10 August 2009

Fall Concerts in MD

With the summer coming to a close, I'm now starting to look once again at the local venues' calanders for upcoming fall shows. Here's a brief list and some descriptions of what's playing in the Charm City/DC area. Hopefully, I'll also get around this time to actually writing some reviews after the shows.

8/16 : Route 29 Revue (Old Crow Medicine Show/Grace Potter & The Nocturnals/Iron & Wine/Levon Helm) @ Merriweather Post Pavilion

As of now, it's not entirely likely that I'll be able to go to this show, just because I'm currently scheduled to work a shift during the show (ironically at a restaurant that's right next to this venue). Still, though, I'm doing my best to get out of the shift, because this show will be fantastic. I've seen two of the four acts live before (OCMS in DC and in Providence, and Grace Potter in DC), and they were both some of the best live music I've ever seen. In all honesty, I made up my mind to see this show before I even saw Iron & Wine and Levon Helm on the bill. Still, though, Levon Helm is legendary enough (both for his role in The Band as well as his solo career), and Iron & Wine's music is pleasant enough so that these additions o
nly make me want to see this show more. The only downside is that, because of the large lineup and bigger venue, tickets are a bit pricier than I'm used to ($35 for lawn seats).

8/28 : The Flaming Lips @ Merriweather Post Pavillion

What do you get when you combine Marvel superheroes, giant hamster balls, flying saucers, laser light shows, balloon animals, dancing Santas and aliens, giant projectors, and about a metric ton of confetti? A Flaming Lips show, that's what. You might think I made a few of those up, but take my word for it, every single part of that list plays an integral part of the experience that is the Flaming Lips. Hell, I even left a few things out. The point is, the Flaming lips is one of the most spectacularly over-the-top shows I've ever had the pleasure of going to, and it's going to take a lot to keep me from going again.

9/5 : !!! @ The Black Cat

There's two reasons I want to see this show. One is that it's !!!
(pronounced "chk-chk-chk", or any other trio of monosyllabic onomatopoeias actually). The other is that it's !!! at the Black Cat. If you've never been to the Black Cat before, it's a very intimate venue, which I almost always prefer to the large venues. Especially for music that causes dance parties to break out. In any case, though, I've heard through the grapevine that these guys put on an entertaining live show, and at $16, it's worth taking a gamble on.



9/11 : Ghostland Observatory @ 9:30 Club

I missed the chance to see this duo in NYC at the CMJ Music
Marathon in 2007, and I've been regretting it ever since. Although the live Youtube videos haven't blown me away so far, there was so much buzz around the live show of these guys back at CMJ that I'm still curious. Not only that, but their studio album sounds Robotique Majestique sounds like a supergroup of Freddy Mercury and Daft Punk. Don't believe me? Watch this (song actually starts around 1:05). And if that's not enough incentive, just look at these guys. They look just crazy enough to throw one hell of a live show.

9/20 : GWAR @ Sonar.

This. Show. Will. Be. Awesome. GWAR has been described as Kiss meets Rocky Horror Picture Show meets WWF meets the Simpsons. After that description alone, how can you not want to see this? Need more convincing? How about watching them - in character - on the Joan Rivers Show? Still not convinced? How about their music video that involves dunking on Jesus (around 2:25)? If you're still not convinced, I'm at a loss. Clearly you have no sense of adventure or penchant for the absurd.


10/15 : The Raveonettes @ the Ottobar


Since getting into the Raveonettes back in high school, I have missed every single opportunity to see them live for some reason or another (totaling about 6 opportunities). There is no way I can let myself miss another chance like this, especially when they're playing at my favorite dive bar in Baltimore. It's almost getting to the point where this band has become my white whale. Except that the Raveonettes never really took my leg and scarred my face. And I really just want to see them, not offer money to the first person who sees them and then kill them. But hey, I didn't say it was the perfect analogy.
Moving on, though, to describe the music, it's essentially like if Buddy Holly got his hands on a distortion pedal and got the guitarist from the Kinks to help out on solos. Their first two albums were recorded in one key apiece (B-flat minor for Whip It On, B-flat major for Chain Gang of Love), but they later abandoned this system for a full range on Pretty in Black and Lust, Lust, Lust. Either way, this Swedish duo can really rock, and I'll be damned if I miss another chance to see it live.


That's all of the concerts I have lined up for now. More will turn up, I'm sure, and I'll adjust my budget and calendar accordingly; but until then, this is what my fall is looking like.

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