I went to see Jon Spencer Blues Explosion many years ago in Pittsburgh. This video is not from the show that I went to, obviously. The live show that I went to was awesome, but I was a little sad that they didn't play "Full Grown". I mainly remember the funny lady standing next to me who kept petting my hat and trying to offer me a drink from her flask. Later on, she kept trying to touch Jon's leather pants from the edge of the stage. Good times.
The first time I saw Grizzly Bear was around 2007 or so, at the Sonar in Baltimore. They were opening for TV on the Radio, and I actually liked Grizzly Bear better than TV on the Radio at that show. Most people looked kind of bored when they were playing, but I thought they were amazing. They were so loud, soft, and creepy-sounding. And the drums were so loud I could feel them in my chest. I got all excited and bought their albums, which I don't listen to.
Last year for my boyfriend's birthday I bought us tickets to Skinny Puppy's 2009 In Solvent See Tour. We went to see the concert at the Trocadero Theatre in Philadelphia. It was one of the best shows I have ever been to. We were only one row away from the stage because we got there almost an hour and a half before the show started. They played a lot of older songs from "Remission" and they played "Morpheus Laughing", which I was very excited about. The opening act was this guy with a guitar playing what sounded like speed metal, who was extremely sexy in an "I'm going to tie you up and make you watch movies about chainsawing watermelons" kind of way. My boyfriend recorded the whole show on his phone, but you can barely hear the music over him singing along very loudly, and a lot of shaking from me dancing in front of him, so that's why I thought it best to use someone else's video footage from a different show, but the same tour. The costumes Cevin wore were still the same though. And there was a lot of fake blood everywhere, which is always a plus.
Here is a picture of the inside of the Trocadero Theatre. I didn't take this picture:
This is one of those bands that makes me feel all nostalgic and warm and fuzzy inside. I used to go to see them all the time in college, and they even played where I worked/volunteered at the Rea Coffeehouse. I couldn't ever see one of their shows without dancing around like a maniac. Now they are semi-famous.
This is another band that played where I volunteered in college. The line up back then had about four people and a whole shelf of gongs, and a few more keyboard/synthesizer people. I saw Jamie play just an acoustic show before--just him and a guitar--and it was so emotional that it made me cry. He's also a very friendly person, and asked my best friend and I if we wanted to get some Indian food with him. I didn't end up going, but I think she might have went. I haven't seen them in years, and I miss it a lot.
My friend Jessie got me into Bill Callahan/Smog back in college. We went to see the show when they came to town, and it made me very sad because I think Jessie and I were the only people that actually went there to see Smog/Bill. We just stood transfixed at the edge of the stage. Every time he looked over in our direction with his bright blue eyes, I felt paralyzed...as if he had so much hurt and joy and experience in his life that it made my heart feel like sand. And I just wanted to give him the biggest hug ever.
Wow, I went to see Bauhaus when I was in high school in the late nineties. They had broken up for a long time, so I didn't think I'd ever see them. I think it was the "Resurrection" tour. I even wrote an AP English paper on the subject. My friends Dave and Sherry took me with them to the 9:30 Club in D.C., and the place was so packed we had to stand on the balcony. I almost never stand on the balcony because I like to be close enough to make myself deaf, ha ha. Either way, it was still probably in the top five concerts I've ever been to. I just remember dancing around on the balcony, then looking over onto the other side of the balcony and seeing this boy with bright pink hair air-drumming, and we both kept looking at each other in comradeship because most people were afraid to dance, or they just all did the same gothy hand-wave dance.
