Saturday, August 8, 2009

mets at padres, august 7th

I went down to the tilted kilt, a much more sports barsy-like hooters, with hotter girls, which is literally next to petco, to watch the yanks/red sox game before hand. burnett/beckett both pitching great, missed the first few innings of the pads game to keep watching the yanks game , but left after the 9th because mariano had already pitched and i didnt want to see them possibly lose.

i had a park pass (SRO), but old man hooked me up with a seat next to him and mike at the foul pole above the mets bullpen. spent the entire game yelling at Jeff Francoeur and the mets bullpen. mets winning 2-0 into the 7th, perez still pitching, gives up a run. relievers did alright, though as stokes went in i yelled, "your whole season depends on this!". f-bomb (krod) starts warming up, im just yelling at him. he goes in bottom ninth, i said "HEY, DONT BLOW IT F-BOMB.!" game tying triple to our corner, francouer comes in to field it we're all yelling at him "YOU SUCK FRANCOEUR!!!!" missed the runner at home by a smidgen, i yelled "nice arm franceour!"

THEN FBOMB GAVE UP A GRAND SLAM

HAHAHAHA SUCKER

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Brand New, The Troubadour, July 18

So, I either overestimated the traffic into LA, or my circumvention of the anaheim into Hollywood traffic worked, either way i was in LA in about two and a half hours...leaving me with a lot of time to spare. I killed some time, grabbed some food and swung by the venue at around 5:30 to see there was already a line, and a much longer one that I'd have thought for it being so early. With about 50 people already in front of me, i took my spot in line to get into the troubadour.


Eons later, the line was condensed and then the security decided to move all the people whose actual names were on the will call list to another line...except the entire show was will call, and confusion was abound. after it was all settled we all got into the same line same places, and went into the venue...


i was absolutely sure that someone would be in my facorite troubadour spot, which is stage right to the side so as not to be bothered by hordes of people, but still be right up front. This night, brand new's lighting called for a light fixture to be placed in a perfect spot, placing a huge speaker on the floor in the perfect spot allowing me to get a better view and have zero people behind my due to a poll and still not having to deal with a million people.

ANYWAY Dios went on, and were much better than i had anticipated. the coolest part was during their second to last song, the keyboardist threw in a riff from "You Still Believe in Me".

Well, Brand New finally took the stage, and opened with The Shower Scene. While it seemed a little slow and not exactly right, it was still fun. Then, they played one note of Quiet Things, and the crowd responded with a brilliantly loud cheer...I didn't even know that song was identifiable by one note. After that they played sic transit gloria into sowing season. they played three new songs. they also played, not in order, tommy gun (with an awesome intro reminiscent of god and devil or newer stuff), jaws theme swimming, jude law, mix tape, seventy times seven, flying at tree level, jesus, and degausser. the god and devil stuff was played the best and sounded awesome. they closed by playing you won't know, with the bassist and drummer leaving during the end but the (3) guitarists remaining on stage for an extended outtro, leaving jesse there in the end, who played soco amaretto lime by himself.

great time!

Friday, May 1, 2009

face to face hometown show, club karma, victorville

It was fun. Got there around 7ish and there were only a few people on line, definitely an older crowd. Walked in and took a spot on the "barricade," which was not a normal concert barricade, instead it was heavy plastic which jutted out on the bottom on both sides, kind of like a highway median barrier, forcing you to lean in an awk. position.

Cool to see it was an all-victorville show, with the openers, Kildozer and K.I.L. both from the town. Kildozer played a more stripped down punk rock while K.I.L. was a bit more into playing metal-ish solos every song. The singer and/or other guitarist for K.I.L. was not there, as he was in Europe with death by stereo.

So face to face went on, and played what seems like their go-to set since they've gotten back, still a good time. Though my constant shouts for "Don't Turn Away" were ignored by Trever, scott was into it, playing the song as they came out for the encore, though no one else did, with the band going into Bikeage. Great show, a good time. It was excellent seeing some of the people standing to the side of the stage take the opportunity to stagedive. My terrible terrible camera photos will be up at some point.

Now, let's talk about the "security" at this show. It's the second time in a month that I've seen bouncers not help out crowd surfers by pulling them off the crowd/catching them if thrown and letting them walk down the path in front of the stage. Instead, they were tossing people back into the crowd, then getting upset when the person came back and pretty much ruining it for everyone up front by swarming this person while they were on top of us. If the person got tossed forward, they would violently try to force them back onto the crowd (how would this help?) or pull them down onto the small floor space between stage and barricade and then swarm this person and drag them out in a headlock. I dont really get it, and the guy next to me was really losing his cool about it. And their barricade was piss-poor, as it got pushed towards the stage on pretty much every song. Nice.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

brand new, pinback @ usc springfest

I found out brand new was playing a free show in LA...about 20 minutes after i had just driven home from LA last night. But whatever. I went to the show and got there during the band before miniature tigers, and this band was terrible, think a bad red hot chili peppers. Miniature tigers was good, played a shorter set than last night. Then the submarines went on, girl singer/steel drummer/guitarist, which was pretty cool. blah blah more bands.

Pinback went on right before the 'secret' headliner. I dont know them well, but they played really well and i enjoyed it, despite the idiots behind me who wouldnt stop yelling at them. The bigger singer was very vocal between songs, yelling at anything he could, like the palm reader, saying "hey look, palm reading! guess what FUCK YOU. you're making the world stupider, you cunt. " after they were told they had one song left when they clearly had at least two, they started breaking stuff down and this guy in a leather jacket comes on stage and starts talking. the pinback guy grabs the mic from him and says "who the hell are you?" and the guy says, "adam aids" so pinback guy says, "oh. does anyone know who this is or why he's onstage?" and there were crickets. he laughs, and gives the mic to the guy, who says "yeah, i have a job where i get paid to come back onstage and kill 5-10 minutes" at which point pinback guy AGAIN grabs the mic and says "oh, thats cool, since they just told us to cut our set short by 5 minutes. nice" gives back the mic, adam starts talking and pinback guy gives him a LONG kiss on the lips. hilarious. so adam aids goes "yeah so apparently no one knows who i am, well im adam aids, im big in africa" and the people go "......................." so he went away, and brand new techs were setting up.

apparently they didnt have a proper soundcheck so they checked EVERY SINGLE FUCKING GUITAR and it took forever. finally, FINALLY, they come on, opening with "you don't know" into "sowing season" and then "the quiet things that no one knows" as well as playing tommy gun, jaws theme, jesus, degausser, archers, and closed with bangkok. they played pretty tight, bangkok was a cool closer one (of the 3) guitarists dove behind his amp at the end of the song, and they had two drummers the whole set. i'd give a better review if i werent scared for my life the entire time.

This is the part where we talk about the (lack of) security at this show.

Here is a picture of the setup. notice it is called "idiots.jpg"


Thats right. in the middle of the GIGANTIC CROWD were unsecured steel barricades which you use to control a line, to keep a little cool kids club for the people in the usc events committee. well guess what, you planned this event POORLY.

So, first song. basically exactly where the arrow is pointing, i saw it tilting, i yelled at the security guard to come over, she reluctantly did. as soon as she got over there, some older white gentleman standing on the normal barricade (no event shirt/or jacket on) motioned for her to come back. she left and i said "WHAT? WHERE ARE YOU GOING ITS GOING TO FALL OVER?" i was motioning with my hands wildly, she started to come back and teh guy again made her stay where she was, she turned around and started paying attention to i guess making sure only the cool kids were allowed in the club. im yelling. "WHAT ARE YOU FUCKING DOING? ITS GOING TO FALL OVER?? ARE YOU STUPID?" and you know what happens IT FUCKING FELL OVER GOD WHAT DID YOU THINK WOULD HAPPEN?

female security guard oblivious, as were the cool kids, to the fact that THE BARRICADE FELL OVER AND PEOPLE WERE SPILLING OVER IT, i grabbed one of the cool kids and told him to get the security guard. he doesnt. so i threw him in that direction, FINALLY she comes over, tries to get control, picks it up. somehow no one is hurt. the solution was, no, not get rid of the entire shitty steel barricade, but to remove ONE SECTION(??????????????) (the one that fell over) and try to close it and have A SMALL SKINNY OLD MAN try to regulate the gap. of course he just lets people in.


so the entire time im worried that a mosh pit is going to erupt behind me or some crowd surfer will pulse the crowd pushing them forward onto me. during pinback , hardly anyone was standing behind us, during brand new it was a sea of people. three or four times i was convinced that it was game over for us against the barricade, but the people behind us took every precaution they could to keep the masses at bay.

Now, let's talk about crowd surfers. This was an all ages, free to the public show. Usually, when someone crowdsurfs at this type of event (as the real barricade was set up), the bouncers/security will grab incoming people and set them down as best they can so they do not hurt themselves getting thrown over. Apparently, CSC security has a different school of thought. Their idea is, "try everything you can to not let them over the barricade and yell at them and pull them down into the crowd". so when a 15-16 year old girl was thrown over, the bouncer was taken by surprise and then didn't know how to handle the situation, instead of A) guiding her to the side or B) telling her to go to the side, i saw him reluctantly grab her off the crowd and toss her into the clear area behind the barricade, and then pushed her to the side violently. obviously scared, this girl started running from him and he pushed her again, and then chased her INTO THE COOL KIDS CLUB (which was now filled with any type of people because of the broken barricade). run right in front of me, after the girl gets by, i put my arm out stopping the bouncer, hoping this girl makes a getaway as best she can. he is confused to what im doing stopping him in his "job" long enough for her to blend in for a little while, a ton of security comes over as well as a campus security guard to look for the girl i guess and they finally figure out that there is a real problem with the barricade, but of course dont do anything about it. after they leave, i saw the girl coming back and i said 'you ok?' and she just looked sad.

so after the set is done, im leaving AND SEE THE GIRL GIVING A STATEMENT TO A COP, i walked over and the same campus security guard was there. i said "i saw everything that happened. this is the girl that was being pushed around for no reason by the security guard" and then the campus security guard said "thats enough, move along"

GREAT GUY.

i bid the girl, who was fucking crying (imagine a giant black man is pushing you around for no reason) a better night and she thanked me profusely, and i left.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

the get up kids at the troubadour

Got to this show with a few people on line, hoped no one would snag my expected spot on the stage right side nook, and no one did, so i had a great spot. The couple next to me had driven from tucson for the show and got there just a little after I had, and were driving back, that night. The opening band's drums and keyboard were RIGHT in front of us.

Miniature Tigers opened up, can't really explain their sound but it was...pleasant. I enjoyed them and the drummer made me laugh. Would see again. They are opening up the upcoming east coast kevin devine tour, so check them out if you are going.

The Get Up Kids came on next, with Jim standing RIGHT in front of us, and James on the other side looking like he had just gotten out of bed. The band seemed into it and excited, and played tight, joking with each other and the audience. I thought anne arbour was on the setlist but when i realized it wasn't 2-3 songs in, i started yelling it...and after doing that for a few songs suptic said, 'you have to ask matt' and he tried getting matt's attention but couldn't, so he said into his mic, 'matt, this young man has a request' and then...they played it. 2/2 on getting them to play that song, excellent. Great time.

Setlist, in order:

Holiday
The One you want
No Love
Valentine
Up on the Roof
Never be Alone
Woodson
Red Letter Day
Anne Arbour (!!!!!!!!)
Out of Reach
Martyr Me
CLose to Home
Coming Clean
Campfire Kansas
Holy Roman
I'm A Loner Dottie, A Rebel
ten minutes
walking on a wire

-encore break-
Close to me (the cure)
man of conviction
action and action
ass pike
my apology
don't hate me
i'll catch you

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

ltj@canes, mission beach

I was excited on this 21+ show.

I got there 20 minutes before doors and i was second on line. when they finally opened the box office , I was the first to the window (to claim my will call ticket). Stupid girl working couldn't find my ticket though i stated "artist arena" three times. She just kept looking at the ticketmaster list and printed tm tickets. All the while the physical ticketholders line is going in behind me. cool, lady. she makes me stand to the side while she waits for her 'manager' he gets there and i said 'artist arena' and gave him the conf. code. he comes back in 20 secs, "when did you buy these" me, "january when they went on sale, fan club artist arena" and he says "OH the FAN club" and i said, 'i guess. artist arena'. found the ticket immediately. good work on the communication, morons, artist arena isnt even the fan club it just slipped out of my mouth.

so i finally get in and while i thought people would be standing in the amazing spot i wanted, instead there was a camera tripod. i stood on the ramp next to it to still be elevated a little above the crowd. i ask if he was there before they let anyone in and he said yes so i didnt feel bad about it, as i said. so then he is talking to his friend about how the spot is good because its elevated above the crowd and blocked off in front, i said 'yeah, thats why i wanted that spot but even if you werent there i would have missed out because they dont understand fan club ticketing and made me wait even though i was first in line,' just making conversation. he thought i was some big giant fan though i only waited 20 minutes on line and the 'fan club' was a myspace link...so he said that he could move the camera over a little and let me get that spot. that was the coolest thing of the night.

the flatliners - played a rocket from the crypt cover because they were in san diego. about 5 people knew it. then they said 'we're just going to have a john reis cover band from now on' and only 2 people got that.

the expendables - i wish i didnt have to sit through this atrocity again

less than jake - i think this band needs to learn something about distance. new york to philadelphia is only 80 miles, with a stop in jersey between. so why were those three set lists different, but the anaheim and san diego set lists were EXACTLY the same, when the distance between san diego and anaheim is 95 miles? at least some stupid girl got on stage and said 'ive waited so long to see you, play jen' and they did. too bad they didnt replace the song that was about to go on but added jen, because i had to hear overrated.

now, lets talk about skinny bouncers on a power trip. have you ever heard gainesville rock city? have you ever seen ltj play it? the point in the song that is 46 seconds in the studio track was used forever by less than jake as a time to shoot confetti or drop a banner or other type of thing. i had a cup of water in front of me. at this moment in the song i could not resist myself splashing the entire cup of water onto the middle of the crowd. as an effect, it looked awesome. i see this skinny bouncer on the stage with a goatee run off and come around to me, climbing on the rail to get in my face, about what, i really dont know. he didnt even say anything, or at least nothing that i could hear or understand since IT DIDNT MAKE SENSE FOR HIM TO CARE. pay a little more attention to not letting people stagedive, since you seemed so into that, instead of making me miss the first verse of the song. while i probably should have pushed you off the railing, that would have been bad for me. i should have paid you no regard at all and just sang in your face instead of just doing that for the last 5 seconds you were there. get a job

oh, cool

Monday, March 30, 2009

less than jake, the expendables, the flatliners @ Anaheim HOB

The first band was named the flatliners (not the streetpunk band). Decent fatpunk/skapunk, took a while for the kids to get into it. Played well and seemed excited. Up next were The Expendables who the cali crowd was in love with...i thought they just sounded and looked like they wanted to be Sublime. pretty boring and showboating solos that the vocalist wasnt even playing, nice.

Finally Less Than Jake comes on to the star wars theme playing over the PA, then they play it themselves into Conviction Notice. Band is playing really well, everyone is into it. Go on to play, in order, happyman, 9th at pine, short fuse burning, overrated (least fan reaction), gainesville rock city, a GNV FLA song, al's war, sobriety, freecreditreport.com, ghosts of me and you, anchor, a b-sides song, i think i love you, plastic cup politics, lion city, closed with look what happened. Chris comes back playing rest of my life, then they play state of fl into city of gnv, and then played the soundclip from metalheads and closed with, metalheads. they played real well, chris seems a little out of place, wish roger was the front man. Very, VERY stoked they didn't play johnny quest. I had a good time.