[null, {"document_url": "https://xneverwherex.com/2012/05/", "unformatted_src": "https://i1.wp.com/farm9.staticflickr.com/8142/7213695248_3f8cb34c39.jpg", "src": "https://i1.wp.com/farm9.staticflickr.com/8142/7213695248_3f8cb34c39.jpg", "formatted_filename": "f cb c", "rendered_width": 500, "rendered_height": 375}, null, {"document_url": "https://xneverwherex.com/2012/05/", "unformatted_src": "https://i1.wp.com/farm9.staticflickr.com/8152/7213703034_1d771c7ca5.jpg", "src": "https://i1.wp.com/farm9.staticflickr.com/8152/7213703034_1d771c7ca5.jpg", "formatted_filename": "d c ca", "rendered_width": 500, "rendered_height": 375}, null, {"document_url": "https://xneverwherex.com/2012/05/", "unformatted_src": "https://i1.wp.com/farm6.staticflickr.com/5466/7143342507_ca257a6782.jpg", "src": "https://i1.wp.com/farm6.staticflickr.com/5466/7143342507_ca257a6782.jpg", "formatted_filename": "ca a", "rendered_width": 500, "rendered_height": 375}, null]




Enjoy Yourself – The Dandy Warhols

Posted by xneverwherex on May 18, 2012



The Dandy Warhols started off the US tour in San Francisco on Wed night. Touring for their 8th studio album, This Machine, the band was in great spirits. Courtney Taylor-Taylor was as chatty as always and had quite a few stories to share with the SF audience. He reminisced about playing house parties in the 90s in the Mission and also how it took some 3 years for them to finally head up north to Seattle to play a show. SF was lucky to say the least with them playing all the time.

The show started with ‘Be-In’ which might just be the best intro song ever for a band to start a show with. From there it just went non-stop into ‘We Used to Be Friends’ and ‘Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth’. It would be hard to disappoint from that start. The crowd was singing along with lots of cheers for Zia throughout the show. Courtney talked about his shirt ‘Brian Jonestown Manager’ which Anton had asked him to wear for the show. The Brian Jonestown Massacre had just played SF a few nights before. 
The band played hits from most of their catalogue. It was great that there is still an abundance off of 13 Tales that is still played. ‘Shakin’, ‘Mohammed’ and the crowd-pleasing ‘Godless’. The intro chords to ‘Godless’ had the crowd in a frenzy as the audience cheered them on.

About half way through the set Zia said all the vibrations made her need to use the bathroom. Soon enough Brent and Pete followed her off stage. Par for the course, Courtney had the crowd do an acoustic version of ‘Everyday Should Be A Holiday’. Stripped down to a guitar and the audience, the song always sounds great. The chorus really filled up the entire venue as everyone shouted and sang along. Their new music fits in nicely with their older songs. 4 songs were played off the new album and they couldnt have sounded better. They had a nice blend of songs with their droning, shoegaze guitar sounds as well as their faster pop songs ‘Get Off’. ‘Lou Weed’ was played for someone in the audience and Courtney remarked that song had the most words of any of their songs and he was out of breath. As he put it, ‘guess I had a lot to say about Lou Reed’.

Other things: Pete always looks cool esp when he’s doing his wind up arms on guitar; Zia is now playing guitar on a song (or 2) off their new album; and Fatheads hair always looks so awesomely huge. Im pretty sure that this band just gets better with age.

After about 2 hours the band finally announced the last song. With their ‘fake’ encore (ie no one leaves the stage – mock cheers), they were back for one last song. They talked about the carnival scene in Amsterdam which would have been perfect for ‘Autumn Carnival’, but they had already played that. Instead we got a really great version of ‘Country Leaver’ which worked quite well. It was fun and quirky and one hell of a way to end the show.

Openers 1776 (who are on tour with them) looked like they had just stepped out of the 60s/70s with long shaggy hair sounding like The Byrds. They played about 20 minutes of loud rock music – not much talking to the point someone yelled at asking for the name of their band.

The other opener Sleepy Sun were quite catchy sounding a bit shoegaze-y indie pop. Their set dragged on a bit and the lead singer seemed to expect more crowd participation. He was really working the stage going back and forth with big arm movements that I felt like I was watching Snow Patrol. Maybe one day they will be big that they wont have to say their name.

Be in
ride? (did they play this?)
Last high
Holding me up
You get me right down to the floor..sad vacation
Lou weed
And they’re gone. New song
Get off
pia/Boys better


Ill tell.you I.understand. country.leaver

Sent from my Android.

(the setlist might be a bit inaccurate – really couldnt remember if ride was played)


Posted in Adventures in the Big City, Live Music, Random Ramblings, San Francisco | Tagged: 1776, 5/16/12, Brent, concert, Courtney Taylor Taylor, Dandys, indie-rock, live, music, OR, Pete, Portland, rock, San Francisco, shoegaze, Sleepy Sun, The Dandy Warhols, The Fillmore, Zia | 3 Comments »

Arm Wrestling with Yo La Tengo

Posted by xneverwherex on May 4, 2012

Yo La Tengo
Mystic Theatre


It was quite a show for the threesome from Hoboken, NJ. It was their first time playing at the Mystic and their first time in Petaluma. I am sure after the show they had learned a lot more than they would have ever expected.

The show started soon after 8pm and Ira announced that they would be having a q and a. He explained it that we could ask questions between songs and he’d answer them (well the band). Sure enough there were questions galore that covered most topics. It’d be hard to recap most the questions but some that stood out were – what were the band members first album purchased. James talked about his first album bought with his own money at 9 years old being Deep Purple. Because of course, at 9 years old, that is the first album _every_ kid should buy. Georgia, who was seemingly beyond quiet, didn’t want to answer?! Thankfully, Ira coaxed her into telling us the first albums she could remember listening to which were the Monkees. Ira’s was Let’s Spend the Night Together. Ah the Rolling Stones. Hard to go wrong. 
Of course, it meant that there would be a Monkees song or 2. There were quite a few covers with ‘Im A Believer’ and ‘Gonna Buy Me A Dog’ from the Monkees. A Velvet Underground song ‘She’s my Best Friend’ also was played. The covers they played were really well done.

They were asked about SFMOMA (pronounced svmoma (one word)) which led to the band pronouncing almost every word bizarrely. Someone asked Georgia about the drums on ‘Saturday’ (then it was played). They talked about working in parking lots and all the music that they consumed (Robyn Hitchcock and Grand Funk Railroad). Oh and yes, is it torture to play a baby Grand Funk Railroad and some sorta bizarreness.

While I really wasn’t familiar with most of their songs – the encore ‘Sugarcube’ was really well done. All 3 of them have really strong vocals. Sexbeat we learned was the first cover song the band (although it was just Ira and Georgia at the time) to have played live, at a friends party.

They played a song from the Hal Hartley film Amateur. It turns out that their name was misspelled in the film itself. Doh! There was a cover of Neil Young’s ‘From the Turnstyles’. ‘Big Day Coming’ was really great and the lyrics stuck in my mind.

As the night came to an end we were rewarded with the best question/statement ever. Apparently, Petaluma is the arm wrestling capitol of the world. The band quipped they thought it would be most known for its chickens. I dont recall seeing a lot, but it is more farmland I suppose. As they returned from the encore, sure enough, Georgia and Ira had an arm wrestling competition. Quite naturally, Georgia won! 🙂

Its really hard to top a night that ends with that. While I cant say I was very familiar with Yo La Tengo’s work, I was happily surprised with the entire night. It was fun and quirky and a bit odd, just like the band seemed to be.

Oh and yes, there was mention of Snooki and the gang being denied from filming in Hoboken. The band clearly was enjoying themselves as much as the crowd. Would highly recommend checking them out for anyone that has the slightest interest.

Randomness of what was played written in my phone:

SF Moma movie song
Sexbeat – first cover
Song from dump? – its smaller than you are
There’s a big day coming, I can hardly wait
All the turnstyles
Amateur – Hal Hartley film
The Monkees ‘Im A Believer’
Im Gonna Buy Me a Dog
Velvet Underground ‘Shes my Best Friend’
Im On My Way
On The Course of Change, try to more aware
Whatever you want from me, tore me down – encore

Posted in Live Music, Random Ramblings | Tagged: arm wrestling, CA, concert, covers, Georgia, Hoboken, indie-rock, Ira Kaplan, James, live, music, Mystic Theatre, NJ, Petaluma, Yo La Tengo | Leave a Comment »