Monday afternoon in the sweltering heat of LA..ahh, yes, the heat is here and I can keep the windows open all night from now until about, oh Nov 15th probably. I do love it so.
So I need to interrupt the stream of grafitti posts to give everyone a quick update on the Weenie Roast concert on Saturday.
One of the things I really appreciate is how a band sounds "live" vs the albums. Maybe its because I've spent my whole adult life in the performing arts in one form or another--but seeing a live set from a band for the first time is often a "make or break" experience for me--and sometimes it can completely shift my opinion about a band 180 degrees in either direction.
So here is my little report card on what went down on Saturday:
Traffic was horrible and the heat was intense, for starters, and I knew I would not last all day if I was there when the park opened at 11:30am. By the time I got through parking, the 5 mile walk on searing asphalt, and the airport level security, it was about 2:30pm. So here is what went down...
Stage Two
12:30-Open Air Stereo - missed 'em
1:00-The Dead 60's - missed 'em
1:30-The Bravery - missed 'em
2:00-Alkaline Trio - heard the whole set whilst walking thru parking lot, security, etc..sounded good from afar, but they were moving off the stage by the time I got close enough to see. Bummed on that one.
2:30-Transplants - OK, here is a perfect case of a band that I was interested in, from the songs I had already heard, but was holding out until seeing the live set to go further with them. Well- I am not going any further. Meaningless. And when the lead singer grabbed his nuts like a rapper (even though he so desperatley strived to be the next incarnation of Johnny Rotten/Joe Strummer--and resolutely failed) and said: "Allright yo, I want to see some serious moshing on this next one! I want to see punches thrown, people getting dropkicked in the face bodies slammed.." Um, yeah, what are we like fucking 16 years old here? What an ass. And the second stage was on an asphlat parking lot, btw. You know, I was in plenty of pits back in the day--but I never heard a true punker openly incite the crowd to beat the shit out of eachother.
3:00-Bloc Party - Ok, my jury is still out on these guys from Liverpool. I think they were just a little off from the intense heat and maybe a bit overwhelmed by the whole scene. They seemed like they were having some technical difficulties at various times--but they still made a good effort.
3:30-Mars Volta
Now this is where the shit started to get very interesting. Another band that I was "undecided" upon prior to the show. I had liked what I had heard on the radio so far, but was not quite ready to buy the album. I wanted an inspirational reason to buy it. Well, jeesus effin-a they ripped that mother fucker apart. No singles, no "songs" even. They just came out, started in on it, and jammed straight for about 45 minutes. Amazing talent in that band. The guitarist was pullin out crazy Hendrixy/Morello type of riffs--but yet sounded completely unique at the same time. The percussion section was changing speed and rhythms with total unpredictability. These guys frankly blew me away and I will go buy their stuff at the next opportunity
Main Stage
3:45-MxPx - missed 'em --was still watching M. Volta when they took the main stage
4:15-Hot Hot Heat -- see above, only caught the last two songs, which were ok
5:00-My Chemical Romance -- Ha ha ha ha, Yeah, I laughed my way through this puny, sophomoric, faux-punked set of overblown garbage.
5:45-Jimmy Eat World -- I feel like these guys are are just happy punkers that actually play their instruments quite well, and they don't pose and make ridiculously stupid comments like the band that preceded them. For this, I give them a solid "B+"
6:30-Interpol -- Now here was a shift. I own "Antics" and frankly was not all that impressed with the whole album after a few listens through and it had just been sitting on the shelf for a while. But Wow--they fucking rocked it hard, fast, and clean. Just very excellent musicianship, no frills, just direct and honest and loud. I am putting the album back into heavy rotation after that set.
7:15-Queens of the Stone Age -- What can I say. I love these guys (and the gal). The only drawback here was that the sound system on their stage (there were two alternating stages) was really starting to diminish. Now this was not their fault--it was the mixers and sound crew. This pisses me off to no end. It was like the upper level speaker clusters had been turned off or something. Way to ruin a good set.
8:00-The Killers -- the sun had just gone down to the point where all the pot smokers felt bold enough to openly bust out the hand pipes, joints, one hitters etc.. that they had been stashing right as these guys hit the stage. Also, they were the first band that got the whole crowd to get up on its feet and stand through the set. It was like a chain reaction starting down in the good seats and working its way up like a wave to the top. They were solid, tight, and rocking it pretty hard.
8:45-Audioslave -- I was so looking forward to this set after having seen the free show just a few days earlier. But goddamnit the soundsystem got even worse for them. I swear it was not any louder than having my home stereo on a 3/4 blast in the living room--but I'm in the bedroom with the door shut. Fuck it pissed me off--and all of those people around me too. Of course I could hear eveyone's comments because the volume was so low. I really just tried to shut out the extraneous drunken screams/cell phone conversations etc.. and focus on the set -- which was still arguably one of the strongest sets I've seen. The AS songs they played were great, and they again did a version of Spoonman, as well as some RATM : Bulls on Parade instrumental only--and then broke right into Killing in the Name without missing a beat. The highlight of the set, for me at least, was Chris coming out, playing a solo acoustic guitar, and singing "Black Hole Sun" under the lone spotlight. That voice *droolz*
9:45-Foo Fighters -- Now I really like Foo Fighters, I have their albums, but I never had put them into like a "My favorites" category or anything. Just liked em, thought they were solid and talented. Well shit, they just ripped me a new asshole with raw power. I have to say, hands down, the best set of the whole event, and one of the top five best sets I've ever seen. Won huge points with me. During "Monkey Wrench" I lifted my 20ouncer of piss beer (its all they had
) high to the sky and toasted all my SG friends. "Cheers and wish you were here!" 
10:45-Motley Crue -- Well troopers, I hung in there as long as I could. I was sunburned, hungover already at this point, smoked way too many cigs, knees ready to buckle from standing on a serious incline for the last several hours, utterly wasted people puking and stumbling all around me. I was like, "come on", you gotta just check out the opening number--you can do it. Well, full pyro explosions, 50 foot flames, red leather and handcuffs, and big hair as they ripped out "Shout at the Devil" to open the set. I toasted
mngddss as I took the last swig of beer, hoping she was long gone down the road of intoxication.
But beneath all the glam and glitter was, sadly, a bunch of tired old rockers that didn't really seem to care all that much anymore. I wanted to leave with a good taste in my mouth still, and as soon as "shout" ended I bailed out of there--not wanting the current reality to spoil the memory of what used to be an amazing spectacle.
So I need to interrupt the stream of grafitti posts to give everyone a quick update on the Weenie Roast concert on Saturday.
One of the things I really appreciate is how a band sounds "live" vs the albums. Maybe its because I've spent my whole adult life in the performing arts in one form or another--but seeing a live set from a band for the first time is often a "make or break" experience for me--and sometimes it can completely shift my opinion about a band 180 degrees in either direction.
So here is my little report card on what went down on Saturday:
Traffic was horrible and the heat was intense, for starters, and I knew I would not last all day if I was there when the park opened at 11:30am. By the time I got through parking, the 5 mile walk on searing asphalt, and the airport level security, it was about 2:30pm. So here is what went down...
Stage Two
12:30-Open Air Stereo - missed 'em
1:00-The Dead 60's - missed 'em
1:30-The Bravery - missed 'em
2:00-Alkaline Trio - heard the whole set whilst walking thru parking lot, security, etc..sounded good from afar, but they were moving off the stage by the time I got close enough to see. Bummed on that one.
2:30-Transplants - OK, here is a perfect case of a band that I was interested in, from the songs I had already heard, but was holding out until seeing the live set to go further with them. Well- I am not going any further. Meaningless. And when the lead singer grabbed his nuts like a rapper (even though he so desperatley strived to be the next incarnation of Johnny Rotten/Joe Strummer--and resolutely failed) and said: "Allright yo, I want to see some serious moshing on this next one! I want to see punches thrown, people getting dropkicked in the face bodies slammed.." Um, yeah, what are we like fucking 16 years old here? What an ass. And the second stage was on an asphlat parking lot, btw. You know, I was in plenty of pits back in the day--but I never heard a true punker openly incite the crowd to beat the shit out of eachother.
3:00-Bloc Party - Ok, my jury is still out on these guys from Liverpool. I think they were just a little off from the intense heat and maybe a bit overwhelmed by the whole scene. They seemed like they were having some technical difficulties at various times--but they still made a good effort.
3:30-Mars Volta
Now this is where the shit started to get very interesting. Another band that I was "undecided" upon prior to the show. I had liked what I had heard on the radio so far, but was not quite ready to buy the album. I wanted an inspirational reason to buy it. Well, jeesus effin-a they ripped that mother fucker apart. No singles, no "songs" even. They just came out, started in on it, and jammed straight for about 45 minutes. Amazing talent in that band. The guitarist was pullin out crazy Hendrixy/Morello type of riffs--but yet sounded completely unique at the same time. The percussion section was changing speed and rhythms with total unpredictability. These guys frankly blew me away and I will go buy their stuff at the next opportunity
Main Stage
3:45-MxPx - missed 'em --was still watching M. Volta when they took the main stage
4:15-Hot Hot Heat -- see above, only caught the last two songs, which were ok
5:00-My Chemical Romance -- Ha ha ha ha, Yeah, I laughed my way through this puny, sophomoric, faux-punked set of overblown garbage.
5:45-Jimmy Eat World -- I feel like these guys are are just happy punkers that actually play their instruments quite well, and they don't pose and make ridiculously stupid comments like the band that preceded them. For this, I give them a solid "B+"
6:30-Interpol -- Now here was a shift. I own "Antics" and frankly was not all that impressed with the whole album after a few listens through and it had just been sitting on the shelf for a while. But Wow--they fucking rocked it hard, fast, and clean. Just very excellent musicianship, no frills, just direct and honest and loud. I am putting the album back into heavy rotation after that set.
7:15-Queens of the Stone Age -- What can I say. I love these guys (and the gal). The only drawback here was that the sound system on their stage (there were two alternating stages) was really starting to diminish. Now this was not their fault--it was the mixers and sound crew. This pisses me off to no end. It was like the upper level speaker clusters had been turned off or something. Way to ruin a good set.
8:00-The Killers -- the sun had just gone down to the point where all the pot smokers felt bold enough to openly bust out the hand pipes, joints, one hitters etc.. that they had been stashing right as these guys hit the stage. Also, they were the first band that got the whole crowd to get up on its feet and stand through the set. It was like a chain reaction starting down in the good seats and working its way up like a wave to the top. They were solid, tight, and rocking it pretty hard.
8:45-Audioslave -- I was so looking forward to this set after having seen the free show just a few days earlier. But goddamnit the soundsystem got even worse for them. I swear it was not any louder than having my home stereo on a 3/4 blast in the living room--but I'm in the bedroom with the door shut. Fuck it pissed me off--and all of those people around me too. Of course I could hear eveyone's comments because the volume was so low. I really just tried to shut out the extraneous drunken screams/cell phone conversations etc.. and focus on the set -- which was still arguably one of the strongest sets I've seen. The AS songs they played were great, and they again did a version of Spoonman, as well as some RATM : Bulls on Parade instrumental only--and then broke right into Killing in the Name without missing a beat. The highlight of the set, for me at least, was Chris coming out, playing a solo acoustic guitar, and singing "Black Hole Sun" under the lone spotlight. That voice *droolz*
9:45-Foo Fighters -- Now I really like Foo Fighters, I have their albums, but I never had put them into like a "My favorites" category or anything. Just liked em, thought they were solid and talented. Well shit, they just ripped me a new asshole with raw power. I have to say, hands down, the best set of the whole event, and one of the top five best sets I've ever seen. Won huge points with me. During "Monkey Wrench" I lifted my 20ouncer of piss beer (its all they had
) high to the sky and toasted all my SG friends. "Cheers and wish you were here!"
10:45-Motley Crue -- Well troopers, I hung in there as long as I could. I was sunburned, hungover already at this point, smoked way too many cigs, knees ready to buckle from standing on a serious incline for the last several hours, utterly wasted people puking and stumbling all around me. I was like, "come on", you gotta just check out the opening number--you can do it. Well, full pyro explosions, 50 foot flames, red leather and handcuffs, and big hair as they ripped out "Shout at the Devil" to open the set. I toasted
mngddss as I took the last swig of beer, hoping she was long gone down the road of intoxication.
But beneath all the glam and glitter was, sadly, a bunch of tired old rockers that didn't really seem to care all that much anymore. I wanted to leave with a good taste in my mouth still, and as soon as "shout" ended I bailed out of there--not wanting the current reality to spoil the memory of what used to be an amazing spectacle.
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As for Bonds... that's a response for another day.
How's your day today?