Soundgarden 5/8/13

Didn't play it last night, but opened with "Spoonman" tonight.  Luckily, there wasn't much overlap in the set list.  They repeated all the songs off the new album from last night and just a few big hits like "Outshined", "Fell on Black Days", and "Blow up the Outside World".  We were even treated to a short drum solo from the transcendent Matt Cameron.  I could watch that guy play drums all by himself.  Bassist Ben Shepherd maintained his miserable composure but did speak to us some, although I couldn't decipher a word.  No "Big Dumb Sex" or "Rhinosaur" but I'm not complaining.  Sorry, but I left my friggin' camera in the car, so check last night's pics.  They were all wearing the same exact clothes so they might have looked pretty much identical, anyway.

Soundgarden 5/7/13

I know you're thinking it must have been nothing but tattered flannel and receding hairlines in the audience.  No, no, no.  Well...  maybe a little bit.  Chris Cornell's voice hasn't changed a decibel since the early nineties.  He still wails with the best of them.  Kim Thayil sliced through ear drums with the riffs on "Pretty Noose" and nonchalantly jammed through every solo as if it was second nature, whilst enjoying several beers throughout the night.  Guess they can still party, too.  Bassist Ben Shepherd from the neck down was rockin-it and having a good time, but from the neck up it was frozen misery.  But they were all held together by the impeccable timing of drummer Matt Cameron (who's also flannel-friendly Pearl Jam's drummer).  Sing-a-longs occurred best during "Outshined" and "Burden in My Hand" but they played all the hits except "Spoonman".  Which isn't to say older and deep tracks weren't performed.  The latest album, King Animal, had nearly every tune mixed in with the eclectic two-hour set list.  "Rusty Cage" highlighted the end of the main set, a song even Johnny Cash admired enough to cover before his demise.  I'm sure there will be some overlap, but if tomorrow night's show is a carbon copy, I will be upset.

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.