I went to Rock Werchter yesterday and I saw ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, Rilo Kiley, The Dears , Bloc Party , Millionaire and Interpol. and bits of Admiral Freebee, Daan, The Tears and Nine Inch Nails.

Trail of Dead was ok, but not great... maybe because they didn't play any songs from Source, Tags & Codes, the only cd of them that I own. But I thought they were at the same time a bit too much punk and too less... Some songs were really modern day American punk with shouting to the crowd to clap their hands and other annoying gestures, together with really fast playing... and on the other hand they had two drum sets (although when there were two drummers, they drummed more or less the same rhythm, so although it was impressive, it didn't really add much to the overall sound), a "Stairway to Heaven"-guitar (is that a 12 string, like with two guitar shafts?), a gong, and some parts which sounded like fairytale progmetal...



Rilo Kiley was good, I hardly knew them, but I really liked them. The singer was sexy, somewhere between PJ Harvey and Neko Case, I think. I think I'd rather see them in a concert hall though, 'cause now I had a hard time understanding her lyrics, which I think is quite important for alt.country acts...



The Dears were great, probably the best act I saw. "22: Death of All Romance" sounded great, although it would have been better if the girls would take a more prominent place on stage, now the dark blonde one was barely visible from where I stood. "Lost in the Plot" and "Never Destroy Us" were also really good.

Millionaire was good, but I guess I would have enjoyed their gig more if I had had time to listen to the new album yet. They've become less funky and harder, probably partly because of the collaboration with Josh Homme, but they're still different enough from QOTSA (although I hope that they won't lose the funky touch altogether). Tim's voice was hardly understandable due to the effects he always uses, which made the gig only more frantic. The song with former Evil Superstar (and amongst other things current dEUS guitarist) Mauro Pawlowski was very nice too.



I liked Bloc Party more than on cd, but I'm still not very enthusiastic about them. I liked the rhythm section, but they don't seem to have strong songs, melody's, lyrics,...


It was the second time I saw Interpol and I didn't like it as much this time. Which is not so surprising as I'm not that fond of Antics. "Evil" was great though, but most of the new songs sound more uplifting, especially regarding lyrics and I preferred the dark atmosphere of the first album. There also seemed to be a problem in the band: the bassplayer Carlos D played the biggest part of the gig from behind an amp. Result of too much gigging? Problems in the band? Too big hype? I hope for him that they'll be able to rest soon.



The Belgian Admiral Freebee is another one that used to impress me a lot, but doesn't really do so anymore. He has never been really original, ripping off Bob Dylan and Neil Young and sounding thus very American, but now he's thrown in a great deal of Bruce Springsteen. and I'm not a big fan of ol' Ambrosius and stadium rock. The lyrics of the new songs seem also rather corny and bad.



I also saw a few songs of the Tears and they seemed to try to put on a good show, which is positive, but alas the songs just didn't seem to be there.

We seem to be running into a lot of well-intentioned bands whose songwriting is very weak. We also seem to be experiencing a new technology which is allowing more bands to completely emulate their idols without the added inconvenience of having to add anything of themselves along the way. This is the logical end we all saw coming, but there was a part of me that was hoping not to live to see it.

Of course, what that means is that I get to see the better stuff for a lot less at clubs

I am sure I already mentioned the Dead Can Dance show in Seattle on Sep 18, but I would add to that Niyaz, who are coming to Seattle a week prior.

I'm looking forward to seeing Nine Inch Nails and Queens Of The Stone Age on October 8th (brother's birthday). I think NIN and QOTSA are touring together.

Not looking forward to any shows as I live in a thousand miles from everywhere interesting now (at least the money's good...), but I remember...

Combustable Edison at Bimbo's 365 (in San Francisco), the absolute fucking perfect band for that venue.

The Revered Horton Heat at the (now defunct) Edge (in Palo Alto), loud, fast, fucking rockin' and my buddy got punched in the face in the pit, kick ass.

Sunny Day Real Estate at the Maritime Hall (in San Francisco), i hadn't even listened to them before the show, but you can bet i do now.

my summer has sucked so far, first Trey Anastasio's Zooma tour gets canceled, then my mom wouldnt let me go to Bonnaroo.

Hopefully ill see Trey when he comes to Cincy in August, Widespread Panic, and Dave Matthews later this summer

not really music- but...

Sponge Bob LIVE!!

yep... thats right! actors coming in to do a reading

its gonna be awsome!!!

.............
www.squakz.com

I WANTED to see Judas priest when they came a couple days ago, but I couldn't go.

I'm going to Warped tour, rockfestX, Manntis, and head automatica this summer.

IMMORTAL TECHNIQUE

I jus saw the Immortal Technique concert in islington london. He came on for the last hour and a half and performed with the same electricity that flows through each of his songs. The response from the hip hop heads was great.
The uk act i think called poisonous poets had an enthusiastic reaction, with thier lead man topping all the pre-immortal acts such as Skinny man. Whom I'm glad to say got booed off stage. He came out with way too much attitude expecting us to big him up before he'd even started, then getting pissed off when the cheers weren't loud enough, not considering the fact that most of the audience don't consider being on channel U a major achievement, seeing as anyone with a video camera can be on it.
Aside from the (short) performance from skinny man the other warm up acts were fantastic generating a great buzz for Immortal, who when came out exploded with the first song 'Bin Laden' and continued with songs such as 'One' , 'Point of no return' and the spectacular song 'Dance with the Devil' which was acted out by immortal with such passion that although i have listened to the song hundreds of times, sent a new kind of chill down my spine.
He ended the concert by inviting everyone to the after party and informing us that he would be signing autographs out the back which he was, and my autograph is now hanging proudly on my bedroom wall.
Overall the concert was an overwhelming sucess with Immortal's inspirational spirit felt by everyone.

I was planning on seeing Do Make Say Think at The Bowery Ballroom tomorrow night, but it seems that you have to be 18 or older to attend. Damn...

this friday I am going to go & see
"Kinski"
at the Crocodile Cafe, Seattle, WA
awesome heavy psych band that's been around a while, toured with Acid Mothers Temple, but just starting to really get the buzz they deserve
www.kinski.net