Goofle

Saw a neat band last night at one of my locals. Trying to find out who they are but it was pretty good. The dude in front of me was clearly enjoying himself.

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Psy-Fi

These are from last December, featuring guitarist Bill Kirchen "The Titan of The Telecaster" playing one of his annual "Honky-Tonk Holiday" shows. A mix of holiday favorites, covers and originals from Bill's solo career and his time with Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen.
















And a video from the show, taken by the "MoeJoeVision" video crew...


Bill Kirchen's Honky-Tonk Holiday Show Live @ The Bull Run 12/21/13 - YouTube

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She's a Brick House

misspoptart

Thank the heavens that I had tickets to ArtRave: The Artpop Ball. Lady Gaga is beyond unbelievable. Words do not describe the immense love I have for this performer. The show was incredible, colorful, full of energy - essentially, an epic party.

What's interesting is that I had set my expectations so low. I used to idolize Lady Gaga back in her Poker Face days, with "Beautiful Dirty Rich" being one of the songs I identified with most actually. Not that I'm rich, I just totally buy in to the "be extremely ridiculous as much as possible" mantra. However, once she went into the "Born this Way" phase of her music my love her her swiftly tapered off. She seemed whacked out a lot of the time, kind of a mess. The album was fine but nothing as addictive as her Fame or Fame Monster stuff. I just wasn't feeling "You and I" or "The Edge of Glory" and "Born this Way" seemed too familiar and not fresh somehow. So that was that, I figured.



When ARTPOP was released last year, I was pleasantly surprised. "Applause," "MANiCURE," and "Venus," all reminded me of her original catchy and dance-able tracks, and I was sucked in. Needless to say, I would not pass up an offer from my roommate to see her in concert in Istanbul (although concerts here generally disappoint due to lack of enthusiasm from the audience and oft-abridged versions of the show). I took a chance and we splurged on pretty expensive tickets.

I could not be happier about that.

Setlist (underlined are the highlights):

ARTPOP
G.U.Y.
Donatella
Venus
MANiCURE
Just Dance
Poker Face
Telephone
Paparazzi
Do What U Want
You & I
Born This Way
Judas
Aura
Sexxx Dreams
Judas
Alejandro
Bad Romance
Applause
Swine
Gypsy

First off, I think the stage design and colors really made this show special. Everything was a rainbow with splashes of neons/bright colors everywhere. If you know me you know I love color, so right off the bat I was in love with the costume designs and lighting effects. Everything was explosive and beautiful, which set the tone as a fun, free-for-all atmosphere. Kind of priceless, actually. If I was throwing a party onstage I would basically do the same thing, so I really adored that unbridled style. Confetti was frequently used. I love confetti. It had an almost circus (a la Cirque du Soleil) feel.

Second, she really did play everything. I was expecting to forego songs like "Donatella" "Judas" or "Swine" which weren't that popular in Turkey, but she did the setlist as described and did not leave anything out, unlike *cough* Justin Timberlake in May. Her stage was huge (though lacking the walk-out ramp I've seen in her other shows online), and came with all the set pieces she has been using throughout the tour. She and the crew gave it their all, and I really admire that considering this part of the tour will not be very lucrative for her (and the stadium was far from full). She also went ahead with "Gypsy" as an encore, which was kind of surprising. Generally the artists haven't been doing encores here because the Turkish crowd tends to leave immediately without cheering very much or staying after the show seems to have ended. I think it's so rude when people start leaving clearly before the show is over. Really, people? Anyway I really, really felt in my heart of hearts that Gaga is not copping out at any of her shows. She is doing her very best and I appreciate that so much.

Third, she is such a performer. I mean, I have seen her perform live on youtube or whatever before and I can't say I ever thought it looked that interesting. She generally looks like she's on something or is otherwise out of her mind, but last night she gave an absolutely awe-inspiring performance. To be singing and jumping around and dancing her head off for 2 hours straight, I mean - I was tired after the third song. I had already used so much energy singing and dancing. I don't know how she does it. So much relentless energy, so infectious! Engaging the crowd as she did is also hard to resist. Who can say no to Lady Gaga asking you to "put your paws up?"

In terms of the singing, I had heard in a few other reviews that she was "relying on backing tracks too much" and "wasn't singing enough," but I did not get that impression at all. Conversely, she added so much creativity to her music improvising and singing well-known songs with slightly different melodies to keep us guessing. Not to mention the phenomenal band she brought along with her (complete with extremely sexy drummer). They were so GOOD. Songs like "MANiCURE" and "Aura" stick in mind so well because the band added so much depth to those songs that, frankly, the studio album did not provide.

Still, the songs that were so memorable were mainly so because of the choreography and awesome vocals. In that respect "Applause" and "Swine" showed off her vocal range the best.

As is the norm for concerts of this caliber, I discovered just how much I really love the song "Donatella." That song really stuck with me after hearing it in concert, again, it had something that studio version lacked. Gotta love that about going to a concert.

At 1 hour and 30 minutes long, I literally was so tired and spent at the end of this show I felt as if 3 hours had gone by, and I still wanted to dance and sing. I literally left the show thinking "I could go to that show every night."

And that, my friends, is why ArtRave: The Artpop Ball gets a 10/10 from me. Without a doubt, the best show I have seen in Istanbul and a serious contender for the best pop show I have ever seen, ever.

Note: Although this show was good, ITU Stadium is still the worst venue for concerts ever. It is not a true stadium and just has two disconnected tribunes that are quite far from the stage. For those on the field, they probably can't see very much and that sucks. In addition, Turkish fans continue to be the most lazy/boring fans ever, as only about 10 people in our stand were dancing throughout the show and we got dirty looks from plenty of *******s who apparently came to just sit down and stare blankly, occasionally taking a photo but otherwise looking disinterested. Tsk.

Btw, you can click "VVV" in my siggy for the blog version of this, it's also posted there.

Plankton

Caught a Here Come The Mummies show on Friday. We got chauffeured to and from the show, and had 7th row seats that were upgraded to 5th row. One of the best concerts of 2014 for me. The GF was dancing on the seats in the row, and my good friend (who is probably their biggest fan) caught a pic with Java, one of the singer/percussionist's. The pic was a bit blurry, but I did what I could with it, then laminated it so he can hang it in the shed. We'll be doing this again next year!

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See location...

bob.

Earth Live is certainly a true experience

and i'm also looking into King Dude....thanks for the heads up

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A kiss is the beginning of cannibalism.

Reach out, pierce the fine fabric of the sheltering sky, take repose.

jackhammer

I was at Arc Tangent festival last month and caught (amongst others) :

Jamie Lenman
Lite.
Mono.
God Is An Astronaut.
Crippled Black Phoenix.

Saw Anathema last week but the sound quality was not great

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Psy-Fi

Some pics from a recent show at The House of Blues in Boston, MA on August 24th of this year. Sleep was the headlining act with J. Mascis (Dinosaur Jr., Heavy Blanket) teaming up with Earthless as "Earthless Meets Heavy Blanket" for the opening act. This show was a rare, 3 gig mini-tour featuring this particular lineup and one of the few times the members of Earthless have played in the New England area in years.

The Earthless/Heavy Blanket combo played a smoking hot 45 minute set consisting of one extended instrumental heavy psych jam. Sleep followed up with a full set of their usual hard, heavy power trio stoner rock. I thought the opening act stole the show with their blistering full-throttle sonic assault jamming. Sleep started strong but after a few tunes I had the impression they weren't much different than a lot of other bands playing the same style of heavy rock. I may be a bit biased, though, as Earthless have been my favorite instrumental heavy psych power trio for the past 10 years.

Over all, an entertaining evening of good music and good beer to go with it. That combination makes for a good night out every time!



View of the stage from the second floor balcony.



Earthless/Heavy Blanket opening the show.



J. Mascis and Isaiah Mitchell trading guitar riffs.











Sleep takes the stage.















A poster from the concert. One of 300 made for the 3 shows performed by the Earthless/Heavy Blanket/Sleep lineup. Signed and numbered by the artist (Arik Roper) who happened to be manning the merch booth and sold me the poster.


And a video from the show of Sleep, taken by another fan...


SLEEP - SONIC TITAN (LIVE) - YouTube

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She's a Brick House

Chula Vista

Great pics. So where you from? I spent my first 37 years in Methuen, MA. Head north on rte. 93 and you'll drive right through the middle of Methuen before entering NH.

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“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

Janszoon

I'm originally from MA too. I remember my high school art teacher lived in Methuen.

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A Night in the Life of the Invisible Man

Time & Place

25 Albums You Should Hear Before the Moon Crashes into the Earth and We All Die

last.fm

Ibrahimovic10

**** dude, that must have been a great time.