Sweetlife Music Festival, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, Maryland

 Life is sweet

The Sweetlife Music Festival came to Merriweather Post Pavilion for a second time. The event used the same set up as last year, with all the main acts on a single stage. There were some additional artists performing on a makeshift dance stage behind the lawn, but there wasn’t anything playing that piqued our interest more than what was on the main stage at that time.

We arrived early in the day and secured a great spot on the lawn, low, dead center, with a decent view of the stage and the single jumbotron. There were few others there when we arrived, but Lindsey wanted to see the opening act of the day, fun., the new project of Nate Ruess, former lead singer of the mid-2000’s indie rock band, The Format. They were fresh off their most recent hit album, Some Nights, including the song “We Are Young” that seems to be everywhere recently. They played a short set, with a mix of songs from that recent album as well as from their 2009 debut, Aim and Ignite. It was a solid opening to the day, though they certainly did not own the stage and the crowd. At that hour, it’s hard to tell if it was because of them or just that not too many people where we were sitting were familiar with their music. Perhaps the latter, considering that many people on the lawn were pretty disengaged for the first several sets of the day.

fun. Setlist:

One Foot

Walking the Dog

Why Am I the One

Barlights

Carry On

At Least I'm Not as Sad (As I Used to Be)

We Are Young

Next up was hip hop artist A$AP Rocky. I had heard some of his albums but wasn’t a huge fan, so it was my turn to be disengaged. He also showed up late and played a really short set, only half a dozen songs. It still was not bad for so early in the day. The weather was another story, as it teetered between sun, clouds, and rain. Occasionally it was sunny enough to want for sunglasses, but often overcast and rainy. Unlike last year though, we were well prepared with a tarp and rain gear.

A$AP Rocky Setlist:

Pretty Flacko

Wassup
Purple Swag

Kissin' Pink

Trilla

Peso

Next up were soul/indie pop band Fitz & the Tantrums. The acts were improving as the day went on and frontman (Michael) Fitz(patrick) and one Tantrum, vocalist Noelle Scaggs, put on some sultry moves that engaged the crowd. It was one of those instances where I had to wonder if they got down off stage the way they were onstage.

Fitz & the Tantrums Setlist:

Don't Gotta Work It Out

Wake Up

Breakin' the Chains of Love

Pickin' Up the Pieces

Winds of Change

Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)

She's Out of My League

Rich Girls

Dear Mr. President

L.O.V.

News 4 You

MoneyGrabber

Following the Tantrums were Austin-based post rock instrumentalists Explosions in the Sky, the set of the day that I was the most excited for. Unfortunately, it was a sentiment that was not shared by others in our immediate vicinity, including some guy who decided to belittle their chosen genre throughout much of the set. I really wished that we would have ventured from the lawn down into the pit for their set in order to get a little more involved in the music. Nonetheless, they picked a good set list considering their extensive catalogue and the power and intricacies of their music was still enjoyable even out on the lawn. I guess I’ll cross them of my bucket list, but I’m certainly look to see them again sometime soon in a better setting.

Explosions in the Sky Setlist:

Catastrophe and the Cure

Postcard From 1952

The Birth and Death of the Day

Let Me Back In

Your Hand in Mine

The Only Moment We Were Alone

By the time indie rock icons The Shins took the stage, the rain was coming down hard. I had gore-texed myself from head to toe and Lindsey had covered herself in a tarp. Frontman James Mercer was the clear star of the show and reached deep into his catalogue, playing songs that encompassed his fifteen years with the band, a lot of which made me realize just how many The Shins songs I didn’t know. Sets were getting longer and more excited attendees were showing up.

The Shins Setlist:

Kissing the Lipless

Mine's Not a High Horse

Simple Song

Bait and Switch

Australia

Pam Berry

Phantom Limb

The Rifle’s Spiral

Saint Simon

So Says I

No Way Down

Caring Is Creepy

New Slang

Port of Morrow

One by One All Day

Sleeping Lessons

Kid CuDi was another act on my bucket list that I would get to cross of my list that evening. He took the stage late, but came out to thunderous applause. It was clear that a new group of people had finally shown up, as our comfortable lawn setting had completely disappeared as throngs of people flooded the lawn in anticipation of CuDi. It wasn’t long before we decided to move further back to have a little more room. Though I still like his beats, lyrics, and style, his self-aggrandizing onstage presence was like any typical hip hop act. He cycled through a medley though towards the end in which he asked everyone to dance the entire time, which was a bit different and a lot of fun.

Kid CuDi Setlist:

REVOFEV

Scott Mescudi vs the World

Soundtrack 2 My Life

GHOST!

Mojo So Dope

We Aite (Wake Your Mind Up)

Marijuana

Solo Dolo (Nightmare)

Up Up & Away

Man on the Moon (The Anthem)

Erase Me

Mr. Rager

CuDi Zone

Memories

Pursuit of Happiness (Nightmare)

Though there were still people shuffling into the venue for the final act of the night, AVICII, we had decided that we had enough fun for one day, considering how long we had been on the lawn and the less than ideal weather. At least we could beat the traffic.

Mayer Hawthorne & the County, 9:30 Club, Washington, DC

The soul of Motown comes east

It was a night for some Motown soul. I had seen Mayer Hawthorne a few times before including at a festival and his last time in DC at the Black Cat. I knew he always puts on a solid performance so I was looking forward to seeing him again. I was also there with Jesse, a friend from Michigan who was excited to some music from his roots. Mayer Hawthorne just has a beautiful voice and incredible range, reaching the highest of notes with seemingly little effort. His voice is matched with great Motown style, both musically and visually. He played his usual but solid setlist, including mostly originals and a few interesting covers by Busta Rhymes, Hall & Oates, and Lee Dorsey as well as “Just Ain't Gonna Work Out”, an original song, but one that’s so Motown soul that I could swear that it must have been penned in a few decades ago.

Setlist:

Can't Stop (Tease)

The Walk

Make Her Mine

Dreaming

Your Easy Lovin' Ain't Pleasin' Nothin'

One Track Mind

Stick Around

Do My Thing

No Strings

Shiny and New

I Wish It Would Rain

You Make My Dreams Come True

A Long Time

Finally Falling

Green Eyed Love

A Strange Arrangement

Get Out Of My Life Woman

Just Ain't Gonna Work Out

Hooked

You Called Me
Maybe So, Maybe No

The Ills

Henny and Gingerale

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Verizon Center, Washington, DC

The Boss brings it

Though our group of a half dozen was split up throughout Verizon Center, Schiz and I had some good seats in the 100 section for the DC Bruce show, at about center ice and perhaps a dozen rows from the floor. I thought they were pretty good seats considering how popular the Boss is and how quickly the tickets sold out. They were pricey seats and considering that I had seen Bruce less than two years ago, and at Bonnaroo of all places, where he jammed with Phish, I was still debating whether the show was worth the price of admission as we were taking our seats. Bruce was really going to have to bring in order to impress me.

Without an opening act, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street band took the stage, playing a healthy mix of old and new songs, including a few solid tunes from the new album, “We Take Care of Our Own” and “Wrecking Ball.” Even within the first few songs, I was already convinced that the show was going to be worth the money. Man did Bruce bring it! I don’t know how else to say it other than that he and the rest of the E Street Band just rock so hard and for so long. Sometimes I just couldn’t believe the kind of energy that they’re able to bring each and every night after all these years.

He played a lot from the new album, which was fine with me considering that I think it’s his best since 2002’s The Rising. However, he also played a bunch of his more modern, minor hits, like “Waiting on a Sunny Day” and “The Rising” in addition to staples towards the end. I was also happy to hear his version of “Because the Night”, which I fairly recently learned was actually written by him, and “American Skin (41 Shots)”, one of my favorite Bruce songs, but one I never thought had received a lot of in-concert playing time, perhaps because it was somewhat controversial.

His encore alone consisted of half a dozen songs. When “Born to Run” was the third, I thought he would definitely end it on that note, but then, boom, “Dancing in the Dark.” Afterwards he even played two more, finally ending on “Tenth Avenue Freeze Out.” The entire show was just under three hours. Bruce earned every penny of my admission price.

Setlist:

We Take Care of Our Own

Wrecking Ball

Night

Death to My Hometown

My City of Ruins

Seaside Bar Song

Does This Bus Stop At 82nd Street?

Jack of All Trades

Trapped (Jimmy Cliff Cover)

Adam Raised a Cain

Easy Money

She's the One

Waitin' on a Sunny Day

The Promise

Apollo Medley (The Way You Do the Things You Do/634-5789)

American Skin (41 Shots)

Because the Night

The Rising

We Are Alive

Thunder Road

Encore:

Rocky Ground

Out In the Street
Born to Run

Dancing in the Dark

Land of Hope and Dreams

Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out

O.A.R., 9:30 Club, Washington, DC

Back to the Black Rock

A lot of time has passed since my carefree high school days of driving around Harrisburg in my white Honda Accord, listening to O.A.R., which for a time I thought was pronounced as an instrument to row a boat rather. So going to an O.A.R. show always brings back a few of those memories. The experience this time around was amplified by the presence of Ben Summers, a childhood friend who was often riding shotgun during those days back in the suburbs. We had not seen a show together in quite a while, so it was a treat to have him along, especially for O.A.R. when so many other bands that we listened to back in high school had since fallen by the wayside.

Their set started off with “Ladanday,” from their 1997 debut album, The Wanderer. We of course were hoping to hear as much pre-2003 O.A.R. as possible and they certainly threw in plenty. We would have liked to hear nothing but selections from their first three albums, but seeing as how they’ve steadily released albums every two to three years since then, it wasn’t really a reasonable expectation. They did grace us with quite a few including “Missing Pieces,” “Dareh Meyod,”Delicate Few, and “Night Shift.” And of course there were regular O.A.R. staples like “Hey Girl” and “That Was a Crazy Game of Poker.” Though they (and we) have aged quite a bit, it was still a good, long set filled with much of the same energy that I remember. Though an O.A.R. show doesn’t hold the same appeal for me now as it did over a decade ago (their September 4, 2001 show at Crocodile Rock in Allentown, Pennsylvania still ranks as one of my favorite concerts ever), it was still great to get to take a little trip down memory lane.

Setlist:
Ladanday

Missing Pieces

Heard the World

Lay Down

Taking On the World Today

Dareh Meyod

One Shot

Gotta Be Wrong Sometimes

Hey Girl

Road Outside Columbus

The Last Time

Heaven

Woke Up an Uncle

Wonderful Day

Favorite Book of Poetry

That Was a Crazy Game of Poker

Over and Over

Shattered (Turn the Car Around)

Encore:

Delicate Few

Night Shift

Millennium Music Conference & Showcase, Radisson Hotel & The Fieldhouse, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

It's confirmed: There are worthwhile concerts in Harrisburg

The Millennium Music Conference & Showcase is an annual Harrisburg event that features three days of panels, clinics, workshops, mentoring, demo listening sessions, and a music business trade show for artists and others in the music industry. Each night the conference showcases new music and emerging talent by original acts and artists. For the second year in a row, Michael and I attended some of the performances at one of the dozen venues in the Harrisburg area hosting an event. This year, we decided to attend an event at a Radisson Hotel on the west shore (where I realized upon arrival that my high school prom was held), which would feature three stages of music for the evening.


Though there was a $20 cover charge, which was a change of pace from last year, there was also the opportunity to see a whole lot more bands. Boxcar Social, from Hanover, Pennsylvania, was on stage when we arrived. We caught a few minutes but I could tell pretty quickly that Michael was not into their mix of rock, funk, jam, and bluegrass, so we quickly moved on. We next moved to a bar/lounge featuring guitar soloists. The first was Nathan Johnson, from Lewes, Delaware, playing a few of his own solid tunes in the pop/rock/folk/singer-songwriter realm. Next up was Alex Brubaker, from Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, who specialized in a type of guitar playing, called Percussive Fingerstyle, that in addition to plucking the strings directly with the fingertips and fingernails instead of a traditional pick, incorporates sharp attacks on the strings, as well as hitting the strings and guitar top with the hand for percussive effect. I was already familiar with the style most notably from John Butler’s music including his solo instrumental masterpiece, “Ocean.” Again, I enjoyed it immensely, but Michael was not as impressed.

We next caught a bit of Newark, Delaware based rockers Electric Blue Concept. Both Michael and I thought they were a solid act. I liked their use of the violin and thought their lead singer had a very good rock voice. At the end of their set, we moved back to the main stage to catch Hog Maw, a York, Pennsylvania bluegrass, jam band. Their all-string quartet, as well as all the dancing hippies, reminded me of Yonder Mountain String Band show. Again, I was enjoying the show but Michael not as much. We decided to leave the Radisson and trek out to another venue, the Fieldhouse in nearby Etters, Pennsylvania, about 15 minutes away.

The Fieldhouse was a moderately sized bar with a single stage. Harrisburg based Day Taunt took the stage soon after we arrived, playing a mix of alternative rock, grunge, and metal. The harder edge was a more along the lines of what Michael was looking for. I was not blow away but they had great enthusiasm. There were initial some acoustic problems which did not help. However, I think their one fatal flaw was leading off with a Foo Fighters cover, leading me to believe that they were a cover band. However, after they opened, they played all original songs. If you otherwise want to play all your own music, you can end on a cover, but you don’t start with one. We decided to leave after Day Taunt finished their set, so I did not get to finish the pitcher of beer I had purchased. I was happy to hand off the bulk of it to the Day Taunt lead singer as he was finishing his set.

2011: Year in Review

Time to look back at 2011. Even in my advancing age, or perhaps because I didn’t spend a hundred some odd night in a city devoid of concerts, I was able to increase my total number of attendances, from 19 events in 2010 to 27 in 2011, including 21 concerts, 4 single day festivals, and 2 multi day festivals, bringing my average up to an event every 13 days. Twelve of these shows were sold out.

Again, I saw more shows in the DC area than anywhere else (23), with 9:30 Club (8) still being my venue of choice. Other DC area venues such as Merriweather Post Pavilion (4) and Black Cat (3) were also popular as well as the new Fillmore Silver Spring with two even though it only opened in September. Only four events took me out of town to Manchester, Tennessee; New Orleans, Louisiana; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Camp Hill, Pennsylvania.

I saw more shows on Saturdays than any other (7), but Wednesdays (6) and Thursdays (5) were close behind. I saw at least one show on every day of the week. September was the leading month (5), including three shows in three days, the only time all year where I attended shows on sequential days. There were also four in both March and October. November was the only barren month.

Including all the bands that I specifically remember seeing, and therefore wrote about, I saw a total of 66 bands this year. This included 22 acts at single concerts, another 22 at the Bonnaroo Music Festival (my third year in a row to the festival and fourth overall), and 28 at other festivals. This excludes opening acts that I don’t remember the billing. I also saw several bands twice, including Alison Krauss & Union Station, Arcade Fire, The Black Keys, Chromeo, and Cut Copy. Chromeo was the only band in which neither event was a festival. I also saw good ole Club Scout thrice.

Concerts are always more fun with friends, and I was able to convince someone to come with me to every concert. Jeff Schiz attended more with me than anyone else with 6 shows. An additional 13 people attended two or more with me.

And of course, total ticket cost was $1,099.

Beirut, 9:30 Club, Washington, DC

It’s even better when you know you can go home and listen to it all over again

After sliding my way up on the far left side as far as I could at the 9:30 Club as I always do, I noticed signs around the club that NPR was at the show and would be doing a live simulcast of the performance for their listeners, as well as make the show available for later download. A show is even better when you know you can go home and listen to it all over again. Beirut took the stage around 9:15. I was blown away by how powerful the horns sounded from 9:30’s relatively small stage, as compared to what comes through on their album or from a larger festival stage. Combined with singer Zach Condon’s ethereal voice, they had much more of a presence on stage than the subdued sound on their albums would have led me to believe, proving they were as worthwhile listening to in a packed club as they were on a lazy Sunday morning.

A little bit unusual for a band touring after releasing a new record, they only played four songs from their new, more mainstream indie rock album, The Rip Tide. Instead, they played selections from nearly all of their albums and EP, drawing heavily from the more Čoček-influenced Gulag Orkestar from 2006 and The Flying Club Cup which followed a year later. While it was a great show, my only gripe was that it was a bit on the short side; the show on NPR only ended up being about 71 minutes. However, on a weeknight when you have a long drive back to Baltimore, ending early isn’t a terrible thing.

The download for the show can be found here.


Set List:
Scenic World
The Shrew
Elephant Gun
Vagabond
Postcards From Italy
The Concubine
A Sunday Smile
Santa Fe
Forks and Knives
East Harlem
Nantes
Goshen
Cherbourg
After The Curtain
Mount Wroclai (Idle Days)
The Penalty
My Night With The Prostitute From Marseille
The Gulag Orkestar
Siki Siki Baba