Concert Thread, Summer 2009!

Originally Posted by Lunchbox*

I might see Incubus in a couple of weeks. Not my first choice of bands to see, but certainly not bad.

Incubus are phenomenal.

Not "phenomenal." Good, definitely. Better than most mainstream bands, but, I don't know if I'd want to see them live. Won't now until I try, though right?

Pretty sure phenomenal is the right word.

I saw Lacuna Coil and Seventh Void last night.
You folks are young, help me out here. WHO THE HELL IS KILL HANNAH? AND WHY DO THEY EXIST? Some jerk thought it would be smashing to book them on a tour with Lacuna Coil as co-headliner. If i ever find that mook, hes going to die...painfully. Other than those morons, the show was excellent. a band called Dommin opened and wow! They're pretty good!

Ready for Owl City in September.

I'm being dragged to the god aweful site of warped tour.

*Vomit*

I saw The Fray play at Chastain Park in Atlanta back in June.

It would've been good if they hadn't have come on so late. Plus, it thundertstormed on us, man. And although Jack's Mannequin was there, and they were good, they took FOREVER.

At least The Fray played How To Save A Life before I left.

I just went to the MTV Sunblock Music Festival a few days ago. Even though I was uneasy about seeing Boys Like Girls live because they just seem like a bad act to me, they were a pretty decent live show. I only went for The Academy Is..., though.

It was a very good show. The headliner of the show, Boys Like Girls, was probably a bad choice. People seemed to enjoy the supporting acts better than that band. I ended up meeting the singer of Never Shout Never after the show. He was sweet.

That was my last show for the year, save for the local shows. Can't afford any much more than local now.

Just got back from Incubus.

Opening band was a female-fronting group from London called The Duke Spirit. Their mix was a bit too loud, but they sounded all right. Pretty straight-forward rock music.

Incubus were pretty good sound-wise. Not a perfect mix, but they so rarely are. One thing I can say is that Incubus fans really really love Incubus. Less than half the venue was sold but they sure made enough noise to make me believe it was sold out at some parts.

Not much else to say about it, since other than "Drive" I am unfamiliar with their music. There was a pretty neat run of songs where the band just kind of chilled on stage and did some stripped-down/acoustic tunes (including the aforementioned "Drive).

Never been to a concert before, but if all goes well I'll be going to Prog Nation (Mainly to see Dream Theater) on the 19th.

I saw Hinder about a month ago, and I just went to see Linkin Park last night. Coheed and Cambria opened for them, so I was pretty excited when they started to play Welcome Home.

Linkin Park was INCREDIBLE.

Oh right, Rise Against with Rancid was yesterday.

Opening band was Saint Alvia. Apparently local, they were nothing special and I probably could have gone the rest of my life without having heard them and not missed it. Not bad, but nothing special. Only thing of note was a cover of Tom Petty's "American Girl."

Rancid was next, and even though it has been years since I've listened to them and I wasn't expecting them to sound good in such a large venue, they absolutely killed it. A great set made of mostly old material, and I was getting into it and singing along in spite of myself. Two things, though. One, drummer Branden Steineckert has gained so much weight I barely recognized him. Two, there was a bizzaro world moment when they played a new song and there was an upright bass and mandolin on stage.

Rise Against...ok, when I first saw this tour existed, I said two things. One that Rise Against was not big enough to be playing venues the size the tour was going to, and two that Rancid should not be an opener, and at the very least should be a co-headliner. I was pretty much right on both counts. Rise Against does not know how to mix sound for a venue of that size, and due to that the mix was probably one of the worst for a headlining band. Rancid had a better mix than they did, and frankly put on a better show because of it. Rise Against didn't really lack energy, and the audience seemed to love it, but for me it was one of the worst sets of the summer so far.

Also, some of the fans in my section were total douchebags who can rise against deese nuts.

Originally Posted by nolan

Just got back from Incubus.

Opening band was a female-fronting group from London called The Duke Spirit. Their mix was a bit too loud, but they sounded all right. Pretty straight-forward rock music.

Incubus were pretty good sound-wise. Not a perfect mix, but they so rarely are. One thing I can say is that Incubus fans really really love Incubus. Less than half the venue was sold but they sure made enough noise to make me believe it was sold out at some parts.

Not much else to say about it, since other than "Drive" I am unfamiliar with their music. There was a pretty neat run of songs where the band just kind of chilled on stage and did some stripped-down/acoustic tunes (including the aforementioned "Drive).

Hopefully, my experience will be just as good.

Lil' Wayne show last night.

Like Rock the Bells, this is a show that is probably going to take a few days for me to gain some perspective one it before I realize how much I enjoyed it. As it is now, it was a really busy show with a very rowdy crowd that I hated working.

Pleasure P was the first artist to take to the stage, apparently a member of the R&B group Pretty Ricky. At some point his set finished and Jeremih took over. I did not notice the difference between the two, and had no idea the performers had even switched. Both sound like the typical and run-of-the-mill modern R&B artist with absolutely nothing special about them.

Soulja Boy was next. The only real comment I have about him is that he had a pretty elaborate stage set-up for an artist who is pretty much a novelty act. The crowd seemed to love him, and as usually I found his antics pretty amusing. It's hard not to laugh when a kid is standing on stage screaming "YAH TRICK YAHH!" over and over.

Young Jeezy was next. I was busier than I would have liked to be during his set, because I sometimes really enjoy some of his material. I think, though, that maybe if his set had been more interesting it would have been easier to pick up on. As it was, it was pretty unremarkable.

Then came Weezy himself. I was actually expecting it to be a bit of a circus sideshow trainwreck, but it was a pretty well-organized and executed set. I think his tour manager must be friends with Beyonce's, or they went to the same tour managing school or something like that. He interacted with the audience, and gave a pretty consistent and steady performance.

Towards the end of the night, he brought out a crew of performers called Young Money or something. They each did a bit of their own song, and each one was pretty worthless. Until he brought out Drake. Drake, for those who may not know, is a Toronto local who has been getting more than his fair share of attention, and was actually supposed to have a spot on this tour except he messed his knee up badly enough to need surgery. But of course he couldn't not make an appearance at the hometown show. So he did two songs (along with joining the entire group on stage at the end again to close the night), and the audience was absolutely bat**** nuts insane over him. I rag on the guy a lot for various reasons, but even while rendered immobile on a stool because of an injury, the guy has stage presence and charisma, it is undeniable. He's probably going to be huge.

Two other things of note. One, during "Lollipop" Wayne had simulated sex with his female back-up singer. If clothes had been removed, there would actually have been having sex. It was grotesquely fascinating.

Two, Wayne did a tribute song as a memorium to fallen friends by performing a very stripped and slowed-down version of his chorus and verse to The Game's "My Life." It was actually quite nice.

Saw Passion Pit in a DC club earlier this year. One of the most fun I've ever had at a show.

Looking forward to seeing Ray LaMontagne later this year, Dave Matthews Band in their homestate.


And Lady GaGa. Oh God Yes.

^I would give my right arm to see Lady Gaga live. If the tour she and Kanye are doing together comes to the venue I work at, I am going to cry with glee.

Anyway, Tool was tonight.

Opening was a two or three person group called Tweak Bird, that nobody had ever heard of. The security guard I was with said they sounded "like Tool, but bad." I guess that holds pretty true. There was some random flute and alto sax going on, though.

Tool was forty-five minutes late with their set, and I am fairly certain it was because they were waiting for the sun to go down. Visually it was far and away the best show I've seen. But not being a big fan of Tool, I didn't care much for the music. I was kept pretty busy the whole time, but I would have liked to actually just watch the show more.

I have some issue with the show, beyond the late start, but those aren't really important to tell. Just some stuff that some bands do that bother me.

Also, it was fun to contrast it with the Lil' Wayne show yesterday. At Lil' Wayne, hometown performer Drake came on stage to the loudest applause and cheers of the night. At Tool, hometown performer Ethan Kath (of the band Crystal Castles) came on stage to play drums to near silence, as pretty much no one knew who Crystal Castles was.

This summer, so far I've seen Incubus, Trivium, Killswitch Engage, Slayer and Marilin Manson.

The four metal bands I saw were all at Mayhem Fest. I had fun at Trivium's show because they had an awesome crowd, but I still don't like their music. Slayer, KSE and Manson were all pretty ****ty though.

Incubus was decent, albeit a little boring at times. I'm not the biggest Incubus fan, I like some of their songs a lot and hate others with equal conviction. My biggest folly with them is that they didn't play their best song "The Warmth".

Somebody mentioned their opening act. I'll go ahead and say that they were pretty horrible. When I listened to some of the stuff on their Myspace, I liked it because of the heavy emphasis on the soul backup vocals melding in with the general rock they were playing, it was an interesting combo that surprisingly worked. However for their live show, the backup singers were absent(probably because it was the lead singer singing them D: ) and thus they lost their edge and I stopped paying attention to their set half way through.

This summer was pretty lame for me. I'm excited for next year though since I can expect RHCP and Muse to finally be touring in America by then.

saw incubis a few weeks ago in KC. I'm not the biggest fan but I got a bit nostalgic when they played their older stuff. Plus it was a b-day present from my awesome little sis.

They put on a good show, and the opener was decent (the duke spirit, from london...)

and the old fart in front of me was passing out joints like candy at a parade XD

I missed it when matisyahu was in town though. I didn't even know about it. DX

Originally Posted by nolan

Oh right, Rise Against with Rancid was yesterday.

I was supposed to see them last week :\
Plans didnt really fall through for me, even though I was ecstatic about their show since April. Although I heard Rise Against and Rancid were quite spectacular when they came by my city.

But enough of that, I'm currently waiting for my friend so we can head to Toronto to see Blink-182. Yes I have to endure Fallout Boy(I just might walk around the Ampitheatre looking for Blink shirts to buy), but with my backstage passes(and the free VIP stuff that comes with) it should be worth it

Originally Posted by -Link-182-

I was supposed to see them last week :\
Plans didnt really fall through for me, even though I was ecstatic about their show since April. Although I heard Rise Against and Rancid were quite spectacular when they came by my city.

But enough of that, I'm currently waiting for my friend so we can head to Toronto to see Blink-182. Yes I have to endure Fallout Boy(I just might walk around the Ampitheatre looking for Blink shirts to buy), but with my backstage passes(and the free VIP stuff that comes with) it should be worth it

I'll see you there. If you come find me, I will be a good employee and tell you where to find the shirts (hint: they are at the merch booths).

Originally Posted by nolan

^I would give my right arm to see Lady Gaga live. If the tour she and Kanye are doing together comes to the venue I work at, I am going to cry with glee.

Anyway, Tool was tonight.

Opening was a two or three person group called Tweak Bird, that nobody had ever heard of. The security guard I was with said they sounded "like Tool, but bad." I guess that holds pretty true. There was some random flute and alto sax going on, though.

Tool was forty-five minutes late with their set, and I am fairly certain it was because they were waiting for the sun to go down. Visually it was far and away the best show I've seen. But not being a big fan of Tool, I didn't care much for the music. I was kept pretty busy the whole time, but I would have liked to actually just watch the show more.

I have some issue with the show, beyond the late start, but those aren't really important to tell. Just some stuff that some bands do that bother me.

Also, it was fun to contrast it with the Lil' Wayne show yesterday. At Lil' Wayne, hometown performer Drake came on stage to the loudest applause and cheers of the night. At Tool, hometown performer Ethan Kath (of the band Crystal Castles) came on stage to play drums to near silence, as pretty much no one knew who Crystal Castles was.

Did you happen to notice if the singer was not up in the front? I heard that he likes to not be seen well while they play for some reason.