I thought I was going to come home from Coachella and relax and such, and I definitely attempted to get caught up in daytime sleep, but poor Chase felt like house/dogsitting was a sentence for house arrest, so on Monday night we walked over to Triple Crown for some foosball (he won 2 of 3) and ping pong (I won 2 of 3) and then meandered over to Eleven and finished the night there. My computer froze, which made editing these videos more time consuming, but I felt it was worth it to post them. I still need to post a bunch of other stuff and upload photos and such, but in the meantime, this is the video I captured of James at Coachella. I hear they're being strict on things, so it is quite possible that these videos might be pulled from YouTube, but I hope not because even though I couldn't even see what I was shooting, I'm pretty proud that they came out so well considering how far I was from the stage and how I couldn't see a goddamn thing in my viewfinder as I was recording, and I'm going to maintain that even though there were several great performances over the weekend, for me, James was the best performance of the whole shebang.
The youtube playlist below is as follows:
Born Of Frustration
Ring The Bells
Out To Get You
Getting Away With It (All Messed Up)
Sometimes
Sound
Laid
For good measure, check the playlist from the House of Blues San Diego from the night before (with even shoddier camera work). After the jump.
I've been hoping to find video from the two girls in front of me at House of Blues San Diego, but haven't seen anything thus far, but I have found some pretty great video from the tour.
This stage looks nearly identical to HoB San Diego, but it's The Vic in Chicago, from 9.25.08.
After the madness of my birthday weekend, I had finally decided to take a couple nights off. I stayed home Wednesday to catch up on some things, and on Thursday went to my parents' house for a belated birthday dinner and to watch the Biden v Palin debate (though I did end up hanging out at the Ken Club with some friends after that). Come Friday I was really revved for James.
In retrospect, I can't believe I almost didn't go to this show, because it is easily my favorite show I've been to this year. Yes, The National and Okkervil River and Nada Surf are all up there, but James is a band I've loved since high school and I only ever got to see them once way back then. So again, I have to thank Jeff S. for buying me the ticket.
I got to the House of Blues early because I wanted to hit happy hour, but I was also hoping to find someone from the band or band's management to work on a photo pass since I was unsuccessful reaching anyone via e-mail and you can't not try, right? Unfortunately, I didn't find anyone, but I did end up sitting at the bar and meeting an old school jazz promoter named Jack who had some great stories. We kinda got lost in conversation and I missed opener Unkle Bob entirely.
When I did finally make my way into the venue, I was AMAZED. The House of Blues was allowing 'point & shoot' cameras! I could hardly believe it. Later, during the show, Tim Booth announced that they'll be back in March and "if you like what you're hearing, tell your friends and bring them along when we come back next year," which made me think allowing the cameras was maybe a smart band marketing strategy and wasn't new HoB policy. Or maybe it's both.
Either way, I made my way near the front and waited for what would be an incredible show. While waiting, I met two guys from Dallas and a woman from London, all who had been to multiple shows on the west coast. Many people do not know James, but for those who do, there is a deep love. It's everything music should be. It's break-up music. It's redemption music. It's make-up music. It's make out music. It's music with hope. It's sing-along music. It's cry yourself to sleep music. It's music that reminds you that tomorrow is a new day. More if you 'keep on reading'.
Personally, I was a little afraid that the band would stick mostly with new material from their new album "Hey, Ma!" alternating with radio hits from "Laid" but instead they played a diverse set including new music, but going all the way back to their self-titled debut. From the first beats of "Dream Thrum" to the full on sing along of "Sit Down", I was smiling from ear to ear. Not only is the music incredible, but watching Tim dance was really something else altogether.
These are from the earliest part of the show, and while dark and fuzzy, I wanted to post Tim's horrific outfit, because honestly, by the end of the show I was convinced he's the sexiest man on the planet.
They played for nearly two hours. Highlights for me were "Ring The Bells", "Out To Get You", "Born of Frustration" into "Sit Down", and my favorite song, "Sometimes" which lead into "Laid", the last song of the night. "Sometimes" was particularly amazing with over two minutes of the crowd singing, "Sometimes I look in your eyes, I see your soul" with Tim encouraging the chant with, "I dare you."
I had stepped outside for a second during the show, and ran into Mat Diablo from 91X and we chatted for a bit. He told me that Tim Booth is a transcendental dancer which would explain his 'dance like nobody is watching' moves on stage. The dancing creates a chain reaction among the crowd and everyone moves along in a fluid wave. Yes, I too, was dancing.
I was only disappointed by one thing for the show. The guys from Dallas said that at all their shows, they'd have the crowd jump onstage for Laid. That didn't happen in San Diego, unfortunately, though it's probably better because I might've just lost my mind. Also, I regret not buying a shirt, but no matter my love, $30 is just way too much for a concert t-shirt.
The show was incredible and I am very excited about the prospect of seeing the band again in 2009.
James Setlist, House of Blues San Diego, 10.03.08
James performed that afternoon on Fm 94/9. Here's the video from that:
I haven't done "newsy bits" in a while, but I'll give it a go today.
This only means anything to a handful of people, but Mike, the proprietor of Happy Hour Bar, aka Hobo Bar, confirmed to me the other night (albeit drunk off his ass) that he is selling the bar. The first time I met him, I was curious about his bar and his story. He's owned the place for 13 years and owns a mobile home in Rosarito and plans on retiring down there. Finally he apparently has a buyer. I heard rumors that it was Tim Mays, someone even said it was Dennis Toshima. I don't know who it is, but doesn't matter, I'd pretty much say enjoy it in its current state and then you can pretty much forget about it. Mike said, "gimme 2-3 months and I am outta here." It was also clarified to me that the reason he is able to allow smoking in the joint is because he is the sole proprietor and has no employees. ***** James, one of my favorite bands of the early and mid nineties is back together. They are playing random shows in London and plan on playing shows and putting out new material, though they are not sure in which order that will occur. You all can get off on Rage Against The Machine reuniting. I'd rather get psyched about the possible opportunity to see James live again. ***** Local boys Republic of Letters are busy working on their EP and now you can sample a couple of their new tracks on their MySpace page here.The new tracks from their Spirit or Ghost ep are "Bridge" and "Falling Back". ***** Indie Blogger Nation is going apeshit over SubPop band Loney, Dear which I've avoided because of the stupid name. However, I came across their video on YouTube and love it, so I'll hop on the bandwagon. Here's a video for your pleasure:
***** In other regurgitated news, Chris Cornell has quit Audioslave. It's about time.
His statement : “Due to irresolvable personality conflicts as well as musical differences, I am permanently leaving the band Audioslave. I wish the other three members nothing but the best in all of their future endeavors." ***** AM is an LA based singer songwriter originally from New Orleans. He carries the rare if not unique distinction of having every song from his album used in a tv or movie all before the album was ever released. He was praised as having the album of the year on iTunes in the singer/songwriter category. This is more for my KPRI readers than my music snobby friends, but AM is coming to the House of Blues sidestage next week supporting Brian Vander Ark. (February 22) Brian is the singer of The Verve Pipe, remember? Don't act like you don't know. I have the CD at home and can even picture the exact spot in which it has been in my CD rack for the last decade? Has it been that long? Here's a video of Brian Vander Ark doing Freshman to jog your memory:
Anyhow, AM is awesome and all about meeting his fans, so go check it out. I think it's like $10 and I have a very strong suspicion that the House of Blues issues I complained about for bands do not hold true for solo acoustic artists. Isolation of their voices is what you hope for, in fact. Also, click here for a Billboard.com interview with AM. In my blogging experience, I haven't quite built up the courage to interview anybody because most interviews ask the lamest questions, but somehow, some way, this dumb broad got a job at Billboard interviewing people. Don't blame AM that she is a douche. It's so horrible its actually funny. Anyway, catch AM on his way to SXSW. I will be there and you should be too. Robert and Madison of KPRI, I should be seeing you there. ***** That's all I've got today, really, except for this piece of advice: Don't try to cut a Hass avocado with a plastic knife. The skin doesn't break through and the reaction time to realize you're sawing off your own finger is a bit delayed...
