The Concerts Thread

[TGM]

Before today, the furthest I ever traveled specifically to see a show was in 2007 from Florida to Detroit to attend Wrestlemania 23. Needless to say, traveling from Florida to LA to see BABYMETAL live at The Forum far surpasses that.

[TGM]

Before today, the furthest I ever traveled specifically to see a show was in 2007 from Florida to Detroit to attend Wrestlemania 23. Needless to say, traveling from Florida to LA to see BABYMETAL live at The Forum far surpasses that.

Just posted my account of this experience, if anyone's interested: http://cwiddop.blogspot.com/2019/10/...ve-review.html

[bac0n]

I'm sure everybody here had their own way of keeping their hope alive as they struggled through the isolation of Covid and how it shut down (and continues to shut down) everything. For me, one of the main things to sustain me during that rough time was the thought that some day I would once again see live music, and oh, how lovely that will be.

Well, as it turned out, that someday finally happened last weekend, when the wifey & I attended Hinterland music festival, located about 20 minutes south of Des Moines. And, my god, it felt SO GODDAMN GOOD to be hearing live music again, and better yet, outdoor live music. Here are some highs and lows.



Friday:

Old Crow Medicine Show - man, if you could bottle the energy this band brought to stage, you could power Jeff Bezos' space penis all the way to Mars and still have enough gas left in the tank to get back. They also had the best cover of the festival with their rockabilly take on The Beastie Boys' You Gotta Fight For Your Right to Party.

Saturday:

Paul Cauthen - when a fella comes out singing in a deep booming baritone about being stuck in the clink for selling "the devil's lettuce", you know you are in for a good time. If Johnny Cash and "Macho Man" Randy Savage had a kid, it would be a lot like Paul Cauthen.

Sunday:

Charley Crockett (pictured above) - were you ever at a music festival or listening to the radio when a song or artist you never heard before comes on, and suddenly everything else is pushed out of your mind and you can't do anything else but pay attention, jaw agape? Well that's what happened when Charley swaggered on stage, and from the first strum of his gee-tar, dressed in his rodeo best, he had us all in the palm of his hand. Just a rootin' tootin' shit shootin' honkeytonkin' good time. Every Hinterland I go to, I come out with a new obsession. First one was Tyler Childers, second was Colter Wall. This one was Charley Crockett.

Kruanghbin - this Texas trio gets the award for coolest act of the night. Was a lot more psychadelic than I was expecting from a band I usually have on to chill the mood out a little. The main thing I was marveling at (apart from the bassist - yikes) was just how much sound they could squeeze out of just a guitar, a bass, and a 7-piece drumset.

Other Great Performances

Yola
Probably the artist I was most excited about, and she brought the goods. And the pipes. My god can she belt out a tune.

Tyler Childers
I was introduced to Tyler at the first Hinterland I went to, back in 2018. He was an opening act then, and now, a few short years later, here he is headlining. Most striking about his performance, is how cleaned up he looks now that he's sober. Gone is the flannel, the scraggly beard and the haggard eyes, replaced with a clean shaved face, short hair, and a neatly pressed bright blue shirt, the kind you would wear to church. The music, however, is good as it ever was, which is what counts.

Leon Bridges
He was awesome, of course, but then, no surprises here. He's Leon Motherfucking Bridges.

Orville Peck
He wears a mask with frills, so of course I'm in. Definitely brought a stage presence surpassed perhaps only by Leon Motherfucking Bridges, and his cover of Born This Way was pretty sweet. I have a feeling I woulda enjoyed it a lot more if I would have known his songs better; it feels as if all of his songs are meant to be sung along with.

The Avett Brothers
These guys are darlings of the local alternative station, and I for awhile was pretty lukewarm to them, to be honest, but admittedly, that's how I felt about Dawes before I saw them live at the last Hinterland, so I figured, the same might hold true for The Avetts. I was right. Their cover of Harry Belafonte's Jump in the Line was awesome.

Lows

Kids at the Show
Yeah, a lot of people brought young, and (presumably) unvaccinated kids to the event. One person had an infant, weeks old, for fucks sake. I wanted to smack them. I don't care if it was outside, I don't care that most of the people (again, presumably) were vaccinated. It is impossible to think that there wasn't covid there. There were 16000 people crammed into a five acre area, tops, and hardly a mask to be seen. Fucking irresponsible, if you ask me.

long lines for everything
I'm hoping that Hinterland comes up with some way to get more food and beer token vendors in there. It took me 45 minutes waiting in line on Sunday to get a sandwhich, causing me to miss the entire set of one of the musicians.

shitheads
Of course there are gonna be a lot of people making bad decisions, but, WOW, Darwin Award candidates were in force . It was super hot (90+ degrees) most days, humid to boot (95% on Sunday), and Saturday & Sunday saw the doors open at 11:00, so that by the time the headliners came on stage, we're talking more than 10 hours being outside in that. And from the looks of it, there were plenty of people drinking alcohol that entire time instead of water, which is what they should have been drinking.

On Saturday, I saw one drunk tumble almost all the way down a hill, landing on a few concert goers as he went. On Sunday, tho, they really came out in force. Right in the middle of Leon Motherfucking Bridges' set, a lady, couldn't have been older than 22 or 23, just dropped to the concrete like a sack of potatoes, not 10 feet from me. I was flipping to eagle scout mode when fortunately, some medical professionals arrived and got her out and onto a gurney.

Maybe 10 minutes later and, great, some drunk kid is trying to hoist his equally drunk girlfriend onto his shoulders, that's gonna end well. Fortunately about half way into lifting her up, rational thought kicked in, and he let her down again.

But, fortunately, the lows were insignificant compared to the highs. All in all, it was a great experience. Can't wait until next year.

[bac0n]

Riot Fest, the best value in music festivals, dropped their lineup this morning, and it has me helluva excited.



Bob Vylan & The Descendents on the same day? Yes, please.

[Idioteque Stalker]

If I were to go, the can't-miss shows would be:

Friday: Jeff Rosenstock, Algiers
Saturday: Bauhaus, Mannequin Pussy
Sunday: YYYs, Ice Cube, NIN

That right there would be a solid weekend. Tylenol required.

[Ezee E]

I need to see NIN while I still have time.

[bac0n]

I need to see NIN while I still have time.

This'll be my 6th or 7th Riot Fest, and almost without fail we have either bailed early on the headliner or skipped entirely, so as not to be competing with thousands of other concertgoers for a Lyft when we all pour out of Douglas Park at once. I will make a rare exception for NIN.

[[ETM]]

Rage Against The Machine (and Run The Jewels) are playing in Zagreb, Croatia, in September. I so wish I could plan that far ahead.