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There is a method to the madness for the opening half of St. Vincent’s set. Like many shows on the Fear the Future tour, Annie Clark, known as St. Vincent, began her sold-out show stage right with her signature guitar in hand playing “Marry Me” from her first album of the same name. The curtain barely open, revealed roughly fifteen percent of the stage. The song ends, the lights go out, the curtain opens a bit wider revealing St. Vincent a tad further upstage, further to her left, and holding a differently colored signature guitar. This pattern repeated for six songs as she worked through the songs chronologically in the order they were written from the albums Marry Me, Actor, and Strange Mercy.
U2 came out to Los Angeles and rocked the Rose Bowl, playing their 1987 album Joshua Tree in full. From the moment you walked into the venue you knew you were going to be in for something spectacular, You were greeted by a huge 8K resolution, 200 ft x 45 ft cinematic screen made up of 1,040 led light panels. The thing was insanely massive and displayed some of the most clear images of Dutch photographer Anton Corbijn, the original photographer of the Joshua Tree album, with imagery of the Joshua Tree valley.
Last week at The Echoplex and presented by Play Like A Girl, Smoke Season headlined an evening of music that was supported by two sizzling acts. While we’ve covered Smoke Season’s compelling performance in the past, this was our first time catching newbies Kolars and Holy Wars. They fully impressed to say the least.
It was Halloween weekend and some of the freaks and ghouls came out to see the Pet Shop Boys at the Microsoft Theater, Saturday night. I ran into Jareth (aka David Bowie from Labyrinth), a man dressed in a green suit from head to toe, and when asked what he was he just said: “I am myself.” Unfortunately, Microsoft Theater would not let him in the venue as himself because his face was covered by a green suit, but he fixed it and he was let in, along with every other cosplayer.
With Desert Trip steaming its way to Indio for yet another weekend of bucket-list performances, it’s time we share with you the best and worst from Desert Trip 2016. If you’re headed to Desert Trip this weekend, check out our pro tips below, as well as our favorite performances in order from most favorite to least favorite. All in all, Desert Trip was an experience of a lifetime. I’d say it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but it’s happening again this weekend!
The stage at the Observatory in Orange County was dark and the backdrop displayed a distorted bunny(man) as the iconic Echo and the Bunnymen made their entrance. As Ian McCulloch and Will Sergeant walked on stage, the crowd roared with excitemet. Echo and the Bunnymen were just now kicking off their North American tour, and they made their appearance cooler than ever.
On Saturday night, Peter Hook, the former bassist of two iconic bands (Joy Division and New Order) came out to Los Angeles with his band The Light to perform tracks off both Joy Division’s and New Order’s versions of the album Substance in its entirety. The show was packed with thirty-one amazing songs that spanned about four decades worth of music.
It was a bit of a debacle. Performing the songs of Joy Division, Moving Units were supposed to perform two sets at The Echo this past Sunday night at Part Time Punks. But with such a high demand, the shows were merged into one performance at the Echoplex, a much bigger venue than the intimate Echo. Doors were supposed to open at 9 p.m. but did not open till past 9:30 p.m. Many people in line were confused about what was going on and kept asking if this show was going to be for both sets.
Juliette Lewis came out and rocked the Fonda Theatre last Thursday night. Clad in skin tight black leggings, white stiletto boots, and a funky white top with shoulder pads made of feathers — Lewis made her flavorful presence known. No longer touring with The Licks, Lewis was now rolling solo as “Juliette Lewis” (and a backing band).
Promoting peace and togetherness, The Art of Rap Festival streamed through the Hollywood Palladium for a night fresh beats, rhymes and unity.
The young and old punk rockers of Orange County came out to The Observatory this past weekend to celebrate end enjoy forty years of Buzzcocks music. The Buzzcocks rolled out an amazing performance playing some of their iconic punk anthems such as “What do I Get”, “Ever Fallen in Love”, and “Orgasm Addict” — along with some of their newer songs.
X rocked the Roxy on Thursday with their first of four X-mas shows at the Hollywood venue. Mike Watt and the Secondmen opened with a set list fit more for a co-headliner than an opening act. After over an hour of Watt’s driving bass and high energy songs, the crowd was warmed up and ready for X.
Gogol Bordello rolled into the Wiltern on Friday night to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of their album, Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike. Gogol Bordello concerts aren’t just concerts usually. They tend to be more like live music parties, and Friday was no exception.
Upon walking into Deap Vally’s “Royal Jelly” video release party, it was immediately evident that Basic Flowers wasn’t a typical venue but more a quirky art gallery. Two rooms with walls covered in book pages and cloth were surrounded by ephemera, books, and obsolete electronics that lead to a larger room with the microphones and instruments expected at a rock show. After a bit of mingling in the antechambers, the majority of the crowd wisely followed their ears to the driving beat and ethereal voice and guitars of opening act, Liphemra.
The traffic this past Friday night did not help BACARDÍ’s Untameable Artist Series, where there was going to be a special performance by hip hop artist, Future. The 101 was closed off and the streets were jammed, it took me nearly an hour to get to the shuttle stop where I would be then taken to the famed Harry Houdini mansion. The moment I found out that I would be shooting this show I was wondering just what it would be like to go into the estate of Harry Houdini.
Punk’s not dead! That is a true statement because there were about 22,000 of them standing, walking, moshing, and surfing crowds in the sweltering, heat this past Saturday at San Manuel Amphitheater for It’s Not Dead Fest.
Last Saturday the curtain raised at The Roxy in West Hollywood and there stood Patrick Stickles of Titus Andronicus strumming his guitar to a slow rhythm, wearing a Titus Andronicus logo-ed shirt that consisted of an anarchy symbol. He spoke to the crowd and wanted everyone to have a good time and not ruin anyone else’s time by getting violent in a mosh pit, he said: “punk is about having an autonomous space for all to have a good time, keep it respectful and peaceful.”
Social Distortion came out Sunday night to do the first of three nights at the Observatory in Orange county. They were celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of their self-titled album. People of all ages showed up from eight-year-olds to sixty-something-year olds. Mike Ness hit the stage wearing a Jerome’s boxing t-shirt, bearded and obviously fully tatted.
This past Friday there was an amazing rock show happening at The Forum: Deftones, Death from Above 1979, and Incubus. Right off the bat, I did not understand Incubus’ placement with both Deftones and DFA 1979. It was an odd pairing. I thought that there was no way that Incubus could compare to the hard hitting Deftones or the badass duo of DFA 1979. But much to my surprise it worked.
It was a perfect day to be in a cemetery to watch a bad ass concert by a bad ass band: Modest Mouse at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
I went into last night’s Los Crudos show at the Ukrainian Culture Center knowing what to expect. I knew that if I placed myself at the front of the pit that I would most likely get kicked in the head numerous times; however, I didn’t fucking care. I knew that there would be some pretty bad ass moments to capture and indeed there were. I would say that this article is more for the fans of Los Crudos, Blazing Eye, Ausencia and Strangers.
It was a high-energy show last Thursday at The Observatory. Misfits have been scheduled to play three days and play three classic albums in their entirety. Thursday night was Static Age. It was an all ages show and I would say that it was cool to see all ages actually there. There were some very young teens to people in their 40s and 50s, but there were probably more teens there which was awesome to see that this music still gets to the younger crowd when today, the market is completely saturated with a lot of bad pop/safe music.
It was a night of pure rock n’ roll at the Observatory in Santa Ana, California last night. Three bands would play, Rocket From The Crypt, Los Angeles punk rockers, The Bronx and Dead Heavens. All three bands brought their own style of rock and each kept the crowd engaged.
Wednesday was a crazy day, Noel Gallagher and His High Flying Birds were in town but another band was in town as well that had the whole city in an uproar. I will not name the band, but they are huge, they come out of the UK, they are old, they are doing a “zip code” tour, and they were playing in a small venue for just five bucks.
When I was about ten years old I stumbled upon this rocker who seemed a bit odd for the times. He had long dreadlocks and dressed funny. At the time you probably would have only seen reggae artists with this look, but this was Lenny Kravitz (the guy that stole my childhood crush Lisa Bonet), but after hearing his music as a child it was okay with me, I forgave him.
It was a surprisingly stormy night in Los Angeles this past Thursday, but that did not stop James Bayfrom having a packed house at the Fonda Theatre. Bay’s fans wrapped around Hollywood and Gower last night in the rain just waiting to get into the venue for an up-close-and-personal performance with the artist.
This past Sunday at the Mayan, Mos Def (aka Yasiin Bey) was the headlining act of Rhythm Fest along with Inspectah Deck of Wu-Tang Clan. It was a show not like any I have covered. Hip hop shows from what I have experienced, do not have a lot of order. The stage tends to be covered with videographers, photographers and other entourage members. Which while crowded and at times uncomfortable, it sure does add to the excitement.
When I was a kid I moved around a lot. I lived in different cities and always had to sever friendships and get new ones. Things were not as well connected as they are now with smartphones and Facebook. So as you can imagine, this could make an eleven to thirteen year old quite angry. Well, in 1989 the album The Real Thing was released by Faith No More and this would become the soundtrack of my youth and pave the way to my teenage angst.
The people of Orange County, California showed up to see This Charming Man, Johnny Marr and his band play and the Anaheim House of Blues. The show did not start without a hitch, unfortunately the House Of Blues had audio issues and the show started about thirty minutes late. The crowd stayed cool and calm only chatting Johnny's name every now and then. Once things were cleared Marr and his band came out focused and determined to give the fans what they wanted. Johnny. Fuckin. Marr.