Recommended Shows in San Diego March 25-31, 2013

Jeff Mangum by Will Deitz

The last week of March offers many quality shows in San Diego. A closer look reveals some worth attending.

On Monday Erika Wennerstrom brings blues indie rockers Heartless Bastards to the Casbah.

Spreckels Theatre is the place to be on Tuesday when Jeff Mangum (Neutral Milk Hotel) plays solo in front of his adoring fans.

Two Portland bands, And And And plus The We Shared Milk take over the intimate Tin Can on Wednesday.

This Thursday Sister Sparrow and The Dirty Birds swoop into The Griffin with their brand of soul rock.

Caveman headline the Casbah on Friday playing songs from their eponymous new record. Pure Bathing Culture opens for what promises to be a great show.

The Airborne Toxic Event begin a two night run at the House of Blues on Saturday. A few tickets remain for Sunday's show. Foxygen returns for a sold out show at Soda Bar on Saturday. Post punk rockers Iceage (Denmark) make their San Diego debut on Sunday at the Casbah.

A great week of music lies ahead for those willing to support the artists playing in America's finest city.

Watch a video of Timeless by The Airborne Toxic Event below.

Wednesday Night: Casbah presents The Head and the Heart, Blitzen Trapper, and Bryan John Appleby at Spreckels Theatre

I am exploding with happiness for a whole lot of reasons lately, but at this moment specifically, it's because I am so looking forward to tonight. The Casbah is presenting an incredible lineup with The Head and The Heart, Blitzen Trapper, and Bryan John Appleby. I have seen the co-headliners many times, but earlier this summer had the chance to see both of them in the same week. Jeff and I traveled to Santa Ana to see The Head and the Heart at the Observatory and two days later, we drove to the desert to see Blitzen Trapper at Pappy and Harriet's. Believe me, individually the bands warrant the $30 ticket price, but getting to see them together, along with Bryan John Appleby, at the beautiful Spreckels Theatre will certainly make for a great night. There are still plenty of tickets available and you can avoid most of the service charges by buying directly from the box office.

For the show tonight, doors are at 7pm with the first act starting promptly at 7:30. I'll tweet exact set times when I get them, but I'd suggest getting downtown early because there's a ton of construction on and around Broadway so parking might be a little challenging. This is an all-ages show, so bring the kiddos for some real music.

Update: Just got the settimes- Bryan John Appleby 7:30-8:05; Blitzen Trapper 8:20-9:05; The Head and The Heart 9:35-10:50.

These are my video playlists from those early-summer shows.

Casbah Shows This Week: October 1-7, 2012

There are a ton of great shows at the Casbah and presented by the Casbah this week and I know this is a walk-up town and nobody likes to commit to anything by buying tickets in advance, but as far as I can tell, none of these are sold out just yet, so start navigating your week and get your fill of amazing talent (run-on sentences be damned). As always, you can check out the Casbah site here.  I know it is a little challenging to navigate (you have to check the featured, "simple", "extended", and "outside shows" separetely, but we're really close to being done with the new site which will have an easier interface as well as a mobile version. Fingers crossed we'll be ready to launch this month.

Shows at the Casbah:

• Monday, 10/1: The Jezabels & Yukon Blonde ($16) TICKETS
• Tuesday, 10/2: Wolf Gang, The Royal Concept, Frank and Derol ($10) TICKETS
• Wednesday, 10/3: Blood Red Shoes, Hills Like Elephants, Baby Buffalo ($10 adv/$12 day of) TICKETS
• Thursday, 10/4: Wallpaper, Midi Matilda ($10) TICKETS
• Friday, 10/5: The Burning of Rome (CD Release Party), The Long and Short of It, Black Hondo, Operation Mindblow Lightshow ($10) TICKETS
• Saturday, 10/6: Rochelle Rochelle, The Makeup Sex, The Beautiful View, The Palace Ballroom ($8 adv/$10 day of) TICKETS
• Sunday, 10/7: JEFF the Brotherhood, Diarrhea Planet, Roxy Jones ($10 adv/$12 day of) TICKETS

Show Outside the Casbah: 

• Wednesday, 10/3: The Head and the Heart, Blitzen Trapper, and Bryan John Appleby @ Spreckels ($30, ALL AGES, Doors at 7pm) TICKETS
• Thursday, 10/4: Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, Dam Funk @ the Irenic ($18 adv/$20 day of, ALL AGES, Doors at 7pm) TICKETS
• Friday, 10/5:  Stepdad, Rich Aucoin, The Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt @ Soda Bar ($10, ALL AGES) TICKETS
• Saturday, 10/6: The Helio Sequence, Slowdance @ the Irenic ($15, ALL AGES, Doors at 7pm) TICKETS
• Saturday, 10/6: Dr. Dog, Cotton Jones @ 4th & B ($22.50, 21+, Doors at 8pm) TICKETS
• Sunday, 10/7: Dry The River, Houndmouth, Michael McGraw and the Butchers @ Soda Bar ($10, ALL AGES) TICKETS

Just to be clear, for shows at the Casbah, doors are at 8:30 and are 21+. Generally the first band goes on at 9 (when there are 3 or more bands) or 9:30 (for bills with just two bands), with headliners onstage by 11 (or 11:30 on weekends).

For the shows at the Irenic, doors are at 7 and tend to be over by 10pm. Beer & wine is available for purchase for those 21+ with ID.  Spreckels is about the same. Soda Bar has a schedule similar to the Casbah, with headliners on around 11. 4th and B is a little bit earlier, with doors at 8 and the opener on by 9pm. With a 30-45 minute set, you can expect Dr. Dog to hit the stage around 9:45 or 10pm.

Patton Oswalt Live In San Diego To Kick Off Comic-Con, Tickets Onsale Today at 10am

I am trying to catch up with email and I really wanted to post about this earlier this week, but never had the chance. I love Patton Oswalt and seeing comedy shows at Spreckels is actually better than seeing a concert there, in my opinion. Full press release is after the jump.

Patton Oswalt
SPRECKELS THEATRE – SAN DIEGO, CA
Thursday, July 12, 2012
On Sale Friday, May 11th at 10 AM
Ticketmaster Link

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.

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.

Fleet Foxes to Release Tickets To Spreckels, May 6

Fleet Foxes return to San Diego on May 6 at Spreckels Theatre. The entire tour sold out at lightning speed, including their date here, however, I just got a call that 15 seats will be released tomorrow at noon. These are the stage wings/opera boxes at Spreckels, so they are obstructed views (your line of vision might only allow you to see about 70% of the stage or so.) The cool thing is these are private boxes, so you don't have to sit smooshed elbow to elbow with anyone.

The tickets are only available at the Spreckels Box Office at noon, so if you thought you'd missed your chance to see the show, well, I guess I know where you'll be sleeping tonight.

Fleet Foxes - Grown Ocean from Fleet Foxes on Vimeo.

The Casbah Brings Fleet Foxes Back To San Diego

I generally don't project out about upcoming shows, however, since The Decemberists are long sold out for their show next week at the House of Blues (credit to "The Colbert Bump" on that one), I'll give you fair warning for another Casbah Presents show in the indie-rock bible.

Fleet Foxes are returning to San Diego on May 6 and tickets are going on sale this Friday at noon through Ticketmaster and the Spreckels box office. Save this link and get those fingers ready.

A word of advice, if you're not already registered with Ticketmaster, you should head over to the site and create a login and save a credit card to your account. You'll find this speeds up your transaction immensely. I'm sure somewhere out there, presales are available if you know where to look (today at 10 am pst, specifically).

Grab a free download from the Sub Pop band, and grab your tickets. I can't imagine a more perfect room to see the Foxes.

Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues by subpop

Really Old Photos: The National & Ramona Falls

In my last blog post of really old photos, I posted about the House of Blues Anniversary Show. I had avoided writing about it for so long because I hate being negative but I had to be honest and it was really bugging me that I hadn't posted those photos after having the privilege of getting a photo pass.

In this case, I haven't posted about The National because I'm insecure. When I'm sharing the photo pit with Andrew and Natalie, believe me, I know I have no business being there, but while I'm not a photographer, I love taking pictures, so below is the best of what I've got with my limited skills and tools.

As far as the show went, I was captivated from beginning to end. I thought Ramona Falls was a perfect opening act and would love to see them again. I spent the majority of the time trying to take photos of the drummer who was not only awesome on the kit but more than that was really charismatic and attempted to engage the audience between songs. I couldn't get a decent photo of him because I was trying to avoid the death trap of stairs that were in the photo pit, but there are a couple after the jump.


The National do it for me every single time. My regular seats were 12th row on the right side (Thanks again, Jeff), but after taking photos for the first three songs, I spied some empty seats in center that were probably the bands holds and comps, so we moved over to get a little closer to the action. It also meant we got to be closer to some of my friends who were there. I love seeing shows at Spreckels. I know it can be awkward with the whole should-we-sit-or-should-we-stand dilemma, but the sound is fantastic and I love the lighting, how it changes from black and white shadows to deep hues of red, purple, blue, or turquoise, all fitting the mood of each song. Chris (SoundDiego/Owl & Bear) wrote a review of the show and suggested that Matt might've been a little preturbed by the crowd, but I totally missed the exchanges he was talking about. Then again, Chris was sitting in the 3rd row, so he was privy to more than me.


I loved the show, but The National are the kind of band that can do no wrong with me. Even the part where Matt poured wine all over the stage and everyone wondered if he was being funny or being a dick. So far they've always made a point to stop in San Diego and I hope that never changes. I've got more photos if you 'keep on reading'.

Eddie Vedder Solo Tour; Playing Spreckels April 15

Eddie Vedder will be doing a solo tour down the West Coast in April.
The venues are small and the tickets are not cheap. The base price is $65 plus venue and ticket fees.
Tickets for Ten Club members go onsale tomorrow.
Regular tickets go onsale on Friday via Ticketbastard at 10 am pst.
The Ten Club is going to great lengths to avoid brokers by limiting the amount of tickets available per person (2) and preventing the transfer of tickets while also making tickets available only through will call the day of each show.

Liam Finn opens these shows.

EDDIE VEDDER SOLO TOUR
Apr-02 The Centre, Vancouver, BC
Apr-05 Civic Auditorium, Santa Cruz, CA
Apr-07 Zellerbach Theatre, Berkeley, CA
Apr-10 Arlington Theatre, Santa Barbara, CA
Apr-12 Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
Apr-13 Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
Apr-15 Spreckels Theater, San Diego, CA

Ryan Adams, Spreckels Theatre, 1/19/08

After a lazy Saturday- a late lunch/early dinner with my sister, brother in law and my niece at Ponce's, some cleaning and just hanging around and I was finally ready to head downtown for the Ryan Adams show. I was trying hard not to get too excited about the show. The last show I caught at the House of Blues left a lot to be desired for me, so this time around I didn't know what to expect. I was happy when I got into the venue to discover Andrea was able to find tickets at the show in the row directly in front of me, so I sat with her.



Ryan was already onstage, tooling around by himself. Or rather, "JJ Bouillabaise" was onstage tooling around, playing some songs on piano, then doing an impromptu song about San Diego. It was clear he was in a good mood and was going to be quite entertaining. He played briefly, then the houselights came up for about 20 minutes before the actual show started.

From the first note to the last note, Ryan did not disappoint. The band sounded beautiful, as most bands do in Spreckels. The cacti onstage were a little cheesy but allowed for some pretty lighting throughout the night. He jumped around between guitars and his piano, but my favorite songs of the night were the ones he played without any instruments because it was during those songs he was really able to bust out his amazing voice. I took notes for the setlist, so here's the best I got:

Please Do Not Let Me Go
Off Broadway
Mockingbirdsong
Rescue Blues
This House Is Not For Sale
Elizabeth, You Were Born To Play That Part
Everybody Knows
Stars Go Blue
? (this is when security was buggings us about our seats, even though we were in the right place)
Goodnight Rose
The Sun Also Sets

intermission

A Kiss Before I Go
The End
(song performed by guitarist on lead vox)
Halloweenhead
Easy Plateau
Bartering Line
Beautiful, Sorta
Cold Roses
Wildflower
Peaceful Valley

After the show, a bunch of people were waiting for setlists or whatever, but I just jumped over the little barrier and got the attention of a stage hand and asked him for the list. He was pulling it up for me when he got scolded by an older dude to not ever give anything away from the stage. Boo.

Didn't matter, though, because it was a beautiful show and I felt all giddy the whole time. With Ryan, you never know what you're gonna get. When he's off, even just a little, the shows can be really disappointing. But in this case, when Ryan is on, he is sooo on, and I certainly feel like I was lucky to be there.

After the intermission, the row in front of us was empty, so I took the opportunity for some shaky/poorly lit recording. Andrea didn't know I was recording so you can hear her a little but it's still a pretty good representation of the show.

A Kiss Before I Go, Ryan Adams & The Cardinals














I also uploaded some sound files from the show from my nifty digital recorder. I recently bought it so I wasn't sure how well the sound would come out, and it picked up talking and stuff, but here were some of my favorite songs of the night:





This version of "Cold Roses" actually got a standing ovation and it wasn't even the last song of the night.

(press release) Annie Lennox to Tour, Hitting Spreckels in San Diego

(straight from the press release)

In support of her upcoming album, Songs Of Mass Destruction (out 10/2 on Arista Records), Annie Lennox has announced the "Annie Lennox Sings" North American tour dates for this fall. This will be only the 3rd tour of her solo career and will show Annie performing in smaller venues to give fans a more intimate and special experience. All current show info is listed below, with additional dates and details to follow.

Also check out the brand new media player, featuring a selection of audio tracks, the "Dark Road" video as well as news updates and pre-order links!

Annie Lennox Media Player

October
8 San Diego, CA - Civic Theatre
10 San Francisco, CA - Nob Hill Masonic Auditorium
11 Los Angeles, CA - Wilshire Theater
14 Dallas, TX - McFarlin Memorial Auditorium
16 Boulder, CO - Macky Auditorium
18 Minneapolis, MN - State Theater
19 Chicago, IL - Cadillac Palace
22 Detroit, MI - Music Hall
23 Toronto, ONT - Massey Hall
25 Washington, DC - Lisner Auditorium
28 Nashville, TN - The Ryman
29 Atlanta, GA - Cobb Energy PAC
31 Miami, FL - Carnival Center

November
3 New York, NY - United Palace
6 New York, NY - UNICEF Benefit at Cipriani Wall Street [series subscribers only]
10 Philadelphia, PA - Merriam Theater
11 Boston, MA - Symphony Hall

Decemberists Tickets

In all the craziness of the weekend, I missed the pre-sale for the Decemberists. If anyone bought an extra 2 day pass, please let me know. I'm a fun concert partner, I promise.

Decemberists @ Spreckels December 1st & 2nd

The post is so long and Amanda already posted, but here's the link to the important info.

Avenue Q: Get Your Half Priced Tickets

I wish I posted this when more tickets were available, but alas, if you have not done so already from my past urging, you should really sign up for GoldStar Events. They have lots of discounted activities in San Diego, regularly having discounted Padres games, discounted GoCar tours, and this week, discounted theatre tickets.

The Tony Award winning Avenue Q is playing at Spreckels from June 30th to August 5th. What more can you ask for than a puppet show with wildly inappropriate sexual content? Sesame Street for grown-ups. Anyway, I got seats in the terrace for 12 bucks! If you were gonna see it, you might as well get the discount. Dates and seats are limited so get on it.

Arcade Fire @ Spreckels 4/26/07

Words are not enough. Arcade Fire gave an amazing performance to a sold out crowd at Spreckels, and despite the fact that I know there were a lot of out of towners around, it didn't spoil our fun.

I skipped the Mute Math in-store, deciding that AF was all the music I wanted and needed for a day. Or a week. Or forever. I arrived at Spreckels, found myself princess parking, and headed into the venue. I bumped into some friends and we decided it was beer o'clock and went to Horton Sports Bar (?). More people joined us and somehow 7 became 8 and 8 became 8:45 and we had completely missed Cass McCombs. Instead we went to the venue, arriving just as the house lights went dark and the yells and cheering filled the venue. I passed off my camera to Nick Montes, a friend of mine with waaay better seats than me, and went up to my balcony.

We found our seats (which actually weren't bad) and got lost in the show. That venue is amazing and while not a church, has that quality that only old theatres and churches have. As the band went into Wake Up (4th song?) we realized the crazies dancing on the side of our balcony were friends, so we bailed our seats and stood there for the majority of the show.


photo by Nick Montes

After an hour and a good sampling of both Funeral and Neon Bible, I was sure the show was winding down and was trying to get my camera back but Nick was ignoring his phone song after song. We watched from the balcony as 4 awesome people jumped the barricade to dance and two guys jumped on stage. We watched the barricaded area fill up with tons of people and Win jumping into the crowd. We watched tons of people flood toward the front of the stage. I wanted my camera. So I raced down to the floor, made my way to my friends, got my camera, and watched the rest of the show from the floor.


photo by Nick Montes

Part of the awesome part of the whole show was that it was a Tim Mays/Casbah event, so all the guys from the Casbah were the main security...so Porter walking through the crowd saying "clear the aisle" was more for going through the motions than to actually evacuate those of us down there without the right tickets. The ushers were nowhere to be found, so that was cool, too.


photo by Nick Montes

There's just something about the whole show that was kinda overwhelming. That many people singing along, on their feet most of the show, clapping along, everything. Alex of Swim Party said the show was a religious experience and probably broke up a lot of bands who feel they couldn't live up to the example set. The bar was set high for sure.


photo by Nick Montes

Win got a little mad about some feedback, but I didn't really notice. 9 people onstage with 8000 instruments and amps and mics, I can't imagine there not being some feedback at times. I had hoped that the band would encore in the foyer as they had in London and NY, but instead they gave us a double encore. The night ended with Neon Bible, as pages of a bible were rhythmically torn out one by one. The whole night was simply amazing.

There was no making it to the Rapture as the show ended closer to 11. And really, how could that have even compared? Instead a whole slew of friends headed to Dobsons for late night cocktails as we recapped the night. I feel lucky to have gotten tickets, I feel lucky to have witnessed such an amazing show, I feel lucky to have been surrounded by so many friends, and I especially feel lucky to have been backstage during the soundcheck earlier in the day. Now that it's gone, I need to find something new to look forward to.

ARCADE FIRE TONIGHT!!

I cannot wait. I just got to go into Spreckels from backstage and got to watch and listen to Wake Up and The Well and The Lighthouse during soundcheck. Fucking A-MA-ZING. I almost busted out my camera but that would be cheating and would've gotten me tossed in two seconds flat, so I left Andrea's ticket at will call, hung out in the back with Porter and Pyles for a few. I am a total dork but jesus was that awesome. The sound in there is gonna be killer. I'm shaking like those women in the old Elvis concert videos.

Also, if you're going to the show, I understand that cameras will be allowed, but no flash after the third song. See you tonight!!!

Arcade Fire: San Diego, April 26, Spreckels

UPDATE!!! From The Casbah site: Thurs Apr 26, The Arcade Fire and guests @ Spreckels Theatre 7pm All Ages Tickets on sale Sat Feb 24 at noon at all Ticketmaster outlets, Spreckels box office, and ticketmaster.com



Arcade Fire have announced tour dates and San Diego is the first stop on April 26. I just walked over to Spreckels and there is as yet, no onsale date. "The show isn't even confirmed," says the guy behind the counter.

If I'm not within the first 6 rows I will be sad. If I don't get tickets I will mug someone. Seriously.

If there is no band opening, might I suggest San Diego locals, Swim Party? They'd be a perfect fit.

Cool video, bad sound.