I'm not gettin this MOG Meter thing.... and I'm really not that stupid. Seriously. I thought it might be based on the number of trusted MOGs you had, but then I've seen peeps profiles that only have two trusted MOGs and they are blazing.... and MOG's FAQ doesn't have anything on it.
So, I really would like to have more Mogs that Trust me . . . it sure would make my status blazing....
I mean, it already is, but you know, its just a silly formality....
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Guster, probably the most harmonic band that utilizes bongos ever.... They played on July 23 in B'ham, probably the most beautiful show I've heard. Ray LaMontagne opened for them, and his music is just amazing... of course he had his uncomfortable look about him, but I think it was b/c of all the drunk chicks yelling at him. I really felt bad for him, b/c he looked like that he would be more comfortable playing in my grandmother's living room, and honestly, I would've preferred to see him in a much more quite and intimate setting. But back to Guster: these guys are awesome and so musically talented that its ridiculous... they know how to put on a show, and they know how to change up their songs so that you are being constantly surprised...
Here's the setlist (thanks to Guster's website)
Careful Barrel of a Gun Ramona Satellite New Underground Come Downstairs and Say Hello Manifest Destiny Long Way Down Airport Song Ruby Falls Captain Demons Center of Attention Hang On Amsterdam Happier
Lightning Rod C'Mon I Spy
Jesus on the Radio
Pleasant Surprise, Part 1: Their "Airport Song" was performed with a kind of techno voice for a good bit of the song, which gave you a really creepy feeling, which was appropriate b/c its a song about a cult...
Pleasant Surprise, part 2: After their first encore, they came out again, with acoustics and edged up to the front of the stage and told us to be really quiet, and played an acoustic "Jesus on the Radio." This was great, a fantastic way to end the evening. I mean, a second encore is awesome in and of itself, but an acoustic encore was unbelievable.
Unpleasant Letdown: They didn't play "Fa Fa." I was really disappointed about it, but all in all it was okay, b/c I went to the show w/out my girl. She was out of town, and Guster is her top favorite band, and "Fa Fa" is her top favorite song, so I told her that she didn't miss much. And she might have a pleasant surprise coming her way that would totally rectify that...
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I remember seeing Guster at MSG a few years ago. WOW. Will have to check out what they've been doing lately. I've lost touch. Thanks for the reminder.
Guster is one of my favorite bands to see in concert. They put on a great show. I saw them in Atlanta around this same time. The lowered pitch on the second verse of the "Airport Song" was very odd, indeed! Their new cd isn't exactly a favorite of mine ("Lost and Gone Forever" and "Keep It Together" are amazing though, in my opinion), but I still love them.
Yes, they are amazing. I've seen them three times. 2003, 2004 and 2006 (after an epic eight hour struggle to get to Brooklyn). I'd see them again in a heartbeat, and will if they ever come back to my area.
They did Jesus On The Radio acoustically during the encore the first time I saw 'em. Friggin' sweet. They sat on the huge speakers that were in front of the stage. It was cooooool. :)
Coolest thing about the 2004 show was that it was at my alma matter while I was a sophomore. :)
Did you throw ping pong balls on the stage during Airport Song? I have never done so but have seen people do it.
Alright, Sister Hazel at The Jupiter on the Strip in Tuscaloosa. I really don't have much to say about this concert.... I've seen Sister Hazel in their better days. They know how to pump a crowd, and plug their albums. So they mostly played a lot of new stuff, and of course had to mix in their radio-played songs. I was really disappointed with the show, it just seemed like an obligatory drive-by concert. And there was just a two song encore.... I mean, come on. We were worth at least three, Sister Hazel.
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yeah, they're still rockin it. They like Alabama for some reason, they come here quite often and play in B'ham about every three months... I think they need to give it up though. I don't know, a lot of people seemed to enjoy the concert, and I'm sure there were huge fans there, I just didn't connect with them at all..
Interesting. Sister Hazel is one of those bands I never bothered to explore more than just listening to their All For You song on the radio. But that song came out when I was first getting into music, so it has that deep nostalgic touch for me. I couldn't tell you if they ever made more songs or albums, but I still dig that song.
There were lots of cool one hit wonder bands from that era. And some cool not just one hit wonders as well. I had no idea the Gin Blossoms were still around until I saw them this past June (and again in September, sort of). Part of me is like, cool, I love this band, they remind me of 10 years ago. And another part is like, all right, this music is still okay... but not nearly as good as the album they put out back in ninety-whatever.
But I guess as long as they're enjoying it... though it does suck when they're just washed up and not really doing anything fun anymore, which is what your concert experience seemed to indicate. That just sucks. Nobody likes to see a dead horse get beat.
I just found out about The Black Keys coming to Birmingham, at probably the coolest venue in town, Workplay... this has made my week, and gives me something to look forward too....
Gah!
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i can't wait for this show!! and you better get your ass down here and see them in nola with me!! because i can't go to new orleans unsupervised. i couldn't behave in that city if my life depended on it.
My girl and I drove down 4 hours down to Mobile last week to check out Pete Yorn, probably the best thing that has ever come out of New Jersey, ever. He was playing at Soul Kitchen, which is a dirty, grungy dive in downtown Mobile, complete with three bars as well as three non-functioning pool tables. We got there around 7 to make sure we would get to see everything, and by everything I mean the opening band Minibar, which also composes 2/4 of Pete's band. I had never heard of them, and I must admit that they were pretty much awesome. There from somewhere in England I think, and I talked to the bass guitarist Sid, for a few seconds. He seemed pretty cool, and by cool I mean high, and by high I mean stoned. After Minibar and about 20 minutes later, Pete Yorn came out. Thank God for Myspace, only b/c Pete posts his setlists up there so I can know exactly what he played....
i feel good again (junior kimbrough), sense, for us, undercover, pass me by, intro > come back home, turn of the century, georgie boy, splendid isolation (warren zevon), burrito, june, alive, closet, atlantic city (bruce springsteen) > murray, just another, the good advice, for nancy
encore strange condition, life on a chain, the man, crystal village, suspicious minds (elvis presley)
So his cover of I Feel Good Again is excellente, I'm a big fan of Junior Kimbrough, and if you haven't heard, The Black Keys released an E.P. over the summer that is composed entirely of Junior Kimbrough covers, Chulahoma: The Songs of Junior Kimbrough. and by the way, I just found out the The Black Keys are coming to Birmingham, and I'm in the abandoned Shelby Hall studying for a test, and I just ran up and down the corridors in excrutiating excitement.... Anyways, back to Pete. This is by far the best concert I've ever been to, with Death Cab coming in close second, and it is for only one reason. Intimacy. Yes, I said it. Soul Kitchen was a small, stand up and fight for your spot venue, and get as close to Pete Yorn as you possibly could was pretty much the object of the night, as well as singing with him, b/c a fan like me knows those words... Death Cab was at a concert hall, so being stuck in a seat was no fun, so Pete wins out on this one. Pleasant Surprise of the Evening: The Good Advice, off of Pete's "Westerns" E.P. This is only being sold at shows for now, and is an awesome CD with a little bit of country influence, but not enough to make you stick out your tongue in distasteful disgust... So let me talk about the Soul Kitchen for a minute.... you walk into the bar/pool table area, then walk around a wall to the back. This is were two more bars are, as well as the stage. Now the stage is located so that the band members have to walk around the audience to get to it, and so you could see Pete walking up to the stage, and it was awesome to see him leave, being escorted by Security, and pumping his fists in the air, which let you know he had a great time. Best. Concert. Ever.
Oh, let me say this. My girl and I were walking to the concert around 7, and I'm on the phone with a friend who lives in Mobile, and I hear my girl say "It's Pete!" talking about a group of guys walking right by us on the street. Then she says "No its not..." and then I get off the phone, thinking she was kidding about it being Pete. It was totally him though, goin to get something to eat. We should've totally harassed him to sign my girl's chest....
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great concert review! i adore venues that are tiny and unusual, you get a much more intimate and revealing experience with the artists.
So, I went to the most pleasant surprise concert of the year. We'll, not so much a surprise but more like a "I didn't know they were planning on coming here" concert. My all-time favorite band, Death Cab for Cutie, and yes, seriously all-time favorite, decided that Birmingham, AL was a worthy stop on their tour. Well, it probably wasn't DCfC, but more like their new label, but anyways, whoever it was that made that brilliant decision is my new friend, whether they know it or not. It wasn't the best venue, although Ben Gibbard liked it and compared it to an obscure 1979 animated movie "The Black Hole" and I'm sure only a handful of people knew what the heck he was talking about. I would have definitely preferred a more intimate venue, like The Nick or Workplay, but with all of DCfC's new found fame from their album "Plans", I'm sure that wouldn't have been a feasible, um plan... And yes, most of the audience only knew the three songs that are being played on the radio right now, and yes, I got really weird looks from the peeps in front of me b/c I sang along with Ben for all the songs, except for the one I didn't know, which was "I'm Going Home" by The Sonic, the greatest band to come from the Pacific Northwest, according to B.G. And that rocked, and rocked and rocked some more. They also went deep into their earlier albums, with "President of What" from You Can Play These Songs With Chords; "We Laugh Indoors", "Why You'd Want to Live Here" and "Movie Script Ending" from The Photo Album; "Transatlanticism", a 10 minute version of "We Looked Like Giants" (complete with a drum battle (reminiscient of the version of the song from the John Byrd E.P.)), "The New Year", "Title and Registration", "Expo '86", and "The Sound of Settling" from their kick-ass album Transatlanticism. From Plans, it was (of course) "Soul Meets Body", "I Will Follow You into the Dark", "Crooked Teeth", "Marching Bands of Manhattan" and "What Sarah Said". They also played "Photobooth" from the Forbidden Love E.P. I have to say, the biggest surprise I got of the night (besides the cover in their encore) was "Company Calls" off of We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes. It would've been awesome if they followed it up with "Company Calls Epilogue" but it would've also been great if they would've played all 70 odd songs, along with Ben's All-Time Quarterback! stuff and then add The Postal Service in there too. And if my Aunt had balls, she'd be my Uncle, right? So all in all, if I had been smart, I would've taken some paper and a pen and written down the songs in order to have an adequate set list, but I can't quite remember the order of the songs. If I missed any, then I'm sure that somebody won't correct me, since as of this date I have no trusted mogs... all I have to say though, is Ben Gibbard has the greatest stage presence of any lead singer ever... I mean, for Christ's sake, he played a synth drum for two songs, that's just awesome....
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death cab rocks. and so does all-time quarterback, the postal service, basically anything remotely pertaining to ben gibbard is pretty much awesome..........
=]
Cause it was Ben Gibbard playing it....
I mean, if a homeless man plays a synth drum, you don't think much about it... I mean, afterall its a homeless man, and you're not thinking to yourself "Gee, that's awesome", you're probably thinking "Why doesn't that homeless man pawn that off and go get some Mad Dog 20/20" because that's what he would do anyways.
And how many lead singers of a band do you see holding his guitar, singing, and playing a synth drum at the same time? Honestly...
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I thought/think it's based off how many posts you make?
Mine went to blazing after I posted comments on a lot of differnt posts, so I think that counts too - encouraging the social interaction between us mog addicts so we don't stay stuck deep in our music caves, all alone.
I haven't quite figured it out yet either. I only have two mogs I trust, nobody trusts me yet, and this is the first post I've made since I joined. Even so, my mog meter says I am at room temperature.