Benedum Center, Pittsburgh, PA..... With a Morrissey concert, one always wonders whether it will take place at all--given Morrissey's well-documented history of shows cancelled at the last minute. So it was concerning when several recent of his concerts had to be scrapped due to credible death threats on the former Smiths frontman. But, it turned out not to be a concern and the show went on as scheduled. Morrissey was in fine voice but I had some issues with the setlist. Towards the end of the main set, I thought it's got to be bangers all the way down, but I was disappointed. Some deeper cuts, but more problematically, midtempo songs that didn't get the energy up except for the hardest-core of Moz-heads. There were a lot of people heading to the exits early, and my daughter (first time seeing him live) said to me at one point, "The music for each song sounds good but once he starts singing, they all sound the same." The last time I saw Morrissey , while a showcas...
Convention Hall, Asbury Park, NJ..... More so than any show I've been to in recent memory, this concert was not focused so much on the songs as it was on the performances. Most of the time when you go to a show, you're primarily motivated by an interest in one or many of the artist's songs. Concerts by jam-bands like the Grateful Dead or most blues musicians, on the other hand, are more performance oriented. You go to see the performance of the entire show more than simply to hear that song in a live setting. That's why Deadheads could stomach going to umpty-ump shows by the same band. This evening headlined by the Butthole Surfers at Convention Hall turned out--surprisingly--to be more of a performance show. Although certainly many concertgoers were motivated to go by some individual songs (notably the several popular singles by The Toadies or the Butthole's current hit "Pepper"), the real story was the sheer intensity of the Rev. Horton Heat's rockab...
Arlene's Grocery, New York, NY..... My friend Suzanne always raved about The Vitamen, so I went to see them. They're sort of a Ween-meets-Pavement band: very quirky lyrics and indie rock sound, but not afraid to mix in different styles. Their song "Pretty Little Secret" is a perfect example--an R&B styled song filtered through modern lo-fi with, um, offbeat lyrics to say the least. That night I also met former Sumak frontman and current "Boy Wonder" Mark McAdam. His solo album was titled Boy Wonder, and it was perhaps the best unsigned album I've heard in a long, long time. McAdam's songs are a touch of Tom Waits, a bit of Leonard Cohen, and maybe some of Paul Westerberg's wry self-deprecation. His old band Sumack, purveyers of self-described "junk rock," were more like a typical pop-rock band, albeit with really sharp lyrics (although McAdam's future direction was certainly foreshadowed).
Comments