See You At The Show: Nine Inch Nails, Hollywood Palladium, September 2, 2009 & NIN Cancel Tonight's Show at Music Box @Henry Fonda Theater

NINE INCH NAILS CANCELS MUSIC BOX AT HENRY FONDA THEATER TODAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2009

First of all, did I ever get lucky. I have the worst news for all you NIN fans chomping at the bit to see their last L.A. shows before Trent Reznor says hello to marriage and a long hiatus...Nine Inch Nails has cancelled tonight's show at the Music Box @Henry Fonda Theatre in Hollywood, CA due to Trent being ill with influenza. Here's what's posted on the front page of nin.com:

"We're very sorry to announce that Trent is ill, and on his doctor's orders we will not be able to perform tonight's show at the Henry Fonda Theater. This is the only information we have at this time, we're posting this early announcement as a convenience for those of you who had plans to attend. Reimbursement details will be posted as soon as we figure them out; likely within the next 24 hours. We wish this wasn't necessary and we're very sorry for the inconvenience. Thank you for your understanding."

Bummer. Trent did mention at yesterday's incendiary Palladium show that he was feeling poorly and apologized to us for the condition of his voice (which I thought sounded great in spite of), remarking that it sounded like "the inside of an AM radio" to him. Poor, poor Trent.

For more on this depressing matter, check out the LA Times music blog.



NINE INCH NAILS, HOLLYWOOD PALLADIUM, SEPTEMBER 2, 2009

As far as yesterday's show at the Hollywood Palladium -the first in the L.A. series of NIN "Wave Goodbye" tour shows- well, it was bloody hot, for starters, as evidenced by the above photo of Trent courtesy of the LA Times. In the smaller atmosphere of the Palladium (compared to the ginormous ampitheatre and arena venues like the Verizon Wireless Ampitheater and The Forum, at which I had previously seen Nine Inch Nails in the past couple of years), NIN glowed and burned like a fire that caused us all to sweat bullets. It was a pretty magnificent night for black-clad industrial and rock music fans.

Nine Inch Nails' 1995 tour supporting The Downward Spiral was my first concert ever. Nassau Coliseum out on Long Island. I was fifteen, and though I was stuck in the nosebleed section, it was and remains one of the best shows I have ever seen. Dripping wet and ecstatic yesterday, seeing Trent the right way, up close and personal, brought me back to that initial fervor I felt for the band as a teenager.

Oddly enough, yesterday's show was all about that seminal album. It really should have been called "The Downward Spiral Tour," because with the album played impeccably and in its entirety (even including ambient moments like "A Warm Place"), it was the highlight that every true NIN fan has been hanging in there for. Trent and his band played LOUD and with metallic gusto, but also with incredible nuance and delicacy on songs like "Hurt" and especially "Lights In The Sky," from 2008 album The Slip, a song that I can't say I had ever really appreciated until now.

All this plus some old-school jams ("Head Like A Hole," "Terrible Lie," "Burn," "Suck") and the surprise guest, '80's electronic music stalwart Gary Numan (who rocked out his songs "Metal" and '80's Karaoke Night jam "Cars" in his black eye makeup, blacker hair and pale skin, looking like some kind of cool goth man-insect), NIN's funeral was instead a kind of celebration of a bygone era of angry, darkwave electronic music.

Don't take my word for it, though...LA Times can hook you up with another perspective.

Here are some live videos from the "Wave Goodbye" and "NIN/JA" tours, starting off with a couple from yesterday's Hollywood Palladium show...we can only hope that Trent isn't serious about the "goodbye" part; maybe just "until later":

See You At The Show: Tindersticks at The Music Box at the Henry Fonda Theater, Los Angeles, CA - Friday, March 13

TINDERSTICKS - THE MUSIC BOX AT FONDA, HOLLYWOOD, CA - MARCH 13, 2009

English band The Tindersticks is one of my all-time favorite bands from the 90's and I actually felt really privileged to catch them in Hollywood at the Music Box last night. If you aren't familiar with this unique band and their compelling brand of 60's style, baroque orchestral rock, you're in for a musical treat.

Another one of my 90's favorites, the classy band Spain (fronted by Josh Haden, son of jazz legend, bassist Charlie Haden), opened up for the Tindersticks, which I did not know about beforehand and was quite pleased to learn upon getting to the venue. Their 1995 debut album, "The Blue Moods of Spain" is one of my favorite records period, which I will explain further in an upcoming I Can't Believe You Don't Own This F%#kin' Record post, I promise.

I have to be honest and admit that the reason that I was even at this show is not just because I love The Tindersticks, but because I am still in love with their second self-titled album after fourteen years. Sure, I admire the rest of their output, but this album, which brought this band its first measure of mainstream attention in the United States, especially with the single "Travelling Light," a duet with Seattle band The Walkabouts' Carla Torgerson, brought me to my knees nearly every time I listened to it with its mixture of lead singer Stuart Staples's black velvet baritone voice (it's like Bowie, Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen and Peter Murphy of Bauhaus had a wonderful child that they trained in the art of the troubadour), literate lyrics, and lush string arrangements.

Staples's voice is just as velvety live as it is on record, and the band pulled out gems from that album, including "Sleepy Song," "She's Gone," and the pièce de résistance, "My Sister," a mostly spoken-word track that I never thought would be reproduced sufficiently live that was pulled off impeccably by the band. It's just too bad that the band was plagued by technical problems, causing them to abort one song prematurely. Plus, the venue put down seats in what would normally be a standing-room-only space, upsetting the overdressed drunk rock types that were there (a lot of ascots and faux-Boateng skinny suits), including one particularly pickled fellow who danced up the main aisle toward the band right into the arms of security, prompting a fairly noisy and rough tussle by the back bar area once he resisted a forced exit, and cognitive dissonance in the band and fans alike. Good times.

Please enjoy some videos from their 2008 album, "The Hungry Saw" and their 1995 album, "Tindersticks":



Tindersticks - "Hungry Saw" (2008 Acoustic Performance filmed at Stuart Staples's home studio in Limoges, France)



Tindersticks - "The Flicker of a Little Girl" (Live January 2008 - De-Laaste Show)



Tindersticks - "Travelling Light" from their 1995 album, "Tindersticks"

I used to pump up that jam so loud back in the day that the neighbors used to complain to my parents. I am a geek.

See You At The Show: Gin Blossoms at The House of Blues, West Hollywood, CA - February 19, 2009

GIN BLOSSOMS - HOUSE OF BLUES, HOLLYWOOD, CA - THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2009

It is a testament to the enduring appeal of the Gin Blossoms' brand of perfect pop music that I dragged my road-worn bum out to the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip last night to catch what was an immensely satisfying show. Believe me, after having spent three action-packed days in Vegas and driving the majority of the trip home to L.A., I was ready to pack it in, but I knew I would regret missing one of my very favorite bands from the 90's.


It should be no surprise to those that remember the Gin Blossoms soaring popularity on radio, television and film in the 90's that the band's set relied heavily on their 1992 sophomore album "New Miserable Experience" that brought them to mainstream attention with their Top 40 hit single, "Hey Jealousy."

"Hey Jealousy" was a highlight, along with "Found Out About You," and "Allison Road," which singer Robin Wilson endearingly encouraged the crowd to turn into rapturous singalongs. In fact, Robin was an interesting character to me, seeming to be a 180-degree difference from his sweetly vulnerable long-haired 90's presence to a vaguely cynical, wryly sarcastic fellow dressed in black Mad Max leather jacket and fingerless gloves. After mentioning that the band is signed to a new label (429 Records with the Savoy Jazz Group) and will release a new record this year, they played a lovely new song which I imagine will be named "Miss Disarray" (don't quote me), he joked, "Yeah, that one's going to be big in Japan. Maybe even Indonesia." This predicament is the whole reason that I do Damn The Man...to remind American 90's kids and their offspring that these bands are still out there making wonderful music that deserves to be heard.

The above description of frontman Robin Wilson, btw, is a good thing; Robin has an appealingly sympathetic stage presence that makes you feel as if he is directly communicating to you at all times. He gave high fives to everyone in the front row at the end of the show, which was almost too cute.

The Gin Blossoms also tore through one of Damn The Man's theme songs, "'Til I Hear It From You," off the 1995 Empire Records soundtrack, "Follow You Down" from their 1996 album, "Congratulations...I'm Sorry," (in which Wilson accidentally took out a stage light with his harmonica as he tossed it away behind him) and "Super Girl" from their 2006 album, "Major Lodge Victory."

The band ended with a cover of a song by classic 70's and 80's L.A. pop/rock band, The Plimsouls.

Overall, a good show where the band was in fine form (especially guitarists Jesse Valenzuela and Scott Johnson) and scores of couples in the audience swayed with pleasure to their romantic balladry.

Please enjoy the demo versions of "Hey Jealousy" and "Found Out About You" from their 1989 record, "Dusted." These are great because they're much more punk rock than the popular versions:

See You At The Show: Smashing Pumpkins at the Gibson Ampitheatre, Universal City, CA - December 3, 2008

SMASHING PUMPKINS - GIBSON AMPITHEATRE, UNIVERSAL CITY, CA - WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3,2008

First off, let me just say that the above photo is no longer accurate, as D'arcy and James Iha are no longer in the band. So there's that. Then, as far as the show went...how do I say this nicely? OK, you've seen "This Is Spinal Tap," I take it? Yes. Especially the "Jazz Odyssey" part? Exactly.

This show was an audacious shambles. It was especially dispiriting considering Billy Corgan's still-apparent talent. A.) He's a lovely singer, who brought the audience to tears with his rendition of Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide" early on in the set. B.) He's a tirelessly excellent guitarist, who can and will bust out any style you want on that thing. C.) Those SONGS! The man's got songwriting chops that he flat-out refused to show us after a sprinkling of hits at the beginning. He pulled a bait-and-switch, and we're not happy about it.

Here's what he did play: He started off quite nice and strange with "Ava Adore," dressed to the Halloween hilt in a long black cossack-style robe and a pumpkin basket full of glitter to shower on the front row. He had some little kids with baskets to help him onstage as well. The whole show had a very bizarre flavor due to Corgan's eccentricities and "piss off" attitude. This is not as cool as it sounds. He also managed to eke out "1979," "Disarm," "Cherub Rock," "Landslide," and a spectacular "Zero," which is clearly one of his best songs.

That sounds great, right? Well, subtract that half-hour from almost three hours of playing and a disgruntled 90's baby you will find. Billy Corgan and his massive band (he had at least 7-8 people onstage at any given time, and it seemed to swell to almost 12 during some of the more symphonic arrangements) cycled through every prog rock band you can think of, plus a couple of other styles for good measure, with nary a Smashing Pumpkins tune in sight. It was like being at a Pink Floyd, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Genesis, Yes, ELO, Fela Kuti (yes, there was some Afrobeat in there), Bad Company, Paul Simon, and King Crimson show all at the same time. Plus, add some musical theater in there with some kind of weird arrangement of "Little Red Riding Hood" (complete with embarrassing wolf howls) and I'm reaching for my revolver.

Now, if this sounded cool, like TV On The Radio's 2006 "Return To Cookie Mountain" album, then this might be excusable. But this was nothing but out and out wankery. And it was boring. People were literally bailing out during the set, or, if they stuck around, they were yawning and falling asleep. Not cool.

Here are some videos for some Smashing Pumpkins songs that I would have liked to hear. Enjoy them instead of wasting good money in this recession on this hot tranny mess of a live show:



Smashing Pumpkins - Today (from their 1993 album, Siamese Dream)



Smashing Pumpkins - Siva (from their 1991 album, Gish)



Smashing Pumpkins - Drown (Live at Chicago Metro, 1992 - from the 1992 Singles soundtrack)



Smashing Pumpkins - Glynis (live; from the 1993 compilation record, No Alternative)



Smashing Pumpkins - Blue (from their 1994 B-sides compilation, Pisces Iscariot)



Smashing Pumpkins - Stand Inside Your Love (from their 2000 album, Machina/The Machines of God)

I hate to go off like this, but I felt he really did a disservice to his fans last night. Billy Corgan went off on how, the last he checked, he wasn't anybody's bitch, and even berated a guy for asking the band to play "1979" again. Some gullible, corny older rock guy standing behind me and my fiance was like, "Well, you can't tell an artist what to do." No, you certainly can't, but it is also the responsibility of the artist to stay in tune with his audience and show them respect, since they slapped their hard-earned money down for a ticket and all. I just found the show and Billy Corgan rather inauthentic, barring fleeting moments of genius. That is all.

See You At The Show: The Breeders at the Wiltern, Los Angeles, CA - November 17, 2008

THE BREEDERS - THE WILTERN, LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 17, 2008

First things first: Kim and Kelley Deal are twins, and they're cute. Like rilly, RILLY cute. When I looked up some of the Breeders' videos on YouTube, someone left a comment saying that he never realized how incredibly attracted he was to Kim Deal, and how she kind of became a template for what he thought was hot in a girl. Not a bad template when these ladies are funny, smart and can totally rock out.

They played nearly every great song in their catalog, heavy on 1993's "Last Splash" album, including "Cannonball" right up front, the third or fourth song of the set. Kim's gained a little weight, so she looks like someone's really MILF-y lookin' Midwestern mommy rocking on her guitar while the kids are at practice. And if you wanted to remember what she looked like in the 90's, you just looked over at Kelley, who still looks pretty much the same. It was pretty funny.

What also hasn't changed is the dynamic of the band: the men and tangential woman (Jose Medeles on drums, Mando Lopez on bass, and Cheryl Lyndsey on the excellent third guitar attack) hold down the fort, while the Deal twins beguile with their lovely girly-woman voices, persistent sibling rivalry-flavored banter, and guitar (and a one-time violin) un-skills. In fact, I love that Kim is still, ostensibly, the talented one, while Kelley is kind of along for the ride and only knows how to play their songs on whatever her instrument might be, like the violin she bravely plucked on for "Driving on 9," one of my faves from Last Splash. "Divine Hammer" was sublime; it almost made me cry for my lost Nineties youth. What was really incredible was the kind of aural power that the band still holds, the loud-soft-loud-soft technique kind of proving why it was so in vogue in the 90's. It's really effective, and seeing The Breeders made me wish I had the chance to see every band I loved back then.

"Cannonball" was performed perfectly, including the "AAA-UURRGGHHH!!!" megaphone call at the beginning of the song, and the only thing left would have been to have the video cheesily playing along in the background. But this was not that kind of show. In fact, Kim Deal asked at one point if there was anyone in the hall that was NOT a personal friend of theirs, since it seems like there were an awful lot of people on the guest list...not exactly a comeback tour, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

They also played their "classy" cover of The Beatles' "Happiness is a Warm Gun," (Kim: "We know a Beatles song, so we're classy...") which mesmerized, especially with Kelley on the lead vocal intoning "happiness is a warm gun," over and over in that awesome pretty/creepy baby voice, and "Iris," off of the 1993 compilation, "No Alternative," which I was really psyched to see them play, since I nearly broke the cassette tape of that comp back in the day (a post will be forthcoming on that). Overall, a wonderfully 90's evening it was for all of us.



The Breeders - Cannonball (1993)

They performed this song too. I love this song and video. Why are music video directors (not to mention the bands) so boring these days?



The Breeders - Saints (1993)

This is like a very weird incomplete clip of "Iris," but it's kind of cool because it shows Kim talking, she's really young here...this song is originally from their 1990 record "Pod," when Tanya Donnelly (of Throwing Muses and, later on, the immensely popular 90's band Belly) was still in the band. There she is, the blonde. This is fun, I've never seen it before:

See You At The Show: Cypress Hill's Haunted Hill Halloween Concert at the Wiltern, Los Angeles, CA - October 31, 2008

There are those of you who have been wanting to know what I thought of the Cypress Halloween show at the Wiltern this past Friday. Since I'm already a tad preoccupied with thoughts of the election dancing in my head, I can sum up my reaction in one image:



If this is not enough, I can say that I was duly impressed, especially since I expected something far more cartoonish and pop out of these guys. Cypress is hardcore, so let's just get that out of the way. Second, they're consummate performers. They reminded me quite a bit of Public Enemy actually, a thought affirmed once Sen Dog busted out a bit of Public Enemy (I'm sorry, I did not note which song, because I was not myself, let's just say), sounding just like Chuck D. All the members of Cypress Hill are terrific drummers as well; they routinely broke down songs on the bongos and drum set, which was highly visually and aurally entertaining.

They did every song that you expected to hear, including "Insane in the Membrane," "How I Could Just Kill a Man," "Cock The Hammer," "I Ain't Goin' Out Like That," "Hits From The Bong," and "Rock Superstar," the last of which was enhanced by the very rad audience with someone down front unfurling a flag and waving it to and fro, "Les Miserables" style. Believe me, if you've heard the song and were on a totally different planet like the entire audience was, this was very dramatic, like we were leading the troops into the battle for kush.

In fact, I shall leave you with the video of Velvet Revolver and Cypress Hill busting out "Rock Superstar," please enjoy: