TOM WAITS.
Showing posts with label photography. Show all posts
Showing posts with label photography. Show all posts
greenTYPEWRITERS present the Arcade Fire LIVE
Last week greenT had the privilege to see one of Canada's finest contemporary bands melt faces and cause an entire stadium to remain on its feet for the duration of a near perfect set. The setlist included most of the Arcade Fires brilliant new album The Suburbs, six tracks from their even better debut Funeral, and four tracks off of their dark sophomore Neon Bible.
Setlist:
1. Ready to Start
2. Month of May
3. Keep the Car Running
4. Neighborhood #2 (Laika)
5. No Cars Go
6. Haïti
7. Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
8. Half Light II (No Celebration)
9. Rococo
10. The Suburbs
11. The Suburbs (Continued)
12. Ocean of Noise (with Calexico)
13. Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
14. We Used to Wait
15. Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)
16. Rebellion (Lies)
Encore:
17. Intervention
18. Modern Man
19. Wake Up
Now when I say "near perfect" I do not mean that the sound wasn't clear as crystal or that the crowd was as subdued as a group of swaying zombies, but if you glace at the setlist and are as enthralled with the new album as greenT is, then you must notice the lack of the arguably best song from the new album, "Suburban War" (live in Bologna). I was in disbelief that the Montreal group aren't playing this track as much as they possibly can.
That being said we did snag some video of our second favourite track from The Suburbs called "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)":
Do what you can to catch this band live if you aren't planning on it already. They may not be the animated child-like group of friends and lovers that ecstatically first toured the globe in 2005, but they have grown into a band that are knowingly making music that will be remembered as the staple example of music from the decade of double zeroes.
greenTYPEWRITERS presents Sasquatch! Festival 2010 :: DAY THREE
DAY THREE:
Day three was our camp's day of relaxation. Sure we missed The Heavy ("Cause for Alarm" live at Sasquatch) and Fresh Espresso ("Lazerbeams" live at Sasquatch) but it is very rare for music fiends to have any downtime before the performances start since there is so much to see and such little time to see it in. Instead we took the day off to relax and drink all the alcohol that needed to be finished before we headed back across the border. Luckily for our premiere camping spots we were right across from the festival grounds and listened to Seattle Rock Orchestra's Arcade Fire cover set during our drinking games.
So we headed to the festival for around 4:30pm sufficiently intoxicated and wandered around for about an hour possibly heading to the main stage to check out Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward's She & Him ("Magic Trick" live at Sasquatch).. but possibly not.
Next up we headed to the barely visited Yeti Stage to catch L.A.'s ferocious No Age ("Depletion" live at Sasquatch) who added some loud bangs to Sasquatch's usual soft and mellow vibe. Vancouver's two-piece Japandroids ("Crazy/Forever" and "Sovereignty" live at Sasquatch) had opened up for the American two-piece and the mix of the two groups definitely got everyone amped up for what was to come on the final day of Sasquatch Fest.
The vibe we got from No Age absolutely helped the vibe we were getting from the $12 King Cans on the festival grounds this Monday afternoon.. and this vibe led us to watch a couple of Band of Horses songs, where we remained for about 5 minutes before boredom set in and the realization that Hudson Mohawke ("Fuse" live at Sasquatch) were about to tear shit apart in the Rumpus Room.
Hudson Mohawke were one of the few bands.. actually the only band.. that I was looking forward to without knowing anything about. I had heard from some music buds that I had to check them out.. and check them out we did. Despite the bad set time and a half-empty Rumpus Room.. the Scottish DJ/producer layed his glitchy/electronic music on thiiiiick and absolutely blew every other electronic artist out of the water in terms of sheer quality tunes at this years Sasquatch:
The show ended and we headed over to the main stage to get as close as possible for Ween.. which meant we needed to get as close as possible for MGMT ("Kids" live at Sasquatch). There isn't much to say about MGMT since everyone knew what we were getting in to, albeit they have some absolutely catchy tunes, I am not a fan of the new album and unfortunately their stage presence, which technically should do everything in its power to make the band seem more fun (ala of Montreal), was dull and colourless. People did explode when "Kids came on though, which was worth the watch. Thankfully all the fans cleared out, much like LCD/Pavement the day before, and I was able to get to the second row for the mysterious entity, to everyone who have and haven't experienced them live, known as WEEN! ("Buckingham Green" live at Sasquatch)
Now I can say that I am a bit of a fan of Ween.. but clearly after the set had finished I had a lot to learn about the band and their pretty massive catalogue. I'm sure that no one, except those that have seen Ween before, were expecting the rough and epic performance that we were given to cap the end of the festival. They were loud, brash, and utterly happy to be closing out the weekend's activities, which one cannot exactly say about Pavement the day before. They say that it is always good to go out with a bang and Ween performed the hell out of that bang with such dominant confidence that it absolutely made them the only band at Sasquatch that could have successfully wraped the whole weekend together in one nice loud and fun package.
Here is greenTYPEWRITERS Top 5 performances from Sasquatch 2010:
1.) Pavement
2.) Ween
3.) Why?
4.) Vampire Weekend
5.) Hudson Mowhawke
greenTYPEWRITERS presents Sasquatch! Festival 2010 :: DAY TWO
DAY TWO:
Day two opened a little bit late with our bodies little bit sore after Deadmau5 wore our feet out the night before. As we were rushing out from camp to catch Caribou ("Odessa" live at Sasquatch) opening the main stage, we heard "Odessa" playing off in the distance and knew we had some ground to cover. As we danced our way down the natural amphitheatre, we finally made it down to the front standing area and danced for the last 10 seconds of "Sun". Dan Snaith thanked the crowd.. and the set was done!
Thankfully I have seen them a few times prior to this performance.. and since they were playing in my home town the day we got back from the festival we simply
After we had just barely made and missed Caribou's set, we had some softer acts on the bill coming up in the form of Local Natives ("Airplanes" live at Sasquatch) and The Tallest Man On Earth ("Graceland" live at Sasquatch). Both groups allowed us to grab a spot on the grass, lay down, and just listen. The feeling instantly brought me back to laying on the grass during Iron & Wine's set at Sasquatch in 2006.. but this time without the mushrooms.
After we were sufficiently rested we headed over to catch tUnE-yArDs ("Hatari" live at Sasquatch) very fun set that had Merrill Garbus pump out most of her great album Bird-Brains for a very welcoming audience.
Since Garbus lifted our spirits away from the drab weather on Sunday, we went over to meet up with some friends and check out Kid Cudi ("Revolution" live at Sasquatch) to see what the big deal was and although I can't say that I'm a huge Kid Cudi fan, the guy certainly put on a positive show. The sun peaked out a few times during his set and it seemed like there was no better act to have on at that time.. but that being said I have never seen a dude sing so much for a dude that can't sing at all. Not exactly going to pick up anything of his anytime soon. The crowd and my crew made this one fun.
As we seperated from friends again, our company headed over to watch the highly anticipated xx on the Bigfoot Stage.. and the mellow swaying dancing that was seen at Kid Cudi transitioned over nicely to the xx ("Intro" live at Sasquatch) set. They played everything off of their wonderful self-titled debut except for Stars, which was unfortunately the one song a friend wanted to hear... Classic short festival sets.
With a few songs to go in the xx's set there were already legions of people leaving the Bigfoot Stage on their way over to the Main Stage to catch the highly anticipated LCD Soundsystem and as soon as the xx were done we did the same. We made it to the second tier of rush standing with some newly found friends who were all incredibly excited to see LCD. Looking back on the festival now, I'm glad that we surrouned ourselves with diehards during acts like Vampire Weekend, Kid Cudi and LCD Soundsystem because it made the experience that much more enjoyable.
Basically their live show was much like every album they have come out with. This band would be so much better if they cut the bullshit and song lengths in half. It was a good show, but who needs good shows when you can have great shows? The reason for getting so close for LCD was to get even closer for my main reason for attending this festival.. PAVEMENT!
The nice thing about having LCD Soundsystem open up for Pavement were that all the fans that rushed to get close for LCD left and let Pavement fans take up their spot. Before their set started Bob Nastanovich came on stage to let the crowd know that it was Steven Malkmus' birthday and got the whole crowd to sing him Happy Birthday.. and after some technical issues occurred they got right into "Cut Your Hair" and followed with an incredible setlist that included all of their hits I personally wanted to hear:
Unfortunately after such a great show came such a big decision. I had seen a bit of Massive Attack at Coachella in '06 but left early to catch Daft Punk, which was a good and obvious decision on my part. This year at Sasquatch I had left the pit, where I would have been two rows back for Massive Attack, to catch Simian Mobile Disco (live at Sasquatch) at the Rumpus Room.
Now there was no denying that it was a great party, but since it was a DJ set they did not play tons of their own tunes (where the fuck was "Hustler"?).. and only James Shaw showed up to partake in the Sasquatch fun. Shaw's set left a lot to the imagination and the set got old after a short while. Luckily for us Pavement had had some issues and their set was pushed back, which meant that Massive Attack's set was pushed back, and we rushed over to catch half a dozen songs from their set (including "Teardrop" and "Angel") but looming in the back of my mind was that spot I had left two rows back from this incredible show. DJ sets are basically a waste of time.. good to know.
These things tend to notoriously happen at festivals though.. and Frankfurt's Booka Shade (live at Sasquatch) luckily lifted my spirits as we partied late into the morning at the end of day two.
greenTYPEWRITERS presents Sasquatch! Festival 2010 :: DAY ONE
Sasquatch! Festival takes place over the Memorial Day long weekend at the Gorge in Washington state and has been home to many incredible acts like the Beastie Boys, Pixies, Björk, the Flaming Lips, Manu Chao, R.E.M., Explosions in the Sky, Beck, Blackalicious, and Nine Inch Nails since it's small beginning in 2002.
This year the festival added the likes of Pavement, Massive Attack and Ween to it's history of star acts and not one of the groups disappointed their headlining duties. Luckily for you greenT was there dancing and singing through the sun, rain, booze and unprescribed goodies that make this particular festival a communal entity of fun rather than a place where the audience is too busy acting too cool to fucking dance (coughLOLLAPALOOZA///PITCHFORKcough).
Here's a breakdown of our day-by-day activities and bands that blew our minds and knees out.. and those that were less than spectacular:
DAY ONE:
Our day opened early with Brother Ali ("Blah Blah Blah" live at Sasquatch) performing on the main stage at 1:05 and although a couple of us had seen him down in Cali for Coachella a few years back, 
After setting the day on a high note, we wandered over to check out London's Mumford & Sons ("Little Lion Man" live at Sasquatch) and Arkansa's Portugal. The Man. Both acts were great but failed to live up to Brother Ali's uplifting performance as we scorched in the hot sun.. so.. moving on.
Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros ("Home" live at Sasquatch) were up on the Big Foot stage next and the crowd. went. crazy. Despite a short set, the band of gypsies put on a fun show and set the crowd ablaze during their much anticipated "Home":
Sorry for the terrible filming.. twas the first video of the festival!
Next up was Broken Social Scene ("World Sick" live at Sasquatch) on the main stage and they had a great set including about half of Forgiveness Rock Record and half from their previous two. The collective was definitely a highlight of the festival.
After a slight walk through the Miike Snow crowd it came time to decide between Why?, the National, the Very Best, and the Hold Steady. Why? has been a long time favourite here and the Hold Steady has been seen before so the plan was to watch Why?, leave a bit early, then catch the end of the National set.. but all things came to a halt when Why? ("The Hollows" live in NC and Sasquatch) compeletely blew everyone out of the water. Their set was full of all the bangers that I wanted to hear and I have never seen stage presence like that of lead singer Yoni Wolf before. I was literally laughing to tears at his Rosie Perez dance from Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing.
Why? - The Vowels, pt. 2:
We were so blown away with Why? that the two songs that we did hear from the National felt drab and boring.. something I feel all to familiar with at times listening to the National.
Luckily Vampire Weekend ("A-Punk" live at Sasquatch) were coming on soon and they kept the energy levels high as the entire ampitheatre erupted into dance throughout their whole set.
The sun had set at some point during Vampire Weekend's fun-as-hell set and we all looked at each other with fire in our eyes.. Not to be let down by more downer rock, the greenT crew skipped My Morning Jacket and set off to watch a great set by Z-Trip (live at Sasquatch) where we danced until there was no more moisture to sweat out of our bodies.. and closing down Saturday night was the incredibly needed live visuals of Toronto's Deadmau5 ("Sometimes Things Get, Whatever" live at Sasquatch). Can't say that the tunes matched the lights but I'll have to check out more of his stuff to decide.. and who cares when you're having fun?
..and that was how our day one looked.
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