The Larch

1st Amendment

Previously I recapped my concert-going history using ticket stubs as a reference. Some places you don't need a ticket, so I will describe those shows to the best of my recollection. I may be able to remember/check the dates of some, but why bother. Let's sort by location:

Slope Day, 2005, 2006, 2007, Libe Slope at Cornell:
- Snoop Dogg, knew what his best material is, played mostly stuff from Doggystyle, the Chronic, and R&G, but the sound was terrible, way too much bass, hissy speakers, and not enough volume on the mic. Ill-tempered, mediocre rapper The Game opened.
- Talib Kweli and Ben Folds. Talib was pretty good. Folds was adequate.
- T.I. and TV on the Radio. TVOTR were pretty good, I was high on the slope for T.I. and could barely hear him.

Schubas:
- Harvey Danger. Good set, didn't play Flagpole Sitta, distracted by company.
- Shapes & Sizes. Didn't play a single song from their first and better album! A mediocre band with unnecessary members opened, 50 of their friends and family dominated the audience and left before S&S. Also Yeasayer, who were great.
- Mike Doughty. As part of the "question jar" tour, answered questions from audience between songs. Doughty on acoustic, a guy switching between electric guitar and cello (sometimes bowed, sometimes plucked), really awesome show. Also played about six Soul Coughing songs, including my favorite, St. Louise is Listening. No opener :)
- Nada Surf. These guys are amazing. Know their best material. Lots of devoted fans present, so the crowd was into it.

Downstairs of the House of Blues, Nina Gordon did a free show for her solo debut album release, signed copies afterward.

Beat Kitchen:
- Went for Frida Hyvönen, who was great. Brice Woodall opened. Headliner was Bishop Allen, who sucked.
- Liked Brice Woodall, so went back to see him. Headliner was the band in which the guy from Entourage (the one who's famous on the show, not the one who's famous in real life) is the drummer. They sucked.

Sonotheque: Luke Vibert did a great set, everyone danced.

Empty Bottle:
- Mouse on Mars. A bit abrasive. Got stood up.
- Besnard Lakes. Awesome awesome awesome. Opener Birds & Batteries was pretty good.
- Went to see Shapes & Sizes and Castanets. Opener was mediocre. Shapes & Sizes never showed up, their van broke down or something. Castanets did some crappy experimental stuff. Whole show lasted like 90 minutes including setup, I want my money back.

And last Saturday Dec. 1 I went to Empty Bottle to see Prefuse 73. Not sure who that second opening act was, but I'm pretty sure the vocals were the only thing being performed live. Though they had a keyboard, bass, and guitar, I couldn't hear anything coming out of them. I think it was all coming from their two(!!!) laptops. This laptop shit is getting out of hand. Prefuse was pretty good, more experimental than the albums though, sounded like Autechre or something. Crowd was awful, lots of over-dancing assholes. I know you're just trying to have a good time, but please don't wave your fucking arms inches from my face.

The concert calendar for December is bone dry!