Nada Surf and Superdrag @ Terminal 5, NYC - In Review

The dream pairing of Nada Surf and Superdrag co-headlining in New York City was far too enticing for this blogger to pass up, even if it meant a trip up from B-more. And wow, was it ever worth it. First off, I need to compliment the incredible Terminal 5. What an amazing venue. 50 foot ceilings, two balcony levels, chandeliers, and a wonderful sound and lighting system. This was one of the best produced shows I've seen, and probably the best sounding show in any club. I'm so jealous.

Anyway, Superdrag began the night with a blazing set of songs from Regretfully Yours and Head Trip. They were very energetic and genuinely thankful to have such a large and boisterous crowd. They graced the crowd with two new songs and a John Davis song from his last solo album. Their set lasted an hour, which certainly meant they weren't the "opening band," but not quite the main event. I didn't track the full setlist, but heres the last four songs of the set:

Keep It Close To Me
Sucked Out
Cynicality
Destination Ursa Major

By the time Nada Surf took the stage, Terminal 5 was paaaaaacked. Well over 2000 people packed the floor and balconies. All were witness to what Nada Surf has become. I've seen them perform over 10 times, and they have always been good, but now they have reached another level. Nada Surf has become an elite live band. They captivate the crowd, their transitions are razor sharp, and the versions of the songs they play make the album versions seem mediocre.

Helping to up the ante for this tour was the addition of Martin Wenk of Calexico, who played keys, synth, and horns. He added very nice touches, especially on Killians Red (see video below) and 80 Windows. Other interesting moments were provided by Ira's ridiculous drumming antics. For Fruit Flies, he used a pair of sticks that had glowing tips, especially cool because the start of the song focuses the crowd on Matthew's vocals. Even more fun was provided by the breakdown at the end of Stalemate. Already an amazing song, which includes the Love Will Tear Us Apart Joy Division medley, but Ira played so powerfully at the end that he bounced one of his symbols away from him by about a foot. He was fun to watch throughout the show, making goofy faces and doing crazy fills constantly.

I am so happy for these guys that the years of hard work and touring seem to have finally payed off. I will miss the days of watching them play to crowds of 50 people, but as long as they keep playing shows like this, I will never complain.

Some pics from the show HERE

Killian's Red


High Speed Soul
Happy Kid
Whose Authority
What is Your Secret
Weightless
Killians Red
I Like What You Say
Inside of Love
Fruit Flies
80 Windows
Popular
Stalemate
Paper Boats
Ice on the Wing
The Fox
Do it Again
Beautiful Beat
See These Bones

Blizzard of '77
Blonde on Blonde
Always Love
Blankest Year

Radiohead US tour dates likely announced Tuesday, February 12

Ah, rumors. They just make my day some days. Especially when they involve the best band in the world. At Ease is reporting that the dates and venues for Radiohead's US tour will be announced Tuesday.

Florida fans can already begin making plans for May 5th at the Cruzan Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach and can start recruiting friends to help buy tickets this Saturday at 10:00am when they go on sale on ticketbastards... err, I mean ticketmaster. Prices are reasonable to, ranging from $32 to $55.

What a summer it will be.

My Morning Jacket announce Radio City Music Hall show

My Morning Jacket announced today that they will be playing at the beautiful Radio City Music Hall in New York City (get a rope) on June 20, 2008. This should be epic. Pre-sale tickets will be available HERE on Friday, January 18th, a full week before the "public" sale. This should be epic. MMJ will seriously blow your socks off. Go see it. It WILL be epic.

Mp3: My Morning Jacket - Xmas Curtain (Live - Okonokos)
Mp3: My Morning Jacket - Mahgeetah (Live - Okonokos) - - - - website - - - - buy

BTW, I posted only live MMJ tracks, because that is the only way they should be experienced. Not to say you shouldn't pick up their albums (I have), but they are a live beast. Go see them. I double dog dare you.

Tell us about your MMJ experiences in the comments.

Nada Surf - Live at the 8x10

Its taken me three days to actually be able to process my thoughts enough to post about this amazing show. Laurent the Laurent has posted about Sea Wolf opening this show, and I second everything he wrote. They were a great opener, but the crowd was there for the main event. This was the second sellout crowd for Nada Surf at the 8x10 club in lovely Federal Hill in Baltimore.

Nada Surf took the stage to a serious ovation. They commented on how it was great to be back, and thanked the crowd for coming out. They opened the show with Happy Kid, but about a minute into the song, Matthew stopped playing, and said something along the lines of, "forget all that, I'm really in the bathroom right now," and ran off stage only to return with a different guitar. He quickly reiterated all the previous remarks, and started Happy Kid again. This set a playful and loose mood for the set that would ensure a good time for all. After rocking through a few favorites, the real nature of the show and the crowd was revealed when they played Fruit Flies. It would have been great no matter what, but when the song got to the whole "I'm sorry, you've got no where to go" part, the Matthew let the crowd sing along, and WOW, what a moment. I've seen a LOT of Nada Surf shows, but never have I witnessed a crowd so well versed in their music, or so into the show. All throughout the set, the crowd sung along loudly (myself included). It's great to see that people have finally discovered this incredible talent.

Anywho, Nada Surf rocked through an amazing set that included two new songs, Whose Authority and I Like What You Say which can be found here as part of a live acoustic show. The new material sounds great; Certainly they fit well with the Nada Surf library of music.

As far as the older material, Nada Surf really brought the fire to this show. Maybe it was because this was the last date of this tour, or maybe because of the great crowd, but they played at a whole new level. Every transition was sharp. Matthews voice sounded better then I've ever heard. They were clearly having a good time on stage.

The last two songs of the main set, Paper Boats and Hyperspace rocked to no end, with extra crazy jamming at the ends, that included Matthew playing his guitar on his mic stand during Hyperspace. After a very brief break which had the crowd chanting Nada Surf, they returned to the stage and brought with them Lisa Fendelander, the keyboardist from Sea Wolf to play the accordion for Blonde on Blonde. It was a nice addition to the song. After absolutely killing Do It Again, the crowd got another bonus. Alex Church, the front man of Sea Wolf joined the band for a song. I don't know what it was called, but it was pretty cool. After that, they closed the set with Always Love and a crazy singalong version of Blankest Year that had the crowd screaming "fuck it" back at the stage. The song concluded with two separate crazy breakdowns, only to return to the main of the song.

What else can I say. This was easily the best Nada Surf show I've ever seen. I can't wait for the new album in February, or the tour that is sure to bring them back to Baltimore. Wow. I sound like a total fan boy. I guess I am.

Do It Again
Blizzard of 77
See These Bones

Full Setlist:

Happy Kid
Hi Speed Soul
What is Your Secret
Fruit Flies
Killians Red
Whose Authority
Blizzard of 77
Concrete Bed
Inside of Love
80 Windows
I like What You Say
Imaginary Friends
Paper Boats
Hyperspace

Blonde on Blonde
Do It Again
The Killing Moon by Echo and the Bunnymen w/ Alex Church
Always Love
Blankest Year

Update:

A new Nada Surf song called "Weightless" will be featured on Heroes tonight. Even more reason to watch the best show on TV.

RATM Live at Voodoo

The crowd at Voodoo 2007 was waiting for the start of the Kings of Leon, when a local radio station DJ took the stage. He did the usual festival stuff; He asked the crowd if they were having a good time, if they liked the beer and booze local vendors were selling. Then he moved on to Rage. Paraphrasing, "These guys aren't playing every city in the US. Them coming here to New Orleans is a big fucking deal." And it was a BFD. One of the most controversial and amazing bands in the last 20 years brought their protest songs and anger to the Big Easy last night, and it was nothing short of spectacular.

Voodoo decided to place its two primary stages fairly close by and facing each other, so the stages alternated performances. Between 8pm and 9pm, while M.I.A. performed on the Sony stage, most of the festivals attendees steadily jockeyed for position. Never have I heard so many people state what time it was or how much time was left to wait. The scheduled start time of 9:10 came and went, and the crowd grew restless. but all was good when around 9:25, the stage went black, and a series of chain motors began to raise a huge backdrop of a single red star.

As the first notes of "Testify" sounded, the crowd surged. Most of the song was spent bouncing around and staying upright through none of my own power. The mood for the show was set as "Testify" reached its climax. With Zach De La Rocha commanding the crowd, all in attendance sang, "who controls the past now controls the future." Rage plowed through hit after hit, from "Bulls on Parade," to "People of the Sun." The crowd (and myself) almost screaming every lyric back at the stage. Tom Morello consistently awed the crowd with his amazing guitar work, but this show belonged to Zach. His presence on the stage, and the amazing fire in his eyes were impossible to ignore. As he rapped his way through "Rodeo," he pointed an imaginary shotgun at the crowd, and played to the home crowd by ad libbing, "I'm rolling down Canal st. with a shotgun."

Mosh pits broke out nearly everywhere in the crowd, but many were quite friendly with some just enjoying the open space to jump up and down, amazed at what they were witnessing. Those who fell on the muddy ground were quickly scooped up. I witnessed very few people that were looking to really rumble. Most just had a good time.

The end of the main set was a perfect duo of songs. "Sleep Now in the Fire" brought an amazing level of excitement for a crowd that had been rocking for an hour. So much so that as "Wake Up" was played, it was almost peaceful. As the slower middle part began, Zach decided it was time for a departure from lyrics. Prior, there had been almost no talking besides the songs themselves. He spoke of visiting the 9th ward, and having an epiphany. He claimed that the US government is currently at war in two places, Iraq and against the people of New Orleans. Some of the crowd cheered, but most seemed to dismiss it, possibly because much of the crowd were not locals. After completing the throat scorching chant of "Wake Up," RATM exited to a huge ovation.

As a veteran of RATM shows, I knew what would be coming after the break, and after about five minutes, they returned and the first notes of "Freedom" began. Building to the first climax, the band fell silent and the stage dark, save a spotlight on De La Rocha. He peered out into the waiting crowd, and shouted "Your anger is a gift." Freedom continued to its expected climax, followed by Morello quietly playing the notes that everyone expected. "Killing in the Name of" rocked the crowd yet again, with some improvised lyrics. "Some of those that burn crosses, are the ones who hold office" emphasised the strong anti-authority message that made RATM so exciting and so popular. As obvious as these messages are on their albums, when witnessing Rage live, it is still amazing to see how passionate De La Rocha is about his music and the causes they promote. After an amazing show like that, I might not go out and start rioting in the streets, but it does cross your mind.

RATM setlist

Rage. Against. The. Machine.

Live at Voodoo. Review tommorrow.

Muse wins Vodafone tour of the year

Muse quite deservedly won the 2007 Vodafone "Tour of the Year" award. I don't know how you quantify something like that, but its a great excuse to show some live Muse video.

Here Knights of Cydonia from Philadelphia on August 10, 2007.



I was about half way between the camera and the girl on someones shoulders.

The full set is available here.

BTW, thats not an encore. That's how they STARTED the Show. Good grief.