One of my favorite female rock vocalists is Nina Diaz. Usually the front woman for the punk rock band Girl In A Coma, she’s decided to take a little hiatus from the band to record some music solo. The results are a set of music that is wrought with emotional expressions of melody that act as confessional. Continue reading
Headlining the inaugural concert of the County In The City concert series, inspired by The Annenberg Space for Photography’s newest exhibit,“Country: Portraits of an American Sound,” was Gregory LeNoir “Gregg” Allman, an American rock and blues singer-songwriter who was the founding member of the The Allman Brothers Band. Inducted with the band into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995, and named one of the “100 Greatest Singers of All Time” by Rolling Stone magazine, Gregg Allman brought his vast catalog of music to the adoring Century City crowd
Dressed in a jeans, a t-shirt and a leather jacket, Gregg stepped onto the stage with his eight piece band and sat behind his now-trademark Hammond organ, his waist-long pony tail swaying from side to side.
Gregg has had a tough go at it this year. He’s been hospitalized on several occasions due to a variety of ailments (bronchitis, a wrist injury, and other undisclosed health issues) and he did look a bit gaunt to me has he perched himself atop his organ bench. I noticed in between songs that he’d quickly reach for tissues from a box perched on his organ. He even took a break midway through his set, I’m assuming to catch his breath and recharge.
He may have been under the weather, but his performance was not noticeably effected by it. With his right foot steady on the organ’s pedal, his left foot vigorously tapped to the beat of each song throughout the set. His voice still had that soulful blues tenor rasp that got me interested in The Allman Brothers Band in the first place. Was he ill? I doubt anybody really noticed.
Being a fan of his repertoire, I was just thrilled to be able to see him performing live. “Black Hearted Woman/Hot Lanta”. “Melissa”. “Midnight Rider”. Those songs, especially “Melissa”, made my night.
The only letdown for me was when he performed “Whipping Post”. Maybe it was because he wanted to use the full sound of the band, but the arrangement of it was a little to nouveau for my tasted. In my opinion, “Whipping Post” is supposed to be raw and gritty. This version was more sass and flash. The chorus (“Sometimes I feel / Sometimes I feel / Like I’ve been tied / To the whipping post / Tied to the whipping post /Tied to the whipping post /Good lord I feel like I’m dyin’) is supposed to wail. The arrangement that was performed that night was a bit anticlimactic.
Set List (actual order might have been slightly different)
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE OTHER PERFORMANCES THAT I CAUGHT DURING THE BET EXPERIENCE AT L.A. LIVE
On the second day of the BET Experience at L.A. Live, I decided to watch the various acts performing on the main stage of the convention center. Each of the acts performed short sets to give the audience a sampling of what their music was all about.
The first act I was able to catch was LiV Warfield, a powerful R&B vocalist and member of Prince’s New Power Generation. Prince is high on LiV, and the public should be too.
Passionate, soulful and dynamic, her live performance is one that engages the audience and gives everyone a serious case of happy feet. It certainly didn’t hurt that she was supported by a first class band (with Prince’s NPG Hornz).
I was duly impressed with her set, and I highly recommend catching her perform live when she is in your town.
Like her Facebook page by CLICKING HERE to keep updated on her touring.
Setlist:
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE OTHER PERFORMANCES THAT I CAUGHT DURING THE BET EXPERIENCE AT L.A. LIVE
KCRW has once again curated a summer concert series with talent overflowing. Inspired by The Annenberg Space for Photography’s newest exhibit,“Country: Portraits of an American Sound,” which will be on display through September 28th, 2014, KCRW’s “Country In The City” Concert Series brings to Los Angeles a country music line-up that any Nashville resident would be proud off.
Kicking off the concert series with Sturgill Simpson, KCRW brought a brand of outlaw country music that has had critics raving since his debut 2013 album, “High Top Mountain”. Since then Sturgill has been going at it hard, touring relentlessly, recording his follow-up album in four days, and releasing “Metamodern Sounds in Country Music” in May of 2014, gaining more and more fans along the way.
Perhaps it’s his gruff voice. Perhaps it’s his passionately effective lyrics. Perhaps it’s his unassuming and down-to-earth honestly. Whatever “it” is, it seems to be working.
Sturgill took the stage with his band (Miles Miller on drums, Kevin Black on bass and Laur Joamets on Guitar) and immediately announced to the audience that he was honored to be opening for Gregg Allman. After powering through the first song, he earnestly apologized to the audience for being less than 100%, promising the audience that he was still going to, “hit it hard, and try to get to 90%”.
His “country” humor came out when he introduced “Long White Line,” stating, “This ones for the ladies …. That’s bullshit. It’s all for the ladies”, and afterwards he introduced his band members, noting that his guitar player, who was effortlessly strumming country licks, Laur Joamets, was from Estonia.
“Just keeping it real,” Sturgill smirked with a sly look to his players.
He mixed in a little bluegrass, and some covers. Before playing his cover of Lefty Frizzell’s “I Never Go Around Mirrors” noted that this time last year when he played “the Hotel Cafe, there was 20 people there.” A look of appreciation beamed from his grizzled face as looked into the audience.
He even gave the audience a little history behind several of the tunes. For example, before closing the night with “Railroad of Sin”, he explained that when he was starting his path as a songwriter, his wife said that he had to have a song with a train in it cause every country artist had one. When it was all said and done, and before closing the set with “Railroad of Sin,” he told the audience how lucky they were to have Gregg Allman coming up proclaiming that, “That ain’t no bullshit.”
Happy he was going to have the rest of the evening off, he joked that he and the band usually stayed sober after gigs in order to travel to the next venue … but not tonight.
I certainly hope you had a chance to unwind Sturgill. You deserved it.
(Approximate) Setlist:
CLICK HERE to check out other acts performing a Twilight Concert at the Santa Monica Pier!
Headlining the first concert of the 2014 Twilight Concert Series at the Santa Monica Pier was the lo-fi, psychedelic, indie pop duo Cults. Madeline Follin and Brian Oblivian’s 60’s infused, experimental pop music received great acclaim in 2010 and 2011 with strong reviews by publications like NME and Pitchfork.
I was particularly attracted to their latest album “Static” (released in 2013) as it basically told the story of the duos tumultuous relationship, which ultimately didn’t last. The darkness and somber tones of the music and lyrics of that album, for me, is a great straight listen (meaning, you can press play on the album and not have to fast forward any of the songs).
However tumultuous their break up may have been, it was obvious that any personal antagonism between them had been squashed as there was no tension between the two while performing. In fact, the only tension I could sense was with the person working the mixing board as I could tell Madeline, perhaps, had a difficult time hearing herself. Was it just me, or were there no monitors on stage?
The Cults’ music, especially with their latest release, is quite intricate and layered with sound. And where the recordings delicately balanced the music against the vocals, with the vocals at times just hovering over the music, the mix for their performance had the music slightly overpower the vocals. For example, when the instrumentation was minimal, like on the verses of “So Far”, I could hear Madeline’s vocals just fine. But when there was a swell of music, it often drowned out the vocal performance.
Despite any hiccups with mixing, Cults powered through their set and performed all of their hits from both their first and second albums, and even returned to the stage for an encore. Having grown up in Southern California, they thanked the crowd and expressed their sincere appreciation for being able to perform back in their stomping ground.
CLICK HERE to check out other acts performing a Twilight Concert at the Santa Monica Pier!
CLICK HERE to check out other acts performing a Twilight Concert at the Santa Monica Pier!
Below are Instagram clips from most, if not all, of the songs from Cults’ set at the Santa Monica Pier as part of the Twilight Concert Series. Enjoy.
CLICK HERE to check out other acts performing a Twilight Concert at the Santa Monica Pier!
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE OTHER PERFORMANCES THAT I CAUGHT DURING THE BET EXPERIENCE AT L.A. LIVE
I have been a fan of Jill Scott since the first time I heard her track “Do You Remember?”. That song moved me like no other. Her incredible voice, together with lyrics that spoke to a love remembered, hit the money spot in my musical soul.
Speaking of money, money was kind of tight, and since I wasn’t approved for a media pass for this concert, it looked like I wouldn’t be able to attend the show. Desperate to find a way into the concert, I even tried to send Ms. Scott a letter over Twitter to see if she could get me in to the show. She never responded to my tweet. Wishful thinking, I know.
Thinking that all hope was lost, I went as far as to register to win tickets through other venues. I entered to win tickets through Complex Magazine, and as the fates would have it, I won. Lucky me.
Jill Scott’s set was everything that I had been waiting for since 2000. Her voice was as powerful and as delicate as ever, singing both classic tunes from her repertoire and a handful of new songs. I only wished that her set was an hour longer as she clearly couldn’t perform all of the songs that I loved in her hour long time slot.
I wasn’t able to find a setlist online, but you can CLICK THIS LINK to get directed to a collection of Instagram Videos with snippets of most, if not all, of the songs that were performed at this concert.
I wasn’t approved for a photo pass for this performance, so I was only armed with my trusty, pocket-sized point and shoot camera. Not the best, but not to shabby sitting several hundred fee away if you ask me.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE OTHER PERFORMANCES THAT I CAUGHT DURING THE BET EXPERIENCE AT L.A. LIVE
When it comes to buying music, I’m old school. I like to sift through racks of CDs or vinyl records to discover music. As a vinyl collector/lover, I often find myself spending hours at local record stores looking for new albums to add to my collection.
One Saturday, I was over at Origami Vinyl to purchase concert tickets to see The War On Drugs. As per usual, I got sidetracked and started looking at some of the records that were on display.
Then, as if it were pulled from the scene in “High Fidelity” where John Cusack’s character plays the Beta Band single “Dry The Rain”, some music started playing out of the store speakers that caught my attention.Neil Schield, the owner of the echo park record store, was manning the register when I asked what album it was. He told me it was the Beta … Metronomy, and that he was spinning their latest album, “Love Letters”. I left the store two of Metronomy’s albums, and I’ll have to say that “Love Letters” is on my list of favorite albums of 2014 (so far). I had to get a ticket for their show at the Fonda when I found out about it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppJAkN4m9bY
Yup. It kinda happened just like that.
When the English band (Anna Prior, Gabriel Stebbing, Joseph Mount and Oscar Cash) too the stage, the audience erupted with an enthusiastic cheer. The men, dressed in their matching white suits, and the female drummer, in a similar white matching ensemble, jumped into a set of breezy synth pop that had the sold-out crowd dancing where space permitted.
Their music was extremely polished and on point. The mix at the Fonda was excellent, and the great sound of the venue definitely enhanced the band’s live performance. The played with joy and vigor, and it was clearly self evident with the steady smiles on their faces. They noted that this was their last performance on this particular tour and emphasized how much they were pleased to be playing the last gig of their current tour in Los Angeles.
I roamed the venue during their set to get an idea of whether their energy transferred up into the balcony. It did. Even in the balcony, fans were dancing the the isles. Even I couldn’t resist shaking my booting when I wasn’t trying to find a shot.
Metronomy is back in the United States for more touring in September and are back in Los Angeles October 21st at the Regent Theatre. I suggest you follow them on Facebook to know when they are back in your neck of the woods.
Opening for Metronomy at The Fonda Theatre was an award-winning indie alternative rock band from Australia: Cloud Control. This Aussie quartet consisting of Alister Wright, Heidi Lenffer, Ulrigh Lenffer and Jeremy Kelshaw, released their first album, “Bliss Release” to great regional praise. So much critical adoration, in fact, their debut was nominated for two ARIA awards in 2010 for Best Rock Album and Breakthrough Artist, and was the winner of the 6th annual Australian Music Prize, among other accolades. They released their sophomore album, “Cloud Control”, on September 17, 2013, and had been supporting its release with international tours.
As this was my introduction to their music, I went in with open ears and came out a fan. Their performance was solid and their music was rather good. I could definitely understand why they are popular in Australia. Their music definitely has a psychedelic vibe, but it’s more Tame Impala than The Dandy Warhols. Their set had both upbeat dance numbers and mellow “chill-out” cuts, and I found that it was a great setlist. So great, that I even purchased a copy of the their newest album on wax (and got it signed!) after the show.
I always find it interesting when bands have great support in their home countries, but take a while to break out in other territories. I spoke briefly with Heidi (the keyboardist and vocalist) and asked her what her thoughts were about that point. She exclaimed that that’s exactly what they were aiming to impact during this last round international tour dates. She explained that she hoped that touring with Metronomy and sneaking in festival and other performance dates earned them new ears and fans.
I hope it worked for them. Hey, at least it worked for me. Follow them on Twitter (@Cloud_Control) or Facebook (CloudController) and make sure you catch them when they are in your neck of the woods.
The setlist for their performance is below:
I wasn’t able to find any video clips of their performance online, so enjoy a playlist from their Souncloud account below.
The lighting for their set was rather dim, so I had to set my ISO higher than normal. Still think I took a couple decent pics though.
Nicholas Jame Murphy is Chet Faker, and chicks dig him. After hearing a couple of cuts from his latest album “Built on Glass” on NPR- God bless public radio- I scoured the internet to listen to more of his work. I was instantly hooked. To me, his take on electronic music reminded me of James Blake with a more soulful edge. When I heard he was wrapping his U.S. tour with a performance at The Roxy, I jumped at purchasing tickets as soon as they went on sale. Tickets for the show went so fast that The Roxy added scheduled another concert earlier in the week to accommodate the high demand.
Chet Faker is a producer, and his performance was, for the most part, just him, his console and his keyboard. For a couple of songs throughout his set, he brought on additional musicians (a guitarist and drummer) to fill out the sound, but in the dimly lit venue, it was essentially just him and the audience. Some reviews suggest that his performance was perhaps not best suited for a live setting, but I think that sentiment needs a qualifier.
Perhaps if he was performing at the Hollywood Bowl, or a venue whose capacity exceeds 1000, the performance could have used a full band or better stage design (i.e. lighting and effects), but we’re taking about the Roxy Theatre here (an intimate venue whose capacity is only 500), and in my opinion, the intimate setting, coupled with the intimate music, with the artist performing alone to the audience, was completely appropriate, and really the only way Chet should have be introduced to his legion of new fans for the first time. In fact, I thought his cover of Jeff Buckley’s “I Want Someone Badly” (the highlight of the show for me, considering that Jeff Buckley is a major favorite of mine) could have only performed by himself.
Speaking of fans, they were a mix of crazed young females who occasionally screamed, “I want to lick your beard,” to drunk frat boys who were trying to flirt with the girls who were fixated on main act. I could have done with the loud drunk frat boys (ok, maybe not frat boys … but definitely college aged kiddies who had no concept of how to handle their booze) as I actually had a 5 second stare down to get one of them to shut the hell up during one of the songs, but the show was everything good that I anticipated.
Chet Faker is scheduled to perform at the sold-out FYF Fest in Los Angeles, August 23rd, and I am able to find- god, willing- a tickets, I’ll be anxious to see how his set then compares to what I saw at The Roxy.
#DKLPHOTOS 