Live Shows

[Meursault]

You are Queen.

[samplestiltskin]

Am I not? I'm really sorry you can't come too Shane but I promise I'll enjoy it enough for the both of us.

Times like this I really miss Skvor.

[ScottsyII]

No shows on the agenda yet I must say... but its mid winter here in Australia, typically the quiet season as far as tours and live gigs go... there's aren't any bands I am really seriously into that are touring soon, as well...

I am kinda getting hungry for a good live show though!

[samplestiltskin]

Skinny Puppy. Absolutely the most intense concert I’ve ever attended. I got squished up to second row though, so I got a real beating being so close to the action. The Ogden is a tiny theatre on the same block I live on. I couldn’t believe Puppy was playing there, it’s TINY and they’re a huge, sweeping act really. But they sure did, and it was..... Man.

The stage was set up to put focus on Ogre, which was great because he’s got an uncanny sense of showmanship. Guess he’s been doing it for a while. Came out in this totally sick costume, some sort of bloody bird, maybe a really tall chicken. Creepy. Takes the mask off after one song, we see his bloody face, crazed evil eyes... oh yeahhh, the crowd was crazy about him. So much energy the whole time – strutting up and down the stage, squatting to address the flanks of the audience who weren’t getting a direct view, just singing in their faces. Took off his bloody chicken-jacket a little later, threw pieces of bandage at us, just kept getting more and more ferocious, frenzied. Turned the crowd on like a lightbulb. Brought out this gas mask near the middle of the show, apparently there were white gobs of stuff that looked like snot that he’d inhale from the mask and blow out at the crowd (yeah I got it in my hair, and “blood” all over my face and body when he’d dip his hands in it and fling it at us. Keep in mind, I wasn’t 10 feet away from these guys. It was just SO KICK-ASS, the music was dead-on, precision-perfect, teeth-gritting wonderful nastiness.... Ogre would occasionally focus on one person maybe up front in the audience and just sing to them with scary intensity. Interacted with the video on the screen behind him, screaming/singing at Bush. He gave everything. I have amazing respect for this guy. For the whole band. For sheer intensity it beats anything I have or probably ever will experience. Tight fucking little show. All Hail The Gods Of Skinny Puppy.

Strangely enough I’m going to see the Legendary Pink Dots on Friday, who had a side project working with Puppy called Tear Garden... small world.

[Meursault]

I'm extremely jealous of you samples, but extremely satisfied.

Skinny Puppy best Rock n Roll band ever!

[Thorngrub]

That's awesome, samples. Insanely jealous of you too.

Not so fast, Simpson. Skinny Puppy is more (and less) than just a regular ol' "rock band", I'd wager. I'd give that more conventional title to 3 guys from up your ways, 3 legendary rockers whom I had the exquisite pleasure of witnessing, for the 13th time (@ least), last night, playing to a packed venue for 3 hours and 20 minutes:

RUSH!!!!

[Thorngrub]

An Impromptu RUSH review, by thoRny

Well RUSH did it: they rocked our collective world for 3 Hours and Twenty Minutes, as Geddy promised. Man what a killer show. I've seen em over a dozen times, but it's like the freshness never fades. They kicked off the show with an extensive "Oldschool Rush Medley", beginning with segments from each of their albums, starting off with Finding My Way from their debut, and seamlessly riffing through Anthem, Bastille Day, parts of A Farewell To Kings (including a kickass foray into Cygnus X-1), and weaving and winding all over their early terrain with wild rocking abandon, for like a good twenty minutes it seemed. Eventually this kickass medley segued into the beginning of The Spirit Of Radio, and finally Geddy began singing for the first time, delivering us avid pack of raving RUSH fans the first official entire full-length song of the set. Talk about an amazing, inspired beginning to what ended up becoming one of the best RUSH shows I ever saw.

For the next 3 hours RUSH rocked us so hard that nobody sat down during the first half of the show, NOBODY. An hour and a half we stood up, fist-pumping, gyrating, dancing about, and singing along at the top of our lungs most of the time. I wish I had written down the setlist but instead I was having a raving good time jamming along on air guitar with Alex, pounding the invisible skins before me with Neil, and singing along with everyone else as Geddy led us through RUSH's inspired lyrics - incidentally the most thoughtful lyrics, IMO, in rock'n'roll (thanks Neil). Halfway through their show, when they launched into Between The Wheels from Grace Under Pressure, I thought to myself "This is my high point of the show, right here", but then directly after that they played Mystic Rhythms from Power Windows, which blew me away even more, and then not long after that, they ripped out an explosive rendition of 2112, keeping the intro and Temples of Syrinx parts fully intact, and bridging the interludes after that to a rousing closer, which sequed into the entire jamathon we RUSH die-hards know as La Villa Strangiata, man halfway through that one I was all "This is the best part of the show!". But then they played Red Sector A and The Trees, both of which feature lyrics chillingly effective in the shadow of September Eleventh.

In short: There were so many "HIgh Points" and pivotal moments scattered throughout the show, that before too long it became evident (especially all throughout the second set) that THE ENTIRE CONCERT WAS A FREAKING HIGH POINT!!!


Geddy picked up an acoustic guitar and joined Alex for a thoughtful duet rendition of Resist, from T4E, and it really was a beautifully moving song, showcasing RUSH's ample songwriting, ballad skills. Then they immediately launched into that Yardbirds cover, with Neil jumping in on the kit (can't remember the name of the song). It was awesome. The RUSHness just kept goin' and goin'......there were some audience members (notably girlfriends of real RUSH fans) who were tiring out towards the end, and sitting down. You could just tell they were thinking "My Lord When Will This Ever End", and I had to laugh and shake my head at the poor weaklings who couldn't take THE ROCK UNT ROLLLLLLL! LOL

Of course Neil launched into one of his standard, awe-inducing, superhuman, quantum-rhythmic, plain GODLY drum soloes which lasted a good ten minutes or more, peaking into a hilarious "chopsticks" segue interpolating classic imagery onscreen of jazz-age drummers & flapper girls dancing hysterically. You had to have been there, leave it said the Neilster proved yet again that there is simply no one on the planet that can hold a candle to his superhuman percussive skills. Fucking mindblowing.

They finished their Godly Set with Limelight, and said Good Night. One of the coolest things Geddy said was something along the lines of "Hope to see you next time around", which confirmed the secret hopes of every true RUSH fan there: these old rockers ain't done with us yet.

[riley]

Awesome review Thorn. Totally awesome.

[Meursault]

Now you call Thorn - Queen, Riley.

[Thorngrub]

I'm comin' up on yer tails, godlings!

[pattentank24]

July 29 Curiosa Atlanta GA

We arrived around 2:30(We being myself,girlfriend Kristine,and Indie Hipster Reid)

An Empty Parking Lot greeted us as did Interpol's soundcheck featuring "The Specialist"
Those crafty Security guards faked opening the gates @3:30 made us line up in the 90 degree heat like cattle as the line decided to sing "Float On" and made sheep noises as we waited

4:00 GATES OPEN and where did everyone run the Curiosa Gift Shop of course

What I Spent My Money On
Curiosa Shirt...$30
Muse Wristband...$8
Interpol Zippo Lighter...$15

After finding out the schedule the majority of people we talked to seemed to be which stage. what time.

With 30 min to kill we checked out the main stage pit and then walked 2 min to the 2nd stage in a meadow for Cooper Temple Clause who went on at 5pm

Cooper Temple Clause(2nd Stage)
Did You Miss Me(both times I have seen them they opened with this)
A.I.M.(one of the weaker songs on the 2nd album)
Been Training Dogs(a crowd favorite even if it was only 150 people)
Music Box(The Highlight of the set)
Promises,Promises(Which caused most people to ask that's it?)

Where was "Let's Kill Music/Blind Pliots
Too short a set to really get rolling as I have seen before 7/10

Mogwai on the main stage was not as captivating as if you see them in a small club but still made the paint fade on the walls they played mostly "Songs for Happy People" and Reid had a great line "Why Not just play "My Father,My King"(26 min long) every time and throw in one different song per set 7/10

Auf Der Maur she was the first to get involved in on stage banter as she reminded us she was just here 2 wks ago for a weak radio fest. and refered to us as her "new friends" she opened with "She Rides Lighting" and had her band dressed in Boy Scount uniforms(Yes she looked hot with the seethrough black top and skirt)
I'm not real impressed with the songs but most of the crowd responsed to her set(cue rimshot) and energy7/10

Ok Here's what we we were waiting for The Rapture,Muse,Interpol

The Rapture
Out at the Races,Onto The Tracks(One of their strongest songs live and sets the tone)
Fortune Son(CCR cover this was a suprise and the sax work was fantastic some of the audience looked real confused while most hust danced)
Heaven(The energy on stage picked up and as did the dancing at least in the pit)
Olio("Over and Over Again/Over and Over Again this band just loves playing on stage it's contagious except to the confused Cure fans)
Killing(I broke out the rave kid snake dance for this one)
Sister Savior(they rocked this one out but crowd response was EHH)
House of Jealous Lovers(usually this blows the roof off with Cowbell chants but for some reason the majority of the audience was indifferent and had seen enough)

This was the 3rd time I've seen the Rapture and they are one of my favorite live acts right now but due to the venue and the fact the audience never seemed to connect this was their weakest performance so far 8/10

Muse
Stockholm Syndrome(Matt Bellamy is my new guitar god)
Muscle Museum(some technical problems with Matt's guitar forced a small delay but when it hit they were off and didn't stop )
Plug In Baby(they have the crowd in the palm of their hand)
Butterfies and Hurricanes(The loudest roar of the day on the 2nd stage)
Good Times/Bad Times(Led Zep. cover Matt destroyed the solo no one wants this set to end)
Time is Running Out(This Will be The Song that launches them here in the states every single person knew the words about 700-900 people jumping in the meadow)

Wow first time I have seen Muse they cancelled the last show I was going to
If you have ever been to show where you/friends can sense a Band was about to break huge just from the response of people who either liked the band or had never seen live this was one of those moments on par for me with seeing Radiohead on the Bends tour 10/10

Cont....

[pattentank24]

Cont...

Interpol
Obstacle 1(We're too excited to just stand and watch)
Say Hello To The Angels(The guitar break at the end was perfect)
Evil(Live it has more life and is a great blueprint for Interpol's sound)
NYC(The light show was amazing and even older couples seem impressed)
Roland(Carlos pointed his bass like a gun as Kristine noticed he was wearing a pistol holster for suspenders,btw Daniel was the only one who wore a suit everyone else dress shirt,tie shortsleeve just like me)
Slow Hands(Sam's druming was an earthquake as the floor vibrated,this will be the first single)
Leif Ericson(I was so happy to hear this one live it had been 2 shows ago since)
Length of Love(my favorite of the new songs)
PDA(The musicanship on this during the stop and go breaks is the first reason I became such an hardcore Interpol fan)

The Assasins came back to Atlanta and said very little but survived an staduim performance and made more new fans as always they deliver another command performance.9/10

Thursday
Understanding In A Car Crash(The Kids seem happy as they mosh in the meadow esp. the ones who were at the Warped Tour the day before)
M. Sheppard(Is there a more Passionate emo frontman than Geoff he 's swinging from a scafold piece)
The Night's Never Over(My favorite from "Full Collapse" you can sense the anguish)
Signals over the Air(The Kids want more!!!)
War All The Time(Geoff is on his knees face down singing his little balck heart out)
Divison ST.("It's a honor to be on tour with the greatest band of the last 25 years-Geoff)

Thursday is The Young Smiths of the Emo age they are sloppy but man can you appreicate the passion they have for their music and fans 8/10

The Cure cont...

[pattentank24]

The Cure9:15pm,Main Stage
Lost(Great Opener it's one of the standouts from this year's album)
Labriyth(Crowd becomes nervous they may play the new album in order)
Fascination St.(Ahhh one the senior cure faithful know and love Smith's voice in shape now)
Alt.End(Suprise another new song,but very catching with Smith Refraining "I just want this to be the end)
A Night Like This(This has always been one of my favorite Cure songs they nailed the performance )
End of The World(suprised it's not one of the crowd's favorites,not a bad song)
LoveSong(Robert joked about 311 would play THEIR hit here on Sun)
Inbetween Days(the audience is ready for the classics run now)
Just Like Heaven(Loudest roar so far just for the opening the lights and Tv screens match perfectly)
Jupiter Crash(One of the lesser known classics got the crowd psyched)
Pictures of You(It'S Offical it's make-out time )
Before Three(the most pop song on the new album is beloved by all...but the goth couple just steps away form us)
Edge of the Deep Green Sea/Untitled(Disten.)("Hands to the sky everybody")
A Strange Day(let's get dark for a few numbers)
100 Days(This is building to an emotional conclusion the video screens remind me of early Cure videos)
Never(the weakest song is much better live then on the new album)
The Promise(this is my new favorite epic the whole visual and sound left me speechless)

Encore 1
Close to Me(Robert says"were going to send you home happy" then everyone danced and clapped as Robert actually for the first time I have seen DANCED ON STAGE WITH THE AUDIENCE)
Lovecats(No one could believed they actually played it while the dancing continued)
Why Can't I Be You(it was an amazing show Curfew is 11:00 it's 10:50 they haven't played 2 encores on this tour yet ...Wait There Coming Back out Robert "Were going to Break Curfew tonight")

Encore 2
Charlotte Sometimes(the place go nuts with anticipation I had never heard the next 3 live together in an encore)
Faith(Robert covers his face during the entire song with his head in his hands more emotional than anything I have seen all night,People begin to proclaim this the best Cure show ever in Atlanta,but wait..)
Going Nowhere(the first performance of the most popular b-side off the new album hardcore fans are estatic amazing song,Robert ends by saying "Thks for a fucking excellent day and night and will see you REAL SOON" Maybe a one night only theater show in Atlanta?)


10/10 The best Cure Show I have ever been to and one of my all-time concert experiences I'm so overjoyed to have been able to share it with People I care about


Overall Don't miss anything it's worth your time and Money and just maybe you'll share the same feelings I did

[rockysigman]

Sonic Youth in Detroit tonight. Hellz yeah.

[Dwazee]

that curiosa show sounds awesome im most looking forward to seeing muse, i wish they got to play more. and play citizen erased, bliss, hysteria, and maybe endlessly. they rule big time.

i so totally looked and didnt see this thing the first time--i think it disappeard just to make me look foolish