So many album releases so little time. I try to keep up and listen to all of interesting albums that come out every week, but sadly there isn't enough time to review all of them. So let's hit some of the highlights. This week I will be reviewing the rocking Wolfmother New Crown and the popy Foster the People Supermodel.
Wolfmother-New Crown
Here is my review of Wolfmother New Crown.
Recommended Songs: Heavy Weight, Feelings, "I Ain't Got No", and Tangerine Dream.
2/5 Stars
Foster the People- Supermodel
Here is my review of Foster the People Supermodel.
Recommended Songs: Coming of Age, Pseudologia Fantastica, Best Friend, and A Beginners Guide to Destroying the Moon.
This week I have come to have quite the opposite problem of my first concert blog this year. I had seen very few concerts in February and now by late March, I have seen a lot more. So for this blog I will be doing a recap of all of the shows I saw in the past two weeks. Very little on the hype of the show, or the openers, or even the venue. Just the bare bones awesomeness, of some great live music. This week I will be reviewing The Kings of Leon, Animals as Leaders, and Crosby Stills and Nash live in concert.
Kings of Leon 03/05/14 Sprint Center Kansas City
When going to a Kings of Leon show I knew they were going to play a lot of material I didn't like, but I still love their first three albums so to me it was worth it. I hated the majority of Only by the Night and Come Around Sundown, but Mechanical Bull was actually not half bad and they featured a lot of the new album live. The band played 27 songs for a two plus hour show, chalked full of hits, crowd favorites, sing-a longs, confetti, lazers, and an old fashioned flapper girl/ stripper videos. What were they missing to make an amazing arena rock show? Ill get to that in a second, but first the show it self.
They opened the show with a curtain up rendition of Charmer, before dropping it and going into Rock City. Charmer was raw and Caleb Followilll sounded great on vocals. The whole band couldn't be praised more for their pure musicianship throughout the show, hitting every note on each song. They played material from all six albums, including two from youth and manhood, fan favorite Molly's Chambers, and the surprise inclusion of Trani. During Supersoaker the had a flapper porn video to accompany the song, for Don't Matter the stage grew tailpipes and smoked the VIP section, and lazers appeared everywhere during Back Down South.
The true highlights of the show came during the arena wide sing-alongs during for Use Somebody and Sex on Fire. For me though it was when the played the older material and let that classic rock infused southern flair out. They are truly amazing musicians that can shred when they want to. The thing they need to work on is their stage presence and their showmanship. They stayed in the same spot the whole show and rarely spoke to the crowd other than to saw thank you and introduce the band. It also felt like their was a disconnect between the band and the crowd. The crowd was having a blast, but you could never tell if the band was having fun or going through the motions.
Animals as Leaders 03/10/14 Wooly's Des Moines
I hadn't been to a metal in a while, so when this show came up I was very excited to get back into the pit. Since we came late I decided to wait till the headliner to mosh, and ended up being too hypnotized by the show to go into the pit. They only played 13 songs and the show was over by 10:30, with all that said it was an unbelievable experience and an amazing show.
Here is CAFO live.
The show felt more like a an dream or an acid trip than a metal show. This band doesn't have a singer and doesn't need one, but it does make determining where one song ends and another one begins difficult. This trio plays some of the most complicated and insane instrumentals that I have ever seen in my entire life, and they do it all without breaking a sweat. They even manage to look not challenged enough at times. Both the guitarists and bass player play unbelievable complex lines from eight string instruments. The drummer is a beast hammering out solos and changing the tempo of a song 15 without you even noticing. The whole time they are doing this they have two huge video screens playing some of the craziest images to go along with the music. The played songs off of all three albums including the one that comes out next week. When it was over it felt like only five minutes had gone by. I couldn't believe it had been over an hour I wanted more.
Crosby, Stills, and Nash 03/11/14 Des Moines Civic Center
When you think about the legacy and the sheer body of work that Crosby, Stills, and Nash have it's hard to even come up with comparisons. Not only do they have a bunch or records as Crosby, Stills, and Nash, but they also have some as Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, a ton of solo records each, and lots of other huge projects. They between the three of them have been a part of The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, and The Hollies. Let's just say they had a ton of material to pull from for live shows, and they pulled from all of it.
Suite: Judy Blue Eyes live.
Including the intermission they played for three hours and 26 songs. These guys know what is takes to put on a great live show. They have an amazing chemistry between them that you would expect from 30 years of music together, and they are great at interacting with the audience. They tell the kind of stories that would end up on VH1 behind the music, if it had existed back then. They play music from as far back as the sixties and as new as 2014. The hits brought the crowd to their feet with each one and often brought a standing ovation, but at times it did feel like a lot of waiting between sets of new songs for the hits. The only other concern was Steven Stills aged voice. Graham Nash and David Crosby still sound great and can hit all of the notes they used to, but Steven Still has trouble even singing the melody at times. All that said it didn't matter, because when the hits came in all of the little problems faded away and you get lost in the sheer beauty of the music. When they played Suite: Judy Blue Eyes live it sent shivers down my spine.
My computer temporarily broke so I wasn't able to get this us as quickly as I had planned, but alas here it is. I always find artists that are capable of bending and breaking genres at their whim to be fascinating. This week I have two artists who break genres like it's their job. I guess it kind of is their job. This week I will be reviewing Beck - Morning Phase and Skindred- Kill the Power.
Beck Morning Phase
Here is my review of Beck Morning Phase.
Recommended Songs: Say Goodbye, Blue Moon, Unforgiven, and Waking Light.
4.5/5 Stars
Skindred Kill The Power
Here is my review of Skindred Kill the Power.
Recommended Songs: Kill the Power, Ruling Force, Ninja, and Proceed with Caution.
When it comes to seeing a living legend in concert, I am a sucker. So when two living legends announced a tour together, I just couldn't resist. It doesn't hurt that I have been listening to both of these artists for years. Without tours like this you would have to track down both artists individually, and that makes this a once in a lifetime tour. In truth I would rather see The Police and Simon and Garfunkel live, but that isn't going to happen. So this is the next best thing. The tour came to be when Sting and Paul Simon played the The Boxer together for a benefit concert. So here is my review of Sting and Paul Simon live in concert.
Here is a video of The boxer with Sting and Paul Simon.
On February 23rd I went to see Sting and Paul Simon at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul Minnesota. I didn't know much about the event going into it aside from the fact that both Paul Simon and Sting would be playing, maybe together for a song or two. I had no idea if there would be an opener or not, turns out not. The truth of the show, was that this was a very unique tour. Neither band would play first or last. They would play small sets alone before joining for a song or two, and then switching for a small set. They did this all night, first together, then sting, then together, then Paul and so on. No matter what happened I was ready for a huge singalong that would last late into the evening.
Sting and Paul Simon live on stage.
When I arrived at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul it became very clear the power of these two legends live on stage. The show was sold out, and the crowd was jam packed. Full of people from all ages and walks of life, a regular melting pot of people who's lives these songs had touched. The show was supposed to open at 8, but didn't start till around 8:30. Right at 8:30 Sting and Paul Simon took the stage along with both of their full bands for a rousing rendition of Sting's Brand New Day. Following that Sting and Paul gave a quick speech about their musical experiment of a tour, with quick jabs at Sting's ego and Paul's age. From there they dove right into Paul Simon's Boy in the Bubble and Sting's Fields of Gold. Then Paul Simon left the stage and let Sting go solo for a bit.
Here is Sting and Paul playing Brand New Day.
This whole tour was an incredible experience not just for the fans but for the musicians as well. Both Sting and Paul Simon are huge fans of each others work and had never worked together. So they were both very excited to sing each others songs. Not only that, but it must have been a blast for the bands as well. Throughout the whole show both bands stayed up on stage for most of it, playing songs from both artists. Sting kicked off his first solo set with Every Little Thing She Does is Magic, and he sounded amazing. They both did Sting at 67 and Paul Simon at 72 still sound amazing. This was one of the best moments of the show. He followed that with Englishman in NY, I Hung My Head, Driven To Tears, Walking On The Moon, before being joined by Paul for Mother and Child Reunion. From there Sting passed the torch to Paul Simon for his first set.
Here is Paul Simon live with Graceland.
Paul Simon started his set with 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover, Dazzling Blue, Graceland, Still Crazy After All These Years, Me and Julio, and then was joined on stage for Sting's Fragile. Paul Simon is one of those artists that you have heard so many of his songs without even knowing it. Timeless would be the word I would use to describe his music. Just like before Fragile, Sting took back the reigns and went into his second set with Simon and Garfunkel's America, but not before giving a speech about how he came to fall in love with Paul's music. His set started off well, killing an amazing Message in a Bottle and an surprisingly chilling Hounds of Winter. Right at the end of Hounds of Winter problems started up.
Here is Sting with Message in a Bottle.
During Hounds of Winter there was a large pop and a loud screeching noise that continued while they finished the song. The whole crowd watched as the sound guys scrambled for dear life, and the band stood dumbfounded on stage. No one had a clue what went wrong, or what to do. Sting tried to continue acoustic before being told what had happened and took a break. A few minutes went by and then the sound guys were able to play without the large screech. So Sting came back out and went right into Roxanne. He got about half way through the song till the screech came back. At that point they turned off the amp and finished the song acoustically. Paul Simon had finally noticed what had happened and came out to the stage. Eventually they figured out that it was Sting's sound system that had burst and Paul' was fine. He called Sting out for When Will I be Loved by The Everly Brothers then continued on to his next set. Thank goodness Paul Simon was there because he saved the show. Sting was upset and ready to quit and Paul performed adding another hour to the amazing show.
A reminder of what Paul Simon can do.
He ended his set with the song above in the video My Name is Al. We didn't know was going to happen for the encore. Would Sting come back? If he came back would he play his music again? Would there even be an Encore? Well there was an encore and Sting did come back, but he didn't play more of his songs. They opened the encore with a jaw dropping rendition of Bridge Over Troubled Water. Straight into Late in the Evening and ending with The Boxer. The show itself lasted almost 3 hours, filled amazing music and talent. The bands took already awesome songs and brought them even higher with world class talent. It really is a shame that Sting's sound system broke. I would have loved to have heard the rest of Roxanne, Desert Rose, and Every Breath You Take as scheduled. The real shame however was that it left a black spot on an otherwise amazing night of music. I personally can't let that be the last time I see Sting. He was too good to let that be the end. I will go see him again. I would even go see Paul again with Garfunkel or without. Either way this tour was everything it was cracked up to be. A once in a lifetime musical experience.
