2.27.09 O Pioneers!!! and !?

This was a very strange weekend to say the least...

The friday before this show we played at One Fifteen Franklin Street with Brave Little Abacus, O Pioneers, Fort! the Band and Wood Spider. It was really strange to play this place for people that weren't necessarily the ska punk crowd that is usually there. Brave Little Abacus had an awesome set and they played for a lot of new people which I was very happy about but unfortunately Adam's speakers blew and the last few minutes of El Capitano were cut. Wood Spider were a pretty decent band and a lot of their friends were getting into it, reminded me a little too much of Tom Waits meets Golgol Bordello. Next was Fort! The Band, I have decided that I am going to write an essay to this band which I will post here because I was really confused and offended by their set, I won't go any further from there. An hour and a half later, after a bunch of our friends had to late due to the length of Fort! The Bands set, we played. Interesting thing was that we played with no P.A. system but a lot of people were still really into it! It was cool to have people singing along to our songs even when they couldn't hear the words, it really put the whole sense of community at our shows into perspective. My new friend Lindsay Sanderson got lots of amusing pictures from this show. Even though it was unfortunate that there were technical difficulties it seemed that nearly everyone in these pictures had a wide smile on their face which made me very happy. O Pioneers!!! went on at somewhere near one in the morning and they were nothing less than I expected, in fact they exceeded my expectations. I bought their newest release "Neon Creeps" on vinyl and have listened to it a bunch of times, I really dig it. I had a good chat with their guitarist Eric who was a very awesome person and we got to chat about the new punk scene that is coming up. I really really want to be a part of this movement, I feel like everyone is so positive and just wants to see new places and make new friends which is everything i've ever wanted. It rides above this whole myspace out to make a buck and there is is so much more dedication and loyalty in the people that go out to the shows. He also encouraged me to ask Jeff Rosenstock to put our our next release, I have no idea what he is going to say but I am going to ask him when we play their CD release show on Saturday.

Things to look forward to...

4.18-4.19
The Dead @ DCU Center

6.11-6.14
Bonnaroo 2009!!!
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
Phish (2 Shows)
Beastie Boys
Nine Inch Nails
David Byrne
Wilco
Al Green
Snoop Dogg
Elvis Costello Solo
Erykah Badu
Paul Oakenfold
Ben Harper and Relentless7
The Mars Volta
TV on the Radio
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Gov’t Mule
Andrew Bird
Band Of Horses
Merle Haggard
MGMT
moe.
The Decemberists
Girl Talk
Bon Iver
Béla Fleck & Toumani Diabate
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Galactic
The Del McCoury Band
of Montreal
Allen Toussaint
Coheed and Cambria
Booker T & the DBTs
David Grisman Quintet
Lucinda Williams
Animal Collective
Gomez
Neko Case
Down
Jenny Lewis
Santogold
Robert Earl Keen
Citizen Cope
Femi Kuti and the Positive Force
The Ting Tings
Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
Kaki King
Grizzly Bear
King Sunny Adé
Okkervil River
St. Vincent
Zac Brown Band
Raphael Saadiq
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
Crystal Castles
Tift Merritt
Brett Dennen
Mike Farris and the Roseland Rhythm Revue
Toubab Krewe
People Under the Stairs
Alejandro Escovedo
Vieux Farka Touré
Elvis Perkins In Dearland
Cherryholmes
Yeasayer
Todd Snider
Chairlift
Portugal. The Man.
The SteelDrivers
Midnite
The Knux
The Low Anthem
Delta Spirit
A.A. Bondy
The Lovell Sisters
Alberta Cross

MORE ARTISTS TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON!

scene and not heard

I feel as though we've met before
i just can't put a face with a name
I know It sounds funny
but you remind me of someone
someone i've met before
could it be that you
wish you were something
just like everyone else
a haircut and a pair of pants
stressed t-shirt, do i dare take a chance
here's the thing i'm sure we'd be friends
but do you have a say
If It's what they wish they were

Not who they want to be
But I can't leave those for whom I care
They are never too concerned about their hair
Sometimes all it takes is to be able to
look me in the eye
make conversation
shake my hand
remember my name

Shows I Should Review

Neil Young & Wilco

Four Year Strong & Last Lights 

New Found Glory 

Rx Bandits 

Rise Against

Maps and Atlases & Nurses 

12.27.08 Four Year Strong & Set Your Goals

I have been really bad about posting here, but I will give an update with all of the concerts that I attended this fall hopefully very soon. Anyways, tonight I went to the Worcester Palladium for the first time and saw a bunch of bands. 

First was Lions Lions, they played a very "warped" hardcore along the lines of Circa Survive or Chiodos. They were OK, but they are still a very young band with a lot of room to grow into something. 

Next was Energy, they played with Set Your Goals at the ICC in May but unfortunately we missed there set. Their show was exactly what I expected, very much in vein of old AFI with lots and lots of woahs. It was nice to finally see them, but they didn't really meet my expectations this first time. I really enjoyed there record, but the live performance was somewhat lackluster. I soon realized that this was the fault of the venue, sold out show, very bad acoustics. 

Next was A Loss For Words, local band who I am very surprised that I have never seen before. I met the singer Matt a few weeks ago at the We Are The Union show and he was surprisingly very nice and we had a good talk about pop punk, hardcore and shows in Massachusetts. I never understood what people liked about A Loss For Words when they had their first few CDs released, a little too poppy for my liking at the time. But I think they have grown into something much bigger than that. Their songs are extremely catchy and they put on a great live show, I'm proud to say that they come from a few towns over. 

Every Avenue showed up with only an acoustic guitar in hand, but came with a whole list of excuses and complaints in tow, I was going to give them a chance but this really turned me off. We moved up to the balcony to see what the view was like up there. 

We snagged some sweet seats and I watched the rest of the show from there. Set Your Goals were definitely the highlight of the show for me, I hadn't seen them since this summer and although they played pretty much the same set they reminded me of how good they really are. They promised a record coming soon, they are going in the studio in February. I thought, if the rest is as good as "The Fallen" this is going to be a damn good record. 

Four Year Strong definitely showed some home town pride and plenty of egging on... WHAT THE FUCKS UP WORCESTER ITS GOOD TO BE HOME, I WANNA SEE THIS PLACE OPEN UP! There set was good, they played some older songs but their sound was really bad and made it irritating at times. Being the fourth time seeing them this year It was cool to see them in their hometown, but I don't plan on seeing them again till they put out a new record. 

Really fun show, but all in all the Palladium was not that great of a place, reminding me of an extremely run down Lupo's. Can't wait for the new Set Your Goals record.

Interrobang!?

I've been posting a lot here...

10.12.08 The Slackers

Crazy
I Still Love You
Eviction
Yer Still Blue
Keep Him Away
Have the Time
Don't You Want a Man?
And I Wonder
Cupid
Tin Tin Deo
Two Face
Walking On
You Were Always on My Mind (Willie Nelson cover)
Leave Me
Feed My Girl (Boss Harmony version)
What Went Wrong
Every Day is Sunday
Pedophilia
I Shall Be Released
Sarah
ENCORE:
You Don't Know I
She Wants to Be Alone