Sleater-Kinney, November 13, 2019 at the Observatory OC (Santa Ana)

I love Sleater-Kinney as much as anyone, and have ended up seeing them on pretty much every tour since discovering them at Dig Me Out (possibly due to my friends -- the broadest range of fans I know (though mostly ladies) -- wanting to go, as well as how the band are tour dogs and make sure they hit all the venues, especially L.A.), but I hadn’t dug enough into The Center Won’t Hold, assuming that No Cities To Love would be as far as they could go after getting back together, which could have been a too-tenuous reunion (easy to fall apart when it's only a few people). But I entered to win tickets, since I would take them if I got them, and won (though I don't remember where I got it from). That would have been great if the wife could go, since she’s an even bigger fan than me, but they came the night before the show and she couldn’t avoid work. I put the call out for folks to take the other ticket and got Chris, then we met up with other L.A. friends, particularly Matt, at the show, showing that it would have been a group anyway. Also my first go at the Observatory (though had been close at The Constellation Room on a night too much of a mess to have done anything but get in and out of there). I only realized later the value of The Center, maybe even more than Cities, then retroactively had to put my appreciation into the show for tunes I didn’t fully know at the time, especially “Reach Out,” which hit me hard and deep not long after that, one of my favorite tracks and choruses of modern times, then cursed myself for not knowing to enjoy it when I was there hearing it but not realizing what it was and would be to me later on. This show also had the curse of missing Janet, who had left shortly after the recording of the album, and didn’t get to the tour, though, following along with why she quit, wasn’t needed anyway (so they said). For as great as the music was that they made, and for being produced by St. Vincent, it was also in the direction away from the earlier work that made them, which was rough and raw enough to touch nerves in those adventurous enough to get past the caustic, conflicting beauty of post-punk riot-grrrls, exchanging polyrhythmic drums for synths that smoothed the edges, more palatable with a different range if that's what they were going for though risking that sharp delicacy that worked so well before, so then a shame they had to lose a force in the band powerful enough to stand up to the guitar fury in a sound known for it, but of the ties that bind between the three, she would have to be the one to lose. It could be argued to have been better if they had broken up again and pursued those sounds outside of the band they'd established, but it’s up to their own artistic wanderings, and at least they came up with something compelling from it, almost as good, but different. Janet’s mastery of varying rhythms -- as not just one of the best female drummers, but one of the best drummers around, full stop -- would have made it a different thing, and possibly wouldn’t have worked as well, but it was definitely a sound that was missing, and playing their older stuff without her would have suffered if the songs didn’t have such a solid foundation, with or without those playing on it. It all translated fine to the concert, and those who were just discovering them -- as there were plenty of young people there -- wouldn’t have missed what once was. As it was it had to be the transition show between the old sound and what they had ahead of them -- which was certainly a wish for as much as they could do and for as long as they would stay together (though being down to basically just the two of them didn’t leave much if they were or weren’t going to), on a good album, as pretty much they all were, but twisting from one thing to another, not the old form and not yet what it would be, but still solid, and with the familiar jaggedness now for the uncertainty of where they stood, like the old days but updated for still being indie darlings, as was the magic they’ve had in songs if not musicianship, and have been loved and admired for, whatever form they take. Apparently Kaina opened but we didn't notice and weren't even there that early.

I don’t like to include in these posts what happens in the future, since I’d rather them have the perspective of being written close to where I was when the show happened, but I have to note, not knowing at the time, that this would be the last show I'd (and by extension we'd) see for over two more years, during which we and the rest of the world, notably the music-performing and touring world, went into lock-down for the pandemic. We had shows again eventually, but at the time we had no idea knowing how long it would be (if ever) or that this would be the last show we’d have so too long. But (also going into the future) it worked out.

Sleater-Kinney’s set-list:
“The Center Won't Hold“
“Hurry On Home“
“Price Tag“
“The Future Is Here“
“Jumpers“
“Reach Out“
“Bury Our Friends“
“RUINS“
“What's Mine Is Yours“
“All Hands on the Bad One“
“Bad Dance“
“One More Hour“
“Restless“
“Oh!“
“The Fox“
“LOVE“
“Get Up“
“Can I Go On“
“A New Wave“
“Animal“
“The Dog/The Body“
“Entertain“

“Broken“
“Words and Guitar“
“Modern Girl“
“Dig Me Out“

Massive Attack, September 5, 2019 at the Hollywood Palladium

Trip-hop didn’t do much for me in the ‘90s save for maybe Portishead or Ruby (the lack of range between the two showing how far I didn't go with it), but as usual Carla had already been to anything cool no matter how obscure (or obscured). It was easy to bring me into Massive Attack as they soundtracked some of our early, special moments together, but they were really something I should known about on my own. I knew them from a few remixed tracks and they had a great visual design, but it wasn’t as much as it should have been. I still wasn’t completely sold when we got the tickets if they were just another alt band years past their height (though being British helped), but I got it later, catching up before the show (originally set for May) so I could appreciate it properly. This was a performance of Mezzanine, apparently their biggest album, but I’d picked up enough by then to know that they weren’t sticking only to that album but letting other stuff weave into the set. They certainly played the whole album, as advertised, but in their own order with other tracks mixed in (all covers that had been so fundamentally transformed that I realized they were credited to having played only when I looked at the set-list), which inferred that they were leaving out anything else from their other albums in deference to their own whims. But they had the guest-stars who originally performed those songs, and that was enough. Even if they weren't really performing in the tradition sense, they had done the heavy lifting of creation years before already, which they represented, and it was the best they could do with the magnificence they'd created and now returned to (if that was only a version as a starting point for what they shaped the show into). Not long after this show I found my way to their other stuff, in particular Blue Lines, which was a sufficiently superior work, so it’s good I didn’t know “Unfinished Sympathy” at the time, since even “Teardrop” wouldn’t have been enough of a substitute. An electronic act doing a whole album might not have been the same challenge as a live band, since they could replicate any sound they recorded with something canned, which a band couldn't necessarily pull off, including vocalists, so having the originals there was superfluous but a nice touch (and surely got them out of the house if they needed that). On the screen beyond they had some great visuals that referred to a paranoid conspiracy thing like what helped define the ‘90s, so it was either stuck in that era or very forward-thinking (and anticipating or following nostalgia for that decade), but they had the right to make the reference, having helped define a sub-sub-genre of music with this album (at least somewhere in the world). Even the guys eschewing any banter or acknowledging any of the world around them was a chilly reference, cold enough to be cool, and in keeping with electronic acts who let the computers do the performing, but their presence such a minimal amount of humanity that it would be welcome, when all this performance could be canned and they might be up on stage checking their e-mail. But if only for the music and the visual throw-back it made for a night out and an appreciation of a seminal work (and gateway to more), even if Carla & I wouldn’t be allowed to replicate those special moments in public.

Massive Attack set-list:
“I Found a Reason“ (The Velvet Underground cover)
“Risingson“
“10:15 Saturday Night“ (The Cure cover)
“Man Next Door“ (John Holt cover) (with Horace Andy)
“Black Milk“ (with Elizabeth Fraser)
“Mezzanine“
“Bela Lugosi's Dead“ (Bauhaus cover)
“Exchange“
“See a Man's Face“ (Horace Andy cover)
“Dissolved Girl“
“Where Have All the Flowers Gone?“ (Pete Seeger cover)
“Inertia Creeps“
“Rockwrok“ (Ultravox cover)
“Angel“ (with Horace Andy)
“Teardrop“ (with Elizabeth Fraser)
“Levels“ (Avicii cover)
“Group Four“ (with Elizabeth Fraser)

Cowboy Junkies, May 19, 2019 at the Fonda

I discovered Cowboy Junkies (besides just a minor entry on the Pump Up The Volume soundtrack) past their prime, mostly through my brother’s recommendation of Studio, and over time I drifted into their stuff, not much beyond that album until later, but I eventually realized that it had settled fairly deeply with me. They were also still an active band, even if anything they’d done since hadn’t gotten much traction, and still together for the intermittent show. It was easy enough to get a ticket for the show (a single, just to make it easy) and see if I could catch up on what I'd missed, even this late for us all. Being a show at the Fonda is also encouraging (especially on an off night when parking in Hollywood is easier). I was having a low day but I could look forward to the warm comfort of their music. I got there early (8:09) but they started earlier (8:00), showing chiefly how outside of rock n' roll they could be by actually starting on time. They’re not a band that can add a lot of energy in a live setting such as to defy the gentle lilt of their music, but that’s a feature, to run parallel to the minimal production on much of their records. Still, I was hoping for a burst of enthusiasm in the second set, when the first was unfamiliar (from a new album) and seemed to take its time, mirroring their age-earned placidity (and gray hair), but a measured count of how they performed. The singer's voice was scratchy, but it was a patina earned from age. (And whose name I've never looked up, which says something about the appeal of the band as a whole.) It was fine, but maybe they could go to something livelier after the break. A few songs from the end of the set there was an altercation at the bar (of all shows, betraying the meek nature of the night’s performance), then something going on outside. The band took a break as planned but during that time the place was evacuated -- calmly, to match the vibe -- and we all shuffled outside and waited. And waited. Then fire trucks came to the place next door. But no one had us leave. Apparently a fire had broken out at the neighboring weed shop (that I didn’t even know was there (but also had no reason to know)). We waited some more but after a while it was apparent the rest of the show wasn’t happening. For a show that actually got away with starting so early it got cut off, like it was punishment for defying rock concert standards. (Also to us, with no refund for the abbreviated show.) It was a bummer to not get all of an infrequent show by a band I had so recently found, but I ended up being able to get home in time to see the Game of Thrones series finale (the original plan for the night, though I would have rather had the show).

Totally ‘80s Weekend #7, January 26, 2019 at Microsoft Theater

One of my other posts went on about these nostalgia shows, and how they’re fueled by the hits, with acts well past their prime as well as plenty of one-hit-wonders, and how they're poor for getting a decent set from a band, but some of them can start to make up for it, by volume if not pure quality. And again it wouldn’t be our thing, since we’d much rather see a full set by any band we’re interested in, even if we have to see a separate show, which would also mean we wouldn’t have to sit through bands we didn’t know or care about. Yet these shows can cover a lot of ground, and aren’t even always tied to being “modern rock” from a few decades ago, but can go into mainstream pop or even some acts that were big but never got on our personal radars. But more than anything, this show was about a night out with friends, with me & Carla joining up with her work-friend Sarah and Sarah’s boyfriend Brian, and maybe some other friends. We got a drink at the Palms (familiar since my dad built it) before. Our seats weren’t bad -- on the floor, a few rows back, near the middle. For any show like the Totally '80s Weekend (#7, in case there's a value in the order), for anyone else it wouldn't have been about much more than those singles that were as big as they got in America, and no one trying to be a hero by playing anything newer than 30 years, though the audience would have been just as disinterested by a song that wasn’t one of the hits no matter how old it was or wasn’t. Few of the non-hits made an impression anyway, but especially The Flirts, if it wasn’t "Jukebox (Don't Put Another Dime)" (believing they’re keeping it together enough to appear on stage at their age); Jody Watley (possibly a replacement for Tiffany, whose absence was just as well) and Rob Base had a few good hits between them that were big enough to bust through genres so that even I knew them, then padded out their sets with a lot of energy that floated what was only obscure stuff; Candyman was a special guest (though everyone was a special guest if this whole thing was a one-off), and even his hit was too obscure for us; we didn’t care enough about Farrington + Mann to know why they couldn’t be called When In Rome (which doesn’t help anyone), but they played their couple of recognizables (obviously higher up in the popularity hierarchy) and were a good lead-in to the headliners later; The Bangles are proudly L.A.-local and yet we’ve always missed them, over the decades when I knew all their MTV hits, possibly taking them for granted for whatever local availability they’ve had, and we had to go one of these nostalgia fests to finally see them, though they had more hits than just “Walk Like An Egyptian,” which they deserved better than, even if they made it just slightly more than a novelty hit. Of course they sounded great and could even pull off being a relevant act for being current (relatively, as even their most recent songs were old enough to border on oldies), and if they didn’t have enough hits to float them through their entire set, it was enough familiarity for us (even if I never reached beyond the greatest-hits, though I wore that one out both on cassette and CD). We didn’t get “Be With You” but we also didn’t get the full show, so maybe they’ll pop up again while they can still keep the look. Without being too disrespectful to the event and the other bands, they seemed to be having a laugh at the show, that anyone who wasn’t drunk and had any idea about the culture of music would know how ridiculous the whole thing was, but they were still having a good time (while getting out and getting paid); as far as I was concerned the rest of the show could have gone away for only seeing Bananarama. To a lot of people they could have too easily have seemed like a minor pop act that got lucky, had a few good songs (more than a one-hit wonder), and were probably bigger somewhere else, but they grew on me in my later life, even when I I dissected their greatest-hits album (leaving out “Cruel Summer” from any set-list). Even before then I’d been into just short of obsessed with Shakespeare’s Sister, for which I couldn’t ask for a connection, though in full shows they did “Stay,” so I was at least on the right track. And by this they were down to only two ladies, but they were enough for a show (though if it had just been one that could have been weird). If nothing else they could do no wrong for “I Heard A Rumor,” one of the greatest productions of the ‘80s, if not all of pop music ever (even before I discovered  the rest of Wow!, with which prior knowledge I would have wanted to go to the full show at the Novo the year before, but had to settle for this). They had enough hits (that hit somewhere) to fill a set, even if it was a fraction of the space they deserved, which also seemed to amuse them when they realized they were done with what they could do. What was only a sampling seemed a crime but also a concession to such a show (especially when no one else deserved the stage more), but even getting that much was a treat, especially if it was just the last signature on all they would do for the Americas. Those ladies are eternal so they could probably pull it off again and still look great, but there wouldn’t be much point if that’s as much as they could get so far after the heyday. But we were fortunate to get even that and good with it; the order seemed a jumble (even in this post), loosely based off their number of hits but maybe more off how well they were regarded today, but I certainly wouldn’t have picked OMD (Orchestral Movements in the Dark) as the headliner, and certainly not deserving of the additional amount of time they pulled. The audience made it sound like they were the most eagerly-anticipated of the night, but that could also be from how much all the parents drank cumulatively and how it was almost time to go. Admittedly, OMD had hits, though I was largely lost for anything beyond “If You Leave,” which has been a classic since 1985 (when I heard it in a parking lot on Fresno commercial radio), but it couldn’t balance out the other songs that weren’t quite so slick or seductive, and often just doofy stuff. If they were riding on the back of Depeche Mode they never had the atmosphere or sexiness (even when they weren’t clearly old guys) and surely got in from being yet another Brit new wave band (the reduction completely on purpose). They might have been in denial for how much “If You Leave” was carrying them by playing it like it was just another song in the set, but they had a lot of twinkly lights that lit up the interior with a sparkling ambiance, and it might have been nice to have such a gentle let-down to finally end the show. Also no finale bringing everyone out to do an ill-advised jam, with all of them doing their contractually-obligated sets and high-tailing it from the building, but it was also getting late and babysitters needed taking home, so it all got stamped as a few hours’ visit into a shuffle of ‘80s hits like many others, and they would dig up a new (if not fresh) crop of the same for next time, since apparently there are yet more bands with not much else going on but to reunite for a night (but you can certainly fill up a bill with one-off hits, and the lesser bands might go cheap just to have someone paying them).

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Darks’ set-list:
“Enola Gay“
“Secret“
“Tesla Girls“
“History of Modern (Part I)“
“If You Leave“
“(Forever) Live and Die“
“Joan of Arc (Maid of Orleans)“
“Locomotion“
“So in Love“
“Dreaming“
“Electricity“

The Bangles’ set-list:
“A Hazy Shade of Winter“ (Simon & Garfunkel cover)
“Live“ (The Merry‐Go‐Round cover)
“Manic Monday“ (Prince cover)
“Going Down to Liverpool“ (Katrina and the Waves cover)
“September Gurls“ (Big Star cover)
“If She Knew What She Wants“ (Jules Shear cover)
“Want You“
“In Your Room“
“Hero Takes a Fall““
Walk Like an Egyptian
“Eternal Flame“

Bananaramas’ set-list:
“Cruel Summer“
“He Was Really Sayin' Somethin'“ (The Velvelettes cover)
“I Can't Help It“
“Look on the Floor“
“I Heard a Rumour“
“Venus“ (Shocking Blue cover)

Farrington + Mann (When In Rome)s’ set-list:
“Heaven Knows“
“Wide Wide Sea“
“The Promise“

Jody Watley’s set-list:
“Some Kind of Lover“
“Don't You Want Me“
“Everything“
“Real Love“
“Friends“
“Looking for a New Love“

Rob Base’s set-list:
“Pump It Up“
“The Incredible Base“
“Joy & Pain“
It Takes Two“

Candyman’s set-list:
“Melt in Your Mouth“
“The Roof Is on Fire“ (Rock Master Scott & The Dynamic Three cover)
“Knockin' Boots“