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recommended boston area events

thursday, september 2nd

lou barlow + the missingmen

wye oak

the unfamiliars

@ the middle east upstairs


saturday, september 4th

mg lederman (ex-victory at sea)

cd release show with

the wrong reasons

the beat awfuls

brant deatley

@ the plough & stars


sunday, september 5th

sweet apple

(w/j mascis on drums)

black helicopter

zombie radio

@ the middle east downstairs


sunday, september 5th

the milling gowns

what time is it, mr. fox?

faux ox

jaggery

@ harper's ferry


monday, september 6th

wallcreeper

@ charlie's kitchen


monday, september 6th

shellac

helen money

@ the middle east downstairs


tuesday, september 7th

tortoise

greg davis

ben vidas

@ the paradise


tuesday, september 7th

someone still loves you boris yeltsin

telekinesis

golden bloom

@ tt the bears


tuesday, september 7th

kele (from bloc party)

does it offend you, yeah?

@ the royale boston


wednesday, september 8th

hot hot heat

22-20s

hey rosetta!

@ the middle east downstairs


wednesday, september 8th

airborne toxic event (acoustic)

with the calder string quartet

@ the somerville theatre


thursday, september 9th

apple betty

this blue heaven

the backup factor

apollo run

@ tt the bears


friday, september 10th

i, pistol

black fortress of opium

the crushing low

@ precinct


friday, september 10th

the charlatans uk

sherlock's daughter

@ the royale boston


saturday, september 11th

school of seven bells

active child

@ the middle east downstairs


saturday, september 11th

neutral uke hotel (nmh covers on ukelele)

the michael j. epstein memorial library

@ cafe 939, berklee


saturday, september 11th

28 degrees taurus

magic shoppe (record release!)

@ the rosebud


saturday, september 11th

jamie lidell

@ the royale boston


friday + saturday

september 11th + 12th

the life is good festival

lots of bands, raising money for kids

over 2 days in canton, ma


sunday, september 12th

jarrod gorbel

(of the honorary title)

air traffic controller

@ great scott


sunday, september 12th

blondie

@ the house of blues


sunday, september 12th

vampire weekend

beach house

dum dum girls

@ the boa pavilion


monday, september 13th

dirty projectors

owen pallett (final fantasy)

@ the wilbur theatre


monday, september 13th

isobel campbell

mark lanegan

willy mason

@ the middle east downstairs


tuesday, september 14th

rush

@ the td garden


wednesday, september 15th

laura veirs + the hall of flames

the watson twins

led to sea

@ tt the bears


thursday, september 16th

of montreal

janelle monae

@ the house of blues boston


friday, september 17th

one happy island

kevin dunn

cotton candy

7:30pm @ the lily pad, cambridge


friday, september 17th

broken social scene

@ the house of blues


friday & saturday

september 17th & 18th

the 5th annual

viva la vinal festival!

with live performances from

audrey ryan, kingsley flood,

this blue heaven, bridget + the squares,

the international string trio, & justin shorey

6-10pm on friday + 12-9 on saturday

@ somerville community growing center

on vinal ave. in somerville's union square


saturday, september 18th

pavement

jenny (lewis) + johnny (rice)

@ agganis arena


saturday, september 18th

wavves

@ brandeis university, waltham


sunday, september 19th

thee oh sees

the human tail

thick shakes

@ the magic room gallery, brighton


sunday, september 19th

caribou

holy fuck

emeralds

@ the paradise


monday, september 20th

girlfriends

carnivores

weekend dads

@ o'brien's


tuesday, september 21st

superchunk

versus

@ royale boston


tuesday, september 21st

basia bulat

the acorn

john shade

@ tt the bears


tuesday, september 21st

sea wolf (alex acoustic)

sera cahoone

patrick park

@ the middle east upstairs


wednesday, september 22nd

phantogram

railbird

@ the paradise


wednesday, september 22nd

david bazan

the mynabirds

@ tt the bears


wednesday, september 22nd

field music

@ great scott


thursday, september 23rd

aloud (album release party!)

st. claire

old jack

with special emcee

poet/author james caroline

@ church of boston


thursday, september 23rd

stars

wild nothing

@ the house of blues


thursday, september 23rd

!!! (chk chk chk)

fol chen

@ the royale boston


thursday, september 23rd

bettie serveert

meandjoancollins

the painted lights

@ tt the bears


friday, september 24th

eels

@ the royale boston


saturday, september 25th

teenage fanclub

@ the royale boston


saturday, september 25th

james

ed harcourt

@ the paradise


sunday, september 26th

come (reunited!)

wussy

@ tt the bears


sunday, september 26th

mr. sister (debut album release!)

coyote kolb

tallahassee

@ great scott


sunday, september 26th

mates of state

@ the paradise


monday, september 27th

rogue wave

midlake

peter wolf crier

@ royale boston


tuesday, september 28th

lcd soundsystem

sleigh bells

@ the orpheum


tuesday, september 28th

best coast

male bonding

@ the middle east downstairs


wednesday, september 29th

quilt

paper castles

toothache

@ the lilypad


wednesday, september 29th

foals

esben + the witch

@ the paradise


thursday, september 30th

mc frontalot

@ tt the bears


thursday, september 30th

menomena

suckers

@ the royale boston


thursday + friday

sept 30th + oct 1st

built to spill

revolt revolt

pretty & nice

@ the paradise


friday, october 1st

the tallest man on earth

s. carey (of bon iver's band)

@ the somerville theatre


friday, october 1st

ra ra riot

chikita violenta

we barbarians

@ the royale boston


saturday, october 2nd

gayngs

(with bon iver's justin vernon)

glasser

@ the paradise


saturday, october 2nd

film school

the depreciation guild

static of the gods

night fruit

@ tt the bears


sunday, october 3rd

the xx

@ the orpheum


sunday, october 3rd

tom tom club

caravan of thieves

tony castles

@ the paradise


sunday, october 3rd

lost in the trees

@ tt the bears


tuesday, october 5th

the vaselines

jeffrey lewis

@ the paradise


tuesday, october 5th

chapterhouse

ulrich schnauss

@ the middle east downstairs


tuesday, october 5th

ratatat

dom

@ the house of blues boston


wednesday, october 6th

gorillaz

@ agganis arena


wednesday, october 6th

the hold steady

wintersleep

@ the royale boston


thursday, october 7th

the walkmen

a.a. bondy

blood feathers

@ the royale boston


friday, october 8th

death

@ the middle east downstairs


friday, october 8th

fountains of wayne

marshall crenshaw (solo)

@ the paradise


friday, october 8th

bell x1 (acoustic)

@ the brattle theatre


saturday, october 9th

paul f. tompkins

@ the brattle theatre


sunday, october 10th

deerhoof

xiu xiu

father murphy

first show @ the paramount!


sunday, october 10th

miike snow

@ the house of blues


sunday, october 10th

primus

mucca pazza

@ the orpheum


tuesday, october 12th

ingrid michaelson

@ the house of blues


wednesday, october 13th

dead kennedys

@ the paradise


thursday, october 14th

the thermals

cymbals eat guitars

@ the paradise


thursday, october 14th

the morning after girls

the lovetones

the december sound

ghost box orchestra

@ tt the bears


friday, october 15th

nick lowe + his band

graham parker (solo acoustic)

@ the somerville theatre


friday, october 15th

jimmy eat world

@ the house of blues


friday, october 15th

bowerbirds

death vessel

@ tt the bears


friday, october 15th

belle + sebastian

@ the wang theatre / citi center


saturday, october 16th

deerhunter

real estate

casino vs. japan

@ royale boston


sunday, october 17th

the henry clay people

the dig

@ tt the bears


monday, october 18th

greg dulli

(afghan whigs/twilight singers)

first-ever solo tour

with opener craig wedren

(of shudder to think)

@ the brattle theatre


monday, october 18th

bad religion

the bouncing souls

@ the house of blues


monday, october 18th

the drums

the hairs

@ the paradise


monday, october 18th

phoenix

two door cinema club

wavves

@ agganis arena


tuesday, october 19th

massive attack

thievery corporation

@ the orpheum


wednesday, october 20th

the pains of being pure at heart

yuck

eternal summers

@ the paradise


wednesday, october 20th

helmet

@ the middle east downstairs


sunday, october 22nd

gary numan

rasputina

playing 'the pleasure principle'

@ the paradise


saturday, october 23rd

local natives

the ruby suns

union line

@ the house of blues


sunday, october 24th

woven bones

frankie rose & the outs

@ tt the bears


monday, october 25th

the corin tucker band

hungry ghost

darren hanlon

@ the paradise


wednesday, october 27th

a sunny day in glasgow

candy claws

@ great scott


wednesday, october 27th

black prairie

(members of the decemberists)

sarah jarosz

@ the middle east upstairs


thursday, october 28th

the tt's halloween bash

with members of mean creek + campaign

for real time (as talking heads)

john powhida (as todd rundgren)

preacher roe (as guided by voices)

@ tt the bears


friday, october 29th

frightened rabbit

plants and animals

the phantom band

@ the paradise


saturday, october 30th

hallelujah the hills

magic magic

boy without god

@ great scott


sunday, october 31st

florence and the machine

the smith westerns

@ the house of blues


monday, november 1st

blonde redhead

pantha du prince

@ the paradise


monday, november 1st

social distortion

lucero

frank turner

@ the house of blues boston


tuesday, november 2nd

junip (jose gonzales)

sharon van etten

@ the royale boston


tuesday, november 2nd

black mountain

the black angels

@ the paradise


wednesday, november 3rd

the dandy warhols

blue giant

@ tt the bears


wednesday, november 3rd

land of talk

suuns

little scream

@ tt the bears


thursday, november 4th

through sunday, november 7th

the international pop overthrow

4 nights @ pa's lounge


thursday, november 4th

matt + kim

javelin

@ the house of blues


thursday, november 4th

blitzen trapper

@ the paradise


friday, november 5th

guided by voices

blitzen trapper

@ the paradise


sunday, november 7th

drivin 'n cryin

@ tt the bears


monday, november 8th

clinic

the fresh & onlys

@ the paradise


tuesday, november 9th

the morning benders

@ the paradise


thursday + friday

november 11th + 12th

sufjan stevens

@ the orpheum


thursday, november 11th

shearwater

horse feathers

damien jurado

anais mitchell

@ the house of blues


thursday, november 11th

deer tick

@ the royale boston


thursday, november 11th

mumford & sons

cadillac sky

king charles

@ the house of blues


friday, november 12th

bottomless pit

black helicopter

chris brokaw

@ the middle east downstairs


saturday, november 13th

roky erickson

@ the royale boston


saturday, november 13th

grinderman

(nick cave, warren ellis, + more)

@ the house of blues


sunday, november 14th

elizabeth mitchell (of ida)

and friends

(a children's show!)

4:30pm @ club passim


sunday, november 14th

man or astro-man?

@ the middle east downstairs


monday, november 15th

la roux

@ the house of blues


tuesday, november 16th

a night of springsteen covers

with chris keene (mean creek),

corin ashley, dave aaronoff,

brendan little, hilken mancini,

the dirty truckers, drew o'doherty,

and more to be announced

marking the release of the new

6-disk 'darkness on the edge of town'

box set @ tt the bears


tuesday, november 16th

the posies

brendan benson

aqueduct

@ the royale boston


wednesday, november 17th

cornershop

@ the middle east downstairs


thursday, november 18th

kate nash

@ the paradise


thursday, november 18th

bear in heaven

@ the middle east downstairs


friday, november 19th

township

the lights out

the organ beats

@ tt the bears


saturday, november 20th

delorean

lemonade

@ the middle east downstairs


wednesday, november 24th

idlewild

happy hollows

@ the middle east downstairs


thursday, december 2nd

director/actor kevin smith

@ the house of blues


saturday, december 4th

peter hook + the light

play joy division's "unknown pleasures"

@ the royale boston


saturday, december 4th

killing joke

@ the paradise


visit tourfilter for more shows






Friday, December 28, 2007

Guest Post: Chris from Tourfilter's 2007
Before I get to writing about my own favorite music of 2007, I've invited Chris Marstall, proprietor of the excellent Tourfilter, to sit in for the first-ever Almanac guest post. It's only fitting, as my own year was made better by DJing at Cambridge's River Gods as part of his TF-sponsored DJ nights. Chris uses this opportunity to reflect on his 2007 show-going experience, and offers up some pretty cool Tourfilter statistics as well. For those not in-the-know, Tourfilter provides live music listings for almost two dozen metropolitan areas, and allows you the ability to not only preview music by many of the cataloged bands, but to track your faves and be alerted when they come to town. It's ace.

Handing over the microphone...

Hey 'Nac readers! Chris Marstall from Tourfilter.com here with a special holiday guest post for ya. You all know about Tourfilter DJ Night at River Gods in Cambridge, which Brad has been kind enough to guest DJ for a bunch of times.

Well the night's been going on most of the year and has become a regular thing (third Thursday of every month, 9PM-1AM, free), with Brad spinning every other month.

Thought late December might be a good time for a look at what shows I actually attended this year, and and whether/how much Tourfilter actually actually helped me personally in my show-going. After that I have a couple of "top" lists that I guarantee you won't see anywhere else (or your money back). Without further ado, here are the ...

shows that I actually attended this year...
28 Degrees Taurus, Middle East, January 7
Keith Fullerton Whitman, PA's Lounge, January 13
Charlene, PA's Lounge, February 11
Sparklehorse, Paradise Rock Club, February 26
Sebadoh, Paradise Rock Club, March 30
Sunburned, PA's Lounge, April 25
Charlene, TT the Bear's, May 30
Jandek, ICA, June 8
The Long Blondes, Great Scott, June 8
Janovitz, Lizard Lounge, July 17
Great Northern, Middle East, June 13
Miss Tess, Toad, June 24
Acid Mothers Guru, Middle East, August 31
Buffalo Tom, Somerville Theatre, October 26
Sidewalk Driver (as Ziggy Stardust), TT the Bear's, October 31
Yo La Tengo, MFA, November 15
Shonen Knife, Middle East, November 25
Fiery Furnaces, Great Scott, December 10

...plus a few others i can't exactly remember at toad, lizard lounge, etc. Being generous to myself, call it a couple dozen.

So did Tourfilter help? Well, being absolutely honest about my show-going habits, I'd say going to 24 shows makes for a banner year. Pre-Tourfilter, I think I would be lucky to go to one a month. I often have said that using Tourfilter will double the number of concerts you go to, and that seemed to hold true for me, for 2007 at least. The prime example is probably the Sparklehorse show back in February. Despite the fact that they're one of my ultra faves, I was formerly such a lazy bastard that I probably never would have found out they were in town were it not for the 'filter. Thanks, me.

Now let's compare that number (24) to another - 329. That's the number of Boston shows Tourfilter emailed me about this year - the number of shows by bands I track. The ideal number of shows for Chris. So how should I feel about those 304 shows i didn't go to (hello and goodbye to TV on the Radio, Rickie Lee Jones, Holy Fuck, Hella, and Girl Talk)? I think I feel a little guilty, but on balance, I'm glad just to "know", even if I don't "go".

Next number: 8415. That's the total number of individual shows in Boston this year, according to Tourfilter. That's bands performing, so there can be more than one "show" per venue per night if there are multiple bands on a bill. But still, yowza, that's a lot of live music.

Sometimes I like to geek out on the Mysql command line, cooking up different ways of looking at all the information in the Tourfilter database. One interesting stat that's easy to come up with is who's playing the most in town. Call it The Hardest Working Bands In (Boston) Show Business. Excluding "house" bands that play mostly at a single venue, here's the list for 2007:

Top Ten Hardest Working Bands in Boston (2007)
1. David Johnston, 20 shows
2. 28 Degrees Taurus, 19 shows
3. Geoff Farina, 16 shows
4. Mark Lind, 15 shows
    Andrea gillis, 15 shows
    Self-Righteous Brothers, 15 shows
7. This Car Up, 14 shows
    Age Rings, 14 shows
9. Okay Thursday, 13 shows
    Guillermo Sexo, 13 shows

Another thing I get to ponder on quite often while editing Tourfilter every night is band names, and trends thereof. I have my favorite band names (Drag The River + Coach Said Not To are two that are like 3-word short stories) and some less favorite that I won't mention here. There are a lot of ways to slice the pie in terms of thinking about band names, but one that I thought would be particularly interesting is to look at the most popular words in band names this year. Mysql to the rescue. Here's the top ten, excluding obvious words like a, the, of, and, band, trio, etc., plus people's first names (which are very popular, John being #1)...

Most Popular Words In Band Names In 2007
(# of band names this word appears in in parentheses, click on word to see list of bands)
1. black (145)
2. big (113)
3. new (89)
4. red (76)
5. hot (73)
6. love (71)
7. blue (63)
8. white (62)
9. dead (57)
10. club (56)

And, finally, to round out the post, some other band-name-word statistical curiosities, which tickle me and hopefully not only me:

# of bands with "wolf" or "wolves" in their title: 35
# of these added in 2007: 11

# of bands with "broken" in their title: 15
# of these added in 2007: 10

# of bands with "dog" in their title: 32
# of these added in 2007: 12

# bands with "cat" in their title: 60
# of these added in 2007: 34

# bands with "south" in their title: 20
# of these added in 2007: 2

# bands with "north" in their title: 23
# of these added in 2007: 6

# bands with "west" in their title: 34
# of these added in 2007: 10

# bands with "east" in their title: 38
# of these added in 2007: 17

Peace, thanks to Brad, and see you all at River Gods (the next DJ night is Thursday, Jan. 18, + Brad + I will be spinning).

- Chris


As Chris said, the next Tourfilter DJ Night is at River Gods on Thursday, January 18th. I'll be hitting the booth at 9pm sharp, and playing only songs by bands coming to the Boston area within the following month or so. And once again, thanks go out to Chris for the words above, and for the chance to play more songs at my favorite bar.











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