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2 comments December 23rd, 2008

Top Ten Concerts of 2008!

Hello everybody,

Now that Snow Patrol and the Bloc Party have come through town, there is not a whole heck of a lot coming up for shows. The Love Me Nots, a GREAT garage rock band here in town, will be playing at the Yucca Tap Room Friday, January 2. This is a great band; think of playing all those fabulous 60’s garage Nuggets compilations. Great guitar work, fabulous vocals and stunning organ play are at the forefront when you listen to them. I haven’t had the pleasure of seeing them yet, so I am really excited for this show.

Since there is not much else to report in ways of quality shows (no, Styx at the Fiesta Bowl Block Party does NOT count), let’s do our own little version of all those neat end-of-year lists from magazines like NME, Melody Maker, Rolling Stone. We will start with the best shows/concerts of 2008.

Most of the shows I list here will have individual posts about the experience. Check out our archives for a detailed review of the show you are interested in!

Ladies and gentleman, in order, courtesy of the Dust Devil:

1. Elbow at the Bluebird Theatre; Denver, CO; May 2. This is a no-brainer. Quite simply, to date this is the best concert I have EVER been to, and if you have not figured out by now I go to a lot of shows, then you have not been paying attention at all. I absolutely love this band and I am very happy others are beginning to see this as well. Elbow won this year’s Mercury Prize for Best Album with The Seldom Seen Kid. If you don’t have this amazing slab of vinyl yet, go get it. NOW. Guy Garvey’s vocals on Newborn that evening STILL bring tears to my eyes, it was that special.

2. Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings at Red Rocks Amphitheatre; Morrison, CO; September 14. Amazing, energetic show, the highlight of an unbelievable Monolith Festival weekend for me. Sharon Jones has a fabulous voice and is a terrific front-woman, while the Dap Kings play some inspired retro-soul. A must see if they are in your town.

3. Band of Horses at Red Rocks Amphitheatre; Morrison, CO; September 14. Band of Horses was the biggest sounding band at Monolith and the band that best utilized the magnificent acoustics at Red Rocks. Ben Bridwell has one of the best voices in rock and roll today and his bandmates played the best set in terms of professionalism during the weekend. The Funeral ranks a hair behind Newborn from Elbow for Best Moment of the Year During A Show.

4. Ghostland Observatory at the Fox Theatre; Boulder, CO; April 19. I had never been to a show where I think every living soul in the venue was on their feet dancing until I saw this duo on this evening. Holy cow; what power, what energy, what a show! There may only be two guys in this band, but there is nothing simple about the raw power Ghostland Observatory puts out live. They are good on disc, but this is a band you must see live to truly appreciate what they do.

5. Agent Orange at O’Malley’s; Tucson, AZ; November 28. I have lost count of how many times I have seen this band play since I was in junior high (and I’m 39 now), and this was easily the best show from this band I have seen in over TWENTY YEARS! In my humble (and correct) opinion, Agent Orange is the best punk rock band of all time and the fact they STILL shred is unbelievable. Sole remaining original member Mike Palm is one of my favorite guitarists and still has a great voice, and his latest line-up of Dusty Watson on drums/vocals and Perry Giordano on bass/vocals is the best since the glory days of the band with Scott and James cranking out the classic discs Living in Darkness, Bitchin’ Summer, When You Least Expect It and my personal fave, This is the Voice. Today the band plays their classic catalog even faster than before, which just amazes me considering they have been around for nearly thirty years. An amazing set, they even played the entire Darkness album with Bloodstains as always being the highlight of the set. Here’s to 30 more Mike!

6. Silversun Pickups at Red Rocks Amphitheatre; Morrison, CO; September 13. Third time I have seen this great Los Angeles band and another stellar set delivered. These guys have such a great stage presence and as good as they are on disc, their studio output does not come close to show-casing the power and beauty of this band. This was to be their last show before convening to the studio to finish up their long awaited follow-up to Carnavas. If the new material they played on this evening is any indication, the new disc is going to smoke!

7. Jukebox the Ghost at the Rhythm Room; Phoenix, AZ; October 15. What a fun, utterly impressive and professional set from this Washington, D.C band! Nice guys to top it off, this is a band that deserves your attention as they churn out pop melodies with an almost prog-rock type of underlying current, as several of the songs transition into one another, creating fascinating story-lines. They sound so good on stage, and Ben lays down some of the coolest sounding piano tinkerings I have heard in ages.

8. Mobius Band at the Larimer Lounge; Denver, CO; May 3. The only reason this show does not rank higher is the band only played six songs since they were the opener of a three band set. That’s crap, they deserve a full-length set to show their fans how good they are. Playing eclectic indie-pop music with an electronica influence, these guys really pour themselves into their live performances. They were outstanding on this evening, with every song sounding great and delivering a furious rendering of The Loving Sounds of Static. If you don’t already “own a little piece of Heaven“, buy the disc. You won’t be disappointed! By the way, drummer Noam Schatz has a solo project called 3rdness, check out his latest offering Red Chanterelles. Thanks again for getting me in the show Noam!

9. Ra Ra Riot at the Modified; Phoenix, AZ; April 6. I have seen these guys three times now and they simply get better with age. Ra Ra Riot, deservedly so, became critical darlings this year with the release of The Rhumb Line. This particular night they were so tight, so focused and played with such enthusiasm, I was upset they played on a Sunday when they were doomed to get a small crowd in attendance. This is a band that could, and should, become huge.

10. The Pomegranates at Red Rocks Amphitheatre on the WOXY.com Stage; Morrison, CO; September 13. These guys played early Sunday at Monolith, delivering a set with some serious Sonic Youth and shoegazer influences. However, they did a great job of keeping the pop sensibilities at the forefront. Talented guys, this band should make some serious noise in coming years.

Folks, that is the Dust Devil 2008 Year in Review for Shows. I would love to hear some comments about why you think I’m wrong, or better yet, post your picks!

Cheers,
The Dust Devil

Add comment December 22nd, 2008

Concerts in Arizona for the second half of November and December!

Hello folks,

Yes, we are in the midst of that dreaded “R” word. The right wing claims if we don’t say the word out loud that this will all go away. Let’s see if that works …

But we must soldier on, and we still need to treat ourselves out for a night on the town occasionally. Here are some shows in the next month and a half that will help ease the pain of these times a bit.

Wednesday, November 26. Coldplay at Jobing.com Arena. Some of you may be reading this and wondering if the Dust Devil sold out. Folks, Coldplay is a great band. Soaring melodies, superb musicianship and stellar vocals characterize this Britpop outfit. This band has created some great music on the four discs they have released, and although they probably won’t play gems like Daylight or Square One in favor of newer material, you can rest assured you are in store for a quality show. There are still tickets available for the concert.

Thursday, December 4. Dressy Bessy at the Modified. This band jumped out at me when I was searching for shows on Pollstar. Then I remembered they played on the Esurance Main Stage at the Monolith Festival this year. Dressy Bessy is a band out of Denver, CO, and play an infectious, bouncy style of indie-pop, led by the vocal stylings of Tammy Ealom. One of their members, guitarist John Hill, also plays with the Apples in Stereo. This show should be a lot of fun, and of course the fact it is at the Modified makes it that much better. Kimber is doing fabulous work at bringing in consistent, quality entertainment. If you don’t go to shows at the Modified, shop for music at Stinkweeds, or support Kimber’s endeavors with Local First Arizona, then you are doing a lot to pump up big business in Phoenix, rather than supporting local and independent artists and businesses.

I’ll get off my soapbox now.

Tuesday, December 9. Snow Patrol at the Marquee Theatre. I saw this band in 2007 at the Dodge Theatre on the Eyes Open Tour. They SMOKED, and that is quite a statement to make about a band that plays quite a bit of mellow music. You can bet they will play plenty of tracks from their latest offering A Hundred Million Suns. This show should be a must-see on everyone’s agenda. Snow Patrol has released three great discs in a row, Final Straw in 2003, Eyes Open in 2006, their latest just last month, plus contributed the track Signal Fire to the Spiderman 3 soundtrack, so the band has a great catalog to choose from. This already is in the running for Best Concert of 2008, that is how confident I am they will put on a great show.

Sunday, December 14. The Bloc Party at the Marquee Theatre. Less than a week after Snow Patrol, it’s time to re-group for another great band, the Bloc Party out of the U.K. One of several bands that has been a part of the eighties retro movement, the Bloc Party stand out as one of few that is good enough to stand on its own merit. Combining frenetic guitar work with a classic post-punk attack, the Bloc Party has issued three incredible discs since 2005. Their latest, Intimacy, was released in October of this year, and shows a lot of progression while maintaining their trademark sound. I missed these guys last time they were in town, no way will I make that mistake again.

As more comes in I will post again. However, I am going to start pumping up a show now that takes place on Saturday, March 7 of 2009. Jimmy Eat World and No Knife will be playing a very special show at the Marquee Theatre that evening. Why special?

2009 will mark the ten-year anniversary of what may well be the best disc to come out of Jimmy Eat World, Clarity. To celebrate the band is playing a special ten-date tour where they will play the Clarity disc in its entirety. The band became media darlings with the release of Bleed American in 2001, but a true Jimmy Eat World fan knows that Clarity is the disc when the band really began to unleash its emo-inspired power-pop attack on the masses. This is also the disc when Jim Adkins began to take over as lead vocalist for the group.

No Knife is opening the show, and this is a huge deal to the Dust Devil. One of my favorite bands and a group that has actually been defunct for some time now, No Knife plays a thought-provoking style of indie-pop, driven by melodic guitars and the stellar vocals of Mitch Wilson. Their last disc Riot for Romance!, released in 2002, was an amazing display of indie art-rock. The band last played together March of 2003, but announced in early 2008 on their webiste that they may play together again. They will end up playing three of the ten dates on the Clarity Tour, and the fact Arizona gets one of those shows is a HUGE deal!

That’s it for now folks. Cheers!

The Dust Devil

1 comment November 24th, 2008

How about a show review of a great local band? Rizir live in concert at Jugheads October 24th!

Hey guys,

I have been absolutely swamped at the office, so I apologize for being out of commission for a couple of weeks. This review is a couple of weeks old, but since this was my first opportunity to see Rizir live in concert, I feel compelled to get this out.

First off, let’s get the negatives out of the way, none of them band related. This was my first trip to Jugheads. Located on 52nd Street and McDowell, this club boasts a pretty big rep in regards to hosting metal, hardcore and punk shows. Now, I am dating myself here, but when I think of classic clubs in Phoenix hosting that type of music, Madison Square Gardens, the Sun Club and the Mason Jar immediately come to mind. All three were holes in the wall, dirty, grungy … and possessed a ton of character. Sorry, Jugheads does not even come close to that. Oh well …

It is a little easier to overlook a bad environment when a powerful band takes over the stage, and that is precisely what Rizir did! The vocals and rhythm guitar duties are handled by Zack “The Dragon” Vinyard, Ben “The Threat” Blessington moved over from bass some time ago and is now where he should be, shredding on the guitar, and on the drums is Jesse “The Animal” Taylor. Yes folks, no bass player currently, and it is scary to imagine what this band will be able to do once they secure that critical piece of the puzzle.

Rizir could be classified as metal, but this band is WAY too diverse to be pigeonholed in such a manner. The metal influence is at the forefront, but I detected elements of classic grunge, rock and roll and industrial in the music as well. It is important to realize I like quite a bit of what came out of the early part of the grunge movement, before the media ruined that genre of music and every new band in the world tried to instantly become a part of that movement. Rizir is reminiscient of what is good about grunge: heavy, yet melodic guitars; passioniate vocals; intense music loaded with hooks.

Zack does not like the reference from what I understand, but he has a delivery reminiscient of Cobain himself. Folks, I thoroughly enjoy that style of singing - when done properly. Zack absolutely screams into his mike while singing, but the delivery is not painful to listen to. Instead, it simply adds to the power already on display, and the actual vocals are very discernible. What is the point of screaming if the audience has no opportunity to understand what you are singing? Personally, that characteristic destroys what a lot of “nu-metal” bands are doing today. Zack does not have that problem and his vocals fit this band extremely well. I was really impressed, both with the vocals and his stage presence as a front-man.

Jesse Taylor is a monster on drums. This guy bangs the skins with such power and vigor, it was absolutely impressive to watch. His timing is very, very good. A good drummer keeps the song moving along a steady pace, regardless of the speed of the tune, and Jesse pushes this band extremely well. What an impressive musician!

Ben Blessington is the one member of this band I have seen play before, during his days in a band by the name of Echo 57. I always felt that band stifled his skills a bit, since the music was more of a funk-metal combination. With Rizir, Ben has an opportunity to really display his talent. You are not going to get a guitarist that is heavy into activity onstage. Instead, Ben utilizes his energy to pummel his guitar into submission. Some of the licks he played that night were so fast, it was impossible to keep up as a spectator. A metal band should have a stud like this on guitar. How Metallica gets away with not having one is beyond me, but that’s another story …

Put these three elements together and you have one heck of a powerful unit. Rizir absolutely tore it up on this evening, and the crowd seemed to be pretty appreciative of a great set of music. Metal is not the primary genre I listen to, but when done well I enjoy seeing it played live.

Support this band! I look forward to seeing them again, hopefully with a full line-up. Their MySpace page lists two upcoming shows. They will be performing at Club Red on December 12 and a week later they are back at Jugheads. I guarantee you a great time!

Cheers!

The Dust DevilÂ

Add comment November 5th, 2008

Jukebox the Ghost show review at the Rhythm Room, October 15, 2008 - Holy Cow!

Greetings,

All right people, there have been many occasions when it took time for a band to grow on me. Catherine Wheel, Stiff Little Fingers, CAKE, Radiohead (I still don’t like Pablo Honey) … there are many more. Then, there are those bands that I like from the get-go, but it still takes time for the true genius of the music to sink in and really overwhelm me.

I saw Jukebox the Ghost at the Monolith Music Festival just a month ago. They were great, they were fun. I bought their disc Let Live and Let Ghosts after their show that day and have played it numerous times since. Good Day is a great song, the disc is infused with great pop melodies, I like the double lead vocal attack and I am a big fan of the piano used in an indie-pop format. Therefore, going to see Jukebox the Ghost again since they were in town was a no-brainer for me.

Well, I was not ready to be blown away in the manner I was! Folks, once again, I liked this band from the moment I heard them at Monolith, but there were several other bands that had a more immediate impact on me since that weekend in September. The work of Band of Horses, the Pomegranates, Snowden, A Place to Bury Strangers and the Fratellis have become vital components of my music library. The music of Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings isn’t a genre I listen to all that often, but I can guarantee I will make a point of seeing them live any chance I get. Even Cut Copy, a band that only had a minimal impact on me initially, has become a fave.

Jukebox the Ghost does play a very happy, energetic, form of indie-pop. That opinion has not changed. What has changed is the realization there is nothing simple and basic about this band. Quite the contrary, there are some very complex song structures in the music and very insightful lyrics. This band has crafted an extremely well-thought out and designed style of music.

An obvious reason is the piano play of Ben Thornewill. Let’s throw out the Peanuts reference I have used in the past. The sound is reminiscient of that, but it is very obvious when you pay attention the classical piano training he possesses. That fact alone adds to the creativity of the music, but Tommy Siegel is a stellar guitar player and Jesse Krisitin does some very unique things on percussion. Tommy and Ben blend their vocal styles and harmonize together well. All these elements combine to produce some inspiring indie-pop that really does not sound like anything else out there. That is very hard to do today, because how often is a band able to produce something refreshing? And no, they do not sound like Ben Folds, which every review I read seems to focus on that.

Oh yeah, how about the concert review?

Jukebox the Ghost came out and opened with my favorite song, Good Day. The piano rhythm in this tune is one giant hook, what a great way to start off the set! The band never let up from there playing nearly every song from their debut Let Live and Let Ghosts.

Two things really jumped out at me this time compared to when I saw them at Red Rocks. First, there are a lot of quirky little breaks during their songs, and a band that had not put a lot of effort into playing with one another had ample opportunity to screw things up. This trio did no such thing, and every song sounded flawless.

Second, Jukebox the Ghost has a definite “theatrical” edge in what they do. When I am listening to the disc, I forget that many of the songs immediately begin when one ends. This is precisely why I stated earlier this band has written some complex music. I don’t mean complex in a negative way, but in the sense that I felt I was listening to a rock symphony of sorts. The songs act as pieces of music rather than just individual tunes. Miss Templeton’s 7000th Dream features Tommy strumming an acoustic guitar and singing a folk inspired ballad, which leads right into the very powerful Static. My Heart’s the Same is a beautful piano driven ballad, with momentum building and building until the song leaps into Lighting Myself on Fire, a number worthy of filling a dance floor. The trifecta of Fire in the Sky, Where Are All the Scientists Now? and A Matter of Time is extraordinary. Tommy once again commences things on acoustic guitar, singing about Judgement Day. Ben and Jesse charge in, and parts two and three of the trilogy showcase the band harmonizing with constant tempo changes. I love great music, and I love even more watching a BAND play well with one another. This show will easily make my Top Ten for the year, they were that good.

Support Jukebox the Ghost! I have met members of quite a few bands this year. The Pomegranates were great guys, very sincere and it was obvious they just enjoyed having the opportunity to be at Monolith. What more can I say about the Mobius Band, some of the coolest guys I have ever met. Thanks again for the show back in May in Denver! Jukebox the Ghost are great guys as well, I had an opportunity to meet them after the show. A scary thought … Ben told me he was sick during their show at Monolith and was once again at this show. He was sick, and they sounded that good?! Wow!

Cheers,
The Dust Devil

Check out this live video of Hold it In!

Add comment October 16th, 2008