Displaying Category: Concert

I feel like I shouldn't have to explain who Kevin Smith is, but I have encountered enough people lately who did not recognize the name to make this mention necessary. I wouldn't necessarily say Kevin is a genius, but he is very good at what he does... mostly making crude, often offensive films with a soft squishy heart. Now, when it comes to his famous touring Q & A sessions I had seen the DVD, but that was about it. I heard he was going to be doing a show at the 6th & I Historic Synagogue and jumped on it.

Turns out, the show was fucking awesome. Seriously, the man is a genius at telling stories and making everything funny. He talked about his friends and colleagues including Malcolm Ingram and Scott Mosier. He talked about George Carlin. He talked about Bruce Willis. He talked about getting high with his wife (which is pretty much the funniest story ever). He talked a little about current and future projects. It was an altogether informative, interesting, and frickin hilarious show featuring a handful of freaks asking questions about whatever. In the end, a night of gratuitous offensive language inside a temple. How perfect is that?

I've been trying to come up with some way to describe Joanna Newsom and her music succinctly, but so far, nuthin. She plays harp and piano (harpist/pianist?) and, of course, sings. Her vocal stylings range from angelic to a little grating. Her lyrics are whimsical and random and often feel very stream of consciousness. Her music doesn't follow traditional pop patterns. Her songs don't have a regular chorus and are often more than ten minutes long. In short, it's a pretty unique experience. Check out some of the videos on YouTube for a taste.

The show I saw last night was the first time I've seen her perform live. On stage with her were several other band members (I'd guess you call them) with one guy playing several different stringed instruments like guitar, banjo, recorder (which isn't stringed, obviously) etc, two violinists, a man who played trombone and jaw harp, and a percussionist. The songs as played sounded pretty much just like their recorded versions, which is good. I am always curious to see how something that most likely takes place in many many individual takes in a recording studio translates to a live performance.

The only real downside to the show is that I'm not sure her music really makes for a great show. It's generally pretty chill music and since it all kind of seems to ramble it's easy to lose where you are in the song and yes, I even found myself drifting off a few times. There just wasn't enough happening to keep my attention. I'm not faulting Newsom at all, I just realized it isn't the sort of show I can easily sit through.

I bought tickets for this show the day they went on sale over the summer. As I often do, I'll buy two tickets thinking, "hey, it's six months off, I'm sure I'll find someone to go with me at some point..." And as often happens, I did not find anyone to bring along. It's a shame, because the Sixers are always best when shared. So, while I felt like I was the only person there alone, the show itself was wonderful, as always. Lots of songs off the new album and several from earlier albums. There was a rendition of Winter Wonderland thrown in along with the traditional medley during one of the two encores. View the full set of photos.

4/5

The last time I saw Imogen was about three years ago at the 9:30 Club, and I was pleased to see that not much has changed. She put on an enchanting show three years ago and an even more magical show last night. There were two opening solo musicians. They were both loopers, like Imogen, but it's always exciting to see and listen to as a song is built up out of individual loops and effects. The first guy (and I am really sorry I don't remember their names) mostly built the loops off his guitar and keyboard and some pregenerated stuff on a computer. The second guy was much more into improvisation, vocalizing sounds and then manipulating them on the fly. At one point he grabbed a Saitek gaming joystick and walked out into the audience where he vocalized sounds and then manipulated them on the fly with the joystick. That was impressive.

Imogen's stage set up was actually quite similar to her show in 2006. She used the same piano/keyboard and different props, but for the same purpose, basically. Most of the songs she did were off her recent release, Ellipse, which I've been listening to in regular rotation for the last few weeks. It grew on me quickly and I was happy to see the songs performed live. Toward the end she brought a local cellist on stage to help out with a song and then to assist in an improvisational song. Finally, during the encore, Imogen got the audience to participate in two songs making for an exciting interactive experience.

Most of the photos I took weren't usable, but here are four decent shots.

4/5

So I thought, "You know, I like some of Regina's songs, and she definitely has a different texture to some of her music, I think I'd like to see one of her live shows." So I did. It was a good show. For most of the show, the instrumentation included: drums, violin, cello, and piano. Then there was a section in there where Regina went solo and played keyboard, or completely a Capella, or even one hand playing the piano, and one hand playing the seat of a chair with a drumstick. I was impressed. I only have one of her albums, so there was plenty there I didn't recognize, but I was also pleased to hear songs I like and recognize as well. I now feel like I have seen a Regina Spektor show.

The opening band, by the way, was Jupiter One and they were also quite good. Two guys on guitar, one on bass, one on drums. However, the two guys on the guitar would also play keyboards and/or violin and/or flute. And they would use those other instruments to generate loops they would layer. This now seems fairly common, but it's always fun to see a loop take shape. I had a tough time classifying the music exactly, though the style definitely sounded familiar and comfortable. I guess check some of their tracks on the website if you're curious.

I saw Charlyne Yi at the Arlington Cinema & Drafthouse last night. She was doing her stand-up routine which is certainly one of the more unusual comedy routines I've seen. She moves from simple pun-based jokes to telling ghost stories (in the form of a song) to explaining in some detail a peculiar poop dream she had, to songs about fights she's had with a husband she doesn't have. I don't know if the relationship-related jokes and stories are new to her routine, but they definitely feel punctuated by the recent exposure her movie Paper Heart has gotten. Most of her routine concentrates on the intersection of strange and awkward. For example, pulling someone from the audience up on stage and proceeding to use a child's play-doctor set to give the man an exam... and then proposing to him and then having that drive a song opportunity. It's a special kind of wonderful that's both hilarious and heart-warmingly cute. The bottom line is, while I wasn't laughing hysterically, I was really having fun. At this particular performance, Charlyne also had guest Glenn Donnellan on stage to play his electric baseball bat violin (I heard this interview on NPR), which was really a treat.

Ah, another beautiful outdoor concert at Wolf Trap... only it wasn't beautiful. I stood waiting at the gate for about 45 minutes in 90F heat. Once I had found a decent spot in the park the frequent promises of no rain in the forecast began to evaporate as dark thunderclouds rolled in. Worse yet, Jon was bringing the umbrellas (you know, just in case). About an hour before the show was scheduled to start, the rain started. Jon got to me within moments and we popped the umbrellas and tried to think happy thoughts like "oh don't worry, it's supposed to blow over real quick..." It was a nice thought. There was a brief lull in which we quickly ate some dinner, and then the rain picked up again around the time the show was starting and continued a little past the intermission.

Persistent dampness, this is a review, so how was the actual show? It was pretty good. There was music from E.T., Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Close Encounters, Jaws, Superman, Saving Private Ryan, and Indiana Jones. Oh yes, and lots from the various Star Wars movies. The music was excellent, and surprisingly, even the sound was great (much better than the Video Games Live! show). The conductor, Erich Kunzel, provided introductions to most of the pieces that helped to provide a little context for the segments. Overall, a really great show that could have only been made better by, you know, dryness.

4/5

The Machine is a Pink Floyd cover band. My only real exposure to Pink Floyd is via The Wall, which I like, but this concert obviously exposed me to much more than I would be familiar with. In the end I learned that Pink Floyd songs are mostly instrumental, and not very interesting instrumentals at that. I don't want to knock The Machine, they seemed to do a good job and those in the audience who seemed to be familiar with the music looked to be enjoying themselves, it's just that I wasn't especially enjoying myself. I guess I just don't know loooong instrumentals. This is probably why I'm not so down with going to Dream Theater concerts anymore. The band itself wasn't all that talkative and didn't really relate with the audience much. The only really interesting thing the band did was toward the end of the show when, mid-song, the members of the four person band all switched places. The guitarist switched with bassist and the keyboardist and drummer switched, so they were each playing the other's instruments. I mean, that's impressive, right? I guess? Sure.

This is my first time seeing a modern dance performance live with my only other exposure (that I can remember) being YouTube videos. I was directed to this particular performance by the Merce Cunningham Dance Company by a friend who is knowledgeable of such things and I was also intrigued by any dance performance set to the music of Radiohead and Sigur Ros.

The first segment was called "Split Sides" and started out with six people on stage rolling a die to determine the mix of the program. What costumes, what lighting cues, what music goes first, and so on. So certainly an interesting randomization feature. The music that we actually heard was very unusual and not at all what I was expecting. I thought there would be a recognizable song or two (and maybe they would be if I knew either band better), but instead it was mostly just a mix of sounds. Some of it was decent, some of it might have even been offensive. The action on stage, while occasionally timed to the audio, was not really following it in any traditional way. I've been trying to figure out how to describe the physical performance by the dance company and I'm still struggling with it. I did like and enjoy the experience of watching the performance. There was a lot going on and a lot of interesting shapes and forms and structures and things like that, but it was tough in the sense that my mind kept grasping for story or symbology or some sort of meaning to it all. I could understand that there really isn't any of that in the performance... it's more like abstract art... but I couldn't stop my mind from searching for those things. Maybe it just comes with exposure that eventually the mind calms down and just enjoys what its seeing and stops thinking about it so much.

The second segment was called "Sounddance" and was also enjoyable to watch, unfortunately the audio was a lot more painful to listen to, consisting of mostly atonal sounds that nearly caused physical pain. I'm not saying that to be critical because I expect that was the point of the audio, but this is how I found it. Again, I liked the performance and I liked what was going on, I just didn't really "get" any of it. I understand there's nothing really to get, but I kept trying... Eventually I think I did let go and enjoyed it as abstract art, which made what was happening a little more digestible, I think.

There won't be a rating for this performance as this is my first such show and I don't really feel qualified to provide a numerical rating given my limited exposure. I will say that it was fun.

I first saw this show several years ago at the Kennedy Center with a large group of friends. At the time, I really enjoyed show. The music was good, the video presentation was good, even the on-stage bits, while kind of goofy, were still entertaining. Seeing it again, this time outdoors at Wolf Trap, was pretty much the same thing, only outdoors and surrounded by lots of intoxicated people who felt obligated to make their most inane thoughts known to everyone. The basic show was essentially the same, though I expect the games highlighted were different, the formula was unchanged. Actually, one of the most interesting segments was when they got a kid from the audience to go up on stage and play Guitar Hero. If he could play Sweet Emotion by Aerosmith on hard and clear 200,000 points he would win a laptop. He told them to set it to expert and then proceeded to get a 609 note streak and something like 317,000 points. I basically don't know anything about the game, but that was pretty damned impressive. Especially when you imagine that this kid had the pressure of thousands of people watching him very closely as well as the NSO playing backup to the song. Talk about being a guitar hero! So generally, not a bad evening, but I don't expect to be going again when it comes around in the future... not unless there's a friend who really wants to go.

3/5