Showing posts with label Boston. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Boston. Show all posts

12/5/10

DMB - The Last Stops - Boston


Phew, I have finally re-cooped from the most amazing November of my life. 7 DMB shows in a little over two weeks, including the final two shows until further notice. A dream come true! A lot of memorable moments happened during the fall tour and I want to thank everyone that I came in contact with on my trip. So, Thank You! Lets get right into it...in my previous post I summed up the Albany show in detail...I want to touch on the other six shows but I will not be talking about every song. I know some of you were not huge fans of me writing about every single song and how many times I've seen them...so I won't do that, as much.

 The story of Boston starts the night before. I was working...my cell phone rings and its a random number, it's Cali from 104.1 Boston...he had some good new for me. I won the opportunity to meet Stefan Lessard and watch the Cali interview with Stefan, which you can listen to right here! This was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I can't believe I was one of the few winners chosen. Pete and I got up to Boston nice and early hit the Volcano and then headed to Ben and Jerrys. The interview as you can hear, is very well done. Cali is a real DMB fan that asks questions that the true hardcore fans want to ask. Not to mention being 3 feet away from Stefan the entire time was unreal.
After the meeting Fonz and asking for Lover Lay Down there was about two hours before we wanted to head into the venue. We had floor seats and wanted to get close to Fonz and see if he would remember us. We settled at around 10th row. Great views of everyone all night long. The people around us were really cool too. There was this crazy bitch that made her way in and we all got her the boot and the whole crowd was singing good bye, it was priceless. The show started with Proudest Monkey into Satellite which is not the most energetic combo to open with...but they are two familiar songs that everyone in attendance knew and the crowd was into it right off the bat. After some Big Whiskey, they played DDTW, Last Stop, then Seek Up. That was one of my favorite runs of the tour. What a powerful three songs to play in a row. I was thinking Grey St. when I saw the 12-string, but a mid-set Last Stop is always a treat. Then I was floored after I heard the start to Seek Up. When Boyd is going crazy and Dave is wailing, I get goosebumps just thinking about it. The downfall in this part of the set was when two people right next to us passed out on the floor. It was way too hot and people were so dehydrated. Pete missed most of Gravedigger because he ran to get help for the people that fell.

The next four songs were a bit slow, I figured Big Whiskey was going to get played and here it was. I really do love Stay or Leave..it was just in the wrong spot. LITHOG is a real monster now...it's the best song from Big Whiskey by far. I really enjoyed the next four song run of #41, Grey St, Il Back You Up, and Crush. That's the kind of stuff I like to see. Crush was a good one! It was one of the highlights in the set in my opinion. However the ending run was just pathetic!!! Ants Marching was the only saving grace...but I was a little disapointed. It was just such a boring finnish. You and Me in the second to last slot is awful...and don't get me started on Can't Stop. The encore was okay. I love Some Devil, it's my favorite Dave E1 solo song. It's just so emotional. Everyday was meh, it did have a nice little #36 reprise which was a cool change of pace. PNP Rapunzel is a great closer. I prefer it to open but it works in the closing roll too. They always push it on that song every time. Too bad Boston was the only time they brought it out all tour. All in all it was a decent set and I had a great time on the floor. I was expecting a lot for N2. 

Night two started off with meeting up with my friend Ryan and his friend Jessie who we got floor tickets with us for N2! We had drinks at Boston Beer Works, which was a stones throw away from the venue. It was great to catch up with Ants and chat before n2. We left early again to get in for decent floor spots. John Butler Trio were the openers again, they are very impressive. I enjoyed watching their set for all four opening acts they played. The show started out perfectly with The Stone. There is no better opener in my opinion...The Stone is my favorite song. However the crowd could not sing the outro to save their lives! Squirm works out much better in the two slot but imo doesn't translate well live. After a killer What Would You Say, I looked at Pete and said this was going to be a fun show. Sadly I was escorted out of the building during Crash because someone else handed me a J and a cop saw...I missed the rest of the show. Highlights were Cry Freedom into Granny and then Lie In Our Graves. I was really bummed to miss that run. But shake it off, still got 4 more shows to get to and they were killer! MSG review will be posted tomorrow!

5/17/10

Vampire Weekend Fall Tour w/ Beach House & Dum Dum Girls

My dreams have come true. Two of the best performances of live music I have seen this year, have been by Dum Dum Girls and Beach House. Guess who is one of the bands I have been dieing to see, but have yet to make it to a show...Vampire Weekend. And now, all 3 of them are playing the same fucking show! Wow, this is going to be a hard ticket to come by... but this is a must see show. All 3 acts are just on the tops of my favorites list. They will be making their way to Boston with a stop at the Bank of America Pav, as well as a 3 night stand at Radio City in New York. Here are all the rest of the dates:

08-28 Vancouver, British Columbia - Malkin Bowl *^
08-29 Redmond, WA - Marymoor Amphitheater *^
08-31 Troutdale, OR - Edgefield Amphitheater *^
09-03 Morrison, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheater *^
09-05 Chicago, IL - Aragon Ballroom *^
09-07 Toronto, Ontario - Molson Canadian Amphitheater *^
09-08 Montreal, Quebec - Metropolis Theater ^
09-11 Columbia, MD - Merriweather Post Pavilion *^
09-12 Boston, MA - Bank of America Pavilion *^
09-15 New York, NY - Radio City Music Hall *^
09-16 New York, NY - Radio City Music Hall *^
09-17 New York, NY - Radio City Music Hall *^
09-26 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl *%
* with Beach House
^ with Dum Dum Girls
% with the Very Best

3/30/10

Bostoned Pt.1 Recap - PPalm, Toro Y Nah, Beach House

Boston and I have a love/hate relationship...I hate the red sox and everything that has to do with Boston sports, also, the people of Boston are for the most part d-bags. However I do love the look and feel of the city. It's very beautiful, vintage, classy, and represenitive of our roots as a country. The music scene in Boston is second to none in New England....so naturally I am drawn to that too. I headed up Friday night with some friends for fun in the city.

Saturday was the Toro Y Moi and Ruby Suns show at The Middle East Upstairs. We found out via twitter that Toro Y Moi's stuff had been stolen at the show in Brooklyn and would have to miss the show...we were crushed. 'Causers of This' is my favorite album of the year and to be able to meet Chaz would have been perfect! It's okay he will be back in May, I will not be missing it! We showed up for the opener PPalm, local Boston electronica man. He is one of the Macbook artists that sing over bass heavy dance beats that they created. He has the Washed Out vibe going for him, and the crowd was feeling it. We stepped out for a smoke and then walked into a nightmare. Whatever the hell was playing on stage was atrocious. Some acoustic folk girl that was way out of tune on guitar and even worse with her voice. This plus the fact we couldn't see Toro had us so in the dumps...we left the show before Ruby Suns came on. I'm kind of ashamed of myself but I was pissed. We headed back to CT Sunday morning, I had to work.

I get home after two sleepless nights in Boston and take a long hot shower. Then got on twitter. Beach House has 5 guest passes for their show in Boston. First five to respond got free passes, I was the fifth response. The only way to salvage the weekend was to drive straight back to Boston to see Beach House for free. My friends already had tickets...boys night out! I called out of work and headed back to the bean. Beach House was amazing...(if you don't believe we were there, check the pics.. we are in a few of them)...We found our way to the front row all the way to stage right, it was the perfect spot to see Victoria Legrand rock out on her keyboard. The band didn't even sound real, thats how good they sounded live. Absolutely flawless, identical to the records but played with more passion. Victoria's hair was all over the place as she kicked the ground to the drum beat of every song. They played everything you wanted them to and was even able to snag the setlist. I then drove back home to CT, for the second time that day.

All in all the weekend was a success. Toro Y Moi will be back in May, and I got to see Beach House thanks to Beach House...plus got the setlist! Boston I'l be back to see your fine ass on Thursday...Dum Dum Girls and Girls @ The Paradise...see ya then!

Thanks to http://slyke25.tumblr.com/ for the pics and vid...get job!










3/26/10

Bostoned


This week is a biggie folks...I'm heading up to Boston for the Toro Y Moi and Ruby Suns show Saturday night at The Middle East. I'm going up a night early for some devilish fun in the city with alllllll my friends. It should b a great time and I'm really looking forward to chill(waving) with everyone in the city. Then I will be heading back up to the bean on Thursday to check out the Girls show with Dum Dum Girls! I made a playlist for the ride up...and was kind enough to place it in a .zip file for you to enjoy...grab it, ya know if u dig music.

Here's a screen shot of most of the playlist...soo just get it okay
Free Download----> Bostoned.zip

2/18/10

Passion Pit - Little Secrets



Passion Pit is one of Oxygen Ashtray's favorite bands. Their debut album 'Manners' is the most danceable album I have ever heard. It is perfect indie synthpop to the T. They are the single band that I want to see most in 2010, save maybe Phoenix. I just realized, I have yet to do a write up on this band soooo here is what you need to know.

- They hail from Cambridge
- They have one album, Manners and a EP ---> Buy
- The EP was written as a Valentines Day gift for lead singer Mike's girlfriend.
- The EP was passed around Emerson College. It became huge in Boston.
- Form band, play Boston, record album.
- Album blows up on the interwebs
- Become one of the biggest bands in the country (happening now)

Here is the music video to my favorite song 'Little Secrets', it was just released this morning via their Twitter.  If ya not dancing...ur dead.

it wont let me embed the video....so here is the link-------> http://www.mtv.com/videos/passion-pit/484643/little-secrets.jhtml#id=1518071

2/13/10

Magic Man - Real Life Color


I think I just found my new favorite album of '10. Okay, maybe that was a quick draw...I'm still on my first spin, but this is fantastic music. The Boston based duo, Magic Man, started making their music together during a summer spent in France. They took what they had and brought it back to the states, where they tweaked and edited it. It's definitely got that lofi indie feel, but its very electronica too. This music reminds me of Freelance Whales, with a little Modest Mouse feel.

The best part, the band has decided to give this album away for the lovely price of free. So do yourself a favor...head on over to http://magicman.bandcamp.com/ download this album fo freeeee!!!!

Seriously, go download it.