go see an amazing band play sometime this year

amazing
amazing
amazing
amazing.
sooooo good, and ….

then they all got sick with food poisoning 2 days later.
:(

Garbage was amazing last night at the Warfield! I was near the stage on the left side where Steve Marker was playing and right in front of the speaker. My ears are still buzzing a litter, but I think the opening band The Start were louder than Garbage. At least, they were much heavier and not nearly as good. I wasn’t able to take my camera in, though the guy who took me to the check-in area said it was a nice camera. My only photo from the show was the front of the venue after it all happened. Anyways, Garbage hit the stage at 9:15 PM and entered to Johnny Cash’s version of the Nine Inch Nail’s song “Hurt.” A very cool entrance… it seems like something Black Rebel Motorcycle Club might enter to.

Garbage opened the show with “Queer” which sounded a little different from usual. They played a lot of great songs from the latest album Bleed Like Me including “Why Do You Love Me”, “Boys Wanna Fight”, “Happy Home”, “Sex Is Not the Enemy”, “Bleed Like Me” (1st song of the encore), and “Metal Heart” – which Shirley introduced with a discussion of the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina and the inefficiency of the Bush administration in handling it, though the song was actually a protest song against the war in Iraq. They played a few songs from Beautiful Garbage, including “Shut Your Mouth” and “Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go)” – which Shirley introduced by pointing out her parents in the balcony. They flew over from Scotland for the show and she thanked them for letting her grow up with the freedom to follow her dreams.

Of course, they played a bunch of songs from Version 2.0 and Garbage: “Vow”, “Stupid Girl”, “I Think I’m Paranoid”, “Only Happy When It Rains”, “When I Grow Up” (one of the best to dance to) and even threw in ”#1 Crush” during the encore. That really brought me back to high school. I forgot the order of all the songs they played and there was only one setlist that people were fighting over. This is the second Garbage show I’ve been to, and I’m totally looking forward to the next. My first Garbage concert was the second night of the Ballroom Blitz with Queen Adreena opening.

And a wonderful show it was…

The Caesars (a.k.a. Caesars Palace… in their native Sweden) were one of my favorite discoveries (along with The Raveonettes) through my previous job at Norwalk. Ah, Caesars… how I love thee… let me count the ways:

Sort It Out
May The Rain
We Got To Leave
Only You
Kick You Out
Paper Tigers
Out There
My Heart Is Breaking
Jerk It Out
Over ‘Fore It Started
Throwaway
Soulchaser
It’s Not the Fall
You Don’t Mean a Thing

Spirit
Punkrocker

I don’t even want to get into describing the other bands because they could only pale in comparision to the almighty Caesars, who should really be getting so much more attention than they have so far. (Also, I missed most of the Golden Republic, though the one song I did hear of them seemed pretty good.) This was an all ages show, which meant that the room was full of teenage girls. How delightful… the show began with a totally darkened stage. The Caesars each came on stage one at a time, starting with the drummer who shushed the audience. When the lights came on, the music started along with their background videos. Of course, the music was absolutely amazing: melodic and modern rock songs, harmonized vocals from the lead singer, lead guitarist, and drummer; loud crunchy guitars, prominent farfisa organ, throbbing bass, and crashing drums. If you’ve heard any of their albums, you know what I’m talking about. Almost every song sounds like a potential single, which is no easy feat for any band. Their on stage rock theatrics were also entertaining: the lead guitarist tended to spray water quite a lot, he also would spin his guitar around and pretend to stab himself with it. The drummer was an expert at spinning his drumsticks around, throwing them up, and catching them. The keyboard player doubled up on tambourine and would every so often go talk to the drummer and picked up some sticks to drum along with him. The singer even asked the audience “to keep Bjorn at his organ.” The bassist (with the crazy platinum blond curls) would hop around and do a few funny little steps back and forth. The singer was mostly all business, putting a lot of power and energy into his vocals and guitar playing. I am so glad the Caesars decided to play in San Francisco because they were so very amazing. Anyone reading this, I insist that you do yourself the favor of seeing them live. The albums are great, but their performances are even more impressive.

I went to Downtown Reggae in Barcelona last night and it was great and so much fun!

www.downtownreggae.com

I’ve seen plenty so far, but there’s still more I’d like to see! I love Popscene for the music, but the people could be less rude.

This is in the works, with an equally amazing friend! :) What’s better than Lizzy and DMB?

We were all set to see Loop Troop and we even walked all the way to where the performance was supposed to be. However, they weren’t planning on going on until much later, and we were so hungry, we decided to leave instead. Plus, hunger, hangover, and big crowds aren’t a very good mix.

Better luck next time I guess.

This will happen on Sunday. I was recently introduced to Loop Troop, a Swedish hip hop group. They are great, and they are performing on Sunday in Stockholm, and I will be there!

a great show with a great band playing can change your outlook completely, and leave you with an experience you won’t soon forget.