Show Reviews

Ah, back to the Avalon Theatre, where the benches are just slightly too close together and teenagers traverse the aisles in packs.  But we were not here on any ordinary safari.  No, we were on special assignment to check out the two bands you see there in the title.  And check out is what we did...

While all three of us bloggers were planning on attending this show, only Stu and myself (Kraig) were able to make it. Nuts to Brock, you missed a good one.

Anyways, the show was riddled with absolutely pathetic opening bands. I think there were roughly 2 billion of them. It ranged from a bunch of high school kids trying to be the Red Hot Chili Peppers to some crappy Rancid wannabes with the bass player trapped in a bear suit. I kid you not, the man wore a bear suit yet he neglected to put on his mask. I informed him of his negligence every opportunity I had but he seemed rather embarrassed by the whole ordeal and eventually exited the stage.

Thankfully we were left with ONE good opening band - What Laura Says. I'll admit, I had no idea what I was getting into when these boys hit the stage. Based on the name I was expecting some form of emo-centric pop-punk. Luckily, what looked like a hippie commune came on stage rather than girl-pants wearing fauxhawk men. I was a little baffled by their set up - keys front and center, bass on one side, guitar on the other, drums behind. Sounds standard enough, right? Wrong.

One last member set up a xylophone, then proceeded to erect a table with all kinds of goodies on it. 

From our distance it was a little difficult to distinguish what was on the table, but it looked like a whole lot of ....urm...."glass sculptures". It turned out he set up what looked like a glass vase, egg shakers, a coffee tin and some other unrecognizable household items on the table. My thoughts were only left to wander as the band continued setting up, but I was certainly intrigued.

Once What Laura Says started playing I was hooked.  After listening through so many terrible bands I was ready for a breathe of fresh air, which is exactly what they provided.

Everything started in a normal enough fashion - guitars, drums, bass and keys.  Before too long the boys busted out in clap/stomp breakdown before bringing it all back home with sweet, sweet southern-blues inspired solo.  Oh, and that was just in one song.  The rest of the set featured some of the best bass playing I've heard in years, four-part vocal harmonies and more key changes than you can shake a stick at.

Obviously these guys aren't a band that everyone will "get".  If you're looking for a verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-double chorus band then you need to turn and run in the other direction.  If you're looking for some adventurous song writing, genius breakdowns and key shifts, innovative use of stomping and hand clapping and the best vocal harmonies this side of 1960's Liverpool than take a listen - they won't disappoint you.  Here's a few tracks from their upcoming album (out on August 19th) to get a better idea what I'm talking about:

[mp3] Pairadice

[mp3] Jasper Corrine

Visit What Laura Says online:  Official | Myspace
Pre-order the album:  CD Baby

Now, back to Stu for the rest of the show...

Yeah, wow, What Laura Says were incredible.  However, I was equally excited to be at that concert to hear Dear and the Headlights.  It continues to baffle me that these guys haven't got a ginormous following.  I keep listening through their first album, Small Steps, Heavy Hooves, and every time it amazes me how solid it is from start to finish.  Normally it's not the case that I'll love almost every song on a record, but yeah, that's what's happening.

First I've got to say, DATH has got to be either somewhat crazy or amazingly genius to have a band like What Laura Says open up for them.  When, on any given night, you may be forced to follow a mind-blowing set, that's one ballsy decision to make.  Still, I was definitely satisfied with Dear and the Headlights' performance.

Half the set consisted of quality tracks from the first album (including very rockin' versions of I'm Bored, You're Amorous and Grace), while the other half was made up of tracks from the new album, most of which were very intriguing.  My only complaint about the sound was that the vocals were far too low.  Yes, yes, I expect most of you are saying, "what, is this your first concert buddy?"  No, seriously, the vocals could only be heard in between rock-out moments, which is not acceptable to me.  These guys have some absolutely outstanding lyrics to go with their wonderful music, but how can anyone figure that out if they can't hear the words? Other than that one small error, I really liked the set.  It was pretty entertaining watching the piano man rocking out on nearly every song as well.  Oh and before I forget, that aforementioned new album is supposed to be out sometime in September, so keep your eyes peeled (I'll be sure to).

Also, all this listening to Dear and the Headlights has shown me my new favorite DATH song: I Just Do.  About two lines of lyrics are probably all that need said: "Calling to say hi on your break / in less than twenty words you made my whole damn day."  Nice.

[mp3] I Just Do

[mp3] I'm Bored, You're Amorous

Buy some Dear and the Headlights: Amazon | iTunes
Visit them online: Official | Myspace

Yeah, so it turns out one of us should probably invest in a decent camera since we've gone to a couple shows in a row and came out with no pictures, sorry!

Also, this show review comes pre-packaged with a crazy story, enjoy!: Ok, so to get from my town to the area where we see most of our concerts, one must drive over some mountains (takes about 30 minutes) then drive an additional hour and 20 minutes over fairly flat terrain. Me and a friend hopped into my rickety old car and began our journey. We had just made it over the mountains when my car started making what I can only describe as a "death rattle." We pulled over and had a look, and the fly wheel (which is apparently what they call the top wheel that runs your belts) looked like it was trying to escape. Since neither of us wanted a fly wheel to the forehead, and in order not to risk getting stuck even farther away from home, we made the distress call to our parents. Lame, I know. Turns out we aren't hardcore, and also can't fix cars. Longish story short, after having our manhood's revoked, we were back on our way to the concert an hour or so later in my friend's car.

The very unfortunate part of this story (besides the untold amount of money my car is going to cost to fix) is that this 1+ hour delay caused us to miss Dear and the Headlights entire set! Sad times were had by us. Luckily (some might say, I wouldn't) we were able to see almost all of Paramore's set.

In case you didn't catch that, I'm not really a Paramore fan. I think they may be just a bit too punk for me. I will say that their lead vocalist, Hayley Williams, brought a lot of energy and had pretty good stage presence. The rest of the band just seemed to be...there, for the most part. They played their parts, did their choreographed rock-out moves, but really didn't bring much else.

Jimmy Eat World came out with energy, feeling, and passion, and played a pretty awesome set. They opened with Big Casino, closed the encore with The Middle, and played a very good mix of songs in between. I expected to get a heavy dose of their newest album, Chase This Light, but was delightfully surprised to hear many of their older gems. They played 3 from Clarity (Crush, Blister, Your New Aesthetic), a surprising 1 from Static Prevails (Thinking That's All), and about 5 each from Chase This Light (Big Casino, Always Be, Dizzy, Here It Goes, Let It Happen), Bleed American (Bleed American, Sweetness, A Praise Chorus, The Middle, Hear You Me), and Futures (Kill, Futures, Just Tonight..., Work, Pain). Highlights for me were Hear You Me, the first song played in the encore, which sounded really beautiful and heartfelt, and Crush, one of my favorite Jimmy songs. Take a listen to the cd versions:

[mp3] Jimmy Eat World - Crush
[mp3] Jimmy Eat World - Hear You Me

Don't expect this every time, but I've just decided to do a full review on this one! "What the hell does that mean?" you ask? Well, that means I shall even give my critique of the sound and lighting (crazy, I know). Unfortunately, I gotta give the soundboard dude a thumbs down. It seemed like the strategy was: the best way to balance the instruments is to turn them all up to 11. This made for a very loud Jimmy set, but I thought it hurt Paramore the most: almost all their songs sounded the same. And no, that's not a veiled shot at Paramore and/or punk, I've heard their stuff before and know that not all their songs sound the same. I know it's gotta be hard to get the sound right in an arena/stadium, but I expected better.

The lighting guy (not to be confused with the lightning guy) did a pretty great job. I almost want to say that the fact that I noticed the lighting at all must mean that the guy is doing something right, but it was definitely more than that. In some songs (notably Bleed American) the lights switched with the chord changes, which was very pleasing to the eye. Hear You Me featured heavenly lighting and spotlights, which worked incredibly well. It seemed like he went a little crazy with strobe lights during a couple songs, but all in all it was a pretty solid effort. Oh, and for those of you who like to play Jimmy Eat World trivia, lead singer Jim Adkins remarked during the show that the lighting guy used to live in Salt Lake City. That bit of knowledge would probably be somewhat more useful if I could remember his name...

Buy some Jimmy Eat World: Amazon | iTunes
Visit the sites: Official | Myspace

This past Saturday, Kraig and I had a chance to take in the Hotel Cafe Tour. Apologies in advance for the lack of pictures - it seems that Kraig’s old digital camera finally decided to bite the dust just in time for the show, so no photos. Sorry!

For those of you outside the know, here’s a bit of info on the Hotel Cafe and the ensuing tour:

Once just a small coffee shop, The Hotel Café has quickly blossomed into not only one of the premier singer/songwriter venues in the United States, but also been labeled “the place that breaks artists.” The artists surrounding The Hotel Café regard it as home, where lyrics, voice and a DIY approach rule. On any given night, you can find well known artists (such as: Weezer, John Mayer, Jason Mraz, Death Cab For Cutie, KT Tunstall and many more) on the same bill with up-and-comers, playing both as solo artists and as a communal project, sometimes well rehearsed and sometimes in the heat of the moment, and more often than not, jamming into the wee hours of the morning.

For the past 4 years, The Hotel Café has been presenting a tour that has hit every major market in the United States and the UK. The concept of the tour was to share the same community vibe with music fans all over the globe. Artists performed solo and would then share the stage with fellow tour mates. No cookie-cutter corporate American Idols, just real music, written by real artists, surrounded by real friends, who actually have a story to tell. Starting in March 2008, The Hotel Café Tour will embark on another journey that will cover 35+ major markets in the North America, before heading over to the United Kingdom!

The tour will feature a rotating lineup of at five artists at every show, all sharing musicians and supporting one another, making for a unique night of music. The tour is held together by performer and co-organizer Cary Brothers, who will be present for the entire tour.

(from http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Hotel-Cafe-Tour/10682566791)

The show had an...interesting format. The 5 artists that graced Salt Lake City (Meiko, Jim Bianco, Cary Brothers, Dan Wilson, and Ingrid Michaelson) each took a turn playing 3 songs. Then they all came back and did the same thing again (not the same songs, mind you, but the whole playing-3-songs-and-leaving thing). Also, there was no waiting time in between sets for the setting up/dismantling of rock equipment; they just went from one act to the next, which was pretty nice.

I was particularly impressed with the ability of the supporting band that was touring with these five singer/songwriters. Each act played with the same guitarist/bassist/drummer and “multi instrumentalist” (i.e. trumpet, keys, guitar, accordion etc.). These guys nailed each and every song despite genres ranging from sparse, nearly acoustic setups (Meico) to Jazz (Jim Bianco) to Alt-Rock (Cary Brothers) and everything in between.

Personally, I wasn't a fan of the 3 song format. I would've rather seen each artist do their 6 songs in a row. Maybe it's just me, but I can't figure out how I feel about an artist after only 3 songs. By the time they come back on stage again, I had usually forgotten what the songs they played previously were like and if I enjoyed them.

Anyway, if you haven't guessed already, we went primarily to see Dan Wilson (of Semisonic fame). He was very good, though it made me sad that about 3/4 of the people there didn't know who the hell he was until he played Closing Time. However, we did meet some die-hard fans who drove all the way from Calgary to see Dan play, which was definitely nice to see.

Dan was able to play a total of eight songs in his three times on stage, one more than any of the other performers (since they played a song of Dan’s for the final encore!). His first set consisted of Easy Silence, Breathless and Free Life, the title track from his brilliant solo record. The first set definitely left me wanting more Dan, especially since a lot of the crowd seemed to be there just to see Ingrid Michaelson again. Kraig was able to record all of Dan’s songs except Easy Silence, check ‘em out:

First Set

[mp3] Breathless
[mp3] Free Life

Dan came second to last (instead of last) the second time around. His second set consisted of Sugar, Baby Doll, Second Modern (an Elvis Costello cover) and Closing Time. Of course, Closing Time was the crowd favorite - the teeny boppers could be heard between courses frantically text messaging each other to “figure out” who sang the song originally. Silly kids. He shared a great story about the writing of the song which Kraig was able to capture on for your listening pleasure:

Second Set

[mp3] Sugar
[mp3] Baby Doll
[mp3] Secondary Modern
[mp3] Closing Time (with explanation)

Baby Doll and Sugar were both absolutely breathtaking from the second set. Ingrid came out to sing back up vocals on Sugar, which despite being a little rusty, still added a new dimension to the song. Secondary Modern was a great track that none of the pre-teens had ever heard. Here’s to hoping they’ll take Dan’s advice and go out and listen to some Elvis Costello.

The final encore brought all the performers back on stage for one last hoo-rah. The chosen song was All Kinds, another off of Dan’s recently released solo debut, Free Life. I’m not sure if Dan was getting encore love on each stop of the tour, or if they just played his song on our date since it was his last outing on the tour - but it was a very fitting ending to a great show.

Encore

[mp3] All Kinds

As for the rest of the performers, they probably could have renamed the tour “You Heard us on Grey’s Anatomy - Live!” All the artists except Jim made comments about getting their “break” on a TV spot, and it seemed Grey’s Anatomy was mentioned most often. I don’t have a problem with that, it just seemed a little strange for all the artists to have that same experience. I guess the guys picking the music for Grey’s Anatomy must be checking out the tour? Probably.

Meiko had a strong voice, but didn't bring a lot of energy or excitement to the stage. Her song-writing just doesn’t seem to be there yet. There was heavy reliance on “do-da-do’s” and “la-la-la’s”, which to me seems like the easy way out of a chorus.

Jim Bianco was a hell of an entertainer and put on a fantastic performance. His music wasn’t something I’ll go out and buy, but if he comes to my neck ‘o the woods I’ll make it my business to see him play again. Probably more of a comedian than musician in most cases, but still - worth seeing if he’s coming to your town.

Cary Brothers was the first person to really bring the rock to the show. He started out strong and used his powerful vocals to keep things interesting throughout both of his sets. He had the most sonically complex songs out of the group, relying on effects pedals and angsty vocals throughout, which I rather enjoyed.

Ingrid Michaelson (whom a majority of the audience was there to see) was sort of hit-and-miss. A couple of her songs were pretty good, a couple were not so much. The crowd seemed to go crazy when she played that song that’s on the Old Navy commercial, which was nice but not quite up the level that I felt Dan provided. She had a really interesting song that relied on vocal rounds at the end of her set which was the highlight for me.

All in all the show was had a very enjoyable vibe to it - something you don’t usually see with artists of this caliber. The camaraderie wasn’t faked at all, lots of collaboration took place and they all seemed to genuinely like each other. Since the Hotel Cafe Tour is hitting basically every major market in the US and UK, it’s probably coming near you. We both highly recommend checking it out - ticket prices are low and the entertainment value is high (even though Dan isn’t on the ticket anymore). Just be sure to pick up your tickets fast, they seem to be selling out quickly just about everywhere!

Here's all of the recordings from Dan's performance in a convenient .zip package (for a limited time only!)

Click here for more info on the Hotel Cafe Tour.

Buy some music from Dan Wilson: Amazon | iTunes
Visit Dan online: Official | Myspace