Nine Inch Nails & Deerhunter @ The Forum - 9/6/08

It had been over 10 years since I set foot inside the Great Western...er, I mean LA Forum. I think the last occasion was either a Knicks-Lakers game or a Pearl Jam concert. Either way, it was 1998, Vlade Divac was the starting center for the Lakers, and nobody knew what the hell the Staples Center was back then. Fast-forward to last Saturday and I found myself (along with my brother) inside witnessing one of the most visually stunning concerts I had ever seen.

After a wonderful opening set by Deerhunter (man, I love that band), the real show began. The material was a great mix of new stuff (most of The Slip and Year Zero was played, along with a couple of selections from Ghosts I-IV) and crowd favorites ("Terrible Lie", "March of the Pigs", "Closer", etc.), with no over-reliance on aggressive material, which (thankfully) kept the crowd from getting too rowdy.

The true star of the show had to be the stage setup. The tour is dubbed "Lights in the Sky", which is an apt title since LED lights and video walls are used to display digital animations and engulf the band in color. Screens lowered from the rafters and rose behind the band, while at times rows of lights moved to create the illusion that the stage was moving.

Another highlight was during a brief set of instrumental songs from Ghosts I-VI a semi-transparent video curtain lowered in front of band and displayed animated images of rain, while the video wall behind them and above displayed images of a dark desolate forest. One of my favorite uses of the screens came during "The Hand That Feeds" where a giant photo of President Bush that served as a backdrop to the stage slowly morphed into a photo of John McCain. Of course, this was met raucus cheers from the LA crowd (myself included).

When it was over there wasn't anything I could find at fault about the entire show. Aside from the laughably disorganized LA Forum security staff, the show itself was flawless. If any of you have the chance to check out Nine Inch Nails when they return to North America, I highly recommend doing so.

Setlist:
1. 999,999
2. 1,000,000
3. Letting You
4. March of the Pigs
5. Head Down
6. The Frail
7. Closer (The Only Time)
8. Gave Up
9. The Warning
10. Vessel
11. 5 Ghosts I
12. 17 Ghosts II*
13. 19 Ghosts III*
14. Ghosts Piggy
15. The Greater Good

16. Pinion
17. Wish
18. Terrible Lie
19. Survivalism
20. The Big Comedown
21. 31 Ghosts IV
22. Only
23. The Hand That Feeds
24. Head Like A Hole

25. Echoplex
26. Reptile
27. God Given
28. Hurt
29. In This Twilight
>>>Continue reading "Nine Inch Nails & Deerhunter @ The Forum - 9/6/08"

Coachella Music Festival - Day Two

Friday was a good warm-up for the more anticipated moments of the festival. While on the first day I spent most of my time in the the Gobi, Mojave and Saraha tents, Saturday was all about positioning myself in a prime spot for the Kraftwerk-Portishead-Prince trifecta that was to close out the main stage.

Now, in order to convey my experiences of the day accurately it is important to understand one important thing. Each band I saw fell into one of three categories: those who rocked it, those who sucked, and Prince. Yes, Mr. Nelson's performance was so special that it deserved its own special category. If you were there, then you know such hyperbole is totally within reason. If you weren't, then there's some nice videos at the end of this post to give you an idea.

The day got off to a wonderful start with a high energy set from Carbon/Silicon. Mick Jones was the center of everyone's attention as he posed and paraded around the stage with his trademark guitar punk style and gabbed with the crowd in his incomprehensible cockney accent. I was borderline giddy seeing one of my musical heroes (the dude was in THE ONLY BAND THAT MATTERED people!) in the flesh, and even more excited when they closed their performance with a cover of "Police and Theives." Since Mick and the boys refuse to cover Clash songs, covers of songs the Clash covered are good enough for me.

Next up was perennial Coachella favorite Cafe Tacuba. I have seen these guys at least 10 times previously, but I am always game to watch them again. And with Coachella always drawing a significant Latino following, their crowd was sure to be full of enthusiasm. The band played many favorites like "Chica Banda", "Chilanga Banda" and "La Ingrata" while also integrating some material off their newest album Sino. The crowd went wild as they waved flags, danced around, "heckled" the band (a playful show of respect) and sang every word. What surprised me the most was seeing a decent amount of gringos who knew all the words. Thank you very much, KCRW.

From there it was off to the Sahara tent to see nerd dance superstars Hot Chip. While they certainly blew away the crowd with their beats and electronic gizmos, the crowd was so damn big that I could only hang out way in the back. No matter, as there was plenty of entertaining people dancing on the grass to keep me interested (see the picture of the dancing scarf guy).

Afterwards it was time to make my move to the main stage. I knew Kraftwerk would have a sizable, but not enormous, crowd so making my way straight to the front wasn't a problem. I had one goal and it was to get up close photos of German robots, followed by some great shots of Portishead and Prince.

Kraftwerk played a wonderful set, which isn't hard for them since 99% of everything they do on stage is pre-programmed anyway. Nonetheless, the crowd was treated to a history lesson of the origins of modern dance and early hip hop in the form "Trans-Europe Express," "The Model," "Computer Love" and many more favorites. As is to be expected, ze Germans treated us with wonderful video screen visuals and even an appearance by real German robots. As many people who know me can attest, I have a soft spot for robots.

After Kraftwerk's dazzling set, the second most anticipated moment of the weekend was finally here, the first US performance by Portishead in over 10 years. Playing half old material and half selections from their new album Third, the Bristol trio seemed very comfortable on stage and sounded exactly as good as I hoped they would. Beth Gibbons showered us with her amazing voice, all the while looking as if she would cry at any moment(yes, she is every bit as sad in person as her lyrics suggest). Geoff Barrow worked on the Mini Moog, drum machines and turntables like the mad scientist we all think he is; and Adrian Utley strummed away on his guitar creating a lethal combo of understated melodies and metallic noise. The performance proved to me that Portishead deserves every bit of praise that critics bestow upon them.

Speaking of deserving high praise, the Main Event of the Coachella Music Festival came about 50 minutes after Portishead exited the stage in the form of Prince. To say this man is talented performer is and understatement. The man is Sly Stone, James Brown and Jimi Hendrix all rolled into one.

From the large cast of characters that joined him on stage (including Morris Day, Sheila E, a full brass section and backup singers), to the theatrical guitar solos and the epic song medleys, every second of Prince's performance was a spectacle. On top of that, he managed to play well past the festival's curfew (he ended at 1AM, curfew is midnight) and even covered Radiohead's "Creep" and the Beatles' "Come Together." Also, did I mention he played "Purple Rain"? PURPLE FREAKING RAIN!

In the end, after everyones' faces had melted from the memorable performance, it seemed like the consensus was that the night Prince played Coachella was among the seminal moments of the festival's history. For me, it ranks as the best I had ever seen (and I've never missed a Coachella), just ahead of the legendary Daft Punk and Pixies performances.

Kraftwerk "The Robots" - Coachella 2008 from Ivan Juarez-Mrazek on Vimeo.



Portishead "Glory Box" - Coachella 2008 from Ivan Juarez-Mrazek on Vimeo.



Prince covers "Creep" - Coachella 2008 from Ivan Juarez-Mrazek on Vimeo.



Prince "Purple Rain" guitar solo - Coachella 2008 from Ivan Juarez-Mrazek on Vimeo.
>>>Continue reading "Coachella Music Festival - Day Two"

Photo Essay - The National @ Wiltern Theatre 9/28/07

I guess because it is so rare nowadays, but it's always nice to see a band gain fame and notoriety who actually deserves it. Thanks in large part to the critical success of their superb latest album Boxer, New York five piece band The National has enjoyed a higher profile recently than in years past. Last Friday I got to see them live for the first time as they returned to Los Angeles to play a sold out show at the Wiltern Theatre and I definitely saw why this band is so special.


A bonus treat for me was getting to see opener St. Vincent perform. While she had to make due with out the assistance of a band, she ended up adapting her material off her excellent debut album Marry Me for a solo performance by programming backing tracks on an MPC and making liberal use of her effects pedals. The result was a choppy, but enjoyable set that was just enough to make me want to see more (especially when she comes into town headlining her own bill with a full band).


I don't know the violin dude's name, but he was all over the place. He spent time on the keyboards, melodica and shredding up the stage with his intense violin playing. He may look like Harry Anderson, but his stage theatrics were pretty fun to watch.


Another good part of the show was lead singer Matt Berninger's vocal delivery. He really looks as though he is putting every ounce of effort into his singing and it seems like the rest of the band feeds off of that.


During the encore St. Vincent was brought on stage to provide backup vocals and also to get serenaded by the crowd with a rendition of Happy Birthday. They even brought out a cake with candles and everything. I thought it was a worthy end to the night since the band's performance was itself worthy of a celebration.

Another group shot


More feverish violin jamming.
>>>Continue reading "Photo Essay - The National @ Wiltern Theatre 9/28/07"

Rock the Bells Festival @ Hyundai Pavillion, San Bernardino 08/11/2007 - Photo Essay

Like my last photo essay, this one is also being posted a little late (I really need to make sure this doesn't start to become a habit), but better late than never, right?

Anyhow, many of you may be wondering why in God's name anyone would willing drive out to San Bernadino in the middle of August to spend the entire day outdoors at a music festival. Well, when the festival in question carries one of the best lineups of Hip Hop artists ever assembled (not to mention recently reunited Rage Against the Machine) you best suck it up, buy your tickets and figure out a way to deal with the heat later. So it was that me and my brother made the trek to the Hyundai Pavillion to see the latest incarnation of the Rock the Bells Festival.
























As you can see, the lineup on the main stage was pretty damn impressive. Oddly enough, the organizers didn't bother to hand out schedules to festivalgoers as they walked in, so many of us walked up to this booth near the interest and did our best to take photos of the lineup that were sitting in a binder at the information booth. Not exactly the most organized festival I've ever been to (more on that in a moment).

Pharoahe Monch

After slowly crawling into the venue amidst the traffic and paying $30 for parking (!!!), we just barely made it inside the venue in time to watch Pharoahe Monch take the stage. He played a blistering set full of songs from his excellent new album Desire, along with old favorites from Internal Affairs, including a certain crowd favorite that instructs the audience to "get the fuck up!" Pharoahe Monch was definitely one of the highlights of the entire day.

Next up was Eric and Parrish Making Dollars, better known as EPMD, striking b-boy poses and bringing the classic old school jams like it was 1989. For people like myself and my brother Damian, who grew up watching the Yo! MTV Raps Countdown, EPMD was a real kick in the pants. Eric Sermon and Parrish Smith didn't skip a beat as they churned out classics like "Crossover," "You're a Customer" and "You Gots to Chill." Unfortunately, most of the crowd looked lost as most of them were either too young to appreciate how great of a group EPMD was/is or just ignorant about Hip Hop because they were mostly there to see Rage Against the Machine (a reoccurring them throughout the day).

The crowd really started to swell (along with the heat) right before Talib Kweli's set.

Best throwback jersey I saw all day. By the way, I think this guy looks pretty close to how fat the real Patrick Ewing is looking these days.

OK, I know this picture sucks, but it was the only remotely decent shot I got of Public Enemy all day from my distant vantage point. Surprisingly, Chuck D and Flavor Flav (along with their accompanying band) showed no signs of middle age as their set included the same energy and power of seeing PE back in their prime. 20 years after their debut, Public Enemy still can hold their own on the same stage as rappers nearly half their age.

On the second stage there was plenty of great music to be seen. Perhaps the best act of the day was Metalfingers himself, MF Doom. After showing up late to his set (he wasn't the only one), Doom blasted through fan favorites from his MF Doom, Victor Vaughn and Madvillain personas at a frenetic pace. I was loving every minute of it.

Of course, since we were in the Inland Empire and 75% of the people in attendance seemed to be die-hard Rage Against the Machine fans, it was only a matter of time before the apes started getting rowdy. About halfway through the Wu Tang Clan's awesome set (I was too far to get any good pictures), some dumbass decided it would be cool to light some trash on fire, which prompted other monkeys to follow suit. At one point I counted eight simultaneous trash fires on the lawn and it didn't seem like the event staff had any plans to put them out. . .that is, because event staff was nowhere to be seen. Eventually more idots joined in on the fun (seriously, what is so entertaining about fire?) and started throwing plastic bottles into the flames, which filled the air with that horrible melting plastic stench. Once Wu Tang finished up, Damian and I decided to bail because we couldn't take the fumes anymore. It was a shame, since we were both looking forward to seeing Rage perform, but at least we beat the traffic. Morons in the crowd aside, most of the day was fun and we definitely got our money's worth.

More pictures:

Living Legends

Amateur breakdancers

Graffiti wall

the Coup

>>>Continue reading "Rock the Bells Festival @ Hyundai Pavillion, San Bernardino 08/11/2007 - Photo Essay"

The Rapture @ The Mayan Theatre, Los Angeles 07/25/2007 - Photo Essay

This may be a little late, but this is the last show I went to before I started this blog and if you were there you would agree the statute of limitations on how long you can wait before you blog about a concert is still safely in the distance. With that said. . .

The Rapture took a break from supporting Daft Punk and took over headlining duties on consecutive nights at the Mayan Theatre in Downtown L.A. Having already purchased tickets for the second show in advance, I had the pleasure of winning tickets to the first night, courtesy of my friends at LAist. Never the one to turn down free tickets to anything, I jumped at the chance to see them on back-to-back nights. For some reason, cameras weren't allowed inside on Thursday, so all of these photos were taken Wednesday night from my close vantage point, which was miles better than the night after.One thing that always stands out to me every time I see these guys is how they become better showmen with each performance. Luke Jenner keeps adding to his rock bravado by engaging the crowd with poses and gesticulations that only people with a guitar in their hands can pull off.

Another highlight (as always) was Gabriel Andruzzi and his feverish brand of multi-instrumentation. It seemed like he never tires of dancing while playing the sax, keyboards and cowbell.

Speaking of the cowbell, this devoted fan decided there was only one prescription for his fever. Seriously, he started whacking on that thing and marching through the crowd with about 10 people following him.

More Luke Jenner theatrics...


I left this show (number six and counting) with the same thought I always have, which was The Rapture get better each and every time I see them. Already can't wait for number seven! >>>Continue reading "The Rapture @ The Mayan Theatre, Los Angeles 07/25/2007 - Photo Essay"