If ever there was a concert miracle I had one tonight at the Rolling Stones at the Honda Center. A crew of people I went with all went in on the $85 dollar ticket raffle the Stones are running. Essentially they place pairs of two randomly throughout the stadium from the nosebleeds to the tongue pit. Our group ended up in the nose bleeds in two separate sections. In an attempt to all stay together we tried to discuss with the ushers a way to get "upgraded." In the last hour before the show we heard that there was someone near our section handing out tickets. By the time we got there they had finished handing them out, HOWEVER, one of our crew happened to see someone she knew, AND THEY HOOKED US UP!!! We ended up just off the floor about 30 feet from the edge of the tongue pit. I can not sufficiently explain how excited I was to see the band. The phrase perma-grin comes to mind.
The Rolling Stones
As my regular readers know I have a list of the bands to see before they die. A sort of bucket list for bands as it were. Recently, I became a bit alarmed that the Stones were celebrating their "50 and counting tour" and decided it was finally time to see them. While enjoying the show, it occurred to me that a child conceived at the concert would be at retirement age able to claim an association with a band that was founded 120 years before.
That said, Mick Jagger was prancing around the stage like an anorexic teenager. If it weren't for the advantage of being close enough to see wrinkles you would have thought you were watching a show from 40 years ago. Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts were a bit less animated, but they still have their musical chops.
Mick Jagger
One of my all time favorite Stones albums is "Let it Bleed," and I think they must have gotten my note, because they played over half the songs from it! In truth, I suspect it was just because Mick Taylor was guesting with them!
Mick Taylor With the Current Rolling Stones Lineup
Didn't seem Taylor and Wood had any animosity or rivalry on stage. They were just on big happy band rocking out and getting mad bank from the ticket sales. "Honky Tonk Women" and "Midnight Rambler" were pulled off without a hitch. "You Got the Silver" was pretty solid but Wood had a bit of an issue on the slide parts.
"Gimmie Shelter" was the female back up singer's chance to shine, prancing around on stage singing with Mick only to be stuck in the backup singer spot the rest of the night. The USC Thornton Chamber Choir shared the stage for "You Can't Always Get What You Want" as well as a surprise French horn player for the intro.
The Rolling Stones
Usually when I bring a camera to the show, the lighting is crap I have to push the ISO way too high and the photos come out dark and grainy. This was not the case. In addition to the elaborate (and mysteriously disappearing) lips from the beginning of the show and the tongue pit, the stage was awash with rapidly changing colors and spotlights. So while my photos were not taken right at the stage, they are some of the better looking ones I have shot in a while.
Dave Grohl wth The Rolling Stones
So far every show they have done has had a local guest. For us it was Dave Grohl! He sang a verse and played guitar on "Bitch." At this time I should mention that my concert neighbors not recognizing one of the most famous musicians from two pivotal bands of the grunge generation, leaned over to ask who it was. I started chatting with them in the gap before the next song and discovered they had bought $40 counterfeit tix, then bought "cheap" nosebleed seats at the door and by some miracle got upgraded. I wish I had taken a photo of the counterfeit tix. They were way off from the original coloring. Considering it's a Ticketmaster event you think they would have tried harder at the duping. In any case, I was blown away by the fact that they spent the entire night SITTING with people standing all around them. What's the point of getting upgraded if you aren't going to watch the show???
The band played so many famous songs it's probably best just to look at a set list. Songs that really stuck in my head are "Wild Horses," "Friend of the Devil" (probably for the crazy poofy jacket Mick wore), and "Paint it Black."
Mick Jagger
All in all a fantastic show. Amazing music, amazing visuals, and an amazing performance even with their getting on in years (unlike Dylan). With that I will leave you with a few more great photos from the show!
The Noah and the Whale show at the HOB Anaheim was packed! The place was bursting at the seams for a little British band I was starting to wonder if anyone else in SoCal had heard of.
Overall a decent show. Finally got to see the band that introduced me to a whole crew of great British musicians. I will make a bit of a confession though. I really dug the sound of their first album more so than the others. Mainly its instrumentation. Now that's not to say I like the layered Sgt Peppers sound on some of their songs, more I just dig the acoustic blended sound. This was not the sound they had this evening however, opting to be a bit more electric.
They hit the songs I was expecting, although I was kinda supprised they played 5 Years Time given the prominence of Laura Marling on it. Met up with an old friend from college at the show and we both agreed that there was some strange Springsteen connection in the bands sound that evening.
I was glad to see they did an upbeat show. With a pause in the middle for some "romantic time" music, of course. As always, I worry about mellow bands when they're live. These guys were full of energy and Charlie Fink was dancing around the stage "like Mick Jagger" as a fellow concert goer put it.
I have already gone on ad nauseum about Noah and the Whale, so I will keep all my ramblings about the band, who's not in it any more, and all that to a minimum. Good show... Good show...
Gomez has always been a strong influence for me. Hearing their songs complilated from great tracks from their first album to their most recent hits made me realize just how much of what I play and sing has its roots in this band.
One of the highlights of the evening was "Make No Sound." The cellist from the Kopecky Family Band joined them (to fill in the missing line) and it was just so perfect. Reminds me of another time and another place in my life with lots of warmhazy memories. They also did a great version of "How We Operate." At the onset I found myself wondering how they would cover the banjo part. Interestingly they just left it out and it made for a very interesting vox only intro to the song. The band really got excited at points and really got into the song. I was shocked how many people knew "Airstream Driver" and "Options" relative to all of their other songs. I just didn't expect them to be a band du jour at this point in their careers.
For a good chunk of the show, the kick drum was super hot in the mix and was overwhelming everything else on the stage. When the Olly played anything but the kick everything sounded great. Bad recording engineer... Bad... This is what it sounded like. Granted in this case its clipping the mic, but you get the idea...
What I found particularly of interest was Ben's performance for the evening. All night his vocals were tight. At times he was brilliant on the guitar, playing amazing solos, improvising on set parts and really seemed to be enjoying himself. At other points he seemed to forget what he was playing and his fingers that were lightening fast a few seconds before were made of jello. It was a bit like watching a dog try to use chopsticks. At first I thought it might be he was having a hard time remembering old stuff, but a few of the newer songs he had issues on too. By the end of the set he had recovered and was really tearing into some of his lead parts.
So a conspiracy theory I have been working on is that the band is in their wrapping things up phase. This theory is based on the most recent album's lyrics with songs like
the fact that Ian Ball has been releasing solo albums, and the fact that the band does not all live in the same country. That and their last two albums have been meh and every album before that was top notch. What I found really strange was when Ian walked off stage for half of "Sweet Virginia." This was the only time any of them left the stage. Halfway through he came back (just in time) to add an extra guitar layer to the song. This could all be me reinforcing a crazy conspiracy theory of course. Just glad I got to see them before anything goes down.
Just to appease the rabble (namely a few drunk chicks yelling "Tijuana Lady") they added a shortened version to their encore. I will leave you with that.
***************************************** Side note: Ian and Tom both broke strings... Here's a cool picture of one.
Being the showmen they are they kept going like nothing happened. In fact Ian got stuck with a section that featured him and you wouldn't have known it unless you could see it...
So on Thursday a friend found himself with an extra Red Zone ticket to see U2 play at the Angles Stadium of Anaheim Los Angeles California Orange County USA. I, of course, jumped at the chance. For those not familiar, Red Zone tickets guarantee you access to a special area close to the stage as well as the GA area in front of the stage. With the benefit of a short line and my recent exercise kick, I was able to get to the front row just to the left of the stage.
Before I talk about the concert I should mention that these Red Zone tickets are very controversial with the hardcore fans who pay the GA fee rather than pony up the extra dough. The GA fans essentially line up hours (and I have heard even days) in advance to get a chance at getting close to the stage. I definitely got a great spot because of my red zone ticket, but totally understand why the fans were cheesed off. Still, they should be cheesed off at the band not the people who paid for the tickets.
So, being in such a great spot, I was able to take some AMAZING shots of both Lenny Kravitz and U2.
It was the first time in 15 years or so that I have seen Lenny Kravitz, and while it's a different energy, he still had a lot of it. I was surprised at the number of songs he played that I knew. Fly Away, Are you Gonna Go My Way (which Bono slipped a weird ref in to later), Let Love Rule, It Ain't Over Till its Over and a bunch of other songs I remember but don't know the names of.
Typically I despise large concerts. There's such a disconnect between the band and the audience that its essentially just listening to the album really loud while crammed into a small space. This is never the case with U2. I saw them on their last big tour in 2005. That time my seat was as far from the stage as you could get (back wall top row of the venue). Even still, the visuals were amazing and the camera work so good you felt involved in the show. U2 360 was a bit different, as for the most part I was so close I could not see the elaborate stage/screens. There was a section where the stage came down that was cool and I am sure from further back it would have been even more impressive.
One thing a bit odd was that they played David Bowie's "Space Oddity" before the show and immediately after was "Rocket Man." Not sure what the tie in was to other than maybe the fact that the stage looks like the LAX spaceship or Gabrielle Giffords' Husband who made an appearance.
Mark Kelly's appearance was something I heard about before, so I am gathering it is something they have worked in to every segment of the tour. Essentially they had him holding up the words to "Beautiful Day" in space. I kinda felt a bit pandered too, but its all part of the U2 pageantry so it was still cool. When I'm a big rock star I'd like to have a guy from space showing off the words too my songs too.
The band was amazingly tight and on cue. Almost too much so. The one major glitch was that the guitar level on "I'll Go Crazy..." was low at the start. As soon as the Edge walked away from the pedals, everything was back to normal. I hate to be the suspicious guy wondering how much was pre-recorded, but I can say that I heard enough wireless dropouts/pops in the vox etc that I feel better about how much was live. "Go Crazy" I think had a lot of pre-recorded music though as it allowed Larry Mullen, Jr. to get out into the crowd playing djimbe.
It's notable that "I'll go crazy..." is one of the only songs off the most recent album they played, and thank god for that. Every so often U2 puts out a crap album. Given that they've put out so many good albums (Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby, All that you cant leave behind, How to Dismantle an atomic bomb) I forgive them.
In one of the visual highlights of the night, Bono wore some crazy laser jacket and was swinging from a suspended microphone during the batman soundtrack song "Hold me, thrill me, kiss me, kill me." Not such a huge fan of the song, but all the lights were pretty cool. I shot a video, but sadly I was trying to shoot with my other camera at the same time, so its a bit off.
For me the best part of the show was the encore during which they played "One" and "Where the streets have no name" two of my favorite songs. It was the perfect culmination to an excellent evening. With that, I will leave you with a few more photos.
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This is a complete side note, but Bono has definitely put on a few Katie Courics. Feel free to watch that later if you haven't. Don't know if its from the backiotomy Bono had a while back or the fact that U2 has been in existence longer than I have.
