your mom's favorite dj

I'd better write this stuff down while I'm in a fightin' mood. Feist (Nov. 17, Riviera) was great. I got there early to get a good spot by the stage. I was in that rare situation of being close enough that you're not being gradually pushed back throughout the show by assholes who come late and push their ways in front of everyone. Feist played drums on the first few songs for the opener. I don't think I was the only one who didn't even realize it was her until she started singing on the second or third song. She was immobilized by a sprained ankle, and actually looked pretty feeble, but played it up well, channeling the spirit of her mobile self as some lady tapdanced to Now At Last, which Feist played oddly upbeat on the guitar (with piano backing). The video portion of the performance was actually quite interesting, with everything created as silhouttes on the large background screen with some kind of overhead projector. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it.

M.I.A. (Nov. 21, House of Blues) was worth the half-hour wait in the cold, as the doors opened 20 minutes late. Openers the Cool Kids (hey, I've seen them before!) were decent. Before M.I.A. came out, her show opened with a wide video of a creepy political figure addressing the nation and talking about wanting to destroy the country since there are no good solutions to its problems. It was obviously inspired by the situations in Sri Lanka, but left vague enough to apply to anywhere, without naming specific places or parties. I suppose it could have been an actual speech, but I doubt it. Anyway, it was cool. As soon as the music started, the crowd got crazy. There was crowd surfing during the first song. We were all being pushed around, not away from a mosh pit, or toward the stage, but collectively in all directions. It's so fun to be part of a crowd that's so excited and into the music. Going back to my distaste for newspaper concert reviews, I again happened to notice on Monday a review for M.I.A.'s friday show. The picture, with the caption 'Rapper M.I.A. blah blah...', was a picture of her backup singer/rapper. p.s. All concerts should start at midnight.

Tonight, went to finally see Paulson, one of my favorite unknown bands. It was my first trip to Subterranean, which is like RIGHT next to the Double Door. They call it Subterranean because it's on the second floor. It's like any small venue with a bar, except that there's a third floor where you can watch the band from directly above. As I said to my friends when they mentioned they weren't crazy about the last band, it's the only place I've been to where if you don't like the band, you can very easily spit on them. All the bands were good, playing mostly crunchy, ethereal hard rock, which is my favorite kind of hard rock. Definitely going to check out previously-unknown-to-me So Long Forgotten and As Cities Burn. Paulson announced they're releasing an album of covers on Christmas, which I probably already knew but forgot about, and did a great version of Wonderwall.

Next time, I'll append my list of previously attended shows with the ones I don't have ticket stubs from.

don't tread on me, bro

this time i actually thought of something that i can consistently write about. i don't read the newspaper, but i recently realized concert reviews are really stupid. skimming through the "Tempo" section after getting stuck on the crossword, i saw a review for last Saturday's Feist concert. "why would i read this?" i said to myself (not out loud), "i was there. i know what happened" even if i hadn't been there, why would i read it? if i like Feist and missed the show, reading the review is just going to make me sad that i wasn't there. if i didn't like Feist, my apathy regarding the events of her concert would be immense. the only reason for someone in this city to care to read about whether it was a good show is if they're considering seeing the band the next time they come around (usually 1-2 years), and by then it could be quite a different show. thus the ONLY logical reason to read concert reviews, other than a random interest in other people's opinions about stuff, is if you live in a DIFFERENT city where this artist will soon play. so this article should have been printed in the Des Moines Register.

having just proved concert reviews to be pointless, i will start writing them. kinda. since going to shows is the only interesting thing i do, i can at least recap any interesting events from my own perspective and describe where i got drunk after the show (my bedroom). i will start with a brief recap of every show i've ever been to (better get comfortable).

- (1997) Bush at Rosemont Horizon (now Allstate Arena), mediocre seats, Veruca Salt opened.
- (1998) Cake at the Vic, my first trip to what remains my favorite venue
- Twisted 5 at Rosemont Horizon: Soul Coughing, Cake, Everlast, Goo Goo Dolls, Third Eye Blind, Garbage, Beck. Sold out so I paid $75 for a ticket from a broker. totally worth it to see 6 of my favorite bands, and the worst band ever.
- (1999) Cake at Skyline Stage (Navy Pier), opener was a great folk band with a double guitar
- DMB at New World Music Theatre (then Tweeter Center, now First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre), govt mule opened. mediocre show.
- Phish at Alpine Valley, great show but why's it in the middle of nowhere?
- R.E.M. at the World, good seats, awesome show, played a really long set. Wilco opened.
- (2000) Moby at Aragon Ballroom, Hybrid opened.
- SR-71 at House of Blues. Not an SR-71 fan, went to see opener Harvey Danger (who did a fairly long set :))
- (2001) Semisonic at the Vic, distracted by company
- Radiohead at Grant Park, first ever rock concert in the park, great show. in a crowd of tens of thousands, happened to run into my brother. distracted by company
- Cake at Cornell (Barton Hall), openers Rahzel and Spoon. managed to remember Cake's entire setlist and write it down after the show.
- (2002) No Doubt at Cornell, the Faint opened. made out throughout most of the show.
- STP at Cornell, glad I got to see them before they split, good show. Home Town Hero opened.
- Our Lady Peace at the Vic, lead singer (sorry, not hugest OLP fan) dove into crowd from 20 foot balcony. Greenwheel opened (remember them? no? good.)
- Incubus at Cornell. according to ticket, "30 seconds to mars" opened.
- Counting Crows at Cornell. pretty good set.
- (2005. wtf?) Cake at HOB. great performance as always. We Are Scientsts opened!
- Third Eye Blind at Cornell. I love 3eb but this show was kinda disappointing. "Matt Nathanson" opened
- (2006) Franz Ferdinand and Death Cab for Cutie at Cornell. equal billing, ain't that sweet? Death Cab does a great live show.
- Imogen Heap at Park West, immediately considered this the best live performance i'd seen to date. Zoe Keating opened, very nice.
- Intonation Music Fest, 2 days at Union Park. The streets, lady sovereign, jon brion (fantastic performance), bloc party, annie, chromeo, jose gonzalez, ghostface killah, lupe fiasco, rhymefest, and many others.
- Fiona Apple at Charter One Pavilion (formerly an airport), Damien Rice opened. Fiona afraid of killing bugs on piano keys. distracted by text message
- Lollapalooza!!! 3 days in Grant Park. kanye, death cab, quotsa, iron & wine, gnarls barkley, blues traveler, my morning jacket, common, poi dog, thievery corporation, nickel creek, stars, lady sovereign, nada surf!!!, feist!, hot chip, and many more. didn't get to see the go! team or manu chao due to scheduling conflicts (feist and kanye). chose not to see red hot chili peppers (i hate californication)
- Metro Area at Smartbar, danced til 3am, had a manhattan and it tasted like shit.
- Ellen Allien & Apparat at Smartbar
- Sufjan Stevens at Riviera, huge band with zany costumes, told great story about the predatory wasp of the palisaides. My Brightest Diamond opened.
- Massive Attack at the Riv, the next day. a terrible beatboxer opened.
- DJ Shadow at the Vic
- Lady Sovereign at Metro since I had nothing better to do
- Hot Chip at Metro since I had nothing better to do and they're awesome. a cool duo called Shy Child (Jay-Z reference?) opened
- Kid Koala at Abbey Pub. good venue, haven't had a chance to go back there yet. did a funny cooking bit. some bad rapper opened
- Brazilian Girls at Metro. had to wait outside in cold for late start and no opener, but show was good. lead singer wore many balloons. pussy pussy pussy marijuana
- Sean Lennon at Park West. I only went to see opener Jim Noir, and he wasn't there due a border issue. Fuck you, Sean Lennon.
- Imogen Heap at Riviera. I love you Imogen. openers: a guitarist with a repeater (good radiohead cover) and a beatboxer with a repeater
- (2007) Ratatat at Logan Square Auditorium, as awesome as expected. openers 120 days and despot sucked.
- Ellen Allien at Smartbar. she looks like a bunny when shes spinning
- Lollapalooza!!! 3 days at Grant Park. pearl jam, daft punk!!, modest mouse, interpol, yeah yeah yeahs, amy winehouse!, the roots, kings of leon, tv on the radio, lcd soundsystem, the hold steady (were awesome), rodrigo y gabriela (now i know :)), m.i.a.!!!, the polyphonic spree (were great), peter bjorn and john, ghostland observatory (now i know :)), rhymefest, the postmarks (up close), and many more
- Iron & Wine at Metro. good new back-up band
- Jose Gonzalez at Park West. a little too subdued (nobody standing) but ok
- The Go! Team at Double Door, fucking awesome, one of the best shows i've been to. mediocre rappers 'Cool Kids' opened.
- Swayzak at Sonotheque, fairly unremarkable
- The Wallflowers at Park West, good show despite complete absence of keyboard. glad to finally see them, especially at such an intimate venue

This post is pretty long already, so I'll save my comments on the Feist show til next time.