Search Results for: we know it's only rock n roll

NOVEMBER SURPRISE: The Decemberists, Electric Factory, Last Night [photo by MICHAEL DONOVAN] BY MICHAEL DONOVAN We all have novels we constantly return to in times of public boredom or private darkness. I’ve read The Great Gatsby more times than I’d like to admit, and The Sun Also Rises ceases to get old for me. It’s fitting, then, that Portland, Oregon’s premiere storytelling band is just the same—no matter how many times I spend the evening with them (seven) and no matter how little their show changes (very little), I’ll never tire of seeing the Decemberists. Take seven: The D’s are […]

BOW WOW WOW: Deerhunter, First Unitarian, Last Night [photo by TIFFANY YOON] BY TIFFANY YOON Bradford Cox and his gang put on a killer show, with the setlist drawn largely from their new album Microcastle, easily in my Top Five of the year. Cox seems to love Philadelphia, which he will forever associate with scrapple and pneumonia. I think he tells these stories every time he plays a show in Philly, but let’s start with the scrapple. Apparently, Cox didn’t know what scrapple was until he went to the Melrose Diner the last time through town. Curious, he orders some […]

I AM SUPERMAN: Of Montreal, Electric Factory, Friday Night BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE INQUIRER The only constant with the Athens, Ga., indie-pop band Of Montreal — over the course 11 years, nine albums, five EPs and innumerable personnel shifts — is change. In its decade-long evolution from twee psych-pop for second-wave Elephant 6ers recording collective to its current status as the definitive, post-everything party band for barely 20-somethings, Of Montreal’s mantra has remained the same: Change or die. Likewise, the band’s live show is a study in perpetual flux. During the course of the band’s two-hour tour de farce […]

BY DAVE ALLEN A two-night stand is a rare thing, and a preview yesterday of this mini-Warped Tour lineup, with left-wing ragers Rise Against headlining, wouldn’t have done any good — Night One was sold out. So here’s the top five reasons to check out Night Two tonight at the E-Factory. 1) Any moment iron-throated Rise Against singer Tim McIlrath roams the stage without a guitar. It’s been said that mics are for singing, not for swinging, but McIlrath makes a strong case for their non-vocal use. With him stationed behind the mike stand with a guitar, they’re just another […]

[Photo by LAURA BUCKMAN] BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE INQUIRER Somewhere in the nether zone where the rip-and-burn ethos of the Digital Age bumps up against the you-break-it-you-bought-it copyright laws of the Analogue Age is where Girl Talk opens his laptop and throws a party. That may sound about as sexy as an algebra equation on paper, but as parties go, it’s a deathless, breathless unstoppable good time: smoke, confetti, toilet paper streamers, and, like, all your favorite songs — together at last! Unlike most, DJs, Girl Talk, aka acclaimed Pittsburgh-based mixologist Gregg Gillis, doesn’t cut and paste from obscure […]

[Photo by AMY Z. QUINN] JUST LIKE BUDDY HOLLY: Weezer, Susquehanna Center, Saturday Night BY AMY Z. QUINN  I was pretty sure I’d made it through Saturday night’s Weezer show without feeling too old when on the way back to the car, niece Jenny turned to me and said “Who is Buddy Holly, anyway?” Cue that wah-wah-waaaaah “Thank you for playing!” sound effect.  Of course, I was happy to tell her all about the Texas rocker, about the nerd-sex glasses and “Everyday” and “Peggy Sue” and The Day The Music Died, though I stopped short of going into why I […]

MIDAS TOUCH: Santogold, TLA, Tuesday Night [Photo by TIFFANY YOON] BY JONATHAN VALANIA There is an old, cruel joke that goes: Those that can’t do, teach. The local version, factoring in Philadelphia’s Don’t-Call-Us-The-Sixth-Borough inferiority complex, goes something like: Those who can’t make it in New York settle for Philly. Well-worn from overuse, this canard tends to rub locals the wrong way, especially the city’s creative class, so it was an awkward moment when Philly native Santogold, AKA Santi White, daughter of John Street bundler Ron White, made a point of announcing to the near-capacity crowd at the TLA Tuesday night […]

BLISSED OUT: My Bloody Valentine, Roseland Ballroom, NYC, Monday Night BY JOHN “Phawker Tech Guy” REFANO They had arena sized amp rigs – I counted at least 12 speaker cabinets and 8 amplifiers for the 4 piece band. Brutal. The light show was intense. My eyes were literally tearing up. They had some great background visuals, but the strobes were what was killer. It added to the performance though. Kevin and Belinda don’t have much for stage presence, as could be expected. The rhythm section, Debbie Googe and Colm O Ciosoig, put a little more physicality into it. I don’t […]

POST-MILLENNIAL TENSION: Tricky, Trocadero, Last Night BY DAVE ALLEN Last night at the Troc, British artist Tricky forever banished the notion of trip-hop – the influential jazz-meets-electronic genre he helped forge in the mid ’90s – as a precious, made-for-headphones-listening style. His backing band turned the bristling, haunted soundscapes found on his albums into booming, kaleidoscopic arena-rock, while the Bristol-born MC showed, through his tightly-coiled swagger and distinctively gruff vocals, that American hip-hop acts like Lil Wayne and Young Jeezy owe him a thing or two. His band took the stage to the sounds of Phil Collins’ “In the Air […]

IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE: War On Drugs, Johnny Brendas, Last Night BY TIFFANY YOON Last night’s show was surprisingly light on paying customers, considering Windsor For the Derby just returned from a massive European tour and War on Drugs is set to leave for their own with the Brooklyn based Hold Steady.  War on Drugs and WFTD were backed by two drummers, serving as a driving force for each set.  It was only the second time they’ve tried incorporating two drummers and I’d say it was a complete success.  These bands are all tightly knit, sharing Charlie Hall, Adam […]

EMPIRE OF DIRT: Nine Inch Nails, Wachovia Center, Friday Night [Photos by JONATHAN VALANIA] BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE INQUIRER Industrial music is all about the intersection of man and machine, drawing sonic tropes from the pneumatic wheeze of moving parts, and taking lyrical cues from the existential exigencies of life in a mechanized world. Trent Reznor made it speak to the punkish angst of youth trapped in dead-eyed factory towns in the dawn of the Information Age — and became the new Man In Black. Twenty years on, Reznor may have lost some of his cultural cachet — Friday […]

EXILE ON MAINSTREAM: Liz Phair, TLA, Last Night [Photo by JONATHAN VALANIA] 1. On the whole, it was a tidy kind of show. Liz Phair went onstage shortly after 8, rolled through Exile In Guyville and a three-song encore, during which she played on three different guitars and an electric piano, engaged in some truly priceless audience participation (more on that later), patted the show on its butt and had everybody home before curfew. 2. I was kind of disappointed not to see more college-age and twenty-something females in the not-quite sold-out TLA audience, though I guess these days the […]

SOMEWHERE OVER IN RAINBOWS: Radiohead, Susquehanna Center, Last Night 01. 15 Step: The men of Radiohead walk onstage, waving and clapping along with the audience. They look happy to be here. Thom Yorke looks hale and healthy, and like all new dads, a little thicker around the waist than the last time you saw him. Ed O’Brien looks GQ dapper in his tailored, two-button blazer and scarf (a bold fashion choice for August in Camden). Jonny Greenwood is rocking his hoodie high and tight for that hipster monk look that’s so popular with the kids these days. Colin Greenwood still […]