June 24, 2013: The Rolling Stones

Concert Details:

Bands: The Rolling Stones

Location: Verizon Center, Washington, DC

1. Get Off of My Cloud
2. It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (But I Like It)
3. Paint it Black
4. Gimme Shelter
5. Worried About You
6. Street Fighting Man
7. Emotional Rescue
8. Doom and Gloom
9. One More Shot
10. Honky Tonk Woman
11. You Got the Silver
12. Before They Make Me Run
13. Midnight Rambler
14. Miss You
15. Start Me Up
16. Tumbling Dice
17. Brown Sugar
18. Sympathy for the Devil

Encore:

   19. You Can't Always Get What You Want

   20. Jumpin' Jack Flash

   21. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction

I've always been much more of a fan of The Rolling Stones fan than a fan of The Beatles, although I've never thought they were that comparable of artists, as The Rolling Stones are much heavier, louder, more bluesy band than The Beatles.  Well that's exactly what they delivered heavy, loud, and bluesy.  They also delivered energy and beautiful.  While Keith Richards did not appear to have the energy of a younger man, although that may just be his more laid back style, it would not be difficult to mistake Mick Jagger for a man in his 30's.  Constructed as part of the stage was a tongue pit, with a walk way that worked its way around the crowd which resulted in Mick Jagger doing a considerable amount of running around and at no point did his singing suffer from it.  This is the concert I have paid the most for, in fact twice more than I have paid for any other show and it was worth every dollar spent, including the money I spent on my t-shirt.

They started off strong with crowd pleasing songs such as Get Off of My Cloud and moved through their stories catalogue seeming to me as if they were having maybe even more fun than we were.  They injected energy into their show early, which was impressive as the energy of the room was already very high, when they dropped into Gimme Shelter early,  personal favorite and I would imagine a favorite of many in the crowd.  An impressive group of backup singers providing the second level of singing needed for the song, at times dwarfing Mick Jagger as the song requires but together they were wonderful.

The middle of the show was strong, with the band moving cutting a swath through their large catalogue before closing out their main set with Sympathy for the Devil leaving the audience satisfied, exhausted but ready for more.  They delivered strongly with a guest chorus opened You Can't Always Get What You Want which is the perfect song for a reintroduction of the band back to the stage.  They followed that up to close out the show with strong, albeit predictable, well known songs.  Afterwards my first reaction was thinking that there was some song I was missing but looking over the set list later there was not much more that could have been asked for, and on the songs I wanted the most they really delivered.

Unlike most bands, I don't know if I'd see them again, but that's because of cost not performance, because they blew away all expectations I had of a band who was going through a 50th Anniversary tour and put on a show that I would have expected of most other bands at the peak of their career.

2013 In Review

I know I'm not caught up on my reviews but I need to put together my best of lists for the year.  So here we go.


Top 5 Pavilion Shows: 13 Total

1. The Postal Service - Merriweather Post Pavilion
2. Andrew McMahon - Merriweather Post Pavilion 
3. Of Monsters and Men - Merriweather Post Pavilion
4. Grace Potter and the Nocturnals - Wolftrap 
5. Fun. - Merriweather Post Pavilion

This includes shows at Wolftrap, Merriweather, and Jiffy Lube Live.  For some of these venues I had pit tickets or seated tickets and for some of them I had lawn seats, but the top 5 below there is a mix of pit tickets and seated tickets.  The Postal Service was one of the best shows I went to this year, and the best show I've ever seen at a Pavilion, it exceeded every expectation I had for the show.  Andrew McMahon comes in at second and perhaps would have been higher but as he was a middle opener, he had a smaller setlist and as an outdoor show it did not compare to the intimacy of his 930 Club show, but it was a very important show because it taught me the value of getting to the venue early and getting to the front of the crowd against the rail.  Of Monsters and Men was my birthday show and quite a fun show at that.  They are a band that is arising out of the popularity of bands such as The Lumineers and Mumford and Sons but I think they have many more dimensions to their music and style that both of the aformentioned bands do not possess.  Grace Potter and the Nocturnals put on quite the amazing show at Wolftrap, but when compared to a club show at Ram's Head Live it was not as good, but still quite the amazing event.  Fun. is a young band who, unlike other young bands I have seen, was quite ready to handle a venue as big as Merriweather and had the skill and energy to carry a show while keeping the crowd entirely engrossed, even through a cold downpour on the lawn.

Theater shows include shows at Lincoln Theatre, Beacon Theatre, and Birchmere (except flex stage)

Top 5 Theater Shows: 6 Total

1. Sara Bareilles - Lincoln Theatre
2. Travis - Lincoln Theatre
3. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Beacon Theatre 
4. Matt Nathanson - Lincoln Theatre
5. Hugh Laurie - Birchmere 

What can be said about Sara Bareilles.  In any other year she would have been the best show I had seen with any one of her three shows and while this was the least of the three for me, it still blew me away.  In actuality, perhaps the only reason this was the weakest of the three shows is the intimacy of the 930 Club show or the energy of standing against the front rail I experienced at Not So Silent Christmas.  Travis is a band that I had to choose between that show and another show I attended, and the decision in retrospect was without question the best right one.  I have been listening to them for nearly ten years and this show was everything I wanted out of them with even more.  Tom Petty is still an unbelievably talented performer and still performs fantastically and this show was part of a special set of five that was designed for b-sides, rarities and covers and we were delivered a setlist of which anyTom Petty fan would be truly envious.  Matt Nathanson is another artist that I have listened to on the periphery for years but recently started listening to more, and this show made me very glad that I did.  I went to the Hugh Laurie show for the fact that it was Hugh Laurie and ended up seeing a show that was twenty-five percent self-deprcication comedy and seventy-five percent fantastic New Orleans style blues.

Stadium and arena shows include The Patriot Center, Verizon Center, 1st Mariner Arena, Nationals Stadium, and RFK Stadium Lot, DAR Constitution Hall

Top 5 Arena or Stadium Shows: 10 Total

1. Paramore - The Patriot Center
2. Nine Inch Nails - Verizon Center
3. Sigur Rós - The Patriot Center 
4. The Rolling Stones - Verizon Center
5. Pearl Jam - 1st Mariner Arena

My only real regret out of the Paramore show is that I only went to one Paramore show this year, it included more from a show than I even thought Paramore could deliver including a song that I had somehow missed by Paramore that is incidentally my favorite by them now.  For Nine Inch Nails, I was in the pit, and it was the most aggressive pit I've ever been, which although I should have been expecting surprised me a little bit and took me out of the show a bit while I adjusted.  Overall it was a great show although my expectations were so high that it was a little bit of a letdown at times, but the inclusion of The Day the World Went Away was something I had quite hoped would happen.  Sigur Rós was a show I only went to at the last minute because of the additional release of floor tickets.  I know now that to miss any Sigur Rós show would be a tragedy.  They put on the most unique and mesmerizingly beautiful concert I have ever been to and expect will ever attend.  The Rolling Stones are a band that could very easily command any size crowd in any place and who at least to me felt like they had never lost a step, although that could have just been because of the excitability of Mick Jagger and his singing.  Pearl Jam is a band that I have wanted to see for a very long time, if nothings else because one of my closest friends, Jeremy Clarke, has sung their live praises for so long that I would have had to see what he was talking about even if I wasn't a fan.  He was right and I was not disappointed.  In fact, I would go as far to say as that I received more from the show than I was expecting and even felt the intimacy of a club show during certain points that you would almost never expect out of multi-thousand person arena.


Club shows include 930 Club, Ram's Head Live, The National, Fillmore Silver Spring, Birchmere Flex Stage, Sixth and I.

Top 10 Club Shows: 30 Total

1. Taking Back Sunday - Ram's Head Live
2. Bloc Party - Ram's Head Live
3. 30 Second to Mars - The National
4. Not So Silent Christmas - Fillmore Silver Spring
5. Andrew McMahon - 930 Club
6. The Naked and Famous - 930 Club
7. Grace Potter and the Nocturnals - Ram's Head Live
8. Sara Bareilles - 930 Club
9. Coheed and Cambria - 930 Club 
10. Twenty One Pilots - The National 

This list was the hardest to compile as many of these artists I have seen multiple times and most I saw multiple times this year.  The top two are interchangeable and the two main reasons that Taking Back Sunday gets the lead there is that they are my favorite live band who I've seen six times now, and as recent as last november, and have a bigger effect on me than most other bands and I was also against the front rail which increases the intensity of a show.  Bloc Party put on what is easily in the top five concerts I have ever attended and surprised me even after they put on what might be my favorite concert of my life less than six months previous.  A lot of what blew me away about the 30 Seconds to Mars show was it was the 30 Seconds to Mars show that I have always expected.  Last time I saw them the sound quality was not as good and it was a non-seated show where we had seats so the crowd wasn't smashed together which didn't provide the right environment for them, but this show was everything I ever wanted.  Not So Silent Christmas was composed of four artists, Plain White T's, Gavin Degraw, Matt Nathanson and Sara Bareilles, and while it was not my favorite Sara Bareilles show of the year, the combination of being against the front rail and the combined performances of all the artists made this quite the awesome show.  This Andrew McMahon show reinvigorated my love for the man as a musician and a person and made me regretful of every show, and there have been some, of him in every form that I have skipped since I saw Something Corporate in 2004.  The Naked and Famous was nothing short of wonderful and had I not had a Sara Bareilles show I would have seen them two nights in a row, the show met my expectations, which for a band as young as they are is not an easy feat.  Grace Potter started the show strong with a cover, which was pandering to the city it was in so a smart choice, and for a band to do that is risky and it paid off, she's able to use her bluesy rock voice to very easily slide between her own music and some great choices of covers to put on a exciting show and I worry she may have outgrown club size venues which makes me quite sad.  This was by and far the best Sara Bareilles show I attended and made me go from enjoying her music to falling in love with her as an artist, but due to the addition of other artists, the longer Not So Silent Christmas show was an overall better show.  This was the Coheed show that I have always been waiting for, while the previous two shows I went to were good, they were each lacking one small thing and this show was not lacking anything at all.  Twenty One Pilots was perhaps my biggest discovery in music at a concert this year and had it not been for scheduling conflicts there may have been two other Twenty One Pilots shows vying for a spot on this list.

Small venues include Jammin' Java, Ram's Head on State, The Hamilton, Ram's Head Center Stage. 

Top 5 Small Venue Shows: 8 Total

1. Joseph Arthur - Jammin' Java
2. Wakey!Wakey! - Jammin' Java
3. Rhett Miller - The Hamilton
4. Joseph Arthur - Ram's Head On Stage
5. Rhett Miller - Jammin' Java

Best production is best stage show including lights, and overall show beyond the music itself.

Best Production:

1. Sigur Rós - The Patriot Center
2. Nine Inch Nails - Verizon Center
3. How to Destroy Angels - Fillmore Silver Spring
4. Muse - Verizon Center
5. The Rolling Stones - Verizon Center

Best solo acts is performers who at least for the majority of their performance were on stage alone with no backing band.

Best Solo Acts:

1. Sara Bareilles - 930 Club
2. Rhett Miller - The Hamilton
3. Wakey!Wakey! - Jammin' Java
4. Rhett Miller - Jammin' Java
5. Rebecca Perl - The Hamilton (2nd Show)

Guest Singers Songs are the best songs sang by main acts featuring either other performers form their show or outside of the shows.

Best Guest Singer Songs:

1. OAR with Andrew McMahon and Allen Stone - Born to Run (Bruce Springsteen cover)
2. Wakey!Wakey! with Suzanna Choffel - Irresistible
3. Marc Roberge (OAR) with Andrew McMahon - Over and Over
4. Rhett Miller with Black Prairie - Wreck of the Old '97 (Johnny Cash Cover)
5. Nancy and Beth featuring Nick Offerman - Smell Yo Dick

Top Ten Cover Songs:

1. Grace Potter and the Nocturnals (First Time) - White Rabbits (Jefferson Airplane)
2. Sara Bareilles - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (Elton John)
3. Bloc Party - We Found Love excerpt (Rihanna)
4. Grace Potter and the Nocturnals - Seven Nation Army (The White Stripes)
5. Rhett Miller with Black Prairie - Wreck of the Old '97 (Johnny Cash)
6. 30 Seconds to Mars - Bad Romance excerpt (Lady Gaga)
7. Pearl Jam - Keep on Rockin' in the Free World (Neil Young)
8. 30 Seconds to Mars - Stay (Rihanna)
9. Grace Potter and the Nocturnals - Paint it Black (The Rolling Stones)
10. Glen Hansard - Smile (Pearl Jam)

Biggest Letdowns:

1. She & Him - Wolftrap
2. Alkaline Trio - Ram's Head Live
3. Dropkick Murphy's 930 Club

Top Ten Shows: 69 Total

1. Taking Back Sunday - Ram's Head Live
2. Bloc Party - Ram's Head Live
3. 30 Seconds to Mars - The National
4. Paramore - The Patriot Center
5. The Postal Service - Merriweather Post Pavilion
6. Not So Silent Christmas - Fillmore Silver Spring
7. Andrew McMahon - 930 Club
8. The Naked and Famous - 930 Club
9. Sara Bareilles - 930 Club
10. Grace Potter and the Nocturnals - Ram's Head Live

Best Artist Discovered at a Concert: Twenty One Pilots
Best Opener: Lucy Rose
Band Most Want to see Again: Paramore

Second Best Overall Venue for the Year: 930 Club
Best Overall Venue for the Year: Ram's Head Live
Person I attended the most concerts with: David Nelson, 20

Top Performer of the Year: Sara Bareilles

The Top Ten Unseeen Goal for 2014

First, here is my list of top unseen bands to see in 2013 from last year.

1. M83
2. 30 Seconds to Mars
3. Cary Brothers
4. Imagine Dragons
5. Queen of the Stone Age
6. The 69 Eyes
7. Florence and the Machine
8. The Naked & Famous
9. Jimmy Eat World
10. Muse

Of those ten I saw 30 Seconds to Mars (twice), Queens of the Stone Age, The Naked & Famous, Jimmy Eat World and Muse.  Why Nine Inch Nails did not make it on to that list I do not know.  Of the remaining bands, except Imagine Dragons all of the remaining bands have made the next list, this time I have also left off any band I already have tickets to see, otherwise Band of Horses would be on this list.

1. M83
2. Cary Brothers
3. The 69 Eyes
4. Florence and the Machine
5. Neil Young
6. The Cure
7. Bruce Springsteen
8. The Who
9. Ingrid Michaelson
10. Slipknot

June 18, 2013: The Postal Service

Concert Details:

Bands: The Postal Service, Ra Ra Riot
Location: Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD

1. The District Sleeps Alone Tonight
2. We Will Become Silhouettes
3. Sleeping In
4. Turn Around
5. Nothing Better
6. Recycled Air
7. Be Still My Heart
8. Clark Gable
9. Our Secret (Beat Happening Cover)
10. This Place is a Prison
11. There's Never Enough Time
12. A Tattered Line of String
13. Such Great Heights
14. Natural Anthem

Encore:

   15. (This Is) The Dream of Evan and Chan (Dntel cover)

   16. Brand New Colony 

This was the type of show that someone might wait a long time for, and for more than one reason.  The Postal Service is best described as an indie rock supergroup featuring the melding of the voices of Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley and Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie.  Having release only one new song since their reunion after eight years, it was pretty clear the songs that we were to expect from the show, but that did not make it any less wonderful.

For a band with only one album, The Postal Service has a large amount of amazing songs.  They started the show very strong with The District Sleeps Alone Tonight a song which is about DC and was a perfect song to open with in a crowd mostly full of people from DC suburbs.  One of the things that make The Postal Service album so strong is the dueling voices of Lewis and Gibbard.

The dueling voices is best utilized during Nothing Better, which was played 5th in the show where the story a couple fights.  It starts out with the guy pining for their relationship and complaining that the woman has abandoned him for someone else using some rather unique analogy to describe his loss and stating that the best thing he can imagine is being together forever.

It is at this point that Lewis joins in and goes on to explain why their relationship has to end, although he is reluctant.  The two play the part well and at various points stand across from each other swaying back and forth while each playing guitar in their own version of a tango, battling lyrically with each other to make their point heard.  It is this type of singing that makes their show wonderful and the songs ends with but ultimately he loses out and she says goodbye.

 The show continued strongly with each member taking the lead at various points.  At various points, each of them moved over the drum kit to play a small part while the other was singing.  Throughout the show both Lewis and Gibbard were very energetic almost as if they had taken a lot of caffeine prior and needed to excise it, for most of the show it appeared as if Gibbard was running in place on stage.

As the show continued the crowd ate up every single song thrown at them and peaked during the most popular of the remaining songs Such Great Heights where the energy of Gibbard and Lewis was perhaps even exceeded by that of the crowd.

For a year filled with wonderful shows at Merriweather this show was leagues above the rest and at that point in the year was the best big venue show I had attended.

A show like this makes one want to see either performer in any fashion, whether it be in their other bands, solo or hopefully, one day again as The Postal Service.

June 17, 2013: Alice Cooper, Marilyn Manson, and Gwar

Concert Details:

Bands: Alice Cooper, Marilyn Manson, Gwar
Location: Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD

Alice Cooper

1. Hello Hooray (Judy Collins cover)
2. House of Fire
3. No More Mr. Nice Guy
4. Billion Dollar Babies
5. I'll Bite Your Face Off
6. Is it My Body
7. Under My Wheels
8. Hey Stoopid
9. Poison
10. Dirty Diamonds
11. Welcome to My Nightmare
12. Go to Hell
13. Feed My Frankenstein
14. Ballad of Dwight Fry
15. Killer
16. I Love the Dead
17. School's Out (with Pink Floyd Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2 Excerpt)

Encore:

   18. I'm Eighteen (with Marilyn Manson)

Marilyn Manson:

  1. Angel With the Scabbed Wings
  2. Disposable Teens
  3. No Reflection
  4. The Dope Show (Happiness is a Warm Gun intro)
  5. Rock is Dead
  6. Coma White
  7. Personal Jesus (Depeche Mode)
  8. Prelude (The Family Trip)
  9. mOBSCENE
  10. Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) (Eurythmics Cover)
  11. This is the New Shit
  12. Antichrist Superstar
  13. The Beautiful People

This was quite the interesting lineup and on the outlook looked like the perfect marrying of three bands who use theatrics to enhance their show.  What we ended up with was a band that uses theatrics as their show, and wonderfully, an artist who used theatrics to carry his show, and an artist who perfectly married theatrics with his music to appear still at the top of his game over 40 years into his career.

Gwar is the band from outer space who appear as aliens who have come to rock us and fight their enemies.  They wear extensive prosthetics, stay in character throughout the entire show, and spew blood and other bodily fluids in the form of what I would imagine is corn syrup all over the audience.  They are not a musically driven band, and that's fine because they aren't trying to be.  Throughout the show they fought with various things on stage and used a sword and buzz saw in decapitation.  Overall they put on a supremely fun show although I'm not entirely sure if I'd see them again, but with a big group I might go see them dressed in a full white outfit and stand in the very front of the audience.

I was expecting a lot out of Marilyn Manson and was sorely disappointed.  I know that he is known for his theatrics but he is also known for his music, the two should go hand in hand.  The theatrics for his show were rather entertaining, but unfortunately, the music itself was not good and to me at least, it felt like he had been phoning it in.  One of my companions described it best as Marilyn Manson being in his "Fat Elvis" stage.  Upon immediate completion of the show it didn't seems as bad as I thought, but in the light of what his show could have been when comparing it to that of Alice Cooper's, it really did feel off.  There were good parts to his show, but overall I was disappointed.

Alice Cooper's performance was a polar opposite of Marilyn Manson.  I went into his show expecting and knowing virtually nothing about him and not knowing a large amount of his music, but I found myself rather blown away by the performance.  The shows was full of theatrics: he was put into a straight jacket and escaped in an attempt to murder a nurse, was guillotined and then came back, randomly carried around a snake and many other antics I cannot even remember at this point.  But the stark contrast between his show and the one before his was that the theatrics of the show enhanced the overall show instead of carrying it. One of my personal favorite moments of the show was towards the end when band introduction were performed, as he got to the end he stood towards the front of the stage and as he finished off the crowd and with a fervor on his face stated almost devilishly "And tonight, playing the part of Alice Cooper, me!".  It was quite a beautiful moment.  The encore was quite wonderful as well, and perhaps the best moment from either Marilyn Manson or Alice Cooper when they joined together on stage to close out the show with Cooper's  I'm Eighteen.  

Overall I would say it was quite a successful show but I do wish Marilyn Manson had been more enjoyable for me, but I'd definitely consider seeing Alice Cooper again. 

June 16, 2013: Glen Hansard

Concert Details:

Bands: Glen Hansard, Doug Paisley
Location: 9:30 Club, Washington, DC

1. Falling Slowly (The Swell Season)
2. You Will Become
3. Maybe Not Tonight
4. Talking with the Wolves
5. Love Don't Leave Me Waiting (with covers of Respect and Please Please Please)
6. Low Rising (The Swell Season)
7. Banana Man
8. When Your Mind's Made Up (The Swell Season)
9. Bird of Sorrow
10. Leave (The Swell Season)
11. Broken Hearted Hoover Fixed Sucker Guy (The Swell Season)
12. In These Arms (The Swell Season)
13. High Hope
14. Your Heart's Not in It Babe (The Frames)
15. Way Back When
16. Smile (Pearl Jam Cover with tease of Hey Hey My My cover of Neil Young)
17. Fitzcarraldo (The Frames)
18. Song of Good Hope
19. This Gift

Encore:

   20. Say It to Me Now

   21. Gold (Interference Cover)

   22. Enter Sandman (Metallica cover intro)

   23. Her Mercy

   24. Don't Do It (Marvin Gaye cover)

   25. Drive All Night (Bruce Springsteen Cover)

Glen Hansard.  I'm not even 100% sure how to describe Glen Hansard as a singer and as a performer in general.  A little background on Hansard, he along with his partner Markéta Irglová acted in and sang in the movie Once, for which they won an Oscar for best original song for Falling Slowly.

It was a two hour forty-five minute set that started with Falling Slowly under the premise that his voice had been iffy as of late and he would need to do a harder to sing song first.  It didn't sound like there was any problem with his voice and the crowd helped him along.  Something about how the crowd was there for him seemed to carry him through the whole set.  For a man who started the shows with an questionable voice and said that he might only be able play four songs, Glen Hansard put on one of the best single man performances I've ever seen and in any other concert year he might easily be placed in a top ten list of shows.

He moved through the set with an easy grace from song to song and appeared to be almost making it up as he went along, throwing in songs from his own reasonably large catalogue as well as covers of Pearl Jam, Marvin Gaye, Bruce Springsteen and even a tease of the opening of Enter Sandman by Metallica. Towards the end of the show it seemed as he if he didn't want the show to end and might have kept playing for hours but eventually he ended, after a long encore where he seemed to struggle to find new things to excite a crowd to an even higher level than he had, which would be a difficult task for even the best of performers.  To say the least, Glen Hansard was born to sing, and can run between genres with such ease that you would think they were his specialty.

Next time he is around, you can be sure that I will be at his show, standing in the very front row hanging on to his every word, he is just that good.