Inspired by Glen’s post here is my list of the greatest concerts (16 damn I saw 21 last year, I’m slacking!) I had the pleasure of seeing in Twenty Ten; if I see anymore I will add them accordingly.
A+ :
1) Black Lips and Box Elders at the Middle East Downstairs- March 25 (best concert ever!)
A:
2) No Age and Needy Visions at the Middle East Downstairs- November 16
3) Wavves, Cloud Nothings, and Young Adults at the Great Scott- June 22
4) King Khan & the Shrines, Gentlemen Jesse and His Men, and Red Mass at the Royale- October 13
5) Deerhunter and Real Estate at the Royale- October 16
A-:
6) Deerhunter, Kurt Vile, and K-Holes at Royale- October 13
7) Nobunny and Maine Coons at the PAs Lounge- June 29
8) Spoon, Deerhunter, Strange Boys at the House of Blues- March 27 (formerly an A show)
B+:
9) Girls and Dum Dum Girls at the Paradise Rock Club- April 1
10) Those Darlins, Strange Boys, and Gentlemen Jesse and His Men at T.T. the Bears- September 17
B:
11) Harlem and Girlfriends at the Great Scott- April 25 (formerly a B+ show)
12) 1964 the Tribute at the Merchantsauto Stadium- August 16 (formerly a B+ show)
B-:
13) Uninhabitable Mansions and the Big Big Bucks at the Middle East Upstairs- May 7 (formerly a B show)
C:
14) Kurt Vile, Real Estate, and Sore Eros at Harpers Ferry- July 23
N/A: I don’t grade my friends’ bands, but in any case I had fun at these shows.
15) Silhouette Rising and The Scouflaws at the West Side Social Club- July 2 (I actually saw countless SR shows, but I can’t remember any of the exact dates except this one)
16) Gold Star Morning at Bull McCabe’s- October 30
It looks like another year in concerts has concluded for me. I got to see 22 shows (25 in 2009) at quite a few different venues and three happened to have taken place in New York City (reppin’ Queens). While I’m not so sure 2010 can top 2009 in terms of overall favorite shows, I think it’s safe to say I had a great time concert-going. Looking back, I’m going to rate shows based on three factors: opening bands, headlining band, and experience. A great experience for me is a combination of a great venue, a great crowd, and second-by-second fun. I tend to be pretty analytical about this kind of stuff, so for math people the weighting is as follows: 20% opening bands, 20% experience, and 60% headlining band. Also, I’m usually stricter when it comes to these end of the year tallies.
A
1. Black Lips – Temptress, NYC [95]
2. No Age – Middle East Downstairs [95]
A-
3. Black Lips – Middle East Downstairs [93]
4. King Khan & The Shrines – Royale [92]
5. Wavves – Great Scott [90]
6. Nobunny – PA’s Lounge [90]
B+ 7. The Walkmen – Royale [89]
8. Editors – House of Blues [89]
9. Spoon – House of Blues [87]
B 10. Paul Weller – Apollo Theater, NYC [86]
11. Girls – Paradise Rock Club [86]
12. Beach House – Paradise Rock Club [86]
13. Harlem – Great Scott [85]
14. Deerhunter (AUG) – Royale [85]
15. Those Darlins – TT The Bears [84]
16. The Growlers – TT The Bears [84]
B- 17. Deerhunter (OCT) – Royale – [83]
18. Uninhabitable Mansions – Middle East Upstairs [82] 19. Mission of Burma – Paradise Rock Club [81]
C+ 20. Vivian Girls – Great Scott [79]
21. Black Lips – The Shank, NYC [78]
22. Kurt Vile – Harper’s Ferry [77]
From the maker of the video for “Waddlin Around,” and “Fish Fight” comes the video for “Invisible Girl,” an excellent track off of The King Khan and BBQ Show’s 2009 LP of the same name.
Watching this documentary, you might feel like you are reading this website. There are shots of living and deceased (literally/not literally) KLYAM regulars like Black Lips, Jay Reatard, King Khan & BBQ Show as well as shots and interviews with other great musicians and performers like Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees, Davila 666, The Dirtbombs, The Magic Kids, Hunx and His Punx and Box Elders. What is garage rock? For Jay Reatard, it was about grossing people out. For Joe Bradley, “it’s about keeping it simple, stupid. That’s what we’re [Black Lips] are trying to do. It’s about fun and entertainment.”
VICE goes around interviewing some of the most notable and downright prolific names in garagerock. Part 1 examines the scenes in Memphis and Detroit.
One year ago on this fine day around this fine time, I was getting pumped to go see The King Khan & BBQ Show at the Middle East Downstairs! I would be in for treat. A treat that may not come again for a while.
Act I: Red Mass – Red Mass was a weird/bizarre act to watch. They definitely had the “rocking” quality to them. One of the first things that I noticed was a similarity to the K-Holes. They put us in a trance of sorts with their dark/psychedelic aesthetic. Choyce, the lead singer and guitarist, had a funny hodgepodge of clothing items on — a bandanna, a large medallion necklace, and a dress shirt with tie. He was into it and so were we.
Act II: Gentlemen Jesse and His Men – Oh, Gentleman, where shall I begin? (All I needed that night) was to hear this band. A very fine band from Atlanta, Georgia. They rocked just as hard as they did when they opened a month earlier at TT The Bears. They had their keyboardist present and his little melodies added a little bit to the sound. Jesse is just the man. Great front-man. He is a Jared Swilley-like character. They’re from the same hood, yo. They sound like a classic rock act that you take your girlfriend to see and then fuck when you get back home. You highland crawler, you. I felt like eating some candy during “Butterfingers.” Fuck, what a tune. It’s as invigorating as just about all of their songs. The backing vocals were mixed a little low, but no biggie we had Jesse.
Set List:
If I Can See you (written as “If I Can C U”)
Highland Crawler
slips right into
Black Hole
What Did I Do
Shivers
Rest of My Days
Only Lonely
Butterfingers
Careful
All I Need Tonight (Is You)
I Don’t Wanna Know
Act III: King Khan & the Shrines – Sensational, you bet. This what we’ve come to expect from King Khan and that right there is terrific. Started off with “Outta Harms Way” King, following the usual instrumental, screamed his lungs out and got everyone going. As always with Shrines shows the audience was more akin to a religious cult than a rock show- everyone going wild, being mesmerized by King Khan and His Mysterious (yay a new adjective to describe these boys and girl!). Which by the way, this time around Bamboorella was absent, however her replacement sufficed. She could move and groove and she was quite attractive, but I need my bamboorella fix haha. Back to the music, the Shrines unleashed their classic, Supreme Genius material, which is exactly what I adored and anticipated. Hits such as “I Wanna Be a Girl,” “Land of the Freak,” “No Regrets,” “Took My Lady Dinner,” and more. Alright, well before I start to sound like a fucking infomercial I am going to wrap things up here. There were a few new numbers performed including “Bite My Tongue,” which I definitely can see becoming a Klassic Khan ditty in time to come. This was a great and highly entertaining show, one of the best I have ever witnessed. If you need a quick pick me up, ok a relatively quick pick me up, King Khan and The Shrines are your saviors- leave you smiling for a month. Lastly, as much as I loved this show, it was not on par with my first Shrines experience for three reasons. 1) Khan was a bit restrained this evening and though he was still his energetic, charismatic self, he was much calmer. 2) I attribute my slight lack of devotion i.e. me not feeling the “this was the best show ever!!!” kinda deal to no longer being a Supreme Genius virgin, since this was my second time seeing them. 3) It was not as loud as last time. Don’t get me wrong, it sounded nice, but the PA definitely needed some raisin’ and that would have made it all the more effective. With those minor qualms aside, fantastic show as I expected. Can’t wait to see them again and again and again.
Hopes: In my own little weird way I hope Khan does something like the above portrait or something equally (or more) outrageous. But, more importantly I wish to see an even greater performance, spectacle, if you will than I saw previously (which was one of my all time favorite concerts). I hope Gentlemen rock out even harder than the last two times I have seen them, playing all my favorites like “All I Need Tonight (Is You),” “Butterfingers,” “I Get So Excited,” and others. Lastly, I envision Red Mass to join my plethora of kick ass artists I have seen live and possibly become favorite of mine.
Expectations: This show is just as good, if not slightly better, than the last show, but lacks some of the intimacy of the Paradise setting. They put on a fun and/or entertaining show, but aren’t as “crazy” as they have been, which is more than ok as that’s not why I am going to see them (music clearly comes first). Gentlemen are just as good as last time, but don’t play all of my faves. And finally I expect Red Mass to be good, but probably not on the road to favoritism (a new word I coined).
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 