This week's late night TV lineup

SNL - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Kimmel

• Wed - Massive Attack

Leno

• Fri - Against Me!

Fallon

• Tues - Circa Survive
• Wed - Phish

Carson

• Tues - Surfer Blood
• Wed - The Living Sisters
  
• Fri - Circa Survive

Craig Ferguson

• Thurs - Damian Marley & Nas

The National - Electric Factory (6/4/10)

Even under less than ideal conditions, the National still impressed in concert. It wasn't an easy night though...

• Traffic - The combination of it being a Friday afternoon with both the Flyers and Phillies having home games made the traffic in Philly pretty much miserable.
• Venue - My first time at this venue, which is basically a warehouse. Those who want to enjoy a show with an adult beverage in hand are limited to the upstairs (with very few views of the stage) or the right-side of the stage downstairs (with sub-par acoustics). Not sure if that's by design or because of some silly ABC law, but it doesn't make a lot of sense to herd those willing to hand over more of their $$ into two undesirable areas of the venue.
  
• Crowd - Somehow, we ended up surrounded by a bunch of ass hats who were more interested in boozing and talking than the concert itself. Essentially, they paid a $25-35 cover to get into the Electric Factory bar with the National providing the background music. Another reason to refrain from the over-21 areas next time.

Enough of being Debbie Downer. The band was much more engaging (with each other and the crowd) than the other times I've seen them. Singer Matt Berninger puts so much of himself into some songs that he looks like he's on the verge of a full-blown seizure - I honestly don't know how he does it on a nightly basis and is still sane. The setlist was a solid 22 songs - I believe all but one ("Cherry Tree") being from Alligator, Boxer or High Violet. It looked like "Fake Empire" was supposed to close the main set, but Berninger called an audible of sorts as the rest of the band was putting down their instruments and they instead closed with "Mr. November." I'd assume that this was meant to be their encore closer, because "About Today" ended the show kinda awkwardly.

All things considered it was a good night of music (with the Flyers and Phils chalking up W's to boot). LBJ scored a pair of free tickets to the Saturday show in a radio station raffle too, which by his account was a more pleasurable experience than Friday. Oh well, you can't with them all...

I'll do what I want but irresponsibly

From last year's Austin City Limits concert/taping, but they replayed it a few weeks ago. Not only are these guys great musicians, they're bad-ass performers too. Watching this fires me up...



Saw PJ and Band of Horses at the ridiculously named Jiffy Lube Live (formerly Nissan Pavilion) last month with the LOML. Chalk up another fantastic concert by Pearl Jam.

This week's late night TV lineup

SNL - Alicia Keys

Kimmel

• Tues - Stone Temple Pilots

Leno

• Thurs - Snoop Dogg
• Fri - Nas and Damien Marley

Fallon

• Thurs - Phish

Carson Daly

• Wed - Black Lips
• Fri - Doves

Letterman

• Tues - Band of Horses
• Fri - Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings

This week's late night TV lineup

Kimmel

• Fri - Massive Attack

Fallon

• Mon - Public Image Ltd.
• Wed - Mumford & Sons

Carson Daly

• Mon - 311

Letterman

• Wed - Stone Temple Pilots
• Thurs - Band of Horses

Craig Ferguson

• Thurs - The Hold Steady
  

This week's late night TV lineup

SNL - Tom Petty

Jimmy Kimmel

• Thurs - Dirty Heads
• Fri - Dr. Dog

Letterman

• Tues - MGMT
• Thurs -The National

Craig Ferguson

• Mon - Wilco
• Tues - Jonsi

Fallon

• Mon - Green Day
• Thurs - Phish
• Fri - Rolling Stones

New music

• Stream the National's High Violet (May 11th), the Dead Weather's Sea of Cowards (May 11th) and Flying Lotus' Cosmogramma (out now) on NPR
  
• Tokyo Police Club, "Wait Up (Boots of Danger)," Champ (Jun 8th), MFR
• Wolf Parade, "What Did My Lover Say? (It Always Had to Go This Way)" and "Ghost Pressure," Expo 86 (Jun 29th), Tympanogram
• Pains of Being Pure at Heart, "Say No to Love," Say No to Love 7" (Jun 8th), Pfork

This week's late night TV lineup

SNL - Jay-Z

Kimmel

• Mon - Two Door Cinema Club

Fallon

• Wed - The New Pornographers

Letterman

• Tues - Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings
• Wed -Willie Nelson
• Fri - Wale

Hump Day Humor

A little late, but funny nonetheless.

This week's late night TV lineup

SNL - Vampire Weekend

Leno

• Wed - Aqualung

Jimmy Fallon

• Tues - The Whigs
• Wed - Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings

Carson Daly

• Tues - Citizen Cope

Letterman

• Tues - Hole
• Fri - The Hold Steady

Jimmy Kimmel

• Tues - Civil Twilight
• Wed - Dr. Dog
• Thurs - Hole
  

New music

• The National, full album stream of High Violet (May 11th), Brooklyn Vegan
• The New Pornographers, full album stream of Together (May 4th), NPR
  
• Junip, "Rope and Summit," EP title and date TBD, Their Bated Breath
• M.I.A, "Born Free," (video is NOT safe for work due to violence) LP title and date TBD, MOKB
• The Dead Weather, "Gasoline," Sea of Cowards (May 11th), Stereogum
  

New music

• The Hold Steady, full stream of Heaven is Whenever (May 4th), NPR
• Broken Social Scene, full stream of Forgiveness Rock Record (May 4th), NPR
• Blur, "Fool's Day," single released for Record Store Day, Blur website

UPDATE

• Band of Horses, "Factory," Infinite Arms (May 18th), band's website
• Rolling Stones, "Plundered My Soul," Exile on Main Street deluxe reissue (May 18th), TwentyFourBit
  

This week's late night TV lineup

Jimmy Kimmel

• Mon -Cypress Hill featuring Tom Morello
• Wed - Rob Zombie

Letterman

• Thurs - Broken Social Scene

Jimmy Fallon

• Wed - Silversun Pickups

Carson Daly

• Mon - Weezer
• Thurs - David Gray

Leno

• Mon - Phoenix
• Tues - Smashing Pumpkins
• Wed - Natalie Merchant
  

Drive-By Truckers - Recher Theatre (4/14/10)

A good old fashioned, balls out rock and roll concert… that pretty much sums up the Drive-By Truckers live. Other than getting the thumbs-up from RatBat Bear, who saw them with the Hold Steady at the end of ’08, I didn’t really know what to expect from this show. What I and about 700 people got was 27 songs of sweet southern rock goodness.

A few things of note… first, DBT has a hell of a fan base. I was initially surprised by this, but by the end of the night it was pretty clear why. While a crowd of 700 doesn’t seem like much, the energy kicked the shit out of some of the tepid crowds I’ve been a part of that were over 2x the size. The show was sold out and tickets were abnormally scarce on Craigslist. I waited outside for about 10 minutes before someone offered up and extra ticket. I walked in as DBT were taking the stage and the place was pretty much packed (unheard of for DC-area concerts). Lots of singing, grooving and Natty Boh drinking. This was most likely the effects of the other thing I noticed…

DBT genuinely seemed to be having a good time - something that probably can’t be said about a lot of other bands… especially when they’re on tour. This was pretty evident from their interactions with each other and the crowd. Maybe the Jack Daniels they were passing around (2 bottles) had something to do with it, but I doubt it. These guys have been around awhile – they’re a well-oiled machine and they play off of each other extremely well.

I’d consider myself a casual DBT fan. I have a few of their albums which I like - but for whatever reason, their music doesn’t hold my attention or interest for an entire album. Same goes for their latest, The Big To-Do. And while I’d definitely recommend seeing them in concert, I don’t think the experience will make me want to listen to their albums more – I’ll just anxiously await their next tour and bring a few friends with me to share the experience.

New music

• The National, "Afraid of Everyone," High Violet (May 10th), Pfork
• Band of Horses, "Laredo," Infinite Arms (May 18th), Pfork
• Deer Tick, "Twenty Miles," Black Dirt Sessions (Jun 8th)

This week's late night TV lineup

Letterman

• Mon - Spoon

Jimmy Kimmel

• Mon & Tues - Them Crooked Vultures
• Thurs - Spoon
  

This week's late night TV lineup

Jimmy Kimmel

• Mon - She & Him
• Thurs - Jonathan Tyler & Northern Lights

Jimmy Fallon

• Tues - Dr. Dog

Carson Daly

• Mon - Arctic Monkeys
• Tues - The Living Sisters

Letterman

• Mon - The Swell Season

Farewell #5

Well, it was a hell of a ride - 6 Pro Bowls, 5 NFC Championship games and 1 Super Bowl appearance. While I sit here pondering whether or not it was the right move to trade him to a division rival, I can't help but feel relieved for McNabb... he's taken more crap from Philly fans since day 1 than he deserved (although he did deserve some of it). Hopefully he'll find some peace down in DC.

[Isportacus]

Wilco - The Strathmore (3/30/10)

Wow... on many levels. The Strathmore is an absolutely phenomenal place to see a concert. Top-notch acoustics, beautiful design (both inside and out), comfortable seats and easy access (by car and mass transit). If you ever get a chance to see a show there, I highly recommend that you take advantage.

And then there was Wilco - 37 songs over almost 3 hours... you can't ask much more from a band than that. After coming out blazing, they pulled back on the throttle in the middle of their set, moving to the front of the stage, closer together and playing about a dozen songs, not full-out acoustically, but pretty darn close to it. Then back to their main instruments they went, and closed out the set with a "Jesus, etc" crowd singalong (which wasn't all that great, according to Jeff Tweedy), "Heavy Metal Drummer," "I'm the Man Who Loves You," and some other faves.

All-in-all it was a great concert, but it had bit of a different, more laid-back feel than the other two times I saw them. Maybe it was the classiness of the venue, maybe the attendance of Rahm Emanuel had something to do with it, maybe it was because it was on a Tuesday night in the 'burbs. When you get that many songs with near-perfect acoustics, it's hard to complain too much. All I know is that it's better than seeing them in a stadium or from the back of the lawn at a pavilion, which is probably where they're headed next go-around.

New music

• The Hold Steady, "Rock Problems," Heaven is Whenever (May 4th), Vulture
• Band of Horses, "Compliments," Infinite Arms (May 18th), Pfork
• Tokyo Police Club, "Breakneck Speed," Champ (June 8th), Pigeon Post
• Broken Social Scene, "Forced to Love," "All to All" and "Love Sick," Forgiveness Rock Record (May 4th), Songs to Save
• The Black Keys, "Tighten Up" and "Next Girl," Brothers (May 18th), I am fuel