Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Shows of the weeks

Has anyone out there been to any shows lately? It's been a stretch of shows for me: first Appleseed Cast/the Life and Times/Harris/Caspian at the Middle East downstairs - a spectacular show! I guess you'd call it extreme emo? Anyway, I got there a little late and missed most of Caspian, though they may have been the best band of the evening. They're headlining at the Paradise next week, and I may drop in for that. They're pretty heavy. Harris was pretty good, but somewhat of a mixed bag. It was like they were trying to be more earnest than they actually were, which I find kind of comedic. The Life and Times were the artsiest of the bunch, and the most bombastic. They looked like a sad bunch, and it showed in their music. Appleseed Cast was prett cool, but I didn't get to hear much of them since I had to leave early. I thought it was kind of cool that their lead guy was an oldster, either that or he was very prematurely graying. Good bands all around, looks like I picked a good night to go to a random show.

The next night I went for some headbanging action with ISIS, Torche, and Blacktail (who I think I missed). Torche was just full throttle death metal, oh what fun! Seriously, it was a great set, they rocked out and we all loved it. ISIS, though, holy shit, ISIS...they really blew everyone away, best show I've seen since Helmet with Brett. There's not much to say about it, you'd really have to see them live, and you know it's good if I'm willing to stay out past the last train and take a cab home.

While I was away in San Fran I saw a couple of shows - Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, for one. The music was good, but it was awfully dull to see live. I like performers who rock out, and this guy clearly could not rock out even if he could produce some awesome sounds from his gear. The previous band was much more interesting to hear/see, although I don't remember who it was.

Another night we went to a punkish show at another club. It was a really punky night. None of the bands were terrific, but they were all fun because they sounded so punky and like they really didn't give a shit. Which sometimes, though not always, can be good. On this particular night, it was perfect. Drunken underage kids flooded the stage and threw their beer bottles...punks puked on the steps...windows were broken...it was a banner evening. The wrong side of the San Fran tracks.

And the fun continued at home this past Friday when I saw the triumphant return to Boston of Sebadoh! Even though I saw the album cover of theirs with the baby looking into the toilet about 1,000,005 times, I've never really heard their classic stuff. I have their album "The Sebadoh," but that's not really classic, and I don't think it's much like their classic stuff. So this was an evening of completely classic stuff that was totally new to me, and it totally rocked. It started kind of slow, but gradually became fantastic and totally punky (I guess I'm totally into punky these days)! They really rocked and it was a spectacular show - they came out for FOUR encores. It never ceases to amaze me how comatose Boston audiences are, though. Only about an eighth of the audience were even going so far as to bob their heads to the music...jesus, people, get some life in you! This is totally rocking, head banging music! Anyway, the drunken bitch next to me kept on screaming "Natural One!!! Naaaturraall ONNNNNNE!!!!!" So, so dumb. But other than her and the horrible cocktails that were served, it was a terrific evening.

Also, I forgot that before all of this I went to a show at Johnny D's - my friend Jonah's band The Patrons played, along with some Swedish band. Super show. The Patron's are all Alt-Country-Blues, and they totally rock live. If they ever tour near you, definitely check 'em out. The Swedish band was terrific, also - started out slow, but then totally got into it and turned sort of extreme-emo on us, although they seemed at first to be kind of Alt-countryish as well. They tore the roof off of Johnny D's. Those Swedes sure can rock.

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