Skip to main content

Stacked to the rafters

If you're looking for a complete review of last night's Foo Fighters show at AAC, look here. As somebody who had to split halfway into their two-and-a-half hour set (the 4am wake-up call meant I had to cut out at 11, right after "Cold Day in the Sun"), I can't give a full review. However, I'll share some random musings of what I saw.

-Against Me! put on a short set where they played almost all of New Wave, including the couple of songs I could really care never to hear again, along with a couple of songs from Searching for a Former Clarity. Zilch from Cowboy or Axl Rose, but this was not a proper, full-on AM! set. It was great to finally see them play live, but certain vocal people around me were just not into them. And they made it known. And it was annoying.

-One of these new non-AM! fans -- wearing a Lamb of God shirt, no less -- felt the band "sucked" because they sounded like "GWAR without the theatrics." What the hell is that supposed to mean? Well, I later heard him be all excited that Alice in Chains has reunited with a new singer and is touring and making a new album.

-Jimmy Eat World played a pretty spot-on zip-through of their most upbeat material from Bleed American, Futures and Chase This Light. But like when I saw them last time (where they pulled out Static Prevails' "Seventeen" to much of my delight), they pulled out Clarity's "Blister," much to my delight.

-Couple songs into Jimmy Eat World's set, a rather loud (and possibly drunk/high) female near me screamed for "old shit." Thinking maybe she wanted to hear "Lucky Denver Mint" or "Rockstar," I was wrong. She wanted "The Middle." It was then I realized how at least three generations of fans have gone through this band since 1994. I'm sure there's somebody somewhere who pines for "Chachi" and "Cars" to be played again . . .

-When I last saw the Foo Fighters, Franz Stahl was playing guitar for them and There's Nothing Left to Lose had yet to be recorded. So, four records later, I finally see them again.

-I gotta commend the Foos for playing a relatively unpredictable setlist. A sign that it wasn't a "greatest hits" kind of show: they pulled out Dave's Nirvana b-side "Marigold" and it was pretty fantastic. They even played "This is a Call." As far as material from their latest album, I really dug "Cheer Up Boys (Your Make-Up is Running)," making me reconsider giving the album another listen.

-The split-stage reminded me of Metallica's 1991 tour. Being on the floor, I had a pretty good view until they moved to the other stage for the acoustic set. I didn't want to lose my spot, so I stayed put.

Overall, this was not a bad show at all. I was pretty amped as I headed home and I only got about three hours of sleep. Yet today wasn't really a drag at all. Though the afternoon nap really helped . . .

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Catherine Wheel

Originally posted: Tuesday, August 29th, 2006 Despite managing to release five proper albums, Catherine Wheel was one of those bands that always seemed to slip past the mainstream rock crowd. Yes, they got some nice airplay in their day, but people seem to have forgotten about them. You may hear “Black Metallic” or “Waydown” on a “classic alternative” show on Sirius or XM or maybe even on terrestrial radio, but that’s about it. For me, they were one of most consistent rock bands of the ’90s, meandering through shoegazer, hard rock, space rock and pop rock, all while eluding mainstream pigeonholing. Led by the smooth, warm pipes of vocalist/guitarist Rob Dickinson (cousin of Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson), Catherine Wheel featured Brian Futter on lead guitar, Dave Hawes on bass and Neil Sims on drums. They weren’t a pretty-boy guitar band, but they weren’t a scuzzy bunch of ragamuffins either. Though the band hailed from England, Catherine Wheel found itself more welcome on American air

Best of 2021

  Last year, my attention span was not wide enough to listen to a lot of LPs from start to finish. Too much went on in 2020 to focus on 10-15 albums, so I went with only a couple to spotlight. Well, 2021 was a little better, as I have a list of top four records, and a lot of individual tracks.  (I made a lengthy Spotify playlist ) So, without further ado, here’s my list of favorites of the year: Albums Deafheaven, Infinite Granite (listen) Hands down, my favorite album of the year. I was not sure where Deafheaven would go after another record that brought My Bloody Valentine and death metal fans together, but they beautifully rebooted their sound on Infinite Granite. The divisive goblin vocals are vastly pared-down here, as are the blast beats. Sounding more inspired by Slowdive, the band has discovered a new sonic palette that I hope they explore more of in the future. It’s a welcome revelation. I still love their older material, but this has renewed my love of what these guys do.  J