four concerts I meant to write about but didn’t have a chance and now it sort of seems irrelevant
I went to ten [1] (rediculous!) concerts in October, so I was pretty busy there. There were a couple I wanted to write about but didn’t and now they seem a bit irrelevant. Well, I’m going to write what I wanted to say about them, in brief, now:
- Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, October 7: You get to see great artists (Earl Scruggs, Gillian Welch, etc.) for free, but you have to put up with the worst crowds ever.
- The Long Winters at the Cafe du Nord, October 13: What Made Milwaukee Famous was entertaining, the Long Winters were good. John Roderick was very entertaining. I took some pictures and put them here.
- The Hold Steady at the Great American Hall, October 17: They’re a bar band. They’re loud and rawkus. Craig Finn was almost definitely very drunk. The vocals were too low in the mix for a band that I like largely because of the deep lyrics, but it was still a very fun show.
- Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy at the Great American, Oct 31: While I was standing outside waiting for some friends, who walked up to the will call booth but Mark Kozelek. I barely avoided turning into a total fanboy and played it cool. Oh and the show: Will Oldham is a fantastically weird guy. Parts of the show were great and parts of the show were a bit boring.
[1] for real:
- Jose Gonzalez at EBF, October 6
- Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in Golden Gate Park, SF, October 7
- Sufjan Stevens in Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley, October 11
- John Vanderslice at the 750 Pub, Stanford, October 12
- Long Winters w/ What Made Milwaukee Famous at Cafe du Nord, SF, October 13
- the Hold Steady at the Great American, SF, October 17
- Damien Jurado at the Swedish American Hall, SF, October 20
- Beirut at the Great American, SF, October 20
- David Bazan at Swedish American Hall, SF, October 27
- Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy at the Great American, SF, October 31
November 9th, 2006 at 7:33 am
[…] P.S. Through Adrian, I read through dissections of three Hold Steady songs from NPR. I really enjoy Craig Finn’s wordsmithing, but I didn’t know that his songs were this crafty. I picked up Separation Sunday about a month ago and I really enjoy it. Though it can be dark and difficult to listen to at times (read a good post from Colin about hope in music). I’ve been describing them as a mix between Bruce Springsteen and Pavement with a raw edge. I hope to get their newest one in the near future. […]
May 31st, 2007 at 9:13 pm
[…] I took a moment between sets to check out the crowd. It seemed to be a significantly younger crowd than the last time I saw the Hold Steady, but there was still the older couple in dressy leather jackets, the older couple in ill-fitting t shirts and the older guy with tattoos and shirt with the sleeves ripped off. There were people who looked like they never went to concerts and others that looked like this was their third of the week. There was the girl who was probably from Minnesota and was wearing a Twins hat, but obviously doesn’t care about baseball, hadn’t worn that—or any—hat before. There were the pair of hight school/ early college girls who, once the music began, pogoed up and down and attempted to sing along to all of Craig Finn’s vocals (failing to do so, of course). […]