2012: Year in Review

Another year of concerts. Even with spending almost a quarter of the year in a country where live music is illegal, I was able to match my 2011 total number of attendances with 27, including 21 concerts (exact same as last year), 1 single day festival, 4 multi-day festivals in which I only attended one day, and 1 multi day festivals in which I attended each day, bringing my average up to an event every 13 days. At least thirteen of these shows were sold out, perhaps more that I didn’t realize.

Again, I saw more shows in the DC area than anywhere else (14), with 9:30 Club (5) the most common venue. The cities and venues were a lot more varied this year than many previous including five shows in Chicago and additional shows in Harrisburg, Los Angeles, Dover, New York, and Philadelphia. Oddly, I only made it to one show in Baltimore, the city I called home for most of the year.

Again, I saw at least one show on every day of the week, but this year Sunday (9) was the leader, following by Tuesday (5) and Thursday (5). I didn’t end up going to too many shows on Friday (2) and Saturday (4) nights.  July was the leading month (7) with June (6) close behind. Somehow January and March were both barren. October and November were also, but that is because I was abroad for nearly the entire time in a country which live music doesn’t exist.

Including all the bands that I specifically remember seeing, and therefore wrote about, I saw a total of 69 performances by 62 artists. Of those, only 12 were bands that I have seen before; the remaining 50 were artists that I was seeing for the first time. This included 23 acts at single concerts, another 16 at the multiday Firefly Music Festival , and 30 at other festivals. I saw Modest Mouse three times and several bands twice, including Bruce Springsteen, Death Cab for Cutie, Explosions in the Sky, The Killers, and Sigur Rós. For both Bruce Springsteen and Sigur Rós, neither event was at a festival. Both Explosions in the Sky performances were at a festival, though I would have gladly paid to see them do their own show.

Concerts are always more fun with friends, but this year due to various circumstances, I saw five shows, including two festivals, by myself. For the first time since I’ve been keeping track, Jeff Schiz (5) wasn’t the top person to attend with me, though he was still high on the list. Ben Trajtenberg (8) was number one followed by Lindsey Havko (6). Rick Nieves (4), Eric Stahl (4), Ben Summers (2) and Samet Gursel were the only others with more than one. 

I also went to a much pricier set of shows with year with a total ticket cost of $1,565, over 40% more than last year.

The Killers, Patriot Center, Fairfax, Virginia

Consistently Among the Best

A chilly December evening would be my fourth time seeing the Killers, including my second time seeing them this year and my second time seeing at George Mason's Patriot Center, a modest size arena capable of holding about 10,000 people. Unlike my previous time at the Patriot Center and other times further back on the lawn at festivals, I arrived earlier enough to be fairly close and have a dead center view of the stage. Even though I wasn't particularly close for all of my other Killers' shows, they have been one of the most consistent live acts that I've ever seen. Every Killer's show that I've seen has been amongst my favorite of the year. I love their whole catalogue, they always have spectacular visuals, and their music is very danceable. Every time that I've seen them has just been a blast.

So I had set the bar very high and despite a few issues making it far less than a perfect show, it was more or less a great show. One of these issues was the sound. For starters, the Killers had cancelled their past few days on tour because lead singer Brandon Flowers was getting over some laryngitis. While he sounded pretty good, his voice wasn't all there and I could hear the difference. This was exacerbated by poor speaker placement. Despite being reasonably close to the stage and dead center, there weren't any speakers pointed directly towards us, so the overall clarity and detail wasn't up to snuff.

My other complaints related to the setlist and the visuals. The Killers put on an amazing visual performance - a large LCD, lights, lasers, and pyrotechnics. However, none of it kicked in till after they had finished their first song. I'm not sure if they were just delayed in getting it set up or if it was purposeful, but when they took the stage and kicked off the evening with “Mr. Brightside,” a high energy anthem and one of my favorite of their songs, it all just fell a little flat. While I never like waiting longer than necessary for an act to hit the stage, this time I would have gladly waited a few extra minutes for everything to be ready. I would have preferred to hear “Mr. Brightside” later in the set no matter what the conditions but the lack of aesthetics made it particularly noticeable. I'm not sure if it was because of any of these issues or not, but the crowd was not nearly as lively as I would have preferred. They gradually warmed up a bit toward the end though. Flowers also introduced the band at the very end of the show, after they had already finished the bulk of their final song; I thought it a bit strange, but it wasn't a big deal.

Otherwise, the show and the setlist were great; lots of jumping and wiggling. They played nearly all of the same songs as they did the last time I saw them, at the Firefly Music Festival in Delaware, though a little longer (which I liked) and a few less old songs in favor of a few newer songs (which I didn't like as much). All and all, they played seven songs from their new album Battle Born (2012), three from Day & Age (2008), four from Sam's Town (2006), and five from Hot Fuss (2004). I hadn’t been as crazy about their new album as I had some of their others, but hearing some of the newest album live made me appreciate a few of the songs much more, including great versions of "The Way It Was, "From Here On Out," "Miss Atomic Bomb," and even the title track "Battle Born," even though I wish they wouldn't have ended the show on it. So despite a few issues, the Killers remain one of the consistently best bands I’ve ever seen.

Setlist:
Mr. Brightside
The Way It Was
Smile Like You Mean It
Spaceman
Heart of a Girl
Bling (Confession of a King)
Miss Atomic Bomb
Human
Somebody Told Me
Here With Me
For Reasons Unknown
From Here On Out
A Dustland Fairytale
Read My Mind
Runaways
When You Were Young
Encore:
Jenny Was a Friend of Mine
All These Things That I've Done
Battle Born

Punch Brothers, Vic Theatre, Chicago, Illinois

Proof bluegrass can be fun, even without the foot stomping

The Punch Brothers are the new project of mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile, who first gained famed as part of Nickel Creek in the 90's and early 2000's. Since the Punch Brothers' formation in the 2006, they have released three progressive bluegrass albums. I had actually seen them twice before, once at Bonnaroo and another time opening for the Dave Matthews Band. So I knew what I would be getting but looking forward to seeing them on their own set. An all string quintet, the Punch Brothers' music is often based on complicated instrumentation and classical music elements. This makes it a relatively quiet variety of bluegrass. Unlike the catchy, foot stomping sound of Yonder Mountain String Band, The Steeldrivers, or The Wailin' Jennys, the Punch Brother's are much more subdued and introspective.

With several of the members hailing from the Midwestern US, they were excited to sell out the Vic Theatre, a 1,400 person venue in Lincoln Park. We were fairly close to the stage, which was helpful considering just how quiet their music is. Certainly didn't need my earplugs that evening, except for a few loud cheers from the crowd. While I don't have their setlist, I remember a good mix of songs from each of the three albums, with only a few familiar enough with the audience for everyone to sing along. Chris Thile sang lead vocals on most of the songs, though I found Chris Eldridge's voice, who lead on one song, as good or even better than Thile's. I was even willing to look past his southern accent despite his Wikipedia page indicating he's from Fredericksburg, Virginia (accent is not impossible, just a bit suspect). At the beginning of the encore Chris Thile played the 4th Movement from Bach's G Minor Sonata, without the aid of a a microphone. After all the shhhing, it's nice to hear a completely silent audience with everyone keenly listening to the strings. The band, as well as opening act, The Milk Carton Kids for one song, joined to finish up the show.

Of Montreal, Metro, Chicago, Illinois

Let your freak flag fly

After a three month hiatus from concerts, mostly due to being abroad in Saudi Arabia, a country completely devoid of live music, I finally got to attend a show in Chicago, my new city. The show was at Metro, a venue holding about 1,100 people in Wrigleyville, less than two miles from my apartment. The venue is a lot like 9:30 Club, with a similar size and set up but perhaps a bit wider and shallower meaning that even if you’re in the back, you’re still pretty close to the stage.

While I have always enjoyed indie pop ensemble of Montreal, I have never been a huge fan. I ending up recognizing about half of their songs, but there weren’t any that really got me jumping. Part of the reason I was excited to go was that I heard they put on fun, wild shows. The band has a lot of vaudeville and psychedelic influence which they mix in with electronica, funk, and glam rock. The stage  was filled with lights and imagery. Throughout the show, there was always something crazy happening on stage, including a variety of costumed actors running around pantomiming as animals, police officers, and other characters, shooting confetti or dropping balloons into the audience. A performer in American flag spandex impressively surfed his way to nearly the back of the audience, and then made his way back to the front without touching the ground. The band partakes in the antics as well. At one point, the flamboyantly dressed lead guitarist passed his guitar into the audience then crowd surfed his way over to it to play a few chords. Of course, the most over-the-top of all was androgynous frontman, lead singer, chief songwriter, and principle creative talent Kevin Barnes. He was wearing what I assumed was women’s clothing and moved his hips and body in a very feminine way – very reminiscent of David Bowie. He also adorned an elaborate costume or two, at one point singing atop an actor’s shoulders, dressed like a butterfly and wearing a Pope hat.

The antics dominated the experience, but the music didn’t disappoint. Their sound incorporated a lot more hard and jam rock and less pop than I would have expected. It was plenty loud too; I regretted not having my earplugs. The set was fairly short, only about an hour plus an encore, but I didn’t feel cheated. They packed a lot in. My Chicago concert experience returns to fine form.

Setlist:
Suffer for Fashion
Sink the Seine
Cato as a Pun
Micro University
Oslo in the Summertime
Beware Our Nubile Miscreants
For Our Elegant Caste
She's a Rejecter
Enemy Gene
Plastis Wafers
St. Exquisite's Confessions
Hydra Fancies
Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse
The Past is a Grotesque Animal
Encore:
Id Engager
Gronlandic Edit
A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger