07/16/2015 The Tea Party, Big Wreck (Lewiston, NY @ Artpark)
By Eric | July 20, 2015 9:37 am
Ah yes, another Tea Party show, another instance of getting “our” band back together as well. Mostly. As we had all assumed that there would be lawn seats available, no one bought tickets right away. So naturally, Artpark *didn’t* sell lawn for this one, meaning we all had to get seats. Due to my own ineptitude, I didn’t get tickets with either Jon and Art, nor Sara’s group with Jason, Mary and Adrienne (in from Las Vegas!). I did literally split the difference though, getting one seat a couple rows behind Sara and crew, and one section across from Jon. As the Labatt commercial goes, “Close Enough!”
I rolled into Sara’s house (Jason and Adrienne were already there), Mary showed up not long after, and after some quick pizza we headed up to Lewiston. Eric dumbass moment #2 ensued, as I forgot that Artpark charges $10 cash to park no matter what, and of course I had zero cash on me. Thankfully there wasn’t a huge rush to get in, so one quick trip to the ATM later I was parked and in line with the crew. We shuffled in almost immediately, and killed time with some beverages before sliding into our seats right before Big Wreck started.
Big Wreck kicked things off with Inhale, and while the band sounded great, we have no idea what Ian Thornley sounded like, as for the first 2/3 of the song his mic wasn’t working. They finally got that straightened out, and I moved down to sit with Jason and the girls. That didn’t last long either, as the only two guys in the second level that wanted to stand up happened to be directly in front of us. So I retreated to sit with Jon and Art so I could actually see the rest of the performance. And it was a very good performance. Big Wreck went even older-school with That Song (one of my favorites) before a run of stuff off the newer two albums, including both title tracks, the SRV-influenced Ghosts, and Albatross. They then closed out old-school again, with Ladylike, Blown Wide Open, and the always crowd-pleasing (and usually only song anyone knows) The Oaf. Barring the mic mishap, the band sounded great, Thornley was hitting all the notes, and it was nice to see Big Wreck again for sure.
We all milled around during the set change, and Jon, Art and I headed up to the near-empty 300 level to have some room for the Tea Party’s set. Compared to the November show at the Town Ballroom, they played even less off of the new album; we only got Ocean at the End and Water’s On Fire this time, along with a tease of Cypher before The Bazaar. Beyond the new songs it was the standard issue Tea set, and as always, they sounded damn good performing it. Psychopomp was a highlight as always, and the crowd didn’t disappoint during Temptation.
The crowd was raucous almost all night for the Tea, but curiously not a sell out. It was plain to see why they didn’t sell lawn seats, as the covered section wasn’t even close to full. Artpark holds 2400 seats, and like I said, the 300 section was practically empty. The Ballroom show sold out really quickly, and that place only holds 1000, so something in-between would seem to be the magic number for them. Regardless, it was a great night to see some old friends, hear some old friends, and put another Tea Party show in the books. This was Tea show #16 for me, which as of this writing ties them with Our Lady Peace, both of them one behind Sevendust (17 times!!) for the title of “band seen most often”.
Big Wreck
—-
Inhale
That Song
Wolves
I Digress
Hey Mama
Albatross
Ghosts
Ladylike
Blown Wide Open
The Oaf
Tea Party
—
The River
the Bazaar (Cypher intro)
Lullaby
Psychopomp
Fire in the Head
Ocean at the End
Winter Solstice (tease)
Water’s on Fire (Release outro)
Writings on the Wall
Heaven Coming Down
Save Me (Kashmir insert)
Temptation
Encore:
Sister Awake (Paint It Black insert)
Ocean at the End (clip)
Heaven Coming Down
Save Me (clip)
Topics: Concerts | Comments Off on 07/16/2015 The Tea Party, Big Wreck (Lewiston, NY @ Artpark)
Tags: 2015, Artpark, Big Wreck, Lewiston, The Tea Party
Train – 2003 – My Private Nation
By Eric | July 17, 2015 6:00 pm
Artist: Train
Title: My Private Nation
Label: Columbia
Released: Jun 3, 2003
Packaging: Jewel Case
Pack-in DVD?
Release Type: Standard
Autographed?
Tracklist:
#Calling All Angels
#All American Girls
#When I Look To The Sky
#Save The Day
#My Private Nation
#Get To Me
#Counting Airplanes
#Following Rita
#Your Every Color
#Lincoln Avenue
#I’m About To Come Alive
Review:
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Tags: 2003, Columbia, Jewel Case, Standard, Train
Train – 2006 – For Me It’s You
By Eric | July 17, 2015 6:00 pm
Artist: Train
Title: For Me It’s You
Label: Columbia
Released: Jan 31, 2006
Packaging: Jewel Case
Pack-in DVD?
Release Type: Standard
Autographed?
Tracklist:
#All I Ever Wanted
#Get Out
#Cab
#Give Myself to You
#Am I Reaching You Now
#If I Can’t Change Your Mind
#All I Hear
#Shelter Me
#Explanation
#Always Remember
#I’m Not Waiting in Line
#Skyscraper
#For Me, It’s You
Review:
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Tags: 2006, Columbia, Jewel Case, Standard, Train
Train – 1998 – Train
By Eric | July 17, 2015 6:00 pm
Artist: Train
Title: Train
Label: Aware / Columbia
Released: Feb 24, 1998
Packaging: Jewel Case
Pack-in DVD?
Release Type: Standard
Autographed?
Tracklist:
#Meet Virginia
#I Am
#If You Leave
#Homesick
#Free
#Blind
#Eggplant
#Idaho
#Days
#Rat
#Swaying
Review:
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Tags: 1998, Aware / Columbia, Jewel Case, Standard, Train
Train – 2001 – Drops of Jupiter
By Eric | July 17, 2015 6:00 pm
Artist: Train
Title: Drops of Jupiter
Label: Columbia
Released: Mar 27, 2001
Packaging: Jewel Case
Pack-in DVD?
Release Type: Standard
Autographed?
Tracklist:
#She’s On Fire
#I Wish You Would
#Drops Of Jupiter
#It’s About You
#Hopeless
#Respect
#Let It Roll
#Something More
#Whipping Boy
#Get Away
#Mississippi
Review:
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Tags: 2001, Columbia, Jewel Case, Standard, Train
Train – 2010 – Save Me, San Francisco
By Eric | July 17, 2015 6:00 pm
Artist: Train
Title: Save Me, San Francisco
Label: Columbia
Released: Nov 2, 2010
Packaging: Jewel Case
Pack-in DVD?
Release Type: Golden Gate Edition
Autographed?
Tracklist:
#Save Me, San Francisco
#Hey, Soul Sister
#I Got You
#Parachute
#This Ain’t Goodbye
#If It’s Love
#You Already Know
#Words
#Brick By Brick
#Breakfast In Bed
#Marry Me
#Shake Up Christmas
#Half Moon Bay
#The Finish Line
#Umbrella
#Parachute (Alternate Version)
#Marry Me (First Dance Mix)
Review:
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Tags: 2010, Columbia, Golden Gate Edition, Jewel Case, Train
Train – 2012 – California 37
By Eric | July 17, 2015 6:00 pm
Artist: Train
Title: California 37
Label: Columbia
Released: Apr 17, 2012
Packaging: Jewel Case
Pack-in DVD?
Release Type: Standard
Autographed?
Tracklist:
#This’ll Be My Year
#Drive By
#Feels Good at First
#Bruises
#50 Ways to Say Goodbye
#You Can Finally Meet My Mom
#Sing Together
#Mermaid
#California 37
#We Were Made for This
#When the Fog Rolls In
Review:
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Tags: 2012, Columbia, Jewel Case, Standard, Train
Train – 2014 – Bulletproof Picasso
By Eric | July 17, 2015 6:00 pm
Artist: Train
Title: Bulletproof Picasso
Label: Columbia
Released: Sep 16, 2014
Packaging: Jewel Case
Pack-in DVD?
Release Type: Standard
Autographed?
Tracklist:
#Cadillac, Cadillac
#Bulletproof Picasso
#Angel in Blue Jeans
#Give It All
#Wonder What You’re Doing for the Rest of Your Life
#Son of a Prison Guard
#Just a Memory
#I’m Drinkin’ Tonight
#I Will Remember
#The Bridge
#Baby, Happy Birthday
#Don’t Grow Up So Fast
Review:
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Tags: 2014, Columbia, Jewel Case, Standard, Train
07/07/2015 Powerman 5000, SOiL, Without Regret (Rochester, NY @ Montage Music Hall)
By Eric | July 8, 2015 3:43 pm
As an unabashed nu-metal kid, one would think a show like this would be a must-see for me, but truthfully neither SOiL nor Powerman were ever super-high on my list. I liked the singles well enough, but that was about it. However, when the show is practically in your backyard, and there’s nothing else doing on a Tuesday night after the toddler goes to bed, its like “why not”??
I walked in just as Without Regret were finishing up. so I didn’t see much of them at all. Seemed like a solid heavy band though from what little I heard.
Dave showed up with his friend Christina just as SOiL was about to go on. He knew a couple more of the tunes than I did, but he too wasn’t really a fan. Their half-hour was pretty entertaining though, and a good number of the 100 or so people in the house did indeed know the songs and were fairly into it. For the closer (and only song I really knew), Halo, lead singer Ryan McCombs came out and sang in the middle of the floor amongst the crowd, which was kinda neat. Judging from other setlists, they’d been closing with a Black Betty cover, but we didn’t get to see that for whatever reason.
So after the usual BS’ing and set change, the lights went dim, the fog machines started, and out comes Spider One and the rest of PM5K… with outfits out of a budget sci-fi movie, and lasers mounted to the headstocks of the guitars! Okay, laser pointers, but whatever! It was campy, but the whole get-up worked. They launched (pun intended!) into the first song, and I don’t think Spider stopped jumping up and down the entire night. Seriously. I also don’t think the smile left my face (or Dave’s for that matter) all night either! These guys were a riot to watch, Spider was pretty witty in-between songs (remarking how he couldn’t find anything to eat in Rochester), and they sounded really good too. I only knew three songs or so, but it didn’t matter, I had a great time. They sent everyone home happy, closing with When Worlds Collide. I’d seen PM5K once way back (Edgefest 2003 in Buffalo) and wasn’t impressed then, but they were tons of fun this time around. As I told Dave, they reminded me of Orgy, but way more fun, and also of what Static-X had on Wisconsin Death Trip and then were chasing forever after that. I’ve overused the word “fun” in this review, but it definitely was!
[Soil setlist]
Loaded Gun
Breaking Me Down
The Hate Song
My Own
Pride
Redefine
Unreal
Halo
[PM5K Setlist]
Invade, Destroy, Repeat
Nobody’s Real
Hey, That’s Right!
How to Be a Human
You’re Gonna Love It, If You Like It or Not
Horror Show
I Can’t Fucking Hear You
Bombshell
We Want It All
Supernova Goes Pop
When Worlds Collide
PM5K intro
Topics: Concerts | 3 Comments »
Tags: 2015, Montage Music Hall, Powerman 5000, rochester, SOiL
07/04/2015 The Tragically Hip (Canandaigua, NY @ CMAC)
By Eric | July 6, 2015 9:56 pm
Hip show number 10! Not sure whose idea it was to book the quintessential Canadian band in the US on 4th of July (and a 4th on a Saturday no less), but there we were. “We” being about a half-of-capacity CMAC, so it was pretty much all die-hards. The Buffalo-Fort Erie Friendship Festival this certainly wasn’t. I met Tom, Nikki, and Brendan in the parking lot, and we hung out and waited until just about showtime to shuffle in and find a place on the lawn.
This tour was billed as “Fully and Completely”, which obviously alluded to the fact that the band was playing said album in its entirety, along with what turned out to be two smaller greatest hits sets before and after the album. They opened with Grace, Too, and Gord sounded a little off rhythm. Perhaps it was for artistic and dramatic reasons, but it wasn’t the best rendition I’d ever heard. He got into the swing of things as the beginning set wore on. I joked to Tom that it really wouldn’t be a Hip show for me if I didn’t hear New Orleans is Sinking, and as if on cue, the band hit the opening riff, maintaining my 10-for-10 streak of hearing it at every show.
I was especially excited to hear Fully Completely all the way through for a couple of reasons: A) It’s my favorite Hip album, B) I love the idea of these “album” shows (the OLP and Killswitch Engage shows were great!), and C) there were a good number of tracks I’d never seen live. Chief among these was (incredibly) Fifty-Mission Cap and The Wherewithal, so those two were a real treat. Even hearing my other 10-for-10 song, At The Hundredth Meridian, made for a good time.
By the time they’d finished Eldorado (another first-timer!) and took a little break, the ushers had abandoned their posts and a good number of us filtered down into the half-empty seats. We got into the 200 level for the five-song “encore” for a closer look at the one Now For Plan A song, “At Transformation”. The last four were the biggest of the biggest, with Poets, Bobcaygeon, Nautical, and Blow at High Dough as the grand finale. The Hip are always a good time, even better hanging with good friends, and hey, why not celebrate our country’s independence with some of our neighbors across the lake?!
Grace, Too
My Music at Work
In View
Ahead by a Century
New Orleans Is Sinking
Courage
Looking for a Place to Happen
At the Hundredth Meridian
Pigeon Camera
Lionized
Locked in the Trunk of a Car
We’ll Go Too
Fully Completely
Fifty-Mission Cap
Wheat Kings
The Wherewithal
Eldorado
At Transformation
Poets
Bobcaygeon
Nautical Disaster
Blow at High Dough
Grace, Too
New Orleans Is Sinking
Pigeon Camera
Bobcaygeon
Topics: Concerts | 1 Comment »
Tags: 2015, Canandaigua, CMAC, The Tragically Hip