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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
I'm surprised I haven't seen any of these bands mentioned, as I have always understood them to have a reputation as great live bands. Having seen all of them myself (usually more than once), I can attest to the fact that they all offer outstanging live experiences:
1. Drive-by Truckers: will blow your head off with their power, but also possess a lyricism that balances that. They also offer great storytelling between songs.
2. The Hold Steady: also very powerful and very exuberant, which is really contagious. I'm way too old to be jumping around down in front, but I am compelled to do so when I see these guys.
3. The Twilight Singers: Apart from the music, which takes on a harder rock edge live (which is good), Greg Dulli is just flat-out entertaining in his interaction with the crowd - sometimes playful, sometimes confrontational, but always fun.
What these bands have that I appreciate is an ability to engage the crowd and make them feel a part of the event, and not just inert viewers. And I always get the feeling that the show I've just seen is not the same show they will give the next night to the next crowd. Because if all the concert turns out to be is a big listening party, then I can just stay home and wind up the stereo and get the same experience.
I hate, hate, hate bands that give insincere or unearned encores. I can not explain how much this makes my blood boil. Encores should not be a default part of the live experience, you need to MAKE the crowd want to see more - and not just your three biggest hits that you've saved for the end!
Play an interesting cover! Do a one-off version of a b-side! Pull someone on stage who you know is at the show and get them to play a song with you! I don't even care - just don't wank out your greatest hits in 15-minute jam versions!
Ok, that's my rant, here's my list:
DO:
Richard Buckner - Somehow made me want to stay through a 4.5 hour set.
Jon Spencer w The Sadies as Heavy Trash - Truly unbelievable.
Andrew Bird
Calexico - These guys can make corpses dance.
Jon Rae and The River - Someone please give this man some money so that he can stop working in a coffee shop and just make more music!
DON'T:
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Great albums, sh*tty live act.
Daniel Johnson - Embarrassing, humiliating, depressing. Stop touring.
Go Team - Not sure why there was a licensed section for this show that was inexplicably aimed an audience with the musical appreciation of a 10-year-old.
Great call on High on Fire. What an insanely great band. Also catch Heaven and Hell on tour, with is Black Sabbath with Dio singing. Great show.
What a great thread. Keep the suggestions coming, people.
A couple people mentioned them, but does anybody have something to say about the White Stripes live?
Lucinda Williams
Vienna Teng
Wayne Shorter
and yet another endorsement of one several have mentioned:
Elvis Costello
Warning - Arenas are usually not so good. The sound is often poor, and they often have oppressive security presences.
The good stuff (all venues Toronto):
- Public Enemy, Concert Hall aka Masonic Temple, fall 1990. The Enemy at the height of their powers, in front of a rabidly exuberant crowd.
- MDC, the Apocalypse Club, spring 1990. Texas via San Fran hardcore in a small dingy room. Most vicious pit of the year.
- Rollins Band, Opera House, October 2001. Henry serves up his 9/11 assessment, then rocks the house.
- John Zorn w/Masada, Danforth Music Hall, July 2006.
- Ornette Coleman, Massey Hall, fall 2006
Prince is worth every penny his corporate masters squeeze out of you -- I saw him play a 55-minute show for $90, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Bruce Springsteen is another arena-level show that will have you feeling like you got your money's worth.
They were mentioned upthread, but They Might Be Giants never ever disappoint. High energy, great songs, amusing repartee, and they keep ticket prices in the $30-40 range. If they're doing a multi-show run, you're guaranted to get a completely new show each night. Ween is another band whose love of performing ("Holy crap, we get to play another show tonight!") gets all over the audience.
So, would you like to hear excellent music played by non-stuck-up musicians you can actually hang out with and jam with all night by a campfire, socialise with nu-folkies and old hippies, wander around in a Brigadoon-like charm with excellent sound from Main Stage to Teen Scene to Songwriters' Workshop (where i actually ran sound one year), and camp out for three nights with a thousand good natured music fans in tents, schoolbusses and microbusses?
Then come to the 29th Annual Hiawatha Traditional Music Festival here in Marquette Michigan on the 3rd weekend in July (July 20-22). It is not lack-luster (though you could say it's mellow). It's like Brigadoon, except that instead of appearing for only a day once every century it's three days and it happens every year. {Then on Monday it fades back into the mist...}
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiawatha_Music_Festival
http://www.hiawathamusic.org
As mentioned by several people, Richard Thompson (particularly on one of his all-too-infrequent electric tours) always gives good bang for the buck. Unfortunately for this tour, his regular bass player had to leave for a family emergency, so with a fill-in guy the set lists have become a lot more static over multiple nights.
I'll also second the recommendation for Belle & Sebastian, who also engage with the audience in a very refreshing manner.
The Decemberists also fall in that category: people who actually have fun playing and make the audience feel that enjoyment as well.
I'm going to see Rickie Lee Jones tonight and looking forward to it very much.
On a related subject, who the hell ever thought it was a good idea to hold concerts outdoors? There may be some places in Northern California where this may be pleasant, but New York City is absolute hell (when it's not bucketing down rain) during the summer. I'm still trying to decide whether I want to see the Drive-By Truckers for free in Brooklyn if I have to swelter and burn in the sun (along with the crackheads and derelicts) to do so.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
