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Entertainment, humor, Music, Random

Concert Ruined By Guy Enjoying Himself

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CHICAGO—Brian Grant, 24, reported that a rock concert he attended at the Empty Bottle Saturday was ruined by 35-year-old music fan Daryl Froemer’s enthusiasm.

Froemer has a good time, to the dismay of concertgoers like Grant.

“I was trying to enjoy [New York-based rock group] Oneida, but it was totally impossible because [Froemer] was making a spectacle of himself,” Grant said. “I couldn’t even pay attention to the band. Halfway through the set, I had to leave.”

“I go out to a bar to have a good time, and I can’t because there’s some jackass racing around in circles and waving his beer bottle in the air,” Grant added. “I mean, he was even jumping up and down during the mid-tempo songs. Come on! It’s not the ’90s anymore. This isn’t grunge.”

In addition to dancing, Froemer reportedly pounded the stage “like it was on fire,” sang along when he knew the lyrics, yelled out the names of songs he wanted to hear, and repeatedly attempted to enter into a dialogue with the band.

“Every time the singer asked us a question, he was the first one to yell back,” Grant said. “I don’t mind the occasional ‘Yeah’ or ‘Woo,’ but this guy was shouting after every song, whistling, and asking them how their amps were. If he hadn’t been so annoying, I would have been embarrassed for him.”

“Did he even consider the fact that the singer might have wanted to know how the rest of us were doing?” Grant added.

Froemer’s attempts to engage other bar patrons in conversation did not sit well with Grant.

“He kept turning to me to say, ‘Isn’t this great?'” Grant said. “How many times can you ask someone, ‘Isn’t this great?’ and not get an answer before you realize he doesn’t care to give you his opinion?”

He added: “Oh, yeah. And he kept yelling ‘Rock ‘n’ roll!’ in my face. And once he screamed ‘Stooges!’ I had no idea at all why he did that.”

Grant said he has seen Froemer at shows before.

“I’ve seen him around, and he’s always enthusiastic,” Grant said. “But I’ve never seen him so wound up before.”

Grant reported that he lost his patience when Froemer almost spilled a drink.

“On the way back from, like, his 20th trip to the bar, he came this close to spilling a drink all over the floor,” Grant said. “If it had spilled, some of it could have gotten on me. At that point, I told my date, ‘All right, enough. We’re leaving.'”

This isn’t the first time a concert at the Empty Bottle has been ruined by an excited fan. On Sunday, an OKGO show was wrecked by two women who spent the evening jumping up and down directly in front of the stage, blocking the view for several patrons standing behind them.

“Sometimes it’s like that,” said Empty Bottle manager Bruce Finkleman. “Everyone at a show is standing there, arms folded, having a great time, and then someone decides to get crazy. It can kill an otherwise perfect night. Unfortunately, unless the enthusiastic fan breaks something, my hands are tied.”

Froemer, whose exuberance at most concerts is endured without incident, said he was sorry to hear that people were put off by his enjoyment of the show. Nevertheless, he said he did not plan to change his behavior at future shows.

“It’s too bad someone got mad,” Froemer said. “But when the band started playing ‘Sheets Of Easter,’ I went nuts. It’s 15 minutes, two notes, and it runs over you like a monster truck. I mean, shit—that band is seriously fucking awesome!”

So great I had to post the entire thing, but here’s the link if you would like.

Entertainment, humor, Music

Black Lips Fan Boy!

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I saw you guys last night at Terminal 5, opening for the Raconeturs. With all due respect, you guys SUCKED. Seriously. I don’t usually go out of my way to criticize, and I try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but in all honesty, your guys’ set may have been the most awful experience of my life.

Too much yelling, too much use of that stupid echo mic, too much sounding like the 4th place contestant at my high school battle of the bands. I actually boo’ed you guys but you were so loud and obnoxious that nobody else could hear it.

And another thing, when the lights come up, and the PA music starts playing, GET THE FUCK OFF STAGE. You are the shitty opening act, nobody wants to hear another shitty song from your repertoire.

Entertainment, Lists, Music

KLYAM Boston Venue Guide

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These aren’t known levels or anything; a mix of opinion and fact, if that’s all right with you.

Level One
– Lizard Lounge (Local bands; usually unsigned; capacity 80)
– O’Brien’s Pub (Local bands; usually unsigned; capacity 70)
– Several other small venues without any prerequisite venues.

Level Two
– P.A’s Lounge (Typically signed w/ a good size following; capacity 150; example: Jens Lekman)
– Club Passim (Mid-size acts of the folk persuasion w/ good size following; capacity 125)

Level Three
– Middle East Upstairs (Prerequisite of Level One/Two shows; mid-size bands typically signed; capacity 194; example: Rural Alberta Advantage)
– T.T the Bear’s (Prerequisite of at least 3 Level One/Two shows; mid-size bands typically signed; capacity 300; example: Sam Roberts)
– Great Scott (Headlines fairly popular signed local/national/international bands, often from Northern Europe; capacity 240; example: Handsome Furs)

Level Four
– Harper’s Ferry (Headlines low-demand mainstream/high-demand independent bands; capacity 400; examples: Wale, Flobots, Jay Reatard)
– Middle East Downstairs (Headlines highly visible independent/slightly mainstream bands with strong followings; capacity 575; examples: Black Lips, Walkmen, Dinosaur Jr.)

Level Five
– Paradise Rock Club (Headlines established/new national touring acts  that easily sell out Level Four venues; capacity 728; examples: King Khan & the Shrines, Anti-Flag)
– Wilbur Theatre (Headlines national touring acts that have established quite an audience; capacity 1223; example: Sonic Youth)
– House of Blues (Headlines national touring acts, which may or may not be considerably mainstream, that have established quite an audience; capacity 2425; examples: New Kids on the Block, Animal Collective)
– Orpheum Theatre (Headlines national touring acts, which may or may not be considerably mainstream, that have established quite an audience; capacity 2763; examples: Regina Spektor, Yeah Yeah Yeahs)

Level Six
– Wang Theatre (Headlines highly visible bands and artists who have, usually over a number of years, developed a vast following; capacity 3700; examples: Pixies, Lady Gaga)
– Bank of America Pavilion (Headlines highly visible bands and artists who have developed a vast following; capacity 5000; examples: Flaming Lips, Elvis Costello)
– Agganis Arena (Headlines very big names in rock and pop; capacity 7200; examples: Weezer, Kings of Leon)

Level Seven
– Comcast Center (Headlines the biggest names in rock and pop; capacity 19900; examples: Radiohead, Nickelback)
– TD Garden (Headlines the biggest names in rock and pop; capacity 19580; examples: U2, Bruce Springsteen)
————————-

Some bands, undeniably, have a greater potential to rise to the top than others. For instance, Kings of Leon have worked their way up rather significantly in the past few years. Just two years ago they played the Paradise. This past April, they played the 10X larger Agganis Arena. Take Radiohead. They played the ‘Dise back in 1995 and just a few years later performed at the 20,000+ Suffolk Downs race track. Even King Khan & BBQ Show have been an upwardly mobile success story. They went from TT The Bears in 2005 to Great Scott in 2007 to the Paradise in 2008. For other bands like Black Lips, it’s been a somewhat slower ride. A touring band since 2000, they hit up TT’s in 2007 before selling out Middle East Downstairs the past two years, thanks in some part to critically acclaimed album releases Good Bad Not Evil and 200 Million Thousand. I’m not going to put money on it, but I wouldn’t be totally surprised if they move up the ladder to the Paradise (provided dates are available) for their next U.S tour.

Art, Entertainment, Femmes, Lists, Music

MY Top Ten Concerts of 2009!

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For specific information like dates, go to Glen’s post, as I feel it is unnecessary to rewrite the same information. Also, in some of these shows I am not naming every performer for the evening, but rather those I found to be memorable. Note: I attended twenty solid concerts total this year, so this list is exactly half of them.

1) Black Lips w/ Mean Creek at the Middle East- A+: Best concert I’ve ever seen simply because they are my favorite band and I knew all of the songs. But, beyond that, the show was constantly exciting and I really appreciated the chat with Cole as Glen noted. Mean Creek were a chill band with a great anti-capitalist message.

2) King Khan & The Shrines w/ Mark Sultan at the Paradise Rock Club- A+: What else can you say about King and gang that hasn’t already been said?! The show is a spectacle from start to finish. Pure energy, excitement, and really happiness. If the Black Lips were not my favorite band, without a doubt, I would say the Shrines were the most entertaining performers I have ever seen. Like Glen, I’m positive I would appreciate Marky Sultan’s performance infinitely more, if I saw him now, but even without being familiar to his music, I still appreciated it; something extremely rare for me. Supreme Genius indeed!

3) Jay Reatard w/ Box Elders, Nobunny, and Hunx and His Punx at Harpers Fery- A+: Fun, Fun, Fun till Harpers Ferry security took Nobunny pyro techniques away! Then more fun with Jay! I second Glen, as I seem to do a lot in these lists (great minds think alike!) best opening experience ever! I heard one of my new favorites for the first time: Box Elders. Instantly I fell in love with their catchy, pop songs, another rare feature. Hunx was queer as fuck, but in a great way! They really got the crowd moving, perhaps moving away for some (and oddly moving closer for others haha); once again rare for an opening band. This continued with Nobunny, who also shared tremendous showmanship and over all joy in their craft. Of course Jay belted out his hits and it was great. The moshing and crowd interaction made it a memorable concert for sure.

4) King Khan & BBQ Show at the Middle East- A+: Supreme Genius continues! Well, I was waddlin around right into the snow with some zombies, which transformed into a fish fight. Soon I said I’ll never belong here and so I docked at number eight. Unfortunately, the hunnies treat me like dog because I’m too much in love with them, so I just sat and watched them shake real low. I’d much rather they hold me tight, but I guess not tonight. I guess I’ll be a lonely boy for one more night.

5) Pixies w/ Jay Reatard at Wang Theater- A+: One of my favorite bands playing one of my favorite albums and my second favorite artist opening for them with amazing seats, what else can I ask for?!

6) Sonic Youth w/ The Feelies at Wilbur Theatre- A+
7) No Age w/ Lemonade at Wellsley College- A+
8) Animal Collective at the House of Blues- A
9) Head Automatica at the Great Scott- A
10) Arctic Monkeys at the House of Blues- B+/A-

Chris

Entertainment, Lists, Music

Top 10 Concerts of 2009!

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By: Glen

1.
Bands: Black Lips/Gentleman Jesse & His Men/Mean Creek
Venue: Middle East Downstairs
Date: March 7, 2009
Grade: A+
Comment: Meeting Cole before the gig. Getting handed beers from Ian. My favorite band playing all my favorite classics. Great mix of moshing and positive crowd interaction.

2.
Bands: King Khan & The Shrines/Mark Sultan/Homosexuals
Venue: Paradise Rock Club
Date: May 14, 2009
Grade: A+
Comment: Khan is a legend of a performer. He really got the entire room energized. Everybody was grooving and  singing along to his sexually provocative lyrics. It’s too bad that  I wasn’t able to appreciate Mark as much as I wish I could have at the time.

3.
Bands: No Age/The Beets/Lemonade
Venue: Wellesley College
Date: April 2, 2009
Grade: A+
Comments: Met Randy and Dean before the show. Hugged them after the show. The show itself? Fantastic. By the end, I was all sweaty from jumping around like crazy in between Dean’s drum-kit and Randy’s guitar set-up. A plus was that I recognized every single song that they played.

4.
Bands: KK+BBQ/Dum Dum Girls/Downbeat 5
Venue: Middle East Downstairs
Date: October 29, 2009
Grade: A+
Comments: Like I said before, Khan is a legendary performer. BBQ is a master at all three of his crafts: vocals, guitar, and drums. Combine the two and what do you get? A thing of beauty. Rockin’ out and singing along, always.

5.
Bands: Jay Reatard/Nobunny/Hunx and His Punx/Box Elders/Useless Eaters
Venue: Harpers Ferry
Date: October 2, 2009
Grade: A+
Comments: Quite the freaking bill, huh? I witnessed the greatest overall opening experience at this gig because garage-pop has that sort of effect. And what about Jay? His music was tight and this time around I really was able to connect with a greater majority of his songs than before. F-U-N times.

6. Walkmen/Here We Go Magic/The Dig – Middle East Downstairs – September 19, 2009 – Grade: A+
7. Arctic Monkeys/Screaming Females – House of Blues – December 13, 2009 – Grade: A
8. Pixies/Jay Reatard – Wang Theatre – November 27, 2009 – Grade: A
9. Sonic Youth/The Feelies – Wilbur Theatre – November 22, 2009 – Grade: A
10. The Rifles/Mike Fiore – Great Scott – September 23, 2009 – Grade: A

Art, Entertainment, Femmes, Music, reviews

Concert Review: Arctic Monkeys & Screaming Females @ House Of Blues (12/13/09)

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Artist(s): Arctic Monkeys, Screaming Females
Location: House Of Blues, Boston, MA
Date: Sunday, December 13, 2009

Part I: Pre-Show Activities:
As soon as we arrived, it was pouring, so we raced through puddle after puddle. Along the way, we witness the most depressing thing to a concertgoer: lines and lines of people ahead of you. All bodies closer to the front then you. Fuck…
After some waiting outside, we made it in and at least we weren’t as far back as we were at Animal Collective. To pass the time we chatted with some fine lads (one of which bared strong resemblance to a notable Wakefield High student) about everything from college acceptances to the harsh reality of 18 + shows; this one was All Ages, which of course unleashed some fine talent. I bet that’s the one, the FBI I will nail me for lol.

Part II: Screaming Females
Chris: Well, not quite… Singing for the most part, but occasionally screaming female (the other two members were of the opposite sex) would be more apropos. They were ok, nothing special. They rocked out for a while with sledegehammer drums, powerhouse guitars, and a caterwoul sceam from the lead singer. Most of the time her vocals were high and reminded me of the voice of some Disney villian haha, no offense. I appreciated the individual parts of the songs, but overall they weren’t memorable or “stand out” numbers. They played far longer than I wanted them to.

Glen: Chris basically said what I was going to say. I’m sure if I look up more of their songs (“damn, I should have YouTube’d them”, I’ll probably develop an affinity for a few of them. That’s because I did really like a few, but in an overall picture they were kind of forgettable. At times they seemed too hard rock — which is a turn off for me.

Part III: Arctic Monkeys!
Chris: Ok, so if you’ve been to the House of Blues, at least in my experience, then you have withstood the shoving back and forth deal, resulting in enormous perspiration and lack of air to the point of leaving some attendees unconscious, and at points loss of the ability to see the show itself, at least for us 5’3 and below. Ok, well it got in the way of the music at times, but I just want to throw this out now, so I can properly critique the performance for the remainder of the review. So, in terms of music, the band was excellent. Unfortunately, they did no play that much from their debut as I hoped, but that was to be expected. They opened with a chill and mellow song, I believe it was “The Jewller’s Hands,” from their latest release, please correct me, if I am wrong. Then they exploded into “Brianstorm,” and like thunder as the song proclaims, the audience roared and entered a frenetic state of sorts for quite some time. The group went on to unleash such old and new classics as “Still Take You Home,” “My Propeller,” “Crying Lightning,” “Pretty Visiters,” “The View From the Afternoon,” and “I Bet You Look Good On the Dancefloor,” which rightfully garnered fantastic crowd response; I was pogoing my ass off! It was one of the best sing alongs that night. They slowed down for a “gentle” song in the form of “Cornerstone,” one of my new favorite monkeys’ offerings. It gave most of us a chance to breathe, relax and hear a slow, little, love song, whilst boyfriends held girlfriends and the rest of us envied them and held on to the dude beside them… kidding. The evening would end on a happy note with the beloved, fan favorite, “Fluorescent Adolescent,” this received a similar response as ‘dancefloor,’ but not as much excitement/dancing, because the song itself was slower and softer than I expected, but almost everybody in the house knew the words. Fans were greeted with a neat treat when the song suddenly transitioned into “Last Christmas,” as drummer Matt Helders took over vocal duties with black shades over his eyes, a glass of wine in his hand, he belt out the sappy lyrics to that sappy song. This digression left as quickly as it came; Helders returned to his drum set and the band smoothly transitioned back into ‘Fluorescent.’ They said goodnight and left the stage. Of course, we shouted, “Monkeys! Monkeys! Monkeys!” and naturally they returned for an encore. They started with “Secret Door,” a new favorite of mine and one of the best tracks of ’09 and finished with “505.”

Glen: I had a smashing time. Yes, at some points I couldn’t  really concentrate on the music. And that’s annoying. But for the greater part of the show, I could see the band and didn’t have to worry  about certain externalities (girl yelling that they she couldn’t breathe, another girl yelling because she lost her cell phone, etc). A big big fan of Humbug, I was quite pleased that they played quite a bit from that LP. Obviously, “Fluorescent” and “I Bet” got everyone going like Chris said. The slower jams were pretty awesome in their own right. So yeah, great shit. This was a great show, but there were some things that prevented it from being among the best. Also, fuck the Boston Herald. They called the Arctics performance “lukewarm.” Huh?

Set-List

    1. Dance Little Liar
    2. Brianstorm
    3. This House Is A Circus
    4. Still Take You Home
    5. Potion Approaching
    6. Red Right Hand [Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds Cover]
    7. My Propeller
    8. Crying Lightning
    9. Catapult
    10. The View From The Afternoon
    11. I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor
    12. Cornerstone
    13. If You Were There, Beware
    14. Pretty Visitors 
    15. Do Me A Favour
    16. Fluorescent Adolescent / Last Christmas
      Encore:
    17. Secret Door
    18. 505

Glen’s comments, which should be highly valued, will be arriving shortly…

Chris

Art, Entertainment, Music

Arctic Monkeys H & E

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Hopes: I hope they open with hey hey, we’re the Monkees… oh wait, wrong Monkeys lol. I hope the British boys play all of my favorite tracks of course, most of which appear on Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I Am Not. My favorite AM number is “Riot Van,” so I strongly wish they perform this, even though it is highly unlikely. “Teddy Picker,” “Secret Door,” and “Cornerstone,” would be more than nice as well. Lastly, I want this to be one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen, over an hour of rockin rolling, and placed in my top 10.

Expectations: I expect that they will play “The View From the Afternoon,” “I Bet You Look Good On the Dance Floor,” and maybe one other off Whatever… I anticipate that they will play “Fluorescent Adolescent” and a few other tracks from Favourite Worst Nightmare. Most of the songs will come from their latest release, Humbug/. They will play for about an hour and it will be a great show in my top 15.

Chris