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saturday, march 13th
butch walker & the black widows
will dailey
@ the paradise
sunday, march 14th
a special screening of the
white stripes tour documentary
"under the great white northern lights"
free admission / prize pack drawing
10pm @ the otherside cafe
sunday, march 14th
carbon leaf
@ the paradise
monday, march 15th
one happy island
standard fare
summer cats
@ great scott
monday, march 15th
letting up despite great faults
the brother kite
plumerai
singing bridges
@ the middle east upstairs
tuesday, march 16th
bacchus king
croquet
cathy cathodic
the ugly fucklings
@ the middle east upstairs
wednesday, march 17th
joanna newsom
@ the sanders theatre, harvard
wednesday, march 17th
henry rollins (spoken word)
@ the somerville theatre
thursday, march 18th
apollo sunshine
drug rug
@ the paradise
friday, march 19th
i, pistol
mascara
planetoid
forgetful jones
@ tt the bears
saturday, march 20th
the whitehaus family blastfest
needy visions, manners,
morgan shaker, avi jacob,
and many more
@ cambridge ymca theatre
saturday, march 20th
air
am
@ berklee performance center
sunday, march 21st
the clientele
field music
@ great scott
thursday, march 25th
"thursday night alright!" with
the beatings
aloud
action camp
hello ninja
@ great scott
thursday, march 25th
the donnas
@ the paradise
friday, march 26th
eldridge rodriguez (the beatings)
ryan lee crosby
ted billings (age rings/hot protestants)
@ the somerville armory
friday, march 26th
basia bulat
marissa nadler
lady lamb the beekeeper
@ tt the bears
saturday, march 27th
your say party! we say die!
the new collisions
static of the gods (cd release)
@ tt the bears
saturday, march 27th
the big pink
a place to bury strangers
magic magic
@ the paradise
saturday, march 27th
spoon
deerhunter
@ the house of blues
sunday, march 28th
beach house
bachelorette
@ the paradise
monday, march 29th
the soft pack
nodzzz
beaters
@ great scott
tuesday, march 30th
shearwater
wye oak
hospital ships
@ tt the bears
tuesday, march 30th
manchester orchestra
the features
biffy clyro
o'brother
@ the paradise
wednesday, march 31st
japandroids
love is all
girlfriends
@ the middle east downstairs
wednesday, march 31st
miike snow
delorean
@ the paradise
wednesday, march 31st
a sunny day in glasgow
pants yell!
bearstronaut
@ great scott
thursday, april 1st
girls
dum dum girls
@ the paradise
friday, april 2nd
the xx
jj (late show only)
two shows @ the paradise
friday, april 2nd
drive-by truckers
lucero
langhorne slim
@ the house of blues
saturday, april 3rd
cassavettes
the grownup noise
kingsley flood (cd release)
spouse
@ the middle east upstairs
saturday, april 3rd
black rebel motorcycle club
alberta cross
@ the house of blues
saturday, april 3rd
nada surf
dawn landes & the hounds
@ the paradise
sunday, april 4th
serena maneesh
depreciation guild
black fortress of opium
@ tt the bears
tuesday, april 6th
wilco
@ the orpheum
tuesday, april 6th
ben fold & a piano
kate miller-heidke
@ the house of blues
wednesday, april 7th
florence & the machine
@ the paradise
wednesday, april 7th
rocky votolato
brooke waggoner
@ great scott
thursday, april 8th
faces on film
hands & knees
st. claire (cd release!)
mr. sister
@ tt the bears
thursday, april 8th
thom yorke + atoms for peace
flying lotus
@ the citi/wang theatre
friday, april 9th
midlake
@ the paradise
saturday, april 10th
xiu xiu
tune-yards
@ the middle east downstairs
saturday, april 10th
ted leo & the pharmacists
obits
screaming females
@ the paradise
saturday, april 10th
pissed jeans
confines
sqrm
@ great scott
sunday, april 11th
fanfarlo
lawrence arabia
robert francis
@ the paradise
monday, april 12th
the wedding present
play their 1989 lp 'bizarro'
with openers girl in a coma
@ the middle east downstairs
monday, april 12th
titus andronicus
the babies
@ great scott
thursday, april 15th
jakob dylan with guests
neko case + kelly hogan
@ the wilbur theatre
thursday, april 15th
red sparowes
doomriders
@ the middle east downstairs
friday, april 16th
have nots (vinyl release!)
the appreciation post
razors in the night
wicked whiskey
the swaggerin growlers
@ tt the bears
saturday, april 17th
kaki king
an horse
@ the middle east downstairs
saturday, april 17th
the morning benders
miniature tigers
@ tt the bears
sunday, april 18th
heavy trash (w/jon spencer)
the konks
the cobra-matics
@ tt the bears
sunday, april 18th
the thermals
past lives
@ the middle east downstairs
monday, april 19th
trans am
@ the middle east downstairs
tuesday, april 20th
owen pallett (aka final fantasy)
@ the ica boston
tuesday, april 20th
elvis costello & the sugarcanes
@ the orpheum
tuesday, april 20th
the low anthem
timber timbre
@ the paradise
tuesday, april 20th
quasi
let's wrestle
@ the middle east downstairs
wednesday, april 21st
the church
special 30th anniversary
acoustic career retrospective
@ the somerville armory
wednesday, april 21st through
wednesday, april 28th
the 8th annual independent film festival of boston
@ various boston area theatres
including the somerville + brattle
thursday, april 22nd
the mary onettes
@ great scott
saturday, april 24th
los campesinos!
here we go magic
@ the paradise
sunday, april 25th
harlem
@ the great scott
monday, april 26th
echo + the bunneymen
hatcham social
@ the paradise
wednesday, april 28th
gogol bordello
devotchka
jesse malin
st. mark's social
@ the house of blues
thursday, april 29th
frightened rabbit
@ the paradise
friday, april 30th
the everyday visuals
the lights out
the flying machines
aloud
@ tt the bears
friday, april 30th
corinne bailey ray
@ the house of blues
friday, april 30th
the album leaf
sea wolf
@ the paradise
wednesday, april 28th
little boots
dragonette
fan death
@ the middle east downstairs
saturday, may 1st
white rabbits
here we go magic
@ the paradise
monday, may 3rd
yeasayer
sleigh bells
@ the paradise
tuesday, may 4th
gregory & the hawk
lady lamb the beekeeper
@ tt the bears
tuesday & wednesday
may 4th & 5th
public image ltd.
@ the royale (formerly the roxy)
wednesday & thursday
may 5th & 6th
jonsi (from sigur ros)
@ the house of blues
thursday, may 6th
shout out louds
@ the paradise
friday, may 7th
ok go
earl greyhound
robert francis
@ the paradise
saturday, may 8th
local natives
@ great scott
tuesday & wednesday
may 11th & 12th
dr. dog
deer tick
@ the paradise
thursday, may 13th
small brown bike
bridge and tunnel
your skull my closet
wallcreeper
@ great scott
saturday, may 22nd
killing joke
@ the paradise
tuesday, may 18th
spectrum (featuring sonic boom
from spacemen 3 + e.a.r.)
with the broken river prophet
@ the middle east upstairs
tuesday, may 25th
the smittens
allo darlin'
one happy island
hearts!attack
a smile and a ribbon
horowitz
@ the lizard lounge
wednesday, may 26th
reverend horton heat
cracker
miss derringer
@ the house of blues
friday, may 28th
mono
the twilight sad
@ the middle east downstairs
wednesday, june 2nd
kings of convenience
franklin for short
@ the paradise
wednesday, june 2nd
ryan bingham & the dead horses
@ tt the bears
wednesday & thursday
june 2nd & 3rd
the national
@ the house of blues
friday, june 4th
brian jonestown massacre
@ the paradise
friday, june 18th
reigning sound
movers & shakers
triplethick
@ tt the bears
saturday, june 19th
james taylor
carole king
@ the garden
sunday + monday
june 20th + 21st
isis
melvins
totimoshi
@ the paradise
thursday + saturday
august 19th + 21st
tom petty + the heartbreakers
my morning jacket
@ the comcast center
|
Tuesday, October 28, 2003 Death Cab for Cutie / American Analog Set review When Death Cab for Cutie announced two shows in Boston, each with a different opening band, I didn't have to pause and decide which one to go to. American Analog Set is one of my faves, so there was no way I'd miss the one-two punch of a AmAnSet / DCFC bill. The show was last Saturday, and despite the best efforts of the club in question (more on that later), a mighty good time was had. Here, have some live photos. American Analog Set, while not the best I'd seen 'em, played a shortened but solid set. Seems their drummer might be competing with Ted Leo's for "fiercest touring beard". I mean, he even had some snidely-whiplash-rollie-fingers mustache curl action goin' on. Nice. On tour is probably the only place I'd ever be able to get away with that, too. (right, Aim?) Highlights of the AmAnSet, er, set: Kindness of Strangers (such a great song) and the entire second half of Come Home Baby, which gets me every freakin' time. The way that song eases from verse-verse-verse to instrumental build-up is pure brilliance. The layered keys, the entrance of the vibra-ma-phone melody ... damn. Another song that never fails to move me is the one they closed with, the hypnotic, spaced-out "We're Computerizing and We Just Don't Need You Anymore". Talking about building up to bliss ... halfway through I instinctively close my eyes and it's like I'm the only person in the sold-out crowd. F'in magical. Can't wait to see these guys again with Album Leaf in December.  Death Cab started things off fittingly with "Bend to Squares" the first song from their first record "Something About Airplanes". Highlights for me were old songs like "Company Calls (epilogue)", "A Movie Script Ending", and the more recent "We Laugh Indoors" and "Photobooth" (pop genius). Some of the older songs were a little rushed and a little loose... you could tell their new drummer was still getting the kinks out and the back catalog down. The new stuff, though? Spot on. "The New Year", the opening track from the just-released album, was extra-rockin', and even better was "We Looked Like Giants", my favorite of the new stuff. I was lookin' forward to it, and it fulfilled. The low point of the set for me was their unfortunately faithfull cover of Tom Petty's "Free Fallin'". Ben said from the stage: "If you don't love Tom Petty, well, you're just wrong." Hey, if that makes me wrong, then I don't wanna be right. Sorry, Ben. The cover was boring as hell and sucked the energy straight outta the set. Bleh. They recovered nicely, though...  They played for a seriously long time, and I gotta say, overall it was good enough for me to withstand my intense crowd-aversion (although I did scoot to the back during the closer, the mellow yet epic title track from "Transatlanticism".) Actually, despite the fact that we were crammed into the Middle East down, this was one of the kindest crowds I've been part of in awhile. No elbows, no shovin', no hair sniffing (long story), no attitude. At least in my little area. Thumbs up to the Death Cab fans (even though all you youngsters make me feel freakin' old). [ /end show review ] [ begin venting ] The Middle East, though, they can go suck on ice. Yeah, I've been going there for years, played on the stages, have a lot of great memories, and friends who work there... but come on. They're infamous for not sticking to scheduled set times, so I usually make sure to call their answering machine the day of a show just to make sure when the bands I want to see are going on. I know, things can run late, and that's no big deal... shit happens, bands arrive late, soundchecks run long, totally cool. I get it. I don't mind killin' some time. Saturday, though, I call the answering machine: It says American Analog Set at 10:15, Death Cab at 11:30. Ticket says doors at 8 o'clock. I figure we'll head over at 9, hang out for awhile, catch all the action. Nope. We get there, the line is insanely long... no idea when they started letting people in, but it sure as hell wasn't 8 o'clock. That's ok, though... still plenty of time, right? Well, we barely made it in before 10 o'clock. Then, as we get closer to the entrance, we see the signs posted on the door: American Analog Set at 9:30, Death Cab at 10:30. Unbelievable. They moved the set times up. I saw more than a few people in line, myself included, who were really bummed to miss part of AmAnSet. Luckily we got in just in time to catch the start of their first song (whoever stalled, thank you), but dozens of people behind us were not so lucky. So later on Death Cab starts up, and out of the corner of my eye I see this flailing arm, feel a pounding vibration in the railing next to me. Seems one of the guys who works there fancies himself a drummer, and he's hanging out near us, watching the band and smacking one of the metal support poles. Constantly. All the time. To every song. With hardly a break. No subtle glances from the kids around him did any good... I mean, who's going to give a 'bouncer' any lip? Not anyone who wants to see the whole show. So we suck it up, tune it out, focus on the rock in front of us. And then the wall of smell hits us. The new, novel lack of ciggy smoke in the place (yay!) cleared the way for an intense burst of body odor. We're talking pure, unfiltered, super-sweat. And guess where it was coming from? Yup, the aforementioned Middle East employee. I mean, it's not like he was a well-groomed guy to begin with (I believe there were some guitar picks, a conga drum, and maybe a couple of very small roadies hanging out in his neck-beard), but damn... the more he pounded to the beat, the more his pit-stains grew, the more powerful the odor became. Eventually, Amie even had to bail out. I never thought I'd say this, but for one smelly moment there... I wanted the stank of the smoking back to mask the beastly b.o.. So, yeah, great show, crappy club experience. Chalk it up. Makes me appreciate the ever-improving environment of TT the Bears even more. (P.S. To the Middle East, regarding your website design: What are you thinking? Just because you can animate something, doesn't mean you should.)  |
david bazan + his band
live at tt the bear's place
in cambridge, mass.
on tuesday, october 20th, 2009
recent posts on the 'nac...
- Mp3 of the Week: Elliott Smith - "A Distorted Real...
- Tomorrow : Calla Live (and free)
- Still sinking in ...
- Elliott Smith is gone ...
- Funspot : Game Geek Retro Freakout
- Mp3 of the Week : Blueboy - live "Cloud Babies"
- Red Sox ALDS Victory Parade Route
- The Perfect Pair : Album Leaf & AmAnSet
- Train of Thought : The Station Agent Reviewed
- Operation: Funspot
latest comments...
on the mp3 player
on the screen
on the nightstand
other boston-area music blogs
- anti-gravity bunny
- the ash gray proclamation
- aurgasm
- band in boston
- beginning to see the light
- boston band crush
- boston music spotlight
- boston through my eyes
- clicky clicky
- drive blind
- enough cowbell
- exitfare
- forgotten disc friday
- the giant panther
- heads up boston
- hip to be square
- melophobe
- morkelson
- music down to your soul
- new artillery
- one in a million media
- onward charles
- pelly twins
- pilgrims of sound
- playground boston
- pocket|trax
- rock n roll boston
- ryan's smashing life
- soho the dog
- stereo typing
- the stu reid experiment
- under 21 in boston
- under the rotunda
- zed equals zee
boston music media
boston live show / event info
music blogroll
- between thought & expression
- brainwashed
- brooklyn vegan
- captain's dead
- the catbirdseat
- cerulean's love of music
- chromewaves
- coolfer
- comets, stars, & moons
- donewaiting
- ear farm
- excellent online
- extrawack!
- fluxblog
- for the records
- gorilla vs. bear
- hard to find a friend
- harmonium
- heartache with hard work
- the hype machine
- i am fuel, you are friends
- idolator
- i guess i'm floating
- ijamming
- information leafblower
- junkmedia's world of sound
- kingblind
- lacunae
- largehearted boy
- the late greats
- leaky sparrow
- little hits
- more cowbell
- music for robots
- muzzle of bees
- my old kentucky blog
- pitchfork
- quick before it melts
- said the gramophone
- scenestars
- shake your fist
- sixeyes
- skatterbrain
- song, by toad
- the sound of indie
- stereogum
- the rawking refuses to stop
- too much rock
- torr
- unfinished
- yeti don't dance
music audiocasts
surf-worthy
- amie's flickr page
- andi's nonsequiturs
- bitter-girl
- brian wood
- bridget's journal
- ckelly's ink
- the dead part of you
- falfa's milk
- the great leap forward
- heath's media diet
- hedgehog's dilemma
- the icebox journals
- jim's flickr page
- jen's jenville
- jen's blossom
- joe sizzle's
- kimprobable
- march to the sea's musings
- marm0t's livejournal
- mickipedia!
- miller's memorables
- mishie's tear
- off on a tangent
- rsl's ostracons
- the shy turnip
- sooz's dot com
- steve's f.r.h.m.
other frequent haunts
boston-centric
- boston.com
- boston phoenix
- boston online
- boston common
- boston blogs
- craigslist boston
- exploit boston!
- boston wireless
- surfacecity's boston
- tourfilter
- the middle east cafe
- tt the bears place
- the plan @ great scott's
- wmbr concert report
- wzbc concert report
- phoenix movie listings
- coolidge corner theater
- brattle theater
- red sox / dirt dogs
- sox: surviving grady
- patriots / go pats
- celtics
- mass pike traffic
( < | > random list )
some cele-bloggers
