Presidents of the USA/Black at White Years
Stubbs Outside, 10/7/08
Who doesn’t want a kitty on their foot, a million peaches or even a little blue dune buggy? That’s what I thought. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to sing the songs of my middle school years with my grown up friends when PoUSA came to town. Those old songs really got the crowd pumped on a Wednesday night! Although, some older gentleman (who were probably in college during the PoUSA glory days) decided to get bombed for the show, and were greatly annoying to us. One tall guy totally just parked himself in front of little me, and I just threw up my arms and said “you serious?!” Luckily, his friend noticed my outburst and made his friend move. But unluckily, he decided I was cute and kept trying to dance with me the whole time. Lundy and Rachel and I were even standing with BCampbell and a group of his guy friends. Eventually I had to pretend BCampbell was my boyfriend to keep this guy away. Turns out, goofing around about that really helped make the new PoUSA songs go by faster – because lets face it, no one was there to hear the new stuff.
The other bonus treat of the evening was the opening band. We had gotten to ACL Fest early to catch Austin’s The Black and White Years, but ended up getting food after 2 songs because we realized we could catch this show instead. So here we were two weeks later, finally getting to see these guys…and I love them! Rachel went to high school with the bassist back in Amarillo, so she knew a lot about them, whereas I’d only heard “Power to Change” on 101x. The lead singer is totally rockin’ the 80’s Miami Vice look with a killer ‘stache. I really like the Brazilian influence they have to their pop sound -- it just makes me happy to hear their songs and I can’t resist dancing! .
Spoon
The Parish, 10/13/08
Fundraiser for Texas Democrats
The only reason I hesitated initially for this show was the word “fundraiser”. I figured it would be based on donations that you’d get a ticket. Mercifully, it was just $35 to get in no matter who you are…so Lundy and I said “hell yeah” and got tickets as soon as they went on sale. And we were soon the envy of all our friends for getting to go. This actually is only the second time I’ve seen Spoon. First time was when I didn’t know who they were at ACL Fest 2002. So now, 6 years later, I can finally sing along to ALL of their songs! And they did play a lot of my favorites…most surprisingly was My Mathematical Mind, and that was right at the beginning too! Lundy and I managed to score a bench seat on the left side, so I had the best view in the house. Spoon is like the biggest Austin band and I’d feel star struck by these rock stars if it weren’t for my brother, who is on a first name basis with Britt Daniel and Jim Eno. But it was still cool to see them at such an intimate venue when they usually play shows at Stubbs or Auditorium Shores. The rest of the crowd was just as excited to be there as me. And the political purpose for the show brought a certain energy with it as well…so I proudly wore my Obama button.
Sucktones, Household Names and Sticks N Stones
Mohawk, 10/18/08
Jason Dick from the 101x morning show had been promoting this show all week, even having the boys on the show Friday morning. That, along with the out pouring of UT football fans on their way to 6th street, helped bring in some more fresh randoms to the show. All three bands had a great audience, but Sticks N Stones definitely had the most dancing! I got a lot of pictures because the guys said they needed new footage, so you can see for yourself how the crowd reacted. Lundy and Lau popped in for a while after the UT game but couldn’t stay the whole time. I ended up hanging as long as possible before getting kicked out, which was good for me and the girlfriends since we were all exhausted by 3am.
The Ting Tings
The Parish, 10/19/08
This was a looooong day. After playing with Landon for a bit and then the Tx Wine and Song Festival, LindsayBun and I rallied to make it to this Sunday night show. The band was awesome, but it would’ve been even better had it been on a different night of the week. They make you jump and dance so much that you should want to keep the party going afterwards…but instead we were kind dragging ass. Lundy was sick so she missed this one which was a bummer since we’d been so pumped to rock out to their song “Great DJ” (my personal ringtone on her phone at the time). But Linds was the next best to have by my side. Even for only knowing one song, she was totally into it and danced around with me. The floor was even shaking! Then we bumped into my coworkers Danny and Watty. And of course Danny is buddies with their manager from SXSW. Always a connection! But I have to say I was really impressed by the band for being just two people…it definitely doesn’t sound like it. And the female lead singer has a strong resemblance to Debbie Harry…weird! Hoping I can see them when they are back here in December.
Weezer with Tokyo Police Club, Angels and Airwaves
Erwin Center, 10/20/08
Lesson learned…if you want to see an opening band, just get to the arena when doors open. Somehow we missed Tokyo Police Club even though we got there when the website said they’d be going on. Nuts. Then to top it all off, we had to suffer through Angels and Airwaves. Look Tom DeLonge – you alone are not as cool as Blink 182 was together, so just go home and enjoy the royalties. His singing, dance moves and overall song writing was quite torturous to Kway and me. Their set was only good for giving us the opportunity to go out to the lobby and meet up with our other friends for a bit (since we couldn’t all get tickets together).
Luckily, Weezer made up for the opening disappointments. Unlike when we saw them in 2005 with the Foo Fighters and they sounded like they were just going through the motions of their songs as if we were listening to the CDs -- this year they actually put on a ‘headlining’ show. Costume changes, stage antics, and interaction with the audience made such a difference…in addition to the great new material from the Red Album. My non-hit favorites “Automatic” and “King” both surprisingly made it to the set list! Kway even put together her ideal playlist before hand, and she wasn’t too far off. They played a pretty good sampling from their catalog (mercifully only doing Perfect Situation from Make Believe). Although he walked around like a little old man, River loved sliding around on his knee pads and jumping on the trampoline, and he even got a ride through the crowd on some guy’s shoulders. They rotated instruments and lead vocals. They brought out members from the opening acts to partake in the hits Troublemaker and Sweater Song (although I really wished Tom would’ve kept his mouth shut during that). And they even had random locals with all kinds of instruments come on stage for Island in the Sun and Beverly Hills, using the crowd for the back up vocals. Kway aptly described it as “f***ing rough” but it was still quite entertaining (see below). Now that it’s over, I’m glad I bought a shirt at the merch table as a memento of such a great show.
Ben Folds
Stubbs Outside, 10/25/08
At first when I realized it wasn’t going to be like his 2002 tour of just him and his piano, I was a bit bummed. But luckily good ole Ben proved me wrong with a kick ass show with a full band. I haven’t spent much time familiarizing myself with his new songs, but I’ve definitely picked out a few favorites from the show. He told us the story of how some of the tracks on the album were written with two versions and we got to hear both, which were really interesting. And the chick that opened for him filled in Regina Spektor’s shoes very well during “You Don’t Know Me”…which I could see coming during her set since her vocals sounded coincidentally familiar. I wished there had been more Ben Folds Five material, but he did play some great tracks from Rockin’ the Suburbs. The only thing that could’ve made the show even better was the crowd. Lundy and I were stuck in the back next to a million couples who couldn’t stop making out in front of us and blocking our view. I even had to just close my eyes a few times to focus on the music. But like I said, Ben managed to keep me engaged so I couldn’t walk out…until halfway through the encore.
Hmm, Lundy and I didn’t get a picture at this show. Boooo.
Steel Train
Emo’s Inside, 10/29/08
Jersey boys make their way to Austin. Rachel found out about them a long time ago when they opened for someone random, and she just recently got Lundy hooked. I figured if the two of them like it, there was a high probability I would too. So this was our last chance for a show before ROCKtober ended. Overall I enjoyed the show, but being a Wednesday during a busy week, I was pretty exhausted, so I didn’t dance around like I usually do. And at the time I felt bad about it because it was such a small crowd they could totally see me being a dead weight. But I’m glad I was able to close out ROCKtober with one last show!
Other shows this month I wanted to see but couldn't were The Kooks (cancelled), Cold War Kids (sold out), Jason Mraz (sold out), Kings of Leon (same time as Ben Folds), The Bravery (also same night at Ben).
All in all, it was a rock-tabulous month and I hope 2009 can do even better. Viva ROCKtober!
Click here to see all my pics.
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