The Black Keys 5/2/13

... with The Flaming Lips, who stole the show visually with a creative stage set-up.  Leader Wayne Coyne stood high on an elevated pedestal with snake-ish tubes that came down from his mic and weaved across the entire stage and went back up and hung behind him.  In these tubes were orbs of glittery light that traveled through them, corresponding with the music.  Very trippy, especially with the screens behind them adding all kinds of bizarre images.  He was also holding a plastic baby doll and treating it as if was real, playing nosies with it and all.  But they did cover David Bowie's "Heroes" so, I can deal with the strangeness.

 

The Keys, however, delivered that good ole rock show, as they do.  Opening with "Howlin' for You", they had a lot of ground to cover, what with 7 original albums.  Cover ground they did with deep cuts and the radio hits most of us know.  I haven't been to Lakewood in several years and forgot how the bass drum can vibrate the heart in your chest like being brought back to life by a defibrillator in the E.R.  After a few tunes, they cut themselves down to the original duo to jam on some older tracks which was pretty cool.  Muddling through some songs, they completely ripped it up on "Your Touch".  They also had huge screens behind them cut into many different squares for a variety of angles on the band.  For the encore, a moon-sized disco ball was raised and Dan busted out his best falsetto for "Everlasting Light".  "I Got Mine" brought the night to a close and the house music started back, appropriately, with Zeppelin's "Ramble On".

The Black Crowes 4/23/13

November 19th and 20th 2010 is the last time the Crowes were in Atlanta, enduring a nearly three year hiatus.  Felt good to have them back and they sounded as tight as ever.  They opened the night with the first six songs from Three Snakes and One Charm, in order, which included "Nebakanezer", one they haven't played much in the last 18 times I've seen them.  Not their most well known album, so, very cool.  Then followed that set with "Medicated Goo", a song I was unfamiliar with by the band Traffic.  That was the only one I didn't know.  The brothers Robinson had the crowd screaming as loud as the music during a jam on "Thorn in My Side" and even had bassist Sven Pipien head banging for a few seconds.  Ending the main set with the career starting cover of Otis Redding's "Hard to Handle", they spiced it up with a cover of Deep Purple's "Hush" in the middle.  The encore consisted of "Jealous Again", "Oh Josephine", and another great cover, Velvet Underground's "Oh! Sweet Nuthin".  After two and a half years I finally got my fix, but I'm already jones-ing for more! (Luckily, they''ll be back in July)

Cold War Kids 4/17/13

Not too bad for a minimal production show.  The sound, however, was pretty stellar.  They were tight and not far off from what they have recorded in studio,which is kind of rhythmically off kilter but still manages to sound cool.  Its my own fault for not obtaining and absorbing all of their albums, including the latest Dear Miss Lonely Hearts, but I will by the next time they come around Atlanta way.  They only played a handful from their debut Robbers & Cowards (which I know front to back by heart) including the instantly catchy bass riff hit "Hang Me Out to Dry" and "Hospital Beds" then ended the first set with "Saint John".  I was glad to hear that one just to see how they would pull it off live, and they nailed it.

"We Used to Vacation" started the encore set that also included "Something is Not Right with Me" which were both crowd-pleasers, although they never jammed on my personal favorite, "Tell Me in the Morning".  Leader Nathan Willett jumped from piano to guitar seamlessly while belting it out with his angelically shrill falsetto vocals throughout the night, like a good boy should.

Har Mar Superstar 4/13/13

Full disclosure:  I partied a little harder than I normally do at a show and according to the receipts I found in my pocket this morning, I had a great time.  What I do remember is that if Danny DeVito had a rock-star twin brother, he would be Har Mar Superstar.  He was an amazing performer without the least bit of fear or self-consciousness.  I'll let the pics speak for them selves... and my lack of memory.

  .  

Patrick Sweany 2/28/13

Thank God for pandora.com or else I probably still wouldn't have heard of this guy.  His song "Them Shoes" came on one day and I knew I had to see him live, so I did.  There's something to be said for just a guy and his guitar on stage.  As long as that guy has "it" and can pick like he can.  He's got the garage-blues-rock sound with a tinge of Van Morrison in his voice.  Hope he doesn't hate that comparison, but I hear it, and its groovy as Hell.  I'd love to see him with a full band even though him with his axe and wooden box to stomp on, in place of a percussionist, was damn entertaining.  Unlike a lot of modern bands, the soul and feeling in his voice and music is right out there for everyone to enjoy, but sadly, will unlikely be popular in this tragic world of flash, fashion, and perpetual posing.  So, good for him.  He's making music without mainstream influences.  He even played an obscure Black Keys song, which wasn't that surprising once I saw that Dan Auerbach produced his album, Every Hour is a Dollar Gone.  Can't wait to see him perform and maybe even shake hands with him again at the merch table. 

Eddie Vedder Jacksonville, FL 11/24/12

I don't know if there are a lot of bands that can have their lead singer sustain a solo show without the rest of them, but there's at least one.  Not that Eddie was completely void of his group, he did open with "Elderly Woman..." after all.  I've heard that one plenty but it never hurts to start with an all-inclusive sing-along.  Opener Glen Hansard set the tone of the evening with a typically personal all-out performance, straining his voice and leaving zero reserve to the audience of his emotion and dedication to his craft.  You could tell that just by the strum-worn holes in more than one of his guitars.  He even did a tune out in front of his mike, completely unplugged, and sang almost as loudly as his toned down speakers.  And then there was Eddie. Ukuleles, a loud-ass uke with guitar pick-ups, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and an organ filled the night with a some-what similar set up to the last solo show we saw him perform in Atlanta, several years ago, but with more backdrops and a faux camp fire to the side.  He sang songs from all his projects and many covers including a few of the opening bars of Pink Floyd's "Brain Damage."   Tragically, a similarity between the ATL show and this one was the fans hollering out ridiculous requests and other useless "woo's" to interrupt the between song banter and stories from his childhood.  One chick yelled out "Red Mosquito" and he said "Yeah, that's a good one.  I'll never play it, but that's a good one.  I'll need Mike McCready to pull that one off."  He also told us before jamming on "Betterman" that Pete Townshend told him that in spite of the melancholy lyrics, couples in the crowd still seemed to bond over the happy melody of the tune.  Glen joined him on several songs including another completely unplugged and un-miked number.  Not unlike PJ's Music Midtown show, Eddie just didn't seem to want to leave the stage and kept playing more and more songs including "Rockin' in the Free World" and finally ended the night with one he said he hadn't played before.  Cosmic.   As Letterman once said after Eddie performed on the Late Show, "If I had a voice like that, weeeell you could all just kiss my ass."  Have fun to those that are fortunate enough to see him tonight on the 25th.