Information Leafblower: Photos Archives

Photos Archives

Page 8 of 20
,

History

| |

Last night I had the pleasure of watching D.C. United's Jaime Moreno bury a penalty kick to become the MLS leader in career goals with 109. Oh, and United beat the Red Bulls 3-1. Pretty sweet.

Last year at Virgin Festival, the Scissor Sisters - and act I wasn't all that familiar with - surprised me by turning in the best set of the day, instantly making me a fan. This year's surprise best set was from Velvet Revolver. Considering the people that make up the band, perhaps my expectations should have been higher, but they totally blew me away. I quite liked the V Fest line-up, but it was short of rock - and rock stars (sorry Billy Corgan, you don't count) - and VR delivered both. I would go see them again without hesitation.

More photos from the 2007 Virgin Festival:
Modest Mouse
LCD Soundsystem
Amy Winehouse
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Interpol
Wu Tang Clan

Yesterday I did two things I never thought I'd do.
1) Took a trip to Nissan Pavilion
2) Saw Linkin Park and My Chemical Romance

Ask any college aged D.C.-area local and I'm sure they can tell you a sob story about the legendary traffic backups getting to and from Nissan Pavilion, which is all the way out in Bristow, VA. But the scheduling and set times of yesterday's show negated any traffic concerns I had, so out to Bristow I went.

As for the show, I actually liked Linkin Park much more than I thought I would, although after sitting through the crap that came before them, any band worth it's salt would stand out with no problem.

Julien-K was boring, MOR rock-electronica, the kind that gets played on the radio once every five years and then disappears without a trace (God Lives Underwater and Gravity Kills say "hi"). Taking Back Sunday was all shouting, with nary a hook or melody to be had. My Chemical Romance was Queen without the payoff. Great show but nothing there. Only Placebo did anything to impress me, and their hits are very samey.

LP put on a fine show, at least what I saw of it. I left after 5 or 6 songs in order to beat the traffic home and start editing photos. They were engaging, and at least had some hooks for people to sing along to.

If you want more, be sure to check out Martin's review for DCist.

Three thoughts on Marrdest Mouse:
1) They were better than I thought they'd be, but still not my thing. But still...Johnny Marr!
2) Johnny Marr is not much taller than me, but his hands are huge!
3) I stood about two feet from Johnny Marr and David Beckham in the same week. Awesome.

,

SuperLiga2-1088.jpg

Superliga1-0512.jpg

Awesome, awesome piece in El WaPo today on some of the D.C. United fan groups and the role they play at every home game. I know some of you out of town readers don't quite get the whole D.C. United/MLS thing, which is why I highly recommend you read the article (and check out the accompanying multimedia extras that go along with it). I was never a big MLS guy until I moved here, but going to all these United games the last two years have really converted me. I can honestly say I'd be going even if I wasn't taking photos. They are so much fun, the stadium is full of cheer and energy even though it's only half full. The three D.C. United fan groups, La Barra Brava, La Norte and The Screaming Eagles are a huge part of that. It's impossible to sit near them and not join in with all the chanting and revelry.

UnitedvFire-4133.jpg

UnitedvFire-4144.jpg

Here's the choice quote:

The Barra Brava works how America is supposed to work," says Conner, a recreation coordinator for Culpeper County, Va. "It's a great melting pot. We have 27 different nationalities there now. We have guys from Africa, we have guys from Europe, and South America, which is obviously our roots that we want to hold on to. What we want to be is the standard for American hard-core support."

UnitedvRedBull-0366.jpg

IMG_8269.JPG

United takes on the L.A. Galaxy in the SuperLiga semifinals tonight at 10 p.m. ET. A win and they host Pachuca, who beat the Houston Dynamo last night, at RFK on August 29th! Vamos United!

Other than Velvet Revolver (photos coming, I promise) the other consensus pick for "Best Set of the Weekend" at the 2007 Virgin Festival went to LCD Soundsystem. Not exactly surprising, as their sound is made for a festival setting (even when they're on at 5 in the afternoon). You need energy and uptempo songs to win over festival crowds and LCD has both is spades.

They're touring with the Arcade Fire in September.

Just Press Play has a special Soulwax / LCD remix and Rewritable Content has the forthcoming LCD single "Someone Great."

Lastly, LCD did a live set for KCRW last night.

More photos from the 2007 Virgin Festival:
Amy Winehouse
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Interpol
Wu Tang Clan


She's just been hospitalized for "exhaustion," so I guess there's no time like the present to post these Amy Winehouse photos from the 2007 Virgin Festival. I was less than impressed with her set, she seemed like she was really out if it. During the second song of her set, she pulled her mic out of the mic stand and disconnected the mic cable while doing so. I have never seen that happen before at a show.

[MP3] Amy Winehouse | Rehab (Hot Chip Remix)

,

If you've ever wanted to look at way too many photos of David Beckham on the bench before his first ever MLS game and also at the post game press conference, you've come to the right place. There were about 50 photographers in attendance last night, roughly two or three times the number that usually show up to United games. Noobs. Naturally, all of them were training their equipment on Becks. When he took his seat on the bench for pre game introductions, everyone surrounded him and shot him for a good ten minutes. Just Becks sitting there (as you can see above). The whole thing was a bit surreal. It was like the game was secondary.

United won by the way.

I didn't see much of the Yeah Yeah Yeah's performance at V Fest (had to run and get a good spot for the Wu) but I liked what I saw. I can take or leave the music, but the group is fun to watch and Karen O is usually good for one or two awesome photos per set. Here's mine.

Other V Fest photo sets:
Interpol
Wu Tang Clan

[MP3] Yeah Yeah Yeahs | Maps (Peel Session)
[MP3] Yeah Yeah Yeahs | Gold Lion (Nick Zinner Mix)

I generally liked Interpol's performance at V Fest. They came on stage and played a slowie that had the fans scratching their heads (they wanted to rock!), but the set picked up from there. Mostly because they played a lot of songs from their debut record. Still, they sounded great plugged into that huge sound system. The guitars were crisp and Paul Bank's voice was totally on point. Overall, I was impressed, but I still am in no hurry to get their new record.

[MP3] Interpol | Slow Hands (Britt Daniel remix)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20