Bon Iver Returns to San Diego - October 26

This morning, the Casbah officially announced the return of Bon Iver to San Diego. The show is October 26 at Jacobs Music Center at Symphony Hall with special guest Julianna Barwick. The show will have 6pm doors and is an all ages show. Tickets will range from $55-$75 (plus fees). 

I don't have a ticket link yet, but there's an artist presale on Wednesday if you're registered and then we'll likely have a Casbah presale on Thursday. General tickets go on sale Friday at 10am. Stay tuned and I'll update with the links when I get them. 

And here's what I had to say last time they were here.

THE HORRORS W/ The Stepkids FRIDAY 9.16.11 CASBAH

As the droves of San Diegans were descending upon Spreckels Theatre downtown Friday night for the first of two sold out shows from Bon Iver, I was headed to the Casbah to see the sold out Horrors show. It's kind of funny how both Casbah presents shows were polar opposites, the sweet sultry vocals of Justin Vernon compared to the dark menacing vocals of Faris Badwin. A contrast of heaven and hell, if you will.

I showed up to the Casbah about 5 minutes into The Stepkids set and went straight in, as I greeted Faris Badwan from the Horrors with a hello and handshake I cringed a little bit. The jazz influenced space jammy psychedelic tunes coming from the stage were just a little too much for me, especially with a white sheet behind them and projections being strewn across their bodies by ex San Diegan David Khan. The first song I heard was probably close to 8 minutes long with a 4-5 minute guitar solo in the middle. Someone tipped me that he was Alicia Keys touring guitarist, which would make a lot of sense. Don't get me wrong, they were entertaining but not my cup of tea and definitely not the reason I was there. They'll be back Sunday October 30th at Soda Bar with Trap Gold so go see for yourself.

One thing I noticed about this night was the lack of prominent faces in the SD music scene, no one was to be found ... the Art Fag set, CityBeat heads, nobody. Instead it was a handful of familiar faces and the spattering of 40-50 somethings with the usual "bros and hoes" mixed in, really random crowd for a show of this caliber. After an hour long interlude, the main room quickly filled up with everyone clamoring for a spot. Forget the spidery androgynous demeanor and spazzy mannerisms - these guys bring it when it comes to live performance, pure and simple. Their new album is a brilliant piece of work, a considerable triumph over their previous and an exciting sampling of their creative evolution. The band opened with the first song off the new album Skying called "Changing The Rain", fearlessly putting their newest foot forward in a challenge to those hung up on the band's earlier sounds. We took the evolution in stride; however, we were delightfully treated with the Primary Colours standout "Who Can Say"played second in the set, bodies writhing in motion, sweat already beginning to pour from peoples pores so early in the set. The night was young and as I was already thrilled at what I had witnessed, they moved back to Skying with "I Can See Through You". The song seemed to be a crowd pleaser and most of the attendees knew every single word to the new album. For the remainder of the night the Horrors flipped back and forth between Skying and Primary Colours leaving out any songs from 2007's Strange House. My favorite of the night would have to be a tripped out version of "Scarlet Fields" in which they had replaced the synths for guitars. If you weren't in attendance this time, the next time they return I'd definitely recommend you going. Loud, dark, brooding, perfectionists, are all words I would use to describe what I had bestowed upon me. This is a band with some serious staying power-- I remember picking up the debut EP in the fall of 2006 and to see their progression at such a young age is quite remarkable. I raise my glass to Horrors and I am proud to be a fan. Special thanks to the Casbah, the guys from Hotel St. George, Rosemary Bystrak, and Donna Chang.


Here's the entire set list:

Changing the Rain
Who Can Say?
I Can See Through You
Scarlet Fields
Dive In
Three Decades
Endless Blue
Sea Within a Sea
Still Life
Mirror's Image
Moving Further Away

Other Lives & Bon Iver at Spreckels Theatre, September 17-18, 2011

There really are no words for how awesome Bon Iver and Other Lives were this weekend. I'll be posting photos on SoundDiego and you can also see them on my Facebook Page. Kinda dismal lighting for my little point and shoot, but hopefully the video compensates for what I lack in equipment and skill. Thanks to the Casbah, Other Lives, Justin and crew, Phil, Jesse, Jeff, and all of the awesome tweets and facebook messages for picking me up this weekend when I was really, really down. I'm going into this week really trying to figure my shit out, but at least for the weekend, I remembered why I do all of this. Enjoy the video playlist from Saturday night. Click the >| button to jump from video to video.

Playlist videos:

1. Other Lives "As I Lay My Head Down"
2. Other Lives "Fiction" & "Tamer Animals"
3. Bon Iver "Perth"
4. Bon Iver "Beach Baby", "Hinnom, TX", "Wash"
5. Bon Iver "Holocene" & "re: Stacks"
6. Bon Iver "Creature Fear" & "Flume"
7. Bon Iver "Beth/Rest" & "For Emma"
8. Bon Iver "Skinny Love" & "The Wolves (Act I & II)"

If anyone is hiring a blogger/booker/social media strategist/whatever, let's talk. I also have some banner ad avails, so hit me up.

This Weekend: Bon Iver & Other Lives @ Spreckels

I know, I know, these shows both sold out in less than an hour combined, but let me let you in on a little secret (for those of you who might not already know this). When big bands tour, generally a certain number of tickets are set aside for each show among the promoter, the venue, and the bands performing. Sometimes it's just a few, sometimes it's hundreds (which major acts like Bon Jovi and Britney Spears then resell at ridonkulous prices for profits to secondary ticketers like StubHub). I don't know how Bon Iver and Other Lives fare in this, but with every other show I've been to at Spreckels, "production holds" and "obstructed view" seats have been released at noon the day of the show. I believe some tickets for Friday might have actually been released today, but you might wanna try the box office tomorrow or Saturday if you're looking for tickets to either show.

But what I really want to tell you is that if you already have tickets, don't casually show up to the show when you think Bon Iver is gonna start because you DO NOT WANT to miss Other Lives. The blew everyone away that was in the room when they played the Soda Bar earlier this year, then again at the Casbah, and I even went out to Vegas to see them during their residency at the Cosmopolitan. Trust me.

Other Lives "Tamer Animals"

I went to Vegas last week and I promised a whole bunch of videos of Other Lives but they're taking much longer to upload than I planned. I wish I had more to say about my trip other than it being awesome, but mostly I just want YOU to love Other Lives like I do. This is probably one of the better video clips because it doesn't have a bartender's head in my view, but those ones are coming, too. It's true, you may love Bon Iver, but you will be blown away when Other Lives opens at Spreckels next month. I filmed the greater part of the four sets I caught, so I'll put those in a playlist, but until then, please enjoy.

Bon Iver at Spreckels: 2nd Show Added-Tickets onsale Friday!

I'm gonna be honest. I had a rough start to the week.

I was recovering from Comic-Con. After 5 non-stop days and nights of walking, hanging out at parties with free booze, and then staying up crazy late trying to work (but often getting sidetracked on Turntable.FM), I was worn down. I've grown to love Con that there's also this depression that sets in when you have to find the next big thing to look forward to. I hit some shows this week as well as the Gaglione Brothers 1 year party for their Mission Gorge store, and still hadn't quite gotten enough sleep. Then yesterday I found out that a close friend was hospitalized with way too many ailments for a 28 year old to handle and I didn't sleep much just hoping he would be okay.

Today, however, was a great day and after having fun on the radio, I got to talk to my friend for over an hour and it sounds like he's going to be okay after some procedures, but just hearing him laugh was enough motivation to catch up on all of this stuff I'd neglected. Like Bon Iver.

Earlier this week, the Casbah announced that Bon Iver and Other Lives would be playing a second night in San Diego. The show is September 17 and tickets go onsale tomorrow at noon. There's a presale (password is fm949) happening right now but personally if I was buying tickets, I'd go sit at the box office and skip the fees at noon tomorrow.

Get tickets here.

Oh, and one more reason there's a spring in my step? Jeff and I have made plans to go to Vegas next weekend to see Other Lives at the Book and Stage at the Cosmopolitan Hotel. I talked to Josh from the band today and it looks like I'll get my interview and some hang time in while I'm there, in addition to the FOUR sets we'll get to see on Friday & Saturday nights. (though they're also there Wednesday and Thursday). So yeah. It's good to have things to look forward to.