One of the best parts of working in Times Square was the super easy to access to a lot of concerts. When I learned that Latina was moving to a new office space, outside of Times Square, I immediately realized that I probably wouldn’t be going to shows as often as I have been for the past few years. It’s not like it’s terribly inconvenient being a few subway stops away or anything, I’ll just have to pay attention to who is playing where from now on; No more walking down the street for lunch and seeing a schedule of shows.
Once I learned that Streetlight Manifesto was playing a show less than 2 blocks away from the office, I literally ran down 42nd Street to get tickets. I probably looked like a kid on Christmas morning while walking back to work, with a grin from ear to ear, knowing that the last show I’d catch while working in the area would be a great one…
Every time 311 releases an album, a friend named Eli and I end up discussing it online. We’ve been doing this ever since Soundsystem was released in 1999. We bitch about the album constantly for about a month, leading up to a somewhat incoherent rant or two, and eventually decide the album was great about 2 years later. We’ve never met in person and know each other from back in our AOL programming days in the mid-90′s. You know, back when Kill™ and Stealth were runnin’ the game. For those of you who have any idea of what that means (and those who do,) stop laughing at me and read the rest of the post.
Toots & The Maytals are playing over at B.B. King’s in Times Square in just over two weeks! I may have missed out on grabbing tickets for 311‘s show in the city this summer, but all of these other shows are totally making up for it.
Reel Big Fish’s performance was amazing, as expected. Their typical interweaving of humor and random banter during their performance kept everything moving at a swift pace. They started their set three separate times. The first was a failed (later to be revealed as scripted) attempt at a cover of A-Ha’s Take On Me, the second was a complete performance of the same song, and the third involved dimming the lights and running on to stage (as they did for both attempts at Take On Me), except they played Another Version Of You instead. I tried to explain it all to a coworker the next day, managed to confuse myself in the process, and ended up getting a Snickers bar instead.
Reel Big Fish and The English Beat are playing NY’s Nokia Theatre this Thursday evening.
I was practically tortured for going to RBF’s last local peformance, and neglecting to tell my friend Kat about the show, so she’ll be coming along this time. Hopefully she’ll totally forget about not going to their last show. I’ll be watching my back though, she’s sneaky and surprisingly strong.
Ok – I must really be living under a rock or something. I just found out that Poison The Well is headlining the 10 for $10 Hardcore Summer Tour this summer. The show consists of Madball, Poison the Well, Terror, Vision, This is Hell, Death Before Dishonor, Trapped Under Ice, The Ghost Inside, War of Ages and Long Island’s own Crime in Stereo… All for 10 bucks! Speaking of Long Island, be sure to check out the Vinne Caruana’s guided tour of my hood in the August issue of Alternative Press.
I haven’t seen Poison The Well live since they were on tour with Deftones back in 2003 and really want to go, but have a feeling that I’m going to be completely exhausted from the Reel Big Fish/English Beat show from the night before. Oh the hell with it, I’m going!
Streetlight Manifesto played at a bar right in my neighborhood last Sunday. Their performance was amazing – much better than their performance at Roseland back in January, even with some technical difficulties. Being in a small venue, placing me less than 15 feet away from the stage even while being in the back of the performance area, made for a great view of the stage. I managed to get a few great clips to share with the World Wide Internets:
The Aquabats were recently released from their contract with Nitro Records. This is a huge disappointment, especially considering the amount of activity that has been coming from them over the past couple of years. There was the special one-year anniversary edition of Charge!!, Yo!, Check Out this Ride, Christian Jacobs’ involvement with Yo Gabba Gabba, The Aquabats Super Show, as well as a few club tours.
If they ever come to your town or anywhere nearby, go see them. You won’t regret it. Their live show is absolutely crazy, and it’s sometimes harder to tell just who is crazier – the band or their fans. I’ve seen people dressed up as spartans, Mr. T, huge banannas and other things at their shows.
I went to go see God of Carnage with a couple of friends last night. The show was absolutely fantastic! James Gandolfini had the crowd falling apart with his character’s mob references in how he made his kid’s hamster “disappear” and his childhood gang talks with Jeff Daniels. Hope Davis’ character’s vomiting all over the set was a bit much, but certainly broke up the long dialog it followed. Marcia Gay Harden really looked like she was giving James’ character a serious beating at one point, and she flung herself at him like she was going for blood!
The tickets were a bit pricey, and I think that I ended up getting a little more than I paid for…
Streetlight Manifesto/Reel Big Fish @ Roseland Ballroom
Wednesday, January 21st, 2009 //0 comments
Streetlight Manifesto and Reel Big Fish played in celebration of RBF’s new album at the Roseland Ballroom in NYC last night. I haven’t been to Roseland since 311 and Jimmie’s chicken shack played there back in 2000. It seemed a lot larger back then.
The opening act was Tip the Van. We didn’t make it in time to see their performance and were totally kicking ourselves after seeing 1/2 of the band get on stage and perform “She Has a Girlfriend Now” with Reel Big Fish. Tip the Van is an absolute must-see when they are back in the area.
I’ve never been all that in to Streetlight Manifesto, but that’s completely changed since last night. I had no idea they were as good as they are. I guess they’re just one of those bands I needed to see live. The sound in Roseland completely sucks, but their performance was still incredible. The four guys on the horns, especially their trumpet player, were great and always gave each other the chance to shine. I honestly don’t think I’ve seen musicians up on stage having as much fun as those guys were having last night. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any clips of their performance.
Reel Big Fish’s performance was awesome. There was so much energy in the room; everyone was dancing and having a good time. There was the occasional shoe or something being thrown around but hey, that’s the pool tax. If you’re gonna swim in the pool, there’s a price to pay. I’m just happy there weren’t any pants flying in the air or banannas being peeled like at the Aquabats show back in November!
They played a good mix of old songs and some of the covers off of their new album.
You can check out a bunch of additional videos on my Youtube channel.
Reel Big Fish closed the show with two great songs; Sell Out and a cover of A-Ha’s Take on Me. The only part of the night I regret is not being able to get further in to the crowd during RBF’s performance. Having spent the past 3 weeks in a knee brace, I figured I’d try not to do anything stupid and keep it off for a while.
All in all, this was one of the best concerts I’ve been to in the past couple of years. The crowd was huge, the music was great, and the overall vibe in the place was positive. I really hope that all of this is a sign of a resurgence of Ska. New Reel Big Fish album, The Aquabats are working on a new release, the Ska is Dead tour is going strong. What’s next? Maybe Obama will wear a checkered fedora hat while in office?
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome.
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