Cloaca Melodia

Tompkins Square Park, New York, NY..... 2006 Antifolk Festival. sorry, Mike has not yet written about this show... add your own comments if you were also there! photos of the show the New York Times' preview of the festival

South Street Seaport, New York, NY fan review of the show

The Bitter End, New York, NY.... Since the summer of last year, I've been working on writing a book about the music scene of 1992. One of the bands that my old radio station, WHTG, used to play in '92 was called the Cliffs of Dooneen, a rock group of Scottish and Irish lads transplanted to Boston. I was surprised to see that Flynn, the former Cliffs frontman was not only still recording but was doing a solo show at The Bitter End in New York this evening. I decided, at the last minute, to zip in to the city and see the show.  Irish rock band Stand, a quartet of expats, opened.  

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).

Brownies, New York, NY.... Sheila Divine frontman Aaron Perrino has a lovely tenor voice with an impressive range, but he can also switch on a dime and start screaming over the band's atmospheric rock. If they had emerged 10 or 15 years earlier they would have been big. I swear, at this show he screamed so hard he nearly threw up. He doubled over and looked like he was retching. I turned away for a moment, in case he actually did vomit, but then I quickly glanced back. Hey--how cool is it to be able to tell people, "Dude was so into it, man, that one day he screamed so hard, he puked!" Rock 'n' roll. So I looked back. But he didn't. Sheila Divine setlist: The Swan Dramatica Ostrich We All Have Problems Countrymen Like a Criminal Hum Calling All Lovers Horses Back to the Cradle Committing Fusion I'm A Believer

Saint Anne's Warehouse, Brooklyn, NY sorry, Mike has not yet written about this show... add your own comments if you were also there!

Mercury Lounge, New York, NY sorry, Mike has not yet written about this show... add your own comments if you were also there!

Irving Plaza, New York, NY sorry, Mike has not yet written about this show... add your own comments if you were also there!

Mercury Lounge, New York, NY read a review here

Roseland Ballroom, New York, NY Setlist : "Breakout," "My Hero," "Doll," "See You," "I'll Stick Around," "Big Me," "Stacked Actors," "Ain't It the Life," "Learn to Fly," "Hey Johnny Park," "Monkey Wrench," "New Way Home," "This Is a Call" ( source )

Roseland Ballroom, New York, NY sorry, Mike has not yet written about this show... add your own comments if you were also there!

Red Hot Chili Peppers/Eminem/Blink 182/N'Sync/Christina Aguilera & Fred Durst Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY others who were there

Limelight, New York, NY sorry, Mike has not yet written about this show... add your own comments if you were also there!

Irving Plaza, New York, NY Ugh, this night would have better had I stayed at home staring at a wall.

Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, NY sorry, Mike has not yet written about this show... add your own comments if you were also there!

Irving Plaza, New York, NY sorry, Mike has not yet written about this show... add your own comments if you were also there!

Roseland Ballroom, New York, NY..... An infamous show. Fiona had a nervous breakdown on stage. It was one of the most unusual concerts I've ever attended. Prior to the concert, I had dinner with a couple of people from Fiona's record label. ( Jurassic 5 was opening the concert, but due to my dinner engagement I didn't see them. ) One interesting item in the dinner conversation was one of the label folk chucklingly sharing a story about Fiona throwing a tantrum prior to a previous show in Chicago. That tale was on my mind after I arrived at Roseland Ballroom for the sold-out show. A couple of songs into her set, backed by five other musicians, Fiona started complaining about the sound mix--although whether her issue was with her monitor mix or whether it was something was unclear as everything sounded alright to me.  At one point, she stopped a song in progress and told the crew to make everything right. She was clearly getting very upset, and the fans in the audience shoute...

Roseland Ballroom, New York, NY Setlist Out of This World Watching Me Fall Want Fascination Street The Last Day of Summer Maybe Someday From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea In Between Days If Only Tonight We Could Sleep 39 Prayers for Rain One Hundred Years Bloodflowers (encore break) A Strange Day A Forest (encore break) The Figurehead Disintegration

Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY.... sorry, I haven't yet written about this show... add your own comments if you were also there!     Travis setlist: The Man Who Sold the World Writing to Reach You The Last Laugh of the Laughter Good Day to Die Why Does It Always Rain on Me? Turn Coming Around Slide Show Blue Flashing Light encore break 20 ...Baby One More Time Happy  

Roxy, New York, NY sorry, Mike has not yet written about this show... add your own comments if you were also there!