Islands - Great American Music Hall - 11/9/06

I thought things had changed since last time. For almost the entire show, Nick Diamonds (of Islands) was fun and sweet and very different from the guy who admonished me during the last show. But then towards the end, his true nature came out. After this one outburst, he returned to the lovable facade he had shown for the previous hour, but it felt really hollow after that. We knew he was a good showman, but now it is obvious that he's also a good actor, but can slip out of character from time to time.

Islands started out their show in their matching all-white attire (as per usual).

Nick had his back facing the audience for the first verse of Humans, and when he spun around, you could see that he had a mannequin's head under his head, looking a little like Kuato from Total Recall. He also put a noose around his neck and rolled around on the floor a bit during the song. The theatrics continued after Humans when Nick left the stage to apply white make-up to his face. After that, however, things progressed in a typical fashion. I guess he didn't feel the need to go full tilt towards Of Montreal territory.

Highlights of the show were Where There's A Wish There's A Whalebone, which had Subtitle come on stage to rap, the rubber-band coffee can thing for Jogging Gorgeous Summer, an amazing set closing rendition of (potential song-of-the-year) Rough Gem, and a strong Don't Call Me Whitney, Bobby to start the encore.

The unfortunate aspect of this otherwise rather enjoyable experience was an interaction with a guy in the audience. Some time in the middle of the set, someone yelled out "Jellybones," requesting a Unicorns song. Nick heard this and asked, "Who said 'Jellybones?'" The guy responded by raising his hand and repeating his request. Nick then yelled, "Say 'Jellybones' one more time! I triple-dog dare you!" And when the guy didn't respond, Nick said, "That's what I thought. Now shut the fuck up, motherfucker!" I need to stress that Nick was very serious. I'm glad the guy didn't say anything since Nick seemed a bit unhinged and could have gone Tweedy on him. All I could do is give a knowing look to the kid next to me that I told the story about the time Nick yelled at me.

I don't know what was more disturbing: the immediate reaction to someone who was just requesting a song (imagine if he had requested Freebird!) or the way he went right back to the cucumberesque indie rock frontman. I can only conclude that Nick Diamonds is a dick and maybe a bit unstable. And since Nick reads Jealousy, I just hope he doesn't come after me one day. He should know that I do think his music is amazing and Islands is one of the best bands making music now. Listen to the tracks below. They're all poppy and accessible but still have a great deal of complexity.

Here is the set list from the show. I think when I can, I'll try to grab a picture of the set list for the sake of history.

Islands - Rough Gem

Islands - Abominable Snowman

Islands - Where There's A Wish There's A Whalebone

Voxtrot - Great American Music Hall - 11/4/06

Ramesh, the lead singer of Voxtrot, is stalking me. It started on the 2nd when for about an hour he was yelling at me. Then on the 3rd, he followed me to The Knife's show. Finally, he was at Great American on the 4th, barking at me again. I wasn't expecting him to be at The Knife's show, but I did know that there were going to be two Voxtrot shows in 3 days. Ambitiously, I decided to go to both. Totally check out my my previous review so you don't miss any inside jokes.

Really, having seen them two days earlier, I think all I can do is compare and contrast the two performances, in list form.

Popscene	GAMH
Crowd was young and oh-so indie	Crowd was tall
Set was really short	Set was covered just about everything they play
The sound was typical	The guitars sounded fucking amazing; the best I've heard in a while
Went with Annie	Went with Danielle, Jason, Jon

I think both venues have their pros and cons, but really the intimate setting and short set list of Popscene helped Voxtrot. They just came off better there. But they did sound really good at Great American. So I hesitantly give the nod to the first show.

Voxtrot - Mothers, Sisters, Daughters, & Wives

Voxtrot - Trouble

Voxtrot - The Start Of Something

Beirut - Great American Music Hall - 10/20/06

Damn, Beirut is good. Maybe it's because they are young and haven't been jaded by the constant touring needed to support a fringe indie-rock band, but Beirut is still willing to comply to fans' requests and still enjoy performing. This has been one of the best shows of the past year, with lots of energy, a few surprises, and a crowd that was putty in the muscular hands of Zach Condon and his Orkestar.

When I saw them in Cambridge, MA, back in June, they still had their training wheels on. But now that they're playing places like Great American, and bringing their Eastern-European influenced rock to the masses (by the way, did anyone catch Siki, Siki Baba in Borat?). From adorable Kristen to cracked-out Paul, the band has a lot of personality and it comes through during the performance.

As they pushed through a lot of their album material, they pleased every person around me (and presumably everyone in the place, it felt like I knew about half the people at the show, too many to name). But the reason people will be talking about this show a year from now is that the encores were impromptu, having members jump into the audience. They tried to close the night with their version of Siki, Siki Baba, with half the band in the audience playing trumpets toward the ceiling. But the crowd demanded more. They came back to play one more song, Carousels, and it looked like they wanted to keep playing all night, but Zach proclaimed, "We have no more songs" before leaving the stage for good.

Please buy the album, go to the shows, and tell your friends about Beirut. We need more music and more musicians like this.

Beruit - Mount Wroclai (Idle Days)

Beirut - Postcards From Italy

Beirut - Siki, Siki Baba (live in Cambridge, MA) Read the excellent review at Bradley's Almanac and download the whole set.

The Hold Steady - Great American Music Hall - 10/17/06

Originally uploaded by ryanfoley.

People keep calling The Hold Steady a bar band. I think that's a little off. They certainly play blue collar music. But in every one of their songs there's a bridge or a play on words or some other indication that these guys can really write and play music. And that what makes these guys special. They can play the three-chord verse, the three-chord chorus, and then blow you out of the water with some tempo change between them.

At the show, Danielle (who I convinced to go since their new album got a mind-blowing 9.4 at Pitchfork) and I were sandwiched between the sorts of people that would see a bar band. Maybe that isn't clear since you might be thinking these people were drinking alcohol or were wearing leather jackets: the crowd smelled. Really bad. Sex Panther bad. And the crowd was taller than normal. Maybe the two things are related with my nose being closer to the collective armpits and ass of the audience.

The one thing that really came through is that The Hold Steady really enjoy playing live. And they really love their own music. The lead singer's signature move is to sing a line into the microphone then move over to an audience member and re-sing that line directly to him. Kind of in that that-last-line-was-so-fucking-cool-that-I-have-to-say-it-again way. You know the girl at a My Chemical Romance (or similar mall punk music that is prepackaged for angsty tweeners) concert that treats the liner notes like the Bible and thinks the lead singer wrote that song just for her, that's the lead singer about his own band!

For the last song, the band brought a significant portion of the audience up onto the stage with them. Danielle and I stayed back in fear of an even more concentrated odor. The most mind-blowing part of the show was before everyone got up on stage, the guitarist asked a kid in the audience if he could play guitar. The kid said he could and was promptly pulled up on stage and given the guitar. Here's the crazy part: he could actually play! And not just chords, the guy was doing some impressive solos. I've been to plenty of shows where the band will hand someone a tambourine and the chosen one can't even tap out some quarter notes. Having a crowd member playing guitar is like finding out that your toddler can drive a manual-transmission car.

The Hold Steady - Your Little Hoodrat Friend

The Hold Steady - Swish

Andrew Bird - Great American Music Hall - 9/22/06

Originally uploaded by ryanfoley.

Andrew Bird is simply amazing. Then why did I not stay for the encore?

Ben, Jason, Annie, Danielle, and I met up at Great American to see the creator of my favorite album of last year. The first thing you notice when hearing him is that he has complete control over ever sound that emanates from his body. His whistling is incredible. At first I didn't even think it was real, it came so effortlessly.

And despite his mastery of stringed instruments, I was still disappointed by the show. The place was really hot, so being physically uncomfortable didn't help anything. But the big issue is that he played mostly new material. I hadn't heard this stuff and although it sounded pretty good, I didn't appreciate it the same way I did when he sang the songs I've listened to a hundred times, dissecting the lyrics, and hearing the subtle inflections in his voice. And the smaller issue is that when he sang his "classics," he sang them erratically, as if the album versions bored him so much that he wished he didn't have to sing them at all.

So after he finished his set, my group decided to take off, leaving the sweaty room for some party. I'm sure the encore was everything I was missing during the normal set, but I had had enough.

As one last note, Andrew Bird can actually use looping pedals, unlike Feist who sucks at looping even more than she sucks at playing guitar.

Andrew Bird - A Nervous Tic Motion Of The Head To The Left

Listen to the entire album here

You Look Like David Bowie

Originally uploaded by ryanfoley.

On Friday, while the cool kids were at the Strokes concert and the really cool kids were at the Metric concert, the scenesters were watching Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!. The show was at the Great American, which is my favorite SF venue.

The openers were the Brunettes. I saw them open for Rilo Kiley before. They're a really odd band using a lot of percussion and hand claps int their songs. The problem with them is that the songs aren't that great and their voices don't help the cause. I don't know how this band has opened for both Rilo Kiley and CYHSY, but I'm going to assume they have some incriminating photos.

Before CLHSY went on, Annie decided to take advantage of some concert newbies and we jumped from the third row of people to the first. You might think that it doesn't make that much of a difference, but it really does. For instance, if I weren't right up front I couldn't have told you that all of the band members (save one) had really bad shoes. In fact, none of them were really good dressers. Or are corduroy pants and silk vests coming back?

So if anyone out there is on the fence about CYHSY and the one thing holding you back is the strained vocals, don't go to a live show. Apparently recording equipment has not been invented that can capture the full strain of CYHSY vocals since the album is dramatically easier on the ears. That said, I like the strained vocals and after a couple of songs I got used to the difference. I might even like it more strained.

The show was really polarized. During their faster songs, they really rocked and looked like they were having fun doing it. But during the slower ones I started to get bored. They wouldn't move from their designated spots. I still appreciated the songs, but I go to shows for more than what I can get off the album.

After the show I dropped Annie and Susan off and grabbed a burrito. That's the best way to end any night.

I Love You Jon!

Originally uploaded by ryanfoley.

After seeing The Spinto Band the previous night at Cafe Du Nord, I got to see them open for the Arctic Monkeys at Great American. At Du Nord, I was right up front, beyond the main speakers, so I was listening to the set through the monitors. The second show had dramatically better sound.

The Spinto Band is pretty young (19-22), but they really put on a good live show. There sound is tight and they have fun up there. I also created a connection between one band member (Jon). His cousin's friend was in the audience at Du Nord. So I cheered for him exclusively. I also got to give a shout out to Delaware (where they're from).

The Arctic Monkeys are, as expected, mostly hype. I thought they were supposed to be good live? They barely said two words to the audience, and hardly moved around. That combined with all of the 15 year olds pushing around up front caused me to move to the back (how old am I?).

In the back I ran into Jon. We talked briefly before the show, and while watching the Arctic Monkeys he tried to convince me that they were good. I think he was just being nice. After we were done talking he went to the merch table. A minute later he gave me a handful of stickers.

It's that sort of thing that gets you die-hard fans. Jon, and the Spinto Band as a whole, expect to see/hear me the next time you're in town.