Built To Spill @ Headliners Music Hall August 29th 2010

This wasn't meant to be, nor is it a music blog. It just so happens that the last two shows I've attended here in Louisville have been the only things to motivate me to post blog entries, as by the time I'm done writing and formatting happylouisville.com articles (and now Louisville Libertarian Examiner articles) I tend to loose interest.

Anyways, just a few notes about the show:

• I went by myself. After plans to join the Zombie Attack (which I didn't really want to do anyways) fell through, I used it as an excuse to check out one of my as of then unseen (besides the 2008 Sasquatch! Music Festival, and that doesn't count) favorite bands. I have no problem going to shows alone, I find it relaxing. It's just like going to a movie alone.
• Why am I plagued by jock morons who pay to go to shows just to scream-talk over the music, hug their girlfriends from behind, and only pay attention once every half hour to throw out devil-horns and scream the name of the fucking band? (I moved, the show improved 10-fold)
• Unless it's some obscure B-side to a single that was featured in a Taiwanese action movie that only you, the band, and 1,000 other people have ever heard before, please do not scream out (really popular) songs you want to hear during a small show like this one. It makes us all look bad.
• Built to Spill are old. Scott Plouf (drums) looks like my old landlord in Chicago, Brett Nelson (bass) looks like my next door neighbor who is always yelling at his cat (named "Crazy") to get out of the middle of the street, Jim Roth (guitar) looks a little like the Dad in Juno, and Doug Martsch looks like Doug Martsch. Brett Netson (guitar) just looks kind of awesome. 
• Watching a guitarist (Brett Netson) smoke an entire cigarette without ever touching it, while playing guitar with a cloud of smoke around his head, will never, ever, ever get old.
• Plagued by sound issues, the show was still great. Though the lights were way too bright for the first half (until Doug Martsch complained) there is something comforting about a bunch of dudes in t-shirts jamming out. No frills, no light shows, no smoke machines, a minute here or there to fix a broken string, whatever. In fact, this is one of those times the whole formality of the encore seemed almost comical. I could see them standing behind the curtain.
• Presumably because of the Zombie Walk, the place was at half-capacity at best. At first I thought this (coupled with the sound issues, light issues, and the fact that the band had to come on and do their own sound check for some reason) was bothering them, as they looked half-interested at times. However, I remember them looking exactly the same in front of 30,000 people at Sasquatch so I think that's just Built To Spill, and while "Carry the Zero" is one of my top 50 favorite songs of all time, I'm sure I'd find it hard to put on a smile while I played it for the 357,892nd time (just an estimate).
• That said, as I had looked up other previous set lists from this tour and found that they almost always played "Carry the Zero" as the last song before the encore, and this didn't happen Sunday night, I feared the worst - and kind of understood. When they closed the encore with it, I'm not embarrassed to say the first chords choked me up a bit. a bit. 
• The band broke down the stage themselves post-set, while chatting with fans, signing autographs, and taking pictures. Fantastic. 

Overall, I'm very glad I went, and it pains me to know that this intimate show in a half-empty music hall comes off the tails of 20-year indie rock veterans opening for Kings of Leon in amphitheaters across the country this summer. Ugh.

Black Keys @ Iroquois Amphitheather August 11th 2010

I went to The Black Keys show at the Iroquois Park Amphitheater last night and realized it's been entirely too long since I've seen a band at an outdoor amphitheater. I grew up about a 20 minute drive away from what was once Great Woods (then Tweeter Center, now Comcast Center (ugh)) in Mansfield, MA and my friends and I went 2-3 times a Summer. As I sat in my seat with my $7 24oz beer contemplating if I was getting too old to of just brought a small bottle of bourbon in my pants (I decided no) thoughts turned to how amazing it was to actually sit, relax and patiently await the Morning Benders' opening set.

As I racked my brain as to the last time I was at a venue like this, I was shocked to realize I had still been in college. I had rented a Zipcar (a Scion xB I believe) with my buddy and drove down to the aforementioned Tweeter Center to meet up and tailgate with some hometown friends. That I have absolutely no clue what band I saw that day is a little disconcerting - as that means I had either A) rented a car for the sole purpose of driving it to a parking lot, drinking, and then returning it to Boston without seeing the show or B) rented a car for the sole purpose of driving it to a parking lot, drinking so much I wouldn't remember who played four years later, and then returning it to Boston. Ahh, college.

(For the record, given that I may or may not have gone in and that one of my high school friends chose the show, I'd say it was either 311 or Dave Matthews Band. Along with the Allman Brothers, Pearl Jam and Tom Petty the former two play Great Woods almost annually - but I'd of certainly gone in for any of the latter three. And would definitely still go in for Pearl Jam to this day.)

The point is, it had been awhile since I'd seen a show at a venue like Iroquois, and that it was The Black Keys (one of my top two yet-to-of-seen-live bands before last night, the other is The White Stripes) made it a nearly perfect night.

The show itself was superb. The Black Keys are sublimely loud live (even more of a blessing on this particular night as the 40 year old men behind me attempted to have a conversation through the entire set) and they did a great job of mixing old hits with the more complex new stuff - which The Morning Benders' bass and key players sat in on. I had wondered if the Keys were going to have a touring band for the newer songs - but why pay for musicians when you can just have a couple guys from the supporting band sit in? And one has to assume it's been a treat for the members of the Benders who've gotten to join the duo on stage.

As I watched Dan Auerbach absolutely punish his guitar, I couldn't help but picture the first unsuspecting friend who saw a guitar in the corner of Dan's room 15 years ago and asked, "Oh, you play? Any good?" To which Dan responded by picking up his instrument and blowing the friends scalp off with some nasty blues riff and distortion. Seriously, the dude can fucking play guitar. As I drum, I usually find myself watching the drummer at shows, but even with Patrick Carney's kit on a lift and positioned at the front of the stage, one can't help but be drawn to Dan Auerbach like a magnet.

Like my girlfriend said at the end, as much as no music snob will ever admit it, some concerts hit a point where you're kind of ready for it to end and this is not so with the Black Keys. It helps that they don't really have any slow, good time for a bathroom break songs (I had to pee three songs in and never even thought about moving) and that they're just downright good entertainers.

Some credit has to be given to the amphitheater though. My girlfriend and I never took a seat once the Keys took the stage, but there's just something about knowing a chair is there if you need it that gives you an extra boost of energy. If you had been as close as we were to the stage at, say, Lollapalooza, you'd have to turn and meander through 1,000 people just to get to a 5x5ft opening, let alone a spot to sit in the grass (to say nothing of the claustrophobia and crowd anxiety that accompany the big festivals). Can't see around the 6'4" guy in front of you? Doesn't happen at an amphitheater. Even if the guy has half a foot on you you've got a foot on him with the stadium-style seating. There's not a bad spot in the house.

Lastly, while festivals certainly have their place and time (The 2008 Sasquatch Festival at The Gorge in Washington was without a doubt one of the top 5 best weekends I've had in my life. Ever.) nothing beats one of your favorite bands headlining their own show, not one stage, of one day, of one weekend. Everyone was there to see The Black Keys - and it showed.

Suffice it to say, I'll be going back to Iroquois next time someone I'm even marginally interested in is playing. Only next time I'll probably show up a little early and join the surprisingly large amount of tailgaters - sans Scion of course.

Quality of LIfe

A former co-worker of mine's mother passed away in Nashville last week, and she used the unfortunate circumstances to stop in Louisville with her husband for the night on the way back to Chicago. Neither had been to Louisville and neither - especially the husband - had very high hopes for the city. (I'm happy to report however, that they were pleasantly surprised with Louisville, and left with a new perspective on a place they once considered inconsequential.)

During the brief tour - Bourbons Bistro for a flight of bourbon, O'Shea's after a brief walk around the neighborhood, cheap food at The Back Door then a stop by the beer cave in the Mid-City Mall ValuMarket so they could get supplies and check out their great selection which I had hyped up - we talked mostly of what had changed in our respective lives since we last saw each other (just under a year ago).

Nothing out of the ordinary; They moved to a different neighborhood in Chicago, the Husband is about to start a better job, they got a dog, etc. I had a little more news - which seems like a lot more news as I tend to be incredibly long winded, I'm sure they were grateful to have a drink in front of them at all times - only because I had changed cities since we last talked, and some baggage comes with such a move.

There was one part of the conversation however, that inspired me to record it here, and that was while explaining how, because Louisville is an all around (taxes, rent, groceries, bars) cheaper place than Chicago, I tend to go out much, much more often than I did in Chicago, and have the time and money to do out-of-the-ordinary stuff. The Husband nonchalantly replied, "Yeah, quality of life. You have a better quality of life here than you did before."

"Yeah. Yeah, I guess I do."

 A Better Quality of Life. What a great thing to have. And an easy thing to have in smaller cities. It's why my girlfriend and I moved to Louisville. Friends in places of supposedly higher culture - Chicago, LA, New York, Seattle - liked to make fun when they found out I was moving here. But you know what, lots of people in those cities' quality of life sucks. High rent for shit hole apartments, high taxes, no savings. What's the point of living in "the middle of it all" if the weight of living there suffocates you?

I don't know that I've really ever thought about my quality of life before - at least not in those words - but knowing that mine is better than it was a year ago, or even two years ago in Seattle, erased any last lingering insecurities about moving to Louisville. I don't know how long we'll stay, but no matter what I'm 100% coming here was the right decision.