Live Music Thread!

[Lanny]

ITT: Post upcoming, planned, and notable previous live performances. What you thought, reviews, level of anticipation, whatever as long as it pertains to seeing an artist live.

I have three artists on my radar coming up: Empire! Empire!, Ben Frost, and The World Is A Beautiful Place And I'm No Longer Afraid To Die.

I really liked the latest E!E! release even if people haven't been so hot on it in general so I'm hyped to see them live. I'm planning on sneaking backstage to try to talk to them, maybe go get a drink or something afterwards. It's worked in the past and it's such a cool experience to talk to a badass artist 1 on 1.

I hadn't heard of Ben Frost until his latest album but I'm all over that shit now. I'm really interested to see what a live performance means for him. Beyond just be coolness of his music I'm impressed by his general philosophy towards art and science and what the two mean to each other. I feel like he's a lot smarter than I am so I don't think I'm going to try and fan-jump him but I think he's my number 1 upcoming show just because I can see it going super well or crashing and burning and the result will be interesting to me either way.

As for TWIABPAIANLATD I'm not like a super diehard fan but I liked their last release. I think the notion of a post-rock influenced future for emo/emotive-post-hardcore is a little sad but ultimately I think it may be the direction we have to go in, in order to maintain commercial viability. I've heard that TWIABPAINLAFTD has some dude doing spoken word lyrics over their new tracks and fans seem to be generally negative with respect to that. I for one have no complaints about spoken word lyrics and kinda want to see a live performance before forming an opinion on the matter.

SO GUIZ: if you have opinions on the acts above tell me what you think about them but otherwise post who you're planning on seeing soon. I promise I'll try and learn about what you're going to see soon and respond accordingly. Or just posts about live music in general. I'd love to talk about what you guys think about live music in general, or responses to specific shows.

[Lanny]

Oh yeah, I saw Explosions in the Sky was coming to town and I thought it could be a cool show but the cheapest tickets were like $50. I was amazed, I know they had some popular following in the mid 2000s but by this point I expected them to have receded into the semi-obscurity of basically every other post-rock act. If they're filling venues at an average ticket prices of like a hundred bucks then it seems like that's not the case.

[Homosapien]

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[Lanny]

Maybe Flying Lotus too, if I have the cash.

I know that feel all too well. I had a chance to see Flying Lotus shortly after listening to LA for the first time and I wasn't sure I was that into it so I passed. I regret it to no end, never since have I had both the money and geography to see him. I hear his shows are really different than his recorded stuff too.

I wonder what Chvrches are like live. They seem pretty heavy on postproduction but when I see photos they seem to actually be playing instruments.

Bands touring just to play one or two albums in their entirety seems to be a trend now, has anyone noticed this? First Weezer did the back to back blue album/Pinkerton thing, now people like Kate Bush and Jesus & Mary Chain are following suit. On one hand it's kind of cool because new generations of fans have a chance to see someone live, but on the other it's shitty to charge fuckloads of money just to hear one (admittedly great) album live.

I think doing most or all of your last release has been a standard practice for a while. For me it kinda depends on the album in question I guess. Like Boris had a tour where every show for the whole tour they played Flood in its entirety. That seems cool, I'd be down for that. But yeah, for most artists it seems like they should mix it up a bit, make the live experience different than just listening to an album.

[Michael Myers]

You listen to Empire! Empire!? Not really a fan of TWIABP myself. Good job on E!E! though. I assume you dig bands like American Football, Mineral and Christie Front Drive as well then?

[mojo4567]

i went to a live grouplove concert a bit ago with my homies. shit was so dope even though i dont really like there live music. That was a bomb ass show.

[Bart the General]

I'm probably going to an absolutely insane music event that features all kinds of indie music as well as my absolutely favorite of all time <3<3<3 hip hop artists in a couple weeks and I'm SO FUCKING STOKED but I don't really wanna post it cuz its PI and shit but ya, can't w8

[Lanny]

You listen to Empire! Empire!? Not really a fan of TWIABP myself. Good job on E!E! though. I assume you dig bands like American Football, Mineral and Christie Front Drive as well then?

Yeah, love me some American Football and Mineral. Do you think we'll ever see another AnFootball release? They're playing two shows here in December and I'm not sure if I'm going to be around but I'd love to catch them live. I hadn't heard of Christie Front Drive before but I'm listening now, I'm liking it.

i went to a live grouplove concert a bit ago with my homies. shit was so dope even though i dont really like there live music. That was a bomb ass show.

Heh, yeah, I had a friend that was really into hardcore and opened for a bunch of bands that rolled though my area. I initially went along just because he was my friend and knew some people going. I wasn't really even really into the music, but the experience was always super intense and I met some cool people that way. It's funny how this ostensibly broadcast activity can be so social.

I'm probably going to an absolutely insane music event that features all kinds of indie music as well as my absolutely favorite of all time <3<3<3 hip hop artists in a couple weeks and I'm SO FUCKING STOKED but I don't really wanna post it cuz its PI and shit but ya, can't w8

It's not like we're going to track you down because we know one venue you're going to be at with a ton of other people. Tell us faggot.

[Homosapien]

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[Michael Myers]

You listen to Empire! Empire!? Not really a fan of TWIABP myself. Good job on E!E! though. I assume you dig bands like American Football, Mineral and Christie Front Drive as well then?

Yeah, love me some American Football and Mineral. Do you think we'll ever see another AnFootball release? They're playing two shows here in December and I'm not sure if I'm going to be around but I'd love to catch them live. I hadn't heard of Christie Front Drive before but I'm listening now, I'm liking it.

Glad you liked all three bands I mentioned. You should also check out Penfold. And no, I don't think we're ever seeing another AF release. However, Polyvinyl Records received a bunch of tapes from Steve and a few months ago they released those. It's all live tracks and and boom box practice sessions and 4-track album preps. You should go see AF live for sure, man! It's a golden oppurtinity. Literally a once in a lifetime moment. I live all the way in Holland so I have no chance of seeing those fuckers play live. Oh well, at least Mike Kinsella replied to one of my tweets. CFD is one of my favorite midwest emo bands.

[FON]

Going to see Sleep in December. Has been a relatively quiet year for me seeing live bands. Caught Wolfmother at my local pub the other week. Pretty good considering it was free and the pub rarely gets any popular bands to play.

Dead Kennedys are playing soon but fuck seeing them without Jello. I caught Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine last year, which felt like the closest I would ever get to a real DKs show.

[Lanny]

Going to see Sleep in December. Has been a relatively quiet year for me seeing live bands. Caught Wolfmother at my local pub the other week. Pretty good considering it was free and the pub rarely gets any popular bands to play.

Dead Kennedys are playing soon but fuck seeing them without Jello. I caught Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine last year, which felt like the closest I would ever get to a real DKs show.

Sleep as in the doom metal group? I thought they broke up ages ago.

Also funny that Wolfmother is playing free shows at pubs, they were like top 40 at one point. I'm not a big fan of dad-rock revival acts (and that's wolfmother for sure, I remember them advertising as "Led Zeppelin meets Black Sabbath" at one point), but I'd probably turn up to a free show at least.

[Lanny]

Oh, and I saw Empire! Empire! yesterday. It was a really fun show. It was at this really dumpy all ages venue which has a single notoriously horrible bouncer. Normally I'm not big on all ages, even when I was under age, because you get some real dipshits but this was an exception. The crowd was really into it and everyone I talked to was super chill (also ended up getting numbers from multiple girls which has never happened to me before). They did most of You Will Eventually Be Forgotten and then a series of tracks off EPs and their first album. I didn't recognize the last two songs from anywhere so they might have been be bsides from YWEBF, or maybe just an ep/split/one-off I haven't listened to which is a bummer because I was in love with the second to last one. Sound was so/so, maybe it's just where I was standing but the drums weren't mic'd and kinda got drowned out but it wasn't too bad (I've been to the same venue where it was a LOT worse). Also hearing Keith's voice live kinda surreal, actually sounds pretty true to what you hear on the releases but it's just weird hearing it from an actual person. I was tempted to try and approach Keith and co. afterwards and do the gushing fan thing but chickened out in the end. Overall a good show, glad I went.

[FON]

Going to see Sleep in December. Has been a relatively quiet year for me seeing live bands. Caught Wolfmother at my local pub the other week. Pretty good considering it was free and the pub rarely gets any popular bands to play.

Dead Kennedys are playing soon but fuck seeing them without Jello. I caught Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine last year, which felt like the closest I would ever get to a real DKs show.

Sleep as in the doom metal group? I thought they broke up ages ago.

Also funny that Wolfmother is playing free shows at pubs, they were like top 40 at one point. I'm not a big fan of dad-rock revival acts (and that's wolfmother for sure, I remember them advertising as "Led Zeppelin meets Black Sabbath" at one point), but I'd probably turn up to a free show at least.

Yeah, man, Sleep are back. Their new track sound like Om on steroids.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEl92SfUv3k

I'm kind of surprised Wolfmother are even known outside of Australia. Definitely funny how obscure they became in such a short period of time, but their live show was great for a free gig at the local. Still drew a big crowd as well.

[Lanny]

Just got back from seeing Ben Frost at 1015 folsom. It was super intense, he did like the second 2/3s of A U R O R A and then a few tracks off By The Throat and some material from solaris and then the rest of AURORA. Really big, heavy sound. Folsom has a kinda shitty sound system (not that bad but for the way it tries to play itself up as an upscale venue it's really not great) so the highs in some of the parts that were really heavy on noise were overpowering but he seemed to figure it out pretty quick and do something because it wasn't noticeable in after the first few songs.

Watching him work was crazy too. Like to go to see a lot of these laptop producers and they're bouncing around on stage and shit but then they're periodically hunched over their computer mousing around and whatever. Frost was up there with just these hard synths scattered around and he was scrambling around the stage to orchestrate it all, dripping sweat, every time he brushed his hair out of his face I nearly pissed myself with how awesome it looked.

I actually walked by him on my way out, he was coming off stage and I was heading towards the exit. I told him I was really impressed with the show and he said thanks, shook my hand, and patted me on the back. So that was cool.