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Work was as hectic as ever this month and I only got to two shows, but they were good ones.
Weird Al: The Strings Attached Tour
First things first: I will always go see Weird Al. On this particular tour, he was accompanied by the National Symphony Orchestra, which also played movie themes as the opening act. (This would give my mother, for one, fits. But it seems to me that the degree to which orchestras are treated--by their members and society at large--as some rarified institution that plays a ossified canon of music is the degree to which they are irrelevant.)
Anyway. The show was as good as his shows always are. We were on the lawn with a clear, but distant view of the stage. The weather was humid, but the promised thunderstorm passed a few miles south of the venue so the show wasn't truncated or postponed, and it made a neat backdrop. I still think last year's Ridiculously Ill-Advised, Self-Indulgent Vanity Tour was the best Weird Al show I've seen, because it focused solely on his original songs and holy crap, he and his band put on a show more blistering than well over half of the "real" rock bands I've seen... But this was a solid performance as well. The sound was good, the costume changes were good, the set list was good, and the live orchestra added a lot.
Escape-ism
First, it's insane to me that I've seen Ian Svenonius anything live, and yet this is the third time that I've seen Escape-ism. Their show was as solid as ever. One thing I really love about him/them is that the songs are constantly in flux: the lyrics and arrangements change from show to show and album to album. The stage patter was as brilliant and witty as ever, and I am pretty much convinced that it is not canned, either. The opening act was a group called Too Free, which I'd never heard of, but who had a very TV on the Radio vibe and put on a really energetic, engaging live show. (Also, their drummer is a dead ringer for Winter Soldier-era Bucky Barnes.) The show was on a weeknight and the fact that I'd be getting up for work in four hours was always in the back of my mind, but it was well worth the pain the next morning.
これで以上です。
Weird Al: The Strings Attached Tour
First things first: I will always go see Weird Al. On this particular tour, he was accompanied by the National Symphony Orchestra, which also played movie themes as the opening act. (This would give my mother, for one, fits. But it seems to me that the degree to which orchestras are treated--by their members and society at large--as some rarified institution that plays a ossified canon of music is the degree to which they are irrelevant.)
Anyway. The show was as good as his shows always are. We were on the lawn with a clear, but distant view of the stage. The weather was humid, but the promised thunderstorm passed a few miles south of the venue so the show wasn't truncated or postponed, and it made a neat backdrop. I still think last year's Ridiculously Ill-Advised, Self-Indulgent Vanity Tour was the best Weird Al show I've seen, because it focused solely on his original songs and holy crap, he and his band put on a show more blistering than well over half of the "real" rock bands I've seen... But this was a solid performance as well. The sound was good, the costume changes were good, the set list was good, and the live orchestra added a lot.
Escape-ism
First, it's insane to me that I've seen Ian Svenonius anything live, and yet this is the third time that I've seen Escape-ism. Their show was as solid as ever. One thing I really love about him/them is that the songs are constantly in flux: the lyrics and arrangements change from show to show and album to album. The stage patter was as brilliant and witty as ever, and I am pretty much convinced that it is not canned, either. The opening act was a group called Too Free, which I'd never heard of, but who had a very TV on the Radio vibe and put on a really energetic, engaging live show. (Also, their drummer is a dead ringer for Winter Soldier-era Bucky Barnes.) The show was on a weeknight and the fact that I'd be getting up for work in four hours was always in the back of my mind, but it was well worth the pain the next morning.
これで以上です。