Upcoming/Recent Shows

On June 19th I was at a concert by Foals in Cologne. It was held at a venue called E- werk, it's the same I had seen Bloc Party in earlier this year. It holds about 2000 people. Actually they had changed the venue to this from a bigger one, Palladium, just opposite the street, which holds about 4000. So it shows the concert wasn't sold out, but this venue was very crowded and there was a great atmosphere in the audience.

Support had been Indie Rock band Egyptian Blue. They had been good.

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Foals had been excellent live. Their show and setlist had been very energetic and they included many songs of their new album, which did fit in perfectly with their older titles. I've enjoyed their concert quite much, it was one of my favorites this year, they're really good live. It was the first time I had seen them live in person (I had seen various livestream festival appearances though over the years). If you enjoy their music, I recommend to go, you won't be disappointed. Their set also was quite long, I think over 100 minutes.

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I'll never forget scoring free tickets to see Foals and probably 40-50 people showed up. Lead singer jumped off the stage and ran to the bar in the back of the venue, took a HUGE swig of Jack Daniel's, and ran and jumped back on stage. Much respect. Like you said, great, energetic show.
 
A concert I was at end of June was Slayyyter. It was in a small club called Luxor, that holds about 400 people. It's a nice club and I used to see many artists there around 2007 to 2013. One gig I just remember was MGMT who had Florence + the machine as support, at a time she was relatively unknown still, and I still remember standing right in front of her while she was banging her drum and it was so clear she would have a great career. But I'm digressing, so Slayyyter wasn't sold out completely. The audience was predominantly LGBTQ, similiar to Charli XCX end of May. Slayyyter is a female who does some good hyperpop/ synthpop.
The support had been July Jones who was also singing some great pop songs and got the audience really enthusiastic. I think she's having a good chance of having a great career herself, I liked her songs a lot. She also revealed that she has a queer background.

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I wasn't standing in the front and lights were a bit problematic and rather kept low, so the photos are a bit unsharp, but give you some basic idea. Slayyyter did put on a good show, she also played for rather a long while, I think more than 20 songs, which was amazing given the relatively small ticket price. Highlights for me had been "Troubled paradise", "Serial Killer" "Venom" and "Daddy AF". The audience did really enjoy her set, danced around wildly and she finished by playing Gloria Gaynor's "I will survive". Great evening.

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And the last concert I had gone to, literally the day before I tested positive for Covid, was Alec Benjamin. It was at a venue in Cologne called Live Music Hall that has a capacity of about 1600 people.
Support had been Winona Oak, who just released an album in June. Her performance was pretty good and she got some great songs on her album. During one song the audience did hold up their phones with flash lights which moved her a lot and she was very impressed. Great support.

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Alec Benjamin had a great performance of his songs, very good voice and the audience was mostly singing along. Highlights had been "Devil doesn't bargain", "One wrong turn", "Mind is a prison" and "Let me down slowly" which he played as the final song, acoustically.

However, the problem at the show was that there was a broken AC in that hall apparently, and about 15 (!) girls fainted and passed out. When it happened to the first one, Alec Benjamin invited her to the stage, which was nice. But then it kept on happening. I was standing left side of the first row and could see everyone being dragged out. One girl looked completely lifeless, head hung down backwards while she was carried out. It looked so scary, Alec also was utterly shocked and speechless. He said it's untrodden territory for him. He asked the staff 3 times to get a closed door near the stage opened so fresh air was possible to get in. He really fought for this, very caring, they first were so reluctant. He several times asked security and staff to bring people water and had stopped the show and songs several times. He even shared his personal water bottle with fans, reaching it into the audience. But girls kept on passing out. He already played his last 6 songs acoustically, so there would be less movement (however his songs aren't wild at all, it all was down to the extremely bad air in that hall). He wanted to play some more songs but his manager/ promoter told him no as the situation was too dangerous and they rightly didn't want anyone to be hurt at the concert. So the concert had been cut short by 5 songs or so. I've never witnessed such a bad air in a hall. At some moments even I felt dizzy. So given the missing air circulation it could've been as well from that concert that I caught Covid, but I think the 20 hours between concert and first symptoms are too short and I probably got it from my boyfriend, who had it before.
Anyway, the concert was really good, and Alec had played around 16 songs, so it wasn't too short. I just felt sorry for the many young people in the audience whose experience was ruined somewhat by bad management of the venue owners. Also everyone was forced to throw away water bottles before entering, so they could sell more, which shouldn't have been the case as they had known about the broken AC before.

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Low Volts / Bob Log III at the Soda Bar, San Diego.

An evening of dirty electric blues played by a couple of one-man bands was an excellent way to spend an evening. San Diego based Low Volts started off with a relatively traditional set, added in a cover of "Personal Jesus" on his homemade coffee can guitar.

The headliner was Tuscon, Arizona's Bob Log III, who I've never seen. With his flight helmet / telephone receiver combo, and jumpsuit, Bob sure knows how to command an audience. He mixed some amazing slide guitar skills and drum/pedal work with just enough gimmicks to keep the party rolling till ~1am. Definitely recommend seeing him if he comes to town.

Low Volts:

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Bob Log III

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Low Volts / Bob Log III at the Soda Bar, San Diego.

An evening of dirty electric blues played by a couple of one-man bands was an excellent way to spend an evening. San Diego based Low Volts started off with a relatively traditional set, added in a cover of "Personal Jesus" on his homemade coffee can guitar.

The headliner was Tuscon, Arizona's Bob Log III, who I've never seen. With his flight helmet / telephone receiver combo, and jumpsuit, Bob sure knows how to command an audience. He mixed some amazing slide guitar skills and drum/pedal work with just enough gimmicks to keep the party rolling till ~1am. Definitely recommend seeing him if he comes to town.

Low Volts:

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Bob Log III

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The Bob Log III photo is avatar-worthy.
 
Elton John at Citizens Bank Park (7/15)

Second time seeing Elton and the last time was 12 years ago! He has always been a favorite artist of mine and knowing that this is his farewell tour I had to go! Because I’m a big fan of his greatest hits there was a lot I wanted to hear from him and thankfully he did it all! And the deeper cuts he did were solid picks, even if I didn’t know the song I ended up enjoying it. Highlight of the night was an emotionally charged performance of “I’m Still Standing” that I will never forget.

My only gripes with the night had to do with the fact that it was at a stadium and I was on the aisle seat and had to deal with people walking up and down all night and fucking beer vendors screaming during songs!!



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Elton John at Citizens Bank Park (7/15)

Second time seeing Elton and the last time was 12 years ago! He has always been a favorite artist of mine and knowing that this is his farewell tour I had to go! Because I’m a big fan of his greatest hits there was a lot I wanted to hear from him and thankfully he did it all! And the deeper cuts he did were solid picks, even if I didn’t know the song I ended up enjoying it. Highlight of the night was an emotionally charged performance of “I’m Still Standing” that I will never forget.

My only gripes with the night had to do with the fact that it was at a stadium and I was on the aisle seat and had to deal with people walking up and down all night and fucking beer vendors screaming during songs!!



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Oh HELL no. I would have told the vendors to STFU!

Those visuals looks amazing
 
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I saw Drive-By Truckers last night and it was another great show. Heavy on older stuff which I loved.

Lydia Loveless opened with a solo set. I’ve never had the chance to see her and she was great.

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They’re coming up for me on Friday! Super excited for that one too!

Saw Mountain Goats doing a duo show (John & Matt) this past Friday. Fun and interesting set. Can honestly say I’ve never seen the same MG show twice - with his huge catalog there’s a lot to pull from, and aside from John being his usual charming-ass self (him living near here for several years never hurts for stories and general witticisms) a big mixed bag of stuff made for a fun show. This Setlist.fm is pretty accurate I think:
 
For anyone who has seen Haley Heynderickx, how long of a set does she actually do? I know she only has one full length album and an EP, but what other material is there. I ask because I bought tickets for late September.
 
For anyone who has seen Haley Heynderickx, how long of a set does she actually do? I know she only has one full length album and an EP, but what other material is there. I ask because I bought tickets for late September.
She just announced a show here and was wondering the same.
 
No personal experience but her last couple setlists on setlist.fm clocked in at 14-16 songs, and that seems about right for a headlining set for an artist with her catalog.
 
Two days late with posting. Melvins were fantastic, definitely the loudest show I've been to ever given the small size of the Hawthorne Theatre (also first time setting foot in). Sold out show!

Harsh Mellow

Opening group that begun their ~30min set 15min early. Their music aligns with the tropes of hard rock radio hits from the 80s. Not my bag, but it seems the crowd dug it with most of the crowd older than I, understandably. Audience has at roughly 15% capacity as their set ended.

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Helms Alee

These guys really surprised me. Sludgy post-metal with all of the members belting it on vocals when the intensity of the musicianship was apropos. I have added them to my "to listen" backlog, very good set that ended just under an hour in duration. The drummer's performance was really fantastic and had my attention virtually the whole way through. Almost completely crowded venue by the time these guys' set finished.

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Melvins

They ripped. Everything felt like it was cranked to eleven and I'm glad that I remembered my earplugs, my first time using them at a concert...fairly confident I would've had hearing damage if I hadn't done so. The acoustics in Hawthorne Theatre might be the worst I've experienced from the smaller venues. Louder than the GY!BE concert from March, I can attest. Setlist was supposed to run for 90min but was just under 80. No encore which surprised me given the depth of their catalogue. Buzzo, Dave, and Steven are not to shy whatsoever to flaunting about their stage presence, 10/10 on that front 🔥 Dave even left his kit to batter around Buzzo's guitar with his drumsticks and manufacture vociferous levels of noise/feedback...pretty intense.
They played mostly more recent material, but I was able to discern a couple of their oldies like "Honey Bucket" and "Revolve." For the last ~20 min of the set, they played a few tracks from the excellent Lysol which was a pleasant surprise.

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Post-show

Lot of people were waiting around for merch, mostly those $60 tour posters (WTF) and even some waiting near the stage hoping that the group would sign the aforementioned posters or something else...was fairly confident that this wouldn't happen, as I didn't bring record jackets from home. I left after waiting about 20 minutes for the congested exit passageways to clear.
 
Helms Alee

These guys really surprised me. Sludgy post-metal with all of the members belting it on vocals when the intensity of the musicianship was apropos. I have added them to my "to listen" backlog, very good set that ended just under an hour in duration. The drummer's performance was really fantastic and had my attention virtually the whole way through. Almost completely crowded venue by the time these guys' set finished.

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It kind of amazes me that Helms Alee still flies so under the radar. They're top-notch performers. I'm a bit behind on their catalogue, but have their two latest albums headed my way when my Russian Circles preorder ships from Sargent House.
 
Went out to Portland to see yeule, one of my most anticipated shows. The concert was enjoyable, but felt slightly disappointed by the end.

Michele Yue

Michele offered some ethereal vocals alongside rather straightforward 00s house/electronic production. Her set was ~35min in length, though it seemed much longer. She was joined with a DJ/producer/vocalist that added in an energized drum pad performance and autotuned vocals. It seemed that he was aiming for a hyperpop edge during different parts of the set.
Overall, a decent opener. Probably will forget it by next month.

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After a 25min intermission, this lit up in the background:

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yeule

They took the stage alone with nothing other than a guitar + stand to the side, which allowed for them to dance gracefully and maximize the rather small size of Holocene's stage during songs. yeule had their back faced away from the audience with some subtle choreography to a 3 minute ambient opener not present on either of the two albums released thus far. After, they performed lovely "Pixel Affection" from Serotonin II to kick off the set. Five more songs were performed that spread across both records, then they picked up the guitar, retuned, and performed both "Eva" and the lead single "Don't be so Hard on Your Own Beauty" from this year's Glitch Princess. Closed out with "Bites on My Neck," and the crowd went bananas as expected...still one of my favorite singles of the year.
The set went for only 50min, a slightly disappointing length.

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Continuous video of yeule's guitar portion of the set, with "Eva" and "Don't be so Hard on Your Own Beauty," a highlight from the concert that showcases yeule's beautiful approach to ambient pop, along with some lighthearted chatter:



Post-show

The crowd was very much desiring an encore but after three minutes of chanting, we were met with stage and room lights returning to normal luminescence. Took about another five minutes for the stage room to clear and free up the doors leading to the bar/lower area. Merch was absurdly priced (no media for sale, $27 for a signed small poster, $41 for t-shirts, $18 for a small four sticker pak, and a few others), so I skipped out on that. Waited around for yeule to appear from behind the curtains but they did not reappear. Gave up hope trying to get my Serotonin II and Glitch Princess records signed after 30min of waiting around, so I went home.
 
Down in Nashville for a short trip. Lucked out and had some people I wanted to see have shows pop up last minute. Only took a couple pictures.

Lady Couch was amazing, but didn’t get to play very long.

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Then Lilly Haitt at Acme Feed & Seed, which is the only place I really dig on Broadway.

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Then also had to check out what was on the Purple Building.

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saw Mitski last night at Radio City Music Hall, and she and her band were truly amazing, relying very little in terms of stage design, media, lights, etc... that said, I was surprised a bit by the crowd. I don't mean this in any negative way, but I don't normally go to shows surrounded by screaming teenage fans...and they reacted to every single gesture, dance, pose, etc...

that said, it was very sweet, endearing, and positive... just different than I was expecting..ha ha.

 
that said, I was surprised a bit by the crowd. I don't mean this in any negative way, but I don't normally go to shows surrounded by screaming teenage fans...and they reacted to every single gesture, dance, pose, etc...

Welcome to the era of pandemic teens who curated their musical tastes through TikTok and are now attending their first live shows.
 
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