Thrice - Live

Saltair Pavilion - Magna, UT - 11/01/11



On this magical night at The Great Saltair Pavilion I think I saw two of the best sounding and solid performances I have seen in a long time. The first being Manchester Orchestra and the next being the almighty Thrice. I guess there was some sort of mega-show that night with the Pac Tour (Manchester Orchestra , The Dear Hunter and White Denim) combining forces with Thrice's tour featuring Moving Mountains, La Dispute, O'Brother. So for the price of $27 at the door I basically got two shows for the price of one. It was kind of like the Wapred Tour except cold and with less annoying bands and the show was indoors (so actually nothing like the Warped Tour).

I arrived a bit late and in the middle of some bands set, not knowing who exactly was playing yet. There were a shit load of openers on the line up so I was not quite sure who I was watching. After observing a few songs I decided that the bass player was cool and he had an awesome beard, the band did some cool sound effects but they lacked intensity in their performance. Come to find out it was The Dear Hunter a band which I thought I hated, but after their set I realized I could tolerate them.

I guess I also missed the first two band sets. The first being Moving Mountains, which I was I glad I missed because after reviewing their newest album I have pretty much decided that they are weak (see review here).  I did miss O'Brother and according to all accounts I missed a good performance and their drummer was bad (upon further research I am bummed that I missed them, maybe next time).

Next up after Dear Hunter was La Dispute and they were fucking terrible. If Fugazi and The Hanson Brothers had an intense group orgy it would spawn these scrawny blonde headed junior high looking dudes. The were two main problem with these guys: the first being the bland ass post hardcore music, the second was the singer that spent every song doing this strange Geoff Rickley / Against Me! type bark. But there was one entertaining aspect about their set which was the strange Micro Machine Man type mumbling the singer did in between songs.  So ridiculous.

After the post-hardcore Hansons were done up came White Denim. These dudes were nuts. They're basically this strange mutation of The Mars Votla mixed with Creedence Clearwater with the shredding prowess of Maps & Atlases. Apparently this is the band that all the other bands admire because at some point during their four song jammed out set at least one member form the other six bands could be seen standing at the side of the stage admiring their proged out country roots action.

Second to last was Manchester Orchestra which everyone in the crowd seemed extremely stoked about. This is a band that everyone is always bugging me to check out but I have never got around to listening to. After seeing them live I am now a converted follower and I curse myself for not having listened to the advice given to me by my peers. The are a few simple and important things I feel like I need to share about Manchester Orchestra's live show and they are: great intensity, superb mix with really low end bass and kick drum and the front man is super dynamic and engaging. Amazing performance.

Finally last up was Thrice. This is a band I haven't seen live since they opened up for Deftones in 2003. Having not seen them in a while is not from lack of effort. I have tried several times and either had something come up last minute or shown up to late into their set. These guys are badass live and after all the years they have spent together as a band they still bring energy, if you look at each individual member you can tell that they really believe in and enjoy the music they play. Bodacious set. Plus they played my favorite two songs "Firebreather" and "The Earth Will Shake".

The night was definitely worth the $27 and I even found some new bands to check out which is always a good time. All the bad ass video clips were taken by my buddy Isaac. Go to his youtube channel or else.

Pic source: http://thechordprogression.wordpress.com/2011/11/

U2 - Live

Rice Eccles Stadium - Salt Lake City, UT 05/24/11

Finally Bono, The Edge and two dudes that look like my drunk uncles came back to Utah after a delay caused by Jesus himself... oh wait... Bono throwing his back out after fondling some taters while originally rehearsing for the U2360° tour in Salt Lake 18 months ago.

Tuesday morning I was so excited to drive up to Rice Eccles stadium, spend an hour trying to park, watch Mormons make out and listen to Bono talk about himself that I could hardly stand it. The night unfolded exactly how I expected.

It is insane to me that people go this ape shit over U2. While the stage set up known as "The Claw" was really cool looking and the 360° video board made the show visible from every spot in the stadium, it was not enough to make up for the contrived self righteousness that U2 has become. Bono at one point literally spent five minutes of the show talking about himself and the band. But the clincher for me was when he pulled three women on stage and read some ridiculous poem about how Utah was so great. That's all I could handle and even though I got into the show for free I had to leave.

Now, the day after the show there are several reviews confessing their undying love for the band, preaching about how amazing the show was last night and how it was such a religious experience. Are you kidding me?! If your idea of a religious experience is watching a pre-rehearsed calculated narcissistic commercial you are clearly a brain washed sheep. Strong work Salt Lake Tribune and David Burger. You Dildos.

Here's some crappy pictures and a video:

Danzig - Live

The Great Saltair - Salt Lake City, UT 05/02/11

Back in the day I always found it a little strange when people were into Danzig. I never could quite understand how you could buy into this little barrel chested dude that looks like Vigo from Ghostbusters 2.

But as I've grown a little older I pretty much like any kind of music and after meeting my wife and finding out she was obsessed with him I accepted Mr. Glen Danzig into my life.

When his performance at Saltair was announced I had to go because, I knew somehow it was going to be hilarious yet awesome. Partly because of the crowd that would attend and partly because watching a goth metal version of Elvis / Morrisey's love child running around in a fishnet shirt sounded like a hell of a way to spend a Monday night.

Sadly though, only half of what I imagined actually came through. The crowd was awesome, there's nothing like watching a bunch of metal heads and drunk assholes rock out, they should make a reality show that consists of trashed people at shows doing their thing, it would be so amazingly entertaining. But, the worst part was watching the crowd bug out to two of the blandest metal core bands I have heard in a while in 2Cents and Devildriver (for some reason the lead singer of 2Cents kept referring to his penis and insulting the crowd). Then waiting patiently for Danzig only to have them sound like a busted ass blues rock cover band coming out of an old beer can with an extremely loud old dude shrieking randomly over the top. I was honestly amazed at how horrible it sounded. Then it occurred to me... on the way into the show security was making an extremely huge deal about not taking any pictures or videos. The reason must be because if any pics or video clips surfaced of a bald and chubby Danzig yelping incoherently and consistently running out of breath mid lyric no one would go to his concerts

It's was kind of sad to see that someone so strangely badass and ridiculous has now just become old and ridiculous. I guess when you need a paycheck for you're Viagra you gotta go play them shows. I managed to sneak a couple of crappy unfocused pics before being almost thrown out by security. Check em out.