2007 In Review: Music, Installment #3
March 10th, 2008 by ptmOne final installment. At this rate, we’ll have 2007 all wrapped up in time for the mid-year review for 2008. Still, better late than never, right? Right? Anyone?
As stated before, I fell behind and then totally away from writing full reviews of the shows I saw last year. Because of this, I’ve taken the opportunity here to write longer installments for the review-less shows here. So this post goes on for a while, and still doesn’t say all that I would have said in reviews at the time. If anyone wants more, I’ll give them more. But…nobody wants more, I’m sure.
Post 1 and Post 2 available here. Post 3 begins…right now:
Part V: Shows of the Year
10. Hot Stove, Cool Music – Fenway Park, Boston, MA – August 24, 2007
One of Lisa’s co-workers had tickets for this and couldn’t go, and asked her if she wanted to. A free concert at Fenway? Hellz yes. We saw Theo Epstein play with Big Head Todd and Peter Gammons play pretty respectably with his bar band. Mike O’Malley hosted and took questions in between set changes. Which doesn’t sound that great, but when he started making references to Nickelodeon’s GUTS, he won me over. During the sometimes interminable down time between sets, as equipment moved in and out, O’Malley fielded questions from the audience and relayed them to either Theo or Gammons. This sometimes led to worthwhile baseball discourse, but more often than not led to us laughing at the people asking the questions.
The headliner was Penn’s own John Legend, who was actually pretty solid neo-soul and R&B. It was also great to watch the awkward mingling between the two segments of the crowd: the very drunk baseball-jersey-clad mainly white Red Sox fans and the dressed-up-for-a-show mainly black John Legend fans. The latter group in particular seemed a little uncomfortable, surrounded by belligerent fans cheering for the old bass playing dude who was talking about minor league prospects. Highlights: Legend and his band jumping out of an original song straight into a very strong cover of “I Want You (She’s So Heavy),” and the 60 year old white dude who ROCKED OUT the entire show. I mean, really, he was arm-flailing, shirt-staining and hip-swiveling the whole night, no matter who was playing. It was especially great during the slower John Legend songs…I think he might have been cranked out or something. People were coming down and having their photo taken with him in the background. He was a maniac, and we all appreciated it.
(I don’t have a setlist for this one, sorry.)
9. Ben Folds and the Boston Pops – Symphony Hall, Boston, MA – May 9, 2007
Some classical, some showtunes, some Ben Folds playing hits, and a fight in the crowd. That’s a good night out. Original review is here.
8. Lez Zeppelin – The Soapbox Laundro-Lounge, Wilmington, NC – June 23, 2007
A random trip to a random part of the country to watch an all-girl Led Zeppelin cover band. The travel was difficult, the accommodations were terrible, and the wait was interminable. But the band fucking rocked. The lead singer isn’t all that attractive, but she was hot as shit singing those songs, and the band was incredibly tight. A great night of Zeppelin music off of Cape Fear. Check out my full review if you want more info.
7. Bloc Party – The Orpheum Theatre, Boston, MA – March 28, 2007
Not as awesome as the show I saw in ’06 at Harborlights (or whatever it’s called now), but still a quality show. When they kicked into “I Still Remember,” I decided it was potentially the most perfect pop song of the decade. It might have just been the magic of the moment, though. This is another show where I actually got around to doing a real write-up, so ch-check it out.
6. Hall & Oates – The Orpheum Theatre, Boston, MA – December 8, 2007
This show was hilarious. It was obviously billed as a Hall & Oates Christmas show, and they had just released (or re-released) a Christmas album. Tickets were purchased because I’ve always had a soft spot for H&O, and Lisa loves Christmas music. A perfect combination. Well…the audience didn’t fully agree.
The first half of the show was all Christmas songs, covers and originals. The Saturday night Boston crowd wasn’t down with that. People were very restless, and talked loudly during the set. (Seriously, this woman behind us had maybe the most grating voice of all time, and found a way to project this voice over the giant amplification system set up in the Orpheum. Other people weren’t happy. Luckily, no bottles were around to be used as weapons.) The music was very good – the traditional songs were covered very well (even though all of them sort of ended up sounding like slick 80s soul-pop songs…gee, I wonder why). There was even an extended jam at some point that showed off the musicianship of the people on stage. (And there were a ton of people on stage. There was Hall, Oates, Not G.E. Smith, an extra guitarist, a bassist, a keyboard player, a drummer, a percussionist and a string quartet. And maybe some other people. A lot of players that night.)
As the set continued, and each holiday song begat another holiday song, the drunk crowd (the vocal portion of which was mainly college kids) began booing and shouting out for songs. “Maneater! Play Maneater! MANEATER!” At one point, Hall stopped and just let people boo and yell for a minute, then started singing The Christmas Song. (There was also, apparently, a matter of the band being unhappy with the sound system in the venue, complaining about the mics and the levels on the guitar. Hall was frequently gesticulating to the wings, trying to get the levels to his satisfaction. Oates just wandered around, wondering what to do now that he no longer has his moustache.) The booing and the loud lady talking was too much for us – Lisa and I relocated to seats further down in the balcony to be away from the back right corner of the crowd. Again, bottling might have happened otherwise.
Eventually, the band finished the set, said they were taking a break, then left the stage for approximately two and a half minutes and then came back out. Which had the genius effect of making everyone think it was a standard intermission, getting up and out of their seats to go to the bar or the bathroom or whatever – and then suddenly the band is coming back out and playing again. They jumped right into “Out Of Touch” – and proceeded to tear the roof off the Orpheum, playing hit after hit after hit. Apart from one random song that I guess is a deep cut album track (“It’s Uncanny”), it was all hits for the second half of the show. And they played them really well, bringing a live-band energy to songs that were sometimes too slick and over-produced in their original form.
And the crowd went nuts for it. I mean, really insane. At least half the people there were younger than us – yet they were over-the-top into the show. (The other half of the crowd looked like they were college students back when H&O were modern, and were reliving their youth by going wild as well.) I’ve never seen that building with as much energy as it had – the balcony felt unstable it was rocking so much. The band even came out for an unplanned (or at least rare, in looking at setlists on the tour) second encore of “Private Eyes” and “Kiss On My List.” It was a show with two halves, and both of them were highly entertaining in their own way.
Setlist:
Part I: Overture/First Noel / It Came upon a Midnight Clear / No Child Should Ever Cry at Christmas / Everyday Will Be Like a Holiday / Christmas Must Be Tonight / Children Go Where I Send Thee / The Christmas Song / Home For Christmas / O Holy Night
Part II: Out of Touch / Say it Isn’t So / It’s Uncanny / She’s Gone / Sara Smile / I Can’t Go For That / Rich Girl / You Make My Dreams
Encore: Jingle Bell Rock
Second Encore: Kiss on My List / Private Eyes
5. Pinback / MC Chris – The Roxy, Boston, MA – October 10, 2007
Another outstanding show from these guys. Like Bloc Party, I wasn’t as enraptured as when I first saw them. But it’s difficult to blame them – the newness of a first concert experience is tough to top. The new songs from Autumn… fit in seamlessly (though Lisa did properly call bullshit on the song that steals the bassline of “Message In A Bottle”), and they played all the old songs we both wanted to hear. I did wish that I could have heard “Subbing For Eden,” probably my favorite song from the new album. But, I can’t complain, right?
Plus, the opener was MC Chris, who was the shit. He spent almost as much time doing stand-up (“Oh, MC Chris, you would be so dope in a post-apocalyptic environment”) as he was breaking rhymes. But when he did, they were generally hilarious. And he came out for an encore to roll out “Fett’s Vette” (complete with Pinback appearing to play the Imperial March under it). It took him four tries to get the first two verses right – but that’s fine, I have no problem hearing that song multiple times in a row.
Setlist:
Bouquet / Devil You Know / Non-photo Blue / Microtonic Wave / Blue Harvest / Tripoli / Good to Sea / How We Breath / Walters / Loro / Fortress / Penelope / From Nothing to Nowhere / Off By 50 / AFK
Encore: Manchuria / This Train (with MC Chris)
4. Muse / Cold War Kids – Agganis Arena, Boston, MA – August 11, 2007
Many things about this show were great. As detailed soon after it happened, I got a free ticket from the WFNX morning show outside. Free is always good. The Cold War Kids opened, and they played all the songs from their debut that I wanted to hear, with “We Used To Vacation” and “Hang Me Up To Dry” coming back-to-back. They were a little navel-gaze-y, and definitely more suitable for a club. But they definitely brought it, and impressed with their set.
Then came Muse. I’m really into their last two albums, and those songs made up a majority of their set. They are very much suitable for an arena. They took the stage to a soundclip of JFK speechifying. They had lasers, flashing lights and fog machines. There was a moment in almost every song when the singer/guitarist would hit a long note and hold his fist up in the air. You knew it was coming, yet it still worked every time. I would totally understand people thinking the whole thing was too bombastic and over the top. And even though I like the songs a lot, it was easy to see that they could be seen as all being very similar. But the show was awesome. Arena rock, indeed.
Setlist:
JFK Intro / Take A Bow / Map Of The Problematique / Hysteria / Supermassive Black Hole / Butterflies and Hurricanes / City of Delusion / Stockholm Syndrome / Feeling Good / Sunburn / Invincible / Starlight / New Born / Time Is Running Out / Bliss
Encore: Plug In Baby / Knights of Cydonia
3. Peter Gabriel Songwriter Tribute Night – Club Passim, Cambridge, MA – January 22, 2007
This was a very random night. Apparently, this folk music club does tribute nights to folk songwriters. For whatever reason (probably to make more money), they’ve branched off into respected rock songwriters. Like the Fenway show, this crowd was very clearly divided: professional-looking yuppie-ish people who love Peter Gabriel, and tie-dyed, grey pony-tailed folkies who love Club Passim. The atmosphere was great, and the performers were all very much into my man Peter. There were a lot of Us songs, a bunch of early 80s nuggets, and even a few Genesis-era classics. It was a surprisingly great night. Full review here.
2. The Police – Fenway Park, Boston, MA – July 29, 2007 / The Police – Rentschler Field, Hartford, CT – July 31, 2007
Holy crap, I saw the Police this year. Twice. Who would have thought that would ever happen?
In retrospect, I think the Hartford show had better sound and the band was a little tighter. But the Fenway show, with its soupy atmosphere and raucous crowd (and first-time bonus points), had the better energy, which combined with the humidity to push us into a state of delirium. Plus, there was something about seeing a huge band at Fenway Park that was unique and enjoyable. Even if the sound sort of sucks and the sight-lines aren’t fabulous. (And, yes, that means I’ve never gone to see any of the other bands that have played in recent years – it might not have been as weird or intoxicating if I had.)
Still, both shows were great. Occasionally it did seem like a Sting solo show with Andy and Stewart backing him – but not as often as I thought it would be. Andy ripped through the guitar solos, and Stew was a monster on the drums. His assembled random percussion playing on “Wrapped Around Your Finger” was an unexpected highlight of the night, as was the reworked version of “Walking In Your Footsteps.” They played every big hit and even a couple of the more obscure songs I had hoped for (“Truth Hits Everybody” and closer “Next To You”), plus the Police mainstays that I’d never seen performed before (“Can’t Stand Losing You,” “Invisible Sun” and “So Lonely.”)
I never thought I’d be lucky enough to see the day.
Setlist:
Message in a Bottle / Synchronicity II / Walking On The Moon / Voices Inside My Head / When The World Is Running Down/ Don’t Stand So Close To Me / Driven To Tears / Truth Hits Everybody / Bed’s Too Big Without You / Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic / Wrapped Around Your Finger / De Do Do Do De Da Da Da / Invisible Sun / Walking In Your Footsteps / Can’t Stand Losing You / Roxanne
Encore: King Of Pain / So Lonely / Every Breath You Take
Second Encore: Next To You
1. Genesis – Twickenham Stadium, London, UK – July 8, 2007 / Genesis – TD Banknorth Garden, Boston, MA – September 11, 2007
In 2007, it was party like it’s 1984. Sure, the true nerdgasm will come when Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett suit up to tour with the band – but the ’78-’92 lineup of Genesis did just fine for me this year.
The London show was huge. First off, I was across the ocean, which always makes for a heightened experience. Of course, it was also the closest show they had to a homecoming – there were only two UK shows, and this was the big one in the capitol. It was a long and drawn out process getting to the show, taking different tube trains and riding a double-decker out to the giant rugby stadium. Once there, we could see the giant stage and the huge crowd – after seeing the band with over 60,000 of my closest nerd friends, the PopMart show at Franklin Field has finally been toppled from its position as “largest concert crowd I’ve ever been a part of.”
And the crowd was pretty into it. You know that the diehards are out when everyone stays for the “In The Cage” medley and then bolts to the bathrooms for “Hold On My Heart.” There was also a guy behind me who sung along very loudly to the “Saaaaaiiiil away…” part of “Ripples,” and air-drummed furiously during “Firth of Fifth.” He wasn’t too annoying, and he displayed the level of exuberance I was looking for.
By contrast, the Boston show was smaller and relatively more intimate. There was less of a feeling that it was a huge event, and just another reunion show. The energy was still there, however, and the indoor venue allowed the lights and effects to pack more of a punch. Also, I got to enjoy a very strong performance of “Domino,” which featured Mike (looking more and more like his Spitting Image puppet every day) rocking out as hard as he could possibly rock out on the final riffs. He even almost windmilled at one point. I was glad that I went to both.
The setlist (same for both shows, of course) was pretty much everything I could have reasonably hoped for. I didn’t need to see “I Can’t Dance” or “Hold On My Heart” – but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy the hell out of them. And they went back into the 70s catalogue to bring out a great “In The Cage” medley, a full version of “I Know What I Like,” a thunderous “Los Endos” and a majestic “Carpet Crawlers” to close the night(s). They even surprised me a few times (at least during the London show). Mild surprises were the inclusion of “Duke’s Travels” in the “Cage” medley, and a strong performance of “Mama” (I honestly thought Phil’s voice was too old and shot for them to play it). And huge surprises when they opened with “Behind The Lines” (just the instrumental part, but still, that was the song I thought would be a perfect opener – and I was right) and later pulled out the aforementioned “Ripples.”
Too many highlights to single out, really, but I think it’s fair to say that when they closed out “Carpet Crawlers” with spotlights on Tony, Mike and Phil, singing and playing out the song, there was a few moments of mistiness. I know, I’m a loser for loving this as much as I did, and almost no one who reads this will care or know about any of this. But…it was awesome. I’m a huge nerd. Thank you.
Now, roll on with the Lamb tour. We’re all ready for it, gentlemen.
Setlist:
Behind the Lines-Duke’s End (inst.) / Turn It On Again / No Son Of Mine / Land of Confusion / In The Cage (Medley: The Cinema Show-Duke’s Travels) / Afterglow / Hold on My Heart / Home by the Sea-Second Home By The Sea / Follow You, Follow Me / Firth of Fifth (inst.)-I Know What I Like / Mama / Ripples / Throwing It All Away / Domino / Drum Duet (aka Conversation With 2 Stools) / Los Endos / Tonight, Tonight, Tonight / Invisible Touch
Encore: I Can’t Dance / Carpet Crawlers