Andrew W.K. @ The Pub (11-20-08)

This show right here has been one in the making for quite some time. I sadly missed W.K. last year when he played at the Rock N' Roll hotel up in D.C. due to the ride situation last second falling through. Bitter about missing the show I assumed my bubble for seeing W.K. was probably dead and life would just go on and that I should probably forget those battle wounds

Well around September I got a message from my friend Parker about W.K playing in Harrisonburg. I just couldn't believe it was true. I did my research, checked age limits, all of that good nerdy shit that I do, and low and behold the shit was legit. I was pumped I was ready to PARTY HARD

Anyway left Richmond around 5, digested are various dollar meal products, had general chit-chat in the car discussing the merits of Wesley Willis...etc. picked up Parker, various other details happen but are really un-important to the concert so lets digress.

The first band to come was Gifts From Enola, didn't pay attention to most of their set because I was fiddling around in the venue failing at its various games (foosball /pool / virtual hunting / ) but what I heard was a very typical rock, but when I stop wasting my money and moved up to the stage while the music didn't charge, just watching these guys play and seeing how into it they where really did help the whole experience. I can't really say i was blown away or anything by their set but it was decent opening act music, and their is nothing really wrong with that.

Shortly after their set W.K. came on. It started out with this weird sort of pre-taped intro music, and then W.K charging the stage and getting one of his various lectures of the night about why we party, and how to have a good time and how to love everyone around you. After this lecture he kicked off his set with "It's Time To Party" and the venue just went ape-shit, bodies jam upon one another till you cant even breath, hyperactive mush dancing was at a T. (it was glorious / mad fucking glorious). Also on a note of the music, his songs during the night weren't in typical W.K metal-party style, he has morphed these songs into more upbeat techno-ish dance songs, it might sound strange but it works trust me

Now to be honest I really don't think my writing abilities can fully sum up how much fun an Andrew W.K. show actually is. There is just so much positive energy and intensity comes out of that man that it's almost godly. The man really knows how to package a party, and make that shit mad goofy and at the same time almost religious. (its intense 4 fuck)

There is one negative about the show that was by no means w.k fault which is the fact that the pub and its security were complete and utter dicks. More or less man handling fans who popped onstage, and generally just not working with this motto that W.K was trying to present at the show about how everyone should love each other. It really just for myself killed this idea of truly letting loose, for the fear of getting hammered by bouncers was probable. (even though I did get injured even without the help of the pub security, seriously speakers falling on your back is no fun at all)

Long story short the show was tight as fuck. W.K is a brilliant performer and if you do get the chance to see him live take it, no matter what background of music you come from, because it's almost inevitable you will enjoy his show due to the love and charisma that is WK. And hopefully someday W.K will come back to Virginia and next time not play the pub, seriously fuck that shit.

*photo courtesy of Lydia Russo*

Future Islands @ Nara Sushi (11-17-08)

I found out about Future Islands earlier this summer due to them being the b-side included on a split 7" with Dan Deacon. The song on it "Follow You" was a summer favorite for me, very simple love-dance song but with a very groovin' wham city-esc gloss over it.

None the less when I heard they were going to be playing in Richmond I didn't know what to expect, I hadn't heard much about their live show, but at the same time really couldn't say no to seeing them. I just had to adventure and see see what was going to happen.

Got to the show way to early (first got their at 8 when Future Islands said the show was, but i was told by the people working their that it was starting at 9, so of course like the timely man I am I got their at 9 and sat around and watched some Monday Night Football and none the less the music really started around 10:30 / seriously why do concerts get delayed starting so much???) However even with this time wait it was still all worth my time. Their live show was a very good mix of lo-fi dance beats with this very passionate love to it (I know that sounds strange, but listen to their music and you will understand), Theirs a real furry from the main singer that just brings the whole thing together into this nice modern new wave dance package. Also it sounds like these guys stumble around touring lots so if you have the opportunity it is something that is most definitely worth checking out.

Now there were 4 other acts that played (and I only saw two of them, this was due to the show taking forever to get started and I had to get up real early for school)

The 2nd act was this group called "Boogie Boader" who at first were really putting on a good tropical punk sort of jam (when tropical punk became a definable term is something that even confuses me). Now about 3/4 the way of through their set they equipment started to not really work and they started fighting with one another and it really sort of brought the whole set crashing. I would still recommend checking them out but no fighting guys / play nice.

After that their was a 40 minute wait for the next set. It was this group Hume who put on a very over-the top set that sadly feel on its face. See they had a very Danielson thing going on by having the whole band playing inside of a big octopus out-fit (which i will admit was very impressive). The reason however why this set failed is they more or less hid their very sub-par experimental rock music behind this strange outfit, it just felt like weird for the sake of weird (something that if you know me, is a big turn off with music) I was able to get halfway through this set but was to tired and felt somewhat un-optimistic about the rest of the night so I booked it back home and called it a night.

Quintron & Miss Pussycat @ Gallery 5 (11-12-08)

I had heard about Quintron & Miss Pussycat a couple years ago due to them being the opening act for Peaches on her tour in 2006 (a show I wanted to attend real bad, but was sadly 18+ when I was the tender age of 17). Well, I had checked them out of curiosity and I was quite amused by their very silly/campy/gritty dance sound. I had put their name in my subconscious and then, when I saw a fliers for this show around Richmond, the memories came back to me and I knew that I needed to make a pit stop to Gallery 5 and see their show.

Got to the show when Dead Goats just got on. I had never heard of them before, and I'll be honest, I don't think I'll hear much more of them anytime soon. Their sound was very typical rock n' roll. They seemed to really be enjoying themselves and I was amused by the sincerity of the whole thing, but there really wasn't much to it, and it really wasn't that remarkable.

After that set, The Amoeba Men came on. If you know anything about me, you know that I don't like them. They are weird for the sake of weird, I just don't get it (and there is really no point for me to get into details about something I just don't like). But let's be positive, here are some things I do like about The Amoeba Men:

* The drummer has a sweet porn stache
* They have snazzy fliers
* There feedback is feedbacky (?)

That's really all I got for them, uhh........yeah......let's talk about something else now.

Anyway, after that duo of opening acts was time for the main act. They started their show with this really weird DIY puppet show. I was very, very amused by the whole thing. I really don't recall what the plot of the puppet show was, but that doesn't matter much-- what does matter was that the hand made approach to the puppet show was quite tight and very enjoyable. (It also doesn't hurt that I have a soft spot for puppet shows, not sure why, but I do).

Then after the 10 minute puppet show they started playing their live show. The show was simple in sound, but was just a very good fuzzy organ piano dance music. Sadly, not many people were really into dancing at the show (besides this group of girls who put on a very, very bizarre lady ritual dance thing, it was awkward, I was very amused). Their set was still real tight, even without the group dancing aspect. Seriously though, the show was very fun but wasn't really mind-blowing. Just very fun Wednesday night with some fuzzy good dancing.

Aids Wolf / HEALTH / USAISAMONSTER @ The Triple (11-04-08)

Last night I made what was quite possibly one of my best decisions in quite some time. Instead of spending election night sitting around a couch and probably digesting foods of the sweet sort, I instead spent my night with a triple effect of noise rock explosions by heading to The Triple to see Aids Wolf / HEALTH / USAISAMONSTER play live.

The night started with a group I believe went by the name Dynamite Club. There set was simple and very amusing (this was mostly due to the fact that the main singer of the group played just in his underwear, with a hint of having nothing on at all, and yet was able to hid his junk the entire time, it took talent). OK so my point is this. While their stage presence was amusing, they whole thing just seemed to be weird for the sake of weird. Also they really didn't seem to have there own sound going on, and while there is nothing wrong with that, I just wouldn't expect to see much from this group in my life anytime soon.

After their set a moment in my life I won't forget did happen. See behind the dancing area of the bar there was a TV set up to keep everyone up to date about the the election. Well literally right after Dynamite Clubs set ended the TV displayed the news that Barrack Obama had won the election. I feel like that moment right there is just something that I and everyone their will remember for the rest of there lives. And it honestly doesn't even matter what party affiliation any of the people there had. Just the fact that a black man will now be president is something I don't think most people thought would ever happen. Its mind blowing as fuck

Now after that very historic moment USAISAMOSNTER came on. I had never seen these guys live before but had heard many interesting stories about this guys and the ruckus they brought to my hometown Charlottesville back in the early 2000's when they lived there and ran the quasi-legal pudhouse venue. Now their set was a very solid fuzz rock sort of thing. while that does sound like a lame definition of there show there really is something special about there live set. I personally assume that after all these years playing together and building this very respectable reputation they have learned to now play there part and just play a very solid and fun set of Noise Rock.

After that came HEALTH, who was the group I was most excited about seeing that night. The main reason for such excitement was last year HEALTH came to c-ville but I sadly missed the show due to lacking any sort of transportation home, but this time that wasn't gonna be an issue and I was gonna get my hyperactive noise on. Now for the record it was so worth the wait to see them play live. They bring this great experimental dance/rock thingy going on that is hard to explain. Its got the energy that early animal collective records have, but is mixed with great lo-fi dance rock that goes on random convulsion tangents that are just pure blissful. So basically HEALTH lived up to everything I hoped they would be and more. Easily one of the best sets I've seen so far this year.

After them was the last set of the night and it came from Aids Wolf. I wont lie I was sort of surprised they played after HEALTH espically due to all the press HEALTH has been getting recently (espically since joining NIN on tour) but even with this feeling of getting over shadowed by HEALTH their set was still fucking great. They bring this wave of noise that just hits you and then once you feel like you've got some stability back in your head it hits you some more. Its really quite a interesting thing to see live, because you can see some of the members in the audience just sort of weirded out by the live antics of Aids Wolf, while the others members of the audience are fully on board for this disastrous trip that is just hard but not love. Also the moshing during this set was just what I needed for this week, thanks for that guys, it was fun fun fun.

So to sum up this whole event, I would say it was fucking top notch. Saw some really great experimental music, and had a real great time doing my vibration dancing. Also if you have to opportunity to see any of these 3 acts live i would highly recommend it, they are all fucking great, and it was really quite a trip to have them all playing the same show all together.

(photo courtesy of ACE McMANAGAN PHOTO!)

Gang Gang Dance / Of Montreal @ The National (11-01-08)

I'll be honest when I heard that Of Montreal was going to play @ The National I really didn't care that much. I always found Of Montreal as this sort of poor mans version of Rocky Horror Picture show in music form. I never really did understand it at all. But when I heard Gang Gang Dance had been added to the bill of the show I couldn't help but get a little bit excited. You see I tried to see Gang Gang Dance last summer in Philly when I was up there visiting friends. But when I got to Philly and was walking around town I noticed on the posters for the show said it was 21+, so sadly I couldn't attend. So with this Bill Combo I could finally see Gang Gang Dance live and attempt to understand the demon that is Of Montreal

So got to the venue around the time Gang Gang Dance was about to go on. Wish I had gotten there sooner so I could of gotten a better sport for there set but I was sadly running late because me and my fellow condo mate had to go to the atm to get some parking garage money. Now there are many reasons why it is hard to explain a Gang Gang Dance live show. The reason for this is they really don't have much of an Stage Persona. however this isn't really a bad thing because what they are able to do so well and what makes them such an interesting group is there ability to brings this spiritual music to you and let it fill the room you are in so that your are overflowed with this hyper-color imagination. So people do yourself the favor and if you can go see these guys live. And hopefully someday soon I can see them live when there not the opening act (there was sadly a lot of chit-chat during there set from the Of Montreal Cronies, I guess they just didn't understand the ruckus of Gang Gang)

After what was that great set by Gang Gang Dance I got to do battle with Of Montreal. I'll be front up with you and try to make my review of there set very short. I DON'T GET THEM AT ALL. They are a band that gets off by being weird for the sake of weird. and whats sad about that is for some reason people buy into it. I myself just felt so fucking embarrassed witnessing all this, from the various costume change ups that in my eyes where a way of distracting the crowd from what was sub-par rock music. To the over the top theater performances coming from the Of Montreal back up dancers(?) that just seem to have no purpose at and just left you scratching your head as to why this happened (i mean i am a man that hates theater so maybe I was just doomed from the start with this show). But I would like to make one thing clear I am a very opened minded guy with music. But this stuff lacks any of the irony that it thinks it's presenting and is not at all weird, its just real fucking campy, and no that is not a good thing.

So my verdict is quite simple. I can't recommend Of Montreal at all. If your a fan of their music then I would assume their live show is something that is gonna make you cream in your jeans. But if you really want to listen to some far-out music try some Peter Brotzman, or John Cage, or maybe some Prurient. Because i can at least confrim that these artists are doing something out-side-the-box

*photo courtesy of christinestoddard*