades of Why

7. Girls – My Ma

8. Wild Flag – Something Came Over Me

9. Destroyer – Suicide Demo for Kara Walker

10. Ducktails – Killin The Vibe

11. Wye Oak – Civilian

12. Smith Westerns – Weekend

13. Gruff Rhys – Honey All Over

14. The Antlers – Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out

15. Toro Y Moi – New Beat

16. The War On Drugs – Baby Missiles

17. Neon Indian – Polish Girl

18. The Decemberists – Rox In The Box

19. Lykke Li – Sadness Is A Blessing

20. M83 – Midnight City

CD 2:

1. Wilco – I Might

2. Radiohead – Staircase

3. Little Dragon – Ritual Union

4. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – Dream On

5. Okkervil River – Rider

6. Peter Bjorn & John – Second Chance

7. Woods – Pushing Onlys

8. Peter Wolf Crier – Beach

9. Atlas Sound – Mona Lisa

10. Dum Dum Girls – Bedroom Eyes

11. Iron & Wine – Tree By The River

12. Handsome Furs – What About Us?

13. The Feelies – Should Be Gone

14. The Donkeys – I Like The Way You Walk

15. CANT – The Edge

16. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – Senator

17. Yuck – Sunday

18. TV On The Radio – Caffeinated Consciousness

19. Fleet Foxes – Grown Ocean

———————————————————————-

Album of the Year:

Destroyer – Kaputt

Runners-up:

PJ Harvey – Let England Shake

Real Estate – Days

Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring For My Halo & (the excellent) So Outta Reach EP (available together in the Deluxe Smoke Ring CD)

M83 – Hurry Up We’re Dreaming

Album I expect to delve deeper into in 2012:

The Horrors – Skying

2 albums that didn’t age well for me:

Bon Iver – Bon Iver

Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues

Early 2012 album I’m most looking forward to:

The Magnetic Fields – Love At The Bottom Of The Sea

Most Anticipated 2012 Live Act:

The Stone Roses

Morrissey @ Congress Theater – 12/17/11

Setlist:

1. I Want The One I Can’t Have

2. You Have Killed Me

3. You’re The One For Me, Fatty

4. When Last I Spoke To Carol

5. There Is A Light That Never Goes Out

6. Everyday Is Like Sunday

7. Maladjusted

8. First Of The Gang To Die

9. People Are The Same Everywhere

10. Speedway

11. All The Lazy Dykes

12. Satellite Of Love

13. Meat Is Murder

14. Ouija Board, Ouija Board

15. Scandinavia

16. I Know It’s Over

17. Let Me Kiss You

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

18. Still Ill

My notes:

The Smiths songs sound far better than they have on recent tours.  The show was bookended by two such stellar numbers, “I Want The One I Can’t Have” to open and “Still Ill” to close, before the stage bum rush sent Morrissey escaping to the wings of the stage.

Yes, he took off his shirt and launched it into the crowd standing barechested before running off, bashfully.

Morrissey likened the imminent attack of Iran by America as a case of “penis envy” [his actual words] prior to “People Are The Same Everywhere.”

Moz referred to Lou Reed as someone who made America great before playing “Satellite Of Love” and after said, “If you don’t know who wrote it, then get out!”

Song I surprised myself by thoroughly enjoying…”Maladjusted.”

Morrissey changed the lyrics of “Meat Is Murder” to Kill Eat, Kill Eat, Murder and performed with the Meet Your Meat graphic video displayed behind him.  Talk about a downer and sucking the life out of the room.

The Congress played far better than I remembered and the show was well attended.  Chicago politician John Fritchey was in attendance.

My Morrissey concert experience includes 8 shows beginning with the Your Arsenal show at Poplar Creek.  The 8 shows I’ve seen have taken place in 6 different Chicago venues. (Poplar Creek, Aragon, Riviera, Metro, The Auditorium & Congress)

Wilco 12/15/11 @ The Vic

Here are my notes & setlist from Thursday’s Wilco “The Incredible Shrinking Tour of Chicago”  at the Vic.

Rahm Emanuel arrived at a VIP box at 9pm to much fanfare.

Wilco started at 9:17pm

1. One Sunday Morning…

Tweedy’s wearing hat

2. Hell Is Chrome

Eff yea

3. Art Of Almost

Jeff almost dancing/Riv was louder

4. I Might

5. Muzzle Of Bees

6. Hotel Arizona

7. Radio Cure

8. Born Alone

9. At Least That’s What You Said

They love AGIB, me too / Kotche MVP on this one.

10. Rising Red Lung

11. Say You Miss Me

Great to hear. Tweedy blew first 2 lines.

12. Wilco (The Song)

13. Capitol City

14. Hesitating Beauty

15. Summer Teeth

16. Standing O

17. A Magazine Called Sunset

!!!! Shit yea

18. Nothing’severgonnastandinmyway (Again)

19. Dawned On Me

__________________________________End of set proper10:46pm

20. Whole Love

21. Hate It Here

22. You Never Know

2nd different double guitar used by Nels tonight. 1st time done since the band Krokus jokes Tweedy

23. Theologians

24. Casino Queen

25. Kicking Television

Congrats u just played ur worst song! Wtf.

___________________________________End of 1st Encore

26. Hoodoo Voodoo

27. Outtasite (Outta Mind)

28. The Lonely 1

Phenomenal vocal. 1st pedal steel tonight.

___________________________________11:29pm end of show

Real Estate @ Lincoln Hall 10/31/11

In a word: brilliant. I listen to oodles of “new” music, but Real Estate is truly the cat’s pajamas or the bee’s knees (if you prefer) in my book. Very few “new” band’s catalogs inspire my immediate devotion the way Real Estate’s releases have. I think its the signature chiming guitar tone, a hallmark of their songs, that reeled me in and has kept me rapt as a fan.
Here’s what the fivesome played on their second visit (first headlining) to Lincoln Hall on Halloween night, including a handful of well picked covers.

 

 

Setlist:
1. Green River
2. Suburban Beverage
3. Easy
4. It’s Real
5. Video Life [Chris Spedding]
6. Anything Could Happen [The Clean]
7. Coffee + TV [Blur]
8. Sunlight Bathed The Golden Glow [Felt]
9. Holiday [Weezer]
10. Green Aisles
11. Wonder Years
12. Younger Than Yesterday
13. Suburban Dogs
14. Municipality
15. All The Same
Encore:
16. Fake Blues
17. Beach Comber

Truth be told I had to tweet the band themselves to inquire about the Chris Spedding song. Thanks Real Estate!

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks @ Metro – 10/06/11

This was an average show at best. Stephen Malkmus is often derided for his concert performances, but it hasn’t stopped me from seeing him play solo or with the Jicks each time he/they come through Chicago. After the first song of the night bassist Joanna Bolme made a comment about remembering Metro being louder. Her teasing tone may not have been the shrewdest way to set the momentum for the evening. This was, after all, a show originally booked for the larger Vic Theatre and was now taking place in a less than full Metro.

The show confirmed that Malkmus’ best work is done in the studio, and with a setlist pulled largely from the superb-sounding Mirror Traffic, the live execution was lackluster. Also missing from the mix were the drumming skills and backing vocals of Janet Weiss (she left the Jicks after recording Mirror Traffic) who will be in Chicago this weekend for two shows with Wild Flag.

I thought that Thursday’s gig was maybe a B- on the grading scale, but the boneheaded covers closing the encore pushed my rating to a C at best. Do yourself a favor, buy Mirror Traffic and skip the live show.

Setlist:

1. All Over Gently

2. Brain Gallop

3. Spazz

4. Discretion Grove

5. ? victims sacred ? ***unknown new song

6. Long Hard Book

7. Tigers

8. No One Is (As I Are Be)

9. Stick Figures In Love

10. Church On White

11. Polvo

12. Independence Street

13. Baby C’mon

14. Senator

15. Real Emotional Trash

Encore:

16. Forever 28

17. Share The Red

18. Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl) [Looking Glass cover]

19. Bennie And The Jets [Elton John cover]

Follow this link to hear a studio version of “Polvo,” a song exclusive to the Japanese version of Mirror Traffic that was played at Metro on 10/06/11.

http://triggercut.com/2011/08/trigger-cut-stephen-malkmus-the-jicks-polvo-2/

Girls @ Lincoln Hall 9/29/11

The Girls show Thursday night at Lincoln Hall was nothing short of a resounding success.  Though its taking a bit longer to ingratiate myself with the recently released Father Son Holy Ghost than Girls’ previous two releases, the band sounded well rehearsed and up to the challenge of entertaining an expectant sold out crowd.

The setlist was pretty much perfect, happily including half of the songs from the Broken Dreams Club EP, of which I could barely contain my elation on hearing “Substance.”  This was only my second time seeing Girls live and the first time in a proper venue as opposed to a scorching hot early afternoon set at Union Park.  The band did not have its back-up singers with them at Lincoln Hall in case you were wondering.

Setlist:

1.  Laura

2.  Honey Bunny

3.  Alex

4.  Love Like A River

5.  My Ma

6.  Heartbreaker

7.  Die

8.  Darling

9.  Lust For Life

10.  Magic

11.  Vomit

12.  Substance

13.  Morning Light

Encore:

14.  Hellhole Ratrace

15.  Broken Dreams Club

Roughly 80 mins.

Watch a recent network TV performance here:

http://www.nbc.com/assets/video/widget/widget.html?vid=1355045

 

 

Okkervil River @ The Vic 09/22/11

I must admit, this was my first time seeing Okkervil River and they brought the goods to a rapturous and enthusiastic crowd that bounced and grooved along most of the night.  The best songs of the night (in my estimation) were the cuts from Black Sheep Boy and to my surprise and delight (that they played it), “Lost Coastlines.”

If you were there or if you weren’t, here’s the setlist for this all-ages show in which the band numbered 7 players and opted to play through instead of departing the stage for the standard encore tradition.

1. Wake and Be Fine

2. For Real

3. Rider

4. Black

5. Piratess

6. Song Of Our So-Called Friend

7. John Allyn Smith Sails

8. We Need a Myth

9. The Valley

10. No Key, No Plan

11. So Come Back, I Am Waiting

12. Westfall

13. Your Past Life as a Blast

14. Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe

15. Lost Coastlines

16. Unless It’s Kicks

Run time 90 mins. – Played through instead of standard encore

Arctic Monkeys @ House Of Blues 8/6/11 Post-Lollapalooza Show

Frontman Alex Turner said the word “Chicago” no less than 11 times when addressing the audience at HOB in a set that was marked by peaks and valleys.  The performance proved to me that they might just be a “singles band” as opposed to an album band.  I found the songs from the first 2 albums to be head and shoulders above the newer material.  Drummer Matt Helders however was a force of nature on his Union Jack themed drum set from start to finish.

Setlist:

1. Library Pictures

2. Brianstorm

3. This House Is A Circus

4. Still Take You Home

5.  Don’t Sit Down ‘Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair

6. Pretty Visitors

7. She’s Thunderstorms

8. Teddy Picker

9. Crying Lightning

10. Brick By Brick

11. Potion Approaching

12. The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala

13. The View From The Afternoon

14. I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor

15. All My Own Stunts

16. If You Were There, Beware

17. Do Me A Favour

18. When The Sun Goes Down

Encore:

19. Fluorescent Adolescent

20. 505

Best moments “Teddy Picker” followed by “Crying Lightning” / “The View From The Afternoon” into “I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor” / Set closing “When The Sun Goes Down” / The encore opening “Fluorescent Adolescent.”