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- Camden Backyard BBQ featuring Robert Randolph & the Family Band
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs @ the House of Blues, Cleveland
- It Might Get Loud
| Camden Backyard BBQ featuring Robert Randolph & the Family Band Posted: 13 Aug 2009 11:26 AM PDT
Sunday, Sept. 6, 2009 – FREE! – 2-10 p.m.
The main theme of the BBQ (aside from fun!) is health and wellness. As such, a number of booths from regional Health & Wellness Organizations will be lining the walkways around the festival with an abundance of information. Make sure you visit them! Hope to see you there!! Most Commented Posts |
| Yeah Yeah Yeahs @ the House of Blues, Cleveland Posted: 13 Aug 2009 09:01 AM PDT I've seen the Yeah Yeah Yeahs before in a big festival setting so I knew I was in for a treat going to the little sold out House of Blues in Cleveland. The set up and the atmosphere in the House of Blues were amazing. Even though it was a sold out show, it was hard to find a bad view in the entire venue.
Opening up the show was Amanda Blank, an up and coming Philly rapper with amazing energy. She reminds me of a dirtier, faster Karen O with backing DJs instead of a band. She even had the crazy fashion and wild stage antics like that of Miss O. Not knowing what to expect out of her, I was rather impressed. I really enjoyed the way she would move around and dance to every little beat like some kind of a robot or an instrument herself. One thing is for sure, she really knew how to get the crowd going and excited for the main act while keeping them interested in what she had going on.
Karen O and the rest of the men of Yeah Yeah Yeahs finally took the stage and the House of Blues blew up. They played the first song in nothing but blue lights which I though was either a clever play on words with the venue or just a slow teasing build up to crazy lights and better visuals. Either way the show held so much energy and Karen O seemed so happy with a smile on her face the whole time. The music was great and the performance was phenomenal. There was no part of the show to complain about except for almost being taken out by a confetti canon shooting out thousands of metallic red Y's like it was a Flaming Lips show. The confetti looked great with the lighting and proved to be rather comical when one landed on Karen like a mustache, in which she decided to strike a pose with.
The show ended and the encore began with Karen coming on the dark stage with an odd neon mask on rocking out to “Heads Will Roll”. The lights came on and the tempo went down once they started into a very intimate and beautiful version of “Maps”. "Wait! They don't love you like I love you," she sang, sounding and looking like she meant it. You could feel the dance in the floor as it bent during their last song, “Date with the Night”. It was a classic song and such a great way to end the show that the people didn't want to leave after they were gone. Overall it was a great success and a show not to be missed.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs: website | myspace | It's Blitz review | remix monday: ‘zero’ | @ beaumont | @ bonaroo 2009 | @ all points west 2009 | @ lolla 2009 Related Posts |
| Posted: 13 Aug 2009 07:15 AM PDT For anyone who has been a rock n' roll fan for all their lives, favoring the guitar as their instrument of choice, rocking out on the couch with an air guitar or closely touching stardom as a Guitar Hero, It Might Get Loud offers an exceptional and behind the scenes look at the electric guitar and how it has been held, shaped and molded by three prominent musicians of the past thirty years. It Might Get Loud is a rock doc showcasing the electric guitar in the hands of Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page, U2's The Edge and The White Stripes/The Raconteurs/Dead Weather's Jack White, and how each has utilized the instrument to shape the sound of their bands and define the use of the instrument as the centerpiece of rock. The title comes from a moment in the film where The Edge is about to shred some licks, warning us that "it might get loud for a second.”
Oscar winning director Davis Guggenheim does an excellent job in keeping the story far removed from the history of the bands and their prominence in rock lore; i.e. he avoids the sex, drugs, history, the Robert Plants and the Bonos and focuses solely on the three featured musicians and their personal histories with the guitar, what inspired them and how they came to define their respective signature styles. The film is centered around a small, unscripted summit that takes place on a sound stage in Los Angeles, where The Edge, White and Page three musicians meet together for the first time for a very cool jam session, showcasing their talents and spontaneity, all the while throwing back and forth chatter about how they develop ideas and discussing how they created guitar riffs for some of their classic songs. Each immediately falls into their appropriates space in history: Jimmy Page is clearly the Rock God and the most proficient, the idol to the other two; The Edge takes his spot as the ever creative sideman; and Jack White is the brash young new comer trying to prove himself, evidenced by an early statement of his in the film, "I'm basically going to trick them into teaching me all their tricks." The doc also branches out into side chapters, focusing on the story of each musician, their beginnings and growth and how they manipulate the guitar to do what they want it to do. Jimmy Page is the soft-spoken, English gentleman, distinguished and charming in his dialogue and demeanor. He takes us through his beginnings as an extensive and highly coveted studio guitarist, his start in The Yardbirds and finally his development in Led Zeppelin. We are given insight into his self taught hard rock techniques, a tour of his record collection and the sounds that inspired him as he sings a long to some of his favorite songs and air guitars the licks. We are then blessed with a tour of the country house in which the legendary Led Zeppelin IV was recorded followed by an impromptu version of "The Battle of Evermore" on his mandolin.
The Edge takes us back to U2's roots through a tour of their old school, the room in which they practiced, and the concrete slab outside where they played one of their first shows. We then visit his studio littered with effects electronics, laptops, showing us just how he is truly a sonic effects architect, as Page describes him. He makes a poignant note in the film that is otherwise lacking in the documentary. He plays an incredible U2 anthem riff, and then unplugs everything to show that the actual riff is in fact bare bones, uninspiring and hardly worth note. It highlights exactly how he is able to turn that basic sound into something incredible, which shows why a guitarist himself is responsible for the sound on his instrument. Jack White's story takes us back to his Tennessee roots, how he prefers minimalism and despises the use of technology on such an instrument, all the while showing us that you need not more than a piece of wood, some wire, nails and a coke bottle to make an electric guitar. His intensity is displayed in concert footage whereby he strums the hell out of his guitar so hard that his hands bleed, red pouring all over his six string, while he continues to passionately drive the wires till the end of the tune. The highlight of the film is the summit where the three meet, discuss and play and we note the personalities of all. Page steals the spotlight with his character and ability to play the guitar as an extension of himself, effortless, as if it's another arm. The Edge is the modest instrumentalist, while White is the most aggressive bundled with the most attitude and urgency to show his worth. A smile inducing moment is that no matter how successful and prolific The Edge and White may be, when Page starts ripping out "Whole Lotta Love", the other two grin like little boys, awe inspired by the Guitar God they have always idolized. The film succeeds aesthetically as well, from featuring old concert footage, photos, and amazing close ups of various guitars, at smooth angles and vibrant colors, dents and bruises of love and use, broken strings and shining perspiration. It Might Get Loud is a light and insightful look at the electric guitar from three of it's greatest handlers, that any rock aficionado or musician alike will take pleasure in. Watch the trailer: It Might Get Loud opens tomorrow, Friday, August 14, 2009. It Might Get Loud: website | show times Related Posts |
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