Hollywood Bowl – Showbams

Two years after their BeachLife Festival headlining slot was canceled, My Morning Jacket return in 2026 to deliver some sweet redemption

May 10, 2026 by Josh Herwitt Leave a Comment

My Morning Jacket //
BeachLife Festival – Redondo Beach, CA
May 3rd, 2026 //

When the lineup for BeachLife Festival’s fifth edition was announced in early 2024, fans of My Morning Jacket could not have been more excited to see the Grammy-nominated rockers listed atop the poster as the South Bay event’s third and final headliner.

Not only did the two other headlining acts that year in Sting and Incubus differ significantly when you compare their overall sound and reach, but the Louisville quintet that’s widely regarded as one of the best live bands in the business had also never headlined a music festival in Southern California after forming more than a quarter century prior. The fact is, music festivals in California and along the West Coast haven’t been a big part of MMJ’s touring schedule (we had made it out to 20 shows in the past decade and a half but have never seen them previously at one for example). Given where the band is now and the limited amount of options in today’s scene though, most headlining slots at a festival can’t rival the two-and-a-half hour auditory rides we have become accustomed to from these road warriors.

There’s no doubt Jim James (lead vocals, guitar), Tom Blankenship (bass), Patrick Hallahan (drums, percussion), Bo Koster (keyboards, percussion, backing vocals) and Carl Broemel (guitar, pedal steel guitar, saxophone, backing vocals) were worthy of such a billing having played at the Hollywood Bowl for the first time — despite being booked as a co-headline performance with Fleet Foxes — just a few months before BeachLife revealed its roster (read our show review here), and with Dirty Heads, Devo, Seal, Local Natives, City and Colour, and Santigold, among others, gracing the stage for the fest’s first two days, it was shaping up to be a stellar weekend of live music in Redondo Beach.

By the time Sunday had arrived, the anticipation was certainly palpable. We hadn’t caught Jacket in the flesh since that night at the Bowl, and considering they only had 75 minutes to work with then, we were looking forward to having some more time for this encounter with the psychedelic-leaning, jam-adjacent five-piece. Of course the appeal of having Trey Anastasio & Classic TAB, Fleet Foxes, ZZ Top, Courtney Barnett and Margo Price on the docket as well made it feel like we were in for a banner day down at the beach. That is, until we weren’t.

It can sometimes be easy to forget and hard to remember it’s Mother Nature who ultimately calls the shots as we are all temporary visitors here on Planet Earth. Nonethess, a “high-wind emergency” that forced everyone to evacuate from the premises is not something you experience very often in sunny SoCal and let alone during the month of May. The decision by organizers to cancel the remainder of BeachLife roughly an hour later left thousands of folks stunned, frustrated and disappointed, especially because the winds had completely died down at that point. An announcement after more than a week stating that refunds would be issued to ticket holders offered some consolation, but not for those from out of the area who had traveled long distances to be there. Moreover, nothing could truly replace the hours that went into compiling such a well-curated bill, leaving us and plenty of others wondering if we would ever attend again (read our festival review here).

That unfortunate day hasn’t stopped us from witnessing a number of MMJ concerts subsequently, even if it meant a visit to the Bay Area for their four-night run of no repeats at The Fillmore in San Francisco three weeks after the entire BeachLife fiasco (read our First Times coverage here). Last year’s release of is to mark the group’s 10th studio album provided more opportunities with its summer tour wrapping up in California, and we made sure to not miss all three dates — from Hollywood to Santa Barbara and Berkeley (see more photos from the shows here) — following another epic and awe-inspiring two-night stand at Colorado’s legendary Red Rocks Amphitheatre (read our show review here).

Jacket’s appearances in and around Los Angeles have become fewer and farther between if we think about those first three shows at The Wiltern we covered way back in 2012, and with their most recent one coming last August, any expectation for a return to the City of Angels this year felt rather unlikely. But having MMJ included in BeachLife’s plans for 2026 came as a pleasant surprise when its seventh installment was officially unveiled, and although some of the circumstances weren’t quite as ideal as they were previously (more on that below), there was real hope that the show would happen this time.

As we alluded to, BeachLife didn’t exactly give Jacket buffs the kind of do-over they arguably deserved. James Taylor, instead, had earned the honor to be one of BeachLife’s main attractions, relegating MMJ to sub-headliner status for 2026 and landing talent that wasn’t anywhere as enticing as it was a couple of years ago. Neither of those drawbacks were going to prevent us from making it to Seaside Lagoon where the Lowtide Stage had been designated for Jacket’s set, however. A “swatting” threat due to “a reported hostage situation involving possible explosives” at the Redondo Pier that morning nearly did believe it or not, sparking another moment of despair and uncertainty surrounding Sunday’s festivities that caused them to be delayed for almost two hours.

But any feelings of déjà vu would shortly thereafter be erased by 2 p.m. when the gates finally opened and the music got underway. For us, the preceding trio of Poolside, Peach Pit and Sheryl Crow merely represented a chance to warm up our ears until James and company totally infiltrated them with MMJ’s scintillating songwriting, poignant lyricism and electrifying guitar solos as the sun slid gradually into the Pacific Ocean and day turned to night.

No matter how many times we have seen Jacket or how long it has been between instances, there is something cathartic and genuinely uplifting when they let loose onstage. Z standouts “Off the Record” and “Lay Low” at the outset received loud cheers from the crowd, buttering us up for one of their most extended tunes in “Phone Went West” — except this iteration gave a nod to the late George Harrison with “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)” tacked on at the end. Yet, the biggest highlight of the evening might have been the jam on “Everyday Magic” that has elevated the is track to be a new live favorite of ours. After all, the element of surprise is what has always made each MMJ gig special in its own way because when we step back and look at the current landscape, there aren’t a whole lot that you can say are still going this strong in the name of rock ‘n’ roll these days. BeachLife has made it a priority to shine a light on these artists since its inception and in this case, allow Jacket the chance to deliver some sweet redemption this spring.

Setlist:
Off the Record
Lay Low
Phone Went West / Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)
Time Waited
Golden
Everyday Magic
Mahgeetah
Victory Dance
Circuital
Dancefloors

My Morning Jacket - BeachLife Festival 2026

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Live Music Reviews Tagged With: BeachLife Festival, BeachLife Festival 2026, City and Colour, Devo, Dirty Heads, Fleet Foxes, George Harrison, Hollywood Bowl, Jim James, Local Natives, My Morning Jacket, Red Rocks, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Red Rocks Park & Amphitheatre, Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre, Santigold, Seal, The Beatles, The Fillmore, The Wiltern

On their first major headlining tour, Say She She make no secret at The Belasco why the ‘discodelic soul’ group’s music is for everyone

February 12, 2026 by Josh Herwitt Leave a Comment

By Josh Herwitt //

Say She She with Katzù Oso //
The Belasco – Los Angeles
February 5th, 2026 //

No matter how we feel about each of our own lives right now, it’s becoming increasingly easier to feel more disheartened about the direction of this country. If you pay attention to the news or at least read headlines on your phone, you probably know what we mean.

Because let’s face it — as democracy continues to die a slow death in the U.S. at the hands of a corrupt and autocratic administration led by one of history’s worst human beings, it can be challenging to remain optimistic about the future.

There’s no time to give up hope, though. If there’s one thing we know, it’s that live music can serve as a powerful tool to bring people together in these anxious and rather uncertain times. It has in the past and we have no reason to believe that won’t continue into the future. Nevertheless, we can’t think of a better up-and-coming act currently to carry that torch than Say She She.

The “discodelic soul” group formed by classically trained singers Piya Malik, Sabrina Cunningham and Nya Brown has the sound and spirit that should appeal to a wide demographic. Just listen to their music for a couple of minutes and its funky, feel-good vibe immediately comes through with the ability to uplift you even on a bad day.

Galactic have always been one of those bands for me, and while Say She She haven’t long been linked to the jam scene like the New Orleans funk outfit has, they fit into the same category from an emotional standpoint. I don’t know anyone — and frankly I’m not sure I would want to — who could have a strong negative reaction to what they have been doing since forming somewhat unexpectedly in 2021.

One evening in Harlem was all it took Malik, Cunningham and Brown to find lightning in a bottle when they joined forces at a house party for a spontaneous rooftop singing session. Malik and Cunningham, in fact, had already been friends for a few years who began collaborating after meeting as neighbors in the same apartment building and overhearing each other practicing their craft. But it wasn’t until Brown came into the picture that Say She She were officially born.

Connecting over a shared love for Nile Rodgers’ music, the trio started writing music and subsequently landed on the name Say She She as a tribute to 70’s disco and funk pioneers Chic before working with other musicians who were pursuing a similar sonic path in bands such as Orgone, The Dap-Kings, The Shacks and Chicano Batman. Malik, Cunningham and Brown would ultimately enlist Orgone members Dan Hastie (keyboards), Sam Halterman (drums), Dale Jennings (bass) and Sergio Rios (guitar) to be their backing band and within a stretch of 12 months were receiving critical acclaim.

Say She She’s debut LP Prism might have put them on the map in the midst of a global pandemic, but 2023’s follow-up Silver is what opened the most eyes (and ears) when public radio gave album opener “Reeling” as well as “Forget Me Not” the airtime they both deserve. With venerable stations like KCRW, KEXP and WXPN heaping praise, they would go on to be named in several “Best of” lists — including our own (see our picks here) — by year’s end and grace some of the biggest stages in the world from Glastonbury Festival to the iconic Hollywood Bowl.

The release of Say She She’s third full length Cut & Rewind back in October, meanwhile, has produced another career milestone for the Brooklyn product in the form of its first major headlining tour. Spanning 24 cities across North America with a pitstop in LA at The Belasco, we made sure to attend at least one of the five California dates. Because what remains undeniable about Say She She is the sheer joy that emanates from not only the music they make, but also the entire unit during live performances. It’s easy to tell all seven members are genuinely enjoying themselves up there, and that kind of infectious energy onstage ends up quickly extending to the crowd.

This wasn’t my first time seeing Say She She in the flesh, however. On a whim last summer I actually caught their free show at the Skirball Cultural Center that seemed to draw both young to old under the stars. Whatever age they were was inconsequential because everyone appeared to be getting down to everything the septet served up over the course of its 90-minute set.

Considering that the Orgone crew has called LA home since the 90’s, it’s certainly a little extra special to see Say She She perform in the City of Angels. In addition to nailing a number of tunes off Cut & Rewind that seamlessly coincided with their older material, they know how to work in a fun cover or two for good measure whether it’s opening with James Gang’s “Collage” or keeping Talking Heads’ “Slippery People” permanently on the setlist (you won’t hear us complain if they do).

Many of the divisions we face today are greater than they ever have been, yet in spite of that, Say She She are shining a bright light in quite a dark world as a microcosm of our current society. If closing the night with “Do All Things With Love” was any indication of where Malik, Cunningham and Brown stand with their message to anyone willing to listen, there’s no doubt they have the right charisma and recipe to bridge even our largest social gaps. Maybe it’s because they give us something to hope for when it can feel like there’s not, and that’s something a lot of folks could use at the moment.

Setlist:
Collage (James Gang cover)
Forget Me Not
Disco Life
Prism
Take It All
Under the Sun
Reeling
Cut & Rewind
Miracles
Chapters
Questions
Shop Boy
Slippery People (Talking Heads cover)
Messages From the Stars (The RAH Band cover)
Astral Plane
She Who Dares

Encore:
C’est si bon
Do All Things With Love

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Live Music Reviews Tagged With: Belasco Theater, Chic, Chicano Batman, Galactic, Glastonbury Festival, Hollywood Bowl, James Gang, Katzù Oso, Orgone, Say She She, Skirball Cultural Center, Talking Heads, The Belasco, The Dap-Kings, The RAH Band, The Shacks

From covers of Black Sabbath & King Crimson to surprise guests Bill Burr, Matt Stone & half of Tool, Primus wow at LA’s Greek Theatre

August 11, 2025 by Josh Herwitt 3 Comments

By Josh Herwitt //

Primus with Ty Segall //
Greek Theatre – Los Angeles
August 6th, 2025 //

If you are a fan of live music and have been following the current rock landscape lately, you probably already know the last few months have been a rough time for drummers.

Legendary bands like The Who, Guns N’ Roses, Iron Maiden, Pearl Jam and Foo Fighters have all experienced changes behind the drum kit recently while well-established mainstays in the jam scene such as Umphrey’s McGee and Goose have also had to find new blood on the skins.

But another rock-leaning act that saw its timekeeper step off the stage — and rather abruptly — was Primus, the 90’s alt-metal group led by bassist, vocalist and founding member Les Claypool that has cycled through its share of drummers since first forming under the name Primate more than 40 years ago in the Bay Area.

Whether it has been Vince Parker, Mark Edgar, Peter Libby, Robbie Bean, Tim “Curveball” Wright, Jay “Jayski” Lane, Bryan “Brain” Mantia or Tim “Herb” Alexander laying it down, Claypool and guitarist Larry “Ler” LaLonde have seen the drum throne become a revolving door for the majority of their careers. So with Alexander leaving the band unexpectedly for a third time in October and revealing that he “lost his passion for playing,” Claypool and LaLonde were once again faced with the unfortunate reality the two close friends would become accustomed to after leaving their former band Blind Illusion and reforming Primus at the end of 1988.

Rather than going back to the well or only accepting referrals for the role, they decided to open up the process to anyone and everyone in their search for “the greatest drummer on Earth.” What came as a result was at least 6,200 submissions followed by a multi-week audition process at Claypool’s studio in Northern California that the band would coin the “Primus Interstellar Drum Derby.” The competition was stiff, with an All-Star cast that included Thomas Pridgen, Nikki Glaspie and Thomas Lang in the mix, but the honor ultimately went to John Hoffman, a relatively unknown from Shreveport, La., whose style and impeccable chops blended perfectly with what Claypool and LaLonde like to cook up when they plug in.

Primus are one of those rare bands that can bring jam fans and metalheads together into the same space. As we have said before after witnessing his Fearless Frog Brigade mark their first tour in two decades with a sold-out gig at The Wiltern a couple years ago (see more photos from the show here), Claypool remains among rare company as a one-of-a-kind musician who has made his living at the intersection of the alt-metal and jam scenes. When you hear a song by Primus, you can tell almost immediately it’s them. Much of that has to do with Claypool’s unmistakable spoken-word vocals of course, though the way he continues to captivate listeners with his innovative bass playing still has Primus sounding like nothing else out there to this day.

It has been nearly eight years since Primus have dropped an album, and there’s a sense with Hoffman officially in the fold now that new material can be expected at some point. But the first order of business for Claypool and LaLonde had to be getting back on the road with their new comrade since performing Rush’s A Tribute to Kings in 46 North American cities on their last headlining tour.

Ty Segall

That’s not to say Primus haven’t been active. We have actually caught them each of the last two years, first at the Hollywood Bowl with Puscifer and A Perfect Circle for Sessanta (read our show review here) and then at Acrisure Arena out in the desert for Sessanta V2.0 (read our show review here).

With the “Onward & Upward” tour this summer providing 25 more opportunities for Claypool, LaLonde and Hoffman to continue building their chemistry onstage, we can tell that Primus are beginning to hit their stride as they introduce fans to “Hoffer.” On a weeknight at LA’s charming Greek Theatre, things began with an onslaught of noise from prolific garage rocker Ty Segall, whose 45-minute opening set was highlighted by a cover of Pink Floyd’s “Interstellar Overdrive”. The singer-songwriter from Laguna Beach put out his 17th studio album Possession in May and his penchant for honoring the greats, from Bob Dylan to T. Rex, is no secret to those who are familiar with his music. While his overall energy this time didn’t quite match what we remember being impressed by back in 2016 at the Teragram Ballroom (read our show review here), Segall’s ability to shred at a moment’s notice is always evident when he takes the stage. Coincidentally enough, his hometown friends were actually sitting beside me and they were definitely feeling it as enough chunky riffs filled our earholes to make us wish that “Sloppo” would tour with San Jose stoner/doom metal duo Sleep in the future.

The sonic similarities between Segall and Primus remain few and far between, but that didn’t take away from what proved to be a magical evening under the stars … and there were plenty of them at the Greek in addition to Claypool, LaLonde and Hoffman. The three-piece opened with two tracks off 1997’s Brown Album, and although this wouldn’t be the same sort of exhibition Primus staged last month at Red Rocks Amphitheatre when seven songs from it were performed, the surprises that ensued could give any fan of 90’s music instant FOMO.

It had come to my attention last spring when I attended Queens of the Stone Age leader Josh Homme’s benefit show that comedian Bill Burr can hold his own on the drums, and even after noticing him outside the venue before entering, it somehow didn’t dawn on me that he was anything other than a spectator. A colleague had mentioned to some of us between sets that he spotted Tool drummer Danny Carey, who had previously filled in for Alexander, and as soon as I saw two kits set up on the stage, I knew we were in for something special. So when Burr walked out with Tool bassist Justin Chancellor after “Bob’s Party Time Lounge” and broke into “Too Many Puppies” on Frizzle Fry, the crowd essentially lost its collective mind and we would have as well if we weren’t busy trying to capture it from behind the camera. What’s more is that Burr totally nailed his part, locking in from the start while Chancellor came equipped with a gift that just so happened to be one of Claypool’s beautiful Pachyderm bass guitars.

Surprises as such are often reserved for the encore, yet considering this was only the third song and we were in one of the biggest entertainment capitals in the world, more were likely in store. The details were certainly unknown, but my Black Sabbath Vol. 4 T-shirt did draw a comment from one of the band’s crew members, which made me believe that a cover might be forthcoming after seeing on social media that Primus uncorked “N.I.B.” in New Orleans with Puddles Pity Party offering his best Ozzy impersonation. My inclination would eventually be proven true after Primus dove into some Oysterhead before crushing King Crimson staple “Thela Hun Ginjeet” with South Park co-creator Matt Stone on the drums, except this time it was Segall manning the mic and sending the place into an absolute frenzy as the Prince of Darkness’ maniacal face was projected on the video screen.

And if that wasn’t enough, Primus gifted us a “DMV” tease prior to launching into “The Ol’ Diamondback Sturgeon (Fisherman’s Chronicles, Part 3)” and followed it up with “Jerry Was a Race Car Driver” that received a roar of applause. Not every Primus setlist will feature the lead singles on 1991’s Sailing the Seas of Cheese and 1993’s Pork Soda, but this rendition of “My Name Is Mud” was extra dirty — in a good way — with Carey finally taking his place stage right to Hoffman and unleashing a dual drum solo that had Claypool slapping his strings in unison, creating a double-bass effect that you could feel in your chest and down to your bones.

How could a Primus show be complete without a bass solo or better yet, a bass off? From solely our perspective, it really couldn’t be. So after a brief encore break, Claypool did what only a bass master would do and brought out MonoNeon, who’s well-known for his work with Prince, for Tales from the Punchbowl single “Southbound Pachyderm” and one of our personal favorites. As the two low-end wizards traded licks down the finish line, it wasn’t very hard to consider this one of the best Primus shows I have ever caught and there have been many. Their recipe of swamp funk mixed with metal might not be everyone’s cup of tea. For us as well as anyone in attendance who found themselves chanting the band’s paradoxical inside joke “Primus Sucks!” — because if you know, you know — however, it never seems to get old no matter what age any of us are.

PRIMUS

Setlist:
Restin’ Bones
Bob’s Party Time Lounge
Too Many Puppies (with Bill Burr) (and Justin Chancellor)
Dirty Drowning Man
Groundhog’s Day (>)
Polka Dot Rose (Oysterhead cover) (partial) (> “Groundhog’s Day” reprise)
Thela Hun Ginjeet (King Crimson cover) (with Matt Stone) (with “Dueling Banjos” tease)
Over the Falls
John the Fisherman
N.I.B. (Black Sabbath cover) (with Ty Segall) (with “Bassically” intro)
The Ol’ Diamondback Sturgeon (Fisherman’s Chronicles, Part 3) (preceded by “DMV” tease)
Jerry Was a Race Car Driver
Welcome to This World (>)
My Name Is Mud (with Danny Carey)

Encore:
Southbound Pachyderm (with MonoNeon)

Editors’ Note: “Amos Moses” and “Mrs. Blaileen” were on the written setlist, but “John the Fisherman” and “Jerry Was a Race Car Driver” were played instead.

TY SEGALL

Setlist:
Void
Interstellar Overdrive (Pink Floyd cover)
Candy Sam
Buildings
Possession
Feel
Wave Goodbye (Ty Segall Band song)
Love Fuzz (slowed down)

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Live Music Reviews Tagged With: A Perfect Circle, Acrisure Arena, Bill Burr, Black Sabbath, Blind Illusion, Bob Dylan, Foo Fighters, Goose, Greek Theatre, Guns N' Roses, Hollywood Bowl, Iron Maiden, Josh Homme, King Crimson, Matt Stone, MonoNeon, Oysterhead, Ozzy Osbourne, Pearl Jam, Pink Floyd, Primus, Primus Interstellar Drum Derby, Prince, Puddles Pity Party, Puscifer, Queens of the Stone Age, Red Rocks, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Red Rocks Park & Amphitheatre, Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre, Rush, SESSANTA, SESSANTA 2024, SESSANTA 2025, SESSANTA V2.0, South Park, T. Rex, The Belasco, The Who, The Wiltern, The Wiltern Theatre, Tool, Ty Segall, Ty Segall Band, Umphrey's McGee

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

‘Sessanta’ reboots with V2.0 tour for Maynard James Keenan’s 61st birthday as Primus, Puscifer & A Perfect Circle visit Acrisure Arena

May 1, 2025 by Josh Herwitt 2 Comments

By Josh Herwitt //

Sessanta: Primus, Puscifer, A Perfect Circle //
Acrisure Arena – Thousand Palms, CA
April 24th, 2025 //

As someone whose music career spans almost 40 years now, Maynard James Keenan has become accustomed to being in the public eye.

The frontman for three successful rock bands — Tool, A Perfect Circle and Puscifer — has sold millions of albums, toured the world and won Grammys, but with that has also come some controversy at times, whether it’s backlash online from Justin Bieber’s wife or a false claim of sexual assault via social media he had to debunk … once he turned his phone on.

The latest came less than two months ago after the inaugural “Tool in the Sand” event in the Dominican Republic to mark the band’s first-ever destination festival. Tool had promised “two unique sets” over the course of three days as Friday’s and Saturday’s headliner, but many fans left disappointed after booing the prog-rock titans for repeating several songs during their second performance.

The news certainly made the rounds all across the internet a day or two later, and a class-action lawsuit was filed against Keenan and his bandmates subsequently. While fans might feel like they have a right to be upset about four songs they had to hear twice and will try to argue they would not have gone had they known that, they don’t have much of a legal case to stand on from our vantage point.

But with Tool wrapping up their first-ever South American tour at the end of March, there was only three weeks’ worth of time for Keenan to focus on his other projects for the 2.0 version of the “Sessanta” tour that features Primus, Puscifer and A Perfect Circle performing every 3-4 songs in those increments for nearly three hours.

Hitting a few secondary U.S. markets on this run, Sessanta’s first stop for its 2025 reboot just happened to be within driving distance for us. Standing 120 miles east of Los Angeles off Interstate 10 in Thousand Palms, the 11,000-person Acrisure Arena opened in 2022 as the home of the Coachella Valley Firebirds that compete in the American Hockey League (AHL) as the NHL affiliate for the Seattle Kraken.

Like any modern establishment though, the multi-purpose indoor space proved to be a suitable setting for celebrating Keenan’s 61st birthday. This wasn’t our first time experiencing Sessanta after watching Keenan ring in the big 6-0 at the Hollywood Bowl a year prior when the other members of Tool made a surprise appearance to perform “Ænema” with Les Claypool of Primus joining them to provide backing vocals (read our show review here). I had also caught one of the two “Cinquanta” gigs in 2014 — with Failure on the bill instead of Primus — for MJK’s 50th at LA’s Greek Theatre and have always enjoyed the rotating format that back then had the drum risers on wheels to facilitate changeovers.

One of the big upgrades in stage production from Cinquanta to Sessanta has been having each band’s equipment — including three drum sets — set up at all times on the platform above and toward the back of the stage, and it’s made the transitions from one act to the other even more seamless than before. A Perfect Circle, much like we witnessed at the Bowl, went first and earned loud cheers from the crowd as they opened with “The Package” off 2003’s Thirteenth Step. Yet, it was hearing them play “Blue” for the first time since 2018 that served as an early highlight and had us replaying the chorus (“Call an optimist, she’s turning blue / Such a lovely color for you / Call an optimist, she’s turning blue / While I just sit and stare at you”) in our head the next day.

When it was time for Primus to take the reins, our eyes were focused squarely on new drummer John Hoffman. The alt-funk metal trio had held open auditions for the throne earlier this year following Tim Alexander’s sudden exit in October, ultimately going with the Louisiana native, and it quickly became clear as they powered through “Here Come the Bastards”, “Groundhog’s Day” and “Duchess and the Proverbial Mind Spread” for Act 1 that Claypool (lead vocals, bass, double bass) and Larry LaLonde (guitars, backing vocals) unquestionably made an excellent choice amidst some stiff competition i.e. Rory Dolan, Thomas Pridgen, Nikki Glaspie, Thomas Lang and more. Around the midway point, we were gifted the live debut of the trio’s new single “Little Lord Fentanyl” featuring Keenan while Carina Round of Puscifer lent her voice to the mix, too. Clocking in under four minutes long, it’s a slinky little ditty satirizing one of America’s biggest killers that showcases Hoffman’s chops and reminds us why Claypool remains in a league of his own. Primus, after all, have been at it for close to four decades if you can believe it and continue to regularly tour — they are back in LA this August as headliners with support from Ty Segall — but with The Desaturating Seven dropping in 2017 as their ninth and most recent LP, maybe new blood is what’s needed to get the creativity flowing again in the studio.

Speaking of Puscifer, the three-piece consisting of Keenan (vocals), Round (vocals, guitar, percussion, keyboards) and Mat Mitchell (guitar, bass, programming, keyboards, synthesizers, production) offered their own live debut in the form of “The Algorithm” that they released last year for the soundtrack to the “American Psycho” comic book, and seeing all three bands switch things up for Sessanta V2.0 justified our trek out to the desert. Keenan might not be changing up the setlist every night, but you can be sure he isn’t mailing it in. Even if his range isn’t what it used to be when he was in his 20’s with Tool, his tone still leaves an immediate impression. Throw in a bunch of the best rock ‘n’ roll musicians in the game to back him up, and you have a recipe for a very unique and fun concert experience.

What makes Sessanta unlike anything else are the collaborations that occur, and A Perfect Circle took advantage of the extra resources available by inviting Hoffman and Puscifer timekeeper Gunnar Olsen to assist on “The Doomed” while Primus employed a similar strategy for their 1995 single “Southbound Pachyderm” with Olsen as well as APC guitarist Billy Howerdel and drummer Josh Freese getting in on the action after Keenan and Mitchell sat in on “Pablo’s Hippos” from the collaborative Sessanta E.P.P.P.

It’s always difficult when you are only given one song — in this case, the last few minutes when all three bands join forces onstage for Puscifer’s “Grand Canyon” — to photograph and have to miss some of the music in order to do so. My younger self who grew up listening to and admiring Keenan’s work probably would have been jealous of an opportunity to capture a living legend in their element. I suppose after all these years covering live music a lot of the shock value has worn off, but when it’s one of your childhood heroes standing up there, that excitement inside never really goes away.

Setlist:
Act 1: A Perfect Circle
The Package (A Perfect Circle song)
Disillusioned (A Perfect Circle song)
Blue (A Perfect Circle song) (first time since 2018)

Primus
Here Come the Bastards (Primus song)
Groundhog’s Day (Primus song)
Duchess and the Proverbial Mind Spread (Primus song)

Puscifer
Man Overboard (Puscifer song)
Tiny Monsters (Puscifer song)
Indigo Children (Puscifer song) (Versatile mix)

Act 2: Primus
Little Lord Fentanyl (Primus song) (with Maynard James Keenan) (and Carina Round; live debut)
Welcome to This World (Primus song) (>)
My Name Is Mud (Primus song)
Jerry Was a Race Car Driver (Primus song)

Puscifer
Flippant (Puscifer song)
No Angel (Puscifer song)
Bullet Train to Iowa (Puscifer song)
The Algorithm (Puscifer song) (live debut)

A Perfect Circle
The Contrarian (A Perfect Circle song) (with Carina Round)
The Doomed (A Perfect Circle song) (with John Hoffman) (and Gunnar Olsen; Hoffman on main drums, Freese and Olsen joined at the end; first time since 2018)
Weak and Powerless (A Perfect Circle song)
The Outsider (A Perfect Circle song)

Act 3: Puscifer
The Humbling River (Puscifer song) (Versatile mix)
Polar Bear (Puscifer song) (first time since 2017)
The Remedy (Puscifer song)

A Perfect Circle
The Noose (A Perfect Circle song)
Kindred (A Perfect Circle song)
Judith (A Perfect Circle song)

Primus
Pablo’s Hippos (Primus song) (with Maynard James Keenan) (and Mat Mitchell)
Southbound Pachyderm (Primus song) (with Billy Howerdel) (and Josh Freese and Gunnar Olsen)

Primus, A Perfect Circle, Puscifer
Grand Canyon (Puscifer song)

Sessanta - Primus, Puscifer & A Perfect Circle

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Live Music Reviews Tagged With: A Perfect Circle, Acrisure Arena, Failure, Hollywood Bowl, Justin Bieber, Les Claypool, Primus, Puscifer, SESSANTA, SESSANTA 2025, SESSANTA V2.0, Tool, Tool in the Sand, Ty Segall

The Bam Team’s 5 Favorite Shows, Albums & Songs of 2024

December 30, 2024 by The Bam Team 2 Comments

2024 was a BIG year for music. With a continued return to normalcy playing out following the first global pandemic in more than a century, the past 12 months produced plenty of great moments onstage and in the studio — from record-breaking world tours to surprise releases and everything in between.

Every year we get to do this we feel fortunate to have the opportunity to do something that we love — witness live music. Yet, each one feels a little different than the last and this year certainly had its own unique collection of highlights. We saw Explosions in the Sky make a statement as one of post-rock’s most essential acts, Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan ring in his 60th birthday on the “Sessanta” tour, My Morning Jacket back at The Fillmore for a four-night run of no repeats, DIIV assure us there’s still a future for indie rock and Dawes celebrate the holidays with a brand-new album and star-studded cast of special guests. We also covered our first shows at the state-of-the-art Fox Theater Pomona and legendary Pappy & Harriet’s in Pioneertown much to our delight, with those sort of visceral experiences amounting to more than merely the music we heard there.

But with another year wrapping up and 2025 here very soon, it’s time for us to reveal our annual “Best of” lists as we have done since this blog started more than a decade ago (see our 2023 picks here). As we always say, we will be the first to confess we didn’t attend every show or spin every album that was issued in 2024, but looking in the rearview mirror can be nearly as fun and challenging as when we first started doing this yearly exercise.

So, without further ado, Showbams presents The Bam Team’s five favorite shows, albums and songs from 2024.

Listen to The Bam Team’s favorite songs of 2024:

Sting at BeachLife Festival // Photo by Josh Herwitt

Josh Herwitt // Los Angeles

Top 5 Shows of 2024
1. Pearl Jam at Kia Forum – Los Angeles, CA – May 21st-22nd
What a year it was for one of our all-time favorites acts. The release of Pearl Jam’s 12th studio album Dark Matter in April gave us more than a month to acquaint ourselves with their latest effort before we would see them blow the roof off a sold-out Kia Forum over two consecutive nights. By the end of the second, we were well-satiated thanks to Eddie Vedder and the Hall of Fame band delivering one tour debut after another while also seamlessly mixing in their new material. But the most poignant memory for us came on Night 1 when Vedder broke into Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)” at the end of “Daughter” with the crowd seemingly in the palm of his hand. Not only hearing the entire arena sing along to “We don’t need no education / We don’t need no thought control” but also seeing Vedder still command an audience like that at his age gave me chills — the good kind — down my spine that I don’t think I will never forget. All we can say is the power of live music felt very alive (no pun intended) and well in that moment.

2. My Morning Jacket at The Fillmore – San Francisco, CA – May 30th-31st
3. Queens of the Stone Age at Santa Barbara Bowl – Santa Barbara, CA – May 24th
4. LCD Soundsystem at Hollywood Palladium – Los Angeles, CA – November 8th
5. Sting at BeachLife Festival – Redondo Beach, CA – May 3rd

Honorable Mention: slowdive at Fox Theater Pomona – Pomona, CA – April 26th

Top 5 Albums of 2024
1. Pearl Jam – Dark Matter
It has been a long time since PJ uncorked a full length as strong from start to finish as their newest, but when I first heard its lead single that would also serve as the LP’s title track, I could sense something was different this time. Maybe it was Matt Cameron’s drums sitting front and center in the mix or Mike McCready’s electrifying, Hendrix-like guitar solo down the song’s final stretch. Except the more time I spent with Dark Matter, the more I loved not just the singles but all 11 songs. “Waiting For Stevie” has become an instant fan favorite in its relatively short time while others like “Scared of Fear”, Won’t Tell”, “Upper Hand” and “Setting Sun” have been the glue, giving depth to an album that sees Vedder and company not resting on their laurels after more than three decades together. Whether it was working with Grammy-winning producer Andrew Watt or the addition of former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer to the songwriting process, Dark Matter sees one of the best rock ‘n’ roll bands in the business continuing to push itself creatively and that has carried over to the stage where Pearl Jam’s epic live shows remain full of raw energy and emotion (see above for more on that).

2. Kendrick Lamar – GNX
3. Jack White – No Name
4. The Smile – Wall of Eyes
5. The Smashing Pumpkins – Aghori Mhori Mei

Favorite Live Album of 2024: The War on Drugs – Live Drugs Again

Top 5 Songs of 2024
1. Kendrick Lamar – “Not Like Us”
After a year in which the Dodgers finally won the World Series fair and square, this only seemed like the right choice for any self-respecting Angeleno like myself. “Not Like Us” compliments of Compton’s finest rapper would not just end up becoming a new anthem for my hometown of LA but the entire West Coast. As he goes down the “rabbit hole” with shrewd and clever wordplay, it’s clear why King Kendrick has sat atop hip-hop’s unofficial throne for a while now and has already cemented himself before the young age of 40 on its Mount Rushmore. What was released as a diss track in a series of them aimed at Drake has turned into so much more six months later, and the Mustard-produced gem continues to resonate for us no matter which side won the highly publicized feud. Because in our minds, it never was really close.

2. Pearl Jam – “Setting Sun”
3. LCD Soundsystem – “x-ray eyes”
4. Jack White – “It’s Rough on Rats (If You’re Asking)”
5. The Smashing Pumpkins – “Edin”

Favorite Soundtrack of 2024: Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross – Challengers (Original Score)

Andrew Pohl // San Francisco

Top 5 Shows of 2024
1. Idles with Protomartyr at Fox Theater Oakland – Oakland, CA – May 10th
My anticipation of seeing Idles for the second time was palpable as I made my way into the Fox. The first time I saw them was at The Fillmore a few years earlier, and it was easily one of the best shows I had EVER seen (and I have been to hundreds of concerts). Once again, they delivered a performance that was not only interactive, but also filled with heart, raw energy and the kind of joy you don’t always see from road dogs like them. Every note seemed to be played with total satisfaction, which you could see on every member’s face throughout the 25-song set.

2. Green Day with The Smashing Pumpkins, Rancid, The Linda Lindas at Oracle Park – San Francisco, CA – September 20th
3. Black Pumas at Fox Theater Oakland – Oakland, CA – February 8th
4. Home Front with Neighborhood Brats, Build Us Airplanes at Bottom of the Hill – San Francisco, CA – December 14th
5. Rich Kids on LSD (RKL) at Bottom of the Hill – San Francisco, CA – May 1st

Top 5 Albums of 2024
1. The Smashing Pumpkins – Aghori Mhori Meiwo
This is the Pumpkins album that I have been wanting to hear since Zeitgeist came out in 2007. Some critics have said in recent years that guitar-focused rock music is “dead” … well, the band’s 13th studio effort has a bone to pick with that sentiment. After several releases that have varied from “questionable” to “just OK,” founding members Billy Corgan, James Iha and Jimmy Chamberlin went back to the basics and laid down a proper LP that every SP fan knew they were capable of making. After all, I always love a good comeback story.

2. The Cure – Songs of a Lost World
3. Alkaline Trio – Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs
4. NØ MAN – Glitter and Spit
5. The Jesus Lizard – Rack

Top 5 Songs of 2024
1. Yard Act – “Dream Job”
With how turbulent the world has been over the past few years, I have been finding myself gravitating toward music that’s a bit more upbeat musically — and this song is a certified infectious banger. Yard Act have this cool way of incorporating clever, oft-dark social commentary into what would otherwise be a tasty dance number, which is part of their charm and why they have blown up since forming in 2019. I kept coming back to this album during 2024, and this was definitely the track that kept my foot tapping.

2. Sammy Kay – “Love Song”
3. The Jukebox Romantics – “Packing Up My Knives”
4. Idles feat. LCD Soundsystem – “Dancer”
5. Jack White – “It’s Rough on Rats (If You’re Asking)”

Rochelle Shipman // Los Angeles

Top 5 Shows of 2024
1. Anderson .Paak & the Free Nationals at Hollywood Bowl – Los Angeles, CA – September 24th
Anderson .Paak pulled out all the stops for a performance of his seminal and (arguably) best album Malibu, bringing out every featured guest from BJ the Chicago Kid and ScHoolboy Q to Rapsody and Talib Kweli. As if that wasn’t enough, he got some help from the GOAT — Dr. Dre himself performing 2001 hits “The Next Episode” and “Still D.R.E.” — to jump start the second set and kept the surprises coming. Plus, the iconic Hollywood Bowl proved to be a stunning setting for the most ethereal evening.

2. Conor Oberst at Teragram Ballroom – Los Angeles, CA – March 7th, 14th, 21st & 28th
3. Something Corporate at Hollywood Palladium – Los Angeles, CA – October 11th
4. Stars at The Fonda Theatre – Los Angeles, CA – October 18th
5. Kate Nash at Teragram Ballroom – Los Angeles, CA – November 2nd

Top 5 Albums of 2024
1. Kendrick Lamar – GNX
For an album that dropped six weeks prior to the end of the year, GNX has been embedded in the fabric of K-Dot fans since Q2. Artfully teasing snippets like lead single “Squabble Up” months before its official release, Kendrick effortlessly reminded the world why “King” fits so naturally into some of his nicknames. Not that he needs any more, but blessing us with a surprise LP full of fiery tracks that keep breaking and setting new records gives him one more lick of proof that no one else is in his lane.

2. Little Simz – Drop 7
3. Yaya Bey – Ten Fold
4. Doechii – Alligator Bites Never Heal
5. Channel Tres – Head Rush

Top 5 Songs of 2024
1. Kendrick Lamar – “Not Like Us”
It feels disingenuous to pick any other song but “Not Like Us” in 2024. Kendrick’s meticulous takedown of Drake was the perfect evil antidote to an industry choking on espresso. “Not Like Us” was the golden middle finger with Lamar penning an impeccable balance between professor and troll, destroying Drake in a way that only a Pulitzer Prize winner could.

2. Little Simz – “Torch”
3. Desert Mambas – “Hot George Costanza”
4. Yaya Bey – “slow dancing in the kitchen”
5. Megan Thee Stallion – “Hiss”

Filed Under: Best of, Best of 2024, Editor's Picks, Featured Tagged With: Alkaline Trio, Anderson .Paak, Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals, BeachLife Festival, BeachLife Festival 2024, BJ the Chicago Kid, Black Pumas, Bottom of the Hill, Build Us Airplanes, Channel Tres, Conor Oberst, Desert Mambas, DJ Mustard, Doechii, Dr. Dre, Drake, Fox Theater Oakland, Green Day, Hollywood Bowl, Hollywood Palladium, Home Front, IDLES, Jack White, Kate Nash, Kendrick Lamar, Kia Forum, LCD Soundsystem, Little Simz, Megan Thee Stallion, Mustard, My Morning Jacket, NØ MAN, Neighborhood Brats, Oracle Park, Pearl Jam, Protomartyr, Queens of the Stone Age, Rancid, Rapsody, Rich Kids on LSD (RKL), Sammy Kay, Santa Barbara Bowl, Schoolboy Q, Something Corporate, Stars, Sting, Talib Kweli, Teragram Ballroom, The Cure, The Fillmore, The Fonda Theatre, The Jesus Lizard, The Jukebox Romantics, The Linda Lindas, The Police, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Smile, The Teragram Ballroom, Yard Act, Yaya Bey

Rodrigo y Gabriela give LA the emotional reset it needs while taking fans at the Hollywood Bowl on a riveting, philosophical journey

September 25, 2024 by Ivan Fernandez Leave a Comment

Photos by Carla Lopez // Written by Iván Fernández //

Rodrigo y Gabriela with Afro-Cuban All Stars //
Hollywood Bowl – Los Angeles
September 18th, 2024 //

It hadn’t been two weeks since LA found itself in near-literal hell when Rodrigo y Gabriela returned to the Hollywood Bowl. The city found itself surrounded by wildfires to the north, east and south and crunched with inescapable record-breaking, triple-digit temperatures.

With the heatwave gone and the fires mostly contained, the people needed a fresh start. The Mexican duo were more than happy to oblige with an assist from the Afro-Cuban All-Stars.

The beauty of the Hollywood Bowl is how it can feel immense without losing its intimacy, especially in the hands of seasoned performers. Thankfully, this was the case with the night’s acts: two experienced veterans with many performances at the Bowl in their pocket. It also takes something special to be the type of performer who is invited to the Bowl multiple times in their career — “maybe eight times” said Rodrigo during the concert — and both bands showed everyone what that special something is.

The show began with the Afro-Cuban All-Stars led by founder Juan De Marcos González, who also happens to be the guy who helped Ry Cooder put Buena Vista Social Club together during the same year he also founded the All-Stars. To say he has an eye and an ear for talent is like saying Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani knows how to hit a baseball or steal a base. As a longtime of Buena Vista, seeing one of its founders perform live sent chills through my body.

González and the 12 members who comprised this version of the All-Stars had the crowd cheering, hollering and dancing throughout their too-brief, five-song set. They opened with “Addimu A Oshun” as they have for years. Their version of the invocation to the saint of Cuba is also an invocation to get off your seat and dance, after all.

Afro-Cuban All-Stars

The vibes continued through their set filled with jaw-dropping instrumental solos, including the conga solo on the closing song, which had people dancing in conga lines in every section of the venue. Did I mention that this was just the opener?!

So how does a two-person, guitar-only group take the stage after that type of performance?

Easily, if you are Rodrigo y Gabriela! The duo comprised of Rodrigo Sánchez and Gabriela Quintero walked out confidently and immediately got to work with two songs from their latest album In Between Thoughts…A New World. The album’s cover art served as a backdrop that set the scene for the emotional and philosophical musical journey ahead.

As a longtime fan, I was happily surprised with the shift in their music as Rodrigo spent most of the night playing an electric guitar. As other longtime fans know, Rod & Gab performed on acoustic guitars for the majority of their career. In fact, they were still an acoustic act when last I saw them at the Bowl in 2016.

That changed in 2019 with the release of Mettavolution when they sparingly added electric guitars into the mix before fully incorporating them into the recorded and live performances of 2023’s In Between Thoughts…A New World. The change didn’t alter Rodrigo y Gabriela’s music into an unrecognizable form nor did it feel like an experiment tacked on out of curiosity. Just as they have expanded their own philosophical beliefs into their lives and their recent albums, so too has the electric guitar expanded the range and style of their recorded music and live performances.

Rodrigo y Gabriela

The duo surprised everyone at the Bowl by performing four new songs. “Some bands don’t like to play songs from their new album, but we frankly don’t give a fuck,” said Rodrigo to cheers from the audience.

Of the four new songs, “The Simurgh” stood out the most to me. The song, as Gabriela explained, is based on a poem called “The Conference of the Birds” by Sufi poet Attar and is written as a narrative soundtrack, or companion, to the journey taken by the birds in the poem. The song included a guitar solo by Rodrigo that was so impacting one could feel and see the poem come to life.

Rod & Gab went back to their fully acoustic roots halfway through their set for a trio of older hits: “Hanuman”, “Diablo Rojo” and “Tamacun”. They even performed them in the manner like they used to when they first began performing together, sitting next to each other on stools as close to the audience as possible.

Rodrigo left the stage at one point, leaving Gabriela to regale the crowd with a solo on acoustic guitar for a few minutes. It was a master class in guitar artistry. Rodrigo eventually joined her as she continued playing until the two met, musically, segueing into “Finding Myself Leads Me to You”.

Rodrigo y Gabriela closed out the show with an amazing rendition of their most recent album’s title track that had everyone on their feet. The concert was a joyous ceremony from beginning to end and a much-needed emotional reset from the oppressive, heat-related dangers of the past weeks.

RODRIGO Y GABRIELA

Setlist:
True Nature
The Ride of the Mind
Astrum in Corpore
Egoland
Seeking Unreality
Monster
Hanuman
Diablo Rojo
Tamacun
The Simurgh
Gabriela Solo
Finding Myself Leads Me to You
Dublin
Descending to Nowhere

Encore:
In Between Thoughts…A New World

AFRO-CUBAN ALL-STARS

Setlist:
Addimu A Oshún
A Distancia
Sueño Y Realidad
On the Road Again
Conga

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Live Music Reviews Tagged With: Afro-Cuban All Stars, Buena Vista Social Club, Hollywood Bowl, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Ry Cooder, Shohei Ohtani

DIIV give us hope at The Wiltern that there’s a future for indie rock

July 5, 2024 by Josh Herwitt 2 Comments

By Josh Herwitt //

DIIV with Lightning Bolt, untitled (halo) //
The Wiltern – Los Angeles
June 29th, 2024 //

For nearly 15 years it’s no secret the music industry has moved farther away from the guitar-driven rock that prevailed through much of the 90’s and early 2000’s. Some have even gone as far to now say “rock is dead,” and while we can point out some of our own experiences from recent memory — including one here — to counter that claim, there have only been a handful of new bands since 2010 that accurately fit the description and have hooked me enough to catch them live.

Australian sextet King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard are one of those acts, and their three-hour marathon at the iconic Hollywood Bowl last summer (read our show review here) was one of our favorite shows in 2023 (see our picks here).

English bass-and-drums duo Royal Blood are another, and their bone-rattling concert at The Wiltern in November (read our show review here) was also a highlight for us last year.

Of course we can’t forget about Houston psych-funk-rock trio Khruangbin, which have continued their ascent with sold-out gigs at some of America’s biggest music venues and events. In fact, we still think about their 2022 appearance on Day 2 of Primavera Sound LA (read our festival review here).

And then there’s “American indie-groove band” Goose, who gave us a chance to finally watch them in the flesh several months ago when they made their Santa Barbara Bowl debut and a compelling case why they have been one of the hottest (jam) bands lately (read our show review here).

Obviously there are supergroups and/or side projects like The Smile, boygenius and The New Basement Tapes as well, while others might argue that bands such as Greta Van Fleet, Hockey Dad, Turnstile, Wet Leg and Viagra Boys have carried the torch forward for the genre (note: IDLES were not mentioned here because they formed back in 2009 along with Alabama Shakes, Atoms for Peace, Broken Bells, Dawes, The Dead Weather, How to Destroy Angels, Rival Sons, Them Crooked Vultures and Wild Nothing).

But standing among some of the best to arrive on the scene in roughly the last decade and a half are DIIV, which began as a solo endeavor for Zachary Cole Smith (lead vocals, guitar) after previous stints as a guitarist in the psych-rock outfit Soft Black and drummer/guitarist for indie rockers Beach Fossils while he was living in Brooklyn.

Smith has relocated to LA since DIIV’s formation, but the group’s sound has remained fairly consistent — dreamy, hazy vocals float on top of gritty, fuzzed-out guitars as they collide with punchy rhythms that immediately evoke comparisons to Modest Mouse, Silversun Pickups, Slowdive and even Explosions in the Sky when we listen. That’s not to say DIIV’s shoegaze-laden soundscapes don’t have their own feel and vibe, though. They very much have their own identity, as Smith’s catchy riffs often pull you in at the start and build up to moments of pure sonic bliss like on “Taker” or “Acheron” that stands as the longest track in the DIIV catalog at more than seven minutes.

Four albums in following the May release of Frog in Boiling Water on Fantasy Records, and the quartet that was a five-piece in the early 2010’s and currently includes Smith’s childhood friend Andrew Bailey (guitar), Colin Caulfield (bass, keyboards, guitar, vocals) and Ben Newman (drums) are no doubt a well-established unit at this point. The 10-track LP anchored by lead single “Brown Paper Bag” has already garnered critical acclaim from quite a few media outlets and fits in nicely with the rest of DIIV’s material, showcasing Smith’s continued growth and evolution as a singer-songwriter. And although we can’t say his overall range behind the microphone has transformed dramatically dating back to 2012’s full-length debut Oshin, Smith does come across more forceful in his delivery on DIIV’s latest studio effort.

Wrapping up the first leg of a 33-date North American tour last Saturday at The Wiltern with Rhode Island noise-rock duo Lightning Bolt and LA’s untitled (halo) providing support, Smith and company delivered plenty of highs from “Doused” to “Blankenship” and yet left us yearning to hear others like “Dopamine” off 2016’s Is the Is Are and “Skin Game” from 2019’s Deceiver. The fact that neither of those are being played was somewhat surprising — even if they aren’t among their Top 5 songs on Spotify — and yet encouraging considering how well we thought their 90-minute performance in LA flowed from one song to the next. DIIV haven’t been mixing up their setlists each night they take the stage, instead sticking to a very similar script so far for their 2024 dates across Europe and the U.S. While that’s something we eventually hope to see from them after another album cycle, the next six months will mark an important stretch for DIIV with their tour schedule extending all the way through December and taking them back to the UK where a couple of sold-out gigs with Irish post-punk band Fontaines D.C. — another one of the rare major post-2010 rock acts to emerge — in London await.

The impending doom and gloom that Smith’s lyrics have been known to address since DIIV’s inception in 2011 don’t exactly anoint them as champions of hope and optimism at a time of great uncertainty and political tension here at home. Frog confronts the “overwhelmingly banal collapse of society under end-stage capitalism,” and with another U.S. presidential election looming that stars a former president and convicted felon, there’s a real cause for concern with the stakes higher than ever. The video interludes — one to advertise DIIV merch, another to introduce their sophomore single on Frog entitled “”Soul-net” and finally a satirical promo for ExxonMobil at the beginning of the encore — sprinkled in throughout the show reminded us of that dark reality, but as Bailey told Zane Lowe during a recent interview for Apple Music: “The message isn’t ‘the world is screwed and there’s nothing we can do.’ It’s more pointing out the fact that the world is screwed and heading toward demise … how do we accept that reality and still turn it into something positive?”

Smith, for one, has faced his own demons and past struggles with substance abuse that we don’t need to get into but has courageously come out on the other side all while continuing to push the boundaries sonically with every DIIV release. Frog, after all, was the first time the band worked democratically with writing credits going to all four members, challenging them individually and testing the strength of their collective bond in ultimately representing “a mesmeric testament to enduring.” For us fans, it’s just one sign of another great band in the making.

Setlist:
In Amber
Like Before You Were Born
Brown Paper Bag
Under the Sun
(Druun Pt. II)
Doused
Reflected
Somber the Drums
Take Your Time
Taker
Raining on Your Pillow
Soul-net
Frog in Boiling Water
Between Tides
Blankenship
Acheron

Encore:
Everyone Out
Horsehead

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Live Music Reviews Tagged With: Alabama Shakes, Beach Fossils, Broken Bells, Dawes, DIIV, Fontaines D.C., Greta Van Fleet, Hockey Dad, Hollywood Bowl, How to Destroy Angels, IDLES, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Lightning Bolt, Rival Sons, Royal Blood, Santa Barbara Bowl, Soft Black, The Dead Weather, The New Basement Tapes, The Smile, The Wiltern, Them Crooked Vultures, Turnstile, untitled (halo), Viagra Boys, Wet Leg, Wild Nothing

Maynard James Keenan rings in 60th birthday on ‘Sessanta’ tour as Primus, Puscifer, A Perfect Circle & even Tool rock Hollywood Bowl

April 25, 2024 by Josh Herwitt 4 Comments

By Josh Herwitt //

Sessanta: Primus, Puscifer, A Perfect Circle //
Hollywood Bowl – Los Angeles
April 20th, 2024 //

4/20 has become an infamous day of celebration for the cannabis community over the years, but for those of us who paid a visit to the Hollywood Bowl last Saturday, the 2024 edition of April 20th will be forever remembered as a celebration of Maynard James Keenan.

Following two “Cinquanta” shows a decade ago at LA’s Greek Theatre to ring in his 50th birthday, the singer and primary lyricist for Tool, A Perfect Circle and Puscifer has expanded upon that concept this spring for his 60th trip around the sun with a full-fledged tour from coast to coast he’s calling Sessanta.

Serving as a “resurrection” and “expansion” of Cinquanta over 21 dates in the U.S., the performances were intended to follow a similar format featuring A Perfect Circle, Puscifer and another (90’s rock) act Keenan has been close friends with sharing the stage throughout the evening. Failure had earned that honor back in 2014, but this time it was Primus’ turn. We have always been fans of Les Claypool, and after seeing his Fearless Flying Frog Brigade reunite last year for their first concerts in two decades — including a sold-out stop at The Wiltern (see photos from the show here) — we were excited to see the legendary bassist paired with one of our favorite vocalists.

The setlist for the “Sessanta” tour has been anchored mostly by three- or four-song stretches from each band before reaching a total of 30 tunes over the course of three hours, but with MJK’s ties to LA where his music career took off in the early 90’s and became what it is today, we had a feeling that something special was in store on this particular night. It started with the birthday boy guesting on Primus’ “Tommy the Cat” and continued with A Perfect Circle guitarist James Iha — also of Smashing Pumpkins fame — joining his bandmates for “The Hollow” off the alt-rock supergroup’s debut LP Mer de Noms. Then there was original members Paz Lenchantin and Troy Van Leeuwen appearing onstage later to revisit APC’s first single “Judith” that’s nearing the quarter-century mark

But even with Primus drummer Tim Alexander sitting in on APC’s “Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums” and APC guitarist Billy Howerdel doing the same for Primus’ “Southbound Pachyderm” well past the gig’s midway point, the biggest surprise had to come after all three projects performed their contribution to the Sessanta E.P.P.P., the new three-song split EP with a track by each band that Keenan spearheaded and worked on to release just prior to the tour. Because when guitarist Adam Jones, drummer Danny Carey and bassist Justin Chancellor walked out after MJK had finished singing Primus’ “Pablo’s Hippos” with Claypool, the capacity crowd erupted like it would at a Tool show.

For only one song, that’s exactly what we got. Somewhat reminiscent of the first Cinquanta event when Carey, Chancellor and Zac Rae of Death Cab for Cutie backed Keenan on “Sober” toward the end of the gig, this time they went with something even more fitting geographically and aggressive as Jones began playing the opening riff to “Ænema” on his signature Gibson Les Paul. MJK’s feelings about the City of Angels, after all, have never been a secret to his fans ever since Tool unleashed their sophomore studio album Ænima in 1996, but he stills spends a lot of time working here despite all of the materialism and plasticity that eventually compelled him to make his home in Jerome, Ariz. With many of his colleagues and friends in LA though, he doesn’t have much of a choice but to come back. And as he told us before saying goodbye via Puscifer’s “Grand Canyon” under the Bowl’s iconic bandshell, he has been fortunate to know some of the “best musicians in the business.” What he forgot to mention was … he’s right there with them and always has been.

Setlist:
Act 1: A Perfect Circle
The Package (A Perfect Circle song)
Disillusioned (A Perfect Circle song)
The Contrarian (A Perfect Circle song) (with Carina Round)

Primus
Those Damned Blue-Collar Tweekers (Primus song)
Too Many Puppies (Primus song) (partial)
Follow the Fool (Primus song)

Puscifer
Galileo (Puscifer song)
Horizons (Puscifer song)
Indigo Children (Puscifer song) (Versatile mix)

Act 2: Primus
Jerry Was a Race Car Driver (Primus song)
My Name Is Mud (Primus song)
Tommy the Cat (Primus song) (with Maynard James Keenan)

Puscifer
Flippant (Puscifer song)
Momma Sed (Puscifer song) (Versatile mix)
Bullet Train to Iowa (Puscifer song)
The Underwhelming (Puscifer song)

A Perfect Circle
The Hollow (A Perfect Circle song) (with James Iha on guitar and Tim Alexander on drums instead of Josh Freese)
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish (A Perfect Circle cover) (with Les Claypool on upright bass with bow)
Weak and Powerless (A Perfect Circle song)
The Outsider (A Perfect Circle song)

Act 2: Puscifer
The Humbling River (Puscifer song) (Versatile mix)
The Remedy (Puscifer song)

A Perfect Circle
Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums (A Perfect Circle song) (with Tim Alexander)
Judith (A Perfect Circle song) (with Paz Lenchantin on bass and Troy Van Leeuwen on guitar)

Primus
Southbound Pachyderm (Primus song) (with Billy Howerdel, Josh Freese and Gunnar Olsen)

Sessanta E.P.P.P.
Kindred (A Perfect Circle song)
No Angel (Puscifer song)
Pablo’s Hippos (Primus song) (with Maynard James Keenan)

Tool
Ænema (Tool cover) (with Tool) (Les Claypool sang with Maynard)

Primus, A Perfect Circle, Puscifer
Grand Canyon (Puscifer song)

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Live Music Reviews Tagged With: A Perfect Circle, Cinquanta, Death Cab For Cutie, Failure, Foo Fighters, Greek Theatre, Hollywood Bowl, Les Claypool, Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade, Maynard James Keenan, Primus, Puscifer, SESSANTA, SESSANTA 2024, Smashing Pumpkins, Tool

Coachella releases 2024 set times & continues recent tradition of surprise guests as Vampire Weekend, Kid Cudi revealed as latest

April 9, 2024 by Josh Herwitt 3 Comments

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival //
Empire Polo Club – Indio, CA
April 12th-14th & April 19th-21st, 2024 //

With sunshine once again showering the Golden State this week, it’s hard to believe that we are only days away from Coachella’s 23rd installment.

Yep, it’s already that time of the year again, and with ticket sales for the famed California music festival not quite the same as in previous years (Weekend 2 hasn’t sold out yet), we find ourselves pondering if Goldenvoice curated a lineup that leaves something to be desired.

One thing we can’t say is it’s low on star power, though. Of course there’s Lana Del Rey, Tyler, The Creator and Doja Cat making their headlining debuts as well as No Doubt reuniting for the first time since 2015, but after surprising us with guest appearances by Arcade Fire in 2022 and blink-182 in 2023, Paul Tollett and his team have pulled another rabbit out of their collective hat while unlike last year, remaining right on schedule.

Vampire Weekend 1 pic.twitter.com/UMOEMKTQLf

— Coachella (@coachella) April 9, 2024

Now the latest trick up Tollett’s sleeve is another surprise guest appearing on this year’s set times, and if you just happen to be a fan of Vampire Weekend, then you are in luck. The indie-rock group made up of Ezra Koenig (lead vocals, guitar, piano), Chris Baio (bass, backing vocals, occasional piano) and Chris Tomson (drums, percussion, occasional guitar, backing vocals) put out their fifth studio album Only God Was Above Us last week and played their first show since 2022 last night under a total eclipse at a sold-out Moody Amphitheatre in Austin, Texas. With their next one not coming until the end of this month at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, why not make a stop in the desert first before heading down to the bayou? For those of you here in California, they will be back not long after in June for headline dates at Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre in San Diego, the iconic Hollywood Bowl and Greek Theatre Berkeley (two nights) as part of a 2024 tour extending through December with more than 50 gigs already booked in North America, Europe and the UK.

While their tour schedule could allow for it, we will have to wait and see if Vampire Weekend will be joining the festivities for Weekend 2 (stay tuned here to find out next week). But if you want to catch them during Weekend 1, make sure to arrive at the Outdoor Theatre before 5 p.m. on Saturday when Koenig and company have been scheduled to perform. And for those of you who won’t be making the trek out to Indio, let’s hope their 45-minute set as well as No Doubt’s that evening at 9:25 p.m. on the Coachella Stage will be available to watch on the fest’s livestream. As we know from years past, that’s not always the case unfortunately. After all, who could forget what happened with Frank Ocean only a year ago.

Heading out to the Empire Polo Club? If so, don’t forget your sunscreen and water bottle … we also want to hear it straight from you: what’s your biggest conflict, and who are you most excited for?

WEEKEND 1 SET TIMES

WEEKEND 2 SET TIMES

The schedule for Weekend 2 has been released, and Goldenvoice has one more surprise in store for Coachella’s 2024 edition. It won’t be Vampire Weekend rocking the Outdoor Theatre again, but more hip-hop is heading to the Sahara Stage instead as two-time Grammy winner Kid Cudi joins the party Sunday at 5:10 p.m. We are also wondering what happened to AP Dhillon, the Indo-Canadian singer and rapper who had the same slot during Weekend 1 but is nowhere to be found when you check out the set times for Weekend 2 above. There are also some differences early in the day on Saturday and Sunday, but nothing earth-shattering,

MAP

This year’s map is out, and there aren’t a whole lot of changes in the past 12 months. The direct path from the Sahara Tent to the Sonora, Gobi and Mojave Tents is still there as you stroll by the Do LaB’s stage and food area, but with the Yuma Tent well-established now as Coachella’s quasi nightclub (pro tip: there’s some terrific air conditioning inside when you get hot out there), the debut of Quasar has to be one of the most intriguing additions to the polo fields.

The festival’s new electronic music-focused stage, as previously reported, will boast extended three-hour sets from several high-profile artists, including a trio of All-Star DJs as Jamie xx, Floating Points and Caribou leader Dan Snaith’s side project Daphni garner the spotlight during Weekend 1. RÜFÜS DU SOL, meanwhile, will have the honor of performing their own DJ set at Weekend 2 on Friday plus collaborations by Eric Prydz and Anyma as well as Diplo and Mau P over the final two days.

If you are still thinking about going, you can hop on the waitlist for Weekend 1 here or purchase tickets for Weekend 2 (GA and VIP) here along with whatever parking and shuttle passes are left.

Happy Coachella!

Filed Under: Featured, Festivals Tagged With: 88RISING FUTURES, Adam Ten, Adam Ten x Mita Gami, Adriatique, ANOTR, Anti-Up, Anyma, AP Dhillon, Arcade Fire, ARTBAT, ATARASHII GAKKO!, ATEEZ, Âme, Âme x Marcel Dettmann, bar italia, Barry Can't Swim, Bb trickz, Bebe Rexha, Ben Sterling, Benga, Bicep, Bizarrap, Black Country New Road, Bleachers, Blink-182, Blond:ish, Blur, Blxst, Boy Harsher, Brittany Howard, Brutalismus 3000, Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre, Calvin Harris, Caribou, Carin León, Carlita, Chappell Roan, Charlotte de Witte, Chlöe, Cimafunk, Cloonee, Clown Core, Coachella, Coachella 2024, Coachella Music and Arts Festival, Coachella Music and Arts Festival 2024, Coi Leray, Deftones, Depresión Sonora, Destroy Lonely, Diplo, DJ Seinfeld, DJ Snake, Do LaB, Dom Dolla, Eartheater, Eddie Zuko, Eli & Fur, Eric Prydz, Erika de Casier, Everything Always, Faye Webster, feeble little horse, Flight Facilities, FLO, Floating Points, Folamour, Frank Ocean, Gesaffelstein, Girl Ultra, Gorgon City, Greek Theatre Berkeley, Grimes, Gwen Stefani, Hatsune Miku, Hollywood Bowl, Ice Spice, Innellea, ISOxo, ISOxo & Knock2, J Balvin, Jamie xx, Jhené Aiko, JJUUJJUU, Jockstrap, John Summit, Jon Batiste, JOPLYN, Jungle, Justice, Kölsch Kokoroko, Ken Carson, Kenya Grace, Kevin Abstract, Kevin de Vries, Kevin de Vries x Kölsch, Kevin Kaarl, Keyspan, Khruangbin, Kid Cudi, Kimonos, Knock2, L'Impératrice, Lana Del Rey, late night drive home, LE SSERAFIM, Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Yachty, Lovejoy, LUDMILLA, Mahmut Orhan, Mall Grab, Mandy Indiana, Marcel Dettmann, Mau P, Maz, Mdou Moctar, Militarie Gun, Miss Monique, Mita Gami, Narrow Head, NAV, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival 2024, No Doubt, Olivia Dean • LATIN MAFIA • Two Shell • Hermanos Gutiérrez, Oneohtrix Point Never, Orbital, Palace, Patrick Mason, Peggy Gou, Peso Pluma, Purple Disco Machine, RAYE, RÜFÜS DU SOL, Reboke, Reinier Zonneveld, Reneé Rapp, Sabrina Carpenter, Saint Levant, Santa Fe Klan, Sid Sriram, Skepta, Skin On Skin, Skream, Skream & Benga, Son Rompe Pera, SPINALL, Steve Angello, Sublime, Suki Waterhouse, Swedish House Mafia, Taking Back Sunday, Taylor Swift, Tems, the Adicts, The Aquabats, the Beths - NEIL FRANCES, The Blessed Madonna, The Drums, the Japanese House, the Last Dinner Party, The Red Pears, the Rose, thuy, Tinashe, Tita Lau, Tyla, Tyla Tyla, Tyler the Creator, Upchuck, VG Marley, Victoria Monét, WILL CLARKE, Yoasobi, Young Fathers, Young Miko

The Postal Service, Phoenix, Death Cab for Cutie & The War on Drugs lead another dream lineup for indie fans at Just Like Heaven 2024

January 22, 2024 by Josh Herwitt 3 Comments

Just Like Heaven //
Brookside at the Rose Bowl – Pasadena, CA
May 18th, 2024 //

With two of Southern California’s biggest music festivals releasing their lineups last week, it seems only fitting that we would begin the next week off with another one, right?

Of course, it is that time of the year for us to look ahead toward the warmer months when we can all be outside again and festival season certainly falls right in line with such as folks start to make their spring and summer vacation plans.

Less than seven days since Coachella and BeachLife Festival revealed their plans for 2024 though, and Goldenvoice is making news again with another announcement for one of its premiere events.

That’s because Just Like Heaven is back this May for its fourth year after a 2023 edition highlighted by Yeah Yeah Yeahs, MGMT, Future Islands, Empire of the Sun and M83 among others, and California’s premiere concert promoter has once again managed to assemble a roster that any fan of indie music should be able to appreciate.

a gathering just like heaven 💫 register now at https://t.co/VmVSvAmkf1 to access passes this Friday at 11am PST pic.twitter.com/4jBJN5vl1D

— Just Like Heaven Fest (@JLHeavenFest) January 22, 2024

Coming off last year’s co-headline tour featuring The Postal Service and Death Cab for Cutie that saw them book three nights at the Hollywood Bowl in October, the two Ben Gibbard-led projects will each take the stage in Pasadena with the former serving as this year’s headliner.

Phoenix, The War on Drugs, Miike Snow, Passion Pit, Alvvays, Two Door Cinema Club, Phantogram, Metric, Tegan and Sara, Washed Out, Broken Social Scene, Sleigh Bells, Warpaint and CSS round out an incredible undercard that could just be the fest’s best yet. Check out the poster above for those who haven’t already been mentioned but are scheduled to perform at the Brookside Golf Course next to the Rose Bowl, including the return of indie-rock band Gossip for the group’s first U.S. festival appearance after releasing the forthcoming Real Power to mark their first studio album in 12 years. Moreover, JLH will be Swedish electropop act Miike Snow’s first performance since 2019, while Brazilian rockers CSS get ready to celebrate 20 years together as a band. And finally, there’s LA’s queer disco party series A Club Called Rhonda making its official JLH debut.

Ready to buy your tickets? You’ll want to register for the presale here before GA passes go on sale this Friday, January 26th at 11 a.m. PT for $159 (Tier 1) and eventually increase to $179 (Tier 2) and $199 (Tier 3). GA+ wristbands are no longer an option, but VIP and Clubhouse tickets are available for $379-389 and $659, respectively, prior to any additional fees.

Set those alarms and mark your calendars now because Goldenvoice’s latest celebration of all things indie rock and electro dance is only a few months away!

UPDATE (April 15th): We are still more than a month away from Just Like Heaven 2024, but you won’t have to wait any longer for set times. Tough choices remain though, and there are a couple early when Sleigh Bells and Broken Social Scene take the stage within 15 minutes of each other and an hour later just as Phantogram and Washed Out face off against one another. The good news is that there will be less conflicts later in the day and into the evening’s performances, which won’t overlap much. Find out who’s playing on which stage and when in the full list above.

UPDATE (May 14th): Just Like Heaven has unveiled this year’s map with a layout that looks similar to the festival’s last two editions. Whether you are going as GA or VIP, make sure to bring a good pair of walking shoes because you will need it at the Brookside!

Filed Under: Featured, Festivals Tagged With: A Club Called Rhonda, Alvvays, Be Your Own Pet, Ben Gibbard, Broken Social Scene, Brookside at the Rose Bowl, Brookside Golf Club, Chris Cruse, Coachella, Coachella Music and Arts Festival, Coachella Music and Arts Festival 2024, Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival 2024, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival 2024, CSS, Death Cab For Cutie, Goldenvoice, Gossip, Hollywood Bowl, Just Like Heaven, Just Like Heaven 2024, Metric, Miike Snow, Passion Pit, Phantogram, Phoenix, Rose Bowl, Sleigh Bells, Tegan and Sara, The Go! Team, The Postal Service, The War on Drugs, Them Jeans, Two Door Cinema Club, Warpaint, Washed Out, Yeah Yeah Yeah's

The Bam Team’s 5 Favorite Shows, Albums & Songs of 2023

December 30, 2023 by The Bam Team 4 Comments

It’s hard to believe that 2023 marked the first time since Earth was rocked by a global pandemic three years ago that COVID-19 was no longer a public health emergency. After everything we have endured since 2020, we could finally breathe (no pun intended) a sigh of relief. And over the last 12 months, the live music industry continued its recovery, with fans packing stadiums, arenas, amphitheaters, theaters, bars and clubs all around the world to experience one of life’s great pleasures.

Seeing people come together to celebrate music — no matter where it is — is always a beautiful thing to witness, and we feel fortunate to have been there for some stellar moments in live music this year while also sharing many in this space. There was a three-hour marathon by King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, the long-awaited return of Mr. Bungle and Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade to the road (and stage), Goose winning over new fans and Run the Jewels commemorating their 10th anniversary with a star-studded residency tour to name only a few of them.

But with coronavirus in the rearview mirror and 2024 arriving soon, it’s time for us to uncork our annual “Best of” lists as we have done since this blog first started (see our 2022 picks here). As we always say, we will be the first to admit we didn’t attend every show or hear all of the albums released in 2023, but recapping the year that was can be still a fun and yet challenging exercise, too.

So, without further ado, Showbams presents The Bam Team’s five favorite shows, albums and songs from 2023.

Listen to The Bam Team’s favorite songs of 2023:

My Morning Jacket - Red Rocks Amphitheatre

My Morning Jacket with M. Ward at Red Rocks Amphitheatre // Photo by Josh Herwitt

Josh Herwitt // Los Angeles

Top 5 Shows of 2023
1. My Morning Jacket at Red Rocks Amphitheatre – Morrison, CO – August 25th-26th
Picking the same band at the same music venue around the same time on the calendar for the second straight year might not seem all that interesting to those who happen to be reading this. But having the opportunity to photograph one of my favorite bands at one of the world’s best places to catch a concert was too special not to highlight here. From Jim James showing up early to play with M. Ward during his opening sets to the latter sitting in with the Louisville-bred outfit both nights, MMJ shows at Red Rocks just hit a little bit different and 2023 was no exception. Friday’s performance marked the first of several dates to honor the 20th anniversary of It Still Moves, while Saturday’s was particularly memorable this year with a cover of Traffic’s “Feelin’ Alright?” featuring a guest appearance by Nathaniel Rateliff and a four-part “Cobra” sandwich during the encore that reminded us how magical taking in a concert can be at “the birth canal of the universe” as James calls it.

2. Queens of the Stone Age at The Forum – Inglewood, CA – December 16th
3. King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard at Hollywood Bowl – Los Angeles, CA – June 21st
4. Jack White at The Belasco – Los Angeles, CA – January 13th
5. Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade at The Wiltern – Los Angeles, CA – July 14th

Top 5 Albums of 2023
1. Queens of the Stone Age – In Times New Roman…
The last few years have been filled with a tidal wave of emotional pain for Josh Homme. From his public divorce and custody battle to the deaths of friends and colleagues, it’s not surprising that the lead single on Queens of the Stone Age’s eighth studio album was entitled “Emotion Sickness”. But the fact that the 10-track LP didn’t make the cut for any year-end consideration by most of the major music media outlets is almost unconscionable to me. Regardless of what they think, In Times New Roman… to us is another masterpiece with Homme showcasing more vulnerability than we have ever seen from him before. Plus, after 25 years we can’t imagine finding a better cast of sidekicks in modern rock than what Queens have with Troy Van Leeuwen (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals), Michael Shuman (bass, keyboards, backing vocals), Dean Fertita (keyboards, guitar, backing vocals) and Jon Theodore (drums, percussion). There are only a few great rock bands out there that are still innovating and pushing boundaries, and In Times New Roman… proved QOTSA are once again unquestionably one of them.

2. Gorillaz – Cracker Island
3. Royal Blood – Back to the Water Below
4. Say She She – Silver
5. Slowdive – everything is alive

Top 5 Songs of 2023
1. Queens of the Stone Age – “Paper Machete”
As much as I liked the first two singles that were released off In Times New Roman…, it was the third hit that became an instant earworm for me this past summer. “Paper Machete” is the album’s shortest track at slightly more than three minutes, but it has that old-school QOTSA sound from Homme’s early days in the stoner-rock group Kyuss and a killer guitar solo by Van Leeuwen we would be remiss not to mention. And though some might consider it to be a diss track if there ever was one in rock ‘n’ roll, we will say that the lyrics beautifully paint a picture of “pain and misery” — as Homme sings toward the song’s finish line — in a metaphorical sense. Who said you need a lot of time to make a statement? Not Homme (or us).

2. Gorillaz – “Cracker Island” feat. Thundercat
3. Royal Blood – “Tell Me When It’s Too Late”
4. The Chemical Brothers – “No Reason”
5. Explosions in the Sky – “Moving On”

Andrew Pohl // San Francisco

Top 5 Shows of 2023
1. Botch at The Regency Ballroom – San Francisco, CA – December 12th
Holy hell, this show left me with zero face…. like, my face was not present afterwards. Both opener Kowloon Walled City and Botch dished out massive sets of music that thankfully sounded crisp, even given the Regency’s typical boomy nature. This was Botch’s last show of their reunion tour, and they showed zero signs of wear, delivering an incredible performance. Fun point of the night was Botch bassist Brian Cook calling out members of the crowd who claim to have attended their shows at Gilman Street and The Stork Club back in the day, saying “you’re lying because NO ONE was there.” Can you imagine that?

2. Sunny Day Real Estate at The Regency Ballroom – San Francisco, CA – April 8th
3. Hammered Hulls at The Ivy Room – Albany, CA – May 5th
4. The Postal Service & Death Cab for Cutie at The Greek Theatre – Berkeley, CA – October 10th
5. High Vis at Neck of the Woods – San Francisco, CA – July 30th

Top 5 Albums of 2023
1. Samiam – Stowaway
I knew that Samiam were going to be releasing new music this year, and I was already really hyped to hear it. Stowaway sees the band picking up right where they left off, with catchy, singalong choruses and a masterclass in post-hardcore musicality. It’s a tremendous effort from a band that already has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that it knows how to create incredible LPs.

2. Paint It Black – Famine
3. Flying Raccoon Suit – Moonflower
4. Snooper – Super Snõõper
5. Black Pumas – Chronicles of a Diamond

Top 5 Songs of 2023
1. Militarie Gun – “Very High”
2023 was a huge year for Militarie Gun. Their new album is a monster and made my Top 10, but this track may have been the one that stuck with me the most over the last 12 months. It’s got a killer hook and has that always welcome “all killer, no filler” quality to it. The chorus captures a bit of a Stone Roses essence without sounding like they are aping that sound at all. Overall, my feel good hit of the summer — and entire year.

2. Samiam – “Crystalized”
3. Fat Heaven – “Quarter Life Crisis”
4. The Blackburns – “Chill City Population You”
5. Cory Hanson – “Wings”

Tierra Whack at The Broad // Photo by Joseph Gray

Rochelle Shipman // Los Angeles

Top 5 Shows of 2023
1. Ron Gallo at Gold-Diggers – Los Angeles, CA – September 21st
I caught about 60 seconds of Gallo’s set at South by Southwest in a rush to a different stage, and those few seconds played on a loop in my mind for weeks. Six months later, I finally got a chance to see the Philadelphia garage-rock star up close, and he blew what little was left of my mind with some relatable hard truths and a blazing performance. It was somehow both perfectly measured and chaotic; he even shredded using a barstool as his guitar pick at one point.

2. Little Simz at The Novo – Los Angeles, CA – October 3rd
3. Kari Faux at The Echo – Los Angeles, CA – November 7th
4. Tierra Whack at The Broad – Los Angeles, CA – August 26th
5. The Cure at North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre – Chula Vista, CA – May 20th

Top 5 Albums of 2023
1. Little Simz – NO THANK YOU
Technically a mid-December surprise release in 2022, this album got cheated out of inclusion on any year-end list so I’m making it right. It’s an absolute fireball follow-up to 2022’s Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, and if it wasn’t crystal clear before, Little Simz is here to stay. Fingers crossed that she will have mercy on us and keep rolling out some of the other bangers in the vault she has been hoarding.

2. Ron Gallo – FOREGROUND MUSIC
3. Islands – And That’s Why Dolphins Lost Their Legs
4. Avey Tare – 7s
5. Noname – Sundial

Top 5 Songs of 2023
1. Tele Novella – “Hard-Hearted Way”
There’s something about the magic in Natalie Ribbons’ voice that makes you feel like the main character in the newest Wes Anderson movie. It’s whimsical and romantic, bringing a sweetness to a song that’s named after being anything but. Not a single track is worth a skip on the Texas duo’s newest LP Poet’s Tooth, but this one remains a strong and emotional standout.

2. Little Simz – “Gorilla”
3. Ron Gallo – “AT LEAST I’M DANCING”
4. Lando Chill – “Believe Me Lonely”
5. slowthai – “Never Again”

Filed Under: Best of, Best of 2023, Editor's Picks, Featured Tagged With: Avey Tare, Black Pumas, Botch, Death Cab For Cutie, Flying Raccoon Suit, Gold-Diggers, Greek Theatre Berkeley, Hammered Hulls, High Vis, Hollywood Bowl, Islands, Jack White, Kari Faux, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Kyuss, Lando Chill, Les Claypool, Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade, Little Simz, My Morning Jacket, Neck of the Woods, Noname, North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre, Paint It Black, Queens of the Stone Age, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Ron Gallo, Royal Blood, Run The Jewels, Samiam, Say She She, Slowdive, slowthai, Snooper, South by Southwest, Sunny Day Real Estate, Tele Novella, The Belasco, The Broad, The Broad Museum, The Cure, The Echo, The Forum, The Ivy Room, The Novo, The Postal Service, The Regency Ballroom, The Stone Roses, The Wiltern, Tierra Whack

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

My Morning Jacket & Fleet Foxes don’t let a tropical storm stop them from eventually sharing the stage at the Hollywood Bowl

September 4, 2023 by Josh Herwitt 4 Comments

By Josh Herwitt //

My Morning Jacket & Fleet Foxes //
Hollywood Bowl – Los Angeles
August 28th, 2023 //

When I was invited to photograph my first show at the Hollywood Bowl more than seven years ago now (read our review here), I already understood how special it is for those who have the opportunity to play under the amphitheater’s iconic bandshell.

As I explained back then, any artist or band with a headlining date at the historic music venue can officially say that they have “made it” and nothing has ever changed there. But for a group like My Morning Jacket that has been around 25 years, performing at one of LA’s most prized possessions carries a little extra weight.

That’s because the Louisville-bred rockers were so inspired by the place more than two decades ago that they chose a photo of it to serve as the cover artwork for their sophomore LP At Dawn.

“Something about its otherworldly shape spoke such magic,” MMJ recently shared on social media.

My Morning Jacket

And yet, somehow Jim James (lead vocals, guitar), Tom Blankenship (bass), Patrick Hallahan (drums, percussion), Bo Koster (keyboards, percussion, backing vocals) and Carl Broemel (guitar, pedal steel guitar, saxophone, backing vocals) had never taken the stage at the Bowl despite plenty of trips to the City of Angels in the past.

Because as much as things have changed for Jacket since 2001, let’s be real: the three-time Grammy nominees still aren’t popular enough anywhere, let alone Southern California, to fill the 17,500-person landmark on their own. MMJ would be lucky to sell half that number of tickets, especially on a Monday night after Tropical Storm Hilary postponed the event’s originally scheduled date more than a week.

The folks at KCRW fortunately had the answer. Finding a suitable partner in Fleet Foxes to pair with MMJ, the NPR member station assembled a co-headline bill that was one of the most enticing we’ve seen in a while. The Bowl can certainly offer them with its massive capacity, and we have attended a few good ones over the years — from 90’s alt-rock outfits Nine Inch Nails and Soundgarden to 2000’s indie darlings Grizzly Bear and TV on the Radio (read our show review here). Nevertheless, we can’t say it doesn’t come with some drawbacks.

There’s something about sitting at a rock concert that doesn’t feel right to me, and fresh off MMJ’s two sold-out shows at Red Rocks (read our review here) over the weekend that saw them surpass the two-hour mark both nights, it was quite a stark contrast to what we experienced in Colorado with most fans there standing from Row 1 to Row 70. The “wine and cheese” crowd in LA, on the other hand, couldn’t be bothered to get out of their seats for much of the night. James and company didn’t let that stop them from closing their 2023 summer tour with a powerful set, though — even if it was only 75 minutes. “Off the Record” and “Touch Me I’m Going to Scream Pt. 2” got extended outros, and “Wonderful (The Way I Feel)” with Fleet Foxes frontman Robin Pecknold was a treat. It’s not everyday that you get to hear two of the best voices in music today collaborating onstage together, and moments like those always feel in retrospect a little extra special to witness.

Fleet Foxes

Speaking of Fleet Foxes, this wasn’t our first time catching them at the Bowl. A co-headline performance with Beach House in 2017 actually served as our first encounter, and it just so happened that it was also the indie-folk act’s Bowl debut.

Pecknold (lead vocals, guitar) and his four sidekicks Skyler Skjelset (guitar, mandolin, backing vocals), Casey Wescott (keyboards, mandolin, backing vocals), Christian Wargo (bass, guitar, backing vocals) and Morgan Henderson (upright bass, guitar, woodwinds, violin, percussion, saxophone), plus touring member Christopher Icasiano (drums, percussion) and New York-based brass quartet The Westerlies, had no problem filling the stage and the space with their beautiful harmonies and thoughtful lyrics. And after last summer’s sold-out gig at the Greek Theatre (read our show review here), it’s clear that 2020’s Shore has not only offered them more commercial success but also the opportunity to keep the current lineup intact. After all, it’s not very often that you get to see an artist or band perform with 10 musicians due to financial concerns, and Fleet Foxes’ eclectic instrumentation as well as Pecknold’s golden pipes are what really elevates their material in a live setting.

Of course we would be remiss to mention the Buffalo Springfield tune “Expecting to Fly” that Fleet Foxes took on with James a couple of songs before waving goodbye, something that they also did at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley. Despite their psychedelic tendencies, MMJ have always leaned in the folk direction, and while Grizzly Bear might be the perfect fit for a co-headline situation with Fleet Foxes, MMJ are able to turn up the energy a lot more with their huge sound — no further proof was needed than the finishing punch of “One Big Holiday” and “Dancefloors” from 2003’s It Still Moves as the clock struck 10:45 p.m.

As much as our ears would have liked to hear more, it wasn’t in the cards. A strict curfew of 11 p.m. at the Bowl has always been in place, and that wasn’t going to change this time (or ever). But you could do a whole lot worse than to spend an evening at the Bowl with MMJ and Fleet Foxes before summer in LA finally slips away.

MY MORNING JACKET

Setlist:
Wordless Chorus
Off the Record (Extended outro)
Spring (Among the Living)
Gideon
Wonderful (The Way I Feel) (with Robin Pecknold)
Steam Engine
Circuital
Love Love Love
Touch Me I’m Going to Scream Pt. 2 (Extended outro)
One Big Holiday
Dancefloors

FLEET FOXES

Setlist:
Sun Giant
Sunblind
Can I Believe You
Ragged Wood
Your Protector
He Doesn’t Know Why
Third of May/Ōdaigahara
Phoenix (Big Red Machine cover)
Bedouin Dress
White Winter Hymnal
Mykonos
Montezuma
Blue Ridge Mountains
Grown Ocean
Expecting to Fly (Buffalo Springfield cover) (with Jim James)
The Shrine/An Argument
Helplessness Blues

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Live Music Reviews Tagged With: Beach House, Big Red Machine, Buffalo Springfield, Fleet Foxes, Grizzly Bear, Hollywood Bowl, Jim James, KCRW, My Morning Jacket, Nine Inch Nails, Robin Pecknold, Soundgarden, The Westerlies, TV on the Radio

First Times: Covering a concert at Red Rocks as My Morning Jacket return to sacred ground for two awe-inspiring nights rain & shine

August 31, 2023 by Josh Herwitt 5 Comments

By Josh Herwitt //

My Morning Jacket with M. Ward //
Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre – Morrison, CO
August 25th & 26th, 2023 //

No matter where you are from, a trip to Red Rocks should be on every live music fan’s bucket list. The mile-high, open-air amphitheater only a short drive from Denver in Morrison, Colo., has over the years become a destination venue for live music fans all around the globe with its otherworldly rock structure and stellar natural acoustics.

Red Rocks’ annual attendance numbers certainly prove that to be true, too. Just a couple of years ago, it received the distinct honor of being named the top-grossing and most-attended concert venue of any size in the world. For a lot of artists and bands, having the opportunity to perform in such a unique and sacred space ranks up there with playing other famous sonic sanctuaries like The Gorge Amphitheatre, Radio City Music Hall and the Hollywood Bowl.

That’s some elite company to be included with, but ask anyone who has been and they will say Red Rocks is worthy of such acclaim. It’s why the 9,525-person amphitheater also holds a special place in the hearts of so many performers, including one of live music’s absolute best: My Morning Jacket.

Since opening in 1941, Red Rocks has been home to quite a few noteworthy performances from U2 to Widespread Panic, with the latter holding the venue’s record for most consecutive sold-out shows at 69 after their latest three-night run in June. And though MMJ hasn’t nearly reached that high mark, there’s no doubt that some of their most important moments over the past quarter century have taken place in between “Creation Rock” and “Ship Rock.” So it shouldn’t be a surprise that fans travel from all corners of the country to catch the Louisville-bred outfit there.

Jacket’s very first appearance at the amphitheater, in fact, came in 2007 opening for the legendary Bob Dylan, but it only took another year before they were being offered their own date to headline. It wasn’t until 2012 for their “Spontaneous Curation Series” when MMJ started booking two nights “on the rocks,” with this year marking the quintet’s fifth time doing so for its 14th and 15th shows.

Nevertheless, it was a pair of performances at Red Rocks in 2019 that ultimately helped reignite the band and inspired Jim James (lead vocals, guitar), Tom Blankenship (bass), Patrick Hallahan (drums, percussion), Bo Koster (keyboards, percussion, backing vocals) and Carl Broemel (guitar, pedal steel guitar, saxophone, backing vocals) — with James coining the venue as “the birth canal of the universe” that year — to get back in the studio to record their ninth full-length album. Even the cover artwork for the ensuing, self-titled My Morning Jacket directly paid homage as you can see here. That’s how much one of Colorado’s most prized possessions has meant to the group’s success and longevity.

So after making the short pilgrimage from LA for two nights of MMJ at Red Rocks last August, I wasn’t about to miss them when it was announced that they would be returning for two more gigs in 2023. This time would be a little bit different, though. Not only had the supporting act changed with M. Ward slated for both shows, but being granted a photo credential for Friday and Saturday had finally afforded me the chance to capture a concert (or two) at the one and only “RR” with my camera equipment.

Red Rocks has always been one of my favorite places to witness live music. It’s somewhere that I have found myself going back to time and time again for almost two decades because there’s really nowhere else like it. The sound, atmosphere and fans all make it a one-of-a-kind experience and one of the best spots anywhere to watch a concert. From the first to the last row, there’s truly no bad seat in the house. Plus, the tailgating in the Lower South Lots alone is worth going for — and why you should always plan to arrive early before the doors open. You might even make some new friends in the parking lot!

For a band that rocks as hard as MMJ does, it only seems fitting that one of their beloved venues to visit would be Red Rocks. Friday’s show would see James and company not holding back as they performed their 2003 LP It Still Moves in its entirety, enlisting M. Ward to sit in on “Golden” and “Steam Engine”. As elated as I was to hear “Master Plan” again however, it was also the first time since 2018 that “Just One Thing” and “One in the Same” had been played. Thanks to an extended encore with deep cuts such as “Honest Man” from 2001’s At Dawn and “Smokin’ From Shootin'” off 2008’s Evil Urges, the evening still finished a lot better than it began after heavy rains put a damper on any pre-show partying and soaked plenty of us from head to toe.

Saturday’s forecast, on the other hand, proved to be quite the opposite. With clear skies and sunshine setting the stage for MMJ’s second night, we were treated to a setlist that was well worth hopping on a plane for. There was another sit-in from M. Ward — this time on “At Dawn” and “Off the Record” — but there was also the debut of Cat Stevens’ “The Wind” as well as a cover of Traffic’s “Feelin’ Alright?” for only the second time ever with surprise guest and Colorado native Nathaniel Rateliff on vocals. Those were definitely two of the biggest highlights (no pun intended) amid the light motif that MMJ signaled to us with “At Dawn”, “First Light”, “It’s About Twilight Now” and “The Dark” coming consecutively midway through their set, but it was the encore centered around a four-part “Cobra” — the track, after all, runs more than 24 minutes long on 2002’s Chocolate and Ice — with “Highly Suspicious”, “Off the Record” and “Touch Me I’m Going to Scream Pt. 2” interspersed in between, leaving the sold-out crowd mostly speechless. It was a setlist technique that you would see a jam band like Phish or Umphrey’s McGee employ, but not MMJ. The three-time Grammy nominees have always lived in the jam-adjacent space, even if they have been booked for some of the same music festivals you might find other jam bands at, including Bonnaroo, Hulaween and Peach. But ever since forming in 1998, MMJ have never presented or considered themselves to be a jam band and the same applies today.

Regardless of how you want to label their music, James, Blankenship, Hallahan, Koster and Broemel looked and sounded at Red Rocks as locked in as they ever have. A sincere joy emanated from all five members that was palpable the minute they walked onstage, and by the time MMJ had wound us down after more than two hours with “Love Love Love” to wrap up their two-night stand, nothing but immense gratitude and a genuine love for what we had just heard remained inside.

It’s safe to say that you can’t tell MMJ’s story now without referencing Red Rocks at some point along the way. The band knows that, and many of its most loyal enthusiasts have come to understand what’s there, too. Because if recent history serves as any indication, rocking out to MMJ under the stars while being surrounded by some red sandstone monoliths is like nothing else. Quite simply, it’s magical.

AUGUST 25TH

Setlist:
Mahgeetah (>)
Dancefloors
Golden (with M. Ward)
Master Plan (>)
One Big Holiday (>)
I Will Sing You Songs (>)
Easy Morning Rebel (>)
Run Thru
Rollin Back (>)
Just One Thing (first time since 2018)
Steam Engine (with M. Ward)
One in the Same (first time since 2018)

Encore:
Victory Dance
Least Expected (>)
The Way That He Sings
Honest Man
Feel You
Slow Slow Tune (>)
Smokin’ From Shootin’ (>)
Gideon
Wordless Chorus

Editors’ Note: “It Still Moves” 20th anniversary show; portions of “Wordless Chorus”, “At Dawn”, “Butch Cassidy”, “Feelin’ Alright?”, “Highly Suspicious” and “Cobra” were played during soundcheck.

AUGUST 26TH

Setlist:
Anytime
Touch Me I’m Going to Scream Pt. 1
Spring (Among the Living) (Beatles “Dear Prudence” outro)
Evil Urges (>)
War Begun (>)
At Dawn (with M. Ward)
First Ligh
It’s About Twilight Now (>)
The Dark
Lay Low
Only Memories Remain
Butch Cassidy (>)
The Wind (Cat Stevens cover) (first time played)
Regularly Scheduled Programming
Circuital
Feelin’ Alright? (Traffic cover) (with Nathaniel Rateliff)
Wasted

Encore:
Cobra (Pt. 1>)
Highly Suspicious
Cobra (Pt. 2>)
Off the Record (with M. Ward) (>)
Cobra (Pt. 3>)
Touch Me I’m Going to Scream Pt. 2
Cobra (Pt. 4>)
Holdin on to Black Metal
Love Love Love

My Morning Jacket with Nathaniel Rateliff

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, First Times, Live Music Reviews, Show Experience Tagged With: Bob Dylan, Bonnaroo, Cat Stevens, Hollywood Bowl, Hulaween, Jim James, M. Ward, My Morning Jacket, Nathaniel Rateliff, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Phish, Radio City Music Hall, Red Rocks, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Red Rocks Park & Amphitheatre, Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre, Spontaneous Curation Series, Suwannee Hulaween, The Gorge, The Gorge Amphitheatre, The Peach Music Festival, Traffic, U2, Umphrey's McGee, Widespread Panic

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard close out their U.S. residency tour with an epic, three-hour marathon at LA’s iconic Hollywood Bowl

June 26, 2023 by Josh Herwitt 2 Comments

By Josh Herwitt //

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard //
Hollywood Bowl – Los Angeles
June 21st, 2023 //

Call me dramatic, but I think it’s fair to say that King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard are music journalism’s worst nightmare.

As those devoted to The Gizz know well by now, pinning them down to one genre, one sound or one anything is damn near impossible. Psych rock, psych pop, prog rock, krautrock, boogie rock, heavy metal, hip-hop, synth-pop, jazz fusion, blues and everything else in between has been on the table for the Australian sextet since it formed more than a decade ago, and that’s exactly what makes them so intriguing to see in the flesh at a time when not many bands are commanding the same kind of listens, album sales or attendance numbers that many did three decades earlier.

Nevertheless, if there’s a cliché that can be attributed to these mates out of Melbourne, it’s that they are truly in a league of their own with no other outfit even remotely resembling what KGLW do. But arguably what is just as impressive as their affinity for experimenting with multiple genres is the fact that their fan base continues to grow at what feels like an exponential rate.

Their epic, three-hour marathon last Wednesday at the Hollywood Bowl to close out their U.S. residency tour marked my third time catching them live, and with each show, the band has noticeably graduated to bigger venues beginning with the Hollywood Palladium in 2018, the Greek Theatre in 2019 and now the world-famous, 17,500-person amphitheatre tucked into the Hollywood Hills off the Highland Blvd. exit on the 101 Freeway (note: they also headlined Desert Daze in 2022 with Tame Impala and Beach House).

Since their last proper LA performance (read our show review here), Stu Mackenzie (vocals, guitars, keyboards, flute, bass guitar, percussion, sitar, piano, organ, violin, clarinet, saxophone, zurna, drums), Ambrose Kenny-Smith (vocals, harmonicas, keyboards, percussion, piano, saxophone, guitar, organ), Joey Walker (guitars, vocals, bass, keyboards, piano, setar, percussion), Cook Craig (guitars, bass, piano, keyboards, percussion, vocals), Lucas Harwood (bass, piano, keyboards, percussion, vocals) and Michael Cavanagh (drums, percussion, vocals) have unloaded nine more albums in less than four years to reach a staggering total of 24 in their catalog. Of course some will remember the five LPs they dropped in 2017 along with 2022, and while it would be a surprise for them to top that output this year with merely one out so far and six months to go, you never really know what tricks KGLW have up their sleeves coming off a 15-date run across the states this month that featured four gigs at The Caverns in Tennessee and three at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado (including two on a weekday no less), The Salt Shed in Chicago and Remlinger Farms in Washington before taking a giant step forward under the Bowl’s iconic bandshell on the first day of summer for their final U.S. stop.

Given those circumstances and the fact that most of the seats throughout the venue were filled all the way to the top, this one felt like there was something a little extra special to it. The setlist matched the moment at least, with Mackenzie and company opening with the first three tracks on 2013’s Eyes Like the Sky — marking the first time they had been performed since 2018 — as well as “Evil Man” off the 10-song LP, which has only been played five times with the last coming more than seven years ago at the NME Awards.

But the release of PetroDragonic Apocalypse the week prior had provided KGLW fans all of five days to reacquaint themselves with the group’s brand of thrash metal it had debuted via 2019’s Infest the Rats’ Nest, and although we didn’t hear a lot of new material from these Aussies, they made sure to sprinkle in some that included “Gila Monster” (with a “Gaia” reprise to up the ante), followed by “Supercell” and “Witchcraft” toward the show’s midway point.

By then, I was being offered bourbon and methamphetamines by a middle-aged man in a Grateful Dead T-shirt who supposedly had traveled all the way from Tucson, Ariz., and had happened to find a home in the same Terrace Box — his seat was somewhere else from what he told me — that I agreed to occupy after finding another photographer sitting in my assigned seat. Not that I was interested in fighting over seat assignments or accepting any contraband from strangers, but the unexpected exchange certainly added to the overall weirdness and peculiarity of the evening.

Fortunately, there were still plenty of twists and turns for KGLW to unveil down the homestretch. From a snippet of the Beastie Boys’ “Intergalactic” at the end of “The Grim Reaper” to the thunderous drum solo following “Astroturf” that Cavanagh entranced us with, the night was not short on highlights thanks to the jams we were subsequently gifted around “Shanghai” and “Ambergris”, too.

What left the biggest impression on this particular bystander though had to be the face-melting trifecta of “Hypertension”, “Magma” and “The Dripping Tap” that would ensue over the final 45 minutes and draw a standing ovation by the time KGLW waved goodbye shortly after 10:30 p.m. And as I turned around with the packed crowd’s applause echoing throughout the venue, a sincere sense of gratitude quietly washed over me. I might not be able to name every album or song that these prolific, eccentric weirdos have put out like some diehards can, but if there was one show in 2023 I’m glad I didn’t skip, it very well could be this one.

Setlist:
Eyes Like the Sky (first time since 2018)
Year of Our Lord (first time since 2018)
The Raid (first time since 2018)
Evil Man (first time since 2016)
Rattlesnake
Pleura
Gaia (>)
Gila Monster (with “Gaia” reprise)
Supercell
Witchcraft
Organ Farmer
Crumbling Castle (>)
The Fourth Colour
The Grim Reaper (with “Intergalactic” by Beastie Boys at the end)
Magenta Mountain
Down the Sink
Astroturf (with drum solo after)
Shanghai (“I wanna grow wings and fly” jam)
The Garden Goblin
Ambergris (preceded by “sex” jam)
Iron Lung (>)
Hypertension
Magma
The Dripping Tap (with “Cellophane” tease)

*Editors’ Note: You can watch the full performance here.

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Live Music Reviews Tagged With: Beach House, Beastie Boys, Hollywood Bowl, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, NME Awards, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Remlinger Farms, Tame Impala, The Grateful Dead, The Salt Shed

Fleet Foxes show a sold-out crowd at LA’s Greek Theatre why they are one of our most important indie bands over the past 15 years

July 14, 2022 by Josh Herwitt 2 Comments

By Josh Herwitt //

Fleet Foxes with Tim Bernardes //
Greek Theatre – Los Angeles
July 8th, 2022 //

What is it about Fleet Foxes that makes them one of the most important indie bands over the past 15 years? Is it frontman Robin Pecknold’s golden baritenor and clever lyrics or is it the group’s lush vocal harmonies and eclectic instrumentation?

While the talent coming out of Pecknold’s mouth has been evident ever since the indie-folk act from the Seattle area dropped its debut EP in 2006, Fleet Foxes’ sound has continued to evolve and grow in that time past the Grizzly Bear comparisons, with 2020’s Grammy-nominated Shore exhibiting more of that sonic progression despite a three-year hiatus in the mid-2010’s and signing to their third record label in four albums.

None of those subplots seemed to have much effect on the final product, though. The gorgeous 15-track effort, if anything, represents another major step forward for Pecknold, and at the age of only 36, there’s no doubt that in a crowded landscape he has already proven to be one of the best songwriters out there after 2011’s Helplessness Blues and 2017’s Crack-Up cracked (no pun intended) the Top 10 on the U.S. Billboard 200.

But even though Shore didn’t quite reach the same level of commercial success after being intentionally released on the autumnal equinox, it boasts some of Fleet Foxes’ catchiest melodies. It also established Pecknold (vocals, guitar) as more than just the band’s primary songwriter and truly the project’s creative mastermind after making the record without any of the other full-time members’ involvement. He instead worked with a myriad of collaborators in the studio, from Christopher Bear and Daniel Rossen of Grizzly Bear to Kevin Morby and horn quartet The Westerlies, overseeing every step of the process right next to recording and mixing engineer Beatriz Artola. So in many ways, Shore is Pecknold’s baby and his baby alone after he was locked down for three months in his New York City apartment at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

That said, you wouldn’t necessarily just know that by seeing one of Fleet Foxes’ shows on their current 28-date North American tour that included a sold-out stop in LA last Friday at the Greek Theatre, which Pecknold told us was his favorite venue in the country when he walked onstage to introduce opener Tim Bernardes, the Brazilian musician who also contributed vocals to “Going-to-the-Sun Road” on Shore. It was actually a surprising admission to hear from Pecknold, but considering that his parents don’t live far from the historic amphitheater and were in attendance this night, you could have thought Pecknold was just playing to the crowd early on. Or maybe it’s his admiration for The Beach Boys, who are scheduled to play the same stage later this summer, that has helped inform his opinion. Don’t get us wrong … the Greek is undeniably one of the best places in LA to witness live music, and it’s even in our Top 10 U.S. venues. We just can’t necessarily agree with Pecknold on this one as much as we admire and respect him. All differences aside, he did sound as good as he ever has — and maybe even better than on the last Fleet Foxes tour cycle when we caught them co-headline the Hollywood Bowl in 2017 with Beach House and perform at Coachella the following year — with his voice maturing like a fine wine.

For this run, Pecknold has been joined by more than just his usual four sidekicks in Skyler Skjelset (guitar, mandolin, backing vocals), Casey Wescott (keyboards, mandolin, backing vocals), Christian Wargo (bass, guitar, backing vocals) and Morgan Henderson (upright bass, guitar, woodwinds, violin, percussion, saxophone). Christopher Icasiano (drums, percussion) has come onboard this year as a touring member, and with likely a bigger budget than the last time, Pecknold made sure to bring three-fourths of The Westerlies on tour, too. There was even a call for “Post” … you know, as in the 27-year-old Post Malone, who has become friends with Pecknold in recent years and invited him in May to sing “Love/Hate Letter to Alcohol” with a choir during his “Saturday Night Live” performance. It’s too bad he was allegedly sick, according to Pecknold.

Fleet Foxes have been setting the tone for these latest gigs with the first three tracks off Shore before going all the way back to their self-titled debut LP to deliver “Ragged Wood”, “Your Protector” and “He Doesn’t Know Why” respectively. Of the 24 songs that we heard at the Greek, nine were from Shore, with “I’m Not My Season” earning the solo acoustic treatment midway through the set. Pecknold has been known, however, to accept song requests while engaging with fans, and he did his best to oblige us on at least a couple of occasions over the course of two hours while also issuing a few jokes about Gen Z culture. There was the second half of “The Shrine/An Argument” dedicated to Pecknold’s friend Kerwin Frost, who was sitting a few rows in front of us, and the live debut (albeit a partial performance) of “Young Man’s Game” that was prompted by the audience.

It’s not uncommon at any concert for folks to head home when a band walks offstage to take its encore break, but when Pecknold and company returned from theirs after a few minutes, they were greeted by a roaring applause. After all, these were no fair-weather fans, and in a city like LA that has been on the receiving end of such criticism, nothing felt further from the truth as Fleet Foxes sent us home with the Helplessness Blues title track. Maybe it was because Pecknold proclaimed within the first few songs of the evening that this was the best show he had ever played or because it was the first time in nearly 11 years that the band had played the Greek. Whatever the reason, it’s clear that there’s still plenty of love for Fleet Foxes in the City of Angels and far, far beyond.

Setlist:
Wading in Waist‐high Water
Sunblind
Can I Believe You
Ragged Wood
Your Protector (followed by joke with “Montezuma” tease)
He Doesn’t Know Why
Featherweight
Third of May/Ōdaigahara
White Winter Hymnal
Phoenix (Big Red Machine cover)
Mearcstapa
Mykonos
I’m Not My Season (solo acoustic)
Blue Spotted Tail (solo acoustic)
The Kiss (Judee Sill cover)
The Shrine/An Argument (“An Argument” only; dedicated to Kerwin Frost)
Drops in the River
A Long Way Past the Past
Young Man’s Game (Live debut – partial; audience request)
Blue Ridge Mountains
Grown Ocean

Encore:
For a Week or Two
Going-to-the-Sun Road (with Tim Bernardes)
Helplessness Blues

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Live Music Reviews Tagged With: Beatriz Artola, Big Red Machine, Coachella, Coachella 2018, Coachella Music and Arts Festival, Coachella Music and Arts Festival 2018, Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival 2018, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival 2018, Fleet Foxes, Greek Theatre, Grizzly Bear, Hollywood Bowl, Judee Sill, Kerwin Frost, Kevin Morby, Post Malone, The Beach Boys, The Westerlies, Tim Bernardes

Grizzly Bear & TV on the Radio unite for one night in their new hometown to play the Hollywood Bowl

September 28, 2018 by Josh Herwitt 2 Comments

Grizzly Bear

By Josh Herwitt //

Grizzly Bear & TV on the Radio with Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith //
Hollywood Bowl – Los Angeles
September 23rd, 2018 //

In the early 2000’s, Grizzly Bear and TV on the Radio emerged out of Brooklyn’s crowded indie-rock scene as two of its biggest darlings. Both bands, in fact, would go on to release their seminal albums a little less than a decade later, starting first in 2008 with TV on the Radio’s Dear Science and continuing the following year with Grizzly Bear’s Veckatimest.

But Grizzly Bear and TV on the Radio have each issued two additional LPs since then and somewhat surprisingly, have both made the cross-country move out to LA within the past several years. So, when NPR member station KCRW revealed the lineup for its 2018 World Festival series at the iconic Hollywood Bowl, the final performance on the docket was one that easily stuck out with the two Brooklyn-bred outfits co-headlining and Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith opening.

As the glow of a full moon shined bright against a dark sky, Grizzly Bear and TV on the Radio gave us one last taste of summer on the season’s final day. And though it felt rather fitting for them to share a stage in their new hometown, especially one that’s as big as the Bowl’s, each group exhibits its own unique sound and style through a wide range of influences. They may get slapped with the generic “indie rock” tag by some lazy music critics, but without a doubt, their music is much different from the other’s.

TV on the Radio

The last time we caught Grizzly Bear was almost a year ago, when they performed at Apogee Studio for KCRW’s Apogee Sessions series (read our review here) and reminded us how they were making “chamber pop” sound cool again. The intimate gig came just a few weeks prior to TV on the Radio’s last show in LA (at David Lynch’s Festival of Disruption), and with their most recent album Seeds from 2014, this was probably one of the final times that they would be specifically showcasing that material live. Nevertheless, they made sure to close out their 70-minute set with a bang, finishing with classics like “Repetition” from 2011’s Nine Types of Light, “Wolf Like Me” off 2006’s Return to Cookie Mountain and lastly “Staring at the Sun” on their 2004 debut Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes.

Similarly, the gig also marked one of Grizzly Bear’s last performances in support of their fifth LP Painted Ruins, which they released last year on RCA Records, and having already played a two-night run at The Wiltern back in December, this was more of a victory lap than a coming-out party. Unfortunately for us, the five-piece had to cut things short due to the venue’s strict Sunday night curfew, ending on a rather sudden note. That’s just part of the deal at the Bowl, though. For those of us who have to work on Monday morning, it’s actually more of a blessing in disguise than a disservice to the overall concert experience as we’ve come to realize.

After all, any evening under the stars at the Hollywood Bowl feels like a magical one. There’s just something comforting about taking in some live music at one of the world’s most famous amphitheaters, no matter who’s listed on the marquee. And although there’s no telling when Grizzly Bear and TV on the Radio will tour again, let alone together, this was one pairing that we’re glad we didn’t miss before we officially said goodbye to summer.

GRIZZLY BEAR

Setlist:
Southern Point
Losing All Sense
Yet Again
Fine for Now
Ready, Able
Four Cypresses
Sleeping Ute
Two Weeks
Foreground
While You Wait for the Others
On a Neck, On a Spit
Three Rings
Sun in Your Eyes

TV ON THE RADIO

Setlist:
Young Liars
Lazerray
Golden Age
Province
Happy Idiot
Could You
Winter
Red Dress
Shout Me Out
Trouble
Repetition
Wolf Like Me
Staring at the Sun

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Live Music Reviews Tagged With: Grizzly Bear, Hollywood Bowl, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, KCRW, KCRW World Festival, TV on the Radio

From club gigs to the Hollywood Bowl, Bloc Party close their U.S. tour with their largest show ever

October 10, 2016 by Josh Herwitt Leave a Comment

By Josh Herwitt //

Bloc Party with Bob Mould, Ezra Furman //
Hollywood Bowl – Los Angeles
September 25th, 2016 //

For those of us who attended college in the early 2000’s, Bloc Party were one of those bands that epitomized our most formative years. Back then, there weren’t many making music quite like the English quartet was, pioneering a sound rooted in indie rock, yet partially influenced by the surrounding UK electronic scene.

Now more than a decade after the release of their seminal debut LP Silent Alarm, Bloc Party are still going strong with Kele Okereke and Russell Lissack at the helm. The two Londoners have known each other for close to 20 years, and while each have their own projects outside of Bloc Party, what they’ve built together over five studio albums isn’t something to sneer at.

At the same time, it’s fair to say that the band’s last three records — 2008’s Intimacy, 2012’s Four and this year’s Hymns, which came out in January — haven’t struck a chord quite like Silent Alarm and A Weekend in the City both did. And with the departure of original band members Matt Tong and Gordon Moakes, it’s been on Okereke and Lissack to carry things forward while writing the group’s next chapter.

But even after all the commercial success they’ve had, what’s cool about Bloc Party is that they’re still playing big and small venues. This was no more evident than at the end of their latest U.S. tour, which saw them go from playing 1,000-person clubs like Mezzanine in San Francisco (see our photos from the show here) to headlining the one and only Hollywood Bowl with support from former Hüsker Dü leader Bob Mould and 30-year-old indie singer-songwriter Ezra Furman, who crossdressed to impress with a bright red one-piece, black stalkings and a pearl-like necklace.

It was the second time in two months that we were invited to cover a show at the legendary amphitheater (read about our first time here), and while Sufjan Stevens, Kurt Vile and The Violators, and Ibeyi provided a more compelling billing with quite a few more theatrics (at least on Stevens’ part), this one had its own unique storyline that made it special to witness. After all, it only seemed fitting that after playing small clubs and theaters amid a myriad of festival dates over the summer, Bloc Party were wrapping up a months-long tour with their largest crowd ever on hand. Don’t ask me what the attendance number was, but I think it’s fair to say the venue was no more than half full. Of course, thanks to LA’s new music festival Music Tastes Good taking place in downtown Long Beach over the same weekend, it wasn’t surprising to see the top two sections of the Bowl completely empty for the latest edition of KCRW’s second World Festival series. But that’s really just how big the Bowl is in size — and how big of an artist/band it takes to sell the place out on a Sunday night in late September.

Feeding off the raw energy of Mould’s punk-fueled set, Okereke (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards, sampler), Lissack (lead guitar, keyboards), Justin Harris (bass guitar, keyboards, saxophones, backing vocals) and Louise Bartle (drums, percussion) dove immediately into their newest material, following a setlist that closely resembled, yet didn’t match past ones from the tour. For as high as Hymns has charted all across Europe and Australia though, the strength of Bloc Party’s live show remains firmly grounded in their first two LPs. If anything, their Hollywood Bowl debut, highlighted by A Weekend in the City fan favorites “Song for Clay (Disappear Here)” and “Hunting for Witches” in addition to Silent Alarm classics “Helicopter” and “This Modern Love” during a five-song encore, brought back memories of what it felt like to hear those songs for the first time. I know they say you shouldn’t live in the past, but for a little more than an hour in the Hollywood Hills, Bloc Party made it feel OK to do just that.

Setlist:
Only He Can Heal Me
So Real
She’s Hearing Voices
Mercury
Song for Clay (Disappear Here)
Banquet
Two More Years
Different Drugs
Octopus
Hunting for Witches
Virtue
Positive Tension
The Love Within

Encore:
Stunt Queen
Flux
Helicopter
Ratchet
This Modern Love

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Live Music Reviews Tagged With: Bloc Party, Bob Mould, Ezra Furman, Hollywood Bowl, Ibeyi, KCRW, KCRW's World Festival, Kurt Vile, Kurt Vile & The Violators, Kurt Vile and the Violators, Music Tastes Good, Sufjan Stevens

First Times: Covering a show at the Hollywood Bowl

August 12, 2016 by Josh Herwitt 4 Comments

By Josh Herwitt //

Sufjan Stevens with Kurt Vile and The Violators, Ibeyi //
Hollywood Bowl – Los Angeles
August 7th, 2016 //

No matter what you think of LA, whether you love it, hate it or hold no opinion of it at all, the Hollywood Bowl has remained universally loved as one of the city’s most prized possessions. It’s safe to say that the Bowl, as us Angelenos like to call it for short, has always stood as one of the world’s most legendary outdoor music venues. In fact, it’s still considered the “largest natural amphitheater” in the U.S. (whatever that means) at 17,500, but just do a quick Google search for “best outdoor music venues in the U.S.” and you’ll see how often it’s included in listicles ranking the best amphitheaters in the country. For that reason alone — although the glitz and glamour of LA have certainly never hurt — there has always been an understanding within the music industry that any artist who headlines a show inside the Bowl’s iconic bandshell has officially “made it.”

Though I don’t know if the same can be said for my music journalism career, there have been at least a few bright spots, one as most recently as last Sunday, when I was invited to cover my first show at the Bowl. It might sound cliché (actually it definitely sounds cliché), but never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would get credentialed for a show at one of music’s most storied and historic venues, one that I grew up going to regularly as a kid. When you write for a small music blog like this one, getting the opportunity to cover a show at the Bowl doesn’t come around all that often, if ever. And what a show it turned out to be.

With a bill headlined by neo-psychedelic folk singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens and featuring sets from lo-fi indie rocker Kurt Vile with his backing band, The Violators, and French-Cuban soul/R&B duo Ibeyi, the lineup of performers on this night was eclectic to say the least. Yet, with two of the three acts already in California to play Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival (read our review here), NPR member station KCRW made sure to take advantage for its World Festival series.

Sufjan Stevens

It’s always tough for an opener to play the Bowl, and unfortunately Ibeyi had to find that out the hard way for its first appearance. With the show’s early start time due to the Bowl’s 10:30 p.m. curfew on Sundays (it slides back to 11 p.m. Monday-Saturday), most of the seats were empty when twin sisters Lisa-Kaindé Diaz and Naomi Diaz took the stage at 7 p.m. sharp. It wasn’t until 7:40 p.m., when Vile and his three bandmates were subsequently up next, that the amphitheater started to fill up, especially in the upper-level sections. Vile, who has been touring heavily since the release of his sixth solo album b’lieve I’m goin down…, let out a few hoots and hollers as he opened his 50-minute set, doing his best to pump up the somewhat subdued crowd. But it was his music that ultimately got fans excited, leaning heavily on his newest material as he moved between electric guitar, acoustic guitar and banjo.

The spectacle of the night, however, was no doubt Sufjan Stevens’ set. The Michigan native, who professed his love for his home state on his 2003 LP, had it pretty rough growing up, as he details in “Should Have Known Better” from his latest studio effort Carrie & Lowell. The album, which recounts some of the more unsettling moments Stevens shared with his late mother (Carrie) and stepfather (Lowell) — including times when Carrie abandoned him as a child — and the emotional pain he felt following her death in 2012, has taken his career of almost 20 years to new heights, with many music critics pronouncing it his best yet.

On this evening though, Stevens did his best to spin things in a positive light, proclaiming at one point that he wanted to “sing about life” after spending “a year-and-a-half singing about death.” “Feel your heart and your lungs and the warmth of your skin, and know you’re alive,” he told us in between songs while preaching that we as a society need “less resistance” and “more acceptance.” Coming from a man who dons a pair of giant wings, a neon-colored track suit and at times, a bizarre balloon costume onstage, a spiritual pep talk as such could sound like a bunch of hocus pocus to glass-half-empty types. But the stories Stevens tells on Carrie & Lowell are real and heartfelt, ones that take guts to broadcast publicly like he does, and with a rainbow of fluorescent lights covering the Bowl’s band shell once night fell, the final stop on his 2016 summer tour felt more like a celebration of sorts than a memorial service. So, as the man in a foil-like suit ran through the crowd at the start of his encore, which concluded with a tribute to another one of his fallen heroes in Prince, I couldn’t help but smile and take it all in, knowing full well that the chance to cover a show at the Bowl may never come my way again.

SUFJAN STEVENS

Setlist:
Seven Swans
Too Much
All of Me Wants All of You
Come On! Feel the Illinoise!
I Walked
Vesuvius
Blue Bucket of Gold
Fourth of July
Should Have Known Better
Carrie & Lowell
I Want to Be Well
Impossible Soul
Chicago

Encore:
Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois
For the Widows in Paradise, For the Fatherless in Ypsilanti
Kiss (Prince cover) (with Moses Sumney)