Concert Critique

[Gryphon]

Last night Mynx and I went to see "Weird Al" Yankovic in concert.

 

Personally I was thrilled at the chance to go, I've been a fan for years but I'd never seen him preform live.

 

It turns out that there was a reason for that... Last night I was lucky enough to go to the first show in Al's first ever world tour! (Mynx looked it up, this is apparently the first time he's ever toured outside of the US.)

 

The concert was really great fun, I'd had a pretty horrific week and within minutes of it's start I'd gone from a very low emotional place to smiling, then laughing. The atmosphere was sensational.

 

Technically there were a few hitches, once or twice we could see Al's lips moving but we couldn't hear anything. I'm not sure if the mic that Al was using was just not set up for properly or if he just got too far away from it in his enthusiasm - and boy was he being enthusiastic - either way it was sorted out smoothly and the show went on.

 

As far as the actual content of the concert went, although I was highly entertained I was sometimes a fraction disappointed that Al often didn't do many 'complete' songs. I know from his albums that he'll often put segments of songs into a medley, I was just a little suprised that he did it to his own songs.

 

I suppose it was a good way to cover off a large range of his older material, bearing in mind that this was his first time touring outside USA, but it did mean that we sometimes got a segment of one of the old favourites instead of being treated to the full song. Don't get me wrong he did do complete songs, usually the ones that were big hits, and he did them in full costume for the song, up to and including the fat suit from the Michael Jackson parody Fat, it's just that there were some songs he's done that I love which didn't make the playlist. The flip side of that coin is that we were actually treated to yet another first. We got to see Al perform Albuquerque in concert. Now I can't vouch for this, but Wikipedia tells us that because of the length of that song (a massive 11 minutes 23 seconds) he's never played it in concert other than one time when he was actually doing a concert in Albuquerque. He played it last night as his encore, and it was incredible.

 

Overall the evening was awesome, Al's stage presence was incredible, the audience were engaged, and I somehow lost two and a half hours into thin air - and if I could sacrifice another two and a half to get Al back here I'd do it in a second. If you get a chance to see Weird Al Yankovic in concert, take it. It's certainly a night to remember.

 

 

Edit: Correction - turns out that Al did tour outside the US/Canada in 2003 for his album Poodle Hat - never mind, it's still his first time in New Zealand - hope he comes back one day.

[Wyvern]

Last night, I went and saw Glue's "3 The Hard Way" tour at the Elbo Room in San Francisco, which featured DJ MF Shalem B (with Richie Gunner and Big Pro), 75 Degrees and Silent Army as opening acts.

 

If there's one thing that people who've read through my posts in this thread should have picked up on at this point, it's that Adeem + DJ DQ + Maker = a helluva good time. Glue is one of the strongest live acts that hip hop has to offer. Having said this, their performance at the Elbo Room was definitely not their best night, mainly due to a stoic crowd, stuck up venue, and rather boring set of opening acts. These factors combined seemed to drain some of the raw energy that usually comes from Glue's set, and turned what could have been a great show into an average show.

 

Silent Army took the stage to start things off, and played one of the slower and more distorted tracks off the "Kill Bill 2" soundtrack as opening music. He didn't have a DJ with him, and instead used a Korg keyboard that already had his beats programmed in it (or maybe it was just a CD player, I'm not sure). Anyway, I'd seen him opening for P.O.S and Mac Lethal previously, and he was better this time, though not by a large margin. He had his own beats for this set, as opposed to rhyming over other people's beats, and he did have a couple of tracks with interesting production. Unfortunately, while Silent Army is pretty good at multi-syllable rapping, there isn't really any other aspect of him that stands out and he's a pretty average/boring M.C. This set didn't put me to sleep, but did have me glancing at my watch from time to time.

 

Once Silent Army finished, there was an extremely long wait and DJ set before 75 Degrees took the stage, which I'm guessing was due to some of their band members being late to the venue. 75 Degrees is a live funk band with the M.Cs Marc Strech and Rick Bond sharing microphone duties. I'd never heard of them before, but they didn't impress me much. The live funk element was technically skillful, and included a guitarist, drummer, bassist, and keyboardist, but the music they played wasn't daring or exciting in any way. Marc Strech is a good M.C and rocked his verses nicely, but Rick Bond struck me as pretty mediocre and bored me with his flow and cadence. Overall, this was another set that had me looking at my watch.

 

After 75 Degrees wrapped things up, DJ MF Shalem B came out with his buddies Richie Gunner and Big Pro as a surprise addition to the lineup. DJ MF Shalem is known for his past work with Adeem (the M.C of Glue) and Sage Francis, and is a very good producer and turntablist. Richie Gunner and Big Pro were both adequate M.Cs with decent flows and some clever lyrics, and they benefited greatly from Shalem's recent club-oriented beats. Decent set overall.

 

Finally, at around one in the morning or so, Glue came out to perform as the headliner of the evening. They kicked things off with an excellent alternative version of the track "A Lot to Say," which used a funky new beat and switched up the melody of the chorus to something more soulful and catchy. Adeem was by far the best M.C of the evening, as his technical mastery of rapidfire flows and down-to-earth personality have always made him shine on stage. He even broke out a harmonica at one point, and started seriously getting down while DJ DQ scratched along to the harmonica melodies. Speaking of DJ DQ, he once again impressed the crowds with his extremely concise solo scratch routines and duets with Adeem. Maker was also in the house, and represented on his MPC by switching up the beats at various points and challenging Adeem's flow with his variations. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like the crowd was as into it this time around, and there was a sort of undercurrent of frustration throughout their set. I was also familiar with most of their routines and wasn't quite as blown away by them for this reason, though the set still had some memorable moments, like when Adeem exorcized an evil spirit from a guy in the crowd through one of his songs. The Elbo Room tried to cut off Glue's last track by turning on all the lights in the venue since it was past closing time, but Adeem wasn't having it and completed the song regardless. A pretty good set, overall. It was Glue on one of their "off nights," but a decent show never the less.

[Wyvern]

Today, I went and saw Murs, the Attic, Rebel Diaz, Radio Active, and Jern Eye perform at People's Park in Berkeley.

 

The show lineup was actually larger than this, but the only person who I really came to see was Murs, so I figured I could arrive kinda late and catch whoever happened to still be performing before he came on. The event took place outdoors in People's Park under a blazing sun, and was free and very well-attended.

 

I arrived and made my way to the front near the end of Jern Eye's set. I was surprised that Jern Eye was placed so early in the lineup, since he's the only act I'd heard of aside from Murs and has at least one widely-distributed CD out. I'd seen him perform solid sets before with his group Lunar Heights at previous concerts, and this one seemed no different... in fact, he even had Sezwe of Lunar Height backing him up on vocals and kicking verses. Good performances from both of them, with some nice energy and well-produced beats. Might as well have been a Lunar Heights set, which is not a bad thing.

 

Radio Active came on next, son in hand, with no DJ or backing beats of any sort. He did a very brief set of acapellas as well as some fresh beatboxing, and impressed me a little more than he did the last time I saw him about a year ago. One of his young daughters also handed me a free mix CD of his stuff, which is always a nice bonus.

 

Rebel Diaz, a Chicano hip hop group who flew in from Brooklyn, were the next to take the stage. The group consisted of two guys (an emcee and a hypeman) and two gals (an emcee and a DJ), and the four of them put on a fairly good set. The highlight of the group was definitely the female rapper, who had an excellent flow and energized the crowd with every one of her verses. On the downside of things, not all of their beats were very well-made and the group seemed a little too political for its own good at times... I'm all for political tracks, but if you're going to preach to me about how the world needs to organize a political movement in every song then you better do it in an interesting and entertaining manner. Decent set overall.

 

A local Berkeley group, The Attic, was the next to perform. I'd never heard of them before, but the person who gave me the flyer to the show highly recommended that I check them out, so I was curious to see them play. The definitely put on the hypest set of the show, with a huge amount of energy and plenty of rapidfire flows in their songs. They got a bunch of folks in the crowd moving with some well-planned routines, including an excellent routine where they split the audience in half and took turns performing for each side, but their choice of beats was a bit annoying at times and there was something about their ultra-hypeness that felt a bit forced to me. Still, they performed some good tracks, including a track where the Bay area group Native Guns came out and performed alongside them. Pretty good set, definitely an act to get a crowd rowdy to.

 

Once the Attic had finished, Murs came out and topped the afternoon off by doing what Murs does best: being himself. And rapping. He was obviously weeded as hell, which is to be expected of any musician rolling down to Berkeley, but the herb had no effect on the quality of his music. He performed a number of his best tracks, and maintained his down to earth humor and casual conversations with the crowd throughout the set. One highlight was his performance of the track "Freak These Tales," where he switched the beat up twice and ended up rhyming over Snoop Dogg's "Ain't No Fun if the Homies Can't Have None." Later on, he had the DJ throw on some Coldplay and did a hilariously perfect lip-syncing job to the track. A good set, definitely the best out of the performers present at the park.

 

Overall, despite the resultant nasty sunburn, it was a very nice free show. Here's a video of Murs performing the track "Murs Day" (please excuse the poor image quality... cameras with video features and bright sunlight apparently don't mix):

[Wyvern]

Last night, I went and saw The Undisputed Truth tour featuring Brother Ali, Psalm One, Boom Bap Project, Toki Wright and BK One at Slim's in San Francisco.

 

I had heard that the Chicago show of this tour got sold out, so I decided to order tickets in advance for a change, despite the painful preorder service charge of 13 dollars for three tickets. The show in San Francisco did end up getting sold out, so I'm glad I reserved the tickets a week beforehand! My sister and one of her friends from UC Davis came down to check this show out with me, and we got to the venue in time to position ourselves in about the second row of the crowd. It was ages since I'd last been to Slim's, and it was somehow a much larger venue than I remembered it being, with a significant crowd space and a large stage. It was an all-ages event, which might partially explain why the venue got filled

 

After the usual hour of waiting, Toki Wright took the stage as the host of the evening and performed a couple of tracks as a warm up. Toki was one of the least established of the evening's acts, with no official album to his name, but he has a lot of respect in his hometown of Minneapolis and has rocked a number of guest spots on people's albums. He was probably the least impressive stage show of the evening, however, as his mic was on a bit too low and there was nothing really unique to make his performance stand out. He seems to be a skilled M.C, though, and I'm sure that his album will be good when it drops.

 

Boom Bap Project took the stage as soon as Toki Wright finished the last song of his mini-set, and they killed it with an excellent performance. Boom Bap Project is a Seattle-based group consisting of Destro Destructo and Karim a.k.a Nightclubber Lang, with DJ Wicked backing them up on turntable duties. Some folks might recall their name from my Best CDs of 2005 list, and their back-to-basics approach to hip hop worked wonders in concert. It might be the way that their beats and hooks cater to a live setting or it could be the energy they display and the way they move around the stage, but Boom Bap Project definitely put on a great set that got the crowd open. Highlights included a freestyle referencing a number of things in San Francisco and an impressive set of scratching from DJ Wicked. One of the best performances of the evening.

 

BK-One spun a very well-mixed DJ set in the time between Boom Bap Project and Psalm One's sets, with Toki Wright backing him up as a host and hypeman to get the crowds moving. BK-One mixed everything from new beats and old school hip hop tracks to classic songs by James Brown and even Jackson Five. It was a very cohesive and fluid DJ set, though naturally a large part of the crowd was impatient for the other performers to get on.

 

Psalm One was next up to perform, and she brought along her fellow Chicago rapper friend Longshot as a hypeman. I've been a fan of a lot of Psalm's recorded material for a while now and consider her one of the stronger female M.Cs working in hip hop today, but when I saw her open for People Under the Stairs last year her set didn't impress me much. She was a lot better this time around, partially because more people seemed to be appreciative of her humorous lyrics and partially because of Longshot's help. I still don't think her live set quite lives up to quality of some of her recorded stuff, but I really enjoyed it never the less. I'm a big fan of Longshot's work as well, and this is second time I've seen him in concert as a hypeman... still waiting on the day he gets on a national tour with a set of his own! Anyway, it was a very good set, with Psalm's performance of the tracks "Beat the Drum" and "Flashy Slang" standing out in particular.

 

BK-One and Toki Wright put on another brief set after Psalm finished, but most of the music was drowned out by the crowds chanting "Ali." It seems that Brother Ali has established quite a devout following for himself, and the crowds started getting super-hype when he took the stage as the evening's headliner. Brother Ali is one of the best M.Cs in hip hop at the moment, as he excels in pretty much every aspect of rapping: he has a powerful voice, an impeccable flow, excellent lyrics, and delivers all of his music with passion and sincerity. His set this evening was not quite as energetic as the previous sets I've seen from him at live shows, but was still a quality performance that had his fanbase going nuts. He performed all of his best tracks, including "Forest Whitiker," "Blah Blah Blah," "Take Me Home," "Walkin Away," and of course the sure-fire concert rocker "Star Quality." The highlight of the set was the performance of "Pedigree" in his encore, which started with the regular track and then gradually turned into an acapella that merged several excellent verses from his other tracks together. It was definitely a good show, and it's great to see that Brother Ali has such a large following now.

 

Wrapping things up, here are two videos from the show. The lighting of the venue unfortunately made for quite a lot of blur, but at least the audio came out O.K:

 

Boom Bap Project freestyle snippet:

 

Psalm One "Mountain High" snippet, over an alternative beat:

[Wyvern]

I saw a number of live shows between June 14th and June 22nd, but haven't had a chance to do any write-ups for them until now. Here's a short summary of each of them, with a couple of pics and a few videos to boot:

 

On June 14th, I went to see the Lifesavas, Strange Fruit Project, and Zeph & Azeem perform on the Urban Legends Tour at the Mezzanine in San Francisco. Out of the three shows that I attended, this one was the most rooted in traditional hip hop, and it ended up being a live set of performances. Zeph & Azeem really kicked the show off correctly with the best set of the evening, combining charismatic energy with a very well thought-out set involving plenty of interesting approaches to rapping. One moment of their set that stood out to me in particular is when Azeem relayed a story about a police officer stopping him on his way to the show and asking him for his nationality, which ended with Azeem kicking a comic accapella detailing the most outlandish nationality imaginable. Strange Fruit Project put on a nice set after Zeph & Azeem, though it took a couple of tracks for them to really get started up. They have some bonafide crowd-movers, with "Get Live" immediately coming to mind, but they saved their best tracks for last. Finally, the Lifesavas (a group comprised of Vursatyl, Jumbo the Garbageman, and Rev. Shines) put on a very solid show as the headliner of the evening, performing mostly tracks from their new album but not ignoring their older material. The best moment of their set might have been the track "L.I.F.E", where Gift of Gab of Blackalicious showed up as a special guest and performed a verse with them. Good show, highlighted by Zeph & Azeem's set.

 

Next on the list was the Human the Death Dance Tour, which featured Sage Francis, Buck 65, Alias, and Buddy Wakefield. I saw the show on June 20th at the Fillmore in San Francisco. Buddy Wakefield started things off with a set of spoken word poetry, which included an occasional beatboxer backing him up and a minute or two of soulsinging. Apparently, Mr. Wakefield has won several prestigious spoken word competitions, and he invited an older spoken word poet who had formerly been imprisoned as a member of the Black Panthers on stage to read a poem. It was a fairly interesting set, but I wouldn't call any of the poetry mindblowing. Alias came on to perform next, and though his set had its moments, it was probably the weakest of the evening... I like some of his stuff, but the set felt a little too gothic for my tastes. Fortunately, Canadian rapper hero Buck 65 fully restored my faith in the show with a fantastic performance, easily the best of the evening. I'm a fan of Buck's work, but had no idea that he had such an excellent stage show. He came out wearing a fake neck cast, and proceeded to alternate between awesome story tracks, amazing turntable work, and intriguing weirdo antics. He even threw in a slick oddball dance move or two! Definitely an act to catch live. Sage Francis came out with a live band to wrap things up as the headliner, and put on a very good set. I hadn't seen Sage live prior to this show, and he seems to have his set well-mastered. My only regret is that he only performed one Non-Prophets track, "Damage", and I was hoping for a few more tracks from that album. Still, he did manage to fit "Makeshift Patriot" into the mix, and he was quite clever in his use of props... There was a point when he tossed his shoe off and caught it on a microphone stand, only to spit on it and lick it clean to accentuate the lyrics of one of his tracks. Very good show. I think that Buck 65 put on the best set out of all three shows that I attended, and I highly recommend catching him live if you get a chance.

 

For my last show, I went to see Tortoise, Dudley Perkins and Georgia Anne Muldrow on June 22nd at the Independent in San Francisco. Unfortunately, this show was a disappointment, as Dudley Perkins and Georgia Anne Muldrow ended up having to cancel at the last minute and weren't there to perform. I'd reserved the tickets with the specific hopes of seeing them live, so it was definitely a let down to learn they weren't performing. An instrumental rock band called The Fucking Champs opened for Tortoise in their place. They were decent, but they had the volume of their instruments on way too loud... I was afraid I might blow an eardrum or something. On the plus side of things, Tortoise did put on a very good set as the main act. It's hard to describe what type of music they do, but I'd say it's kind of half jazz and half alternative rock with a bit of electronica and a lot of xylophones thrown in. They had a really strong rhythm section, with two drummers pounding away on various forms of percussion, and their guitarist Jeff Parker made all sorts of interesting sounds come out of his instrument. The lack of Fonky Dudley and Georgia Anne made this show a disappointment, but it was still sort of a nice way to close out a series of heavy concerts.

 

Anyway, here are three videos - one for the strongest act of each concert:

 

Zeph & Azeem performing a track that name references a number of rappers. Apologies for the blur, the lighting at venues can make things tricky at times:

 

Buck 65 doing a bit of turntable work, and then going into the track "Stella Q":

 

Tortoise doing their thing:

 

And finally, here's a pic of me chilling with Buck 65: http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c196/elitwack/DSC01097.jpg

[Wyvern]

As if I hadn't seen enough shows this month, I went out to catch Zion I and Pigeon John perform live at the Shattuck Downlow in Berkeley last night.

 

The doors for the show were supposed to open at 8:00 PM, but I arrived there at 9:00 and they still hadn't opened yet. That was just a prelude to the extended wait before any of the real acts performed... I have no problem with waiting for around an hour after the announced starting time for a show to commence, but a two hour DJ set from E da Boss lasting until 11 when you announced the show at 8 is kind of ridiculous. Still, E da Boss had some interesting soul mixes and the Downlow is a pretty great venue to chill at, with some very cool art and a nice atmosphere.

 

Anyway, despite the long wait, it was a very good show. Pigeon John came out and put on another of his trademark great sets, and was the best performer of the evening. This is the fourth or fifth time I've seen Pigeon John live, and I've noticed that he seems to be perfecting his fun sets with every show, as each one has felt a little more energetic than the last. While his performance this evening was not as good as the time I saw him perform with a live band as an opener for Subtle (one of the best shows I've ever attended), it was vibrant with energy and loads of fun. He got pretty much everyone in the front row dancing, which is a rare feat at concerts nowadays. He also performed a few tracks that I hadn't seen him perform live before, such as "What is Love?," and they worked pretty well. PJ always puts on a good show, so go see him live if you get a chance.

 

Zion I took the stage once Pigeon John had finished his set, and they also put on a good set with a lot of energy. This was my first time seeing Zion I live, though I'd seen a really quick set from Zion I & the Grouch for free at Rasputin's earlier this year. Zion I didn't quite live up to the hype that some reviewers have attributed to their live shows, but still pulled off some very impressive MCing and beat making. They brought out their friend Deuce Eclipse and another rapper who's name unfortunately I didn't catch but who was very impressive in terms of flow, and they both helped Zion keep things hype. The clear highlight of the set was when the producer of the group, Amp Live, picked up a Playstation 3 controller, moved to the front of the stage, and crafted a really good beat using the controller while Zion and co. rapped about it. He'd improvised beats throughout the set, but seeing pump out music on the Playstation controller was a brilliant thing to watch. Very nice performance, and a good show.

[Wyvern]

Last night, I went and saw One.Be.Lo, Blitz the Ambassador, Public Radio, Nate Krooks, and Construct Existence at the Poleng Lounge in San Francisco.

 

One.Be.Lo was the only artist that I knew in the lineup, but he's a very good M.C and I thought it'd be worth checking the show out just for his set. This was my first time visiting the Poleng Lounge in San Francisco, and I really dug the atmosphere of the venue. It's a sushi bar and tea lounge hidden across the street from a large market, with a small stage and dance area located in the far back.

 

The opening acts ended up delivering a surprisingly good set of performances. Construct Existence had a bit of trouble motivating the crowd to respond as the first opening act of the evening, but they more than held their own with a very solid set of good beats and well-written hooks. A highlight of their set was when one of the M.Cs started beatboxing, and then sampled it using a foot pedal device and started adding more stuff into it to create a song. They should have gotten more appreciation from the crowd, in my opinion. Nate Krooks was also good as the next act, and had a number of positive tracks about loving everyday life along with some very solid beats to back him up. The crowd seemed to be much more responsive to his performance, though it seemed like he knew many people there personally and that his friends were really helping him out. Public Radio also delivered a pretty solid set after Nate, with a very traditionalist old school feel to their beats and rhymes... probably the least memorable performance of the evening, though. Still, in terms of local Bay area acts, these three groups surprised me by the way they kicked things off very nicely... I'll have to listen to some of their recorded material if they ever end up putting out anything official.

 

Blitz the Ambassador came out from Brooklyn to join One.Be.Lo for the show, and did a quick set before Lo came out. He had a very interesting voice and cadence, and explained to the crowd that he was raised in Ghana before moving out to Brooklyn, which might account for his unique style. He also had some pretty exceptional lyrics, including a track about the US that mentioned American flags being made in China. The downside of his set was that he seemed a little too hard on the crowd at times, as he wanted people chanting his hooks at the perfect moment and actually started a track over when they weren't all in-sync. Still, it was a good performance and I'll be on the lookout for recordings from him.

 

Finally, One.Be.Lo came out and put on a solid though somewhat disappointing show. He was technically the best M.C of the evening and had some really good new material to perform, but it seemed like he wasn't really sure how to interact with the crowd and he talked too much between tracks. He said some interesting things about hip hop as an artform, kicked some ill acapellas, and performed some really nice tracks, but I think that ultimately his smooth style may come through better in his recordings than it does live. That, or maybe he just needs to improve his live act a bit. I meant to get a shout out from him to the Mighty Pen after the show, but the time frames unfortunately didn't work out... hopefully next time!

[Wyvern]

Tonight, I went and saw Zeph & Azeem and Blu & Exile do free in-store performances at Amoeba Records in Berkeley.

 

Amoeba let this show take over their Country and Bluegrass section for a change, which resulted in a much larger stage than usual... a welcome switch from the information counter that they've used for previous live events. On the downside of things, the crowd was definitely not as large, with only a handful of people in attendance and only me getting hype and cheering the acts on. Which is a shame, since it was a very good show, particularly for a set of free in-store performances.

 

Zeph & Azeem went on first, which was probably the wrong order to present the acts in since the two of them really put it down once again. When I saw Zeph & Azeem open for Lifesavas and Strange Fruit Project a few weeks back, they stole the show from the very beginning as the opening act. This time was no different, as they killed it once again with an incredible amount of energy and style. They brought along a reggae friend of Azeem's named Luvfiyah to help out with some of their tracks this time around, and he really gave it his all as well and added to the set. I'm guessing that Zeph & Azeem bring these kinds of excellent sets on the regular when they perform, which leads me to believe that they're one of the livest local Bay area acts available. Great stuff, check out the video I put up at the end of this post if you want a better sense of how they bring it live.

 

Blu & Exile took the stage next. They played some quality music, but lacked the stage presence and bravado of Zeph & Azeem. I had never heard any of Blu's music before, but knew Exile (the one in the tasteful rainbow face shirt) for his production work in Emanon with Aloe Blacc amongst other things. Blu ended up bringing some proper rhymes to the table and is probably an act to look out for in the future, I liked most of his rapping. Exile also provided some pretty great production for Blu to spit over... It seems like Exile's got beats for days, he even played a new exclusive track he did with Snoop Dogg after the set was over.

 

So in short: hell yeah this was worth the zero dollars I paid for it. You gotta love the Bay area for always hosting stuff like this.

 

Here are some videos I took of the show:

 

Zeph & Azeem with Luvfiyah:

 

Blu & Exile:

[Wyvern]

Last night, I went and saw Subtle and Thee More Shallows at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco.

 

My last experience with the Great American Music Hall was not a good one, as the concert they threw with the Islands, Subtitle, and Blueprint back in November 2006 was a pretty lackluster affair. Unfortunately, despite Subtle's undeniable quality and entertainment as a live act, this show was also disappointing. This may be the last time I catch a show at the Great American Music Hall, since two rather poor shows is enough to deter me from going there again.

 

I arrived at the venue a little late, about ten minutes into Thee More Shallows set. I didn't know much about Thee More Shallows aside from the fact that they're part of the new generation of Anticon artists, which was once fantastic but which has really declined in recent years. Anyway, they seemed to be a decent enough group, founded in weird alternative rock and bleepy keyboard effects. The band was comprised of a lead vocalist and guitarist, a guy on drums, and a guy on a weird fold-out keyboard/synth machine. Their mic volume was on far too low (thanks, Great American Music Hall!) and the sound was sort of skewed, though I'm not really sure if their music was my cup of tea in the end anyway. Their set still had a few stand-out moments involving interesting uses of instruments and vocal sampling, but overall not too impressive.

 

Subtle set up their usual array of intriguing art once Thee More Shallows had finished, and then got up to the stage to perform. The last time I saw Subtle perform at Bottom of the Hill with Pigeon John was possibly the best show I've ever seen, so I may have gone into this show with some impossible expectations. Subtle put on a good set, but their mics were once again on way too low (thanks, Great American Music Hall!) and the music sort of drowned out doseone's vocals, making their set a little less impressive than usual. Still, dose was quite the showman... he came out wearing a hat, a striped jacket, and a vest of forks, and pulled quite a few entertaining tricks. Highlights included his hilarious parody of redneck comedy and his surprise performance of "Eneby Kurs" as an encore. Musicially, Jel and the rest of the band altered the notes of the tracks and added in new additions to them at just the right times, which made things fresh for even diehard Subtle enthusiasts. Even after the encore, the set ended surprisingly early at 11:30 PM, though I guess they started the show pretty early as well. Overall, it was a good set that could have been a great one had the sound levels and stage been right. Yay Subtle, booooo Great American Music Hall.

[Wyvern]

Last night, I went and saw "We Book Our Own Tour" featuring 2Mex, Existereo, Life Rexall, Dead Rap Kids, and the Jazz Mafia Trio at Bruno's in San Francisco.

 

I'd never been to Bruno's before. It was a tiny and intimate location, with what felt like a small hallway with a bar on the side and a stage at the end of it. I think the spot got pretty packed by the time the evening was over, though that isn't saying much given the size of the place. Still, the personal feel of the venue was refreshing and it was definitely right up my alley.

 

The show started off with a group called the Dead Rap Kids, which was comprised of MC Dublin and DJ Aspect McCarthy. I hadn't heard of them before and was kind of anticipating the worst when they stepped on stage, but they surprised me with a very good set of quality tracks. Dublin touched upon quite a few interesting topics, including the use of disintegration ray guns in the White House, and Aspect McCarthy seemed like a pretty talented DJ with some nice beats and cuts. They definitely fall into the realm of nerd rap, but still had their fair share of hype tracks to groove out to. Nice performance.

 

Life Rexall and Existereo stepped onto the stage to perform a collaborative set once Dead Rap Kids had finished. They joked between themselves a bit and took turns performing tracks. Existereo was one of the main reasons I went out to see the show, as the last time I saw him live he was amazing and he's released some excellent material to boot. Anyway, he killed it once again with some seriously impressive stylistic fast rap, with verses so intricate and energetic that they verged on "mindboggling" at times. What's funny is that Existereo's verses were so fast that Life Rexall ultimately ended up getting a lot more mic time, and while Rexall put on a solid performance, his style kind of paled in comparison next to Existereo's. I think I may have liked Rexall a bit more when I saw him perform with the entire Shapeshifters crew back in December '06, since his traditional style of hip hop balanced out the madmen in the Shapeshifters nicely. Anyway, Life Rexall and Existereo still put on a great set that was worth the price of admission.

 

Next in the line-up was the biggest name on the bill, 2Mex. I'd previously seen 2Mex kick a few quick verses live with the Visionaries at Rasputins, but had never seen him perform a full solo set live. I'm a fan of a good deal of 2Mex's material, and his solo set didn't disappoint. Life Rexall stuck around the stage to act as 2Mex's hypeman and perform a few verses with him, and they put on a set of memorable lyrics and dance-able tracks. 2Mex complimented Rexall's style better than Existereo, though Rexall's verses were still less impressive than 2Mex's. A few highlights of their set were the performance of "Green Grass" (hype!) and 2Mex's acapellas near the end, which referenced everything from Southpark to the iPod Generation. They even performed over some new wave and classic pop rock tracks, which were very entertaining and big crowd-pleasers. A very well-performed and memorable set overall.

 

Oddly enough, the Jazz Mafia Trio took the stage after 2Mex to perform a set. Talk about the wrong order of performances! No disrespect to the Jazz Mafia Trio or the many rappers who came out to freestyle during their set, as they were quite a nice act and provided some nice musical stylings with a live jazz trio and some decent rapping. I'd never heard of them before though, and apparently neither had most of the people attending the show since a good 80% of the crowd didn't stick around for their performance. Anyway, they weren't bad but didn't really live up to the standards set by 2Mex or Existereo.

 

Very good show overall. It ended at around 1:30 AM... one 18 block walk and a late Oakland Owl bus, and I was home as early as 4:50 AM. x_x

[Wyvern]

This evening, I saw Pharoahe Monch live at a free in-store performance at Amoeba Records in Berkeley.

 

I somehow managed to time my walk to Amoeba incorrectly for once, and ended up arriving at the store about 15 minutes after the show was scheduled to begin... not a good thing, given the brevity of free in-stores in general. Fortunately, I wasn't too late to witness Pharoahe Monch's performance. Unfortunately, I did miss the beginning of his set and the place was packed by the time I got there, so I had to view it from a distance for a change and didn't end up with any good pics. Anyway, Pharoahe Monch is pretty legendary for his skills as an MC, so it wasn't really any surprise that the spot was super-crowded. He performed with a live band called The Push and two soul singers backing him up, and did some lively tracks from his new album and then his infamous club banger "Simon Says" to wrap things up. Monch wasn't as heated or energetic with his rapping as I expected him to be live, but his voice and skill on the mic are still pretty undeniable and the man's got a very good singing voice as well... there's a lot of soul interjected into his newer tracks. It was a pretty nice little performance, made nicer by the fact that Monch's old partner in rhyme Prince Po happened to be present outside the venue - I said hi and shook his hand and he complimented me on my T-shirt.

[Patrick]

September 14 - Lyon - Paradise Lost

 

This was the last day of my internship so a good opportunity and hanging out at a concert and a bit of moshing was quite welcome. An unknown Canadian band was the first opening act and they didn't leave much of an impression, they did not even manage to warm the public up too much. They were pretty enthusiastic about their music though. Then came Eyes of Eden, a new female-fronted band from Germany who played some quite good metal, which made me buy their CD the next day in a shop. Then came Paradise Lost, one of the English founders of death metal, who to tell the truth disappointed me a bit. Maybe it was the fact that I did not have their latest CD and didn't know the songs, or it might have been because they didn't do a pretty good job that night, but I was left slightly disappointed. To be honest, the best act in my opinion that night was Eyes of Eden.

 

October 2 - Lyon - Kamelot

 

This was definitely a concert I was looking forward to. I arrived just as the first opening act, Serenity, from Austria started playing. And let me say they played a very good set. They have a very talented singer, who on top of that was smiling throughout the concert and made a very good job of warming everyone up for the evening. And that coming from a band, who just brought out their very first CD is a very good job. They were followed by Adagio, one of the best known metal acts from France. Their concert wasn't bad, but the singer tried way too hard to get the crowd to chant. And when he spoke in English, because he said that his French wasn't good enough was a slight bit on the wrong side of comical in my opinion coming from the singer of a French band...

 

Kamelot lived up to the personal hype I built up before the concert. They had a female guest singer with them to sing the relevant parts in their songs and she did a great job. As did the whole band. And to top off things, they played my favourite songs from them. All in all, a great evening, two great acts out of three is pretty good.

[Mynx]

Linkin Park

 

You know, there was the longest time when I could literally kick myself - I took interest in this band literally a week before they arrived in NZ for a concert 7 years ago. Having not heard much of their music, I decided not to go to the concert. That very week I got their first album and proceeded to kick myself semi regularly for the next few years.

Needless to say, this time around I didn't even hesitate when the tickets were released.

Although their style has changed a bit over the years, I've always had a fond spot for LP, especially as they were one of the first bands for me to find on my own (as opposed to picking it up off a family member or something).

Their opening act was Chris Cornell - I'm not very familiar with his music although there was the occasional 'hey I know this' feeling. The only song I accurately pinpointed was the theme song for Casino Royale. Despite my lack of knowledge about the guy, he had a good voice and performed well.

But of course, he wasn't who I - or most of the crowd - was there for. And boy did Linkin Park deliver.

Chester and Mike are fantastic stage personalities, always saying or doing exactly the right thing to fire us up. They had a brilliant selection of their best, as well as some acoustic versions too.

If I had any complaint of the entire evening...it's that my friend won a competition to meet them beforehand and I didn't!

Definitely one of the best concerts I've ever been to, and one that both longtime fans and newcomers to the band were able to enjoy.

[Wyvern]

Thank you very much for the concert reviews, Patrick and Mynx! :-) I really enjoyed reading them and am glad that you enjoyed yourselves, even if the shows were a bit mixed in terms of quality (in Patrick's case, at least).

 

Tonight, I went and saw the Soundcatcher Tour featuring DJ Vadim with Yarah Bravo & Abstract Rude, DJ Zeph & Azeem, and Pugslee Atomz at Mighty in San Francisco.

 

I'd never been to the gallery/club Mighty before, and it turned out to be rather difficult to find. It's located on a street where a street sign is pretty hard to come by, and the only indication of the venu is a little streak of purple light against a brick wall... I kid you not, that was the only clue. Anyway, aside from the hidden location difficulties, it struck me as a pretty nice modestly sized venue with a stage large enough to host some professional acts.

 

The first act of the evening was Pugslee Atomz, a veteran MC from Chicago who wasn't listed in the line-up but who happened to be tagging along for the tour. I've enjoyed a good deal of Pugslee's material in the past (he has quite a resume of underground releases) and had never seen him live, so his presence there was a pleasant surprise. Unfortunately, he failed to impress me in a live setting. He has a pretty nice voice for hip hop, but he seemed to be struggling to convey that voice through a distorted microphone and didn't really achieve the level of hypeness he was aiming for. His set was short and there were one or two good tracks, but overall his performance was something I felt I had to endure rather than enjoy.

 

DJ Zeph & Azeem were the next to take the stage to perform. This is the third time I've seen them live, and the first two times floored me so naturally my expectations were high. Unfortunately, I think this was DJ Zeph & Azeem on a rare off-night, as their set had a couple of bright moments but also some low points that were not characteristic of their earlier performances. Some of it had to do with sound quality and mic difficulties, and some of it had to do with Azeem seeming tired and less energetic than usual. Still, their set did have a few signature highlights, like Azeem wandering through the crowd while incorporating different MC names into his verses. Overall, it was a decent but disappointing set.

 

Finally, the headliner DJ Vadim took the boards to perform. He did a long set of mixing and scratching, which was a very well put together mix of soul, reggae, rap and even a bit of rock. His solo set was long, and I began to worry that Yarah Bravo and Abstract Rude weren't going to show. Fortunately, they did pull through, accompanied by a person on live bongos. They put on a long set with DJ Vadim, which was probably the best performance of the evening. The sound quality was once again questionable with a lot of microphone distortion really detracting from the music, but the talents of the various parties still shined through. Abstract Rude is a mainstay of Los Angeles' Project Blowed collective and has one of the deepest baritone voices in hip hop. He performed a number of good tracks, including a great track called "Basic Instinct" produced by a UK producer I'd never heard of, a few verses from the Pigeon John track "Life Goes On," and a yet-to-be-released track from his upcoming album "Dear Abbey" produced by Vitamin D(!) and coming out on Rhymesayers(!!). In short, he did his thing. And Yarah Bravo? Well... let's just say that she's the reason I chose to trek out to this show in the first place. She's definitely one of the most talented and promising female MCs in modern hip hop, and judging by her jubilant approach to music I figured that she'd be great to see in a live setting. I think I was more or less correct. For starters, like doseone, she has quite a visual stage presence. Between her funky hairdoo, her cute looks, her incessant dancing and her intriguing sense of fashion (sparkly shoes not pictured here), just watching her move about on stage is a pleasure in itself. But of course, she knows how to rap and sing damn well, and is a very sweet and positive person to boot... a lot of the songs she performed were about upliftment, thanking people, and encouraging us never to give up. Positive and inspiring music to balance out all that hate in hip hop. Now if only the sound quality of the venue were better.

 

Overall, this wasn't the best show... but I still feel like it was worth the trip to finally see what Yarah Bravo's all about amongst other things. Bring on the new One Self material!

[Wyvern]

Last night, I went and saw Offwhyte's "Mainstay" release party featuring Offwhyte, Qwel, Influence & Avalon, and Co-Styles at the Elbo Room in San Francisco.

 

My last concert experience with Galapagos4 at the Elbo Room was not the best due to sound issues and overall sloppiness in the performances, but I had high hopes for this show since I hadn't seen Offwhyte live before and he's one of my favorite artists from the Galapagos4 camp (and one of the better rappers in general, for that matter). Fortunately, this time both G4 and the Elbo Room delivered with good sound quality and a strong set of performances.

 

A 5-man bay area group named Co-Styles started things off with a very short set of around two long tracks. Oddly enough, I had heard about Co-Styles previously from two of my college DJ buddies back in Washington DC, though I’d never heard any of their material before. They struck me as a pretty good group during the short span of their set. All five members of the group were rappers, so there were a lot of mics passed back and forth and collaborative verses. None of the individual MCs stood out in particular, though one guy with a gravely reggae-like voice seemed a little better than the rest. As a group, they were fairly good and worked nicely as an opener.

 

Influence & Avalon came on next. While they aren't technically part of the Galapagos4 camp, they've managed to open for at least three of their shows at this point and have been improving their set a bit with each show. This time was no different. Avalon seemed to be rapping better than I remember him capable of, and they had updated beats and better transitions for their tracks this time around. There was also one new number that really stood out for its hype beat and lyrics, which had something to do with resurrecting hip hop as a body snatcher. Good stuff overall, nice to see that these guys are still on the grind.

 

Qwel was the next to take the stage, and probably put on the best set of the evening. Backed by Dallas Jackson behind the boards, he started things off with his extra-hype track "The 'It' in Keeping It Real" and carried a very strong and energetic momentum for the first couple of songs before going into some of his more experimental (but equally good) material. His set was interspersed with some interesting philosophical comments related to the themes of his songs, and he performed everything in a passionate and unrelenting manner. One major highlight of his set was the way that Dallas Jackson altered the beats to his songs to make them sound better in a live setting, as was particularly apparent in the wicked choice of soul samples for a live rendition of Qwel's famous track "The Highest Commitment." The only thing I didn't like about the set is that Qwel always stands still on stage while he raps, which can sometimes be boring to watch. His animated lyrics and cadences make up for any visual failings, though. Definitely a high quality set from Qwel, the best I've seen from him in a while.

 

Offwhyte, who performed with DJ Dan One as the headliner and final act of the evening, more or less lived up to my expectations. Like Qwel, he's not an artist whose live show is super different from his recorded material, but witnessing his consistency and lyrical prowess in a live setting is a treat. I would say that he's a slightly more stylistic MC than Qwel, with more intelligent lyrics and concepts than you can shake a stick at. For his live set, he had more motion on stage than Qwel and Dan One provided some strong scratches to compliment his lyrics. He ripped through a number of his better tracks, including "Complex Destiny" and a rousing rendition of "Whimsical" from his new album, though I'm disappointed that he didn't get around to performing "UPS" which I think would make for an amazing track live. He ended his set with a hilarious cover of some mainstream rap song, and made it sound good over a really nice beat. I should also note that Offwhyte is way shorter than I expected he would be in person... I gave him a pound and a hug after the show and was afraid I was gonna crush the dude or something! Anyway, solid sets all around, which made for a very good show.

[Wyvern]

Last night, I went and saw The Horse and the Hangar Race Through America Tour featuring Glue, Hangar 18, Richie Cunning, and the Instant Messengers at the Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco.

 

I arrived at the venue on the late side and ended up missing the Instant Messengers set, which is too bad since I've never heard their stuff and am kind of curious as to what they sound like. My timing was good, however, in the sense that I got there just as Richie Cunning was setting up to start his set, and didn't have to wait long for the music to commence. The Bottom of the Hill is probably my favorite club in San Francisco, with great sound, lighting, and overall design. It was mostly empty for this show, with a tiny turnout of about 20 people or so, probably due to the Thanksgiving holiday and the show occuring on a weekday. Fortunately, the sparse number of people made for a very intimate atmosphere that added a special element to the evening's brilliant performances.

 

Richie Cunning started things off with a fairly solid set of straightforward Bay Area hip hop. I'd seen him perform with Proe previously the last time that Glue passed through San Francisco, and he held his own solo quite well. He didn't have a DJ to back him up or anything and just used an iPod to play his tracks, but he does have a certain charisma in his voice that holds his tracks together. One particularly cool track he did used a sample from the movie "Legend," which was flipped into a pretty hype club-oriented beat. Pretty good set, overall.

 

After Richie Cunning finished up, Hangar 18 took the stage and completely tore it apart! Da Hanga consists of emcees Alaska and Wind N' Breeze, with DJ paWL backing them behind the boards. They make fun, danceable, party-oriented electro-hop that happens to work wonders in a live setting. This was my first time seeing them live, and their set definitely floored me. I was the only person dancing in the front row when they started performing, and by the time they'd finished, they had the majority of the crowd grooving out to their stuff... quite an accomplishment in a self-conscious setting of about 20 people. They also interspersed their set with some comedy, including a hilarious discussion about hygiene where Wind N' Breeze noticed he had a toothbrush in his back pocket. They rapped over a number of excellent remixes to their tracks with skill and precision, with both of them being specialists in the rapid delivery department. They even rapped over some metal to live up to the Metallica song that their name is based off of. Really excellent set, probably the best of the evening... plus Wind N' Breeze was so impressed with my dancing that he actually gave me a free CD AND a free T-shirt after the show. Score! Hahaha.

 

Once Hangar 18 had called it a wrap, Glue took the stage to perform as the headliner of the evening. I think I've described Glue's exceptional live set many times in this thread, with Adeem, Maker, and DJ DQ all being masters of their respective crafts and knowing how to work a crowd. This was my fourth time seeing Glue live, and they've always seemed to find a way to make their set special. Their live act has lost some steam and tightness since I first saw them perform in Virginia, but in the place of those elements, a new more improvisational act has emerged. There seems to be a lot more on-the-spot decisions in terms of how Adeem and DJ DQ coordinate their vocals and scratching, plus Maker is now a full part of the set and plays the drum machines live for more of an instantaneous feel. For this particular set, Adeem performed a few tracks on stage, then paused and talked to the small audience a bit about how they choose different approaches to different crowds. He then went into the center of the audience and performed the rest of his tracks from there. They did some really impressive numbers, including a brand new track and a mindblowing scratch routine from DJ DQ. There was a Hawaiian girl in the crowd who was really into it, and Hawaii ended up getting some major props over the course of the set! Once their performance was over, I chatted with Adeem and Maker for a while. Very cool, intimate set... another one for the records.

 

And the cherry on top: I recorded a shout out from Adeem (lead vocalist of Glue and Dorian Three, plus two-time Scribble Jam MC Battle Champion) to The Mighty Pen, which includes a few of his thoughts on creative writing. ;-) Check it out here:

 

(To those who are curious in seeing what Adeem can do in action, check out the videos of Glue's performance at the end of the following concert review: http://www.patrickdurham.net/themightypen/index.php?s=&a...st&p=117871)

[Patrick]

Nice shout-out at the end there Wyv.

 

One more review from me:

 

November 14 - Lyon - Sonata Arctica

 

This was definitely the biggest crowd I have seen at a metal concert in Lyon. When I got there the queue of people waiting to get in stretched from the entrance to the corner of the parking lot, which is about 200 meters. Naturally all the waiting made me miss half of the first opening act, a band called Ride the Sky. I had never heard of them before, but the short part of their set I managed to see was pretty good.

 

Second opening act was Epica. I've already seen them playing a main act of their own in Lyon. They played a great set, only problem with it was it being too short. Then came Sonata Arctica, whom I had never seen before live. Hugest crowd I had ever seen provided quite a nice mosh pit on occasions, add to that the great performance the band had put in and it was a pretty good evening all in all.

[Wyvern]

Glad you liked the shout-out, Patrick. :-) Thanks for the new concert review as well, that's cool that you made it in given the huge crowd and that you enjoyed yourself. Where were you in the audience, out of curiousity? The problem I've always had with stadium events is the distance you have to keep from the artist... even when you're up front in those sorts of spots, it's usually far below the elevated platform of the stage. Well, that and I'm not a really a fan of being in huge crowds in general!

 

Last night, I went and saw Lifesavas, Pigeon John, and Ryan Greene at the Shattuck Downlow in Berkeley. If you've read my concert reviews, you'll know that this far from my first time seeing Lifesavas and Pigeon John live, but I've come to rely on them for fun and fresh performances so I rarely pass on the opportunity to catch them when they're in my area. Especially Pigeon John, that guy is always a kick to see live. The Shattuck Downlow is also a very nice venue, though they still have a major problem when it comes to starting things on time... they had the starting time listed as 9:30, and the first opening act came out at 11:00.

 

The first person to perform was a local Oakland soul singer/rapper named Ryan Greene, who I was unfamiliar with and had never seen live before. He came out with a full live band of two guitarists, a drummer, two keyboardists, a horn player, and an emcee sidekick to top things off. His set started off pretty lackluster, with standard R&B-ish singing and some forgettable emceeing from his rapper buddy, but the music gradually picked up as the set went along. Things got slightly more interesting and entertaining when Ryan Greene invited a few ladies up to the stage for an impromptu dance-off for one of his songs, and his set really went into full swing when he invited a bunch of his other rapper buddies up to stage for a freestyle cipher. The cipher was definitely one of the highlights of the evening, with the live band shining in particular in the way that they riffed to fit each person's freestyle. Some very skilled bass work, drumming, and keyboards there. Despite a bit of a shakey start, it was quite a good set overall.

 

Pigeon John came out next and killed it with a really fun and energetic set, as usual. He brought a live drummer with him and had bTwice working the turntables, and the three of them really livened the place up with a lot of catchy dance-able songs and PJ's signature humor. I'm always surprised at how live the crowds get at Pigeon John's shows in Berkeley, as he had pretty much everyone there dancing and shouting along at the top of their lungs. He performed a number of his great live standards like "Hello Everybody" and "Freaks Freaks," as well as some new tracks which sounded really nice. I think most of the crowd would say that he stole the show, and I'd be very inclined to agree... he really should be headlining these events.

 

Lifesavas came out last and were pretty disappointing after Pigeon John's set. Vursatyl and Jumbo performed their tracks right, but the energy and humor of Pigeon John's set just weren't there and the result was a pretty uninterested crowd... if you could call the audience there a crowd at that point. The truth of the matter is that 70% of the audience left after Pigeon John's set, which left hardly anyone there for the supposed headlining act! I still like Lifesavas' material and they can be a pretty live group of performers when they're performing at full throttle with a lively and appreciative crowd, but this evening they felt a little less enthusiastic than usual and timed their set poorly. They started performing at 12:50 AM, so it could just be that everyone was tired out by that point, but overall it was the worst set of the evening.

 

A couple of vids:

 

Pigeon John performing a new track:

 

A short clip from Ryan Greene's impromptu dance competition:

[Patrick]

Wyv, the event wasn't in a stadium, it was in a normal concert hall, there were just lots of people. I was sort of in the middle, not too much in front, because I hadn't much been in a mood to be in the middle of the moshpit.

[Wyvern]

Ah, gotcha Patrick, that sounds cool then. :-) I can only imagine what the concentrated moshpits are like at those shows... when moshpits have broken out at concerts that I've been to, they've generally spread through the crowd rather than having a designated area. I imagine things get a bit more rowdy when narrowed down to one place.

 

Anyway, this evening, I went to see Oh No and Zeph & Azeem perform at the Shattuck Downlow in Berkeley.

 

I'd seen a suspiciously small amount of promotion for this show, and unfortunately it didn't seem that the word had gotten out enough as there was a pretty terrible turn out to the event, possibly one of the worst I've seen. The venue got an ever-so-slightly larger crowd later in the evening, but for the most part, there must have been around ten people there watching it. I still did my thing in the front row, though, and the performers put on some pretty good sets despite the lack of crowd energy or participation.

 

Zeph & Azeem were the first ones to perform, and they did their thing as usual. This must be the fifth or sixth time I've seen them put on a live show, and they always have creative concepts and infectious energy on stage. Plus, Azeem knows how to capture the audience's attention. One of the better bay area rap groups when it comes to throwing a live show, in my opinion. This time around, they brought out Marc Stretch to kick some verses with them, and Azeem played a couple of very good tracks from his older albums that he tends not to perform at live shows. They played a number of their live standards as well, and Azeem handed out a bunch of free CDs to the few people in the audience (I got two). Good set overall, marred only by the lack of crowd.

 

Oh No, a renowned emcee from the Stones Throw collective who I hadn't seen live before but whose material I tend to like, came out next to perform. Oh No is mostly known as the brother of the uber-popular hip hop producer Madlib, though he's a talented producer and MC in his own right with his own distinctive bugged out style. He came on stage wearing a pretty neat Ecko jacket, and also brought along Roc C, another MC from the Stones Throw collective who just happened to be celebrating his birthday that evening. The two of them put on a pretty live set, with lots of beats and hooks oriented to getting a crowd hype in a live setting. Some highlights included Oh No's track "What the F***" with a beat that simply commands people to bob their heads, and Oh No and Roc C's rendition of "Move" produced by the late great J. Dilla. Speaking of J. Dilla, Oh No and Roc C commemorated his passing by playing a few of his famous tracks and rapping along with all the words. Roc C also had a chance to shine with a couple of solo tracks to celebrate his B-day with. Overall, it was a nice set, though the audience once again seemed pretty tame in comparison to what it could have been. I imagine these two performers have liver sets when performing to more enthusiastic packed crowds.

[Patrick]

December 19 - Lyon - Therion

 

The opening act was a group called The Vision Bleak. They played a completely forgettable set, which I have actually proceeded to forget. Wasn't anything special anyway. Therion were playing a 20th anniversary tour, with songs from all their carreer and even played one of their albums in full. In total they played something like two and a half hours, which is pretty nice. For those who don't know the group, they play metal (d'uh...what else do I listen to? ) with both male and female singers, and both high and pretty low-pitched singing. (actually found a video of one of the songs from the concert:

one or two of the waving hands in there might be mine, you've been warned. )

 

Enjoyed myself quite a bit.

[Wyvern]

Last night, I went out to see Sleep & Zelly Rock, Josh Martinez, A Brother Named George, and DJ Drez at the Pier 23 Cafe in San Francisco.

 

I was very excited to see this show since I'm a huge fan of Josh Martinez and the Chicharones (his group with Sleep), and the flyer mentioned a Chicharones performance amongst other things. Unfortunately, the show was a major disappointment, since Josh Martinez's flight from Vancouver ended up getting delayed and he wasn't able to make the show. Talk about a let down!

 

I got to the venue early enough to get in for free, though I think I got there a little too early since I probably ended up waiting about an hour too long. The Pier 23 Cafe was a pretty strange venue, for the record - a little Cafe bar sitting beside the Ocean in the Embarcadero in San Francisco, with a makeshift stage set-up outdoors next to the water. You have to take the back exit of the Cafe to get to the spot where the stage is, which I imagine might confuse some potential concert goers, though I suppose that once the music starts up it's easier to find where it's coming from. It was pretty darn cold outdoors which caused some chills at first, but fortunately the venue did have an outdoor heating system and it was slightly warmer by the time the music started up.

 

DJ Drez, a good DJ from the Project Blowed collective, started things off with a DJ mix set. More of a warm up than anything else, but to Drez's credit he did an excellent job mixing and his choices of tracks really flowed well together. His musical tastes definitely fall along the lines of true school hip hop, with selections from One Self and Chali 2na amongst others standing out. Though it was only a mix set, DJ Drez showed that he was better than your average person spinning records at the beginning of a show. Nice mix set.

 

A Brother Named George performed next, with a cup of tea in hand to battle a sore throat that had occured on his way to San Francisco. I'd never heard of him before, but his tracks struck me as being pretty mediocre. The low tone of his voice was sort of interesting at times, but his lyrics, subject matter, flow and beats were all very conventional and didn't really stand out in any way. The last track he performed was probably the best of the bunch, with a slightly harder hitting beat than the others, but the battle raps he spit over it were pretty predictable. And does every underground MC these days need to do a live spoken word piece about the Bush administration? *rolls eyes and sighs*

 

To fill the missing set where Josh Martinez would have been was an MC from Florida by the name of Pegleg. And wow, he was awful. He only performed about 5 or 6 tracks, but by halfway through the second track I was hoping he would just shut up and lay down the mic so that Sleep could get to perform. His lyrics seemed to have something to do with pirates, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but his voice, flow and cadence were all very difficult to tolerate for even a track. MC Pegleg is proof that there are such things as good nerd rappers and bad nerd rappers, because he definitely seems to be picked from the bottom of the bad nerd rap barrel. Arrrrr, where're me earplugs? The show would have been better without his set.

 

At this point in the show, I was rather disheartened by the lack of Josh Martinez and the low quality of the opening acts. Fortunately, Sleep and Zelly Rock did redeem the show a bit, as they put on an energetic and engaging set of tracks that would work great in a crowded dancehall. Sleep is one half of the Chicharones, and is known for having ridiculous amounts of rhythm and energy in his verses... as far as fast rap is concerned, he's your go-to guy. Sleep puts so much of himself into his verses that he constantly looks like he's on the verge of exploding on stage, with a deceptive appearance that'd never make you guess he could deliver such speedy and intricate verses. Zelly Rock, Sleep's partner in rhyme for the evening, has a very interesting ragga dancehall cadence that compliments Sleep's style well, which makes for some very danceable and energetic songs. They performed quite a few excellent tracks from their recent album, though no Chicharones songs sadly since Martinez was absent. A disappointing show overall, redeemed slightly by a very good performance from Sleep and Zelly Rock.

 

Here's some footage I took of Sleep & Zelly Rock performing a track. Poor visual and audio quality, but the talent shines through:

[Wyvern]

Tonight I went and saw Public Radio, Danger Zone, Nu Dekades, and Can't Find a Villain at Blake's on Telegraph in Berkeley.

 

Aside from the fairly close distance of the venue, my main motivation for getting out to this show was the group Danger Zone, which features Ohio MC Bru Lei of Spitball on vocals. He's a good MC and I'd never had the chance to see him perform live, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to get better acquainted with his stage show. This was also my first time seeing a show at Blake's on Telegraph, though I've eaten there before... their basement area is a nice intimate venue with a comfy atmosphere, small stage and all. There was live art going on throughout the show, which was great to watch between the sets. I really dug it as a concert spot, though there were a few sound difficulties here and there.

 

Danger Zone was actually the first act to perform despite being the only out-of-towners in the line up, probably because the host of the show realized that the local acts would draw more people in the end. Bru Lei and Amos Famous put on a pretty nice no thrills set, and performed a number of tracks from their album "Dangerous Styles." Amos has some nice beats in his arsenal, and Bru Lei is fairly under-appreciated as a lyricist, with a very distinctive drawl in his voice and plenty of clever lyrics and concepts. One highlight of the set was a track based on the history of video game systems and Bru Lei's personal addiction to old school video games, where he pulled out one of those Duck Hunt gun controllers and got the crowd chanting and responding "Nintendo! Sega Genesis!" When all's said and done, Bru's slurred style of rapping might not cater as well to a live setting as it does to a recording, but it was never the less quite a cool and entertaining set.

 

Nu Dekades, a local group that I'd never heard of, came out to perform once Danger Zone had wrapped things up. They were probably the best live performers of the evening, with an energetic chemistry on stage between the two MCs and plenty of catchy and commanding hooks. In terms of beats and lyrical content they didn't interest me quite as much as Danger Zone, but their style did translate better to the stage and made for quite a lively set. They re-used some old beats from classic hip hop tracks for some of their songs which suggests that they haven't fully produced an album yet, but they did tackle the old beats with energy and style. Nice performance.

 

Public Radio were the next to step up and do their thing. I'd seen Public Radio live once previously when they opened for One Be Lo at the Poleng Lounge in San Francisco, though my appreciation for the producer of the group Deedot has risen since then. Still, much like the last time I saw them, their live set was decent though unmemorable. One or two of their tracks stood out for their hooks and flows, but they didn't have the energy of Nu Dekades or the interesting lyrical content of Danger Zone. Nothing about their set was bad persay, but nothing about it really grabbed me either.

 

Can't Find a Villain performed as the final act of the evening and struck me as kind of a bizarre and extremely local phenomenon. Visually, these guys were the highlight of the evening without contest - the three MCs came out wearing a Nixon mask, a wrestler mask, and a ski mask respectively. They continually jumped and raced around the stage and into the crowd while rapping, pouring a huge amount of energy into their motion and visual antics. But in terms of actual MCing skills, these guys didn't strike me as being particularly talented... there were a few notable verses, but nothing really exciting. They were definitely a crowd favorite, but then I got the sense that at least half the people in the room knew the MCs personally in some way. Visually great, but nothing special overall.

 

Decent show in the end... I think it'd rank about average. :-) Here's a lil' video of Danger Zone performing a track, please excuse the horrible visual and audio quality once again:

[Wyvern]

On the Eve of April Fools, I went and saw Educated Consumers, Joey Beats & Blak, Ardaplus and Flexxx Matthews at DC9 in Washington, DC.

 

I went to this show with a friend of mine from DC, Phil, who's kind of a trip to hang out with since funny stuff always seems to befall him. This time around, he took us to the venue since he knew where it was and we paid to get in, then went upstairs only to realize that the set-up wasn't very hip hop oriented. After asking the doorman, it turns out it was the wrong venue and that DC9 was a couple blocks up. Fortunately, we managed to get our money back before dipping to the accurate spot, which was looking more familiar as we'd went to see Qwel over there once.

 

One of DC's better local MCs, Flexxx Matthews, opened the show with a fairly entertaining set. The sound system wasn't working well with the iPod he had backing him up, and I've seen him put on better sets over the course of my stay in DC, but he still livened up the crowd a bit and stood out for his humorous qualities. He did maybe a little too much talking between songs, but to make up for it he kicked an entertaining freestyle where he pointed to objects that different people were holding and rapped about them. Not a bad set, overall.

 

Ardaplus took the stage next, and didn't really do much for me. I'd never heard of the group before, though I had heard of the rapper Ardamus before without having listened to any of his stuff. To the group's credit, Ardamus is a pretty good MC, but I can't really say the same about Double Plus or their DJ with his questionable shades and toy guns. They had one or two good tracks like a number entitled "Drugs," but for the most part I wasn't really feeling their beat selection or Double Plus's rhymes. There was a certain energy in their set that I appreciated, but I found it sort of mediocre overall.

 

Joe Beats & Blak Lungz were the next to perform, and were the main reason I came out to the show. Joey Beats has established himself as an excellent producer, both through his amazing work with Sage Francis in the group Non-Prophets and for his instrumental endeavors like last year's "Diverse Recourse," which was one of my favorites of '07. He really showed his skills off live by composing his beats with two MPC samplers on the spot, improvising in certain areas and demonstrating how intricate his tracks are through multiple layers of sampling and drum programming. I wasn't as familiar with Blak Lungz, the MC that Joe Beats is most currently collabing with, but he impressed me with his slick voice and flow and in the way he tackled Joey's layered tracks. Very smooth set full of excellent production and natural MCing, with great performances from both parties. Thumbs up.

 

Educated Consumers, a DC-based hip hop group that I've never really cared for, were the final act and headliner of the show. I'm afraid they simply continue to bore me... I didn't really stick around for much of their set, and opted instead to pick up some of Joe Beats' merchandise and bounce. On the plus side, I got to say hello to DC's finest production talent Damu the Fudgemonk who was in the building, and gave him props for his work on last year's excellent Y Society album.

 

Decent show, overall. Here's a bit of footage I took:

 

Joey Beats and Blak Lungz performing a track that uses one of my favorite beats from Joey's "Diverse Recourse" album:

 

Flexxx Matthews' freestyle in its near-entirety:

[Wyvern]

This evening, I went to check out C.R.A.C Knuckles at the Lavende Lounge in San Francisco.

 

I was a bit uncertain as to whether this show was actually going down since the promotion for it was scarce to say the least, with only a concert date listed on one of the group members myspace pages and nothing else. The concert date didn't even list the venue, and it took some research to figure out where the event known only as "PST" took place.

 

This was my first (and last) time visiting the Lavende Lounge. To the spot's credit, it has a nice fancy restaurant look about it... probably because it IS a fancy restaurant by day. Unfortunately, my experience with the bouncers there was not a pleasant one. After entering the venue and standing around for 20 minutes, they approached me and said that I couldn't be in there with my backpack, quoting some ridiculous "no backpack or baseball cap in da club" dress code policy (I wasn't wearing a cap, mind you. I had on a nice sweater and matching black jeans). After spending some time convincing them, I managed to get them to allow me to drop off my backpack behind the counter at the front of the venue, but they said they wouldn't take any responsibility for it if it got stolen. So I squeezed all my valuables into my pockets and left it there. Not a great start...

 

C.R.A.C is one of the most exciting new groups in hip hop to me, and their debut album easily ranks as one of my favorites of the year so far. I was really looking forward to seeing them live, particularly after confirming with the venue that they were in fact playing there, but unfortunately there was a catch - they didn't actually perform any of their songs. Instead, one of the members of the group Ta'Raach did a DJ mix set while the other member of the group Blu occasionally played the hype man between tracks. No fresh rapping, Ta'Raach beats, or original flavor... a major disappointment.

 

On the positive side of things, I did get to meet Ta'Raach and gave him props for what he's doing, plus I got to buy the C.R.A.C album straight from the artists hands. Ta'Raach's DJ set also had some nice touches to it, though I didn't stick around for the entire thing. Overall though, aside from getting to purchase the album, the show really wasn't worth the long trek.

 

No photos or video accompanying this review unfortunately, since the Lavende Lounge bouncers didn't let me take any!