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David Byrne @ Charlottesville Pavilion (06-10-09)

I feel like I have been intreged by the idea of seeing david bynre live since i was a young child (grew up hearing talking heads due to the father of the household) Something about his persona always caught my attention and i alays wondered what it would be like to see him live. So when the opportunity to see David Byrne in Charlottesville arouse it seemed like a no brainer decision.

The show ended up being material throughout the whole partnership of David Byrne and Brian Eno (both old and new). This isn't probably true for everyone but for me the show really only moved me when David Byrne was playing Talking Heads material. Im not trying to say that David Byrne is just the Talking Heads and nothing else (because he's done lots of interesting things since that group broke up) however those were the songs of my childhood and the ones that hit me. The new songs sounded find but where unfamiliar to me and just seemed like filler to my brain.

Basically the show was good / now if only I could understand why in gods name where their backup dancers at a David Byrne show.


Dark Meat @ Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar (06-12-09)

To be blunt I had crashed my car the day before this show (hence why I missed Yesayer) so I wasnt really wasnt sure what I was gonna get out for this show. But once my friend parker invited me out for the show their really was no reason not to go. So I tried to hang my blues and have some fun.

The first act of the night was a guy named One Man Machine. To be honest I wasn't paying full attention to his set but he put on some neat free jazz esc rock music. It was nice to hear in the background. If I was in a better mood I really could of grooved to that shit.

Next up was Dark Meat. To be honest at first I was a little disappointed by the set. It was a fun rock folk fusion thing and it sounded totally rad but I just wasn't feeling it right away. However after a little while the crowd in the place started getting a little bit more rowdy and then the show totally seemed to come alive. Real good dancing and moshing at the tea house. Totally a sight to see and was really the perfect pick me up from a real crummy Thursday. Basically believe the hype - Dark Meat totally puts on a fun show and is worth seeing if you get the chance.

Dan Deacon / Black Dice / Dat Politics / Awesome Color @ Sonar (06-13-09)

This show right here was something I had been anticipating for quite some time but almost didnt happen. You see after crashing my car I was resorted to taking my parents car for this trip. That wouldnt seem like to much of a story if it wasnt for the fact that literally after coming to the conclusion of borrowing their car the brakes on the car started having issues and couldnt be fixed till tuesday (show was saturday - you see the issue). This right here put us in a pickle and much pondering happened on how we could get to Baltimore. Over the night it hit me that the only possible way to have this all to work out would be to rent a car. So in the morning a car was rented and then me-the bro & friends were off for Baltimore.

The trip getting to Baltimore went suprisinly easy beside getting lost trying to find DC and then getting lost in DC itself for a couple of hours (in which we were able to get out of due to the god like Blackberry of Dylan's - seriously that thing has come in handy far to many times now)

Ended up getting to Baltimore later than hoped (we had visions of tourist like things but whatever) So for dinner we went to the fancy-as-fuck Mcdonald's (DOUBLE QUATER POUNDER MEAL ALL THE WAY) and then while walking back to the venue we stopped into a Fried Chicken - Liquor - Electronics Shop in the red light district and picked up some Everclear (you know the best thing to buy in Maryland) We partaked in some of this glorious beverage and then it was time to step into the venue and catch some music

We actually ended up getting to the venue a good hour before bands started playing so we ended up chilling in the dance club area of the Sonar waiting for the main stage to open up. Basically it was an amusing sight to see me standing around in a dance club trying to figure out exactlly what it is im supposed while clubbing (real akward)


Finally after waiting around the main stage opened up / we left the dance area and waited around for a short while before the first act Awesome Color came on. While I didn't know much about this group I had heard good things about them and I was real interested to see them play live. These guys really did put on a real fun rock show. No unnecessary flair / Just straight up garage rock revival shit. Really should look more into these guys / it was a fun opening set.


The next band up was Dat Politics. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect for these guys live show. Their a band my brother has been raving about for years and a group that I have enjoyed listening to on many occasions. However I wasn't exactly sure what to expect for a live show of theirs. Any fears of a let down live show immediately vanished as soon as Dat Politics started their set. Real fun UPBEAT dance show from these guys. It was also quite amusing to see a lot of kids get up from this seated area on the side of the venue to dance to this (I assume a lot of people where at the show for Dan Deacon and nothing else). Basically Dat Politics kicked it / it was killer

Next up was Black DIce. If you know me you know how much idolize this group. Their a band that has never seemed to make any wrong turns in their carrer. So basically the oppurtuniy to see these guys live even with the far distance just seemed like a no brainer. To be upfront their set was easily one of the best sets ive seen of 09. They just put one the more rambucks rock shows that I have ever seen. Just real noisy ass whack music that makes you want to throw down and rock out. About half way through the set - all the people who werent digging Black Dice had left and then the crowd energy turned into a real great mosh / dance fest. Basically if you have any interest in Black Dice and have the oppurtunity to see them live DO IT! They really do put on one of the best shows I have ever seen. However if you aren't a fan of them - i'm not sure their live show is gonna convert you. I guess avoid them at all costs - THIS IS TRUE PUNK DAWG

After such great sets it was Dan Deacons turn to play. After seeing him live twice I was oddly feeling less interested in his set. It wasn't like I don't give a shit about his music anymore (seriously Bromst is so far one of the best records of 09) it's just that the anticipation of his show just isnt the same anymore. However I guess in a twisted way my lack of enthusiasm came in handy for the show because Dan Deacon really did put on a train wreck of a set. The set started with Dan Deacon playing the track Cecilia by Simon & Garfunkel off his Ipod - which was amsuing and actually sounded fantastic on the speaker at the venue. Then after doing some sort of ritaulaistic streaching of some sort the show started off with Crystal Cat. The place went ape-shit, everybody was going crazy and it looked like it was gonna be another great deacon show intill suddenly half way through the song the music stopped.

I was perplexed (what the fuck is going on?) then I hear Dan yelling to the crowd about how everyone needs to move the fuck back because he cant even breath. This puzzled me extremely. A Dan Deacon show is all about posative energy / but you could tell from his body language that something was up. He then finished the song and went straight into Red F. However half way through the song he started fucking up his vocals in an odd un-deacon way and then ended up doing an odd 3 minute brutal noise off. If you know me you know that I love my noise and all / but this didn't feel right coming from Dan Deacon. After this he started trying to play Mouse Vs Predator but seemed to lose interest in the song half way through and just played instrumental version of the track. This whole thing was starting to get me down / I love Dan Deacon and all but this was just turning into a disaster. I stayed for him doing one more song (something off of Bromst) but he couldn't seem to keep the song going and near the end just kept on yellung "fuck this shit" or something of that sort into the microphone. His set was a disaster - I have by no means lost faith in him as a musician - but you could tell that he was having a real off night.

So after watching that disaster unfold I left the venue realizing I had conquered Baltimore and felt quite accomplished by it. It wasn't the trip that I had envisioned but it still totally awesome and something that was worth all the energy I put into it.