2010: Year in Review

So, time to look back at 2010. Another year with a ton of concerts, though I couldn’t keep the same pace as 2009. Perhaps a big part of the reason that I spent 8 months of the year commuting down to Houston, Texas during the week. Despite its size, the number of bands that came to Houston left much to be desired, as did the particular bands that came. I missed out on many bands this year because I simply wasn’t in the right town. Many of them actually came to Austin and some to Dallas, but they often skipped Houston, the fourth largest city in the country – go figure.

Despite the difficulties in finding shows, I still attended 19 concerts and festivals, including 16 individual shows and 3 festivals, averaging an event a little over every 19 days. 7 of these shows were sold out. Despite spending so many nights out of town, I still saw more shows in the DC area than anywhere else (11), with over half (6) at the 9:30 Club (3) and Merriweather Post Pavilion (3). I also saw shows in 6 other cities, including 3 shows in Houston. I saw more shows on Saturdays than any other (7), but Thursdays (5) were a close second. I didn’t see any shows on a Monday. October was the leading month (4), most likely because I went on a binge after returning to DC full time after being gone for a while. There were even several months (January, April, July, and December) when I didn’t’ get to a show at all.

Including all the bands that I specifically remember seeing at festivals for at least a few songs (more than just walking by), I saw a total of 48 bands this year, of which 37 were bands that I’d never seen before, while the remaining 11 were old favorites. This excludes opening acts that I don’t remember the billing. I also saw several bands twice, including Dave Matthews Band, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, LCD Soundsystem, Mayer Hawthorne & the County, and Rodrigo y Gabriella (only band in which neither event was a festival)

Concerts are always more fun with friends, and I was able to convince someone to come with me to every concert. Jeff Schiz and my sister Katie attended more with me than any others at 6 shows each. Ali and Lauren (4 each), Erica and Benny (3 each), and Eric, Joey, and Seth (2 each) were the only others registering more than one. However, I went to all the shows in Houston (3) by myself, an unusual occurrence for me.

The year was a lot easier on the wallet as well with only $830 in tickets.

Sufjan Stevens, The National, Richmond, Virginia

A box on the bucket list gets checked next to the indie folk singer-songwriter

There aren’t too many acts that I would drive down to Richmond for on a Tuesday night to see, but indie folk singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens is one of them, as he currently sat towards the top of my bucket list. Despite the drive, The National in Richmond is a great venue, a little smaller than the 930 Club and with a slightly inclined floor so that there really isn’t a bad view in the entire place. Despite being a big Sufjan fan, I wasn’t completely sure how excited I should be about the show. I love his music but wasn’t sure how it would translate to the stage. I also noticed in the setlists from his recent shows that he was playing songs almost exclusively from his new album and EP, which I enjoy, but am not nearly as familiar with as his older works.

Sufjan took the stage with an extensive backing band, such that at one point a dozen players were on stage at once including 2 full-drum kits, a pair of trombones, bass, electric guitar, 3 female backup singers/dancers, a keyboard, and Sufjan’s own work on the guitar, banjo, and/or synthesizer. Opening act DM Stith also joined for a number or two. He started off the show with the title track from 2004’s Seven Swans, which I thought was an odd choice. The rest of the main set was exclusively songs from 2010, including his new album The Age of Adz and the All Delighted People EP. Despite not being that familiar with these songs, he put together some impressive live versions. Despite his quiet demeanor, Sufjan also has quite the stage presence, with elaborate costumes (e.g. wings, space pants, reflective tape makeup, etc), video displays, choreographed dance moves, beach balls, and confetti. In between songs, the evening was punctuated by Sufjan’s explanation his songs and feelings, which were often strings of unnecessarily complex rambling. He’s certainly an interesting, if weird, guy.

While much of the show was pretty low key, without much cause to get one’s feet moving, the show picked up towards the end during one of the final songs of his main set, the self-described magnum opus of the evening, the 25 minute “Impossible Soul,” which while meandering at times, was not only well constructed but fun. After finishing it, he switched over to playing songs from 2005’s Illinois for the end of the main set and the encore, getting the crowd’s feet moving and vocal chords out of dormancy. In the end, though a little odd, the show was worth the trip.

Setlist:

Seven Swans

Age of Adz

Too Much

Heirloom

I Walked

Futile Devices

Vesuvius

Now That I'm Older

Get Real Get Right

Enchanting Ghost

Impossible Soul               

Chicago

Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois

Casimir Pulaski  Day

Jacksonville

John Wayne Gacy, Jr.

Dave Matthews Band, Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

One more chance to see the world's most successful touring band of the past decade

A half dozen of us headed to the Wells Fargo Center to see the Dave Matthews Band perform a show in Philadelphia for the last leg of their 2010 tour before taking a much deserved year off. It was my 8th Dave show since first attending in the summer 1999. After some finagling and some last minute purchases and sales, we were able to get a few additional GA tickets and divest our extra seats so we were all able to be together during the show. We arrived at the venue early enough to get within about 50 feet from the stage, the closest that I had ever been at a Dave show. The opener for the evening was Chris Thile and the Punch Brothers, a band that I am a fan of and had just seen at Bonnaroo, so seeing an opener that I knew and liked was a treat. The bluegrass troupe played a number of their own songs plus great bluegrass versions of The Band’s “Ophelia” and Radiohead’s “Morning Bell.”

Dave and company hit the stage a little after 8pm, so we knew that it would be a good long set. It ended up being a good mix of old new songs most of which I was happy to hear. However, I never really liked “The Christmas Song” except for during actual Christmastime, of which we’re still a month shy. Wait for December, Dave. Schiz mentioned that it was a first for him seeing two songs, “Gravedigger” and “Last Stop” though he missed some of the latter while grabbing a beer.  Some of my personal favorites were the opener, “The Stone,” as well as “Tripping Billies” and “Best of What’s Around.” I also really like their rendition of Jimi Thing, a song that for whatever reason I never really cared for. Without a doubt though the highlight of the evening was the final song of the encore, “Two Step,” which is probably my favorite Dave song and which is rarely played to close an evening, so it was a great surprise to hear. Carter Beauford’s drum solo made this version particularly incredible and served as further evidence that Beauford is among the best living drummers. After over 3 hours of music, the show finally came to a close.

Setlist:

The Stone

Big Eyed Fish

Bartender

Funny the Way It Is

Why I Am

Gravedigger

Best of What’s Around

Digging a Ditch

Can’t Stop

Tripping Billies

Last Stop

Spaceman

Seven

Pantala Naga Pampa

Rapunzel

You and Me

Corn Bread

Jimi Thing

Shake Me Like a Monkey

Christmas Song

Time Bomb

Two Step

Club Scout & Kid Is Qual, Velvet Lounge, Washington, DC

A Wednesday night "almost" concert

This show barely qualifies, but I’ll put it up here anyway. I hadn’t seen my friend Benny’s band Club Scout in a while and was looking forward to a show. Unfortunately, they were playing way too late on a school night for me to stay for me to see any of their set. We were able to catch a few bars of the previous band, Kid Is Qual, but technical difficulties forced them to halt their set barely a song in and Katie and I decided to get out of Dodge. Guess I’ll just have to look forward to Club Scout’s next show.

Guster, DAR Constitution Hall, Washington, DC

What happens when the love of a band and the hatred of a venue collide

I should start off this post with a little context about the band and the venue. First, the band: I love Guster and have been a fan since high school. I’ll still always prefer their earlier work to their more current albums, but I think that everything they have released has been pretty solid. I’ve been to at least half a dozen, perhaps more, of their shows as well and always enjoy them. You’d think I’d look forward to their show then, right? Well, not this time around because, second, the venue: I hate DAR Constitution Hall. I hate the fact that the layout is all seated – leaving it with a lot of bad views and no pit, meaning that the audience is disconnected from the performers and not encouraged to dance. I hate the acoustics and the speakers’ inability to create a panasonic experience. I hate that while they do sell very overpriced booze, they don’t allow drinks in the auditorium and instead they must be gulped down in the hallway. I’ve been disappointed with almost every show that I’ve seen at DAR, so it was only when my friend Erica had an extra ticket and I didn’t have much else planned for the evening that I decided to go along to the show.

That being said, I happily found that my love of the band ended up trumping my hatred for the venue. Another big help was that our group of four of us had our own opera box that was high enough to see the stage, but low and close enough to still be integrated with the band and other fans. The fear of blocking the view of others didn’t stop us from standing up and dancing for the entire set, which no doubt also added to the fun of the experience. Though Guster did work a number of their newer songs into the set, most of which I enjoyed, they also did us older fans a favor and played a lot of their old classics, which was much appreciated. The highlight was a little over halfway through the set when during “Happier,” our little group did our own rendition in our box during which everyone in the group knew what to do when I pointed to half of it and said “Ryan’s part” and the other half and said “Adam’s,” and we were able to develop a nice, if slightly offkey, harmony. If you’re not a fan, you’ll have no idea what I’m talking about. If you are, there’s a chance I might have requested the same thing from you at one point or another. Anyway, that one moment was worth the price of admission, the rest of the show including ping pong balls flying during “Airport Song,” a completely unplugged version of “Jesus on the Radio,” and my personal favorite song, “Demons,” were all just a bonus.

Setlist:

The Captain

Architects & Engineers

Barrel of a Gun

This Could All Be Yours

Demons

Beginning of the End

Satellite

Do You Love Me

That's No Way to Get to Heaven

Bad Bad World

Backyard

Come Downstairs and Say Hello

What You Call Love

Amsterdam

Either Way

Happier

G Major

Airport Song

Wipeout (Cover)

Careful

Manifest Destiny

Hang On/My Life (Cover)

Jesus on the Radio

The Avett Brothers, Pier 6 Pavilion, Baltimore, Maryland

Bluegrass on the Baltimore waterfront

We trekked up to Baltimore to see bluegrass, folk rockers the Avett Brothers, led by actual brothers and a few other collaborators. Again, they were at Bonnaroo this past year. While I missed their main set in favor of another band, I did get to see them play a short, intimate set in the Chase Lounge. Following that, I was looking forward to getting to see them play a complete set. It was also a treat to get to see funk/blues/soul /rock band Grace Potter & the Nocturnals as the opening act. While everyone in the Avett Brothers is talented and fun, my favorite was cellist Joe Kwon, who in additional to being of Korean heritage and looking slightly out of place in a bluegrass band, is without a doubt the most enthusiastic cellist that I’ve ever seen, swaying almost violently as he played multiple bows to the point where they needed to be replaced throughout the set. Between the gorgeous night on the Baltimore waterfront and the each band’s solid sets, it was well worth the trip.

Mayer Hawthorne & the County, Black Cat, Washington, DC

Proof that white guys can sing Motown too

The theme continues: another of the bands that were a lot of fun at Bonnaroo is continuing their tour in the mid-Atlantic and stopping in DC. This time, its Detroit Motown soul band Mayer Hawthorne & the County. Fronted by Toby McGuire lookalike Mayer Hawthorne (by the way, the stage name "Mayer Hawthorne" is a combination of his real middle name and the name of the street he grew up on in Michigan. I always thought that’s what your porn name was; not your Motown name), Hawthorne and his band are a throw back to 60’s soul music, of which several songs were covered along with the band’s original tunes. Hawthorne was clearing enjoying being on stage and greatly appreciated the crowd and his recent [moderate] success. Perhaps the best part of the show was the final song or two when he asked everyone in the audience to take a few steps closer to the stage so we could all get into it and dance.