Setlist from tonight’s service at Farrington Road Baptist Church in Chapel Hill.

Glory To God – Fee
Consuming Fire – Tim Hughes
How He Loves Us – John Mark McMillan
Another Hallelujah – Lincoln Brewster
When I Survey – Isaac Watts

Na véspera da véspera do show do AC/DC no Brasil, senti uma necessidade inexplicável de registrar minha empolgação no meu próprio blog!

Vou aproveitar para publicar o prováveç setlist da banda que cacei por aí. Em alguns paíseis, os shows foram menores e cortaram algumas músicas (Dog Eat Dog, Shoot To Thrill e Anything Goes), mas basicamente o setlist de toda Black Ice Tour é o mesmo!

Aí está:

Rock n Roll Train
Hell Ain’t a Bad Place To be
Back In Black
Big Jack
Dirty deeds done dirt cheap
Shot Down in Flames
Thunderstruck
Black Ice
The Jack
Hells Bells
Shoot to thrill
War Machine
Dog Eat Dog
Anything Goes
You Shook Me all night long
TNT
Whole lotta Rosie
Let There Be Rock

E o encore:

Highway To Hell
For Those About To Rock

Are you ready to Rock, São Paulo?

Ah, e se rolar essa abertura no show, será sensacional! Rock ‘n Roll Train Animated Intro:

FYI… PHOTOS of the SHOW at the BOTTOM

Like mostly everyone who is into The Swell Season (Glen Hansard of The Frames with Markéta Irglová), I got into them via the movie ONCE.  They came through Eugene after I had moved to town, but before I had gotten into them.  My brother made me watch it when we were home for my other brother’s wedding (July 2008), and I suppose I should thank him for that.   With The Swell Season’s original 2009 Strict Joy tour date press release, they didn’t have a Eugene date, but I’m glad they added one…

The opener was Doveman’s frontman Thomas Bartlett.  He played about a half of an hour of whispy piano tunes.  He seemed slightly shy, rarely looking towards the crowd… but maybe that’s just his style or how the piano was set up for him.  Due to his whispy vocals, he struck me as similar to Jeff Hanson or slimmer, beardless Sam Beam of Iron & Wine – but on piano.  He’s worked with The Frames, Swell Season, Antony & the Johnsons, Laurie Anderson, Arto Lindsay, The National, and Yoko Ono in the past – so that put him in my “he’s cool” book.  Songs he played included “Angel’s Share ” (about whisky), “The Burgundy Stain” (about wine), and a medley to the Footloose soundtrack.  The Footloose songs were fantastically mournful and sad.  Classic!

The show opened with Glen and Markéta coming out and crouching down in front of the center mic.  I wasn’t close enough to see if someone was playing the electronics / keyboards, but they started out with “Fallen From the Sky” – staying crouched down for the whole song.  Luckily that didn’t continue for the rest of the show (or my continued photos would have been lame).

After the initial song, the band came out.  The band was made up of the rest of The Frames, Glen’s band that was the precursor to Once and The Swell Season.  I’m very rapidly becoming a serious fan of Glen’s vocals… which I suppose means that I need to get The Frames’ back catalog.  Vocally Glen reminds me a lot of my buddy, Ashley Peacock.  Most of the set was Glen on vocals, but Markéta covered lead vocals for “If You Want Me,” “Fantasy Man,” and “I Have Loved You Wrong.”  As far as most powerful vocal performance… I’ll have to go with “Say It To Me Now,” where Glen played solo and off microphone.  A few songs later, Glen was killin’ his guitar on Van Morrison’s “Astral Weeks,” and he shredded at least a couple of strings – luckily his roadie was on top of things and brought out a replacement guitar right away.

Setlist: just over 2 hours

• Fallen From The Sky
• Lies
• Low Rising
• In These Arms *a fave of the night*
• The Rain *a fave of the night*
• The Moon
• If You Want Me
• Fantasy Man
• Say It To Me Now (Glen solo, off mic) *a fave of the night*
• Leave
• Lay Me Down
• Astral Weeks [Van Morrison]
• The Blue Shoes (Colin solo violin song)
• I Have Loved You Wrong
• Once *a fave of the night*
• When Your Mind’s Made Up *a fave of the night*
• Encore: Falling Slowly *a fave of the night*
• High Hope (new song)
• High Horses
• Broken Hearted Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy
• It All Falls Down (with Doveman)
• Red Chord [The Frames]
• The Parting Glass [The Clancy Brothers]

After leaving the venue, I bet everyone thought they got their money’s worth… a great show, great vocals by Glen & Markéta.  While I know this was a break-up record of sort, I’m glad that they’re still able to work together.  And while it may be a long shot, I hope they do continue to work together in the future.

many more pictures below

The “Low Rising” video directed by Sam Beam (from Iron & Wine):

The Swell Season’s new record, Strict Joy, is better than the Once soundtrack, if you ask me.  You can get it at Amazon below:

The Appropriate Linkage:

• The Swell Season’s Site
• The Swell Season on MySpace
• Jason Segel guesting with Swell Season (in L.A.) (youtube link)
• The Frames’ Site
• The Frames on MySpace
• Doveman’s Site
• Doveman on MySpace
• McDonald Theatre

Check out more tour dates below.

~Dan – np: Pearl Jam – Backspacer

THE SWELL SEASON & DOVEMAN PHOTOS
all pictures (cc) 2009 Daniel Temmesfeld,
you may use freely under a creative commons attribution

(click for larger)

Higher Resolution (8 pics)

Limited to 1200 pixels wide or tall (30 pics)

Tour Dates
1 – Milwaukee, Wisc. @ The Pabst
2 – Indianapolis, Ind. @ Clowes Memorial Hall
3 – Toronto, Ontario @ Massey Hall
4 – Montreal, Quebec @ L’Olympia de Montreal
6 – Boston, Mass. @ Berklee College of Music Performance Center
7 – Providence, R.I. @ Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel
8 – Philadelphia, Pa. @ Merriam Theater
9 – Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club
12 – New Orleans, La. @ House of Blues
13 – Houston, Texas @ Warehouse Live
14 – Dallas, Texas @ Palladium
15 – Austin, Texas @ Paramount Theatre
17 – Mesa, Ariz. @ Mesa Arts Center
18 – Los Angeles, Calif. @ The Wiltern
20 – San Francisco, Calif. @ The Paramount
22 – Seattle, Wash. @ The Paramount
23 – Eugene, OR @ McDonald Theatre
24 – Portland, Ore. @ Crystal Ballroom
25 – Vancouver, B.C. @ Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts
27 – Boise, Idaho @ Egyptian Theatre
28 – Salt Lake City, Utah @ Jeanne Wagner Theatre
29 – Denver, Colo. @ Ogden Theatre
30 – Kansas City, Mo. @ Uptown Theater

December 2009
3 – Chicago, Ill. @ Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University
4 – St. Louis, Mo. @ The Pageant
5 – Minneapolis, Minn. @ State Theatre

Hey There,

Every few years, a band that was popular in the seventies or eighties who had broken up will reunite and go on a tour.   In the tours of this nature that I’ve seen (Yes and REM, specifically), the performances were great.

The one group I would like to see reunite is Genesis.  Now, I know they did reunite a couple of years ago, but it wasn’t the lineup I wanted.  During my favorite era of Genesis’ history, the lineup was Peter Gabriel on Vocals, Steve Hackett on Guitar, Mike Rutherford on Bass, Tony Banks on Keyboards and Phil Collins on Drums.  This era, roughly from 1971-1975, produced my favorite Genesis songs.  That’s not to say that I don’t like their later work, but 1971-1975 is second to none.

It’s that lineup that I wish reunited and toured.  There have been rumors of them reuniting from time to time, but they never actually happened.  If they did actually reunite to play live, this is the set list I would like them to play:

1. Lamb Lies Down on Broadway/Fly on a Windshield/Broadway Melody of 1974 – These are the first three songs of Lamb Lies Down on Broadway and exemplify this classic era lineup- great musicianship, excellent lyrics, expert use of dramatic dynamics.  Of these, Broadway Melody is my favorite, but instrumental section at the end of Fly on a Windshield is as heavy as they get.

2. Get ‘Em Out By Friday – This is from Foxtrot (1972).  This is an interesting song, about a fictional version of England where the Directors of Genetic Control have decided to make people shorter.  Peter plays a number of characters in this song, which adds to the drama.  Musically, it’s a busy song with some odd time signatures.  For the eight and a half minutes of the song, there aren’t a whole lot of breaks, which keeps you listening.

3. Firth of Fifth -  This is from Selling England By the Pound.  The lyrics aren’t the best, but the instrumental break contains one of Steve Hackett’s most dramatic solos. I get chills every time I hear it.  After he left the band, Mike Rutherford took over the solo.  While still dramatic, it’s not the same when Mike plays it.

4. Dancing with the Moonlight Knight – This is the opening track of Selling England By the Pound (1973).  It begins with Peter singing a cappella, then builds to a fast instrumental break.  The lyrics contain a number of mythological and English references, which I had to look up, but the first two minutes or so are some of the most beautiful singing and musical accompaniment in Genesis’ history.

5. The Musical Box – This song is from Nursery Cryme (1971) and is one of the most famous songs of the Classic Era.  The instrumental break goes from soft to very hard to soft and the last few minutes are pretty dramatic.  Lyrically, this song is pretty strange.  A boy’s soul is trapped in a musical box that plays Old King Cole.  When a girl (the one who actually killed the boy), opens the box, the boy comes back to life, but starts to age rapidly.  He becomes lecherous towards the girl, whose nanny walks in at the end and kills the “old” boy by throwing the musical box at him.  Like I said, it’s weird, but a great song.  In recent years, the band played the ending of the song as part of a medley.

6. More Fool Me – This is from To give Peter a break and let Phil sing, I’d like them to play this song.  It’s a strangely sweet song about a guy whose girlfriend walked out on him.

7. Anyway – This is from disc 2 of Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.  By far, my favorite Genesis song of all time.  Lamb was a concept album, but this song also works on it’s own.  It’s mainly about death, or more accurately, waiting for death.  The main character of the album and the song believes he is going to die and has accepted it, so he’s waiting for the end.  This song includes a great guitar solo, great piano playing and an active drum part.  If this song starts to play on my ipod, I’ll usually listen to it twice before moving to the next song.

8. In the Cage – This is from Disc 1 of Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.  I like the keyboard solo on this song most of all.  It’s a pretty fast song that is based on a difficult rhythm.

9. Supper’s Ready – This song is pretty much all of Side B From Foxtrot (Horizons, a short acoustic solo by Steve Hackett is also on Side B).  This is Genesis’  longest song  (over 23 minutes).  Over the course of the song, there are a number of different melodies.  Not all of the sections are great, but taken together, the song does a good job of building the drama to a great climax (a section called Apocalypse in 9/8).  One of my favorites, but I don’t always have 23 minutes to listen to a song.  They regularly played this song live, so I know they could play it during a reunion tour.

10. The Knife – This is the only song from the pre-Phil Collins and Steve Hackett lineup, from an album called Trespass.  In contrast to the rest of Trespass, it is a very aggressive song about a violent revolution.  They often used this as a closing number or an encore and I believe it is the perfect way to end the concert.

These 10 songs amount to about an hour and a half of music.  As an encore, I’d have them play Back in NYC (from Lamb Lies Down on Broadway), Watcher of the Skies (from Foxtrot) and I Know What I Like (from Selling England By the Pound).

I was probably 12.5 years old when I heard Franz Ferdinand for the first time. I think it was early 2005, they just released their debut album. I was exploring music by that time, and this was the first thing that really got me, and it got me good. Since that moment, Franz has been my favourite band for about 2.5 years. But then I discovered Ben Folds, and I got more into ‘listening’ music, like Fleet Foxes and Andrew Bird. Anyhow, I still have a small weak spot in my heart for them.

I’ve seen Franz Ferdinand earlier this year. They played at the Paradiso in May, it’s a smaller venue than the HMH. To be honest, I wasn’t really impressed that day. Was it because I went to the best gig in my life a few days earlier(Andrew Bird)? Was it because I was stressed because I had some important tests at school? Were it the 11-year olds with moms and dads that annoyed me? I don’t know, because it was a pretty good set, but I wasn’t impressed, so I decided to give Franz Ferdinand another chance.

But good, let’s move on to the show at the HMH. The night kicks off with the Cribs. They’re probably support act because Kapranos is good friends with the brothers Jarman, he produced their third album. I’ve always had a bit of a weak spot for the Cribs. Maybe because I met Ross Jarman last year at a festival. He’s a really nice, sweet, friendly, cute/handsome chap. Musically, they’re not really my cup of tea (anymore) but I definitely do respect their music. Anyway, most songs they played were from their last album. I don’t know what it is, but I feel like I don’t connect that much with that album. Still they’re a good band and they did give a good performance, though I don’t really understand what Johnny Marr is still doing there.

Franz Ferdinand kicked of their show with ‘This Fire’, a good choice, a good song. Immediately, half the crowd (maybe even 2/3) became a jumping mess. I don’t know, I don’t really like that. But you know that’s going to happen when you go to a band like Franz Ferdinand. At the moment I felt like that this could really become a pretty good evening and a pretty good show.

But no, it didn’t turn out to go that way. The first half of the set was just pumping songs into the venue. And they didn’t sound different than the album tracks to me. I mean, I could just put on the album on my iPod if I wanted to hear that. And after 30 minutes I was rather disappointed, again. Come on Franz! You folks have such great stuff, you can get more out of that.
Luckily the second half of the show was much better. 40′ was the start of the better half. I don’t know what it was that made it better. Musical variation, more guitar noise? It seemed at least more spontaneous.

Also ‘Outsiders’ was pretty nice. The band grouped around a drum kit and smashed it in pieces (well, not literally), good stuff, good variation, that’s what I want to see(you can see it on the picture . Sadly enough, only those two songs for the encore did really draw my attention and made my feel a bit of my ‘old’ love for the band.

After the encore, the band was capable of following that good line. ‘The Dark of the Matinee’ and ‘Darts of Pleasure’ were performed slightly different from the album version, also ‘Turn It On’ was performed nicely. The band ended their set with ‘Lucid Dreams’, that ended in a massive electro beat song. Great stuff, but I’ve seen that before in Paradiso (in may).

I was pretty happy that I managed to keep a good view, even with all those jumping and dancing people. It’s absolutely clear that Alex Kapranos is the leading man in the group. Nipping his wine, crazy little jumps, waving his arms. He’s one of the most charismatic people I’ve ever seen. He plays the crowd with ease (but that could also be experience).

Something that really bugged me was the level of the sound. It was way too loud. My right ear still hurts (yes I visit the doctor), and still I have an annoying beep/buzz in my ear. I hope it’s over tomorrow coz it’s freaking annoying! I don’t think that was supposed to happen. Also the sound changed, with that I mean that it didn’t sound like it should sound. Not good! And it didn’t benefit anyone, so why so much volume?! I really should get earplugs!

My conclusion is that Franz Ferdinand is a pretty good live band, if you want to jump around and dance. And that are the crowds they attract. And that’s just not my cup of tea, but that’s just me. I do understand if people love their shows. But if you want to be musically challenged and get inspiration, they’re not the right band, at least, not for me. They show that they’re capable of giving me that feeling in the second half of their show. But no hate to Franz, the only person to blame here is me (and probably my change of music taste). They are definitely a very good live band!

Overall, it was good show, but no tears and weird feelings in my body this time, well the only weird feeling is an injured ear. And that ’s not a nice feeling! It’s never a good sign if you’re wondering what time it is during a show(in other words: how long will it last?), right?! I’ll probably won’t go to another Franz Ferdinand show, but I’ll definitely check them out on a festival. With earplugs!

More pictures can be found here

Setlist (again, I might miss a few songs):
This Fire
Live Alone
Walk Away
Tell Her Tonight
Can’t Stop Feeling
Bite Hard
Do You Want To
Michael
No You Girls
The Scottish Song
Ulysses
40′
Outsiders
Encore
Dark of the Matinee
Darts of Pleasure
Turn it On
Lucid Dreams

[7.2/10] (but if you love this type of shows, probably higher)

The review is coming up soon, but for now here is their set list from last night at the Wilbur Theatre:

1. “No Way”
2. “Sacred Trickster”
3. “Calming the Snake”
4. “Stereo Sanctity”
5. “Walkin’ Blue”
6. “Anti-Orgasm”
7. “Leaky Lifeboat (For Gregory Corso)”
8. “Shadow of A Doubt”
9. “Antenna”
10. “Malibu Gas Station”
11. “Poison Arrow”
12. “Tom Violence”
13. “Massage the History”
——-Encore Break——–
14. “The Sprawl”
15. “Cross the Breeze”
—–2nd Encore Break—-
16. “What We Know”
17. “Death Valley 69″

• Your Grace Is Enough – Matt Maher / Chris Tomlin
• Cannons – Phil Wickham
• Consuming Fire – Tim Hughes
• Above All – Micheal W. Smith

It makes me so happy to see new people join us at Story Church.  However, I am even happier at the fact that these new people choose to come back!  Story Church is growing and it’s exciting to be a part of it.  God is opening so many opportunities for us right now that will allow us to support our local community.

I’ve been loving the song Consuming Fire recently and this morning we introduced it in our service.  It’s so easy to sing and the words for me are powerful.  It worked very well, so we’ll definitely be keeping the song in circulation for a while.

I’m starting to tire a little of Your Grace Is Enough.  Think it’s time to hold back a little on it before it’s over cooked.

Does anyone sub-consciously categorise songs like I do?  There are exceptions, but I find myself placing most songs in my library into one of three categories.

1. Fast / Up-tempo / Praise
2. Medium / Praise
3. Slow / Intimate / Worship

I put Your Grace Is Enough in the Fast category which is one of the lesser populated categories in my library.  Most of my library will fall into Medium and Slow.  I have improved over the years by building up my collection of Fast songs, but there’s still not enough to select from sometimes.

With all the preparations that go into crafting a worship service, it’s nice when everything goes as planned. We had a good time in worship and fellowship as the body of Christ.

All of our pastors had a break from preaching as we had the executive minister of our convention as guest speaker. Dr. Peter Reid used Luke’s story of Zacchaeus’ encounter with Jesus to reiterate that Jesus was on a mission. His message was called “mission possible” (a little play on Mission Impossible). The band was great today; I feel so blessed to work with such a dedicated team.

Here are the songs we chose for today:

The Band:

Tech team:

So, how were your weekend services? Click on over to Fred McKinnon’s blog and share your thoughts at Sunday Setlists.

1. These Walls
2. Carry You There
3. Take Our Chances
4. Go
5. Use Me Up (Zac solo)
6. Never Let Go (Taylor solo)
7. Waiting For This
8. Make It Out Alive

9. Next Train
10. Cecilia
11. Breaktown (only half of the song)
12. Coming Back For More

Every once in a while you go to a gig and there’s something in the air. A certain feeling you’re in the presence of the future, witnessing the crest of a new creative epoch. This year I had that feeling watching WILD PALMS at the Victoria and again seeing ERRORS in store at Pure Groove. I’m pleased to say I wasn’t alone in feeling it about what surely must be one of the best shows we’ve ever had last night. POPE JOAN are stunning. I’ve never seen anyone own the whole venue quite like that before. And the boys were on the top of their game indeed. People were wandering in for a pint and then stopping mesmerised mouths literally open in front of the stage. Like I said. Once in a while there’s something in the air.

I must sing the praises of MATT TRAKKER too. Theirs was an incredible set. Their drummer is returning to the UK next year so they’re going to stop using a mic-ed up a ghetto blaster for their backing beats. More’s the pity. That was something to behold! Far from novelty though. MT have some serious song skills. We’re proud to have played host to them at No Fiction.

I enjoyed my set this week. Fail request of the week would probably be Wolfmother. I’m big on Modular records and WM aren’t out of the remit for what we play, but if I was to go down that road I would probably go straight to source and just play some real Led Zepplin rather than the wannabe. Best request was probably ‘just play more Smiths’. Those who know me will know that usually gets a big Can Do! I’m a proper sucker for the Mozz Father.

Here’s how the playlist shaped up for last night;

Andrew NoFiction:
Yadnus - !!!
Blind - Hercules and Love Affair (Frankie Knuckles RMX)
Leather – Death In Vegas
Fire – The Whip
Anyway you choose to give it – Black Ghosts
Shoes – Tiga
Flicking your switch – Ladytron
My girls – Animal Collective
The way we were – XX Teens
Let’s go surfing – Drums
Mansard roof – Vampire Weekend
Ask – The Smiths
Magnet – Bombay Bicycle Club
North American scum – LCD Soundsystem
Cinema car – Transformer
Three bar rumba – Wire
Golden phone – Mikachu and the Shapes
22 grand job – The Rakes
My little brother – Art Brut
Drugs - Black Lips
Riot radio – The Dead 60s
No Fun – Iggy and the Stooges
Road runner (once) – John Richman and the Modern Lovers
Human fly – The Cramps
Shot by both sides – Magazine
Transmission – Joy Division
Black tongue – The Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Love in a trash can – The Raveonettes
This is love – PJ Harvey
Dance the way I feel – Ou Est Le Swimming Pool
Walking on a dream – Empire of the Sun
On board – Friendly Fires
M.E. – Gary Numan
NY Excuse – Soulwax
Shake a fist – Hot Chip
Heart rate rapid – Metronomy
The game is not over – T Raumschmiere Feat. Miss Kittin
I love London – Crystal Fighters
Treat me like your Mother - The Dead Weather
Atlas – Battles
Fledermaus can’t get it – Von Sudenfed
Farewell to the fairground – White Lies
Heard it through the grapevine – The Slits
One way or another – Blondie
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before – The Smiths
Trans Europe Express – Kraftwerk
Seven nation army – The White Stripes
Heroes – David Bowie
Close to me – The Cure
Young folks – Peter, Bjorn and John
Sex on fire – Kings of Leon
Debaser – Pixies
Paper planes - M.I.A.
Disco 2000 – Pulp
Munich – Editors
Slowhands - Interpol
Graffiti – Maximo Park
Can’t stand me now – The Libertines
Wuthering Heights – Kate Bush
Warrior’s dance – The Prodigy
Kids – MGMT
Wordy rappinghood – Tom Tom Club
Broken English – Marianne Faithful (Baron Von Luxxury RMX)
Hi friend – Dead Mau5
Thou shalt always kill – Dan Le Sac vs. Losers
Kiss with a fist – Florence and the Machine
Hard to explain – The Strokes
Heavy Cross – Gossip
Islands – The XX

Make sure you’re down next Friday for RightClickSaveAs and A Gun Rack?. This will be epic. As a taster here’s a you tube of RCSA doing an unplugged gig for us at Liquid Nation last Summer;

No Fiction is every Friday at Power’s, 332 Kilburn High Road, London, NW6 2QN.
8 till 2am. 18+ bring ID.
Always FREE ENTRY.
Drinks promos on Kronenburg, Tequila and Red Stripe.

See you then.
xx

Rise Against are without a doubt the most-listened to artist in my huge directory of music during the last three or four years. After accidentally stumbling across their song ‘Give it All’ as the backing to a skateboarding compilation video on YouTube sometime in early 2006, I have since developed quite a fascination for their Melodic, Hardcore sound.

Last night, in Manchester, I got to witness them live. To say they didn’t disappoint me would be a vast understatement. They totally blew the place apart, covering a wide range of new and old songs from they impressive discography. My personal favourite was the live rendition of ‘Paper Wings’, from the album ‘Siren Song of the Counter Culture’.

The crowd, too, was very impressive. Even before the main attraction hit the stage they were forming full-circle mosh pits to the [CD] sound of Rage Against The Machine. Bodies of all sizes were jumping into one another and then been tossed to the front of the stage by a barrage of hands. Shoes were catapulted across the room and into people’s faces (including my own, which provoked a sudden rush of blood from my nose); the security guards even broke out the hose pipes and began rehydrating the audience with water because the kinetic heat got so intense.

All night, I was striving to get a few photos of the event, but because of how jam-packed the arena was with bouncing bodies, I was unsuccessful. However, when Rise performed their two ’slower songs’, I did manage to record a few minutes of video. You can view ‘Swing Life Away’ and ‘Hero of War’ below:

(Snippet of Rage Against The Machine mosh pit forming prior to Rise entering the stage.)

Simply put, it was a truly awesome night — one that I definitely won’t be forgetting any time soon.

Setlist:

1. Collapse (Post-Amerika)
2. State of the Union
3. Re-Education (Through Labor)
4. Paper Wings
5. Long Forgotten Sons
6. The Good Left Undone
7. Chamber the Cartridge
8. Drones
9. The Dirt Whispered
10. Audience of One
11. Blood to Bleed
12. Savior
13. Survive
14. Blood-Red White And Blue
15. Prayer of the Refugee

Encore:
16. Swing Life Away
17. Hero of War

Encore 2:
18. Dancing for Rain
19. Give it All
20. Ready to Fall

This past Sunday came and went for most people with little or no notice. It was just another Sunday. For me it was different. This past Sunday was the first Sunday I finally believed I could live up to my calling.

I’ve been a worship leader since 2002 which puts me 7 years into this journey, however there is a lot people don’t know about that journey. When I first started this crazy adventure I had zero clue what I was doing. I had been playing guitar barely a few months and the previous worship leaders in the youth group I was volunteering didn’t work out for one reason or another so I got my shot. I look back at those days fondly because I was learning by doing. I had a great mentor in the spiritual aspect of worship leading but when it came down to it, I had no mentor musically who could help me out.

And so it went for 2 years. I was leading 2 – 3 times a month (sometimes more) and showing some progress but really having no idea what was happening. I’d pick songs simply because I liked them, not so much because it told a story or took people into a certain conversation with God inside of a gathering.

2004 saw me start playing gigs on the road for various churches, events, and even an 8 week stand in Charleston, South Carolina at the Charleston Outreach camp. This time period is where I started learning how to control my voice a little better, find some higher ranges, and figure out the art of the worship setlist and how that flows.

The end of 2004 saw me burnout. I had gone as high as I could in my current situation so I headed from Richmond, Va. north a couple of hours to Washington DC. For the next year and a half I played rarely and only led 3 – 4 times. I felt as if I had lost my calling and was wandering in the desert.

2006 saw me move to Tallahassee, Florida to finish school at Florida State. 5 months after being in Tally, I visited Element3 Church. I found a church home and a new lease on life. Early 2007 saw me regain my passion for worship leading and by the spring I was given a shot by Eric Case, our worship pastor.

I realized in this I had a lot to learn, but I finally had the mentor, leading, and teaching I needed to season me in what I felt my calling was. There have been a lot of ups and downs in the past two and a half years of leading. I’ve had some good gatherings and I’ve had some pretty terrible gatherings.

This past Sunday, 11.15.09, I finally felt at home. There were 3 new songs I hadn’t played live before and two I was very comfortable with. The 9:30am was slightly shaky but I attribute it to the band feeling sleepy still and working the morning kinks out. 11am went well except for one slight miscue on my part. Then 7pm came. It was the best gathering I’d ever led in 7 years. The music flowed, the Spirit spoke, I got the goosebumps on stage during “How He Loves”, the community worshipped, and it was fun. Pure fun.

I won’t bore you on my views of worship and why the intricate portions of Sunday worked so well. If you’re interested, you can email me or grab me in person to talk.

So, after this Sunday, I finally feel I can really do this. Thanks to the Element3 community for not throwing vegetables at me when they surely could have at many junctures on stage. Thanks to Mark McNees for not kicking me off the stage when I’ve had some bad Sundays. Thanks to John Mark for putting an 18 year old kid who had no clue what he was doing in a leadership position. Lastly, thanks to Eric Case for actually believing I could do this and taking the time to make sure I learned and did new things. I owe all of you and so many more a huge hug and thank you.

I think I can really do this now…..

Concert 30 SECONDS TO MARS à Paris Elysée-Montmartre 18 Novembre 2009 – This Is War.
Concert 30 SECONDS TO MARS à Paris Elysée-Montmartre 18 Novembre 2009 – This Is War.

Article en cours.

Bon concert, un peu court.
Bonne présence.
On a eu droit aux nouvelles chansons REVENGE, THIS IS WAR, KINGS AND QUEENS.
Photos et vidéos à venir.

Si quelqu’un à la chance d’avoir eu la set list, pourrais-tu me donner la liste des chansons. Merci

set list de mémoire / à compléter svp.

A Beautiful Lie
Attack
From Yesterday
(?)
The Story
Kings And Queens
The Kill
Revenge
Capricorn
This Is War

Vidéo : This Is War

Tu étais là ?
T’en a pensé quoi ?
Tu les avais déjà vus ?
Où étais-tu placé ?
A quelle heure t’es arrivé ?

Concert 30 SECONDS TO MARS à Paris Elysée-Montmartre 18 Novembre 2009 – This Is War.

I never made it a secret that I’m a HUGE Andrew Bird fan. Or that all his shows are in my top 5. Or that I love all the tunes he has written. To me, the man is a legend, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be objective and critical even when it’s Andrew. Anyway, it won’t be a surprise to you that I visited his show last night.

This time, no invites from friends, I had to give away a free ticket to get someone to join me. Anyway, mr. Bird performs in the Rabozaal of the Melkweg. It was the first time I was there, but damn, what a nice room. What a wonderful acoustics, it was really good! During the show I was capable of hearing Bird’s feet stamp on the floor.

First up is american singer-songwriter Jesca Hoop. And wow! what a great performer she is! Her songs are pretty, a bit obscure but subtile. But even though she’s standing there alone with her guitar, her song’s don’t lose any of their strength. She’s got a great voice and some great guitar skills. Jesca tells funny stories between songs; about smoking pod with her mum, tulips and more. I’ve been listening a lot to her stuff now. To be honest, I like them more when she brings them all ‘naked’ and alone with a guitar. I’ll definitely go to one of Jesca’s shows if she’s performing in Holland again.

Then Andrew Bird shows up. Dressed very stylish in a black suit, he starts playing his violin. After a (short)  intro we hear ‘the Water Jet Cilice‘, performed in a much more ‘difficult’ version than the album version. Surprisingly, the next song up is ‘Why?’ followed by ‘Sweetmatter’. We only get pretty ‘old’ songs or pretty ‘new’ songs this night. No ‘Nervous Tic’ or other hits. To me, it was refreshing (don’t get me wrong, I love those songs). Some re-takes were brilliant, especially the re-take on ‘the Happy Birthday song’, and doesn’t seem like a version that he would play with his band.

All songs were performed on an extremely ‘high level’, I couldn’t find any weak spots in the show. Gently shifting between violin and guitar, whistling, hand claps, glockenspiel, Bird masters it all. There is only one Andrew Bird, and after seeing this, you know it’s true. The man is one-of-a-kind and extremely talented. 

Bird also get some help from Wilco’s Pat Sansone on piano, who arrived in town earlier that day(Wilco performed the next day in Amsterdam). And yes, it is definitely working out between the two of them (maybe because they worked together during the ‘Bowl of fire’-time?). Pat joins in on a new song named ’Lusitania‘, which is sung together with Jesca Hoop heartbreakingly beautiful. Bird’s and Hoop’s voices are a match made in heaven. Also Pat plays along with ‘Headsoak’ and ‘Scythian Empires’. Jesca Hoop also joins in on ‘Oh Sister’, another heartbreakingly beautiful (performed) song. I really hope that they record some stuff together! Another new song we hear is ‘Wake Up’, according to mr. Bird a ‘band song’, but also very interesting solo.

Andrew Bird seemed to be happy that he was back in Holland, telling us that we have always been good to him and such. He seems solo to be totally in his element, maybe even more than with band. Also he seems a bit confused. Forgetting his own songs and lyrics at moments and having troubles with his loopsystems. Bird even needs some help remembering the start of ’Anonanimal’, but when he’s going, he’s doing wonderful. Bringing things really to the next level. Did it bother me that he was confused? No, not at all. It actually suited him, and it did make him even more adorable. And in the end, it didn’t bother him. It also seemed that he was a bit of experimenting with tracks, which was lovely to see.

During the show, this weird feeling came over me that, I just had maybe two, three times before. I got an extremely physical response. It felt like all my sensory systems opened up to the max and my heartbeat and breathing changed. It’s an extremely weird, but pleasant feeling, like you’re capable of feeling every tiny molecule in your body. To me it seems like a sort of ‘natural high’. And when I get that, I know I’m at an outrageous good show. The dutch word for this is ‘extase’, maybe a title for his next tour?!

After all, the not really surprisingly conclusion is that Andrew Bird is one of the greatest musicians walking this earth at the moment. Never performing a track the same way, every show is unique. Making songs right in front of you, slightly improvise with songs, new songs, old songs, it was all there that night. And being a bit confused only contributed to his image of a ‘musical genius’. Bird seemed totally in his element, which was a pleasure to watch. Talking in superlatives anyway, you’ve got good, great, wonderful and Andrew Bird. It’s just one level above.

 [Note: some  of the pictures I made can be found here and some videos('Wake Up', 'Capital I'(original song) and 'Scythian Empires') I made here, some great videos made by someone else can be found here. (these include the intro+the Water Jet Cilice, Going Home(but he named it Weather systems), Wake Up, Lusitania, Oh No and Oh sister)]

Wake Up @ Melkweg

Setlist (I might miss one or two songs):
Intro
The Water Jet Cilice
Why?
Sweetmatter
On Ho
Oh No
Lusitania (with Pat and Jesca)
Headsoak (with Pat)
Wake Up
Tenoussness
Capital I (original song)
Imitosis
Happy Birthday song
Anonanimal
Scythian Empires (with Pat)
Encore
Oh Sister (with Jesca)
Going Home (cover)

[9.6/10]

A friend of mine is living in Japan for the year right now in order to study, something I should actually be doing right now but as it turns out, I’m not. They got to go to their first ever Morning Musume concert a couple of days ago and this was a pretty big deal for them. We went watching AKB48 together in France and we both agreed that it was epic beyond belief and it sent them above Momusu in terms of favourites. Although I haven’t asked my friend since I get the impression that she’s very much back on the Momusu bandwagon again now, which gives me some hope that there are still some crazy fans out there.

I was actually surprised when speaking to a Japanese native earlier this week when he said that AKB48 isn’t considered a band strictly for wota anymore. I mean I know they’ve had some success recently but an idol band breaking into the mainstream is still pretty impressive. What surprised me more was the fact that even the Japanese seem to think the decline of Momusu is out of control and that their days could be numbered; something that only western fans seemed to be doing until now.

Back on topic though; my friend lives in Fukuoka at the moment and the concert she went to was in Reina’s hometown which meant she got quite a reception. Both she and Koharu came back at the end of the encore and spoke to fans which I thought was pretty awesome, maybe a bit too awesome. Reina has been my favourite Musume for a number of years now and as happy as I was to hear that my friend had a great time I couldn’t help but be slightly devastated about not being there. Without going in to details I have no one to blame but myself about being stuck at home in the UK but I would give an arm and a leg and whatever else it takes to see Momusu in Japan.

Apparently the loot included:
Niigaki Risa T-shirt, uchiwa, wrist band, towel, 3 sets of Gaki-only photos,
Kamei Eri T-shirt, uchiwa, wrist band, one set of Kamei only photos,
9 Smile concert tour t-shirt, wristband and set of photos of girls in tour tees,
DVD Magazine volumes 26 and 27,
photobook,
tour bag,
Photo sets A, B, C and D
Metallic photo sets A and B
Morning Musume Gummies + Jun Jun picture that came with it.

I always knew she’d been a Gaki fan, but I didn’t know it was quite to this extent. Well just as long as she brings me a Reina goodie back next time then I’ll be happy. Hey it was me who persuaded her to part with a month’s rent in order to go again so she wouldn’t be there without me, that’s what friends are for, right?

Setlist:
3,2,1 BREAKIN’OUT
How Do You Like Japan? ~Nippon wa Donna Kanji Dekka?~
Kimagure Princess
Nanchatte Renai
Genki+
Ame no Furanai Hoshi de wa Aisenai Darou?
Sukiyaki
Haru Beautiful Everyday
Kioku no Miero
Aruiteru
Aki Urara
Shouganai Yume Oibito
Sakura Mankai
Yuujou ~Kokoro no Busu ni Naranee!~
Dekkai Uchuu ni Ai ga Aru
Bonkyu Bonkyu BOMB Girl
Please! Jiyuu no Tobira
Handmade CITY
Odore! Morning Curry
Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari
Naichau Kamo
Roman ~MY DEAR BOY~
Resonant Blue
(Encore)
SONGS
Love Machine

DJ AM back from the grave in DJ Hero

I don’t have the new ‘DJ Hero” game. However, what I do have is this YouTube channel with all of the music. Needless to say it fucking rules and gives DJs the attention and spotlight they deserve. Even the late DJ AM. Check out my full column on the game’s music here.

-Kegan

FYI… PHOTOS of the SHOW are at the BOTTOM

Maynard’s voice shines on Night 2…

Saturday’s Puscifer show (review link) was fantastic, and I happened to be up in Portland for a work training session; so, what the hell… let’s do this again!  I heart Maynard!

No wine tasting (for me) this time… in fact, for a more detailed review, definitely check out Saturday’s show review.  Monday, I showed up around 8pm and got situated near the front of the general admission section.

Sweethead opened the show again.  I switched up where I took in their music this time… I could definitely hear the guitars better, but the vocals were a little muddy until midway through their set.  I liked them.  Troy’s a good guitarist, and Serrina has some nice energy (ok, and nice legs, too).

This was their last night as support for Puscifer, and Troy took a dive into the drum set at the end… crash! buzz!

After Troy and Serrina got up, they left the stage – guitar still buzzing.  As the crew pulled Sweethead’s gear and monitors off the stage, they lifted up a large black sheet to hide the stage (something new compared to Saturday night)…

I had seen on setlist.fm that the two nights in the same city had differing set lists, and Portland was no exception.  Where Saturday was more of the blasphemy day to kick things off, Monday was… well… at 9pm, then the sheet came down, it looked like it was a camping theme (complete with fake fire).  Maynard was inside the tent, and they had him projected on the screen behind him.  After some bullshitting, he finally came out to start the show properly…

The stage seemed darker, but at least Maynard was out there for the two songs of which I was allowed to take photos.  Both he and Carina were obfuscated again behind the video boxes, which is an oddity fitting of Maynard’s persona.  Overall, I think Monday night’s show featured Maynard’s voice better – though the song selection wasn’t much different (other than order).  The video breaks were completely different… comedic pitchmen trying to sell reality television concepts to Maynard – who wasn’t paying too well of attention and always got the concept wrong.  Hilarity ensued, of course.

Here’s what they played among the campfire and sleeping bags…

Setlist: 90 minutes or so [compare sets with Night #1]

• Rev 22:20
  
• Drunk With Power
• (Video Break 1)
• Indigo Children
• Trekka
• Potions
• (Video Break 2)
• Momma Sed (with Tim Alexander as a Portland stripper)
  
• Vagina Mine
  
• Dozo
• The Undertaker
• (Video Break 3)
• Polar Bear
• Sour Grapes
  
• Queen B
  
• The Mission (featuring Carina Round)
• The Humbling River
• No Encore

Maynard’s voice sounded especially great on Indigo Children, Potions, Momma Sed (seemed slower/mellower than Saturday), Polar Bear, and The Humbling River.  I’m really digging the new EP’s material… and I’m looking forward to more digital EPs, physical CDs, whatever Maynard wants to throw at us!

more pictures at the bottom

You can get Puscifer’s music via the pictures below:

You can grab some of Maynard’s wines (if you are lucky to be in the shipping area) via this:

The Appropriate Linkage:

• Puscifer’s Site
• Maynard / Puscifer on MySpace
• Caduceus Wine
• Carina Round’s Site
• Carina Round on MySpace
  
• Tool on MySpace
  
• Sweethead’s Site
  
• Sweethead on MySpace
• Spin’s San Diego Review (Oct 31st)
• My review of Portland Night #1
  
• Roseland Theater
  

Check out the Puscifer tour dates below.

~Dan – np: The Swell Season – Strict Joy

PUSCIFER & SWEETHEAD PHOTOS
all pictures (cc) 2009 Daniel Temmesfeld,
you may use freely under a creative commons attribution

(click for larger)

Higher Resolution (9 pics)

Limited to 1200 pixels wide or tall (43 pics)

Tour Dates

• 10/29/09, Las Vegas, NV (The Pearl, Palms Casino)
• 10/31, San Diego, CA (Spreckels Theatre)
• 11/1, San Diego, CA (Spreckels Theatre)
• 11/4, Oakland, CA (Fox Oakland Theater)
• 11/5, Oakland, CA (Fox Oakland Theater)
• 11/7, Stockton, CA (Bob Hope Theatre)
• 11/10, Seattle, WA (Moore Theatre)
• 11/11, Seattle, WA (Moore Theatre)
• 11/13, Vancouver, BC (Centre For the Performing Arts)
• 11/14, Portland, OR (Roseland Ballroom)
• 11/16, Portland, OR (Roseland Ballroom)
  
• 11/17, Salt Lake City, UT (Capitol Theatre)
• 11/18, Salt Lake City, UT (Capitol Theatre)
• 11/20, Denver, CO (Paramount Theatre)
• 11/21, Denver, CO (Paramount Theatre)
• 11/24, Dallas, TX (McFarlin Memorial Auditorium)
• 11/25, Dallas, TX (McFarlin Memorial Auditorium)
• 11/27, Houston, TX (Jones Hall for the Performing Arts)
• 11/28, San Antonio, TX (Majestic Theatre)
• 12/1, El Paso, TX (Abraham Chavez Theatre)
• 12/3, Phoenix, AZ (Orpheum Theatre)
• 12/4, Phoenix, AZ (Orpheum Theatre)

Last Friday, I attended what I do consider to be the best show I have been to thus far – Monsters of Folk at United Palace Theatre. It was a night of not only MOF songs, but those of My Morning Jacket, Bright Eyes, M. Ward, Conor Oberst, and Yim Yames. The set looks unbelievable written down, but that’s of course nothing compared to being there to witness it. The show seemed to get better and better with each song, anticipating what would come next, and being very pleasantly surprised many times.

Since I wasn’t writing down the set as it went on, this setlist will not be completely accurate, but definitely close to the actual one:
1. Say Please
2. The Right Place
3. Soul Singer In A Session Band (BRIGHT EYES)
4. Slow Down Jo
5. Lime Tree (BRIGHT EYES)
6. Man Named Truth
7. Bermuda Highway (MY MORNING JACKET)
8. Look At You (MY MORNING JACKET)
9. Ahead of the Curve
10. Golden (MY MORNING JACKET)
11. Baby Boomer
12. Lullaby + Exile (M. WARD)
13. We Are Nowhere And It’s Now (BRIGHT EYES)
14. Lenders in the Temple (CONOR OBERST)
15. I Will Be There When You Die (MY MORNING JACKET)
16. Chinese Translation (M. WARD)
17. To Save Me (M. WARD)
18. Dear God (Sincerely M.O.F.)
19. Temazcal
20. Wonderful (The Way I Feel) (YIM YAMES)
21. One Life Away (M. WARD)
22. One Hundred Million Years (M. WARD)
23. At Dawn (MY MORNING JACKET)
24. Goodway
25. Kathy With A K’s Song (BRIGHT EYES)
26. Smokin’ From Shootin’ (MY MORNING JACKET)
27. The Sandman, The Brakeman, and Me
28. Hit the Switch (BRIGHT EYES)
29. Losin’ Yo Head
3o. Map of the World
[ENCORE]
31. At the Bottom of Everything (BRIGHT EYES)
32. Whole Lotta Losin’
33. Another Travelin’ Song (BRIGHT EYES)
34. His Master’s Voice

I was brought to tears multiple times throughout the show, particularly during Golden, my absolute favorite song at this point in my life, as well as Lime Tree, a Bright Eyes song that never fails to make me tear up – especially with Jim James complimenting Oberst’s voice with a harmony three octaves higher.

In fact, every time James opened his mouth, it was impossible to keep my jaw from dropping. He delivered some of the best vocals I have ever heard during “At Dawn,” holding out notes that many vocalists could never imagine of hitting. He also had a tremendous amount of passion in his voice during “Smokin’ Without Shootin’,” which got every MMJ fan in the venue going crazy. As the lights on stage moved in all directions, shining upon expressions in the audience, I had never seen more soulful singing along in such a diverse group of concert go-ers; lovers intertwined in slow dance, friends swaying with arms linked, adults undoubtedly reminiscing, college kids throwing fists in the air – some grinning, some screaming, some sobbing. It was a fantastic thing to watch; only truly great songs evoke such great emotion.

It was also an extremely emotional experience to finally be able to hear a good amount of Bright Eyes songs live. I’ve been listening for seven years, yet missed my opportunity to see Bright Eyes live so many times. This show gave me the second chance I had been wanting so badly to hear the songs that define my childhood. I was not at all disappointed, as many of my favorites were played – I only wish I could have heard them at a more intimate venue. The encore was spectacular, and allowed everyone to rush up to the stage and dance and sing along to At the Bottom of Everything and Another Travelin’ Song. Probably the most fun of the night, for me at least.

One of the most impressive MOF number was one of their singles – “Dear God.” The most remarkable part of its live rendition was the constant flashing of different colored lights throughout the entire song – bright purple, electric blue, vivid green, deep red. It was one of the only points during the show where the lights were impressive, which bothered me a little bit, because they could have made the mood of each song significantly easier to establish if the light show had been given more thought. Not that it mattered too much to me – it was better than ones I’ve seen at most shows. Every other MOF song played was great, but The Sandman, The Brakeman, and Me, and His Master’s Voice are two more that stand strong in my mind. The vocals were flawless and beautiful, just as I had expected they would be.

I was not completely familiar with much of M. Ward’s music, and was pleased to discover that it was incredibly easy to get into and appreciate. Staring intently at his fingers as he picked like a pro, I realized that it was some of the most impressive guitar playing I’ve ever seen live.

Conor Oberst’s lyrics and clearly evident song writing skills, the soaring vocals of Jim James, the guitar playing of M. Ward, Mike Mogis’s modest accompaniment of all three on multiple instruments, and most of all, their ability to combine several genres of many projects originally performed with completely different people, all on one stage in one set, made it a show to be remembered forever.

Friday 13th always brings out the whackos. Last weekend the Police had to get involved twice to remove nutters from outside the venue. Add to this mayhem a large birthday party of Spaniards on a quest for house and RnB, throw in an onstage tea pot doll house and it ended up being a bit of a weird one for me.

What did buoy me up though was the fantastic feedback I got from you lot not only to our blinding live performers Chapter 24 and Fever Fever but the tremendous response I got from my DJ set for the early part of the evening. Glad to have been of service.

Fail request of the week: ‘Anything spanish, even if it’s the Macarana…’ Best request of the week Japanese Voyeurs.

Here’s the set;

Andrew NoFiction:
Please don’t touch – Polly Scattergood (Golden Filter RMX)
Solo – Chew Lipps
Lebanon – The Human League
Blind – Hercules and Love Affair (Frankie Knuckles RMX)
Forever indebted – Shout Out Out Out
Wake up – The Arcade Fire
Crystal clear – Fiery Furnaces
Rich – The Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Denise – Blondie
Wordy Rappinghood – Tom Tom Club
Boys keep swinging – David Bowie
Love in a trash can – The Raveonettes
This is love – PJ Harvey
North American scum – LCD Soundsystem
Ask – The Smiths
Disorder – Joy Division
California uber alles – Dead Kennedys
F*ck the people – The Kills
Who can say – The Horrors
Heard it through the grapevine - The Slits
Psycho killer – Talking Heads
Let’s go surfing – Drums
Sister self doubt – Get Shakes
Change your mind – Sharpe and Numan
Treat me like your Mother – The Dead Weather
Dancing with tears in my eyes – Ultravox!
Atlas - Battles
Zero – Smashing Pumpkins
Cracked LCD – Ladytron
Serious brainskin – Von Sudenfed
Evil – Interpol
We are the Pipettes – The Pipettes
Something for the weekend – Art Brut
Shred A – Le Tigre
Road runner (once) – John Richman and the Modern Lovers
Shopping for blood – Frans Ferdinand
Killer - Sons and Daughters
Cherry bomb – The Runnaways
Seven nation army - The White Stripes
New York city cops – The Strokes
Common people – Pulp
I wanna be your dog – The Stooges
Stand and deliver - Adam and the Ants
Monkey gone to heaven – Pixies
Boys don’t cry – The Cure
Graffiti - Maximo Park
Can’t stand me now – The Libertines
Rapture – Blondie
Oxford Comma – Vampire Weekend
Let’s dance – David Bowie
On board – Friendly Fires
Ready for the floor – Hot Chip
Kids – MGMT
Young folks - Peter, Bjorn and John
Paper planes - MIA
Warrior’s dance – Prodigy
Sex on fire – Kings of Leon
The look of love – ABC
Hungry like the wolf – Duran Duran
In for the kill – La Roux (Skream RMX)
Happy up here – Royksopp (Boys Noize RMX)
Move your body – Tiga (Only 4 Erol RMX)
You could easily have me – Metronomy
You got the love – Florence and the Machine

See you down next Friday (20th) at Power’s (332 Kilburn High Rd, NW6 2QN) for Pope Joan and Matt Trakker. Free Entry from 8pm!

Everlasting God – Lincoln Brewster
You Never Let Go – Matt Redman
Hosanna – Paul Baloche
How He Loves Us – John Mark McMillan
Glory To God Forever – Fee / Vicky Beeching

Well, today was Preview #3 for Story Church. It was our first ever Sunday morning service so I knew a lot of our usual support crowd would not be able to come out.

However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that even though we had less people, we had more NEW faces there than ever before. That is just so cool in my book.

The time slot of this service also meant finding musicians was a challenge. We usually manage to muster together a full band. Not this week.

But we still did ok. Our very own Jon stood up to the plate and played a mighty fine electric guitar.

See what I did there? I used baseball analogy. Jeremy will be proud of me.

Anyway, today we introduced How He Loves Us. I’m not sure how often we’ll use it even though I love the song. Because of our attempt to reach the unchurched I think we need to ensure songs are first or second time singable!

I plan to put Hosanna out of rotation for a while. Been using it quite a bit recently. The remaining three songs are anthems. Very singable and very powerful – great ingredients in a worship song.

Update: I forgot to mention – from today, Story Church will be meeting every Sunday at 10am, in Spring Valley Elementary School, Durham NC.

FYI… PHOTOS of the SHOW at the BOTTOM

Wine followed by Maynard’s blasphemous vaudeville show… Wow.

So, I’ve been a fan of Maynard James Keenan’s vocal since the first utterances I heard from his “main band” TOOL.  I loved his work with his first side-project, A Perfect Circle, especially the first album Mer de Noms.  I was aware of Puscifer a while ago, as it started out as a “joke band” that debuted on a skit on Bob Odenkirk and David Cross’s Mr. Show on HBO (Maynard and Tool’s Adam Jones show up in a short clip).  Never did I think that joke band name would turn into a real alter ego for Maynard himself, he’d release an album and a batch of remix EPs, and then hit the road!

So, for this 1st Portland show, I bought the VIP ticket which included a meet & greet and wine tasting (I didn’t do that for Portland show #2 as I didn’t know I was going to be able to go until a few days ago).  For those not in the know, Maynard has gotten into wine making the past few years.  Back in Ohio, I could order the wine to be shipped to me, and I still have a couple bottles of the 2005 Merkin Vineyards Chupacabra sitting in my utility closet… um… I mean in my “wine cellar.”  I haven’t been able to taste any of Maynard’s recent Caduceus wines, as unfortunately, they don’t have the ability to ship to Oregon (argh, free the grapes!).

The meet & greet and wine tasting started a little after 5pm.  We got shuffled into the back room of Roseland’s downstairs bar.  Todd (I didn’t catch his last name) is Maynard’s wine guy, or at least he’s a touring member of Maynard’s crew who knows a lot about the wine.  He mentioned several times about being involved in the last A Perfect Circle tour – right around the time Maynard was getting started with vineyard purchases / development.  Todd talked for about an hour and fifteen about the various wines, including the one we were tasting – the 2006 Merkin Vineyards Chupacabra (limited to 5,000 cases).  The Chupacabra vintages are designed to be different, similar to the folk legend of the chupacabra.  The 2006 is a blend of 36% cabernet sauvignon, 13% petite verdot, 22% syrah, 14% petite sirah (all sourced from Paso Robles), and 15% of an unknown grape (yeah, I’m an accountant and noticed the missing % on their info sheet).

(click for larger picture with autograph)

The Chupacabra is Maynard’s most “mass produced” wine, and current batches are in the 10,000 case range.  We obviously didn’t get to try any of Maynard’s 20 case batch of very special Judith wines (grown at 5,000+ feet altitude with land spread with his mother’s ashes).  Todd also spoke a little bit about current discussions with Whole Foods to get the wines distributed into Portland.  He also mentioned a documentary, Blood Into Wine, about Arizona wines with a little bit of Maynard, Fairuza Balk, Milla Jovavich, Patton Oswalt, Bob Odenkirk, and others in the footage.  It is expected to hit the Sundance Festival and some select theatres in Feb 2010.

After Todd’s info and Q&A session, he went to go get Maynard, who had just finished sound check.  Maynard came down and walked around the room and individually handed each one of us a signed copy of the Puscifer debut album (V is for Vagina).  He only very briefly chatted with folks.  He asked me if I learned anything from the wine talk, to which I replied “yes, thank you.”  That’s about the extent of my interaction with Maynard, but I thought it was wicked cool to receive a signed copy of the album directly from his hands.   Since he’s a busy guy, he took off shortly after making his tour around the room.

I had to leave after the meet & greet to get some grub; so I walked over to my favorite, close-by vegan restaurant (represent!) until show time.

When I got back to the venue, I went over to get my photo pass.  I had free reign for the opener’s set, but only allowed to snap photos for the first two songs of Puscifer’s set (more on that later)…

Sweethead was the opener.  Sweethead is guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen (Queens of the Stone Age, Failure, A Perfect Circle) and lead vocalist Serrina Sims with Norm Block and Eddie Nappi from the Mark Lanegan Band.  They were a good rock group and played about a half of an hour.  I was in a place in the venue (front / center) where the sound usually isn’t the best.  My spot will be likely different for Monday’s show.

I think every time I’ve seen a Maynard band (three times for Tool and A Perfect Circle each), the opener has either been a Mike Patton-related band (Tomahawk, or on his label Ipecac – Isis & The Melvins) or a Ken Andrews-related band (Year of the Rabbit and now Sweethead is connected to Ken via one step with Troy and Failure).  I’m not complaining, as I love Patton and Failure-related projects.  I dug Sweethead… hopefully I’ll get a better feel for their sound on Monday.

Puscifer’s set started with a video Maynard’s Major Douché character barking orders at us.  Shortly thereafter, with band in place, Maynard wheeled out on a Segway in his horrible comb-overed, bedazzled sweat pants wearing preacher and kicked into “Sour Grapes.”  This kick-off was a not-so-subtle hint that it was going to be a crude, blasphemous vaudeville experience – not your typical rock show.

As I only had photo privileges for the first two songs, I snapped away.  Unfortunately, Maynard was off changing during the second song, “Rev 22:20″ – so I resorted to snapping away at the band.  I’m hoping Monday’s set, I get some more non-be-sweatpants‘ed Maynard.  The security guards were quite adamant and nabbing people’s cellphones; so I’m definitely grateful to Monica, Maynard’s publicist, for getting me the hook-up for these Portland shows.

Thanks again, Monica!

I didn’t catch all of the band members’ names… but I do know that Carina Round covered the female vocals, and did a smash up job on “The Mission,” which model/actress Milla Jovavich sang on the studio version.  Primus drummer Tim Alexander handled drums.  Also in the band were two guitarists, an electronic & keyboards guy, and a percussionist.  During the songs, if any individual band members wasn’t performing, they’d sit on the sofas or wander around and drink wine (which was laid out all over the stage) and munch on fruit, cheese and crackers.  Also roaming around the stage was a cameraman dressed up as a ninja – which was later announced to be the one and only Meats Meier, Puscifer’s official CGI music video madman.

Here’s what they played…

Setlist: 90 minutes or so [compare sets with Night #2]

• Sour Grapes
• Rev 22:20
• (Video Break 1)
• Dozo
• The Undertaker
• Drunk With Power
• (Video Break 2)
• Momma Sed
• Indigo Children
• Vagina Mine
• (Video Break 3)
• Potions
• Polar Bear
• Trekka
• Queen B
• The Mission (featuring Carina Round)
• The Humbling River
• No Encore
  

I had heard some rumblings of people being disappointed in the past Puscifer shows.  I think if you go in thinking it’s going to be a rock show (or a Tool show), you’re in it for the wrong reasons.  I got to hear an hour and half of fun music and crazy ramblings, and I was thoroughly entertained.  Monday promises to be different… I expect some country hee-haw may be on order…

more live photos at the bottom

You can get Puscifer’s music via the pictures below:

You can grab some of Maynard’s wines (if you are lucky to be in the shipping area) via this:

The Appropriate Linkage:

• Puscifer’s Site
• Maynard / Puscifer on MySpace
• Caduceus Wine
• Carina Round’s Site
• Carina Round on MySpace
  
• Tool on MySpace
  
• Sweethead’s Site
  
• Sweethead on MySpace
• Spin’s San Diego Review (Oct 31st)
• My review of Portland Night #2 (Nov 16th)
  
• Roseland Theater
  

Check out the Puscifer tour dates below.

~Dan – np: The Swell Season – Once

PUSCIFER & SWEETHEAD PHOTOS
all pictures (cc) 2009 Daniel Temmesfeld,
you may use freely under a creative commons attribution

(click for larger)

Higher Resolution (10 pics)

Limited to 1200 pixels wide or tall (49 pics)

Tour Dates

• 10/29/09, Las Vegas, NV (The Pearl, Palms Casino)
• 10/31, San Diego, CA (Spreckels Theatre)
• 11/1, San Diego, CA (Spreckels Theatre)
• 11/4, Oakland, CA (Fox Oakland Theater)
• 11/5, Oakland, CA (Fox Oakland Theater)
• 11/7, Stockton, CA (Bob Hope Theatre)
• 11/10, Seattle, WA (Moore Theatre)
• 11/11, Seattle, WA (Moore Theatre)
• 11/13, Vancouver, BC (Centre For the Performing Arts)
• 11/14, Portland, OR (Roseland Ballroom)
• 11/16, Portland, OR (Roseland Ballroom)
  
• 11/17, Salt Lake City, UT (Capitol Theatre)
• 11/18, Salt Lake City, UT (Capitol Theatre)
• 11/20, Denver, CO (Paramount Theatre)
• 11/21, Denver, CO (Paramount Theatre)
• 11/24, Dallas, TX (McFarlin Memorial Auditorium)
• 11/25, Dallas, TX (McFarlin Memorial Auditorium)
• 11/27, Houston, TX (Jones Hall for the Performing Arts)
• 11/28, San Antonio, TX (Majestic Theatre)
• 12/1, El Paso, TX (Abraham Chavez Theatre)
• 12/3, Phoenix, AZ (Orpheum Theatre)
• 12/4, Phoenix, AZ (Orpheum Theatre)

Muse at the O2 Arena, London

Setlist

1. We Are the Universe (intro music)
2. Uprising
3. Resistance
4. New Born + Headup riff
5. Supermassive Black Hole
6. Map of the Problematique
7. Guiding Light
8. Interlude + Hysteria
9. Nishe + United States of Eurasia
10. Feeling Good
11. Unintended
12. Helsinki Jam + Undisclosed Desires
13. Starlight
14. Plug In Baby
15. Jimmy Jam + Time Is Running Out
16. Unnatural Selection

Encore

17. Exogenesis: Symphony Part I (Overture)
18. Stockholm Syndrome + War Within a Breath riff
19. Man with a Harmonica intro + Knights of Cydonia

Rather heartbreakingly, this was one of the worst shows I’ve seen by Muse. I think this was my 14th show, and it all seemed a bit lacklustre. We were about 5 rows back from the barrier over on Matt’s side, so we had a good position, but the crowd just seemed completely uninterested in anything going on. I’ve never been at a gig before where so few people were dancing – indeed, there was one moment in Knights of Cydonia where I was literally the only person in the area dancing and jumping around. What the hell is that about? I expect crowds like that at festivals where people are casual fans, but not at their own shows.

The sound was abysmal. I do not expect to be able to hold a conversation with the person next to me and not have to raise my voice. My hearing is pretty bad anyway due to years of audio assault from standing in front of speakers at gigs and listening to my iPod too loudly, so I was pretty annoyed that I could barely hear the band. Initially I thought perhaps it was because we were standing underneath a speaker, but the support act (The Big Pink) were loud enough, I couldn’t chat then. More’s the pity -  they were dreadful. Kind of like the missing link between Pendulum and Glasvegas. There’s a reason that link was missing.

The stage was magnificent. The problem with being such a good live act is that people are constantly expecting you to better yourself – they want more. So in a way, they’ve become their own worst enemy because they keep having to outdo whatever they did on the last tour, and in theory that’s not such a bad thing, but when your set becomes so technical and complex that if you stray from exactly what you’re meant to be doing that you could end up hurting yourself, then there’s a problem. I don’t mind a quieter set if it means the band are going to become more alive on stage.

The setlist. Bloody hell. Okay, it was nice to see Guiding Light, Niche, Unintended and Exogenesis (Overture), but for the love of Britney, it’s time to stop doing the generic crowd pleasers. I know that not everyone there is a hardcore fan who will have seen Time is Running Out fourteen times, but if you’re dropping stuff like Butterflies and Hurricanes and Bliss which are equally as popular with casual fans, I don’t see why you can’t let go of Feeling Good. I don’t enjoy gigs where the band I’m going to see do cover after cover after cover. Especially if they are well-known songs. I have come to see you and to hear your music, not to see you do what is effectively karaoke.

Finally, the band themselves. I do think this entire project has been hurried. I know that the last album was out in 2006, but they were touring it until mid 2008. That’s a year to write a new album, record it, and to organise a tour. They haven’t had enough time off to actually work properly on it all. They haven’t had enough time off so that they enjoy going back on stage and they want to be on tour again. Muse were the very definition of ‘going through the motions’ when they were on that stage. None of them looked like they wanted to be there. Dom is still chucking out the same lines on stage that he was in 2006, Chris still doesn’t talk or smile, and Matt has lost his sparkle. I just think they would benefit from more time off and from more attention to detail really.

Overall, not a great night. Fingers crossed next year’s stadium shows are better.