Photos: Foals at Observatory North Park, 4.18.2016

There were a ton of reasons why I was excited to see Foals on Sunday. Besides loving their records, I'd missed their last local appearance at 91X's X-Mas show, and before that, I don't think I'd seen them since their first record. The very first time I saw the band was the show at Brick By Brick and back then they were adhering to a harsh red light only policy, so between them and Crocodiles opening, taking photos was next to impossible unless you're brave/crazy/rude enough to shoot flash in such situations. So here it was, my first chance to really shoot the band and we got this funny directive that we could shoot the last four songs instead of the first three. The instructions couldn't have been more vague. The tour manager, in an effort to give more insight, told me "they play about 80 minutes, and do about 13-14 songs, so please gauge from there."

So I was sitting on the balcony with David & Dustin trying to count along and keep track but I just couldn't. I was looking directly down on the soundboard console, however, and noticed a setlist. So I took a photo, magnified it, copied the setlist into notepad, and found it much easier to follow along.

Here's the setlist as it was written:

Snake Oil
Olympic Airways
My Number
Balloons
Providence
Give It All
Mountain At My Gates
Spanish Sahara
Red Sox Pugie
Late Night
A Knife In The Ocean (noted as AKIO on the setlist)
Inhaler

What Went Down
Two Steps Twice

The problem was that while I was all smug knowing when I should go down, the other photographers and security had no idea. Was it the last four of total setlist, meaning 2 of the regular set and the 2 song encore, or 4 of the set before encore? Security thought the latter, let a bunch of photogs in prematurely, and then made the rest of us wait when they realized their mistake. I don't think this worked for Yannis so much, because he seemed a little agitated. On top of that, his mic was loose and dropping (which frustrated him enough that I narrowly missed being hit by his thrown mic stand) and then sorry, photogs, but get a clue. Everyone knows Yannis jumps into the crowd multiple times. When he's trying to find a clear space and you rush over to shoot, he can't safely clear you to the crowd. Get out of the way and stop interfering with his shtick.

All in all, it was an amazing show, and it felt like there were a couple extra songs slipped into the setlist, but I was too enchanted by the lights, the music, and the vibe to pay enough attention. More photos after the jump.

Get Your Tickets To 91X Lump of Coal!

I'm so behind and totally meant to post the whole press release and yada yada last week, when it was announced that Jane's Addiction dropped off the bill for Wrex The Halls. With that news, refunds were supposed to be issued at point of purchase, and the whole show--without Jane's--moved to Soma with a lowered ticket price of $25. Tickets to Wrex the Halls will NOT be honored at Soma. You have to buy a new ticket for this event. The show is all ages. (Tickets are ticketed through Ticketmaster or Soma. I've provided the Soma link because historically their fees are lower than TM)

Get your tickets here.

91X Wrex The Halls Lineup Announced: December 13 at Valley View Casino Center

Bud Light presents 91X Wrex The Halls 2015 

at Valley View Casino Center 

on Sunday, December 13.

Jane's Addiction

Foals

Run The Jewels

Pvris

The Wombats

Will and The People

Pre-sale Start Info: Tuesday, November 3rd at 10am (that's TODAY!)

Pre-sale Ends: Thursday, November 5th at 10pm

Public On-sale: Friday, November 6th at 10am

BUY TICKETS HERE

Street Scene 2008 Photos: Day 1

So I loved Street Scene this year. Yes, there were the positives...back downtown has that urban feel people in San Diego long for...and the minuses...like I drank a goddamn energy drink that made me feel like shit for the entirety of Saturday, but I endured. Not one band's set disappointed, the sound was great on every stage (and during The National I didn't experience the bleed people spoke of because I hung on the left side of the stage) and the ins and outs plus a photo pass plus hanging with friends who were OK to let me run off on my own but still hang out when it was time to call it a night made it an amazing weekend. I will attempt to write a little about everything I saw and experienced, but mostly, since I uploaded, I wanna post the pics, so after the jump, you can see my version of Street Scene 2008.


On Friday I was rearing to go but my friends took a little bit longer to motivate, so I did my thing at my place, then hopped on the bus to Petro and Kris' house while we waited for others to meet up. We had some beers, then some shots at Rosie O'Grady's before finally catching the bus downtown. It's a long ride, but it was fun being with a group of friends.

The busride to downtown

I was told my photo pass fell through, but while I was waiting to hand off tickets to a friend who was coming from LA, I thought I might as well try and see if the list went through, and sure enough, while not granted a full media pass, I was handed a photo pass. The lines at that point were chaos, but there was a media line and I cruised right in. MGMT were about to start, and that stage was crowded, but some way, some how, I squished my body through hoardes of people to make it up to the photo pit in time for their set. The band looked happy and healthy which was great, since the last time I saw them they looked a bit shellshocked and worn down.

MGMT




After the first three songs, as photographers were kicked out of the pit, I wanted nothing to do with the Zarabunda Stage, and wormed my way right back out, listening to a few songs from the very back of the stage area. I think of all the bands on the weekend, they were most inappropriately placed as far as stage and time go because they were incredibly popular.

I wandered to The Casbah stage and caught Foals within the 3 song allotment. This band is so incredible and I feel like they'll endure while other flash in the pan bands come and go. They're so entertaining and energetic on stage.

Foals




After Foals, I wandered to a beer garden to wait for TVOTR, but the lines were insane. It was about 7 and we had about 45 minutes, and I convinced Jake and Dagart to leave with me. We hopped on a cab and had drinks at Chee Chee, and made it back in time for TV On The Radio. I took pics of them at shows prior, despite them making kind of a big deal about no photos, which always makes me nervous that there will be a big Band of Horses or QOTSA outburst from the band, but with that in mind, I was among probably 40 photographers in the pit, and Kip made eye contact with me as they played and gave me a head nod and a smile, shirking my fear of bearded guys that hate photographs. Their set was incredible and they definitely delivered, though I could say that about pretty much every band I saw throughout the weekend.

TV On The Radio




After TVOTR, I made my way to Spoon's stage and posted up in a spot. There were so many photographers that I decided to only shoot 2 songs per band then move along so I wouldn't get bullied for using a point and shoot cybershot amongst all the crazy media peeps with gigantic lenses. I've seen Spoon so many times now but it never gets old. Britt blows me away. And with a full horn section, their set really rocked.

Spoon




After Spoon, I was done with the big stages and wanted to catch the Casbah stage again, since I think it had been nearly two years since I'd seen Devotchka. I guess their Eastern European sound kinda takes me back to my Polish roots and listening to polkas with my dad as a kid, and there is something about their sound that, while still indie rock, brings an element of tradition to it. They sounded amazing, but the lighting didn't work out so much for my P&S or PoS camera, depending on how you look at it.

Devotchka




Last, I made my way back to the nightmare chaos stage to worm my way through the crowd for Vampire Weekend. I still love this band, despite their unfortunate overhype and subsequent backlash. They make me happy, and when I met them all in the past, they were all sweet and humble guys just enjoying the ride while they can. Can't knock them for that.

Vampire Weekend








After Vampire Weekend, I attempted Beck but was rejected for not having a secondary special photo pass, which pretty much made me give a big middle finger and skip his performance. I guess with Beck I'm a fairweather fan. I only own/like Sea Change, and the last time I saw him at RIMAC I was bored to bits, so I wandered.

I did make one more stop at The Casbah stage for Antibalas who played furiously and had a great political message to their music, not to mention being the only band I danced to all night.

Antibalas


And that was the end of our Street Scene adventure. I caught a ride with Dagart and Jake and we hit the Chee Chee for a while after the show, then went to the Ken. It was a punk night there and it was packed and I ran into a bunch of friends there, so afterward a couple of them came over thinking we'd have a full on after party, but everyone else bailed I guess. Still we had a good time catching up and I finally crashed out around 4 am. Entirely not enough sleep for Saturday's festivities, but such is my life sometimes. I'll post a Day Two recap soon.

Foals, Maps + Atlases, Crocodiles - Brick By Brick- 5.25.08

It ended up being a really chill weekend for me. I spent most of Saturday in Chula Vista with my family. We grilled and tried to keep up with the kids...Johanna is 9 months and trying to walk, Claudia is 9 and constantly entertains, and Jasmyne is 5 and responds to "what are you doing?" with a little sass. "Nunya!" "What's nunya?" "None ya business!", then she cracks up. I was there all day and when I got home I was wiped out. It was 9:30 and I thought I'd rest a little, but an hour later, I realized there was nowhere I'd rather be than in my bed. And it was nice. My first Saturday home in ages.



Sunday was more of the same, only we went to my sister's house in PB. I really get bothered when people talk incessantly about the weather and we cracked up because here we were in PB where it was blue skies and sunny, with a cool breeze, and the news crawl said that "dismal" weather had "ruined" Memorial Day weekend. What a bunch of pussies San Diegans can be. Wear a hoodie and stfu. Seriously. May Gray. Get over it. We went up to Kate Sessions Park for a while, too, to let the kids run around, and it was beautiful. The park was packed and we realized that since the beach booze ban, people have taken it to the parks, where it is legal to drink until 8pm (most city parks). A bunch of 20 somethings were playing kickball while a huge gathering celebrated a kid's birthday party. The view from Kate Sessions was beautiful, we could see the mountains out east, the ocean out west, the downtown skyline to the south and even further south, Mexico.



I left PB well in time to arrive at the Casbah for the FM 94/9 end of the month show. I saw some friends, had a michelada, and had some of the free Mexican grub. I caught Jamuel Saxon who opened the show, but had to split because I was told Crocodiles were starting at 9pm at Brick By Brick. I was a little bummed when I got there that they weren't actually going on until 9:30 but no big deal.

I don't know what everyone's deal is with Brick By Brick...maybe I still just have a soft spot from when a friend and I used to hang out there in college, but I've always liked it, although there were some years under different ownership where all the shows were hard rock...so there's that reputation, but really, I like the venue.

Crocodiles started the show and it was their first real San Diego show, though they played a house party on Friday. It's just Chuck and Brandon, iPod beats, some guitar, and a keyboard that was set up atop a trash can. They played in near darkness, with just a red and teal light on the floor behind them so I decided to not bust out my camera. Next time, boys... I think these guys are immensely talented and they've got such great stage presence, can't wait to see them with some actual lights on them.

I was pleased when I arrived to discover that Maps + Atlases was playing. I fell in love with the band when they played the Casbah a while back with Nurses, before Nurses bailed San Diego to move to Chicago to be with Maps + Atlases. The band is incredible, as much to listen to as to watch because of their unconventional ways of playing their instruments and the funky time signatures. I was bummed that Brick By Brick has 7 great stage lights and only used 3 of them...one green and two red, but here are a couple of pics regardless.




I was happy to see the venue filling up because I've heard of some disappointing shows there of late. Foals came out rockin and never stopped. They play fast dancey music, a la The Rapture, and I have to agree with Seth that they're guitar style is also a bit mathy. Regardless of how they're labeled, I was enthralled.








I was also impressed because one of the guitarist was shoeless on one foot and kept hopping around...whether sprained or broken, his energy never wavered and he danced all over the stage. My guess is that his foot probably felt like shit the next day.

I hung up front as long as I could but I was overwhelmed by the saucy girls, particularly the one who kept trying to have a conversation with the band between each song. "Um, excuse me. Wait, I just wanna tell you something. You guys are AWESOME!" Oh, then she tried to bust a move on Seth. Ha! So we ended up listening to the last few songs of the set on the patio.

When the band finished, I made my way back to the Casbah for Jivewire and people were shitfaced. Some nights I can't take it, but this night was just fine and everyone was cracking me up.

Tim was on the turntables...


I also found out it was Mikey's last night at the Casbah. So sad, but he's off to bigger and better things, heading off to Paris to follow his heart. So sweet and best of luck to him.


After Jivewire a bunch of friends came back to my house and we had a good time getting ridiculous until the wee hours of the morning. Wait, 7 am isn't really wee hours anymore, is it? Eventually most everyone went home until it was just a handful of us and we all ended up crashing in my bed, which suddenly wasn't as roomy.

Later Monday I thought I'd head to a couple BBQs but the sad realization that the weekend was over bummed me out and I thought I should get a clear head and avoid social drinking situations. I did head to the Casbah last night, however, so I'll get to posting those pics soon enough. Now, time to do this week's listings.