Surprisingly the funnest set of the weekend was R. Kelly! I went from being so disappointed with him being billed to being absolutely blown away by how fun his set was. If anyone has seen the Aziz Ansari bit on going to an R. Kelly show, it's EXACTLY like the way he describes R. Kelly talking to the crowd in singing mode. Good times.

One of my best friends completely digs R. Kelly. I think is R. Kelly is underrated even though I hardly listen to his music.

Steven Wilson visited Finland a week ago. Was a pretty good gig. Some of the better modern prog you hear..



In drums we heard Chad Wackerman instead (ex Zappa drummer, though much better for this style of music). Listening to ^, I'm happy that they had Wackerman who wasn't nearly as timid as Minnemann. Was never a Wackerman fan, but he really pulled it off this time.

How long you staying for the Bay Area meet, ship? The Pixies are in Oakland the Friday after the meet. It's been sold out for a while now, but there's always stubhub/craigslist.

Some pics from some of the shows I've been to recently (that I remember to actually take pics). Sorry they're all terrible blurry phone pics.

Local Natives at The Fox Oakland. This is like my 8th time seeing them between all the venues and festivals. My first show with them was a small club of maybe 200 people, and now they're selling out The Fox which is like 3K capacity. They've really upped the stage production on this last go-around with lots of strobes and flood lighting behind them. I didn't know how the new album, with its slow-building songs and expansive harmonies, would translate live but the live renditions are more propulsive. The crowd does go crazy when old burners like Slow Hands comes on though.



This wasn't a concert really, but a speaking panel on songwriting with Matt Berninger and Aaron Dessner from The National. They did do acoustic renditions of three songs (I Should Live In Salt, Pink Rabbits, Vanderlyle Crybaby Cry). I'm a huge fan of this band, so it was awesome getting to hear about their songwriting process and what a struggle it is to get a group of guys on the same page.


Kanye West at Oracle. This man really does have a flair for drama. He did the entire new album, with selected songs from his back catalog. There was a big mountain in the background with a huge screen on top of it. At different points, there was about a dozen dancers in skin-tight pantyhose material suits, a red-eyed demon lurking on the mountain, and a white Jesus appearance after the mountain split in half. All in all, it was entertaining. Oh, and Kendrick Lamar opened for him and killed it.




Vampire Weekend & Beirut at The Hollywood Bowl. This was my first time at this venue, and I must say it is fantastic. A big amphitheater with four big screens (two on each side of the stage). And they let you bring in your own alcohol. My only gripes are that the seats are a bit tight so there's not much dancing room and the parking situation is terrible. Both bands were great, as expected since they're two of my favorite live bands and I've seen them each probably a dozen times over the years. Just one picture taken of the screens:


Polica at The Fillmore. They were ok live -- not bad but not amazing. I enjoyed them more in the half set I caught at Coachella, but the crowd there was much livelier (drug-induced I'm sure).


Cut Copy at The Fox. They were fun as hell live as usual. This show was only a few days after the new album was released so I wasn't that familiar with the newer songs, but luckily they played a lot of songs from Zonoscope and In Ghost Colours. Not a huge fan of the newer material, frankly. The crowd was obnoxious as hell though (my friend actually got kicked out by security for getting in a confrontation) and reminds me that I may be getting too old/intolerant for general admission these days.


One show I realized I didn't get any pics was Deafheaven when they were here a few months ago. Saw them at Bottle of the Hill (capacity of 350) with an absolutely horrible sou nd system, but it was one of the best shows I've been to this year. My ears were ringing for like three days afterward though...

Wow, just got back from taking the family to see We Will Rock You in London.  What a fantastic show! 

The band was super tight, simply brilliant.  They have been doing the show in the Dominion Theatre since 2002, so they have the sound set up perfectly!!  All of the leads had amazing pipes.  Some great nods to Freddy and the band, full respect paid to Queen. We were singing, clapping, and stomping along.  Part rock show, part broadway!

Be on the lookout, they are doing a US tour in 2014! I'd put it on the must see list!