Autolux, Moving Units and The Secret Machines
The Avalon in Hollywood, California
February 21, 2005
Reviewed by Ivan Fernandez
"How did all these kids get to be so damn hip?" I asked myself after I stepped into the auditorium of The Avalon in Hollywood, CA. The night of February 21st was the night of the Autolux/Moving Units/The Secret Machines concert.
This wasn't the first time I faced this conundrum. Last year, I was hit by the "I'm too old for this" bug when I attended the Le Tigre concert and realized that the average age in the auditorium was somewhere around the 16-18 mark. A pretty young woman offered an explanation, citing popular television program "The O.C." (The Secret Machines are featured on the soundtrack) as the culprit. Or perhaps it was their run as Interpol's opening band during their last tour that brought them this attention.
But that couldn't explain the number of kids in attendance who were strictly there for opening bands Autolux and/or The Moving Units. I wasn't sure if I should have felt proud that these kids were fans of these independent rock groups or envious that I wasn't lucky enough to be exposed to this type of music when I was their age.
Whatever the reason, these young fans, along with many of us older kin, packed the Avalon (formerly known as The Palace) for the night's all-ages spectacle.
Bassist/Vocalist Eugene introduced Autolux with a simple "hello, we're Autolux" seconds before the band let the music do the talking. Carla banged away on her drum kit like a manic barefoot puppet out of a lost Tim Burton film while guitarist Greg added a wall of lush harmony to the overall soundtrack. After the last song, Eugene once again took the role of band spokesperson and announced the band's departure with a simple "thank you."
The Moving Units, fresh off their global tour, were next on stage. The band pulled a fast one on the crowd when drummer Chris appeared on stage playing bass and vocalist/guitarist Blake sang along to a drum machine. What happened to the bassist?! Turns out he was hiding on the side of the stage until it was time for the second song. The music jumped in tempo a few paces with the trio completed. The trio pumped up the crowd as they played through songs from their self-titled EP and full-length album Dangerous Dreams.
"If you're bootlegging this show," panted Miller, "please send me a copy. I still don't know all the words." The crowd was a sweaty, danced-out blob by the time The Moving Units were finished with them.
The Secret Machines made their grand entrance thanks to a spectacular light show of neon spotlights. Ben Curtis played a few notes on his guitar to open up their show with drummer Josh Garza backing him up. Moments later, Brandon Curtis (yes, they're related) jumped onto his stool and tickled the ivories. The members expertly maneuvered through their set of mellow, yet somehow upbeat, rock songs. However, the rush of adrenaline left by their opening band demanded something more dance-able that the headliner didn't provide.
If this concert were a pill of ecstasy, it could only be described as one of the more mellow forms of MDMA. Autolux were the first strong waves of the drug, rushing coldly through the crowd's veins. Then came the exhilarating rush and peak of The Moving Units followed by the mellowing out and calming exhilaration of The Secret Machines. But if you're a first-timer, mellow isn't the best way to go.
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Elvis Costello & The Imposters
Nokia Live in Grand Prairie, Texas
March 15, 2005
Reviewed by Mark Pittman
I envy any fan of Elvis Costello’s who has yet to see him perform live. Whatever expectations you have of Elvis based on his recordings, they can’t possibly be accurate. From his albums you might expect an angry, uptight, nerdy guy with a strangely screwed-up voice making jerky motions with his guitar. None of that is true.
This is my fourth time to see Elvis Costello and one reason I keep going back is that I know I’m going to enjoy 2+ hours watching a completely natural artist. You can tell just by the way he acts when he plays and sings that he isn’t faking any part of his performance. His in-between song banter is also so articulate and funny that you immediately just like the guy…or immediately dislike him because you know you’ll never be that witty.
On the show I saw on March 15th, he also brought a bit of wit to his dress sense. As he walked on stage in his trademark “slimming” black suit, one couldn’t help but notice he had decided to finish off his ensemble with a pair of blindingly silver shoes! It wasn’t a laser show, but it was just flashy enough to keep the audience entertained and amused every time he stepped toward the edge of the stage for a solo.
That’s another thing about Elvis you might not expect. He likes playing guitar solos in concert, and I for one always enjoy them. He’s definitely not a slick guitarist, but that’s a good thing. Like Neil Young, he always seems to be searching for the next note in his solos, while making sure the emotional intensity is as high as possible. On this tour supporting the Delivery Man album, the music had a slightly rootsy feel to it, and during his performance of “Needle Time” Elvis even attempted a traditional blues solo! I was buying it nearly all the way, which surprised me. But by the end Elvis was barely playing at all, probably out of ideas. My friend turned to me at this point and said “I think he needs to go to Stevie School” meaning Stevie Ray Vaughn School. Oh well, I thought he did OK.
Steve Nieve is the other reason to go back four times to see Elvis Costello. Having played piano myself for nearly thirty years, I can tell you that this man is a monster! You can’t help but laugh out loud watching him play “Man Out of Time;” he’s playing so many notes, so perfectly. Also, like Elvis, you’re completely caught up in what he’s doing just by watching him move intently between piano, keyboard, and theremin. But if I had one criticism of Nieve’s performance that night it was that he used spacey keyboard effects and the theremin too much on the Delivery Man songs. I got a little motion sick listening to the bleeps and bloops darting in and through Elvis’s roots-styled arrangements.
Elvis didn’t talk that much during the show in Grand Prairie (when he did talk he sounded a little hoarse), but he did mention the band’s first thoughts on seeing “Grand Prairie” listed on their itinerary instead of Dallas: “We thought we’d been run out of town before we even got here. (Grand Prairie is home to NextStage which is Dallas’s medium size arena. Perfectly respectable.) What was really interesting, though, was that even though Elvis’s voice on the newer songs was occasionally horse, on the older songs he sounded 100% accurate to the recordings, without any hoarseness at all.
You had to be there, but it was strange.
Of these older songs, two stood out. Elvis performed both “Brilliant Mistake” and “New Amsterdam” as straight electric rock, and both were amazing—“New Amsterdam” probably being the highlight of the evening.
As would be expected, the show mainly revolved around Delivery Man’s songs. “Bedlam” and “Needle Time”, two of Delivery Man’s most energetic numbers, surprisingly didn’t carry over too well live. But nearly everything else did. “Country Darkness” got some deserved cheers when it was announced. And “There’s a Story in Your Voice” benefited immensely from the absence of Lucinda Williams’ vocal talents.
On slower numbers like “Country Darkness,” the stage was lit very tastefully with light sometimes forming pools of color around the players. I had just watched the film Ray a few nights before, and thought that it looked a lot like a Ray Charles show from the 60s. (It wasn’t until later that I realized comparing an Elvis Costello show to a Ray Charles show probably isn’t a good idea. If you don’t know why, don’t ask…)
The Delivery Man song that got things really moving, though, was “Monkey to Man”. Before announcing the song, Elvis shouted some preacher talk at us about “50 Years Ago the Monkey came to speak to us, and now he’s back…” It didn’t make much sense, but once the music started everyone made a path en masse to the front of the stage to imitate a 60’s dance party, and stayed there for nearly the rest of the show. It’s probably sickeningly obvious to mention this, but with everyone dancing in the aisles and Elvis moving across the stage, guitar in hand, it really did look like the concert sequences in The Buddy Holly Story.
But that’s the final impression you’re left with. On just about any night, Elvis Costello is going to deliver the goods like the classic rock ‘n’ roll artist he is. It’s nothing new, but it’s also the kind of classic performance of which few other artists these days seem capable.
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Flogging Molly, The Riverboat Gamblers and Hot Water Music
House Of Blues in New Orleans, Louisiana
February 25th, 2005
Reviewed by Virginia Dressler
Live favorites Flogging Molly teamed with the Riverboat Gamblers and Hot Water Music for an energetic, Guinness soaked tour; hitting seventeen cities across the United States.
The band continues to play to audiences worldwide at a mind blowing pace, with the intensity of their live shows warranting the sold out venues almost across the board. In all fairness though, each band partaking on the Green 17 tour are known to doll out consistently high energy performances that cause even the most subdued hipsters to twitch.
Starting off the night were the Riverboat Gamblers with a dose of straightforward rock ‘n’ roll. Hard hitting riffs from songs like “Dead from the Neck Up” gave an adequate indication of the show to come. The Ramblers prepped the full house for Florida boys Hot Water Music. This band has also followed a tight touring schedule as of late, literally heading straight from a European tour. The crowd was given a taste of the band’s latest album, The New What Next (Epitaph), as well as a handful of older songs. The dirty, driving guitar lines coupled with guttural choruses seem to be distant relatives of Fugazi. The unusually subtle melodies that Hot Water Music procures in the guitar and vocals can only truly be measured to their own stylized musical linguistic. New songs like “End of the Line” are slightly slower paced than previous compositions, though considering almost a decade of performing and song-writing together seem a natural occurrence.
And finally, Flogging Molly reciprocated the energy of the crowd in a way that this writer has never seen at a House of Blues show. Lead singer Dave King seemed to feel right at home, noting some of the more European qualities of New Orleans. The sponsorship of Guinness, which seems to be Flogging Molly’s unofficial beverage of choice, perhaps encouraged both these similarities and the ensuing dancing with their drink specials that evening. Perhaps ironic is the fact that King is also the only member that is Irish, not that the remaining members shouldn’t have honorary citizenship to the Emerald Isle.
The combinations of musical styles and instrumentation make Flogging Molly such a gem. Fiddle, banjo and accordion are combined with the basic guitar, bass and drum set-up that originates such an incomparable quality to their sound. The band debuted “Queen Anne’s Revenge”, giving bass player Nathen Maxwell a chance at lead vocals. Several other songs off the band’s last album, Within a Mile From Home, were played as well, including “Seven Deadly Sins”, “Tomorrow Comes a Day Too Soon”, along with older crowd favorites like “Drunken Lullabies”. The crowd continued to swell and surge towards the stage at every song onset, even to the last encore song. Albeit exhausted, I imagine every participant that night walked away with a song at heart.
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Greg Keelor
Lee's Palace in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
March 29th, 2005
Reviewed by Adam M. Anklewicz
Greg Keelor is one of Canada’s rock ‘n’ roll royalty. I think all Canadians are born with Blue Rodeo songs forever ingrained in their souls. The songwriting team of Jim Cuddy & Greg Keelor are known for some of the best Canadian music since Neil Young. Easily compared to Lennon and McCartney, the two have a similar dynamic. How many musicians can start strumming their song and have the entire audience singing the first verse for him? Keelor was able to get the entire room excited for “What Am I Doing Here”.
Greg Keelor recently released a solo album, and Seven Songs For Jim is precisely what it sounds like. The only thing more to know is who Jim is. Keelor’s father died and these songs were written as a tribute to him, an expression of the emotions Keelor went through sitting with his father in his final days.
The Funeral
Playing all seven songs from the CD this show was promoting, along with a Tom Waits cover, the mood was sombre, but the songs had humour and a positive outlook. With Travis Good of The Sadies on guitar and Bryden Baird on horns, the show was very bare. Keelor himself was playing acoustic guitar.
The audience could tell that Keelor enjoyed doing this for his father, a final way for him to say goodbye.
The Wake
Sending off his father, the show was in a high swing. Traditional songs, Blue Rodeo songs, songs about death, songs about love, songs about God and songs about Satan. What better way to be remembered than through song and Keelor used other people’s songs as jumping points to tell the crowd about the man he lost.
Travis Good started playing the fiddle and along with Greg Keelor on guitar the two performed a cover of Neil Young’s “Are You Ready For The Country”. Travis Good’s playing is something you have to see to believe; Keelor knew this and let him shine. No egos were in the way and it made for a great set. During the wake most of the spotlight was on Good’s talents, Keelor had shown himself as a songwriter and the crowd knew it before entering the venue. The two musicians really seemed to get off on the talent of the other and it made for an incredible show.
In the eight issues of Being There, I have never given five stars. I feel that a perfect review is a coveted thing which should not be thrown around. Greg Keelor deserved this rating.
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