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CatPita coined the nifty little phrase of "concert nirvana" (which I have borrowed when needed) for those shows that hit you right in the gut and make you think that you couldn't imagine being anywhere else on the planet at that very moment. I reached that moment during just the second song of Spiritualized's incredibly brilliant set at the 9:30 Club on Friday.
After the chaotic drone of "You Lie You Cheat" abruptly segued into "Shine A Light" (my second favorite Spiritualized song - behind everyone's favorite) I lost myself for a moment as the two back-up singers gave their all to the song's gospel tinged background vocals. It was a moment, one you don't normally get 10 minutes into a gig. Off the top of my head, I can only think of one other time it has happened any earlier in a set, in 2000 when the Super Furry Animals opened with "Smokin'" at the Bowery Ballroom, the only time I've ever seen them open a set with that song, which they rarely play. But I digress...
I tend to go hot and cold on Spiritualized. I love Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space (who doesn't) but their live CD and more recent work doesn't do much for me. I think Friday's show was the first time I've truly seen the band properly do their thing and while it wasn't necessarily a sight to behold (as you'd probably imagine, the band is quite stationary. J Spaceman stands on one side of the stage facing his band, never the audience) it was pure sonic bliss. I also realized you have to listen to the band at neighbor-annoying volume to truly appreciate what they are capable of. Which brings me to my next point. The sound for the show was quite possibly the best I have ever heard at the 9:30. Perfect in every way. You could feel the bass in your chest, but also hear each and every whisper from the vocals.
The best part of all of this is you don't have to take my word for it, you can listen to the show on NPR. You can also see all of my photos on Prefixmag.com.
It's a shame NPR didn't record The Dirtbomb's opening set. They were straight fire. Both The Future Ms. Leaf and I were dragging when we got to the club, so their uptempo garage rock stylings were just what the doctor ordered to shake us out of our doldrums. I was texting myself song titles to go buy from iTunes when I got home. The band doesn't have many tricks up their sleeve, but they do what they do very well.
Here are a few other photos from last weekend's Whartscape festivities. You can, of course, see more over at Pitchfork.
No rest for the weary this weekend. I'm (very excited about) shooting Spiritualized at the 9:30 Club tonight (you can listen on NPR), ditto for the Rock The Bells Tour at Merriweather on Sunday. Check out this lineup! A Tribe Called Quest, Nas, Mos Def, The Pharcyde, De La Soul, Rakim, Method Man & Redman, Raekwon & Ghostface, Immortal Technique, Dead Prez, Murs, Spankrock, Wale, Santogold, Jay Electronica, B.O.B., Kidz in the Hall, Amanda Blank.
Jeezy Creezy!
Whartscape photos:
Parts & Labor
Killer Whales
Jana Hunter
Grand Buffet
Future Islands
And, of course, Dan Deacon
3 days, 28 bands and about 1800 photos later, the first festival of the summer is in the books. I can't show you much at this point (that will be revealed later today) but I will say that Whartscape 2008 was both bigger and better than last year. The focus of the festival this year was on the outdoor shows, which were held in an alley between two buildings last year. This year they held them in a parking lot on W North Ave and had three separate stages going on throughout the day. It was a run very smoothly (they even added a food vendor this year), although the sound was a bit shaky on Saturday due to the power generators continually giving out. There were only so many mic stands to go around, so when one set was over, someone would run them over to the next stage and then the next band could begin.
It will be interesting to see who breaks out of this pack of bands. Last year's Whartscape featured Yeasayer (very first band on the bill, I am pretty sure I missed them but have to go back and check), High Places (who I loved), Spank Rock, Beach House and, of course, Dan Deacon.
Bands I enjoyed this year: Killer Whales (had this funky, Primus thing going on), DD/MM/YYYY (very percussion heavy), Future Islands (my boys from the North Cackalack, currently B'more residents), The Death Set (lots of fun although they play to an iPod) and my favorite band of the entire weekend, Mae Shi. They were full of the manic energy that the Wham City kids get off so furiously on, but unlike most of the other bands there, they had the hooks and show to go along with it.
And hey, lookee there. They are at the Velvet Lounge tonight. I am seriously thinking about going.
Also, on the way up to Baltimore on Friday, as I was going over the line-up in my head, figuring out who I was going to shoot, etc., I realized there weren't any D.C. bands on the bill. I found out why when I got to the 2640 Space and went to the ticket booth/table. I handed them my ID and the girl at the desk said, "Arlington, huh?" and then went out of her way to roll her eyes at me. I guess that answers my question.
**UPDATE** My photos of Whartscape 2008 are up on Pitchfork now.
Made my first trip out to For Reno last night to see The City Veins for the first time since I invited them to open up for Robbers on High Street. Rain had threatened us all day but it actually turned out to be a lovely night and Aaron, Charles and Spencer played a great set, throwing in a Nirvana cover to boot.
Early on a few people in our group pointed out two very recognizable faces belonging to Ian Mackaye and the one and only Theodore Francis Leo hanging out on the fringes of the crowd.
Even though I said otherwise at the time, I ended up going to say hi to Ted before we left. I figured the chance might not come around again for a while. He's just as gracious and polite as you would expect. We chatted briefly about the Pearl Jam tour, he said it was a lot of fun and he and the band were treated very well. I also asked him about the new songs he played during those shows and he said some tracking had been done on a few songs but there was still a bunch of work to be done as far as his next record. I put in a vote for my favorite record producer and then quickly said my goodbyes. He was chatting with Ian (who was there with baby in tow) so I didn't want to take up too much of his time.
All in all a pretty good night!
[mp3] The City Veins | Boy Makes Good
The City Veins are at the Black Cat next Tuesday with City Riots and The Dig.
I've always wondered why my photos are able to be RSS'ed out to other sites for them to display even though my settings clearly say ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Going forward, nothing is going up on Flickr that isn't watermarked.
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David Beckham and the LA Galaxy were in town yesterday, but D.C. United dispatched them 4-1 at RFK Stadium. I'm going to watch the TV broadcast tonight or tomorrow to see if I made it on TV. I actually hope I didn't, I had towels and all sort of shit draped on my head because of the heat. Not exactly the cutting edge of fashion if you know what I mean.
Best part of the game, hands down, was the return of Ben Olsen! More shots of him kicking the ball with his tongue out! It's about time.
Taking photos in the mid-day sun is unbelievably difficult. There are different lighting conditions all over the field and the shadows are really tough to deal with. I did OK, but it's not something I want to do again any time soon. Give me a game under the lights any time.
More photos of Beckham (including a topless one for all of you ladies) after the jump.
I had the best birthday weekend ever, if I do say so myself. After arriving in NYC, we hustled over to 52nd and 5th, where I scored a retro Celtics championship shirt at the NBA store, shortly before a very satisfying, although by no means socks knockingoff, performance by My Morning Jacket at Radio City Music Hall. They're close but not quite their yet as far as playing big venues. They are missing that last little bit, where they can make a big place feel real tiny. I was also a bit disappointed they didn't do anything special for the show, like break out the hula dancers or something. The new stuff off of Evil Urges sounded great though. We also had an early dinner with young Jbergs, a class act if there ever was one and who's work I have admired for quite some time. Can't wait until he's running the photo department at Rolling Stone, maybe then I can find some work.
After the MMJ show, we headed out to Billysburg to see Teddy Thompson at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. It's amazing what they've done with the former Northsix space. It's all shiny and new and basically a smaller Bowery Ballroom. Very nice. Teddy was sort of a more guitar-focused Rufus Wainwright.
We started Saturday out at MOMA, taking in Olafur Eliasson's spectacular Take Your Time exhibit / collection, and it was top notch. A gelato in the Sculpture Garden was even better.
Later we tooled around SoHo, checked out the former CBGB's space (now a John Varvatos store) and then saw the Morrison Hotel's brilliant collection of rock photography by Bob Gruen. Some incredible stuff there. His shots of The Clash were very inspiring.
After that we hopped across the street to catch the second half of the Netherlands loss to Russia in a very crowded Irish bar full of ex-pats from the Netherlands (watching football in NYC is the best!) and then meet some friends for dinner.
Sunday we hustled home to take down my Artomatic photos before heading to the Pearl Jam gig. I left before the second encore and got home around 11:30. Finally made it to bed around 2 A.M. or so after editing photos. Then I worked until 8:30 last night.
Whew.
Now on to San Fran. Back to 505 and all that. Mr. Pink is not very happy with me right now.
PS - You better believe I'm making a trip here while I am there.
Read my full review over at DCist. Definitely one of the best PJ shows I have ever seen. Really intense and the crowd was amazing. Just as good as the band actually.
I respect Pearl Jam a great deal. Even more so after signing their photo waiver, which basically makes you fill in your name and publication and says "Our crew is working while you take photos. Listen to what they say, stay out of their way if they ask you to and have fun." Respect.
E-mail friend Ted Leo was awesome too. Obvs. He played some killer new songs. Can't wait to hear the recorded versions. The next album is already soundin' pretty good.
Full photo gallery after the jump.
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