Streetlight Manifesto

Streetlight Manifesto just always puts on a good ska show. Every venue, every time. I went to this show with Jennifer, Kelvin, Dan, and his girlfriend Erica.  While the Glasshouse is a decent venue, it’s allll the way out in Pomona, so that was a bit of a pain.  And the staff there is rude. But we still enjoyed the show.

I started off in the back just watching then joined the girls up closer the middle of the pack and the front for most of the show.  They played a nice mix of songs and  I liked hearing my favorite, Would You Be Impressed. The SM singer, in his usual polo shirt and hat, mentioned he was a Pomona resident for a while, so it was a bit of a “home” show.

Reel Big Fish

This show snuck up on me. I’ve been so busy with settling back into LA and starting school that I lost track of this ska show. It was a fun one and I’m glad I made it. I was told it’s a 21+ event, and didn’t mind that one bit, but turns out it was an all-ages snow. Oh well, no problem. They opened with Sellout and played a good setlist mix of songs throughout their catalog, with a good amount from their older album Turn Off The Radio.

The crowd was fun, even if Dan, Kelvin, and I felt a bit old there. Well not too old… with all the kids there, a bunch of parents were also in the crowd, and one mom was even in the pit. A good time was had by all.

The Vandals

Assorted Jelly Beans

The Vandals were the first headlining band I saw, back in 1998, and they’re also the last band I saw in 2010.

I’ve noticed  The Vandals special Christmas show for the better part of the last decade but never made it out to one of those shows, which usually fell in Anaheim.  This year they had one down the street at Slim’s, so why not make it?

This time around, I felt a bit old at the show. I know I’m not really, but I can’t argue I was on the younger end of the audience spectrum that night. I went in to the bathroom soon after arriving and immediately upon entering, a couple teenagers smoking in there joked “hey you’re not a snitch are you?”. I assured them I would not alert the authorities to their violation of the club’s no smoking policy, but on my way out someone else had.  A guy in a red STAFF jacket busted them, despite their claims of simply washing their hands. As I walked back to the stage floor, those kids rushed by trying to disappear in the crowd as the club staff gave chase.  Ahh, punk rock.

We missed the first opener, but did catch the second — Assorted Jelly Beans. That took me way back.  I remember getting into that band in high school, and at the time there were even a few years younger than I.  They play silly, garage punk rock and after their somewhat disappointing sophomore album, I mostly lost track of that band. But I’ve always liked a few tracks from those guys and had not yet seem them live, so I was excited to finally do so.  They performed…as expected. Three guys just rocking out some fast, “dumb” punk rock songs.

Next were The Vandals.  I had originally thought their Christmas Formal show really was just that…as in people would come dressed up.  A minute of internet research quickly dispelled that idea, but a few people there were in a dress shirt/tie or more.  The band had Christmas decorations around the stage including a giant inflatable snowman.  They played the entire Oi to the World Christmas album and the crowd loved it. I loved it.  I had been listening to that album every December for the past ten years and finally I got to hear the songs live.  I learned that it’s Joe Escalante who sings their take on Here I Am Lord. They always put on an entertaining show, and as usual, Warren was the wildcard and had fun later in the set with a cover song and I Have A Date.  They only played a few usual songs after the holiday tunes, but they chose good ones including My Girlfriend’s Dead, And Now We Dance, Take It Back, Ape Drape, and It’s A Fact.  They closed with Oi To The World.

Interesting notes about the show: Brooks Wackerman, of Bad Religion, filled in for Josh Freese on drums.  But Josh’s ever-smiling cartoony brother, Jason, was there to cover the keyboard and horn sections for the show.

It really was just a fun punk rock show.  Silly songs, entertaining band, good crowd.

Bad Religion

Two things about this show: 1) BR put on a great performance, and 2) This was the first time I’ve sat for a punk rock show.

I was feeling a bi ill yesterday and although that hasn’t stopped be from going in the pit at a punk show before, this time I was especially tired and ready to take it easy. I knew this would be a “standard” BR show — that is, not a special themed set like their recent NYC shows — so I didn’t feel like I’d be missing out on too much  by viewing from the (as Graffin calls ‘em) cheap seats. Oh, a bonus to this show was that I got in free.  Thanks to my work’s PR guy for getting me on the guestlist.

As with the show last night, the band professed an ostensible affinity for San Francisco.  They mentioned it was the first stop once they toured outside LA and they’ll “keep coming back”.

I was upstairs sitting down for the entire show, so I can’t write much about the crowd dynamic of this show.  It seemed similar to the previous night’s show (not great), but who knows.  I can comment that the band members seemed much more energetic and “into it” at this show.  The singer, Greg Graffin, was even calling out for a beer at one point (something I hadn’t seen before), and a few songs later the server girl came up on stage with some Stellas. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he was mildly flirting with the girl even.  Then a while later he somehow brought up Wisconsin, cursed “that Belgian shit!” beer, and invoking his home state pride, exclaimed “Pabst Blue Ribbon, motherfucker!” Although even though their usual performance belies their arguably “old” ages, this show really felt like I was watching the band from a time 10-15 years ago. Way to keep entertaining.

This show concluded their year long 30th Anniversary (plus new album) tour.  I’ve now seen Bad Religion nine times in 2010 alone.  How Much Is Enough? Sometimes I Feel Like…Can’t Stop It Along The Way.

Bad Religion

This wasn’t a great show, thanks to the crowd. Jennifer and I both noticed the good number of meatheads and that it seemed each person in the pit was moving to a different song. The setlist was entertaining, even if nothing special or unexpected.

Bad Religion

This was show 3 of 3 in the special era-themed shows.  The 2000s were covered this night, focusing on albums The New America through the new The Dissent of Man.

I might have been looking forward to this show most.  Of course I liked the previous two shows, but maybe I just wanted to hear the newer stuff the most this time around.  The setlist did not fail to deliver the newer goods. I especially liked the opening segment: Supersonic, Prove It, Can’t Stop It.  Those three songs in a row, as they are an The Process of Belief album, are always a fast, punk rock good time.

As Jennifer and I had a 6am train to Washington DC to catch the next day, we left at the encore intermission.  Bad Religion reliably closes with the same few songs, so one less performance of Along The Way/Sorrow/Fuck Armageddon won’t kill me.

I’m glad we caught the shows.  I can’t say we traveled to New York exclusively for the concerts, but they were a factor in the trip’s timing and location and they were completely worth it.  Thanks Bad Religion.

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This was the 2nd of 3 BR shows for our trip in NYC.  The theme of this nights show was the 90s…that means focusing on material from albums Against The Grain through No Substance.  It was also the night for the VIP ticketholders to get a little something special.

That little something special began with lining up at the venue at 5:45.  As VIPs, we get a special poster plus the album.  And a group photo with the band.  So we stood in the only line there at the time once we arrived, it was already a few dozen people deep and quickly grew longer.  I had wondered just how many “VIP” people there were, looks like maybe a hundred or so.  After about a half hour in line, we made it to the front, picked up our swag, and then stood in another line for the group photo.

I had imagined it’d be sort of like a factory line; the band would be posted and each person would move in, the photographer would take the shot, and then call for the next VIP in line. Nope.  It really was a group photo.  We went to the stage floor, the band sat up on stage, and the entire VIP group was moved in as we all faced the rear of the venue toward a photographer.  Well, I could gripe about that, but eh…not a big deal.  But it is cool that after that photo was taken, the band members (except the singer) hung out to meet and greet the fans.  Most of the VIPs left, but the few that remained had a chance to schmooze and get in photos with the legendary punk rockers.

Jennifer and I chatted with Jay, and got in a photo. I’ve met him a few times before, he’s always cool.  Greg Hetson, a notorous LA Kings fan, totally called out Jennifer for her Sharks shirt.  Me: “Can you believe it, I’m dating a Sharks fan.” Hetson: “Yeah, but at least she’s into hockey.” We took a photo with him and joked around with more friendly jab at the San Jose team.  He immediately offered another “nice” photo and even found us later and made sure we weren’t upset about the middle finger photo, haha.  Then Hetson scurried off onto the New  York streets with a backpack and alacrity.

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So then we had a few hours to kill, because we sure didn’t want to hang out until BR went on.  Sorry opening bands, it’s nothing personal, we just want to go experience the city.  And we had plans to meet Jennifer’s friend Pavla.  We spent a little while in the amazing bookstore Strand while waiting for her friend to meet us after work and once she arrived began the discussion with the local on where to eat around there.  She named a couple options and the organic place about a 10 minute walk away east on 14th sounded good.  If I were to give it a name, it’d be Northern Spy.  That restaurant easily made it to my top 5 of the trip, the food was great!  I had pumpkin ravioli, veggie couscous and the apple pie….loved it. Even the Oktoberfest beer was pretty good.

After dinner, it was time to get back to Irving Plaza for BR’s set at 10pm.  As always, they rocked out a fun show.  The setlist was enjoyable, and even included some rare gems like Sowing the Seeds of Utopia and Hear It.  Jennifer and I both had a great time.  I even recognized a couple people from thebrpage.net at the show,  but unfortunately didn’t get a chance to meet them.

New York’s Metro Mix posted some shots from the show: http://newyork.metromix.com/music/essay_photo_gallery/bad-religion-irving-plaza/2268039/content

Bad Religion

The Bad Religions are at it again — special themed shows at one venue to cover their entire careeer.  This time it’s three shows at NYC’s Irving Plaza: an 80′s show, a 90′s show, and that’s right, a show covering material from the 2000′s.   The entire setlist each night won’t be exclusively comprised of material from that particular decade, but will focus on those select albums.

Tonight was the early years, 80-85 through No Control. The opened with Do What You Want and the didn’t let up for one hell of a long show.  They played a great setlist featuring many tunes from the early 80s, and a few choice cuts off Suffer and No Control.  No big surprises, oh wait…they played one tune off INTO THE UNKNOWN! How’s that for stranger than fiction? The album is super experimental, not favored by fans, and just never played at shows. To Jennifer’s delight, they rocked out Billy Gnosis.  It was pretty funny hearing that  song played on stage.

The Fillmore at Irving Plaza is a pretty nice venue.  It’s smaller than I imaged on the show floor, but features a downstairs bar area, the main stage level, and an upstairs balcony.  It’s laid out similarly to SF’s Great American Music Hall with a perimeter balcony, and even some intricate, albeit neglected,  woodwork in the construction.

It was a great show tonight and I, nay, we can’t wait for the two next week.

It’s been a long day.  We got to my sister’s place around 6:30pm Eastern time, had a bit of downtime with some delicious pizza and were soon out to the show.  Time to call it a night.

Third Eye Blind

1. Foo Fighters
2. Third Eye Blind
3. Blink 182

That’s the short list of BIG-name 90′s rock bands I’ve loved for years but haven’t seen live yet.  Well, I can now cross Third Eye Blind off that list.

3EB played a free show at San Francisco’s Union Square today at 1pm, thanks to Tommy Hilfiger and probably some other corporate sponsorship.  The event was designed to highlight/raise money for an anti-poverty effort with which the band is involved.

I knew it’d be a short set, but I still still excited to finally catch this band.  I learned that day that 3EB is from San Francisco.  How about that.  They played some of their popular tunes form the self-titled album through Ursa Major.  I’ve always thought of their singer, Stephen Jenkins, as a nice guy based on interviews I’ve seen over the years, and while he wasn’t a total dick, he did seem a bit pompous on stage.  Oh, rockstars. Anyway, they sounded good live and to top it off, the day was a perfect warm and sunny SF day. They closed with Bonfire and then the one I was waiting for, Semi-Charmed Life.  90′s rock lives on in San Francisco.

From Monument to Masses

This was the final From Monument to Masses show. The band’s run lasted about a decade but I only discovered them a few years ago.

As far as last shows go, this one was  a winner — the band playing in front of family, friends, and fans in their hometown in a nice venue.  They played a nice setlist that included some of my favorites such as Beyond God and Elvis and (the closer) Sharpshooter. The venue seemed nearly sold out and the fans were wild about the peformance…”play _____!”, “play EVERYTHING!”, “keep touring!”.

They announced that they will continue their form of protest and political message through other creative means, so “stay tuned”.