The Replacements, April 16, 2015 at the Palladium

I don’t know why I didn’t just jump into buying a ticket for the second night of the Replacements’ stand at the Palladium.  The $70 each for two tickets the night before might have made me hesitant at the least, or maybe the concern of getting burned by seeing the same set two nights in a row, to say nothing of it potentially being the third time, after Coachella).  I knew in my mind, somewhere closer than the back, that I would wind up at both nights, and if it was all the same songs anyway, that probably would have been fine anyway.  And I would have been there for at least one of those shows anyway, even if this hadn’t been the fourth night of four consecutive nights of shows.  (Then Coachella that weekend, so that would have been seven nights straight of shows, surely a record, but we weren’t going to the fest anyway, with or without my week of concerts.  We went to Vegas instead.)  It didn’t take too long before I just went in for it, and found a second-hand ticket for $35, an easy sell at less than face value, but considerably more than I would have paid if I’d waited until the night of the show when people were just throwing away tickets.  Andrew and his people hadn’t shown for a second night so I was there on my own, just as well to absorb the music.  And much the same show as the night before, with about half the set-list switched out, so this was the other side to what they’d been playing (though neither night had "Another Girl, Another Planet," which gave the Coachella set a great advantage).  I wouldn’t hold one night over the other based on what they played, but it would have been a bummer to be somewhere else where they played just one night and one set, and missed what they were playing elsewhere.  As it turns out, even with longer sets, based only on what they played, Coachella still ruled over all that I saw (to say nothing of it just being a more noteworthy event and their being much looser, funner, and more rambunctiously the Replacements).  Then it ended and they moved on.  The tour was billed as “Back By Unpopular Demand,” which is endearingly self-effacing but maybe not far from the truth, as evidenced by not only selling out the venue over two nights but also leaving it empty enough that people were throwing away tickets.  They might have done better at just one night or a smaller venue, but that just doesn’t seem worthy of their playing the L.A. market.  Maybe the demand for the reunion was fueled by a contingent not as big as they were excited and loud (also since even if their legendary status has gotten some kids to check them out, they could still be considered old guys, and those hard-living years has made it hard for them to age well, at the same time that rock n’ roll, and especially what they’re playing, is only barely holding on).  But whatever it was and however it happened, they came back together and made a pass at a run-through and lasted longer than some thought they would, maybe putting the legend to rest while they're somehow still living (at least most of them), and leaving the fans, especially those who didn’t have them the first time around, as satisfied as they could be, and the members could go on to do whatever they were going to do next (even if that wasn’t much, but also not Guns N’ Roses) without having to think about having to do it again (unless they need that money more than they thought.  But even if they come back and don’t leave again, they have more songs than the Pixies). Opening was Together Pangea, but even if I knew anything about them, I was coming from work.

The Replacements' set-list:
"I'm in Trouble"
"Kissin' in Action" (Snippet of "Iron Man" (Black Sabbath))
"Little Mascara"
"Color Me Impressed"
"Love You Till Friday"
"Maybellene" (Chuck Berry cover)
"Treatment Bound"
"Take Me Down to the Hospital"
"Waitress in the Sky"
"Valentine"
"Achin' to Be"
"Kiss Me on the Bus"
"Nobody"
"I Will Dare"
"Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out" (snippet of "3rd Stone from the Sun" (Hendrix))
"Sixteen Blue"
"The Ledge"
"I'll Be You"
"Whole Foods Blues"
"Can't Hardly Wait"
"Bastards of Young"
"My Boy Lollipop" (Barbie Gaye cover)
"Never Mind"

"Ghost on the Canvas" (Paul Westerberg song)
"Skyway"

"Left of the Dial"
"Alex Chilton"

"I Want You Back" (The Jackson 5 cover)
"I.O.U."

The Replacements, April 15, 2015 at the Palladium

The Replacements getting back together was one of the great reunions among a lot of good reunions since the Pixies finally gave in and showed how any group could get back together, even after swearing for years they never would, granted most of the recognizable members and the front-person are still alive. The 'Mats never had a never a reason for it not to happen anyway. Westerberg had been crotchety even at their peak and he could keep being ornery but eventually even he would have to give in to everyone asking him, and he probably needed to a turn a buck if his solo stuff wasn’t working out anymore. It was probably just a matter of time for them to get back together, but it sure seemed longer than it needed to be.  Stinson already had his Guns N’ Roses gig and that was just enough to be able to take the name with any credibility.  But whatever had happened to keep them apart, finally events aligned to get them back together, and of course it would have to be at Coachella (surely an event that valued such a reunion, even if the rest of the world didn’t care much more about them than when they were still a working entity). It would be little surprise if that Coachella appearance was the high-point, just like it wouldn’t be a surprise that they extended it into a tour. One of our justifications for not going to Coachella anymore was that we could see most of the bands that were out there at their own separate show, and probably better than at a festival.  Even the most special appearances by bands at the festival usually led to more, largely negating the necessity of needing to see them there in the first place (like how we couldn’t get rid of Pixies after they got back together there). If we’d known that the Replacements would do a full-blown tour after Coachella we might have hesitated to go to the festival that year (or not, since the rest of the line-up was impressive even without them), but there was no question that we would be in for their own show when it came up that they would stop at the Palladium (still a venue I don't mind). This was my third show in four consecutive nights, and the third that Carla couldn’t make. This was before I had tried re-selling tickets online, and it was just a few days before that she said she couldn't do it so I might not have had much opportunity to sell my extra before then anyway, and I might have balked at having to get a fraction of face-value for it so I figured I’d try my luck at selling it the night of the show, knowing I wouldn’t get back my full $70 but maybe half that or so.  After drinks with Andrew, Heather, and their crew, all of which already had tickets, I went to the venue, hoping to find someone still willing to pay to get in, but finding people throwing away tickets, it was clear there was a staunch lack of demand. Since no one else was bothering to try to sell theirs, I had a clear path to those actually wanting to buy, even if there was only one and that only got me $5 (if I’m not maximizing it in my memory). On top of an over-priced ticket, and one I barely would have had to pay for if I'd known, it was an expensive show, but a good one. By this time they had been on the road for a while so they had a groove, which was a good run through the songs but nothing threatening a drunken melt-down like in some of their funnest but most calamitous concert moments. The Coachella show was a mess (at least ours on the second weekend) but also a blast and unforgettable, the best elements of their best shows. It was held together just barely with luck and orneriness (working for us instead of against us), just like the greatest ‘Mats shows; the one at the Palladium was just another show by a band with good songs, with the only threat or danger being that they might leave from boredom. Even though it was a full set, the abbreviated one at Coachella packed more punch. Still all good songs (leaning heavily toward their early stuff, but that's not entirely a bad thing), played as they were meant to be played (though far too sober), but without the possibility of falling apart like the best rock n’ roll so often is. It’s not something you can control or plan for, but neither were the Replacements at their most transcendent moments. The set was also bogged-down with too many unfamiliar songs, not to say there’s anything wrong with playing anything besides the old stuff, but these were novelties, as if Westerberg wasn’t going to give up anything new that was good to the ‘Mats name, assuming he’s even interested in giving effort to something so traditional and even-keeled as a rock song anymore anyway. (And his T-shirt and whatever cryptic message he was spelling out over the nights of the tour.) Still, they had honed a set-list that worked, with a band that worked maybe too well, and maybe L.A. just didn’t need a ramshackle performance by them, especially at their age. They played then they left. Maybe they had better things to do. The John Doe Band opened, which would probably have been great, but I was coming from work and there were drinks elsewhere.

The Replacements'set-list:

"Seen Your Video"

"Takin' a Ride"

"Favorite Thing"

"I'm in Trouble"

"Kissin' in Action" (with "Iron Man" snippet)

"Kiss Me on the Bus"

"Nobody"

"Androgynous"

"I Will Dare"

"I'll Be You"

"20th Century Boy"/"Bang a Gong (Get It On)"/"All Shook Down"

"Anywhere's Better Than Here"

"Waitress in the Sky"

"Valentine"

"White and Lazy"

"Whole Foods Blues"

"Can't Hardly Wait"

"Bastards of Young"

"My Boy Lollipop" (Barbie Gaye cover)

"I Don't Know"

"Buck Hill"

"Within Your Reach"

"Left of the Dial"

"Alex Chilton"

"Never Mind"

Cloud Nothings/Mild High Club, April 14, 2015 at the Echo

The second in my week of four consecutive shows was Cloud Nothings. In all honesty, this was the show that I could have most done without, and maybe I got this one just to make it four consecutive shows in as many days, but it was also the club show with a club-appropriate band (as opposed to Luna, who could have played a bigger venue) and it seemed appropriate, and I hadn't seen them on this tour. We’d seen the band before, at FYF and at their own headlining show (in a considerably bigger place) so this one was no great revelation, but they played some of the new stuff (from Here And Nowhere Else) that sounded as good as anything else they had ever screamed out. It was also at the end of a crappy day at work but felt better after hanging out with Andrew & Heather. This was also the second show that Carla had to bail from, though I think I just ate the ticket ($15 or so) after a half-hearted attempt to sell it, deciding it would be a bother to keep trying too hard. Opening were Mild High Club, some psychedelic/drone thing (as if you couldn’t tell from their name). They weren’t as caffeinated as Cloud Nothings, but for a headliner who built their name on the patchwork of festival shows, their support was just fine.

Luna, April 13, 2015 at the Echo

I became a Luna fan in the ‘90s, probably around Pup Tent, mostly because they were well-regarded in the indie-music mags I was obsessed with, rather than having heard them somewhere and going to them. I dutifully bought the albums but generally kept them on in the background, never getting to much out of them, or at least as much as I heard others did, though I got a greater appreciation for them overall when Bewitched really moved me.  Even with a minor interest in them, I had never seen them in concert, though from music that worked so well in the background, there wasn’t much promise that they could bring much in a live setting. They had even played early on at the Hollywood Knitting Factory, at which I had a very short internship at the time, and I still didn’t get out to them. Then they broke up but I didn’t follow them to their prodigious solo projects (even after finding out their bassist was the singing voice of Jem, from Jem & the Holograms). But when they got back together, I figured I could be in for a ticket, if I could get one, and if I couldn’t I probably wouldn’t bring myself to be upset about it. More than anything it was out of a sense of obligation, that if I had enough interest in them to have most of their stuff, that I should at least get out to see them, if it wasn’t a significant effort. By the time the tickets went on sale, they still had only the L.A. show and one in New York, and both in super-tiny places, even for them, so this was suddenly a hot ticket. I had probably greatly lucked into the pair but that was enough for me. This show, on a Monday night, was the first of three (then four) consecutive nights of shows, a coincidence they were happening all at once, but I won’t deny that it could have also been a challenge to myself to hit that many concerts, especially while doing full days at work on the Westside. Though the biggest obstacle for the week was Carla suddenly coming down ill, which meant I had to do something with my extra ticket(s). The biggest frustration with getting rid of this ticket was that while I was able to get face value (about $40) for it after getting there early and hanging out at the front, I probably could have gotten 10 times that if I had put it up in advance. (A guy I asked while going in said he’d paid a steep price for his ticket and had flown in from Chicago for the show.) I don’t know what the logistics are for a band playing such a tiny space -- whether it was because of their schedule (even with months in advance) or keeping modest expectations after being away for so long or rewarding the biggest fans who had waited for so long or just knowing their sound was better in a more intimate setting -- but it's rare that you get a show with a band of their (relative) stature so close-up. They ran a tight set, as if they had never broken up and this was just another show on just another tour, which held with it some detachment but also not too much preciousness that a spell of dreamy rock could be broken. If they had real hits they would have played them, so instead they went through what seemed to be the crowd favorites, such was the reaction from the fans that had waited so long or had to go through so much trouble (and probably money) to be there. I didn’t know what to expect, but I thought maybe they would run through a few obscure but familiar covers, at least one by Serge Gainsbourg, or change up some arrangements but they pretty much went through the songs like they’ve ever sounded, which could be frustrating since we’ve already heard them all that way, but it created a base, so that at least we’ve heard main versions before wishing for something off the track. As it was, that show and their reunion wasn't so much a seismic shift in indie-music culture, and maybe it was a cash-grab when every other ‘90s band were getting back together, but they had a good moment, in front of an appreciative group that kept interest alive enough that they would eventually reward by coming back. Alas, no "Mermaid Eyes," but the rest made up for it. They did another show later in the year at a bigger venue presumably as part of a full tour, but I can’t imagine being able to get more out their show than what they did that night in such a tiny space.

Luna's set-list:
"Slide"
"Chinatown"
"Sideshow by the Seashore"
"Malibu Love Nest"
"Going Home"
"Weird & Woozy"
"California (All the Way)"
"Friendly Advice"
"Lost in Space"
"Tracy I Love You"
"Pup Tent"
"Slash Your Tires"
"Bewitched"
"Moon Palace"
"23 Minutes in Brussels"
"Tiger Lily"

"Indian Summer" (Beat Happening cover)

Electric Six, March 13, 2015 at the Constellation Room

It was the Electric Six’s show the year before that I suddenly realized that my brother Dylan wasn’t with us. How did I blank on getting him to come to the show with us? It had been a Friday night and he was mobile enough to have been able to meet us for it. As it turned out, he was out of town that night, but it was still in my head to get him to come to the next E6 show with us. I don’t know why I thought that they might not do their annual tour stop in the area, but I still crossed fingers that they would do another one that we could get to. Of course they did another sweep through our local towns. The Roxy show would have been easier, but that was on a Thursday and the scheduling wouldn’t have worked. But there was a show in Orange County on Friday night, and that was fine. We’d never been to the Observatory before but we figured it was just another venue. We tried to find set-times, as is our habit before a show, but none were posted anywhere, so we assumed they wouldn’t go on before 10, cruised by their parking lot which was too chaotic to get in and out easily, and decided to go to dinner. We got to the venue around 8:30, plenty of time to kill so we figured we could just hang out, explore the place, see the opening band (Avan Lava?). At the front I thought I could hear the 6 playing but disregarded it. They couldn't have just gone on. They were in the Constellation Room, which is apparently the antechamber for the bigger hall but that just meant we could see them in a more intimate place, a room even smaller than the Roxy. Indeed, it was already hot and sweaty when we got in there, a lot hotter and sweatier than it should have been for so early in the set. Something wasn’t right. We were only able to cram into the back of the room, by the merch table. I leaned over and asked the merch guy what time they went on. He said they went on around 8, and that they were almost done. Indeed, they played a few more songs then left the stage before the encore. We’d missed pretty much the whole show. Apparently the place packs out the schedule each night, with an early show and a late one, in multiple rooms, but little care to publicize what is going on. What they played was great, as usual, and Dylan was polite enough to say he was satisfied with what he got. The show, in that hot, sweaty room even smaller and much more packed than the Roxy, could have been the kind of rollicking (early) night that could have risen above all the other great performances. But as it was, we got the short end. We hung around for a bit, just to get some kind of value out of what we paid, and ran into Percussion World, also a really nice guy, and I asked him if the band had ever played a wedding (which was a plan Carla & I (well, mostly me) considered for ours). The rest of the place was hosting punk shows or something with a bad enough vibe that even Dylan wanted to high-tail it out of there. Not posting set-times is just rude. The venue, both in the main room and the smaller one(s), host a lot of great bands that came through town, as an alternative to or in addition to L.A.-area shows, but having a non-traditional schedule along with not posting set-times is barely forgivable. We vowed not to go there again (even if the 6 were playing and Dylan was available).

Sparks, February 14, 2015 at the Theatre at Ace Hotel

Even though Sparks were a big deal at some point in time, in their native southern California and on KROQ (before I ever had it), I never knew them, and what I got later didn't make me regret it.  A comeback album in the mid-’90s when I was consuming anything remotely near being considered “alternative” music didn’t hold much for me, and I probably would not have returned to them at any point if not from my brother Paul (James).  He's been a big fan (though not when we were kids), though he said to convert me to one would take more time than he had or I would be willing to give (such is the challenge of him as my brother).  But the band were doing a very unique show, playing their well-regarded Kimono My House (even if it meant nothing to me) in its entirety, and the few performances were anywhere but Indiana, so he came out, along with Susan, down from Seattle (since she apparently had the time and he was willing to give the effort to indoctrinate her as a fan).  Carla & I went along for the ride.  They both stayed with us, with the show as the centerpiece of their weekend visit.  I was happy to see my brother and my friend, the show was extra.  The album might have been an acquired taste, and everyone else has had over 40 years to come around to it, so hearing it on its own, even played live and with an orchestra behind the Mael brothers, was beyond me, and not enough for me to research it after the event.  Maybe I'll wish I got it better later, but at the time it was just a show.  They did a few of their relative “hits” in a second set, and those escaped me as well, though I recognized a few of them (including "Dick Around", which didn’t sell me as much as left me wondering what the big deal was about).  Though Alex from Franz Ferdinand came out for one song.  (This show happened while both bands were working on what would become FFS.  They even mentioned they couldn't mention the band's name at the time.)  Probably not a bad show, and there are plenty of bands I've acquired the necessary taste for and no one else understands, but this one was out of my purview, and just couldn't do anything for me at the time.  So we were left with a singular performance, something we wouldn’t follow up afterwards (except for a Pandora station we couldn't remove) but could say it was a nice evening out (as well as a visit to downtown L.A., which is often welcome).  My brother surely had to have enjoyed it, and that was enough for me.  To facilitate him seeing a band he loves in a very unique show was a mission accomplished.  Even though, while we could possibly get together for an Electric Six or Morrissey show, there’s probably no one else he both would have interest in (in the rare event he would even want to get out for a show).  (Though, as a side-note, apparently Morrissey was at that Sparks show.  They can all be on the same wavelength -- I’d still rather see the Replacements.)

Sparks' set-list:
"This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us"
"Amateur Hour"
"Here in Heaven"
"Thank God It's Not Christmas"
"Hasta Manana Monsieur"
"Talent Is an Asset"
"Complaints"
"In My Family"
"Equator"

"The Rhythm Thief"
"Get in the Swing"
"Let the Monkey Drive"
"Looks, Looks, Looks"
"Pulling Rabbits Out of a Hat"
"Excerpts from The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman"
"Dick Around"
"When Do I Get to Sing 'My Way'" (with Alex Kapranos)
"The Number One Song in Heaven"

"Change"

Fleetwood Mac, December 6, 2014 at the Forum

When I saw Fleetwood Mac in ‘03, I figured that was enough for me for the rest of my days.  For as much as that show exceeded my expectations, with the amount of songs they played, hits as well as deep cuts off their newest album, I figured there wasn’t need to want for a show that was any more.  I even saw Buckingham at a solo show, so that was covered as well.  Granted, Christine McVie wasn’t with them but there was only little hope that after being away for so long she would ever come back.  But as it is in hopes for rock group reunions anymore, as long as they’re not dead, chances are they’ll get back together again.  And so it was, that McVie came back, and there would be a massive tour, with multiple nights in L.A. (apparently a bigger deal to play a few nights at the Forum rather than one at Staples).  I’m not sure why I even hesitated to get tickets, since McVie being present would meant that they would get to the Tango in the Night songs that they largely left out of the shows when she wasn’t there.  It was actually Carla who get the tickets, as a holiday treat (and a story about how she traded for tickets to another night, and completely by coincidence got almost the same seats), even if she wasn’t as big a fan as me (even though it’s still baffling why I am, and to the degree that I am).  And so (after an aborted dinner at Red Lobster that became dinner at the Sizzler across the street (though I won’t complain)), we saw the band -- the whole band -- in their completed glory.  It wasn’t dissimilar to their regular touring show, as impressive that it was only the four or five of them on stage, largely without supplemental musicians, but with McVie contributing and Tango in the Nights songs shuffled in at regular intervals.  “Dreams” still came early and Buckingham still did a “Big Love” solo that was furious enough to belie his years.  Not that a McVie-less show was ever incomplete -- they actually did just fine with out her; her loss -- but to see all five of them on stage together in this day and age was a grand event.  And for me, for whom Tango in the Night was a soundtrack to the formative year of seventh grade, it was a singular experience.  Even if it was just another show, rolling through a set-list they’ve played for most of 40 years by muscle memory, making us sit through unnecessary band introductions and forcing appreciation for McVie coming back night after night before moving on through a relaxed touring schedule, those seasoned musicians at least made an argument for making it feel like this was the only night they were doing such a special show.  Even if one particular oldie, in a sea of oldies around us, told me to keep it down when I was talking to Carla during a clear lull in the show that surely even the band would admit to.  Hey, man, I’m at least as big a fan as you, even if I’m younger than you, and no one, including you and the band, was all that interested in that song.  But whatever.  Since they played so many hits, out of many hits, and now included songs that had been (voluntarily) off-limits for a while, even if McVie held up a complete show for so long, at least she came back within our lifetimes, so she could do whatever she wanted to the end.


Fleetwood Mac's set-list:
"The Chain"
"You Make Loving Fun"
"Dreams"
"Second Hand News"
"Rhiannon"
"Everywhere"
"I Know I'm Not Wrong"
"Tusk"
"Sisters of the Moon"
"Say You Love Me"
"Seven Wonders"
"Big Love"
"Landslide"
"Never Going Back Again"
"Over My Head"
"Gypsy"
"Little Lies"
"Gold Dust Woman"
"I'm So Afraid"
"Go Your Own Way"

"World Turning" (with drum solo)
"Don't Stop"
"Silver Springs"

"Songbird"

Afghan Whigs/Joseph Arthur, October 25, 2014 at the Fonda

We would be loathe to miss an Afghan Whigs show, as a reward after their being gone for so long, but after seeing them twice on the previous tour less than two years before, this seemed only like a companion show. Of course we had to hear the new material, from Do to the Beast, in a set more full than the Coachella one, with the highlights from the best-of set (that we'd already heard) -- all of it boiled down into just a one-night stand. It was the same band, still lacking the intensity (and drugs) of the old days, so Carla wouldn’t be able to experience that, but even if they were more stately these days, it was still a good run-through (even with "Gentlemen" but no "Debonair."  Surely the people there were true enough fans to be over their one radio hit). Dulli hasn’t been as chatty since even the early days of the Twilight Singers, but he can let the music speak for him, and that’s good enough. A highlight of the evening was the opening set by Joseph Arthur, who I’d caught years before (from KCRW, notThe O.C.), though I stopped before he started putting out too many albums to keep up with, and I'd never seen him even though he played L.A. regularly. His show that night wasn’t so much about the music, which was fine, since at the same time as he played he was painting on a canvas. This is a gimmick only if you’re expecting it to be all music, like most any other concert and with any other expectations for such, but in a context of the whole performance being art, even if the music wasn’t so avant-garde, it worked, and was at least a swerve from the norm.  Maybe he’s a better musician than painter (though the painting wasn't bad), and maybe he got as big as he’ll ever get years ago, but it was at least a display that made for a stand-out in an otherwise satisfying but not explosive evening.

Afghan Whigs' set-list:
"Parked Outside"
"Matamoros"
"Fountain and Fairfax"
"The Lottery"
"Step Into the Light"
"Now You Know"
"Algiers"
"Royal Cream"
"I Am Fire" (with Fleetwood Mac's "Tusk" snippet)
"Gentlemen"
"Turn On the Water"
"It Kills"
"Can Rova"
"John the Baptist"
"My Enemy"
"Son of the South"
"Lost in the Woods"

"Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" (The Police cover)
"Heaven on Their Minds" (Andrew Lloyd Webber cover)
"Somethin' Hot"
"Going to Town"
"Across 110th Street"/"Faded"

Joseph Arthur's set-list:
"Devil's Broom"
"I Used to Know How to Walk on Water"
"The Ballad of Boogie Christ"
"Honey and the Moon"/"Travel As Equals"
"Gypsy Faded"
"Heroin" (The Velvet Underground cover)
"I Miss the Zoo"
"Blue Lights in the Rear View"

TV on the Radio/Natasha Kmeto, October 22, 2014 at the Fonda

It’s not such a rare thing to see TV on the Radio, and it isn’t like we haven’t seen them numerous times before, and it’s not like we were all over their new album (Seeds, which we didn’t have; Carla nor I had just not gone out of our way for it), but we like them enough that we might as well go when they did a show (originally booked at the Regent, which would have been the first time we'd have gone there; the Fonda worked better for us anyway). As great as their recorded stuff was (never hurt by top-notch production), they were consistently inconsistent in concert -- a dull show or two for every few pretty good ones -- but we knew that they could pull out at least a few good tunes if nothing else, and we could check out the new stuff. It turned out to be one of the pretty good shows -- a little heavy on the atmospherics, and maybe not the barn-burner that made their name in the days before we ever heard of them, and not enough of their top tunes to mark it in our memories, but they made enough of an effort to pull off a performance that wasn't one of the dull ones. Natasha Klemto (if I got that name right) went on first, either a DJ or someone just playing music to warm up the crowd, but her stuff sounded great in either capacity, the infrequent opener we were at a show early enough to see, and apparently Google-proof. Or we were there at that time for a standard band playing the place, but TVOTR went on late enough that their opener was playing when they should have. They played well enough but the show itself was hamstrung by feeling shortened, being over just when they could have started to kick it in. They went on way too close to midnight, for whatever reason (as not a lot of other bands outside of a festival headliner or Guns n’ Roses get play that late), enough that the set-list looks like they played mid-day at a fest, and without "Staring at the Sun" (which apparently was planned for the very last but they ran out of time). We didn’t know that we would go ahead and see them twice more on this tour, so maybe we could have skipped this show, but with Andrew, Heather, Max, and Linda, it wasn’t a wasted evening (if over very late).

TV on the Radio's set-list:
"Province"
"Could You"
"Careful You"
"Blues From Down Here"
"The Wrong Way"
"Dancing Choose"
"Wolf Like Me"
"Repetition"
"Trouble"

"Ride"
"Lazerray"

The New Pornographers, October 17, 2014 at the Wiltern

The New Pornographers were a good enough idea at the beginning -- basically an indie super-group -- then it was astounding when Neko Case went from a studio buddy to actually touring with them, and she actually kept sticking around. She probably could have sold venues just as well as the whole band but whatever kept her traveling with them, not just continuing to make music, was welcome, as was their coming to town. We might have seen them enough for a while, and Brill Bruisers wasn’t an album that needed a particular amount of support (though it raised up Together by comparison) but when everyone else said they were in for it we threw in as well. Even better to come out when they’d graduated to the Wiltern (but two nights at the Fonda was pretty good too).  As it was it was a standard show, a run-through of their stuff, a few decent deeper cuts, and a comfortable crowd of great musicians on stage, most of which could do -- and actually do -- their own solo stuff (not just Neko). Not as extraordinary as when they’ve had stronger material to draw from (not that their latest was lesser material, but their first three albums set an incredibly high standard) but still a treat to see them all.  Even if they kept putting out merely good albums, as long as they have those elements in the mix, they’ll be worth supporting. Another draw for us was seeing openers Pains of Being Pure at Heart, a band good enough that it almost could have been a co-headlining tour that New Porn just happened to close every night, but, being a Friday night to have dinner with Tana & Jamin and Jake & Lauralee, we missed them -- a disappointment but their latest album Days of Abandon didn’t seem like it was going to supplant memories of seeing them for their earlier stuff.


The New Pornographers' set-list:
"Brill Bruisers"
"Myriad Harbour"
"Use It"
"War On the East Coast"
"Moves"
"All the Old Showstoppers"
"Champions of Red Wine"
"Jackie, Dressed in Cobras"
"Another Drug Deal of the Heart"
"The Laws Have Changed"
"You Tell Me Where"
"Testament to Youth in Verse"
"Wide Eyes"
"Crash Years"
"Adventures in Solitude"
"Spidyr"
"Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk"
"Backstairs"
"Silver Jenny Dollar"
"Fantasy Fools"
"Born With a Sound"
"Mass Romantic"

"Dancehall Domine"
"Sing Me Spanish Techno"
"The Bleeding Heart Show"

"Execution Day"
"The Slow Descent Into Alcoholism"