Lush/Tamaryn, April 25, 2016 at the Roxy

I was getting into Lush back in the ‘90s at the same time as “Ladykillers” but at least it was an entry (one I should have connected to earlier but was helped along by my pen-pal Stephen), just before they broke up abruptly. I remember seeing an ad in the Weekly for the Glass House show they did back then, and knowing that it would have been a great show but not obsessed with them yet enough to get out to see it. I didn’t put much hope into them getting back together, since I know I missed that moment, though I picked up the Sing Sing album (then put it back down again), and figured they never recapture that moment that I missed. But their front-women were still alive, even if Miki had moved out of music (though answered the phone when Spin called to see what she was up to those days, more than once), so there was still a chance, but also a chance of mounting some comeback that would involve new music that would distract from the classic stuff I didn’t get until late. And so, as all bands do eventually, they reformed, which was fortunate for anyone to pay for wrongs done years ago. Though they never broke America (by not being sugary or slutty enough), they were big enough to sell out the Roxy in a second, and I happened to get in for tickets (you can't win unless you try). Even if they were only together to play Coachella, we’d already sworn off that fest, though they would have been a band that would make me even remotely consider it, just for them and even a shortened set. But this was also a band playing a festival doing other dates around it -- since they’re around anyway -- and getting around the proximity clause to make it possible for us, and to get a full set to boot. There’s a convoluted story about that show (how I originally would have missed it for Carla’s mom’s retirement party, then some minor miracle for the band to postpone that show then come up with a date I could make that wouldn’t threaten my marriage (but meaning I had to cancel the flight I booked to go to the San Francisco date)), but it got to include Josh, a buddy from work who had a story about meeting Miki in Chicago that always had me mystified. (This was also a trade with him for the Autolux tickets a few months later.) And so we got to experience the band again (or for the first time), and in a club that might have been small for them even on their first album. This show might have even been better, since they stuck to their best stuff, pushing Gala harder than it got over here, not bothering with any of the pandering lower-lights from Lovelife, and airing one of the tracks from the new Blind Spot EP, even if it was enough that they didn’t have to make a show of trying so hard to avoid a best-of set, which is what we wanted anyway. Up there, under the lights, they looked like this could have been a month after they last stepped off the stage, especially Miki (another rock crush). After this test for demand/warm-up, they did a full tour but I skipped it, knowing that trying to top this show would have just been greedy and foolish (though Carla reconsidered passing on it for a moment). I could finally live with having missed them the first time around. Opening the show was a special bonus, being Tamaryn, a moodier, more lavish cousin to Lush's early stuff, that the wife had gotten me into. I may not go to shows for the openers anymore but it’s a treat to get on something already familiar but, even better, might have seen on their own. (And I’ll skip the story of embarrassing myself in front of Ms. Tamaryn.) There may or may not have been a reason all those ‘90s girl-bands were getting back together at the same time, but if it was an epidemic, I didn’t have a problem being taken over by it.

Lush’s set-list:
“Undertow“ (Spooky remix; intro)
“De-Luxe“
“Breeze“
“Kiss Chase“
“Hypocrite“
“Lovelife
“Thoughtforms“
“Light From a Dead Star“
“Undertow“
“Lit Up“
“Etheriel“
“Scarlet“
“For Love“
“Out of Control“
“Ladykillers“
“Downer“
“Sweetness and Light“

“Stray“
“Desire Lines“
“Leaves Me Cold“

“Monochrome“

New Order, March 19, 2016 at the Shrine

Once again Corey had an extra ticket for a show, so it's good that our music tastes match up when it's important. I had been burned enough by New Order playing live (once was enough, even for a band I've been obsessed with for years) that I was hesitant, especially when the last time seeing them was good enough to not pave over that poisonous Coachella performance but at least leave a positive taste in my mouth for as long as I would go until they would put out new material good enough to compel me to see them live again. Music Response wasn't quite that material, but it wasn't Waiting for the Siren's Call, so something in the middle wouldn't make me opposed to seeing them. Though to hang out with a friend for an evening, I'd probably see anyone short of Dave Matthews Band (and it's a good thing none of my friends are into them (or we might not be friends.)). After missing the stop on the subway, we got there just in time, missing Run Run Run and a DJ or whoever played before, and got in our seats -- balcony, far right -- just as the lights went down. Of course they don't have much of a stage-show -- somehow Bernard pulls off making everyone look more interesting than him -- but they have always left the fireworks for the music, even with new stuff mixed in, and the half-dozen new songs got enough of a cordial reception to show that they still have fans hardcore enough to know the stuff in advance or polite enough to not show their boredom with stuff that wasn't what they've known by heart since well before their kids were born. "Bizarre Love Triangle," in particular, got a great response, making anyone wonder why they didn't switch it with "Blue Monday" and close strong with it. They still seem bored with playing, even with new stuff to energize them (off the newest album Music Complete), but it's hard to fault them when they've always been that way as well as being British. Then the sound was muddy, which might be why there aren't more rock shows at the Shrine, or Bernard didn't care he was speaking with a mush-mouth. Then the Joy Division songs dragged out from obligation (once they started they can't just stop (or leave it to Hook to play in his band)), including "Love Will Tear Us Apart," played yet again but at least as listlessly as everything else. No, no one ever got a chance to see Joy Division but a lot of us also didn't get to hear the best New Order songs, anything besides the hits, including "Regret," which they skipped yet again, but cheers for "Ceremony."

New Order's set-list:
"Singularity"
"Ceremony"
"Academic"
"Crystal"
"5 8 6"
"Restless"
"Your Silent Face"
"Tutti Frutti"
"People on the High Line"
"Bizarre Love Triangle"
"Waiting for the Sirens' Call"
"Plastic"
"The Perfect Kiss"
"True Faith"
"Temptation"

"Atmosphere" (Joy Division song)
"Love Will Tear Us Apart" (Joy Division song)
"Blue Monday"

Electric Six, March 18, 2016 at the Troubadour

Dylan deserved a make-up show for the disaster that was taking him to the Observatory to see the Electric Six, though you know I probably would have gone with the opportunity anyway. I got three tickets but Carla decided at the last minute to not go, so it was just me and my brother, getting there (after burgers in Studio City on the way) about 10 minutes before they went on, which was just fine, and we missed Parlour Tricks, the opener. Also since I was with a pre-21 Dylan there was no drinking but it was about the show. They played much of the same set they’d been doing for a while, with all the (should-have-been) hits, and some of the newest album Bitch Don’t Let Me Die! mixed in. I might have seen them enough to be able to call this a typical show, and part of their ongoing tour of the smaller and smaller clubs in the L.A. area, but being in the middle of the road also means there aren’t particularly bad ones. We saw the show then left.

Electric Six’s set-list:
“Synthesizer“
“After Hours“
“Down at McDonnelzzz“
“Dance Pattern“
“Roulette!“
“The New Shampoo“
“Gay Bar“
“Gay Bar Part Two“
“She's White“
“Night Vision“
“Dime, Dime, Penny Dime“
“Future Is in the Future“
“Improper Dancing“ (with "(Who The Hell Just) Call My Phone?" played in-between "stop!" and "continue!")
“Danger! High Voltage“
“Adam Levine“
“Formula 409“
“Dance Epidemic“
“I Buy the Drugs“

“Jimmy Carter“ (Dick (acoustic) & Tate)
“Dance Commander“

Pity Sex, December 18, 2015 at the Echo

Andrew goes to more shows than I do, and when we meet up for shows it's usually because we were going to go separately, but sometimes I can go because he has good taste in good bands to check out. I had a free Friday night so we met up to check out Pity Sex. I probably hadn’t heard of them save for an ad or a mention in the Weekly (it’s hard to miss that name) but there’s no reason to pass up a show at the Echo, the venue I most wish I’d visit more. Usually I’m there for big enough names that they pack out the place but the places gets some of the best up-and-comers on such a small stage that you know you couldn’t get much more intimate without knowing them personally. We were around the corner at Mohawk Bend having dinner and drinks so we missed Eskimeaux (rather on purpose, for the name alone) but also Colleen Green, a local gal who would have been part of the draw for us but we figured we’d see her again (which at least I did not). It was the first time I’d investigated a band on Amazon Music (then YouTube) to familiarize myself with them before the show, and they sounded better with the recorded versions. Scrappy, young bands can be electric in concert, which can easily be lost when recorded in the studio, but they can also get a little too sloppy live. But it could have also been the first glimpse of a band on the way up and we got to see them that close and without a big crowd, but apparently they dissolved after that (or didn’t, and just never came up on our radar again). Andrew and I kept going to shows at the Echo, though more without each other.

TV on the Radio, November 14, 2015 at the Theater at Ace Hotel

This was the last in our series of TV on the Radio L.A. shows for their Seeds tour, and it might have been the best one, even though we could have been over it by then. Red Bull was doing some promotion of a series of concerts, and with some fairly impressive acts, and this one was best for us. They got one of our bands to play our city one more time, at least. Also, our friends were hitting the show as well, so we could make it an evening together, even though we could only meet up for dinner beforehand and had to sit separately. Carla got great seats, not far from the stage, and fairly cheap, and those factors might have spoken to how much most bands don’t need to roll through a town three or more times in less than a year but we’re big enough fans to go again. For all the shows on that tour we hadn't even had the album but they played enough older stuff, and switched up the set-lists so it wasn’t the same performance. This tour was also more consistent than those before and it was a good show and a good night out. It’s a shame if Red Bull didn’t do more of those shows, and hopefully didn’t get burned by a business plan that didn’t expect the difficulty of promoting a concert and maybe not turning a profit from it, but it was good while it lasted.

TV on the Radio’s set-list:
“Young Liars“
“Lazerray“
“Golden Age“
“Happy Idiot“
“Could You“
“Winter“
“Wolf Like Me“
“Trouble“
“Province“
“Forgotten“
“DLZ“
“Staring at the Sun“

“Seeds“ (with Miguel)
“Adorn“ (Miguel cover) (with Miguel)
“Vitamin C“ (Can cover) (with Miguel)

Blur/Courtney Barnett, October 20, 2015 at the Hollywood Bowl

A friend of mine said some years back that if you were a Britpop fan (presumably from the ‘90s), out of Oasis, Suede, and Blur, you loved two of those but not all three. It’s stuck with me since then and I’ve found reasons to argue then not argue it. My love for Oasis is well-documented, but there’s some Suede stuff I don’t connect to, so I always figured it was them and that would automatically make me a Blur fan. But in considering most of their stuff I’ve had since early on, I can’t always be excited about listening to it. Some of it I’ve just gone with putting it on and took my fandom for them for granted. Looking at it closer, there were probably singles that I really liked, but some I hated (in particular “Boys & Girls,” which has taken me years and a Pet Shop Boys cover just to tolerate), and a lot of other material that doesn’t always move me. I’ve even seen them before, at a pretty lackluster show that wasn’t necessarily representative of what they built their name on, but Graham also wasn’t with them at that time, so they could get some slack, but provisionally. So all this could explain why I didn’t jump on getting Blur tickets for their Bowl show and would have been cool with missing it, but then Rachel came through with an extra on a free night and I went, almost like it was just any other show. It wasn’t a guarantee that I would have considered any show a bunch of my friends were going to, but being Blur helped. I rode over with Jen and the bunch of us got together before and picnicked, like usual for a Bowl show. Courtney Barnett opening was more of a draw than Blur themselves, and a coup of an opener, near her initial height, and should have been a big deal on her own. But part of her appeal is her slacker aesthetic and that’s hard to translate to such a massive space as the Bowl and she couldn’t fill it, especially with folks just wandering in and too cool and/or British to be taken over by her catchy songs about very pedestrian topics. It didn’t work but anyone could chalk it up to being the wrong venue for her and wishing to go back in time to see her at a more appropriate club (or, even better, a bar, if that could even happen) (and, for us, seeing more than just the second half of her set). Blur finally did their thing, even making a showing of putting in songs from their newest album, The Magic Whip like this was just another tour stop for an album so successful that everyone would want to hear the new stuff. They only did two shows in America, here (pulling a Tuesday night) and New York, so it could be assumed that this could have been a big deal for all the fans in the western half of the country, and a presumed showcase of new stuff might not sell well for those who are obsessed enough to only want classic stuff. And the new singles (if they even had any) didn’t catch on enough here to get more to fill the Bowl with, by my estimation from the cheap seats, about half full, and even most of those present lethargic at best, if because of L.A. cool or these fans not being the teeny-boppers they once were and were more content to stand back with arms crossed and hoping it would pick up and they would get more out of it than the just-enough that the band wanted to passively offer (even with Graham). We were dancing, helped when they wisely jump-started it with “There’s No Other Way” early on, even if that didn’t do anything for the field of empty seats where we were. No mention of Gorillaz, unless Damon’s lack of spirit could be attributed to having to drag along his old band when he could have played to more with the new, more energetic stuff by the ones who weren't Blur. If there’s an explanation for how Gorillaz got bigger in the States than Blur, it could be that he had contributors that actually still wanted to do the stuff, and material and a brand that could move with the time and stay fun and cool, instead of some stodgy English blokes with no big hit songs except for the “Woo Hoo” one that was completely unlike anything else they did and which had already been played to death and lost to the generation that would make them stars here. Not the show to polish their legendary status (if only somewhere else in the world) but the other show wrapped their series in less than a week and they could move on from whatever obligation they had, just like the States would go on with them only being a footnote in popular music from somewhere else. As for me, I got the Oasis side-projects and started getting more out of Suede.

Blur’s set-list:
“Music Box Instrumentals“ (PA intro)
“Go Out“
“There's No Other Way“
“Lonesome Street“
“Badhead“
“Ghost Ship“
“Coffee & TV“
“Out of Time“
“Caravan“
“Beetlebum“
“Thought I Was a Spaceman“
“Trimm Trabb“
“Tender“ (outro: "Don't fall for Trump/He's such a chump")
“Parklife“ (with Fred Armisen)
“Song 2“
“To the End“
“This Is a Low“

“Stereotypes“
“Girls & Boys“
“For Tomorrow“
“The Universal“

Courtney Barnett’s set-list:
"Avant Gardener"
"Nobody Really Cares If You Don't Go to the Party"
"Small Poppies"
"Depreston"
"Elevator Operator"
"An Illustration of Loneliness (Sleepless in New York)"
"Dead Fox"
"Pedestrian at Best"

Garbage/Torres, October 6, 2015 at Humphrey’s By The Bay

I actually hadn’t originally planned to see Garbage for their 20th anniversary show for their self-titled debut album. I won’t say I’ve seen them enough, though I’ve seen them plenty, and they’d already played most of it over all the times I’ve seen them since they played their first club show for those songs. But Corey got tickets for the San Diego stop and would have needed someone to go with, and since it was around the time of the wedding, it became another bachelor party. Though for my other bachelor party event we were drinking and carousing and partying, I didn't necessarily need to do all those things to celebrate the end of my bachelorhood, and just getting to see a show is totally fine. So I drove down for the evening and left the next day, and I got to see a new venue. Humphrey’s By The Bay is a place I’ve noticed many mid-range bands use as their San Diego stop. It’s basically the court-yard of a hotel that might as well be a concert venue for the open space, but it’s near the water so it has a romantic ambiance, then no seats (at least for that show), and most of all, it’s not a large place, much more intimate than most of the places those bands would play in L.A., especially the Greek (where I normally would have seen them). Maybe there are bigger places to play in San Diego, or maybe that’s just the size of the crowd they’re playing to, or their fair-weather fans there for the hits have drifted away, but it fit well for the show. A run-through of their first album is fairly unnecessary, as those songs are still cherished enough to play well and enjoyed even still in their standard set, but if they can sell a show with it, they might as well. They only get one year to celebrate an anniversary. It might be more encouraging to get old-school fans out to see that album since they might not be getting as many new ones with new material. It was a trend for a while for bands to play whole albums and they did pretty well with them, at least as a reason to tour without new stuff that was grabbing anyone like it once it did.  For that night they laid on the strategic nostalgia, opening with “Subhuman,” their first, pre-album single (and what would have gotten me to the show if I'd known they were going to play it), then stopping half-way through to play a set of era-appropriate B-sides, which was a treasure enough to make it a show unique from every other time we’d seen them, even the very first. The album, played chronologically except for the mid-set pause, could have been said to have come in remixed cuts, some heavier than others, or could be said to have been updated into new versions, since they’ve been playing those songs for 20 years and have found new arrangements and ways to make them fresh to play. It might have thrown those fans who wanted to hear the album just as they have for two decades -- which doesn't make much sense since they already have it that way -- but it sounded fine to me, especially as I get to hear the evolution of those tunes (“Vow”) and the few they rarely play ("A Stroke of Luck"), haven't in years (“Fix Me Now”), or I haven't heard ("Dog New Tricks"). Then of course an encore with some tracks from other albums, maybe some hits, as per the usual for bands doing this.  The whole thing was unnecessary but if this keeps them going and helps to get new music out so we can get a new show next time, it’s good enough. It’s not likely I would be completely content with anything but a show of rarities and deep cuts anyway, so any time they’re playing the hits in a standard set is a version of another show anyway, though the change of scenery did more than anything to change up the familiar formula.  And I finally got “Subhuman” (albeit heavily remixed).  Torres opened, which we didn’t feel we had to give much attention to, so we wandered for a bit, not drinking, but partying in our own way. And plenty fantastical, to be in a setting close to the water with a great band that has held up all these years.

Garbage's set-list:

"Alien Sex Fiend" (20 Years Queer video intro)

"Subhuman"

"Supervixen"

"Queer"

"Only Happy When It Rains"

"As Heaven Is Wide"

"Not My Idea"

"A Stroke of Luck"

"Girl Don't Come"

"The Butterfly Collector" (the Jam cover)

"Trip My Wire"

"Sleep"

"Vow"

"Stupid Girl"

"Dog New Tricks"

"My Lover's Box"

"Fix Me Now"

"Milk"

"Kick My Ass" (Vic Chesnutt cover)

"Driving Lesson"

"Push It"

"Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go!)"

"#1 Crush"

Front-242/Youth Code/High-Functioning Flesh, September 27, 2015 at Avalon

My social life during college almost completely revolved around a night or two a week at Club Metro in Rubidoux, just outside of Riverside, rarely meeting girls, having our first drinks, and discovering a lot of music. We never went on the heavy goth/industrial nights, not as much as Corey did, but the usual KROQ nights early in the week would mix in the dark but  more accessible stuff that didn't get on the radio and that was my first exposure to a lot of that stuff. I felt a kinship with the goth scene, even if I didn't dress the part (though my concert shirts and Converses made me stand out from them just as they tried to stand out from normal folk, so maybe we were just understood each other). For the industrial stuff I usually didn't go past Nine Inch Nails but I gained a familiarity with some of the rest and while I came to like a lot of it, some I just didn't come around on. And when we didn't completely dig something it became a mark and Corey, who was immersed in the scene and everything in it, became the easiest one. The track we ridiculed most was the one with "FIRST YOU LOCK THE TARGET", which was ridiculous to us that someone would put those words to coarse, pre-programmed Euro-junk. I don't recall dancing (or what one might charitably call "dancing") to it, but maybe. Maybe I would have come around to it by being around it longer (or getting with a girl who was into it) but I let it stand knowing it was Front-242 and that it was Corey's thing. Years later, long after Metro had closed (which was also years after I'd been there), Front-242 were (still?) a touring entity (or making for a reunion) and they came to the States. As if anyone had to ask, Corey was in, even coming up from San Diego for it. As this was in a line of Corey's high hopes with an extra ticket, I said I'd take it, mostly for an evening to hang out with Corey. I'd also only been to what was once the Palace a scant few times since it had morphed into Avalon, if there was even a reason for that. It wasn't a concert venue like it used to be (or at all), as they probably discovered they pulled more cash by being a dance club, though not for any scene I would go anywhere near (and maybe still not even if I were in that age-range). Apparently they would accommodate the occasional band, though it probably didn't hurt that they could be considered a dance thing (in some world, if not this one) and that it was on a Sunday, which is probably usually dead for a club. I hadn't been near a goth scene in years -- the last was maybe Club Perversion those few times (and however long ago that was) -- and had rarely of late been out for a night in Hollywood save for straight to the Fonda, but it wasn't too dissimilar than it used to be, if the crowd was considerably older, and wider, and daddier or mommier, and their make-up choices were even more ill-advised than they were 20 years ago. I had covered my bets and dressed in black anyway. Corey doesn't go to a lot of shows so he tries to get there in the time it says on the ticket, as if the headliners would deign to go on anywhere near that time (says the guy who thought he could time Morrissey). But it gave us plenty of time to hang out and catch up, and for Corey to search for former Metro-rats and for me to people-watch (since every once in a while the look actually works). Youth Code and High-Functioning Flesh opened, and we heard a snippet enough to catch the one that was only a few generations away from a Euro-goth/industrial band that I didn't know in the first place and the other sounded like NIN (as if any of them wouldn't). Seeing them could have been adventurous but Corey, being unfamiliar with them (they were never played at Mero), was content to hang outside (there's a joke there about vampires but I'll skip it). Closer to midnight it was time for Front-242, bringing the same electronica that seems as ridiculous as DJs passing off canned beats that could have been programmed weeks ago and the show performed by hitting PLAY. The music actually wasn't bad -- there's a reason these guys are respected as pioneers in their field -- though if anything was a facsimile of an original or echoes of remixes, it was lost to me. Also nothing I would dance to anymore (as if I could pick it up back in the day anyway) but I was cool to be part of the crowd that were actually there for the performance. The stage could have used more of a visual component, except for some abstract image shot up on a screen, since the focus -- the two guys in front singing/growling/barking -- were old enough to not only be parents like most of the audience but probably more like grandparents (and perhaps beyond). Paunches, jowls, and all, they at least made the effort. If they were going to be out on stage, they couldn't hide it (especially since they hadn't established the use of helmets from the beginning). Maybe it's not even important how they look, and it was enough respect for them to not care how they'd aged, but there was a time when guys that old playing some version of rock music -- and not even playing live instruments at that -- would have been laughed if not forced off a stage (much less trusted). But as it was, it was about the music and the respect and, presumably, saying that had seem them, nowhere near their height but before they became dust. It was also enough to know I wasn't carrying any lingering remnants of Metro, outside of the music I picked up and followed, wine coolers and Midori sours, and friends that would have worn eye-liner so you could have on a comfortable Offspring T-shirt (since it was 1993).

Front-242's set-list:
"Moldavia"
"Body to Body"
"7Rain"
"Take One"
"W.Y.H.I.W.Y.G." (no break before next)
"Master Hit"
"Together"
"Triple X Girlfriend"
"Quite Unusual"
"No Shuffle"
"Funkahdafi"
"U-Men"
"Commando Mix"
"Religion"
"Headhunter"
"Im Rhythmus bleiben"
"Welcome to Paradise"

"Tragedy >For You<"
"Punish Your Machine"

Float Fest, August 28, 2015, at the Cool River Ranch

A summer trip to see Brian, who lives near Dallas, that could have possibly been going to Austin turned into my official bachelor party there once Seth got involved.  Staying in the city to party was great (as long as we stayed away from 6th Street and the kids) but it could be great to go outside of Austin too. Of course we had to check out a music festival, whether or not the weekend was contingent on one happening in the first place (I was just happy to be there). Austin might have a music festival every weekend but we got a good one with Float Fest. Most festivals are a good enough time, with music and drinking and carrying on, but this one was even fun, with the added component of river-rafting. Brian's truck broke down the morning of, before we even got out of Austin, so that left Seth and me with a 46-minute Uber ride, including back-roads near the site, which all turned into its own adventure. No matter that we would eventually have to figure out a way back that night, assuming all the Ubers would be taken up for the long drive back to town. But even just Seth and me is a party (see: Lincoln, late 2004) and we decided to do up the day, as if there was any other choice. After a ride on a rickety, very-used school bus to the top of the river, we took a few hours to lazily raft down, fighting a few floating snakes and spiders but with plenty of Miller Lite. To answer the most popular question about the show: No, there were not bands playing on the river -- they were all on site at the end. So it was a music festival with optional river-rafting and however much you want to mix those -- certainly something you couldn't get in a lot of other places, especially in southern California. The river trip was fun enough to do again, as it was still the height of the day, but we made our way around the concert site, an inviting place since, being Friday at a modest festival, it was nearly empty. Not much exaggeration: it was the most sparsely-attended music festival I've ever been to, by a long shot. It could have just been a middling festival that hadn't established itself on a greater scale, competing with all of Austin's other events, so far outside of the city, and on a Friday. So we got our fill of local brews and slip n' slide races and wandering the easy, wide-open space. There weren't a lot of acts to be there for -- it was all about that night's headliners -- so we decided when we got there to pick one and go crazy like we were big fans. We went with Robert Ellis, who played about halfway up the bill, and whose performance we were able to walk up close enough to to touch the stage, and even to heckle the band and have the keyboardist play along. But the guy was actually pretty great, enough for us to be embarrassed that we had to use him as a distraction for the day. It wasn't long after that that Esquire magazine ran a feature on him. After that was probably more Fireball shots until the night, when we ate and listened to Bright Light Social Hour at a distance (not enough to make an impression), and maybe Dr. Dog could have been something if our un-sober attention had drifted that way, but mostly it was the wait for Local Natives. To be honest, I'm not necessarily a big fan. Carla loved them from before we got together, and we'd seen them, and Seth knew them well enough to want to be in for their show. They might not have the album I want to put on but live, on that day, with that much alcohol and the bro-magic of a bachelor party weekend, they were fantastic. They played enough material that we knew (they were touring their second album, which neither of us had) and even a covers (though a predictable one). Being among a crowd sparse enough to not get cajoled while enjoying the main stage act was a rare pleasure. The relatively-few people there were also into it, likely real fans, and the vibe was contagious. Maybe it could have been any band and still have been a good time, but the fact that it was actually a good band that were fun live put it over the top to be one of the best moments among many great moments that weekend. And great to see L.A.-locals (if not natives) do so well in another city. Once the set was over we had to figure out a way back to the city, without an Uber (which, even if there was one, would be 10x the usual rate). Obviously we did, and that was an adventure too, as you could expect with the Seth & Mar Show.

Local Natives’ set-list:
“Breakers“
“World News“
“Wide Eyes“
“Black Balloons“
“Sea of Years“
“Warning Sign“ (Talking Heads cover)
“Fountain of Youth“
“You & I“
“Whatever We Want“
“Camera Talk“
“Airplanes“
“Heavy Feet“
“Who Knows, Who Cares“
“Sun Hands“

FYF Fest, August 22 & 23, 2015 at L.A. Sports Arena and Coliseum, Exposition Park

It wasn't much of a question if we'd go to FYF Fest or not, since it was the big summer, concert festival event of the year with our friends, but it helped that they had a strong line-up, even with a last-minute change in headliners (which worked in our favor). Since it was at the L.A. Sports Arena for a second year, they had worked out the kinks from the previous year, namely the bottlenecks to get from stage to stage and for the crowd to get in (even though it still took us a while, compared to the year before, when we accidentally jumped ahead in line). There was some hope on the horizon that this new home could work, to accommodate all the stages and people, and less dust than the historic park even if we had to drive. We got in early enough for Badbadnotgood, either to see an act when we had no other conflicts with or just to go inside the Sports Arena and get out of the height of the heat of the day. Their brand of new jazz couldn't get many people moving, and it was maybe a little much for any to have to consider so much about their music in the middle of the day. But they were getting around, so just outside of my orbit; I had high hopes for Dinosaur Jr., after having my face blown off by them two years before at the same fest, and now being prepared for their onslaught. Unfortunately, it was just another performance by them, flat by the standard I held them at from last time. They were solid enough, but they just rolled through their set, the only real electricity coming from how good the songs were, and that didn't require any particular effort, and it seemed like they didn't feel a need to bring it. Maybe they can turn it on and off, maybe any act can, but it was a disappointment after seeing them really bring it, even if it was only once; we spent most of the day wandering, until the evening, for Savages, another anticipation of ours. Carla was more familiar with them, but I rarely have a problem with tense, snarling, gothy girl groups. They were a little too cool to really be savages, but it still worked for them. They even noted that they were playing some songs they were still recording, which seems to be a rarity in an age of anything being put into the world as soon as it's recorded, usually unofficially. Though that next album didn't seem to go far so this might have been their height, but what it was was a highlight of the fest; Bloc Party are pretty well past their peak but they still have enough pull to tour well on new material and get an evening slot at festivals. I was still into them, getting new albums even if I couldn't tell them apart from past ones. Their base sound, of precise guitars and snappy drums and fresh production, always gets me. I didn't even know what album they were touring on but I probably got it. Apparently I was only keeping up with the albums because I didn't know they had a new drummer, a chick, who held up her end ably, and they sounded as good as they ever have, maybe even better when their sound gets out into the open night air. We only saw the end, which was enough, as it was singles I didn't recognize, but it was good enough to check in with them; Frank Ocean headlining didn't cause much excitement in our quarters. I, for one, was only tangentially familiar with him (and that was mostly from the Lonny Breaux album I got just to know him for the show, then I found out I got the wrong one). It probably wasn't bad but as art for the younger crowd, I need something with more bite, and this one didn't do much for me. The rest of the line-up was good enough that it didn't necessarily need him, but that would still leave a vacancy of a good top tier. We could have survived with or without him, as the worst that could happen would be we'd go home early, assuming there were no other acts, so when they replaced him with Kanye West, that was only extra, and a lot extra. With or without the music, he's one of the biggest names in this age. Heck, my parents know who Kanye is (though for the wrong reasons). He might be one of the few things that Carla & I disagree on, but he's as much a musical genius as we've had in the modern age, as far as I'm concerned. If rock music isn't going to bother being exciting anymore and new rock stars are lame, at least let him have a go at it. He's probably even too big for a local music festival that used to be a punk thing, but it certainly made a stake at standing alongside any of the others, especially since they were able to get him at nearly the last minute. Even if his name at the time was more from being a celebrity than a musician, it was misguided to forget that he had made his name on his impressive musical ability. For whatever reason he did it -- maybe charging his emergency rate, or to prove that he really could hang his name on his music like he says he can and didn't have to rely on the rest of the noise -- he brought it. It takes some courage to make yourself vulnerable as the only one on the stage, with only his DJ somewhere off-stage, but it wouldn't be the first time he's mixed up bravery and hubris. But when he can put on a performance like he did, he can do as he likes. You may not like Kanye's music (which is crazy since he's usually the top of the game in his class, so that's your problem) but what he has he cranked to the max that night.  It was just him and the music, and he knew it, and everyone else did, and he played as hard as anyone could. He never brought up the rest of the crap that seems to surround him, which he invited of course but that's just part of that world -- he was there for and with the music, and even if everyone else was aware of the rest of the static, he didn't put it out there and no one else seemed interested anyway (even if they were there hoping for a train-wreck. Did they expect him to bring a reality show on-stage? Though if he made a few fans from the curiosity of his circus, then maybe it was worth it). Though even a headliner gets only so much time in their set, and he was aware of it. By the time we got over there he was already winding it down, even though he had plenty of time to do several songs. But he had so many hits left to play, he told us, and he made a point of burning through as many as he could, down to the last seconds he had, even if some were left as snippets or he abandoned a few part-way through when he wanted to jump to the next one. It was a harried, dizzying spell, putting down more effort than most would bother, and more spontaneously than most rock shows. With as much money and fame as he had, he didn't have much to prove, and he could have left FYF out to dry, but he seemed dedicated to show that he could be as great as he said he was. Maybe he didn't pull out the stops all the time, but that night he pulled it off. Frank who?; the Jesus + Mary Chain could have been the headliners, at least for this crowd, and seeing them shunted to a side-stage was disappointing but probably appropriate. They were a high-point for the line-up, but by the end of the day, we were about done. We saw enough of their set to know it was their usual thing, which is generally electrifying, but with so many other bands co-opting their sound for so long, we were more than familiar with them one way or another, so to our exhausted spirits we could sacrifice them to leave. Missed: Metz (after everyone made a big deal about them a few years ago, but they were too early), Cold Cave (I was good, having seen them before), Flying Lotus (if for only the Thom Yorke connection).

Sunday was, of course, more of the same.  Carla and her feet had had enough of the previous day so I went it alone, riding in with Rachel and Jen but wandering on my own for much of it and meeting up with the others as it happened.  The first half of the day was a bit sparse, with my first act being Spiritualized in the indoor sports arena.  They're a good band, maybe even better than flogging Ladies & Gentlemen... far more than it had distance, but they're unextraordinary on stage as a full band. Credit that guy with taking a chance when it was just himself and a string quartet, no matter how nap-worthy, but that wasn't the case here. But a decent way to ease into the day; I probably remember more of what I was drinking (beer) in the garden more than Toro Y Moi. It was probably some nice vibes for the afternoon but at the time forgettable enough that I shot portraits of everyone in our group that was there, who showed up in number enough for this but I'm not sure why; dark came quickly, and with it choices for what to see, so by default there was the main stage and Flume, who I guessed was a DJ, but he actually got it going and earned the spot. I'm not opposed to DJs and whatever they're doing, it's just not what I'm there for. But I can always appreciate good tunes, no matter where they come from or how they're made. Flume sounded good, enough to hang around for, even if there was even less to look at than the average band (since his visuals, obligatory anymore for any act who performs just standing there, were just blandly standard psychedelic graphics). Then he brought up Lorde, which was notable just that she was there, even if their collaboration went right through me. She looked like any other concert-goer so maybe we saw her earlier in the day and maybe that was her intention, but the moment was enough to make that dude's show stand out for the day; the other big anticipation of the day was a gamble, a band I had barely ever heard of and only knew by reputation: Death Grips.  In a short amount of time they had accumulated their own notoriety, or even infamy, which wasn't so unappealing for a band peddling horror-rap. That was enough for me (even if it that point they mostly stood out because I thought they'd already broken up, so maybe it was convincing that it was a big deal that they were back together, if not that they had even existed in the first place). Through the haze of blinding, maroon lights, they crushed the stage, screaming vocals that could be heavy-metal or grindcore or punk if it was human at all. That dude would have been scary enough but the performance sealed the deal. If a band could ever be terrifying, and not campy like so many have fallen to (sorry, Marilyn Manson), this was it. It was something to build on, if they even cared, and if they could stay together long enough to keep it going. At least we got that night, and they were as good as any cautious anticipation could expect; of course the main reason to be there, as for anyone, was Morrissey. It seemed a shock when he was announced on the line-up but then it made perfect sense, and seemed strange that he hadn't done it before.  He hasn't been big enough to headline Coachella, though he had been on the main stage multiple times, including the first year. And with the Latino population of southern California that loves him so much, he'll fill any local venue that will have him, and he might as well be the biggest name at a local festival. As good as it is to see him on a festival line-up, as well as inevitable, I'd probably seen him enough by that point and I wasn't waiting around for him to trudge out an obscure Smiths chestnut to make my life complete. That said, he had been playing "Speedway" on this tour, and while that was not necessarily quite enough to go out of my way for one of his shows, if I was already there I'd see him, if I wasn't planning to already (and I probably would be anyway).  Obviously there was a Morrissey crowd -- gothy, Latino, Brit-mod, over-aged (though not usually more than one of those) -- and there was reverence, even if there was some nervousness about if he was actually going to play the show. It's doubtful that anyone even noticed that the food vendors near the stage weren't selling anything with meat (and maybe the rest of the place but we didn't notice for beyond that area). On my own, I got in position. It was the usual Morrissey performance -- at this point he's not going to change what works, save for what songs he's picked and what shirt is going to be sacrificed to the crowd. The band, as ever, were faceless but diligent and it sounded as good as it ever does. "Speedway" was early, as I knew it would be, and it bought the biggest surprise: he surrendered the song to one of his band members, who sang/spoke it in Spanish. It was an interesting change-up but that's one that I just wanted performed, not monkeyed with. Luckily, I've seen it before, played straight. But it was a good attempt to bring out one of his best tracks (and one I hold even over the Smiths catalog) even if it went right over the crowd. Seeing it also meant that I was free to leave, so I wandered off. I was good with missing out on any Smiths high-points later on, since I'd also likely seen those as well, so I'd had my fill of Moz and I was good for the day; there wasn't much to see after that, after the other stages were shut down either to not compete with the headliners or because they were done for the day, so I started heading to the exit. But made a stop at Thee Oh Sees to cap it off. I had gotten into them, for at least one album (Mutilator Defeated At Last), after Rollins had played a track of theirs on his show which was sufficient to blow me away.  I didn't have enough appreciation for them to stick around long, and they seem to play the festival and local venues pretty regularly so I'd see them again. So a sampling, maybe even caught "Web", then I was done with the festival for another year. Missed: Belle & Sebastian (who I'd seen enough of, even though I'd keep getting their albums. A festival is probably not the best place to see them anyway (even though that's the only places I've ever seen them)).

Morrissey's set-list:
"The Queen Is Dead"(The Smiths)
"Suedehead"
"Alma Matters"
"Kiss Me a Lot"
"Ganglord"
"Speedway"
"Staircase at the University"
"World Peace Is None of Your Business"
"I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris"
"Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before"(The Smiths)
"First of the Gang to Die"
"Istanbul"
"Everyday Is Like Sunday"
"The Bullfighter Dies"
"Meat Is Murder"(The Smiths)
"Now My Heart Is Full"
"I Will See You in Far-Off Places"
"What She Said"(The Smiths)

Kanye West's set-list:
"No Church in the Wild"(JAY Z & Kanye West cover)
"Stronger"
"Power"
"Black Skinhead"
"Niggas in Paris"(JAY Z & Kanye West cover)
"All Day"
"Can't Tell Me Nothing"
"Cold"
"I Don't Like"(Chief Keef cover)
"Mercy"
"Blessing"(Big Sean cover)
"New Slaves"
"Blood on the Leaves"
"Upper Echelon"(Travi$ Scott cover; with Travis Scott)
"Antidote"(Travi$ Scott cover; with Travis Scott)
"Runaway"
"FourFiveSeconds"(with Rihanna singing from the pit)
"10 years of hits in 10 minutes": "Jesus Walks"/"All Falls Down"/"Gold Digger"/"All of the Lights"(with Rihanna)/"Touch the Sky"/"Good Life"/"Only One"

Bloc Partys' set-list:
"The Good News"
"Hunting for Witches"
"Positive Tension"
"Real Talk"
"Waiting for the 7.18"
"Song for Clay" (Disappear Here) (Kele's "Tenderoni" Intro)
"Banquet"
"One More Chance"
"Octopus"
"Ratchet"
"Helicopter"
"Flux"
"This Modern Love"

Dinosaur Jr.s' set-list:
"The Lung"
"Start Choppin'"
"Repulsion"
"Watch the Corners"
"Feel the Pain"
"Just Like Heaven"(The Cure cover)
"Little Fury Things"
"Sludgefeast"

Death Grips' set-list:
"Come Up and Get Me"
"Inanimate Sensation"
"Get Got"
"I've Seen Footage"
"You Might Think He Loves You for Your Money but I Know What He Really Loves You for It's Your Brand New Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat"
"Hustle Bones"
"Hacker"
"Lock Your Doors"
"The Fever (Aye Aye)"
"Guillotine"
"No Love"
"Big House"
"Anne Bonny"

Savages' set-list:
"City's Full"
"Shut Up"
"I Need Something New"
"Sad Person"
"Evil"
"Adore"
"I Am Here"
"She Will"
"Hit Me"
"Husbands"
"Fuckers"

Flume's set-list:
"Tennis Court"(Lorde)
"Turning"(Collarbones; Flume Remix)
"Some Minds"
"You & Me"(Disclosure; Flume Remix)
"Insane"
"Warm Thoughts"
"Sleepless"