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Honda Civic Tour, Radio City Music Hall, New York, 4/8/05
Who would have guessed it would be all bright lights, big cities for Maroon 5 if you had seen them seemingly marooned 5 years ago. But dang, how the landscape has changed. Here we are at the third and final of a string of sold-out dates at Radio City Music Hall shortly after their big night at the Grammys. Yes, that’s right. Allow me to underscore that: Radio City Music Hall. (Yes, that Radio City Music Hall.) Three sold-out nights. Grammy win.
Where were they five years ago? Marooned on a desert island of modern rock mediocrity without a prayer of rescue. In my daydream, it went something like this: “Skipper, Maryann, let’s put some Ginger in the sound and turn ourselves into the new reigning Professors of funkalicious dance rock for a post-Timberlake neo-soul era.”
With the band’s brand of funkified alt-pop pumping out hooky grooves by the minute, it’s no wonder John Mayer’s audiences were won over, one by one, over the course of two consecutive tours. Who cares if the audience had never heard of Maroon 5 before? The minute “This Love” comes spilling out of the speaker cabs, no crowd with a pair of eardrums between them could help but get off their @$$es and boogie. I dare you to try and sit that one out.
Any musician worth their Marshall stacks can tell you that the greatest test an unknown band can face is an enormous crowd of virgin ears. Think about it. Three years of opening for other bands’ megatours later, and Maroon 5 find themselves nailing platinum records to their walls, selling out dates across the country, and winning the Grammy. If that’s not the best endorsement for a band’s ability to rock a live show, I don’t know what is. They shot from obscurity, not only due to their hook-writing ability, but on the strength of their live performances. It’s hard to think of a better argument for why you should buy a concert ticket. ‘Nuff said on that account.
So yeah, it was easy enough to convince me that this was one of the tickets well worth spending my hard-earned money on this season. (Doesn’t hurt that it wasn’t an expensive ticket to begin with, either.) But still, I was dying of curiosity. Maroon 5 released Songs About Jane in 2002. How would they sound after 3 years straight touring behind the same material? Would they be bored? Would they be jaded?Would AdamLevine strip to his skivvies just to give himself something to remember the night by? (I thought it best to remain optimistic and look on the bright side, of course.)
Well, here I am. And I can testify, brothers and sisters, that Maroon 5 have the mark of true musicians. Hallelujah, Amen. Rather than resorting to limp renditions or big explosion gimmickry, they went to the heart of each tune and mixed it up. These boys can play their instruments – sung, strung, struck or tickled. In my humble opinion, the mark of a true musician is the ability to get swept up in the movement of a tune and improvise. And I don’t mean an out-of-left-field vocal outburst or some misguided attempt at a screaming guitar solo. I mean the ability to get back to the essence of a song and jam. That’s the kind of improv that grabs hold of a crowd and sweeps them up in the moment with the band.
Jump on your next opportunity to see Maroon 5 live. These tunes will make you shake your rump-ah, with an undercurrent of heat that made Kelly Preston agree to make out with a skinny musician in a rock video. Yeah, it’s the kind of energy that has the guys here in the audience tonight making eyes at all the fine females in the room. Maroon 5 has made everyone in the joint tonight feel sexy – it’s palpable and the joint is jumping.
-Tangled:
Fantastically funky.
-Harder to Breathe:
I'm blown away by the sound quality of both the venue and the band. They're working a very bassy, rich guitar sound.
-The Sun:
"Hot asphalt?" He ain't kiddin'! They took it down a notch and sexed it up.
-Wasted Years(?):
They broke out this new tune perhaps to remind the audience that they have no plans to become one hit wonders facing that dreaded sophomore slump. For you M5 purists out there, no need to worry that they'll be perpetrating any 'what were they thinking' blunders, abandoning the sound you love. If this new tune is any indication, the neo-soul is safe.
-Secret:
One of my personal faves on the album and one of the crowd's faves of the night. They mixed it up at the end with some highly original segues into unexpected cover tunes: "Sign your name across my heart, I want you to be my lady..." into "Those days are over, Roxanne..." into "We don't need no education..." -- all over a break-it-down-now mellow jam. Crowd hysteria ensued. Meanwhile, Adam is really the only showman in the band with anounce of showboat in him. Which is, let's face it, useful in a frontman.
-This Love:
One of the biggest highlights of the night. Adam busted out with the first line in a capella, at which point the audience took over (without any prompting from him, I might add) and sang the entire first verse and chorus without a single note being played. I love spontaneous crowd moments like these. One of the things that can make live music such a transporting experience.
-Hello:
"This is a song from one of our favorite bands..." And what is it? An Oasis cover! Just their luck, Oasis are on tour through September.
-She Will Be Loved:
Even with the volume turned up to 11, the crowd could still be heard singing along with every word. Buy Maroon 5 tix and maybe you too will get lucky and hear Adam explain the mom angle in the song's video. "It doesn't really make sense -- it just looked good. And I really wanted to make out with Kelly Preston." Who can argue with that?
-Ames Friedman
Projekt Revolution 2004 was one of those classic summer festival experiences. A meeting of the minds on a beautiful summer day, with a few notable curve balls thrown in to encourage us to expand our musical horizons and the dimenions of our CD collection. In this case, that curve ball was...
Snoop Dogg. What more can I say? He's the Godfather... or would that be the Dogfather? Either way, he brought the Dogg Pound posse out to Nissan Pavilion and showed us how to party in true West Coast style. Most notable were his old school hits like "Gin & Juice," and his most recent smash, "Beautiful," which he dedicated to the ladies.
One thing I absolutely love about hip-hop shows is the crowd control that the MCs exercise with such ease. In the classic hip-hop tradition, Snoop had us dancing our collective @$$ off, waving in unison, & screaming the call-and-response lyrics -- most of which had to do with drinking, smoking, partying, smoking some more, and every possible combination of the above.
That said, Snoop was playing to a tough crowd. Imagine if you will a crowd of nu metalheads trying to shake their groove thang. Hmmmm. I was getting down with my bad self, and so was about 1/3 of the audience, but Snoop was a tough sell to the rest of them. If it was possible to respect the D. O. Double-G more than I had when I walked into the show, seeing him play to a tough crowd really cemented my esteem for him. He is a true professional, and the duly ordained High Priest of Party. So if you have tix to Projekt Revolution, get there in time to see Snoop Dogg and represent! His performance and his mere presence deserve a roof-raising reception.
And now for something completely different... KORN!
First, I must admit publicly that I am not well versed in Korn, and thus I am probably not the best person to be summing up a Korn show. That said, I went in knowing that Korn has a rabid fan base who show up in hordes to see Jonathan Davis & crew.
Though I wasn't grooving to the music the way my neighboring concert-goers were, I definitely got the appeal. It was most enjoyable being part of the audience during the spectacle that was a Korn show. Jonathan Davis is a dynamic frontman and well deserving of his adoring fans.
Some highlights: Big props to Korn for pulling out two inspired covers: Metallica's "One" and Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall." And did you know that Jonathan Davis plays the bagpipes? That might explain the kilt. Who knew the bagpipes could rawk? You Korn fans did, I bet. Also loved it when Jonathan held up a flaming torch and called to the crowd to exercise the old school rite of holding up their lighters, during the closest thing to a ballad Korn would perform that night. Sounds kind of cheesy, but looked really cool.
Continued in my next journal entry...
And now on to the reason I bought my tix: Linkin Park. I've already waxed rhapsodic about LP in my Top 10 Shows of All Time list, so I won't go on and on all over again. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I'll use this entry as a photo album and let my picture-phone pics do the talking.
Some highlights: Every song. I was transported throughout so I'm hard pressed to choose favorites. (I apologize for the gratuitous gushing.) Although, a couple moments do spring to mind. First, Mike Shinoda sitting down to tickle the ivories...
Not that they needed help, but a few special guests graced the stage. Guest star Jonathan Davis belted out some of Chester's lines. The Used's frontman also rocked a duet with Chester. And later, Brad (guitarist) picked two fans out of the crowd to help Mike & Chester rap and sing their respective parts...
More highlights: We went wild when Mike jumped into the audience...
...and were swept into a frenzy during the encore when Chester kicked out an inspired rendition of Nine Inch Nails' "Wish"...
A very satisfying show. And that's all she wrote.
Did I whet your appetite? Catch The Used, Snoop Dogg, Korn, Linkin Park & more when Projekt Revolution rolls into your town!
9:30 Club, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways...
It's rare that a gritty club in a gritty part of town could attract the likes of Bryan Ferry, The Hives, Neil Finn, Jurassic 5, Dolly Parton, Wilco, Liz Phair, Los Lobos, Lucinda Williams, etc. It's also rare that a gritty club in a gritty part of town could induce folks from all over the surrounding countryside to brave the road rage-inducing tourist traffic of our nation's capitol. But attract and induce it does.
In fact, I can think of no place I'd rather see live music. Truly.
Why? The room. When the crowd is light, the room never feels empty. When a show is sold out, it never feels claustrophobic. And in either case, the sound is phenomenal. I mean phenominal. The sound team seems equally at home with acoustic acts featuring hard-to-hear instruments like stand-up bass, as well as the heaviest riff-rocking guitars, and hip-hop's human beatboxes and turntables. You never strain to hear, nor do your ears ever bleed. But it doesn't end there, oh no! If you're not a fan of standing on the floor, or you're sick of being too short behind a wall of 6-footers, there are many options. Head on up to the balcony for a view down over the crowd and have a beer at one of the bars. Or pull up a bleacher seat along the side walls upstairs. You'll always be able to find a good view. And even up in the back balcony, you'll still feel as if you could reach out and touch the band. Optical illusion? Optical delusion? Who cares?! All I know is it's good.
Why? Musicians love playing there. Despite having a smallish stage (Bryan Ferry's band and back-up singers looked positively squished), every last band I've seen there seems to be having a fab time. Maybe the soundman is particularly adept at giving them a good monitor mix. Who knows? But every last one of 'em that I've seen has seemed to be kicking proverbial butt and enjoying themselves more than usual. The interactions with the crowd are personal and the encores long. I think it must be the close proximity to the crowd. I imagine that for many artists used to playing huge venues to tens of thousands, playing at the 9:30 Club is like returning to your roots. Calling it "intimate" kind of falls short of the mark. Getting in touch with your fans can literally be achieved, as Neil Finn proved when he pulled a fan up on stage to lead the room in singing one of his songs, while he accompanied on guitar. It breeds such "special moments" like warm, fuzzy tribbles.
Why? Atmosphere. The 9:30 Club doesn't have to try. It just has that special something without all sorts of decor or theme-y posturings. It has just the right mix of tattoos and big, scary bouncers to make it feel like an equally great place to see hard core as hip-hop. And then there's the afore-mentioned proximity of the crowd to the stage. At about hip height, you can walk right up to it and determine if that's a Gretsch or a Gibson hollow-body the guitarist is playing, and read the set list taped to the stage floor. You can make eye contact with the band. You can hang out in the rafters and still feel as if they're singing just to you. That ever elusive quality of "intimacy" that so many venues strive for seems effortless here. It kind of feels like home to me now.
The numbers don't lie! The concert industry reports that the 9:30 Club is the single most popular club-size venue in the country, with the highest $$ earned and the greatest number of tickets sold. It's that magic combination -- musicians love to play there, and music-lovers hanker to head there.
Can you think of a better way of summing up the 9:30 Club? Post it here! Or check out what the AOL CityGuide Editors had to say, and find out why they ranked it as the City's Best Place to See Live Music. Then find out who's playing next at 9:30!
This just in from a press release from Morrissey's PR people...
"On Saturday, July 17th, Morrissey will perform at Chicago's House of Blues. This is likely to be his only US show this summer, and as such, tickets for the performance sold out in less than two minutes."
Why wouldn't he resched all his Lollapalooza dates with replacement solo US dates, you ask? It's a mystery.
Ben Folds is The Man. I'm talkin the MAN. THE man.
Having gotten that brief observation out of the way, I'll start at the beginning...
Last Tuesday night, I had the magic combination: Mix 3 parts superb performances, 1 part phenomenal acoustics & 1 part perfect weather. Shake it with a sold-out crowd, garnish with 10th row seats, and you'll get the divine cocktail I knocked back last week. I had mysteriously stumbled across the ingredients to love potion number 9. Or the stairway to 7th heaven.
Up first: Rufus Wainwright -- Rufus has been one of my favorite discoveries since he opened for Tori Amos at DC's DAR Constitution Hall 2 years ago. Rufus is a phenomenal songwriter with a knack for hummable melodies and deep-delving, often wickedly funny lyrics. I'm always impressed by young artists who can stand on a large stage all by themselves and hold a crowd with confidence. We were with him through the whispers and the crescendoes -- old fans and virgin ears alike. I love that he wears his alternative lifestyle proudly on his sleeve with aplomb. And his between-song banter is hilarious. (How rare is that?! Usually we just want singers to shut up and sing, am I right?)
Some highlights: One of my favorite songs from his first album, Poses, "One Man Guy," originally recorded by his famous father, Loudon Wainwright. The kicker: the guys from Guster came out as his backing band and helped Rufus sing the four-part harmonies. Brought the house down. Keeping it all in the family with his musical mom, Kate McGarrigle on piano, he introduced the next song by saying that he started out his career performing it with her when he was nine. We all just about died when he busted out "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." What could have been shlocky dreck just for the laughs turned out to be a highlight of the show. Those who had only heard of Rufus through the Moulin Rouge soundtrack were thrilled when he played "Complainte De La Butte", sung entirely in French. Not a tall order for this native son of Quebec. I only wish he'd sung the Beatles' "Across the Universe" from the I Am Sam soundtrack. *sigh* But all told, a divine performance, couldn't have asked for more.
On second: Guster -- I'd never seen Guster before, nor had I owned any of their CDs. Suffice it to say that I am now the happy owner of two, count 'em, two Guster CDs. Plus, it kind of felt like old home week, as I remember them from the Boston music scene -- they formed at Tufts University. I must say, I'm a sucker for the bongo man. He took jangly folk rock and made it grooveable. Not that they'd be bad without the bongos. He just adds quite a bit to the mix. As does the multi-instrumentalist who swapped from guitar & pedal steel to piano and assorted noisemakers. I was surprised how many songs I recognized. I realized these guys have saturated pop culture far more than I gave them credit for. The highlight of the set for me: They invited Ben Folds out to play piano and sing a tune. Are you sensing a trend?
Last, but not least: Ben Folds -- Did I mention that Ben Folds is THE MAN? Ahem. If I had ever at any point thought twice about including him in my Top 10 Shows of All Time list (I've never thought twice about it, but if I had...), his place in the pantheon was reconfirmed that night. If you ever, EVER have the opportunity to see Ben Folds within a three hour driving radius, DO NOT MISS HIM. He fills up the house with his personality within seconds of setting foot on stage. I've often wondered just what it is about Ben that puts his fans in rabid fits of rapture when he plays. I think it must be the hilarious lyrics that tell tales of a self-proclaimed misfit nerd making his way in the world. He's the everyman everyone wants to go have a beer with. Yes, that, plus his melodies are immediately hummable and the songwriting indulges in campy, rafter-rocking anthems. He held us in the palm of his hand (whenever it wasn't otherwise occupied pounding away on the piano).
Highlights: Have you ever seen a lone artist on stage get an audience to sing in three part harmony? He conducted us, standing on his Steinway. Did I mention that he also got the audience to divide into a horn section and sax section, to fill in for the backing band that wasn't there? I'm not kidding! It doesn't stop there. He brought Rufus out to help him sing a poignant rendition of "Careless Whisper", by, you guessed it, George Michael. I loved the freeform jam he popped on the Guster boys without warning, giving them only "Key of D" as an indication of what was to come. He proceeded to sing as if he was possessed by the soul & pipes of Ronnie James Dio. They had a blast, and so did we. Run, don't walk, to your nearest Ben Folds concert right now.
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