2007 Shows I didn't write about

Shows I went to that I woulda, shoulda, coulda written about had I joined the blog wagon train sooner. Here are some blurbs.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER aka The Slow Season

2007
Dec 29th - The Mars Volta @ The Echoplex, Los Angeles
I'll keep this short and sweet since I've already written so much about them. After waiting outside for nearly 3 hours in a line that stretched for blocks, The Mars Volta debuted material of their forthcoming album Bedlam in Goliath. The band played as well or even better than ever before. Cedric's voclas were spot on, Thomas is an animal on the drums and the new songs were amazing.


Mars Volta @ The Echoplex


The Mars Volta - Metatron


Dec 15th - Les Savy Fav @ The El Rey, Los Angeles
Les Savy Fav quickly became one of my new favorite bands after seeing this show. Singer Tim Harrington spent half the show giving their stagehand job security by wading through the crowd. During the encore, the band came out dressed in a Christmas theme with Harrington donning tighty-reddies and a Santa jacket. Te then proceeded to kill several over-sized teddy bears and rain their stuffing over the audience.


Les Savy Fav - The Equestrian

Dec 4th - A Place To Bury Strangers with Xu Xu Fang @ Silver Lake Lounge, Los Angeles
My old band Xu Xu Fang opened up for the minimalist psychadelia up-and-comers APTBS. While XXF is still letting the fog out, APTBS opted for a clear viewing so they could have not one but two 35mm cameras projecting trippy visuals behind them. Definitely stoney, definitely loud, definitely worth catching.




Nov 26th - GWAR @ The Catalyst, Santa Cruz
No, I'm not 17 and yes, I saw GWAR (again). I had just rolled into my hometown for the Thanksgiving weekend when my friend called saying he had a ticket waiting for me at the box office if I wanted it. Of course! Well, GWAR is GWAR. If you know what their shows are like, I don't need to tell and if you don't, then you don't want to know. This show primarily consisted of new songs and since I stopped buying their albums 13 years ago I was pretty unfamiliar with them all. Standing in a psuedo-VIP section I still managed to get sprayed a little.


GWAR @ The Catalyst

Nov 12th - Feist & Spoon @ The Gibson Ampitheatre, Los Angeles
Nestled in the back alley of the gawdy Universal City Walk were two of Indie Rocks heavy hitters performing a double-bill that scalpers drool for. Spoon is not good on a big stage. They are a standard 4-piece band that doesn't need the space. I think that'l be the last time I see them for a while. "New artist" (???) of the year nominee Fiest on the other hand needed all the space the Gibson offered and more. She was much more experimental than I could have possibly imagined- at points looping and overdubbing her voice with the Line 6 Digital Delay modeling pedal. She I most definitely recommend but I hope to never set foot on Universal's City Walk again.




Feist - My Moon, My Man

Nov 7th - Parts and Labor @ Spaceland, Los Angeles
Brooklyn, NY's Parts and Labor had been getting some regular airplay for their song Fractured Skies on Seattle's KEXP in recent months and the experimental/noise power trio's sound had really latched on to my audio cortex. Unfortunately, their live set left something to be desired in terms of provided some visual companionship to their audio in my brain. Fractured Skies was played about 20 minutes into the set and was subsequently the last song they played.