Wilco at the 9:30 Club

February 27, 2008

On the second night of two sold-out dates, the Chicago-based alt-country/rock band Wilco played 28 songs in a nearly two and a half hour set. Playing material that spanned their seven-album catalogue, including a few that singer Jeff Tweedy said he'd never played at the 9:30 before based on reviewing old setlists, Wilco sounded in top form.

They started out mellow for the first few songs, playing ballads, and then erupted into a jangling fusion of alt-rock, often letting their earlier country roots shine through. During one of two encores, they performed "California Stars," from one of two albums they recorded with Brit folk-rocker Billy Bragg in which they set their own music to Woody Guthrie lyrics.

The crowd was packed with die-hard fans, singing along throughout the show. It was a concert that simply reiterated why Wilco remains one of the best American bands out there today.

The show was recorded, and archived, on NPR, where you'll also find the full setlist.

Memorable Night of Indie at Rock and Roll Hotel

St. Vincent w/ Foreign Born
February 26

Recommended Beverage:
Before the show, Belgian beers down the street

at Granville Moore's. Mmmmm.

Let’s start with the opener. So often people ask what kind of indie music I like and sometimes I cannot put it into words, but I could last night: “That!” The opening act, a Los Angeles-based band called Foreign Born, was exceptional. This quartet of lads had a sound that would make the Brits swoon. The vocalist sounded like Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, the Verve’s Richard Ashcroft, and the Killers’s Brandon Flowers all rolled into one. The drummer, concentrating so hard he looked somewhere between jetlagged and pissed off, hammered out some impressive beats. Just tight, excellent alt-indie rock. They’re touring in support of their first full-length album, On the Wing Now. Check these guys out!

Onto the headliner. Imagine, say, a blending of the Dresden Dolls and Bjork. St. Vincent’s lead gal, Annie Clark, is both stunning and a talented musician and vocalist. Formerly a guitarist for The Polyphonic Spree and a member of Sufjan Stevens’ touring band, this new project lets her shine up front.

Alternating between a regular microphone and occasional crooning into a vintage-sounding distortion mic, Clark created a creative, often jazzy sound. But she never strayed too far from rock and played some mean guitar, especially during her solo song. At this sold out show, (they’ve also sold out the Bowery in New York later this week and will play Coachella in April) all of the instrumentation was solid.

On St. Vincent's first full-length album, Marry Me, released last July, Clark sings and is a multi-instrumentalist, playing guitar, organ, vibes, Moog synth, bass, piano, and bells. At this show, when she introduced their song, “Marry Me,” a few guys in back called out “yes!” which is apparently a common occurrence at their shows.

An excellent night of music.

March: On My Musical Radar

Some shows I plan to catch this month:

March 2: The Coast at Red & the Black (hopefully)

March 5: Nathan Angelo @ Jammin' Java

March 6: Stanley Jordan @ Blues Alley (the most amazing jazz guitarist alive)

March 14: Cowboy Mouth @ the 9:30 (How much fun is Freddie?!)

more to come...

Perfect Time of [Howie] Day at Iota

Howie Day at Iota, Arlington, Virginia
w/ opening act Jay Clifford of Jump, Little Children

recommended beverage to go with this show:
Monday means half-priced wine night at Iota
($2.75 a glass!)
Not saying it’s good wine, but it’s a great bargain.

When is one guy preferable to seeing a whole band? When it’s Howie Day, playing solo acoustic. Fans got a rare treat on Monday night seeing this talented musician in such a tiny club and we were all, as expected, completely mesmerized.

The crowd was attentive and agape, but then how could one be anything but utterly transfixed by Day's rich, sultry voice and creative song arrangements, mixed right on the spot. Most mesmerizing is his mastery of the pedals, two sets of them by his feet, which allow him to record as he’s playing and play back the overlays and harmonies. So, he might tap a beat on his guitar, play a guitar riff, and sing one part, and then play back those rhythms and the voice track while playing something on top, all while harmonizing…with himself. This makes any Howie Day show something special because you’ll never just hear the studio track, but something wholly unique.

The sweet-faced Day, fresh out of rehab, performed songs from his first two studio albums interspersed with a handful of new ones, all quite good. Day opened with “Brace Yourself” from his second album, Stop All The World Now and ended with a new one, “Everybody Loves to Love a Lie” from a forthcoming album due out this year on the Epic label. He posted that song on his MySpace page; it’s worth a listen.

The show was even more enjoyable due to the good crowd, evidenced by their rapt attention and the fact that nobody left, or even moved, after he played his radio hit “Collide,” fairly early on. He talked minimally between songs, always quite modest, and repeatedly thanked the crowd for their support.

Day opened his encore with “Perfect Time of Day,” which got a bit of airplay around the country, including on WRNR in Annapolis, but little, if any, around DC. A highlight, one that came during the encore after fans repeatedly called out a request for it, was the song “Ghost” from his 2002 debut album, Australia. Every gal's heart skips a beat during this gorgeous ballad as he croons, "No, I just wanna taste you, love," and then "Alive from the first / now I'm denied by the ghost of you." Just as the tears were welling up from the raw emotion of this song, he transitioned into a fast, funky beat and jammed a bit, putting smiles on our faces. That happy contentment lasted well after the show ended.

A special treat was opening act Jay Clifford, a singer-songwriter based in Charleston, South Carolina who fronted the band Jump, Little Children, which split in 2006. Clifford's solo work is impressive. Check out his new album, Driving Blind.

Billy at Shea 2008: I'll Be There

First came the news that Billy Joel will play Jazz Fest this year, first weekend of the Fest; I'm going on the second weekend. Argh!

Then came the news that Billy, my musical god practically since birth, would have a concert this summer called "Last Play at Shea," to be the final musical act ever to play Shea Stadium, closing its doors at the end of this season. [Yankee Stadium also closes this year as the team moves to a new stadium across the road. Wonder what Steinbrenner will do to top Shea's last concert!)

Tried to get tickets for that one Wednesday night show but couldn't get through Shea's crammed servers. I felt defeated as I refuse to give into the damn scalpers. Then they added a second show, the last Last Play, on a Friday night. Even better. Got tickets. I'll be screaming from the Loge.

Nothing beats seeing Billy in his hometown, and mine, New York. Always an insanely fun crowd. Plus I can get in my pizza and bagel fix while there. Very, very excited.

Setlist wish: Miami 2017. That alone would make this road trip perfect.

OK Go Gets Horny

Ok Go and Bonerama, 9:30 Club, Washington
February 2

recommended beverage:
a bottle of water. Hey, it gets hot in there
during sold out shows so I say just hydrate.

Few bands get the floor jumping at the 9:30 Club, but by the last half hour, people could not contain themselves. That's the allure of OK Go, four American lads in suits, who lit up the stage.
Many people simply know of the band from their treadmills routine for the "Here It Goes Again" video, but these guys have a whole eclectic repertoire, two albums worth of diverse material, and plenty of exuberance when they hit the stage.

In fact, one never knows what to expect at one of their shows. This time around, the show was a fundraiser for Sweet Home New Orleans, a group dedicated to bringing musicians back to the struggling city. Appropriately, the opening band was the New Orleans-based Bonerama, a horns-based funk band, who also played five songs with OK Go's singer Damian Kulash. That set included the David Bowie cover, "You're Not Alone," apt for the cause, as well as a rich-sounding, creative take on OK Go's "A Million Ways."

Bonerama's opening set rocked. Four trombones and a tuba led the charge and, as a testament to their diverse musical influences, the lads covered Sabbath and Zeppelin with a trombone emulating the vocal line and an electric guitar roaring behind the horn section. As my friend aptly put it, "They went from JazzFest to OzzFest in one song."

For the encore, OK Go came out, backs to the crowd, with bright lights flashing on their suit jackets. The lights swirled for a while until they each landed on the right letter to spell the band's name, and then a casino slot machine sound filled the room. The two-song encore put the crowd into a total frenzy. They ended with "Do What You Want," but the crowd clearly wanted more.

Starting February 5, look for a Bonerama-OK Go collaboration on ITunes. All proceeds go to help rebuild New Orleans.