It's some good old favorites of mine coming back with new albums. I like to think that all my favorite bands make amazing new albums, but that's not always the case. Some of them make me question my live choices like the last time one of these bands put out an album. Let's talk about two of the biggest releases of the year. This week I will be reviewing Muse's Drones and Florence and the Machine's How Big How Blue How Beautiful.
Muse Drones-
Here is my Review of Muse's Drones.
Recommended Songs: Dead Inside, Psycho, Reapers, and Aftermath.
4/5 Stars
Florence and the Machine- How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful-
Here is my Review of Florence and the Machines' How Big How Blue How Beautiful.
Recommended Songs: Ship to Wreck, What Kind of Man, St. Jude, and Mother.
A lot of important albums snuck up on me this past week so I wanted to cover some of the bigger releases. These two albums have almost nothing to do with each other, but that's the beauty of music they don't have to. One is releasing their first new album in 16 years the other changing their sound completely. This week I'm reviewing Mumford and Sons' Wilder Mind, and Faith No More's Sol Invictus.
Mumford and Sons- Wilder Mind
Here is my review of Mumford and Sons Wilder Mind.
Recommended Songs: The Wolf, Snake Eyes, Broad-Shouldered Beasts, and Cold Arms.
3.5/5 Stars
Faith No More- Sol Invictus
Here is my Review of Faith No More's Sol Invictus.
Recommended Songs: Superhero, Cone of Shame, Motherfucker, and Matador.
It would be just like me to wrap up a concert recap blog for the month of April at the end of May, but these things happen. I have so many cool music stories that I just have to tell them when I have the time. That time is now! In the month of April 2015 I saw three concerts Sabaton with Nightwith, Sufjan Stevens, and Ok Go. So many cool bands so little time, so lets get started.
Nightwish/Sabaton 04/19/15 7 Flags Event Center
The show actually had another opener before Sabaton, but I didn't get there in time to see them. Sabaton have their own brand of live shows. They turn the area into an army marching ground. They had 45 minutes to play and got in 9 songs, a ton of bits, and the greatest night ever for one young fan. They opened the show with Ghost Division and To Hell and Back before breaking for a bit about the singer sucking at guitar. He tried to prove that wrong with Smoke on the Water. Next came a jam and more songs, including one in Swedish. They ended the set by bringing a young fan on stage to honor his first metal show and jam with the band for the last few songs. The singer even gave the kid his glasses. This kids first show must have been one to remember.
Next up was a Symphonic metal band called Nightwish. I didn't know much about them, but I had heard nothing but great things. Nightwish have one of the best female rock vocalists ever, and they know how to showcase it well. She does trade off vocal duties with the guitarist as well. They play a 2 hour show off of 7 albums and 17 songs. The show even had some rarities thrown in that hadn't been played in a long time like Stargazers. The show reminded me of renaissance music if it were turned electric. Plug in that Lyre Orpheus and let us see if we can wake Hades himself. My favorite moments of the show were the ones were they brought out flutes, bagpipes, or acoustic guitar ballads. I love how easily they incorporate different instruments into their overall sound. They put on an overall amazing show full of solos, stories, light-shows, and overall mid evil symphonic show that was unlike anything else I had ever scene. I immediately bought their new album and played it on repeat.
Sufjan Stevens 04/21/15 The Midland
This back to back shows in Kansas City might be the best example ever of my own inability to say no to certain bands live. I missed seeing Ok Go in Minneapolis and immediately bought tickets to see them in Kansas City. Too bad I didn't notice I already had tickets to Sufjan Stevens. After a brief panic thinking I had two shows on the same day, I realized that I had to make two back to back trips to Kansas City. We left later than we planned and got there after the opener. The audience as expected was full to the brim with hipsters, but in this case it's ok. You really have to have a quiet audience to take in all that is Sufjan Stevens.
Sufjan Stevens Performing Chicago Live.
He opened the show with Redford and followed that with almost all of the new album Carrie and Lowell. The last track Blue Bucket of Gold would end the main set. Seeing Sufjan perform is like seeing Neil Young or Bob Dylan perform in their prime. His lyrics, music, and performances are that of a much older soul and a poetic folk master wise in the ways of the world. He has a way of working dynamics like none I have ever seen before. His quiet songs are just him and a guitar or banjo, with you on the edge of your seat just to hear, but when he plays loud he plays really loud. During the song Blue Bucket of Gold he blasted the song with an extended outro that grew so loud that rock stars would take notice. He played songs of all of his albums including Futile Devices off of The Age of Adz. The encore is where the real magic happened, back to back hits. He opened the encore with Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland Illinois followed by For the Windows in Paradise, That Dress Looks Nice on You, John Wayne Gacy Jr, and ended with Chicago. I was an absolutely stunning show with very little said throughout.
Ok Go 04/22/15 Uptown Theater
The second of two nights of stupidity began with work and then a job fair. After that I made my way to Kansas City. I got there around 9:30 just in time for Ok Go. Around that time I walked in and somehow made my way into the VIP section. In truth I just walked in, but so did another drunk girl and we had a lovely discussion about how we should form a club about sneaking into the VIP section. That girl ended up getting caught and thrown out before the show started, big surprise. Finally around 10 Ok Go came out to a clip of actors from famous movies saying the word Ok and then Go.
Here is Ok Go performing Here is Goes Again Live.
They opened the show behind a video monitor for Upside Down and Inside Out and You're So Damn Hot. They played a few songs including This Too Shall Pass before making a song using recorded audience noises as the back beat. The song was There's a Fire, following that Damien entered the crowd solo and played the Last Leaf from the crowd solo. Several times during the night they had the audience ask them questions. These were very entertaining, including how singer Damian's dog almost ruined the music video for White Knuckles by smelling so bad. From there they played music off of all the albums, shot the audience with confetti, covered Led Zeppelin's Black Dog so well it gave me chills. The came back from the encore with a new outfit and did the dance form A Million Ways and then ended the show with White Knuckles, I Won't Let You Down, and Here it Goes Again. They are one of the quirkiest and and most fun live shows around. Don't miss them if you get the chance.
