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boston area shows of note:
friday, july 25th
comedian joel mchale
(from the soup)
@ the wilbur theatre
saturday, july 26th
bon iver
bowerbirds
@ the museum of fine arts
sunday, july 27th
the new collisions (debut)
red quiet
melt
@ tt the bears
sunday, july 27th
sunfold
antiques
@ the middle east upstairs
wednesday, july 30th
we are scientists
@ the middle east downstairs
wednesday, july 30th
earlimart
@ the middle east upstairs
wednesday, july 30th
spiritualized
the dirtbombs
@ the wilbur theatre
thursday, july 31st
the police
elvis costello & the impersonators
@ the tweeter center
friday & saturday
august 1st & 2nd
eddie vedder
liam finn
solo @ the opera house
saturday, august 2nd
wolf parade
@ the paradise
monday, august 4th
coldplay
@ the garden
tuesday, august 5th
(and every tuesday this month)
neil cleary's 'doozy'
a guest-packed 4-show residency
@ the lizard lounge
wednesday, august 6th
neil halstead (slowdive/mojave 3)
rogue wave
jack johnson
@ the tweeter center
saturday, august 9th
margot & the nuclear so and so's
@ the middle east
saturday, august 9th
melvins
@ the paradise
sunday, august 10th
ho-ag
six finger satellite
the in-out
certainly, sir
@ great scott
tuesday, august 12th
thao nguyen with
the get down stay down
david schultz & the skyline
pepi ginsberg
@ tt the bears
tuesday, august 12th
(and every tuesday this month)
neil cleary's 'doozy'
a guest-packed 4-show residency
@ the lizard lounge
wednesday, august 13th
radiohead
grizzly bear
@ the tweeter center
thursday, august 14th
grizzly bear
violens
outside in the courtyard
@ the museum of fine arts
friday, august 15th
the ex
getachew mekuria
debo band
@ the middle east downstairs
saturday, august 16th
+/- (plus minus)
broken river prophet (cd release!)
animal hospital
ba-na-nas
free kickass cupcakes from 9-10pm!
@ the middle east upstairs
tuesday, august 19th
(and every tuesday this month)
neil cleary's 'doozy'
a guest-packed 4-show residency
@ the lizard lounge
wednesday, august 20th
human league, belinda carlisle, abc,
flock of seagulls, naked eyes
@ the bank of america pavilion
thursday, august 21st
yndi halda
caspian
irepress
@ tt the bears
friday, august 22nd
obits (ex-hot snakes/rftc)
@ the middle east
saturday, august 23rd
amo joy!
franklin bruno
(from nothing painted blue)
one happy island (ep release!)
@ the lily pad
saturday, august 23rd
newbury comics / unnatural axe
30th anniversary bash
the meatmen, queers, nasties,
unnatural axe, sleazies
@ the middle east down
tuesday, august 26th
the final installment of...
neil cleary's 'doozy'
a guest-packed august residency
@ the lizard lounge
wednesday, august 27th
liz phair performing
'exile in guyville'
@ the paradise
wednesday, august 27th
xiu xiu
prurient
@ the paradise
monday, september 1st
the juan maclean
@ the middle east downstairs
friday, september 5th
silver jews
@ the middle east downstairs
saturday, september 6th
my morning jacket
@ the bank of america pavilion
sunday, september 7th
ryan adams & the cardinals
@ the bank of america pavilion
tuesday, september 9th
paul weller
@ the berklee performance center
saturday, september 13th
wfnx disorientation 2008
the kooks, flogging molly,
alkaline trio, rogue wave,
and more to be announced
@ bank of america pavilion
monday, september 15th
james
@ the paradise
tuesday, september 16th
a place to bury strangers
@ the paradise
thursday, september 18th
the walkmen
@ the middle east downstairs
friday, september 19th
sigur ros
@ the bank of america pavilion
friday, september 19th to
sunday, september 21st
all tomorrow's parties
with my bloody valentine, low
built to spill, mogwai, shellac,
polvo, yo la tengo, lilys, autolux
dinosaur jr, mercury rev, & more
@ the catskills in nyc
monday, september 22nd
mogwai
fuck buttons
@ the wilbur theatre
tuesday, september 23rd
writer dennis lehane
(release day for 'the given day')
@ the coolidge corner theatre
wednesday, september 24th
low
@ the museum of fine arts boston
saturday, september 27th
built to spill
performing 'perfect from now on'
dinosaur jr.
meat puppets
@ the orpheum
sunday, september 28th
the bird and the bee
willoughby
@ great scott
thursday, september 30th
boston spaceships
(gbv's robert pollard)
big dipper
@ the paradise
sunday, october 5th
pinback
@ the paradise
monday, october 6th
the wedding present
@ the middle east downstairs
monday, october 6th
stereolab
monade
@ the paradise
wednesday, october 8th
wire
@ the middle east downstairs
sunday, october 12th
the residents
@ showcase live, foxboro
sunday, october 12th
the notwist
@ the roxy
tuesday, october 14th
cold war kids
@ the paradise
friday, october 17th
jonathan richman
with drummer tommy larkin
@ the somerville theatre
saturday, october 18th
ra ra riot
walter meego
the morning benders
@ the middle east
tuesday & wednesday
october 21st & 22nd
billy bragg
@ the somerville theatre
wednesday, october 22nd
lyle lovett & john hiatt
(acoustic, on stage together)
@ the orpheum
thursday, october 30th
of montreal
@ the orpheum
saturday, november 1st
henry rollins (spoken word)
@ the orpheum
monday, november 3rd
coldplay
@ the td banknorth garden
visit tourfilter for more shows
Monday, May 02, 2005
Mp3s: The Wedding Present live in Cambridge, MA
Pretty hard for any band to live up to the overblown expectations I had for last Thursday's Wedding Present appearance at the Middle East Downstairs in Cambridge, MA. The best shows are the ones that surprise you, and there was no way that David Gedge, Simon Cleave, and their recruited rhythm section were gonna do that for me. Still, they didn't exactly disappoint, and there's nothing quite so good as a triple-shot of 'Dalliance' into 'Dare' into 'What Have I Said Now?'. An amazing end to a 90-minute set that touched on nearly every phase of Gedge's 20 year songwriting career, including a bunch from his years in Cinerama.
The sound at the MidEast Down can be tricky (I'm being diplomatic), and I think some of the set suffered from a muffly mix and a weak drum sound... but it all depends on where you were standing. I'll also diplomatically note that their current drummer is just... adequate. Not bad, but certainly not as impressive as others that Gedge & co. have played with, like the fantastic Simon Smith from the Bizarro / Seamonsters days, or Cinerama drummer Kari Paavola. I guess I'm a little picky about the drumming details, being one and all, but there were lots of little fills and accents and hits that were noticably absent, especially on the older stuff. Then again, I'm so familiar with those songs that maybe no new drummer could live up.
Speaking of Cinerama, I think their last Boston appearance is the main reason I wasn't completely blown away this time... that 2003 TT's show set the bar very, very high. It was essentially the Wedding Present (Gedge and guitarist Simon Cleave along with Cinerama's Sally and Kari), and I was just stunned. They brought new energy to the Cinerama songs, and threw in four or five Weddoes ones (including a killer version of Dalliance) that just knocked me out. So even though this tour marks 'the return of The Wedding Present', it's almost in name only... in 2003 they were on stage in front of me. Not only that, but since the current setlist includes Cinerama songs, the difference lies soley in the drums and bass. I kinda wonder where the huge crowd at the Middle East was when Gedge was next door at the much-smaller TT's... but I guess you can't beat the lure of nostalgia, and the press that a perceived reformation can garner.
Still, I got to see one of my favorite bands (maybe the favorite), so far be it for me to complain. Everything's relative, right? Anytime Gedge comes to town is a gift, and I'll be hoping for another show this year.
I recorded the set, so here's the 21 songs for ya (oh, and I quite enjoyed openers Crystal Skulls, so I turned on the recorder for the last five songs of their set. I'll hopefully be sharing those up later on this week)....
The Wedding Present
live at the Middle East Downstairs
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Thursday, April 28th, 2005
01. Interstate 5
02. Crawl
03. Drive
04. Queen Anne
05. Go Go Dancer
06. Starry Eyed
07. Spangle
08. My Favourite Dress
09. Venus
10. Health and Efficiency (spliced)
11. It's For You
12. The Queen of Outer Space
13. Careless
14. I'm From Further North Than You
15. Kennedy
16. Perfect Blue
17. Once More
18. Ringway to SeaTac
19. Dalliance
20. Dare
21. What Have I Said Now?
I was torn between getting near the stage vs. getting a good recording, so I compromised a bit. Unfortunately I ended up between an overly chatty trio and a guy who was competing for American Idol in his mind. I mean, at least the enthusiastic air-guitar guy in front of me wasn't louder than the band. Still, the recordings don't suffer too badly, despite the occasional unrequested vocal stylings.
Oh, and you'll no doubt notice that the mp3 of 'Health and Efficiency' is kinda messed up. Blame my relative inexperience with my new mini-disc recorder... the second half is lost to the digital ether. I ended up grabbing a chunk of mjlauf's torrented recording of the same show and spliced 'em together. Not ideal, but better than not including it at all, right?
If you're into the torrent thing, head on over to dime a dozen and grab the entire set as flac files (thanks again, mjlauf).
As long as I'm sharing, here are a couple more mp3s for Wedding Present fans...
I've been in a bunch of bands who rarely, if ever, did covers... but happily for me, two of them learned and recorded Weddoes songs.
In 1997, The Four Color Manual (Dan Scinta, Colin Clary, & myself) recorded the song 'Niagara' (a b-side of 'Dalliance') at a studio in Vermont for a Wedding Present tribute record that never came together. At least I don't think it did. Anyway, here 'tis...
The Four Color Manual - 'Niagara' (Wedding Present cover)And in 2002, the Also-Rans (who were this guy, this girl, this guy, this guy, and me) decided to take a stab at 'Dare' (off Seamonters), and ended up recording it in the basement for kicks. I think we played it out just once, maybe twice? Anyway, I think it came out pretty good, so here ya go...
The Also-Rans - 'Dare' (Wedding Present cover)Alright, I s'pose I should get some work done. Enjoy the mp3s...
Labels: livemp3s
 week of july 7th, 2008 vermonstress 1992 sub pop festival in burlington, vermont on october 10th & 11th, 1992 |
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on the mp3 player
on the screen
on the nightstand
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other boston-based music blogs
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boston music media
boston live show info
music blogroll
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- largehearted boy
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- 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
- 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
- sooz's dot com
- steve's f.r.h.m.
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
