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STS9 take over The Bellwether in LA for two nights to celebrate 20 years of ‘Artifact’ & the release of their new album ‘Human Dream’

November 28, 2025 by Josh Herwitt Leave a Comment

STS9 with Thought Process (Night 1), Random Rab (Night 2) //
The Bellwether – Los Angeles
November 21st-22nd, 2025 //

What do you get when you combine the sounds of rock ‘n’ roll, electronic music, funk, jazz, drum and bass, psychedelia and hip-hop all into one band?

Well, that’s the kind of music Sound Tribe Sector 9 (STS9) have been creating for almost 30 years now.

The Georgia-bred, Northern California-based quintet made up of Hunter Brown (guitars, keyboards), David Phipps (keyboards, synthesizers, programming), Zach Velmer (drums, electronic percussion, programming), Jeffree Lerner (percussion, keyboards, programming) and Alana Rocklin (bass) has garnered a loyal following in the jam scene over that span thanks to its live performances, regularly evoking more than just one adjective to accurately describe them.

Words such as “electrifying”, “dynamic,” “groovy” and “immersive” immediately come to my mind when I reflect on my previous experiences seeing STS9 that included a couple of two-night runs at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in the early 2010’s with some impressive support — from hip-hop legend Snoop Dogg to more electronic-focused acts like Thievery Corporation, Ghostland Observatory and Big Gigantic. There were a number of subsequent visits to The Wiltern too, which had become a favorite venue in LA for the outfit to book when it came through my hometown.

But considering it had been a while since the last time I saw STS9 onstage and plenty has changed for the five-piece, I couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity to reacquaint myself after a long layoff with two shows at The Bellwether and the first falling on the same day that its new LP Human Dream would be released.

There was actually even more of a reason to celebrate STS9’s return to the City of Angels in more than six years — before the COVID-19 pandemic rocked the world, completely upending the entertainment and music industries — with 2025 marking the 20th anniversary of their seminal album Artifact, which reached as high as No. 12 on the Billboard chart for Top Electronic Albums.

Opening only more than two years ago as one of LA’s newest music venues, The Bellwether has quickly become a welcome addition in one of the world’s biggest entertainment capitals that has no shortage of options when it comes to hosting and presenting live music. We have witnessed several concerts across a variety of genres — from heavy metal and alternative rock to New Orleans funk and now livetronica — inside the multi-level, 1,600-capacity room (read our venue review here) that Prince purchased back in the 90’s to serve as his purple-shaded Grand Slam palace and can say assertively Michael Swier and Gregg Perloff have already turned the 45,000-square-foot property into one of the city’s best for its size.

Along those lines, what made this latest LA stand a little extra special in addition to the aforementioned was the grand opening of The Bellwether’s brand-new space Camille’s on Saturday for those who were looking to keep the party going past midnight with more dancing after STS9 had played their final notes for the weekend and left us awestruck by their perpetual laser light show.

Tribe fans in attendance, which included some who traveled from out of town, certainly seemed pleased with what unfolded as the group mixed and matched offerings primarily from Artifact and Human Dream, with the former bookending Friday’s gig that also boasted the live debut of the latter LP’s “Reminisce” by the first set’s midway point. Saturday’s setlist, meanwhile, followed a similar pattern as STS9 alternated between tracks from both albums prior to unleashing live standout “Muir Soul” and an apropos cover of the “Beverly Hills Cop” theme song that had the crowd hooting and hollering as soon as its iconic synth melody kicked in.

STS9’s touring schedule over the past 12 months hasn’t been nearly as rigorous as it used to be, yet with three more dates lined up at Chicago’s Ramova Theatre to ring in the new year and many more slated for 2026, the future remains bright for one of the hardest-working instrumental bands out there.

NOVEMBER 21ST

Setlist:
Set 1
Musical Story, Yes (>)
Strange Games (>)
Somesing
Portal to the Starry Path (>)
Reminisce (live debut) (>)
Real & Imagined
Like I Do (>)
Vibyl
Presence of Light

Set 2
Forest Hu (>)
Never, Never
ReEmergence
Lift You Up (>)
Balancing (>)
It’s Alright (>)
Life’s a Symphony in Unity
It’s Alright
Year Infinity

Encore:
Music, Us

NOVEMBER 22ND

Setlist:
Set 1
Menacer (>)
Peoples (>)
GLASS-Z13 (>)
Peoples
Peachtree
Muir Soul
Dusk
Better Day (second half housey remix)

Set 2
By the Morning Sun
Walk the Sky
Native End (>)
Tokyo
Beverly Hills Cop (Axel F cover)
Big Basin
Shaky Ground
GLOgli

Encore:
Today

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Photos Tagged With: Axel F, Big Gigantic, Ghostland Observatory, Ramova Theatre, Random Rab, Red Rocks, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Red Rocks Park & Amphitheatre, Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre, Snoop Dogg, Sound Tribe Sector 9 (STS9), STS9, The Bellwether, Thievery Corporation, Thought Process

Grammy winners Portugal. The Man deliver their love letter to Alaska at The Wiltern with Electric Guest, Hanni El Khatib as special guests

November 24, 2025 by The Bam Team Leave a Comment

By Melissa Herwitt //

Portugal. The Man with Ya Tseen //
The Wiltern – Los Angeles
November 16th, 2025 //

Launching a 20-date North American tour to coincide with the release of their 10th studio album Shish this fall, Grammy-winning indie rockers Portugal. The Man made sure their message of embracing your local community and the artists who shape it was heard loud and clear when they came through LA to headline The Wiltern for the first time in 12 years.

Divided into acts, the group’s performance featured most of Shish during Act I prior to beginning Act II with fan favorites from 2011’s In the Mountain in the Cloud, 2013’s Evil Friends and 2017’s Woodstock. The show’s final stretch saw PTM return after a brief break to play the closing tracks off Shish for Act III and end the evening on a high with the LP’s gritty finale “Father Gun” that had Swiss Army knife Hanni El Khatib on guitar and vocalist David Marion joining them.

The “Denali” tour, which PTM have used to perform Shish in full, is frontman John Gourley’s love letter to his home state of Alaska. Inside the historic Art Deco theater, Gourley’s vocals harmonized beautifully with his wife Zoe Manville’s while visuals inspired by Alaska’s wilderness and rebellious spirit as well as Gourley’s own illustrations flashed on the large screen behind the band. The production also spotlighted other Indigenous musicians as part of the “Pass The Mic” initiative from opener Ya Tseen to hip-hop act Xiuhtezcatl, who dropped bars at the end of “Live in the Moment / Once Was One” to close Act II.

Asa Taccone of Electric Guest

Other highlights included a surprise guest (no pun intended) appearance by Asa Taccone of Electric Guest, first for PTM’s hit single “Feel It Still” that he co-produced with Gourley and then to deliver his own in the form of Electric Guest’s “This Head I Hold”. A new tune titled “Dive into the Ocean” got its moment too, providing singer-songwriter Zeeba with a chance past the midway point to show off his Brazilian-American pipes alongside Gourley and Manville.

There were subtle video tributes honoring those who are no longer with us, including the late PTM hype man Chris Black during “So Young” (despite no material from 2023’s Chris Black Changed My Life being explored) and actor/comedian Norm Macdonald, whose face served as the artwork for timekeeper Kane Ritchotte’s bass drum. But a poignant rendition of “Tanana”, which offers a sobering take on the “murder in the news” from 2014 that left two Alaska State Troopers killed, we heard in Act III underscored the real reason for the song’s chart-rising success.

Although the “Denali” tour marked PTM’s first without the original Lords of Portland crew we had come to love as longtime fans, a mostly female cast of sidekicks and Marion’s often humorous, yet animated presence brought a dose of fresh energy to the stage. It’s clear their collective activism has led them to create and sustain important causes like the Frances Changed My Life fund for not only their daughter who has been diagnosed with an extremely rare genetic disease, but also others across the community, proving that even as the husband-and-wife project with only two permanent members now continues to grow and evolve, its heart and core intentions remain firmly intact more than two decades after forming.

Setlist:
Act 1
Denali
Pittman Ralliers (with David Marion)
Angoon
Knik
Shish
Mush
Tyonek
Kokhanockers

Act 2
Got It All (This Can’t Be Living Now)
Senseless
Number One
Noise Pollution
So Young
Purple Yellow Red and Blue
Glide (NEIKED cover)
Dive into the Ocean (with Zeeba) (new song)
Creep in a T-Shirt
Modern Jesus
Feel It Still (with Asa Taccone)
This Head I Hold (Electric Guest cover) (with Asa Taccone)
Live in the Moment / Once Was One (with Xiuhtezcatl Tonatiuh)

Act 3
Created
Tanana
Father Gun (with David Marion & Hanni El Khatib)

Portugal. The Man with Xiuhtezcatl Tonatiuh

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Photos Tagged With: Asa Taccone, Chris Black, David Marion, Electric Guest, Frances Changed My Life, Hanni El Khatib, Norm Macdonald, Pass The Mic, Portugal. The Man, The Wiltern, The Wiltern Theatre, Xiuhtezcatl Tonatiuh, Ya Tseen, Zeeba

Band of Horses, Iron & Wine come together in LA to create a unique evening of indie rock & folk at The Wiltern on their co-headline tour

October 1, 2025 by Josh Herwitt Leave a Comment

Band of Horses

By Josh Herwitt //

Band of Horses & Iron & Wine //
The Wiltern – Los Angeles
September 24th, 2025 //

Ben Bridwell and Sam Beam have been friends for more than three decades.

Growing up not far from each other in South Carolina, music is what brought them together before they went their separate ways. But even 3,000 miles couldn’t keep them apart for too long.

It was Bridwell, in fact, who introduced Beam to Sub Pop Records after moving cross-country to the Seattle area in the late 90’s and subsequently forming Band of Horses. A few years later, Beam was dropping his debut LP The Creek Drank the Cradle under the moniker Iron & Wine on the same label that became instrumental to the grunge movement by signing Nirvana, Soundgarden and Mudhoney.

Bridwell remains the only constant member in Band of Horses, which now operates as a four-piece due to the absence of multi-instrumentalist Ryan Monroe (keyboards, guitar, backing vocals) since the group went on tour earlier this year to play a handful of gigs in Texas and Arkansas that included a stop during South by Southwest at Stubb’s Bar-B-Q.

In spite of BoH’s numerous lineup changes, Bridwell (lead vocals, guitar, pedal steel, keyboards) has carried on with Creighton Barrett (drums, percussion), Matt Gentling (bass, backing vocals) and Brett Nash (guitar, backing vocals) at his side while continuing to collaborate with Beam following the 2015 release of their initial covers album Sing into My Mouth.

Iron & Wine

Now the two singer-songwriters are back with some more recordings of their favorite tunes, this time in the form of an EP titled Making Good Time that arrived less than a couple of weeks prior to the LA date on their co-headline tour spanning 12 U.S. cities mostly on the West Coast over a matter of two weeks.

We have witnessed quite a few concerts at The Wiltern (see our more of our coverage here), but none with chairs set up on the floor. Only the VIP pit area in front of the stage would serve as standing room for this show, with Iron & Wine opening the evening and showcasing offerings from 2024’s Light Verse amid other material across his catalog while being accompanied by a full band. Joining Beam onstage for the final six songs of the set was Bridwell, as they ran through their own renditions of Spiritualized’s “The Straight and the Narrow”, Talking Heads’ “This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)”, Ronnie Lane’s “Done This One Before” and Kendrick Lamar’s chart-topping “luther” featuring SZA that gave us a good chuckle toward the end.

Although the sixth and latest BoH full length Things Are Great came out in 2022, Bridwell took us back to “The First Song” that kicks off their first studio effort Everything All the Time . Cease to Begin singles “No One’s Gonna Love You” and “Is There a Ghost” came early amidst a barrage of other hits such as “The Great Salt Lake”, “Casual Party”, “Laredo” and “Crutch”, yet it was the latter that was preceded by a 50’s rockabilly version of “St. Augustine” we didn’t hear when we caught them at LA’s Greek Theatre with The Revivalists two years ago (see more photos from the show here).

Other highlights coming out of BoH’s performance saw Bridwell and company also dedicating a section of their setlist to several collaborations and covers — from Blaze Foley’s “Clay Pigeons” and J.J. Cale’s epic “Thirteen Days” to Iron & Wine’s and Calexico’s “Dead Man’s Will” off their joint EP In the Reins — with Beam and uncorking the first “How to Live” in 10-plus years shortly thereafter. And of course, we’d be remiss to not mention the final one-two punch of “Ode to LRC” and “The Funeral” that brought many in the crowd to their feet down the homestretch.

Considering the smiles both flashed at certain points, it was apparent Bridwell and Beam were enjoying themselves and cherishing the moment. After all, it’s not often you get to see two established indie acts of this caliber occupying the same space on the same night. Either way, watching them share the stage presented a special opportunity for any live music fan and reminder of how fortunate we are to still be in this position.

BAND OF HORSES

Setlist:
The First Song
NW Apt.
No One’s Gonna Love You
The Great Salt Lake
Is There a Ghost
Cigarettes, Wedding Bands
Casual Party
For Annabelle
Laredo
St. Augustine (1950s rockabilly version)
Crutch
Our Swords
Clay Pigeons (Blaze Foley cover) (with Iron & Wine)
Slow Cruel Hands of Time (with Iron & Wine)
Dead Man’s Will (Iron & Wine and Calexico cover) (with Iron & Wine)
Thirteen Days (J.J. Cale cover) (with Iron & Wine)
The General Specific (with Iron & Wine)
How to Live (first time since 2015)
Ode to LRC
The Funeral

IRON & WINE

Setlist:
On Your Wings
Yellow Jacket
Valentine
House by the Sea
All in Good Time
Communion Cups and Someone’s Coat
Tears That Don’t Matter
Call It Dreaming
Passing Afternoon
Singers and the Endless Song
Sweet Talk
The Straight and the Narrow (Spiritualized cover) (with Ben Bridwell)
This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) (Talking Heads cover) (with Ben Bridwell)
Detlef Schrempf (Band of Horses cover) (with Ben Bridwell)
Done This One Before (Ronnie Lane cover) (with Ben Bridwell)
Upward Over the Mountain (with Ben Bridwell)
luther (Kendrick Lamar cover) (with Ben Bridwell)

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Photos Tagged With: Band of Horses, Ben Bridwell, Blaze Foley, Calexico, Iron & Wine, J.J. Cale, Kendrick Lamar, Mudhoney., Nirvana, Ronnie Lane, Soundgarden, South by Southwest, Spiritualized, Stubb's, Stubb's Bar-B-Q, Sub Pop, Sub Pop Records, SZA, Talking Heads, The Revivalists, The Wiltern, The Wiltern Theatre

Grieving the loss of their former bandmate, Baroness remember the past at a sold-out Lodge Room on the ‘Red & Blue Tour’

September 26, 2025 by Josh Herwitt Leave a Comment

By Josh Herwitt //

Baroness with Weedeater //
Lodge Room – Los Angeles
September 20th, 2025 //

There’s no doubt the past few months have been a tough time for heavy metal after Black Sabbath’s farewell show and Ozzy Osbourne’s subsequent passing over the summer shined a spotlight on the community and brought it closer together.

The impact that both had on music at large will never be forgotten and thus why Osbourne’s death sent shockwaves around the world when it occurred just more than two weeks after he entertained a capacity crowd in his hometown of Birmingham, England.

But unfortunately Ozzy hasn’t been the only loss to hit metalheads and rock fans hard in 2025. Weeks later, Iron Maiden’s original lead singer Paul Mario Day succumbed to his battle with cancer while ex-Mastodon guitarist Brent Hinds was subsequently killed in a motorcycle accident months after parting ways with the Atlanta outfit (and days earlier making some disparaging comments online).

Among these recent tragedies has also been Allen Blickle, who played drums for alt-prog-sludge act Baroness when it formed back in 2003. Another cancer victim, he drummed on the group’s first three LPs and even contributed keyboards to 2012’s Yellow & Green before suffering a fractured vertebrae when the band’s tour bus crashed later that year and calling it quits shortly thereafter.

So despite the tragic news coinciding with the second leg of the “Red & Blue Tour” that Baroness had announced at the start of this year to celebrate their first two studio albums, it felt quite fitting to watch founding member John Baizley (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards, percussion) and his comrades Sebastian Thomson (drums), Nick Jost (bass, keyboards, backing vocals) and shredding partner Gina Gleason (lead guitar, backing vocals) perform music Blickle had a role in creating when the Grammy-nominated quartet rolled through his adopted home of LA for a sold-out gig at Lodge Room.

An opening set by doom-metal trio Weedeater would see frontman Dave “Dixie” Collins getting pretty loose as he held down lead vocals and bass duties in his own unique way, making us wonder at one point how many libations he had consumed prior to taking the stage. Considering it has been 10-plus years since their last full length Goliathan came out, the thought of when we might hear new material from Collins, Dave “Shep” Shepherd (guitar, backing vocals) and Ramzi Ateyeh (drums) undoubtedly crossed my mind too as they touched on all five chapters of their current catalog in 45 minutes.

This evening on summer’s penultimate day, however, would belong to Baroness of course. Inside the Highland Park venue, the anticipation had been building and finally reached a breaking point by 9:15 p.m. when Baizley and company walked onstage to a loud barrage of cheers. From there, Baroness proceeded to do what exactly what they said they would and that meant pounding 2007’s Red Album along with 2009’s Blue Record straight into our earholes.

As a live music fan, I have witnessed my fair share of album tribute shows and though I can’t say I am completely against them, there is something about not knowing which songs we will hear that makes a concert feel special. The element of surprise can never be understated when it comes to experiencing live music and something I don’t take for granted when I see artists switch up their setlists every night.

We have seen Baroness do some of that during their previous visits to the City of Angels — including stops at The Echo (see more photos from the show here) in 2022 and The Bellwether in 2023 not long after it opened (read our venue review here) — yet understand the purpose of this tour wasn’t designed for that. The shock and grief was still too fresh after all, and given the circumstances, you couldn’t help but view the tour as a bigger opportunity for us to remember Baroness’ past in more ways than one (or two). And after hearing Baizley speak candidly about his late friend in between songs, it was impressive to see him rock out as feverishly as he did under the red and blue lighting that continuously flooded the room’s diminutive stage.

Baroness are now two years removed from dropping their sixth album Stone and have developed a loyal following in a matter of two decades. Nevertheless, the chemistry they exhibit onstage is ultimately what makes their performances exhilarating and why their music is best experienced live. Heavy metal might not be as popular as it once was in the 80’s and 90’s, but it has certainly evolved in that span. Because with innovative bands like Baroness still going strong, we can be rest assured there’s no end in sight for one of the most important subgenres in rock ‘n’ roll history.

BARONESS

Setlist:
Set 1 (Red Album)
Rays on Pinion
The Birthing
Isak
Wailing Wintry Wind
Cockroach En Fleur
Wanderlust
Aleph
Teeth of a Cogwheel
O’Appalachia
Grad

Set 2 (Blue Record)
Bullhead’s Psalm
The Sweetest Curse
Jake Leg
Steel That Sleeps the Eye
Swollen and Halo
Ogeechee Hymnal
A Horse Called Golgotha
O’er Hell and Hide
War, Wisdom and Rhyme
Blackpowder Orchard
The Gnashing
Bullhead’s Lament

WEEDEATER

Setlist:
Bull
Hammerhandle
Mancoon
Turkey Warlock
God Luck and Good Speed
Wizard Fight
For Evan’s Sake
$20 Peanut
Dirt Merchant
Jason… The Dragon
Monkey Junction
Time Served
Gimme Back My Bullets (Lynyrd Skynyrd cover)
Weed Monkey

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Photos Tagged With: Baroness, Black Sabbath, Brent Hinds, Iron Maiden, Lodge Room, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Mastodon, Ozzy Osbourne, Paul Mario Day, Weedeater

My Morning Jacket close out their 2025 summer tour in a big way at Hollywood Palladium, Santa Barbara Bowl & Greek Theatre Berkeley

August 29, 2025 by Josh Herwitt 1 Comment

My Morning Jacket - Greek Theatre Berkeley 2025 - Jim James

My Morning Jacket at Greek Theatre Berkeley

By Josh Herwitt //

My Morning Jacket with Melt //
Hollywood Palladium, Santa Barbara Bowl & Greek Theatre – Los Angeles, Santa Barbara & Berkeley
August 19th-20th & 22nd, 2025 //

Is there a better season for live music than summer?

Even if it’s not your favorite season personally, it’s certainly live music’s. With the days long and weather warm, that’s when the industry truly thrives as summer tours and festivals take center stage all across of the world.

And while it doesn’t matter for us what time of the year it is when My Morning Jacket goes on tour, it’s hard to beat seeing the Grammy-nominated quintet perform during the summertime. That often means outdoor venues, and regardless of who’s onstage, there’s always somethings special about taking in a concert under the stars with an unlimited supply of fresh air.

Coming off two stellar performances at the iconic Red Rocks Amphitheatre (read our show review here) the previous weekend in support of their 10th full length is, MMJ headed west to California for the final three dates of their summer tour with NYC indie-soul outfit Melt.

My Morning Jacket - Santa Barbara Bowl 2025 - band

My Morning Jacket at Santa Barbara Bowl

It had been almost exactly two years since Jacket had played in LA during what was a magical evening at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery (read our show review here) after their headlining set at BeachLife Festival in 2024 was abruptly canceled due to high winds (read our festival review here), and with the band designating its already scheduled date at the Hollywood Palladium as one of five shows to honor the 20th anniversary of their fourth LP Z and playing its only indoor one of the summer, it felt like Jim James (lead vocals, guitar), Tom Blankenship (bass), Patrick Hallahan (drums, percussion), Bo Koster (keyboards, percussion, backing vocals) and swiss-army knife Carl Broemel (guitar, pedal steel guitar, saxophone, backing vocals) were intent on making up for lost time without a strict curfew to follow. We were treated to two sets and an encore as a result, with MMJ extending past the 2.5-hour mark thanks to stirring renditions of “Beginning from the Ending”, “Touch Me I’m Going to Scream Pt. 2”, “Where to Begin” and “Spring (Among the Living)”, the latter of which featuring a beautiful hat tip to the late Ozzy Osbourne in the form of a “Mama I’m Coming Home” tag.

Though we wouldn’t hear Z from start to finish the following night, the album still got some play at the picturesque Santa Barbara Bowl as Jacket opened with “Anytime” and brought back the intro jam on “Off the Record” that we fell in love with when we first heard their MMJ Live Vol. 1: Live 2015 release drop in 2022. “Phone Went West” would lead straight into “Only Memories Remain” and serve as an instant highlight, along with is standout “River Road” stretching past eight minutes to jumpstart a four-song encore that also boasted “The Way That He Sings” from 2001’s At Dawn.

Summer tour came to a close more than 300 miles north for my first visit to the Greek Theatre Berkeley, and the Friday night finale proved to be well worth the trek up to the 8,500-person amphitheater. Older tunes such as “X-Mas Curtain”, “Honest Man” and “I Think I’m Going to Hell” that we didn’t happen to hear in either LA or Santa Barbara made it into the setlist, as well as the trippy “Still Thinkin” off 2020’s The Waterfall II and the live debut of John Lennon’s “Love” around the midway point. But easily one of the biggest surprises came on the other side of the encore break as the group uncorked Evil Urges cut “Librarian” for just the second time this year and eventually treated us to some “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin” before it was all said and done — because a MMJ show in the Bay Area wouldn’t be complete without a little Sly & the Family Stone of course.

James and his sidekicks will return to the road for the third leg of “My Morning Jacket ‘is’ On Tour” this fall, and although we don’t have plans (or the funds quite honestly) to follow one of our favorite live acts around the country for a few weeks, it wouldn’t take much to convince us otherwise. That’s how good it feels to bathe in MMJ’s music whenever they turn on the lights, plug in and melt minds, compelling us to travel considerable lengths to witness each of their three California shows in a span of four days. In the meantime, here’s hoping we don’t have to wait as long before we get to experience it again.

AUGUST 19TH – HOLLYWOOD PALLADIUM

Setlist:
Set 1 (Z)
Wordless Chorus
It Beats 4 U
Gideon
What a Wonderful Man
Off the Record
Into the Woods
Anytime
Lay Low
Knot Comes Loose
Dondante

Set 2
Beginning From the Ending
Touch Me I’m Going to Scream Pt. 1
Die for It
Holdin on to Black Metal (with Veronica Stewart-Frommer)
Mahgeetah
Time Waited
Everyday Magic
Circuital
Touch Me I’m Going to Scream Pt. 2

Encore:
Where to Begin
Spring (Among the Living) (with “Mama I’m Coming Home” and “Dear Prudence” tags)
Dancefloors

Editors’ Note: “Z” 20th anniversary show.

AUGUST 20TH – SANTA BARBARA BOWL

Setlist:
Anytime
I Can Hear Your Love
Circuital
Lemme Know
Mahgeetah
Golden (with Veronica Stewart-Frommer)
Run It
Half a Lifetime
Evil Urges
Here in Spirit (Jim James song) (with Veronica Stewart-Frommer)
Phone Went West (>)
Only Memories Remain
Wordless Chorus
Off the Record (included intro jam)
Squid Ink
Smokin’ From Shootin’
Touch Me I’m Going to Scream Pt. 2

Encore:
River Road
I’m Amazed
The Way That He Sings
One Big Holiday

AUGUST 22ND – GREEK THEATRE BERKELEY

Setlist:
Out in the Open
X-Mas Curtain
Lay Low
Honest Man
Time Waited
Still Thinkin
Everyday Magic
Least Expected
Gideon
Love (John Lennon cover) (live debut by MMJ)
Steam Engine
Cobra
Here in Spirit (Jim James song) (with Veronica Stewart-Frommer)
Holdin on to Black Metal (with Veronica Stewart-Frommer)
I Think I’m Going to Hell
Victory Dance
Die for It
Wordless Chorus

Encore:
Librarian
Spring (Among the Living) (with “Dear Prudence” tag)
Phone Went West (>”Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)” by Sly & the Family Stone)

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Photos Tagged With: BeachLife Festival, Greek Theatre Berkeley, Hollywood Palladium, Jim James, John Lennon, Melt, My Morning Jacket, Ozzy Osbourne, Red Rocks, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Red Rocks Park & Amphitheatre, Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre, Santa Barbara Bowl, Sly & The Family Stone, The Beatles

Pixies dive into their classic LPs ‘Bossanova’ & ‘Trompe Le Monde’ for a sold-out Hollywood Palladium with Kurt Vile & the Violators aboard

June 27, 2025 by Josh Herwitt Leave a Comment

Pixies

By Josh Herwitt //

Pixies with Kurt Vile and The Violators //
Hollywood Palladium – Los Angeles
June 20th, 2025 //

Is it just us or does live music sound better in the summer?

So far we have already witnessed a number of exciting moments in live music as 2025 presses on — from The Prodigy’s first headlining date on U.S. soil since 2017 (read our show review here) to Jack White’s electrifying run through SoCal (read our show review here) — but with the temperate season officially underway now, this is the time of year when it really gets the chance to shine in the hot sun.

It’s during these months when we seemingly expand our horizons a little more, and while we did cover their co-headline tour with Weezer when it rolled through LA almost eight years ago and brought out a sold-out crowd to The Forum (read our show review here), it’s not often that we find ourselves going to — let alone photographing — a Pixies show.

But with the alt-rock legends headlining the Hollywood Palladium at capacity on a Friday and Saturday night to mark the first two days of summer, even a more casual fan like myself was intrigued to attend at least one of them. This year’s North American tour sees the four-piece performing two-night stands in 14 cities over the course of six weeks with support from Kurt Vile & the Violators, which felt like a surprising choice to pair alongside the Pixies from our perspective but one I was all for.

Kurt Vile & the Violators

When you listen to Vile’s music, it’s hard to find a lot of common ground with what the Pixies do. This wasn’t our first time covering the Philadelphia singer-songwriter whose music floats between garage rock, indie folk and lo-fi psychedelia, although it had been nearly a decade since we saw him and his sidekicks also serve as an opener less than two miles away at the iconic Hollywood Bowl for the one and only Sufjan Stevens (read our First Times coverage here).

The former lead guitarist of The War on Drugs who gave us FOMO the following evening by having Adam Granduciel sit in on “Hunchback” hasn’t unleashed a full-length album since 2022’s (watch my moves) marked his ninth, but Vile did resurface more than a year later with his 2023 release Back to Moon Beach, which runs 52 minutes long but was still designated as an EP. His record label Verve, in fact, clarified that it was an “EP by no one’s definition but Kurt Vile’s.” Yet, a brand-new — albeit briefer — EP that features collaborations with Nashville musician Luke Roberts awaits on July 25th and while we didn’t hear any material from the five-song effort, the title track “classic love” has recently made its way into the universe.

Vile, as quirky and eccentric as he is considering two of his biggest hits are named “Pretty Pimpin” and “Loading Zones” for instance, has always played by his own set of rules and in many ways so have the Pixies after forming close to 40 years ago. That’s about as much overlap as we can diagnose between the two acts, but that only made for a more diverse and unique night of so-called “indie rock.”

Black Francis (lead vocals, rhythm and acoustic guitar), David Lovering (drums, percussion, backing vocals, occasional lead vocals and bass), Joey Santiago (lead guitar, occasional backing vocals and Emma Richardson (bass, backing and occasional lead vocals) have been revisiting a couple of their classic LPs — 1990’s Bossanova and 1991’s Trompe le Monde that were recorded in LA shortly after the band’s cross-country move from Boston “because the recording studio was there” — on the first night at each stop and with that in mind, there were few surprises to expect once they took the stage.

Pixies

When a band plays an album live from start to finish, it can be a double-edged sword depending on the context — and by that we mean if it was previously disclosed or not. While the aforementioned element of surprise disappears in the case of the former, there are certain deep tracks that have the opportunity to be revived and even stand out. Along those lines, we have heard how bands have to go back into the lab and relearn some of those songs, making it a fun exercise for the musicians to take part in.

And from our vantage point, it clearly looked like the Pixies were having a blast up there as Francis (born Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV) and company ran through one tune after another. The only question mark when they returned from a short encore break was what would be in store for the final 20 minutes … because they had to uncork “Where Is My Mind?” before it was all over, right?

That they most certainly did, as a cover of “In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song)” by Peter Ivers and David Lynch opened the four-song encore that sent us home. One of the highlights for us, though, had to be the ensuing “UK Surf” version of “Wave of Mutilation” on 1989’s Doolittle, which has been saved on this tour primarily for the second night in each city.

For one last taste we were treated to “Into the White” off the 1997 compilation Death to the Pixies that repeats the lyric “And there ain’t no day / And there ain’t no night” at the outset. They were fitting words to hear given that we had entered the Palladium in daylight and exited to nightfall as if we had spent the last four hours in a time capsule traveling back to the early 90’s. Too bad it was only temporary.

PIXIES

Setlist:
Bossanova
Cecilia Ann (The Surftones cover)
Rock Music
Velouria
Allison
Is She Weird
Ana
All Over the World
Dig for Fire
Down to the Well
The Happening
Blown Away
Hang Wire
Stormy Weather
Havalina

Trompe Le Monde
Trompe le Monde
Planet of Sound
Alec Eiffel
The Sad Punk
Head On (The Jesus and Mary Chain cover)
U-Mass
Palace of the Brine
Letter to Memphis
Bird Dream of the Olympus Mons
Space (I Believe In)
Subbacultcha
Distance Equals Rate Times Time
Lovely Day
Motorway to Roswell
The Navajo Know

Encore:
In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song) (Peter Ivers & David Lynch cover)
Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf)
Where Is My Mind?
Into the White

KURT VILE & THE VIOLATORS

Setlist:
Hey Like a Child (Kurt Vile song)
Bassackwards (Kurt Vile song)
Mount Airy Hill (Way Gone) (Kurt Vile song)
Loading Zones (Kurt Vile song)
KV Crimes (Kurt Vile song)
Like Exploding Stones (Kurt Vile song)
Pretty Pimpin (Kurt Vile song)
Wakin on a Pretty Day (Kurt Vile song)

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Photos Tagged With: David Lynch, Hollywood Bowl, Hollywood Palladium, Jack White, Kurt Vile, Kurt Vile & The Violators, Luke Roberts, Peter Ivers, Peter Ivers & David Lynch, Pixies, Sufjan Stevens, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Prodigy, The Surftones, The War on Drugs, Weezer

Tycho brave unusually cold temperatures in the Hi-Desert for their return to the legendary Pappy & Harriet’s after more than a decade

May 3, 2025 by Josh Herwitt Leave a Comment

By Josh Herwitt //

Tycho //
Pappy and Harriet’s – Pioneertown, CA
April 26th, 2025 //

If you have ever spent time in the Coachella Valley and its surrounding areas, you know that the month of April is considered “high season” in the desert.

Much of that has to do with the two-weekend Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival that has become Goldenvoice’s signature event over the past 20-plus years, but there is also its annual country-themed Stagecoach Festival that takes over the Empire Polo Club in Indio a week later.

Only 12 miles away in Thousand Palms, meanwhile, is the 11,000-person Acrisure Arena after opening in 2022, and with a concert calendar that sees major touring acts coming through — one of them being the first night of the Sessanta V2.0 tour for Maynard James Keenan’s 61st birthday as Primus, Puscifer and A Perfect Circle all shared the stage (read our show review here) — there has been no short supply of live music in the desert this spring.

But just up California State Route 62 into Yucca Valley and north on Pioneertown Road, the legendary roadhouse Pappy & Harriet’s remains busy curating its own entertainment schedule that includes live music almost every day of the week and multiple shows most weekends. Though we have stopped by many times for a bite to eat, it wasn’t until several months ago that we finally made it out for a concert and it was a raucous one inside from what we encountered as Death from Above 1979 celebrated 20 years of their debut album You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine (read our First Times coverage here).

While taking in a show on the indoor stage offers its own unique vibe, outdoor performances at Pappy’s have a different, more laidback feel. We had yet to experience one under the stars after all these years, so when Tycho announced a five-date California run that included a stop in Pioneertown on a Saturday, that seemed like an artist whose music I have enjoyed listening to in nature and would pair well with the otherworldly rock formations, large Joshua Trees (aka Yucca brevifolia) and 1880s-style Western movie set that makes up the diminutive community between the Sawtooths and Black Hill.

I have seen Tycho perform live a multitude of times dating back to 2013 when Scott Hansen’s project opened for STS9 at the Hollywood Palladium, and since then, the ambient-techno outfit composed of Hansen (synthesizers, guitar, bass, visuals, programming), Zac Brown (bass, guitar), Rory O’Connor (drums, percussion) and touring member Billy Kim (bass, keyboards, synthesizers, visuals) has really come a long way given that Infinite Health last year marked the release of their seventh LP.

Tycho’s live show has continued to evolve with each album cycle and subsequent tour, but we can’t say we have ever witnessed a performance by Hansen and his bandmates — let alone any other concert — that was quite as cold as this one. With temperatures dipping down into the low 40’s, it felt like anything but springtime in the Hi-Desert with high winds picking up earlier in the day.

Since no opening act was scheduled, what was listed as a 6:30 p.m. show turned into a 7:30 p.m. start as many braved the chilly conditions in their best winter gear consisting of beanies, heavy jackets and hooded sweatshirts. We are still wishing we had brought a pair of gloves and can only imagine what it was like for the band to play when you barely have any feeling in your fingers.

It’s hard to believe that it has been more than a decade since Tycho last paid a visit to Pappy’s, and in that regard, there’s no telling when they will be back to do it again. That’s largely why we drove the two hours from Los Angeles even after attending their final date of three at The Roxy back in September to celebrate the arrival of Infinite Health.

Because even if Hansen’s beautiful soundscapes couldn’t save our hands from becoming numb by the end of the evening, it’s always an experience when you catch a show at Pappy’s.

Setlist:
Phantom
Spectre
Hours
Weather (Vamp)
Consciousness Felt
A Walk
Green
PBS
L
Horizon
Devices
Time to Run
Totem
Awake

Encore:
DX Odyssey
Division

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Photos Tagged With: Acrisure Arena, Coachella, Coachella 2025, Coachella Music and Arts Festival, Coachella Music and Arts Festival 2025, Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival 2025, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival 2025, Death from Above 1979, Hollywood Palladium, Pappy & Harriet's, Pappy & Harriet's Pioneertown Palace, Pappy and Harriet's, Pappy and Harriet's Pioneertown Palace, SESSANTA, SESSANTA 2025, SESSANTA V2.0, Sound Tribe Sector 9 (STS9), Stagecoach, Stagecoach 2025, Stagecoach Festival, Stagecoach Festival 2025, STS9, The Roxy, The Roxy Theatre, Tycho

Manchester Orchestra & Thrice duke it out at Hollywood Palladium on their co-headlining tour

November 18, 2024 by Zach Bourque 1 Comment

Manchester Orchestra

By Zach Bourque //

Manchester Orchestra & Thrice //
Hollywood Palladium – Los Angeles
November 13th, 2024 //

When your tour poster teases a boxing match between two seasoned bands worthy of headlining their own show in LA, the pressure is on. In one corner of the “ring” stood Southern California post-hardcore heavyweights Thrice. In the other, Atlanta’s uniquely eccentric indie rockers Manchester Orchestra. An evening of “noise and fury” was what the aforementioned promotion promised us, except the end result was anything but — for better or worse.

Thrice have taken an interesting trajectory since their formation in the late 90’s. Starting off with a fairly aggressive, post-hardcore approach early in their career, they’ve grown into a much more mature and complex sound over the years (fans have mixed opinions about this). However, performing their 2009 LP Beggars in its entirety was a unique proposition that ultimately left a lot of the crowd feeling rather underwhelmed. While we can say that the critically acclaimed album is objectively great, it’s certainly light on energy and you could tell those who showed up at the Hollywood Palladium last Wednesday were waiting for Dustin Kensrue (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, percussion), Teppei Teranishi (lead guitar, keyboards, backing vocals), Eddie Breckenridge (bass, synthesizer, backing vocals, guitars) and Riley Breckenridge (drums, percussion) to dig a bit deeper into its arsenal. Unfortunately this never occurred, as the ensuing songs were mostly deep cuts besides “Black Honey”, which surprisingly seems to have garnered quite a liking with more than 75 million listens on Spotify.

Thrice

With each co-headliner duking it out, there had to be a winner before it was all over and that winner came in the form of Manchester Orchestra undoubtedly knocking Thrice out. Celebrating the 10-year anniversary of its seminal album COPE, the five-piece — consisting of Andy Hull (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, piano), Robert McDowell (lead guitar, keyboards, backing vocals), Tim Very (drums, percussion, backing vocals), Andy Prince (bass) and touring member Brooks Tipton (piano, keyboards) — sounded triumphant as ever with Hull’s inimitable voice bellowing throughout the venue. There is simply no other act that sounds like Manchester Orchestra and you could sense the energy in the room as they took the stage. Described by one person in attendance as “emo Mumford & Sons” and in largely living up to that billing, Hull and company sailed through a lengthy, career-spanning set that made Thrice fans wish they had gotten the same.

Of course, had Thrice mixed it up a touch more and strayed further from their tepid indie rock, things might have been different in the end. But after going toe to toe for one night in the City of Angels, the winner by TKO was Manchester Orchestra.

MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA

Setlist:
Top Notch
Choose You
Girl Harbor
The Mansion
The Ocean
Every Stone
All That I Really Wanted (Acoustic)
Trees
Indentions
See It Again (with “I Can Feel Your Pain” intro)
Cope
After the Scripture
The Maze
The Gold
Bed Head

THRICE

Setlist:
All the World Is Mad
The Weight
Circles
Doublespeak
In Exile
At the Last
Wood and Wire
Talking Through Glass / We Move Like Swing Sets
The Great Exchange
Beggars

Red Telephone
Black Honey
Robot Soft Exorcism
Beyond the Pines

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Photos Tagged With: Hollywood Palladium, Manchester Orchestra, Mumford & Sons, Mumford and Sons, Thrice

Beats Antique keep the Do LaB spirit alive at Teragram Ballroom

September 19, 2024 by Josh Herwitt Leave a Comment

By Josh Herwitt //

Beats Antique with Haywyre //
Teragram Ballroom – Los Angeles
September 12th, 2024 //

There might not be an act that represents the Do LaB better than Beats Antique from the moment when the experimental world fusion and electronic music group out of Oakland formed in 2007.

At the time, belly dancer Zoe Jakes had just approached her manager Miles Copeland — producer and brother of drummer Stewart Copeland from The Police — about hitting the studio to make an album and received the answer she was ultimately hoping for. Within months of that meeting a partnership between Jakes, multi-instrumentalist David Satori and drummer Tommy “Sidecar” Cappel quickly came to fruition as their debut LP Tribal Derivations was born on Copeland’s record label CIA. From there, the trio would go on to issue 10 more releases over the ensuing nine years.

But the LA event design and production company based in Venice Beach that has showcased its art at Coachella every spring for the past two decades and has put on the “transformational” boutique festival Lightning in a Bottle in that same span has also helped foster a unique community of like-minded artists and creatives — one of which has undoubtedly been Beats dating back to their first live performance at LIB in 2009.

Much has changed for the Bay Area three-piece since those early days growing up with the Do LaB, albeit maybe none more than its announcement a couple of years ago that Satori would be taking an indefinite break from touring. And even though he remains involved in the creative process for Beats Antique, you could tell from their statement that the news must not have been easy to take for either Jakes or Cappel as they navigated the shift “with love and compassion.”

Nevertheless, the two of them have pressed on to embrace their artistic vision and loyal following with the multi-talented Miles Jay filling Satori’s shoes for the unforeseeable future. That was apparent last Thursday for their latest visit to the City of Angels, which saw Grammy-nominated electronic producer and classically trained pianist Haywyre (born Martin Sebastian Vogt) kick-start the evening and get the dance floor at the Teragram Ballroom moving thanks to several new singles he has dropped this year.

The last time we caught Beats Antique they were co-headlining The Novo (fka Club Nokia) in downtown LA nearly a decade ago for what proved to be an eclectic bill as funk collective Lettuce played first and brought out Nigel Hall to sing Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Gratitude” plus a few more tunes during their groovy set (read our show review here).

Considering the disparity in size between the two aforementioned music venues, this outing was bound to feel more intimate — and indeed it did. Not that the Teragram’s 625-person capacity came that close to being reached on this night, but a spirited crowd was there to welcome Jakes, Cappel and Jay when they finally arrived onstage prior to 10 p.m.

There’s something mysterious about a Beats Antique concert that’s hard to fully comprehend until you have the chance to experience one for yourself. Whether it’s the Middle Eastern sounds and afro-beat influences that regularly permeate their tracks or the various costumes Jakes dons in the matter of 90 minutes, there’s never a dull moment once the music begins. It’s those twists and turns, both sonically and performatively, that have always made Beats Antique an exciting force in the live space and what ultimately had us coming back for another taste in 2024.

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Photos Tagged With: Beats Antique, Club Nokia, Coachella, Coachella Music and Arts Festival, Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Do LaB, Earth Wind & Fire, Haywyre, Miles Copeland, Nigel Hall, Stewart Copeland, Teragram Ballroom, The Do LaB, The Novo, The Novo DTLA, The Police

Phantogram show us at the Santa Barbara Bowl while on tour with Kings of Leon that they are primed to release their fifth album

August 30, 2024 by Josh Herwitt 2 Comments

By Josh Herwitt //

Phantogram //
Santa Barbara Bowl – Santa Barbara, CA
August 26th, 2024 //

It’s always strange when you receive a media credential to cover the opening act of a performance but not the headliner. This was one of those rare instances where our business at a music venue we have covered many headliners at before was to simply focus on the evening’s support.

And even though they are certainly worthy of their own headlining tour after last week’s announcement of a fifth LP, street-beat/psych-pop duo Phantogram are currently making the rounds with Kings of Leon on a 26-date jaunt all across North America that made a stop Monday at the Santa Barbara Bowl.

Sarah Barthel (vocals, keyboards, piano, programming, synthesizers, guitars, production) and Josh Carter (vocals, guitars, programming, synthesizers, drums, percussion, production) are set to drop Memory of a Day on October 18th via Neon Gold Records, but until then, show up early if you are hoping to catch them live.

Their 6:45 p.m. start in Santa Barbara before the sun had even set over the Pacific Ocean, for that matter, still drew a solid turnout despite the 4,562-person amphitheater marking the smallest venue booked for KoL’s current tour.

Barthel’s vocals proved to be just as breathy as we remember them after she stepped onstage in Zebra-patterned shorts, black leather boots and a white top. To her left or stage right, you could see that Carter was dialed into whichever guitar lick he was riffing on during their 45-minute concert.

Of course whenever I have the opportunity to see Phantogram in the flesh, it usually reminds of the time I interviewed Carter more than a decade ago for a feature story right as the New York band was starting to break out and attract larger audiences.

Now a well-oiled machine, Phantogram have also established a loyal following even if their new material such as singles “All a Mystery” and “Happy Again” stray even farther from what KoL offers. Though they might not have been tapped as a co-headliner considering KoL’s stature and overall reach these days, there’s no doubt that putting both acts together has produced one of the best double bills this summer with capacity crowds filling arenas in city after city.

Any excuse to visit the Santa Barbara Bowl is often a good one, but with Phantogram playing we didn’t need much more of a reason to spend the night at one of our favorites places in Southern California to witness live music.

Setlist:
Don’t Move
Fall in Love
All a Mystery
Pedestal
Run Run Blood
Mister Impossible
Happy Again
Answer
Black Out Days
When I’m Small

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Photos Tagged With: Kings of Leon, Phantogram, Santa Barbara Bowl

Galactic bring the funk back to LA with Jelly Joseph & special guests making for a groovy night at The Bellwether

August 19, 2024 by Josh Herwitt Leave a Comment

By Josh Herwitt //

Galactic featuring Jelly Joseph with Joy Guerilla //
The Bellwether – Los Angeles
August 15th, 2024 //

If I told you that it has been 30 years since Galactic formed after childhood friends Jeff Raines and Robert Mercurio moved to New Orleans for college, you might not believe it … or want to believe it.

But the truth is, the fivesome has been going strong ever since it all came together in 1994 with Raines (guitar) and Mercurio (bass) leaving their hometown of Chevy Chase, Md., to attend Tulane University before eventually teaming up with Richard Vogel (Hammond organ), Stanton Moore (drums) and Ben Ellman (saxophone, harmonica).

The group’s affinity for local legends like The Meters, Dirty Dozen Brass Band and Professor Longhair as well as the influence that they have played in Galactic’s music remains self-evident to this day, and despite rotating through a handful of singers over the years — whether it has been Cyril Neville, Living Colour’s Corey Glover, Maggie Koerner or Erica Falls — since the late Theryl “House Man” DeClouet’s departure in 2004, it has continued to tour relentlessly and put out new material consistently.

Their most recent studio effort, a six-track EP entitled Tchompitoulas that arrived at the beginning of 2023, features multiple vocalists, including Florida rapper Eric Biddines, Grammy-nominated Cuban singer-songwriter Cimafunk and NOLA’s own Anjelika “Jelly” Joseph.

Anjelika “Jelly” Joseph

Of course, Galactic have been incorporating a variety of voices ever since they ventured into hip-hop via their 2007 album From the Corner to the Block, which saw collaborations with Lyrics Born, Mr. Lif, Gift of Gab, Chali 2na, Boots Riley, Juvenile, Trombone Shorty and Lateef the Truthspeaker to name more than just a few.

The last few years, though, have given Joseph a chance to shine with the quintet since they released the single “Float Up” in 2020, and we quickly learned how powerful her delivery was within minutes of taking the stage last Thursday as Galactic brought the funk back to LA for the band’s first show at The Bellwether, which only opened a little more than a year ago now (read our venue review here) but has already established itself as one of the better music venues in a city with no shortage of them. Though we must say, it was cool to catch Galactic somewhere else besides at the El Rey Theatre — where we have covered them before (read our show review here) — or Fonda Theatre after both spaces owned and operated by Goldenvoice had become the band’s unofficial home for its annual visit to the City of Angels year after year.

While the night belonged to Joseph considering the charisma she exuded onstage for more than a hour and a half, Galactic made sure to also sprinkle in covers from heroes such as Dr. John, Allen Toussaint and Aretha Franklin in addition to guest appearances from Alex Wasily of Dumpstaphunk on trombone, Will Blades on organ and Shira Elias on vocals that kept the programming feeling fresh throughout and was certainly a nice surprise after San Diego native Karl Denson showed up the evening prior for their gig at the Belly Up in Solana Beach.

I have always loved the spirit and culture of New Orleans, and even though it had been several years since the last time I saw Galactic in the flesh, it always feels like I’m hanging out on Frenchmen Street again when I do. After all, the joy their music has brought to the lives of so many can’t be understated and is something we are still grateful for three decades later.

Setlist:
You Don’t Know
Making It Better
Domino
Cineramascope
Right On
Heart of Steel
Qualified (Dr. John cover)
Lickety Split (The Dirty Dozen Brass Band cover) (with Alex Wasily)
Clap Your Hands
Compared to What (Gene McDaniels cover)
Twitchie Feet (with Will Blades)
Lady Liberty
People
Yes We Can Can (Allen Toussaint cover) (with Shira Elias)
Dolla Diva

Encore:
Baker’s Dozen (with Alex Wasily)
Rock Steady (Aretha Franklin cover) (with Shira Elias)

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Photos Tagged With: Alex Wasily, Allen Toussaint, Anjelika "Jelly" Joseph, Aretha Franklin, Belly Up, Belly Up Tavern, Boots Riley, Chali 2na, Cimafunk, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Dr. John, Dumpstaphunk, El Rey Theatre, Eric Biddines, Fonda Theatre, Galactic, Gene McDaniels, Gift of Gab, Goldenvoice, Jelly Joseph, Joy Guerilla, Juvenile, Lateef the Truthspeaker, Lyrics Born, Mr. Lif, Professor Longhair, Shira Elias, The Bellwether, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, The Fonda Theatre, The Meters, Trombone Shorty, Will Blades

Chicano Batman make history in their hometown while taking a victory lap at Kia Forum with The Red Pears, Lido Pimienta

July 3, 2024 by Amanda Tapia Leave a Comment

By Amanda Tapia //

Chicano Batman with The Red Pears, Lido Pimienta //
Kia Forum – Inglewood, CA
June 29th, 2024 //

Having performed at Coachella in recent years, Chicano Batman are no strangers to the limelight. But after their recent hometown performance last Saturday at one of LA’s premier venues, a true milestone was achieved.

History was most certainly made by two Los Angeles-based bands as Chicano Batman and The Red Pears took the stage at the Kia Forum for the first time in an all-Latine lineup. Following the release of their fifth studio album Notebook Fantasy in March, Chicano Batman were billed as the headliner with support by El Monte locals The Red Pears and Colombian-Canadian singer-songwriter Lido Pimienta. Nonetheless, each act on the bill has garnered many loyal fans while delivering plenty of unforgettable performances that have showcased their evolution and success over the years.

The Red Pears

Performing at such a renowned venue as the Kia Forum is not just an accolade, but also a symbol of their relentless ambition — serving as a true testament to the barriers they all have broken through to make their mark on the music industry.

It was a celebratory evening a week into the summer and one that was shared among the crowd indeed, as many audience members sang along to anthems that have helped shaped LA identities, latinidad and a love for rock ‘n’ roll.

CHICANO BATMAN

Setlist:
Beautiful Daughter
Itotiani
Freedom Is Free
Live Today
Era Primavera
Magma
La jura
La manzanita
Requiem
Fly
Losing My Mind
Passed You By
Lei Lá
Color My Life
The Way You Say It
Run
Cycles of Existential Rhyme

Encore:
Fairytale Love
Black Lipstick

THE RED PEARS

Setlist:
Didn’t Realize
The Way You Talk
See What I Mean
Hello-Sin-Nation
Arthur
Run N’ Hide
Forever
It Takes Time
Dreams
Not in the Cards
Flowers
Once Together
Tired
Beach Song
Daylight/Moonlight

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Photos Tagged With: Chicano Batman, Coachella, Coachella Music and Arts Festival, Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Kia Forum, Lido Pimienta, The Forum, The Red Pears

The Kills give us the chills at The Wiltern on their ‘God Games Tour’

March 18, 2024 by Josh Herwitt Leave a Comment

By Josh Herwitt //

The Kills with Heartworms //
The Wiltern – Los Angeles
March 14th, 2024 //

It has been a wet winter in Southern California this year, and some of us are still drying off from all the rain that bombarded the greater LA area over the past three months.

But with the clouds finally parting and clear skies paving the way for the impending spring (and warmer temperatures naturally), spending 90 minutes up close and personal with The Kills was not such a bad way to celebrate the end of one season and the start of another.

The last time I packed up my camera gear was almost two months ago when Texas post-rock quintet Explosions in the Sky came to town and performed two nights at The Wiltern where we witnessed the second date (read our show review here), and my next opportunity in the photo pit just happened to be back at the same historic theater that has stood for more than 90 years now in the heart of Koreatown.

Alison “VV” Mosshart (vocals, guitars, dictaphone, production) and Jamie “Hotel” Hince (vocals, guitars, dictaphone, organ, harmonica, electric viola, drum machine, production) have been at it for more than two decades themselves, releasing their sixth studio album God Games to critical acclaim last October and embarking on a North American tour that spanned 31 concerts across six weeks beginning in early February at Santa Ana’s The Observatory.

Shortly after London post-punk outfit Heartworms led by singer-songwriter Jojo Orme had wrapped up their opening set, fans had either found space on the tiered floor or taken their assigned seats up in the balcony as the clock struck 9 p.m. And as we waited for Mosshart and Hince to make their entrances, I couldn’t help but remember when I drove 45 miles east on a weeknight one summer to watch The Kills strut their stuff in Pomona (read our show review here). Fortunately my commute for this engagement was much shorter, though I have no regrets about making the trek out to The Glass House more than eight years ago.

The British-American rock duo had yet to release 2016’s Ash & Ice at that point, but we did hear three of the LP’s tracks — including lead single “Doing It to Death” that has since become one of The Kills’ most popular songs alongside “Future Starts Slow” off 2011’s Blood Pressures and “Black Balloon” on 2008’s Midnight Boom. Mosshart and Hince, meanwhile, have managed to cook up another hit on God Games with the gritty opener “New York”, and hearing it live for the first time at The Wiltern was certainly one of the evening’s highlights for us — not to mention other new material such as “Love and Tenderness” and “LA Hex” that sounds more like balladry than the higher-tempo, full-throated bangers loyal listeners have come to expect from them. Heck, maybe that’s one reason why Hince has even traded in his boots for a pair of white penny loafers (and they look good on him, too).

God Games, in that regard, undoubtedly shows The Kills continuing to take some chances and expand their sonic horizons without guitars. And for an act consisting of only two full-time members, it sure does deliver enough sound that you might think a full band was onstage in a similar way that Royal Blood do after seeing the UK two-piece occupy the same space in November and command a sold-out audience with a full-blown mosh pit breaking out (read our show review here). Sure, it would be epic if a drummer and bassist could be part of The Kills’ live show in the future, but with touring costs rising and a number of advancements in technology affording musicians a lot more flexibility, it would most likely take playing much larger venues for them to make a move like that — and we are more than A-OK if they don’t ever headline arenas or stadiums.

There wouldn’t be any pushing or shoving among audience members on this occasion considering The Kills’ music doesn’t really lend itself to that sort of aggressive behavior, but with a trio of backup singers joining them for “Blank”, “Better Days” and “My Girls My Girls” from God Games during what proved to be a four-song encore in LA, you got the sense that the return of Mosshart and Hince to their adopted hometown represented a special moment for them. This wasn’t the final stop of the “God Games Tour” unfortunately, yet that didn’t matter at the end of the day. Because when music like The Kills’ constantly replays in your head long after the show ends (and as I write these words), you know quite simply that it’s damn good.

Setlist:
Kissy Kissy
U.R.A. Fever
Love and Tenderness
103
Going to Heaven
Baby Says
New York
Wasterpiece
Kingdom Come
Hard Habit to Break
God Games
DNA
Black Balloon
LA Hex
Doing It to Death
Future Starts Slow

Encore:
Blank
Better Days
My Girls My Girls
Sour Cherry

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Photos Tagged With: Heartworms, Royal Blood, The Glass House, The Kills, The Observatory, The Wiltern

Run the Jewels leave no stone unturned in LA, capping off their 10th anniversary tour with a fourth & final night at Hollywood Palladium

October 20, 2023 by Josh Herwitt 1 Comment

By Josh Herwitt //

Run the Jewels with The Alchemist, Tenacious D (DJ set) //
Hollywood Palladium – Los Angeles
October 14th, 2023 //

It’s almost hard to believe that more than a decade has already passed since El-P and Killer Mike formed Run the Jewels after being introduced to each other by Cartoon Network executive Jason DeMarco in 2011.

The Grammy-nominated hip-hop duo has rode a titanic wave of success over that span, putting out four albums in less than seven years with 2013’s self-titled debut paving the way for subsequent releases in 2014, 2016 and 2020.

To mark the occasion, RTJ announced a 10th anniversary tour consisting of four-night residencies in New York, Chicago, Atlanta and LA this year, with each LP being performed from start to finish on its respective date.

But the project’s fourth and most recent full length entitled RTJ4 — one that features Greg Nice, DJ Premier, 2 Chainz, Pharrell Williams, Mavis Staples, Josh Homme and Zack de la Rocha — is what propelled Jaime Meline and Michael Render into the Top 10 of the U.S. Billboard 200 for the first time thanks to more fans jumping on the bandwagon, and even though they were at Coachella last year on the main stage, RTJ had yet to schedule a proper LA show after dropping the 11-track effort due to the COVID-19 pandemic shutting down live music for 18 months.

That’s, in part, why we circled Saturday’s finale at the Hollywood Palladium on our calendar while also knowing it would be the last gig of the tour. We did wonder if Meline and Render would be running (no pun intended) on fumes by that point, but the two emcees seemed to be in great spirits when they took the stage after surprise DJ sets from Tenacious D and The Alchemist, the latter of which boasted guest appearances by Evidence and Rakaa Iriscience of Dilated Peoples, had riled up the capacity crowd.

As much as the beats and production that El-P cooks up in the lab are the catalyst for new RTJ material, the wordplay between Killer Mike and himself is what make them such a visceral force in front of any live audience no matter where they are at that moment. Plus, their stage antics and banter aren’t too shabby either. Not many acts in the hip-hop scene roll into town, specifically this one, and choose Jack Black of all celebrities to introduce them to a sold-out venue of 4,000 folks. Yet, that’s exactly what RTJ did when Black walked out to Queen’s epic hit “We Are the Champions” and sent fans into an absolute frenzy with his hype-man skills.

The beauty of an RTJ show, like any good concert, is that you simply don’t know what’s going to happen next. Sure, it was a little disappointing that de la Rocha didn’t grace us with his presence like he did only a couple of days earlier when Run the Jewels 2 was showcased in full, but El-P and Killer Mike weren’t about to wave goodbye without a cameo from their friend Joi, a longtime associate of the Atlanta-based Dungeon Family collective known for its collaborations with OutKast, Organized Noize and Goodie Mob, during an eight-song encore.

RTJ, however, weren’t about to wrap up (again, no pun intended) the tour with a Run the Jewels 3 cut. Instead, they fittingly went back to where things all started, unleashing the title track on Run the Jewels to send us home with one final banger and close the book on the “RTJX Tour.” Where they go from here following 10 years in the rap game, no one really knows. Neither does El-P or Killer Mike right now, and from what they have recently said, that’s the way they like it. Fortunately for us, so do we.

Setlist:
yankee and the brave (ep. 4)
ooh la la
out of sight
holy calamafuck
goonies vs. E.T.
walking in the snow
JU$T
never look back
the ground below
pulling the pin
a few words for the firing squad (radiation)

Encore:
Legend Has It
Oh My Darling Don’t Cry
Blockbuster Night Part 1
Talk to Me
Sea Legs
Close Your Eyes (And Count to Fuck)
Down (with Joi)
Run the Jewels

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Photos Tagged With: 2 Chainz, Coachella, Coachella 2022, Coachella Music and Arts Festival, Coachella Music and Arts Festival 2012, Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival 2022, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival 2022, Dilated Peoples, DJ Premier, Dungeon Family, El-P, Evidence, Goodie Mob, Greg Nice, Jack Black, Joi, Josh Homme, Killer Mike, Kyle Gass, Mavis Staples, Organized Noize, OutKast, Pharrell Williams, Queen, Rage Against the Machine, Rakaa Iriscience, Run The Jewels, Tenacious D, The Alchemist, Zack de la Rocha

The Revivalists live up to their new album ‘Pour It Out Into the Night’ at LA’s Greek Theatre while on tour with Band of Horses

September 13, 2023 by Josh Herwitt 2 Comments

The Revivalists

By Josh Herwitt //

The Revivalists & Band of Horses with The Heavy Heavy //
Greek Theatre – Los Angeles
September 10th, 2023 //

It was only a couple of weeks ago when we mentioned that a great co-headline bill on a warm summer evening in Southern California can be a fun and unique way to experience live music. Well, it wouldn’t be very long before our next opportunity arrived in my inbox.

My Morning Jacket and Fleet Foxes at the Hollywood Bowl (read our show review here) was one pairing this year that we had circled on our calendar, but there have been several others worth catching of late, including The Revivalists and Band of Horses as they proved at LA’s Greek Theatre on a Sunday night.

Hot off the release of a fifth studio album, The Revivalists came into town primed to make memories with their Pour It Out Into the Night material for the mostly capacity crowd that greeted the octet comprised of David Shaw (lead vocals, guitar), Zack Feinberg (guitar), Ed Williams (pedal steel guitar), Rob Ingraham (saxophone), Andrew Campanelli (drums, percussion), Paulet “PJ” Howard (drums, percussion), George Gekas (bass) and Michael Girardot (keyboards, trumpet).

Band of Horses

The 12-track Pour It Out Into the Night dropped in June, and since then The Revivalists have been filling venues — whether it’s the Greek or Red Rocks (read our First Times coverage here) — and performing at major U.S. music festivals such as Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza. A solid chunk of the new LP has been featured throughout the New Orleans group’s live show, representing almost half of its gig in LA, as well-executed covers of Radiohead’s “High and Dry” from The Bends plus Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ 1980 hit “Refugee” punctuated a two-encore performance.

As interested as I was to hear each co-headliner, it was a little surprising to learn that The Revivalists were allotted more time than BoH. I expected that The Revivalists would go last and close things out, primarily because they were listed at the top of the tour’s poster, but BoH have been around longer and have higher metrics across most social media channels as well as music streaming services.

None of that, however, seemed to bother BoH leader Ben Bridwell, who appeared to be in fine spirits when he and his four henchmen — Creighton Barrett (drums, percussion), Ryan Monroe (keyboards, guitar, backing vocals), Matt Gentling (bass, backing vocals) and the band’s most recent addition Brett Nash (guitar, backing vocals), who replaced Ian MacDougall at the start of last year — walked onstage around 7:15 p.m. to a roaring applause from the mixed-aged audience, most of which had filed into its seats by the time The Heavy Heavy had wrapped up their 30-minute opening set.

The Revivalists

Being the project’s only continuous member, Bridwell has maintained a sound and vibe for BoH that’s uniquely his. It’s not just Southern rock or indie rock or folk rock — it’s all three thrown into a blender. For me, there is something about his voice that has always captured my attention since the Grammy nominees’ debut full-length Everything All the Time. It’s what helped separate themselves during their early days in Seattle amid a competitive scene that only continues to grow with each passing day as more new indie-folk acts emerge.

Now several records later, BoH are sitting on their sixth entitled Things Are Great that came out more than 18 months ago via BMG and marked their longest gap between releases after Why Are You OK landed in 2016 on Interscope (BoH have signed to several labels over the years). Bridwell has had to account for numerous lineup changes along the way, yet he still knows how to keep things exciting for fans by switching up the setlist regularly and working in a cover, whether it’s INXS, Brooks & Dunn or even The Stooges. This was only the fourth time in 2023, for instance, that “Our Swords” was played, which sees Bridwell swap his guitar for a bass on the deep cut and croon about stepping on toes in a purportedly metaphorical sense.

By the time The Revivalists unleashed their chart-topping single “Wish I Knew You” as we neared the finish line, there was no doubt that packaging them together with BoH on the same tour was a strong move. I have enjoyed ruminating about and discussing which artists or bands should share the stage, and although this wasn’t one that specifically came to mind, it assuredly worked. Was it a total match made in musical heaven? Probably not. Would Trombone Shorty have made more sense to pair with The Revivalists considering his ties to the Big Easy? Maybe so, but any reason to spend a few hours hanging out at the Greek, especially with two bands of this caliber, is a good enough one for me.

THE REVIVALISTS

Setlist:
Good Old Days
Don’t Look Back
The Long Con
It Was a Sin
Down in the Dirt
Catching Fireflies
Soulfight
Otherside of Paradise
All My Friends
How We Move
Pour It Out Into the Night
High and Dry (Radiohead cover)
You and I
Celebration

Encore #1:
Only You
Wish I Knew You
Kid (with The Heavy Heavy)

Encore #2:
Refugee (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers cover)

BAND OF HORSES

Setlist:
Is There a Ghost
The Great Salt Lake
Hag
Crutch
Laredo
Lights
Never Tear Us Apart (INXS cover)
Casual Party
Warning Signs
No One’s Gonna Love You
Our Swords
Ode to LRC
The Funeral
The General Specific

THE HEAVY HEAVY

Setlist:
Man of the Hills
Go Down River
All My Dreams
Cherry
Dirt
One of a Kind
Miles and Miles

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Photos Tagged With: Band of Horses, Bonnaroo, Brooks & Dunn, Fleet Foxes, Greek Theatre, Hollywood Bowl, INXS, Lollapalooza, My Morning Jacket, Radiohead, The Heavy Heavy, The Revivalists, The Stooges, Tom Petty, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Trombone Shorty, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue

On tour in support of Paramore this summer, FOALS offer their fans at The Belasco the raucous headline club show that we all needed

July 24, 2023 by Josh Herwitt Leave a Comment

By Josh Herwitt //

FOALS with Andy Stavas //
The Belasco – Los Angeles
July 18th, 2023 //

When FOALS rocked the Hollywood Palladium in November (read our show review here) after issuing their seventh LP Life Is Yours several months earlier, it marked the first time in more than three years since they last performed in LA.

But even after signing on as support for the second half of Paramore’s tour across North America this summer, these Brits out of Oxford were not going to let a couple of opening sets at the Kia Forum be their only shows in the City of Angels this year.

With a few days off in between tour dates and founding bassist Walter Gervers rejoining the band in May after a six-year absence, Yannis Philippakis (lead vocals, lead guitar), Jack Bevan (drums, percussion) and Jimmy Smith (rhythm guitar, keyboards, synthesizer, backing vocals) along with touring members Kit Monteith (percussion, sampler) and Joe Price (keyboards, synthesizer, backing vocals) didn’t pass up on the opportunity to make their latest trip to Southern California a little extra special with a raucous headlining performance in downtown LA at The Belasco last Tuesday.

FOALS have been opening their gigs with Life Is Yours lead single “Wake Up Me” following the album’s release more than a year ago now, and from there they stepped on the gas pedal with What Went Down standout “Snake Oil” to kick off a 16-song set that saw them perform Holy Fire deep cut “Providence” for the first time this year as well as its third single “Late Night” that remains a personal favorite and had not been played in LA since 2016 (read our show review here).

From a photographer’s perspective, I have always found it cool that FOALS are the only band I have covered with a photo policy of “last three songs.” And I can certainly understand why. Because when Philippakis and his bandmates return from an encore break, things often get turned up a notch as we have seen over the years. This time was no different of course, as they hit us with their recent trifecta consisting of “Mountain at My Gates”, “What Went Down” and “Two Steps, Twice” for a terrific encore that had Philippakis shedding his axe and nearly climbing into the crowd at one point.

What might be even more amazing for the three-time Mercury Prize nominees is that they have had three different bassists in the last 18 months, and you wouldn’t even know it from the way they sound right now. There seemed to be a renewed energy amongst these lads with Gervers back in the saddle, as Smith and him shared backing vocals on the same microphone during some of the evening’s most impassioned moments.

If you’ve seen FOALS a few times like I have, you know that they’re going to bring it every single time they step onstage. The UK outfit remains one of the best rock ‘n’ roll acts to come out of the aughts as far as we are concerned, and in that regard, it shouldn’t be a big surprise that FOALS have managed to build a loyal fan base in a crowded indie scene with honest lyrics and thoughtful musicianship. It’s why they’re on our short list of bands to catch every time they come to town, and with The Belasco serving as host to a couple of other excellent concerts I have witnessed so far this year — from Jack White to Fleet Foxes — it was only fitting for FOALS to also get a chance to unload on the 1,500-person venue.

Given this latest run in the Golden State, it could be a while before FOALS are back in SoCal again. By the time they are, there’s a good chance it will be to promote new music and with a band of this caliber after almost two decades in the game, we can’t say we don’t like the sound of that.

Setlist:
Wake Me Up
Snake Oil
2001
Olympic Airways
2am
In Degrees
My Number
Black Gold
Birch Tree
Spanish Sahara
Red Socks Pugie
Providence
Milk & Black Spiders
Late Night
Black Bull
Inhaler

Encore:
Mountain at My Gates
What Went Down
Two Steps, Twice

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Photos Tagged With: Andy Stavas, Belasco Theater, Fleet Foxes, FOALS, Jack White, Kia Forum, Paramore, The Belasco

Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade mark their first tour in 20 years with a sold-out gig at The Wiltern & Pink Floyd’s ‘Animals’

July 17, 2023 by Josh Herwitt 3 Comments

By Josh Herwitt //

Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade with Moon Duo //
The Wiltern – Los Angeles
July 14th, 2023 //

There aren’t many musicians who have made a living at the intersection of the alt-metal and jam scenes quite like Les Claypool has.

Best known for being the founder, lead singer, bassist and primary songwriter of Primus since the three-piece formed nearly 40 years ago, the Northern California native has also made a habit of collaborating with artists and bands across a variety of genres during that stretch.

Just in the past year, he has toured with percussionist Mike Dillon, saxophonist Skerik and drummer Stanton Moore of Galactic for his side project Les Claypool’s Bastard Jazz before Primus performed with drummer Danny Carey and bassist Justin Chancellor of Tool during a benefit show back in April (you can watch them cover Tool’s 1997 single “Ænema” alongside Queens of the Stone Age guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen here).

Claypool’s résumé, moreover, has seen him team up with All-Star talent across the musical spectrum, whether it has been Green Jellö, Tom Waits, Trey Anastasio of Phish, Metallica, Buckethead, Stewart Copeland of The Police, Adrian Belew, Gov’t Mule, Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains, Bill Laswell, Zach Hill, Fishbone, Alex Lifeson of Rush, Charlie Hunter, Death Grips, Hank Williams III, Beats Antique or Josh Homme. Forgive us if we missed a few names there, but you get the idea that when it comes to friends in the music business, Claypool has no shortage of them.

Most recently though, he has spent the last several years working with Sean Ono Lenno — the son of John and Yoko — beginning in 2015 when the duo conceived The Claypool Lennon Delirium and now with Claypool reuniting his Fearless Flying Frog Brigade for their first concerts in 20 years.

Featuring a star-studded cast led by Claypool and supported by Lennon, Dillon, keyboardist Harry Waters — the son of Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters — and drummer Paolo Baldi formerly of CAKE, the quintet was also supposed to boast Skerik (born Eric Walton) on saxophone before he suffered a shoulder injury that has sidelined him for three months.

But that didn’t stop the Brigade from drawing a capacity crowd in LA when they arrived at The Wiltern last Friday on their “Summer of Green Tour” — the official title of the 42-date run that was even more fitting given the strong aroma of marijuana wafting through the historic theater as soon as I walked in.

Of course they performed Pink Floyd’s Animals as was expected, yet they still had a couple tricks up their sleeves that included The Claypool Lennon Delirium’s “Blood and Rockets: Movement I, Saga of Jack Parsons / Movement II, Too the Moon” and a cover of King Crimson’s single “Thela Hun Ginjeet” from 1981’s Discipline with Primus guitarist Larry LaLonde stepping onstage before an encore break.

And despite entering his seventh decade soon, Claypool hasn’t lost the ability to captivate an audience with his bass-playing techniques — from tapping and slapping to flamenco-like strumming and whammy bar bends — unique vocals, silly lyrics and costume changes, one of which was a pig mask as he took to his upright bass and later a disco helmet while manning a Whamola. Why not a frog mask, you ask? Considering the number of fans there who had their Claypool-approved frog caps on, well … you’ll just have to inquire with “Colonel Claypool” about that.

Claypool, after all, has always done things his own way, and for those at The Wiltern, it didn’t matter that the Brigade’s only studio album Purple Onion came out in 2002. With a ribbiting two-hour and 15-minute performance on the penultimate night of the group’s summer tour, one of our greatest bass players ever made it clear that he has no issue hopping (ribbit ribbit) back into any one of his many solo projects and sticking the landing with a full house on hand.

Setlist:
Up on the Roof
Rumble of the Diesel (Les Claypool song)
Amanitas (Les Claypool song)
Blood and Rockets: Movement I, Saga of Jack Parsons / Movement II, Too the Moon (The Claypool Lennon Delirium cover)
Pigs on the Wing, Part 1 (Pink Floyd cover)
Dogs (Pink Floyd cover)
Pigs (Three Different Ones) (Pink Floyd cover)
Sheep (Pink Floyd cover)
Pigs on the Wing, Part 2 (Pink Floyd cover)
Precipitation (Les Claypool and the Holy Mackerel cover)
One Better (Les Claypool song)
David Makalaster
David Makalaster II
Thela Hun Ginjeet (King Crimson cover) (with Larry LaLonde)

Encore:
Whamola
Cosmic Highway

Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Photos Tagged With: Adrian Belew, Alex Lifeson, Alice in Chains, Beats Antique, Bill Laswell, Buckethead, CAKE, Charlie Hunter, Death Grips, Duo de Twang, Fishbone, Galactic, Gov't Mule, Green Jellö, Hank Williams III, Jerry Cantrell, Josh Homme, King Crimson, Les Claypool, Les Claypool and the Holy Mackerel, Les Claypool's Bastard Jazz, Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade, Metallica, Mike Dillon, Moon Duo, Oysterhead, Phish, Pink Floyd, Primus, Roger Waters, Rush, Sean Ono Lennon, Skerik, Stanton Moore, Stewart Copeland, The Claypool Lennon Delirium, The Police, The Wiltern, The Wiltern Theatre, Tom Waits, Tool, Trey Anastasio, Warren Haynes, Wiltern Theatre, Zach Hill

Avey Tare of Animal Collective gives us a peek into his process with an explosion of sounds & colors at a sold-out Lodge Room

May 18, 2023 by Rochelle Shipman 1 Comment

By Rochelle Shipman //

Avey Tare //
Lodge Room – Los Angeles
May 13th, 2023 //

There’s something to be said about Avey Tare’s unapologetic capability to just be himself. It’s a center-stage trait that has always been a driving force behind experimental-pop band Animal Collective, and that also rings true on the plethora of solo pursuits he has blessed us with. The multi-instrumentalist born David Michael Portner brought his trademark ingenuity to life at LA’s Lodge Room last Saturday, the sold-out cherry on top of a two-month, cross-country tour.

On his phenomenal new album 7s, Tare takes the listener on a familiar mystical underwater journey — deep thoughts accompanied by a soft guitar, whimsical and vulnerable to a degree that nearly makes you blush. Despite that, it was still a bit surprising to see him step onstage and deliver the entire show completely alone (not to mention flawlessly, obviously). He navigated a maze of pedals, keys, strings and cables like the seasoned mastermind that he is, perhaps unironically singing, “Alone in a field I wonder how it is explained / That a person comes into the field of making sound and putting it together …” I found myself staring at the answer as he strummed a guitar and baring his entire soul onstage. In Tare’s case at least, it’s apparent that this person simply has no other choice but to make sound and put it together.

For the amount of instruments and equipment that he had onstage with him, nothing could hide the fact that Tare’s most valuable instrument is himself. Yes, his ability to play guitar and keyboards as well as to sing (and so on) is an essential part of his musical persona; however, they almost pale in comparison to his capability to express himself through nothing more than his very own body. Sound pulses through his veins just like blood runs through ours. It comes out in so many forms during a show — from measured yelps and head-to-toe shrieks to excerpts of heavy, rhythmic breathing. In those moments it appears he has surrendered all control and accepted pure freedom, finding his truest self (and borderline speaking his own language). His authenticity resonated with the capacity audience every time, garnering cheers and echoes that only grew each time his fits got wilder.

Tare was stationed right in front of the 7s album cover and flanked by two alligators, switching between acoustic and electric guitars just as seamlessly as the neon lights overhead changed palettes. He hardly looked up except to spare a modest grin from time to time, almost as though he forgot the audience was there, and he barely spoke except to express gratitude.

Nevertheless, the energy in the room was buzzing throughout the entire set, folks pushing up against the stage desperate to be within shrieking distance of Tare. He seemingly had something for everyone, touching on all different corners of his solo catalog and even throwing in a quick version of “Chocolate Girl” in honor of the Animal Collective classic Spirit They’re Gone, Spirit They’ve Vanished, which was recently reissued.

Under the glow of the star-shaped chandelier inside this stunning, funny little masonic lodge on the outskirts of LA, for an hour and a half Tare gave us a peek into his process. It was an explosion of sounds and colors, a pure and absolute balm for the soul. It felt like a perfect summer night, even though it was the middle of May — nonsensical, yet peaceful and not unlike Tare himself.

Setlist:
Midnight Special
The Musical
Lips at Night
Hey Bog
Ghost of Books
Neurons
Ms. Secret (acoustic)
Coral Lords (acoustic)
Mystical
Invisible Darlings
Saturdays (Again)
Chocolate Girl (Animal Collective song)

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Photos Tagged With: Animal Collective, Avey Tare, Lodge Room

Moderat are back to mesmerizing their fans again following an extended hiatus as they demonstrate at The Wiltern

September 27, 2022 by Josh Herwitt 1 Comment

By Josh Herwitt //

Moderat //
The Wiltern – Los Angeles
September 23rd, 2022 //

With the music industry still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic over the last two and a half years, it’s not hard to find a concert worth catching in LA at the moment. Artists and bands across every scene have been trying to make up for lost time, and those more specifically in the world of dance music have been no different.

But it’s not every day that you get to see a top-notch electronic act perform live inside one of the city’s most historic music venues on a Friday night.

And in the case of Moderat, it took the German supergroup consisting of Sascha Ring (aka Apparat) and Modeselektor members Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary more than six years to release their fourth studio album More D4ta as the follow-up to 2016’s phenomenal III. While that remains Moderat’s largest gap between full-length efforts, they haven’t forgotten how to captivate their audiences after going on an extended hiatus.

The Berlin-based three-piece was greeted by a strong turnout at The Wiltern for its first LA show since 2017 when Ring, Bronsert and Szary played the Mayan (read our show review here) in between what many fans have considered to be two career-defining performances at Coachella — and we truly can’t disagree with that assessment from what we saw during Weekend 1 (read our festival review here).

After all, there aren’t a whole lot of electronic-leaning acts out there who are doing anything like what Moderat does when it comes to their approach and sound as they fuse electronic beats and textures behind live vocals — led by Ring with Bronsert and Szary assisting — and instrumentation.

Caribou would be another one that comes to mind after witnessing the Grammy nominee’s gig at LA’s Greek Theatre last November (read our show review here), but unlike Moderat, Dan Snaith has had a knack for mixing 70’s funk and soul as well as 90’s hip-hop and R&B into his music over the years.

While you won’t hear any of those genres on More D4ta that Moderat put out in May via Modeselektor’s own Monkeytown Records, there are some similarly hypnotic moments throughout the 10-track LP. Just take new singles “Fast Land” and “Easy Prey” for instance, the latter of which surprisingly wasn’t on the group’s LA setlist despite being performed in Oakland the evening prior along with its 2014 remix of Jon Hopkins’ “Abandon Window” (yeah, I guess you could say we’re jealous about that).

Regardless of whatever songs we didn’t to get hear before Ring, Bronsert and Szary headed south to CRSSD Festival, there was plenty to enjoy. From the opening lines of “Reminder” to the mesmerizing audio-visual experience of “Bad Kingdom” that entrances us every time, Moderat had a packed crowd hanging on every word that Ring delivered by the time they ran through an encore that concluded with “Les Grandes Marches” and “No. 22” off their 2009 self-titled debut from what feels like ages ago.

There also aren’t many acts, electronic or not, that will come back out for a second encore. Moderat are built a little bit differently in that way though, and based on the applause they were showered with at The Wiltern, it wasn’t completely shocking to watch them return to the stage one last time and drop “Intruder” for those screaming “one more song!” at the top of their lungs.

Because after waiting five-plus years to tour the world again, can you really blame them?

Setlist:
Reminder
More Love
Animal Trails
Undo Redo
Doom Hype
Rusty Nails
Eating Hooks
Running
Neon Rats
Bad Kingdom
Ghostmother
A New Error

Encore #1:
Fast Land
Les Grandes Marches
No. 22

Encore #2:
Intruder

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Photos Tagged With: Apparat, Caribou, Coachella, Coachella 2017, Coachella Music and Arts Festival, Coachella Music and Arts Festival 2017, Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival 2017, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival 2017, Jon Hopkins, Mayan Theater, Moderat, Modeselektor, The Mayan, The Wiltern, The Wiltern Theatre

After more than two years, Telefon Tel Aviv finally gets the chance to entrance fans at Lodge Room before taking a break from performing

August 2, 2022 by Josh Herwitt 1 Comment

By Josh Herwitt //

Telefon Tel Aviv with Chasms //
Lodge Room – Los Angeles
July 29th, 2022 //

More than a decade has passed since Joshua Eustis tragically lost the other half of Telefon Tel Aviv.

Forming the band with his high school friend Charles Cooper in 1999, the two would go on to release an EP, three LPs and a number of remixes together while carving out their own space in the glitch and IDM scenes alongside Leftfield, The Future Sound of London and Boards of Canada to name a few. But just two days after unveiling their third full length Immolate Yourself, Cooper was found dead.

Cooper’s accidental death marked a major turning point for Eustis. Had the time come for him to shut it down for good or should he continue to make music under the TTA moniker in honor of his bandmate?

Over the next four years, Eustis would find himself working with other bands. He co-produced Puscifer’s Conditions of My Parole in 2011 and then toured with Nine Inch Nails, manning any instrument that was requested of him whether it was guitar, bass, keyboards, saxophone or even the erhu.

Eustis, though, wasn’t ready to give up on a solo career quite yet so he returned to the studio in 2014 after NIN’s “Tension Tour” to focus on a different project named Sons of Magdalene before turning his attention to recording the first TTA album without Cooper.

The end result, almost five years later, would be 2019’s Dreams Are Not Enough. The nine-track effort on Ghostly International officially put TTA back on the map as it garnered high praise from music critics, including Pitchfork (if you can believe that), and offered him the chance to take the stage again.

So when Eustis announced in early 2020 that he would be playing a TTA show in his current hometown, it was an opportunity to cross another 90’s electronic act off my bucket list. Of course, the performance would end up being rescheduled twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it finally came to fruition last Friday at LA’s Lodge Room inside the same historic, three-story building that the Highland Park Masonic Temple once called home.

To make things all the more special, Eustis had previously said on social media in advance that Lodge Room and Grey Area in San Francisco would serve as TTA’s final two dates in support of Dreams Are Not Enough and the last ones he’ll perform live (“like, not DJing” in his words) stateside for a while.

That might not be what TTA fans outside of California wanted to hear after waiting patiently for live music to come back safely, yet given the fact that Eustis has produced Apparat, Drab Majesty, Tropic of Cancer and Vatican Shadow among others and spent a few years in synthwave trio The Black Queen with Greg Puciato and Steven Alexander of The Dillinger Escape Plan, it’s not hard to understand why he’s taking a break now.

And while no one knows how “long” it will be except for maybe Eustis, if this was the only night I ever got to see TTA in the flesh, it will certainly not go lost on me.

Setlist:
Intro
The Means Whereby Lovers Are Waylaid
A Younger Version of Myself
Standing at the Bottom of the Ocean
Mouth Agape
What It Is Without the Hand That Wields It
Introductory Nomenclature
Something Akin to Lust
Not Breathing
Arms Aloft
Mean Friend (Telefon Tel Aviv Remix)

Encore:
I Dream of It Often
The Birds