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Ghostland Observatory concert review from the Tucscon Gem and Jem, Saturday, February 7

February 11th, 2009 Posted by: Dust Devil

Hello everybody,

I am going a little backwards here, but I had been screwing around with the Coachella post for a while, and the Appleseed Cast show was so good I wanted to post that ASAP.

Not that this was a bad show, but I had seen these guys twice before …

What really got me was my complete misunderstanding of the event. When I was checking out Pollstar for upcoming concerts in Arizona a few weeks ago, my eyes bugged out of my head when I saw Austin’s own Ghostland Observatory coming to Tucson, AZ the first weekend in February. No brainer, I saw this duo at Monolith 2007 and in Boulder, CO in 2008. Both were great shows, so immediately made plans to go south for that weekend.

When I went to book a hotel and discovered nearly everything was gone, I started researching this Gem and Jam Festival and discovered there is a huge Tucson Gem and Mineral Show every year. Great … for them. I have no interest in gems. All I know is I wanted to see Ghostland Observatory, so I pressed on and finally found a room. Sweet!

The event was at the Rialto Theatre in downtown Tucson, right across the street from Hotel and Club Congress. The venue is pretty cool, another example of an old movie theatre that years later is converted to a music venue. The lobby still has the same type of ticket booth from the Roaring Twenties era. This evening it also had a few vendor booths set up with people peddling their gems and art. Rialto is a general admission venue, but there were rows of seats on each side of the back of the theatre. That was good, because it was imperative for me to sit away from people …

There were several artists opening the festivities. The problem is none of them were any good and thus shall remain nameless, mainly because I honestly cannot remember any of their names. Personally, I have no use for listening to DJ’s before a concert. At a concert I actually want to hear music that is played, not simply sampled from another artist.

Being extremely bored and irritated, I went out the side entrance to what normally would be an alleyway, but the area was now fenced off to accomodate more of the gem vendors and artists. Okay, at least I can waste some time until Ghostland Observatory starts, right?

It is important to note that I did not even arrive at the venue until 10:00pm. That makes a big difference later in the tale …

I am outside, it is night-time, it is lightly sprinkling … and it stunk (as in smelled) because of all the hippies and gypsies. Sorry people, not my crowd, I felt actually ultra-conservative wearing an Agent Orange t-shirt and having short hair instead of dreadlocks. I did find some good New York style pizza, some great organic java and a very cool Chicago Cubs/Grateful Dead t-shirt. Trust me, I am not a fan of The Dead, but the shirt was a hoot, so I had to buy it.

I went back and forth between walking around outside and heading back indoors. It was after midnight when Ghostland Observatory finally took the stage.

I know the time delay and not enjoying the ambiance had an effect on my view of the show. Ghostland Observatory was good as ever and delivered another powerful set of electronica/rock/punk. Unfortunately, I think the set list was the exact same as when I saw them in Boulder March of 2008. Ghetto Magnet, Shoot em Down, and Sad Sad City all sounded great, but once I realized I was seeing the same show as last year I grew a bit bored. Move With Your Lover, my favorite tune, did not even make the usual impact with me, so I left once that song was over. I am not sure how long they played after I was out of there.

Folks, this is a great band, and if you have never seen Ghostland Observatory live, you really need to if you get an opportunity. They will be performing at Coachella this year. Maybe I was spoiled from the first two times I saw them, maybe the wanna-be Woodstock atmosphere killed things for me, but the effect just was not the same for me this go-around. A good set, but not the great one I expect from this duo.

There are still a few shows coming up worth noting. Locally, March 4 the legendary Pretenders are at Dodge Theatre, March 6 James Galway will be doing a recital at the Mesa Arts Center, and March 7 No Knife opens for Jimmy Eat World at the Marquee Theatre. The Jimmy Eat World show is sold out by the way, just like the Dust Devil knew it would. We do have tickets for that show if you are looking for one.

March 15 I will return to the Bluebird Theatre in Denver, a great venue, to see Cut Copy. March 30 I will be in Minneapolis and forced to make a difficult choice. The Bloc Party and Longwave will be playing together at First Avenue. That same night one of my idols, Bob Mould, is at the Varsity Theatre.

Plenty of music coming up folks, do your part to stimulate the economy!

Cheers,
The Dust Devil

Filed under: Event Reviews