Week of Okkervil River, The Men, and Neil Young

     As a tried and true concert addict I tend to plan concert road trips on my days off. My days off are Mondays and Tuesdays. So the past three Mondays I have been going on trips to shows and now I'm going to tell you about it. This week I will be reviewing Okkervil River, The Men, and Neil Young live in concert. This concert recap blog begins now.

Okkervil River 04/07/14 The Slowdown

     I really didn't know that much about Okkervil River before going to this show. I had never seen them live, and I had only heard The Silver Gymnasium. As awesome as that album is I wanted to know more about them. So I spent the week leading up to the show listening to all of their music. Little did I know that even with as many shows as I have seen, this show will go down as one of the best I've ever seen.

Here is Okkervil River playing Black live.

     The show was at a smaller venue and the crowd was completely full up with die hard fans, that should have been my first clue. The second clue was that the opener was an in your face, loud, punk band. They were very good, but ask yourself why would a folk band have a punk band open for them, because they rock hard that's why. Around 9:30 the band came out blasting, opening up with It Was My Season and On a Balcony from The Silver Gymnasium. They played music off all of their albums, like a greatest hits show. The energy in the band and in the crowd is something I haven't seen since a Mute Math live show. They play loud, they all play multiple instruments, and tell jokes like real rock stars. At one point during the show someone shouted out a request, and the singer flat out denied saying, "we can't play that song anymore, at least not until murder isn't a big deal. Like hey that guy was murdered who cares." From the very first song I was in complete awe of their performance, hardly able to believe what I was seeing. This is a band that creates die hard fans with every show they play, I have been converted.

The Men 04/14/14 First Avenue 7th Street Entrance

     I was first informed about The Men through a music site of mine consequenceofsound. Every time they released an album, (which happened to be every year), it would get a perfect or near perfect score. So I had to check it out, and it was awesome. They may be a small band playing small clubs for now, but they are going to explode it's just a matter of time. When a band puts out an amazing album every year and plays great live shows eventually people are going to catch on. Not to sound like a hipster but I enjoy being on the up and up. 

Here's The Men playing Open Your Heart Live.

     7th Entry at First Avenue is the grimy underbelly of rock and roll, like witnessing Led Zeppelin or The Rolling Stones while they were still on drugs. It's a tiny little bar that mostly features up and coming bands, but a lot of the bands that play here blow up. The Men's show may have only lasted a little over an hour and 13 songs, but it was more than enough. These guitar heavy giants don't mess around, they have three guitarists and they all seemingly play lead weaving their lines through each other. They even trade off vocals almost every other song. This is the definition of a band working as a cohesive unit. They all play amazing together or it all falls apart. This is one of the most blasting in your face shows I have ever seen. The speakers on the mics weren't working very well but it was so good it didn't even matter. After the show I talked with the drummer and one of the lead singer/guitarists and might have convinced them to bring The Men to Des Moines.

Neil Young 04/21/14 Chicago Theater

     Now when it comes to stupid ideas and music shows for me that is a very long list, and I can safely say that this is not even close to the worst one. With all that said this was a very dumb music trip, yes lets drive all the way to Chicago on a Monday to see the legendary Neil Young live, so we did. This was a very expensive trip and if had to do it again I still would. Another I didn't know going into this was that it was a solo show. I don't have a problem with Neil Young solo, some of his best folk stuff is solo. I really wanted to see him jam out on some electric numbers with a band. I guess I really need to see him with Crazy Horse.

Here is Neil Young performing Hey Hey, My My, (Out of the Blue).

     The Chicago Theater is probably the most beautiful venue I have ever been to in my life. So it was very fitting to see a living legend in a place so nice it felt like I wasn't rich enough to be there. Neil Young's solo show is very simple but elegant affair as you would expect. It's just a preset stage with a tons of instruments waiting to be played, and throughout the show he played them all. He even told stories about some of them, like the guitar he got from Hank Williams Senior or The Piano he wrote after the gold rush on. He played a set chalked full of greatest hits, deep cuts, and covers of other great folk musicians. 

Here is Neil Young performing Old Man live.

     There was no opener so he played two full sets which included a 15 minute intermission. Neil isn't exactly and outspoken person. He speaks to you like your sitting right next to him in a rocking chair. It didn't matter what he said throughout the night, the fans ate up every word. Actually that was something I wasn't expecting, the fans of a folk show being obnoxious, who's heard of that. They yelled at him the entire show, saying they love him, how awesome he was, or to request songs. They just wouldn't stop. It was was louder and way more annoying than I expected. I'm pretty sure that they would have screamed and cheered for anything he said. Neil more than made up for that, he plays and sings beautifully, on piano, banjo, mandolin, organ, guitar, and acapella. The only thing I would have added to the experience was a bed for every ticket holder after the show. The music was so beautiful and soothing that after the show you were left in an absolutely zen place.