Concert Reviews
Liam Finn & Eliza-Jane @ Dante’s Portland OR 10/24/09
Liam Finn live @ Dante's Portland, Oregon
New Zealand’s Liam Finn and Eliza Jane performed last month here in Portland. We weren’t sure exactly what to expect from this musical duo. We had read a few reviews on Liam’s debt album, I’ll Be Lightning, as well as listened to a few of his new tracks off his latest EP, Champagne in Seashells, and were excited to see him perform live.
Some background on Liam:
He was born in Melbourne, Australia but calls New Zealand his home as he moved there as a child. He is the eldest son of musician Neil Finn (of Split Enz and Crowded House) and Sharon Finn. A young Liam Finn learned to play many instruments in a very musically inclined family unit. One only needs to view the track listings on 2009’s 7 Worlds Collide, The Sun Came album to see that Mom, Dad, and uncle Tim (Neil’s brother who also played in Split Enz/Crowded House) and cousin, Elroy (Tim’s son) are all talented musicians.
Liam received alot of praise for his debut album I’ll be Lightening last year as well a featured musical guest on CBS’s Late Show with David Letterman on Thursday, February 28th, 2008, where he played “Second Chance”. Liam has also gone on to perform Second Chance on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and Later… with Jools Holland. In 2008 & 2009, Liam Finn opened for Eddie Vedder’s solo tour throughout America. Liam will also headline his first North American tour and head on the road with The Black Keys in November 2008 in the UK and Europe.
(Photos Courtesy of Vix @ YATM)
In December 2008 and January 2009, he participated on the recording sessions of the second album of 7 Worlds Collide. Since the reunion of the band Crowded House in early 2007, Finn has become part of its touring band, playing concerts such as Coachella Festival and Live Earth in Sydney.
It was clear by Liam’s performance, Liam comes alive on stage especially when he plays drums. He can sing and play guitar as good as anyone but he just goes off like a wild man drumming – it was mesmerizing. The passion and intent really show through in his eyes when he is performing. But as intense and aggressive as he is on his instruments, he is one of the nicest guys we have met off stage.
Eliza Jane compliments him perfectly in vocals and instrumentation. She played the autoharp in many of the songs they performed. Eliza-Jane also comes from a famous musical family. Her father, Jimmy Barnes is an Australian rock singer. He is famous both as a solo performer and as the lead vocalist with the rock band Cold Chisel. Combined he is one of the most popular and best-selling Australian music artists of all time. It was apparent that the apple did not fall far from the Finn and Barnes’ family trees.
Neil & Liam Finn – Learn To Crawl (7 Worlds Collide)
Liam Finn + Eliza Jane – Long Way To Go
Eliza-J and Liam Finn Podcast on Ampersand (a recent interview and 2 song set)
Buy Champagne for Seashells EP
BLITZEN TRAPPER @ DOUG FIR LOUNGE, PORTLAND OREGON 10-23-09
After following this local Portland band’s success these past few years and watching them go from a completely unknown band to one that was heralded as the best live show in town this past year, we finally got to witness the amazing boys of Blitzen Trapper personally. They performed before a sold out crowd last month here at the Doug Fir Lounge.
As we anticipated, the band played their bread and butter songs, “Furr”, “Black River Killer”, and “Sleepytime In The Western World”, which are the band’s sweet spot, nice slower story telling folk songs. However, led by lead singer Eric Early’s amazing showmanship, they can really crank up the rock and roll! The band’s performance hit us from all sides and all senses.
Blitzen Trapper are incredibly tight musically. We loved all the parts (members) that make up the sextet of talented artists. They are 3 part vocals with Eric Early (lead vocalist), Brian Adrian Koch (drums and vocals) and Marty Marquis (guitar, keyboards, and vocals). This is definitely one of the band’s strengths that they leverage in thier music and especially in their live shows. The rest of the members are Michael VanPelt, (bass), Drew Laughery (keyboards), and Erik Menteer (guitar/keyboard) all of which contribute equally to this band’s combined strength.
The band self-released its first three albums. “Wild Mountain Nation” was #98 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007. Last year’s “Furr” album enabled the band to become a contender on most of the indie music blogs top 10 list for best album of the year.
(All photos courtesy of Vix @ YATM)
The band played for a good solid hour and a half and then a good 20-30 min encore to a very enthusiastic crowd. No mistaken, we did not see one unhappy fan in the crowd
YATM, having seen many great acts come to Portland this year, we feel that Blitzen Trapper’s live performance is ranked in our top 2 or 3 for the year.
Highly Recommended.
masks from Black River Killer are for sale!
The Black Lips were one of the sought after shows at this year’s Scion Garage Fest in Portland Oregon. Musically they were a very tight unit and they were playing to a thirsty crowd who were lapping it up and moshing and surfing as hard and rowdy as they had for previous acts. The band also had a big “under age” group of fans as this was an all ages event and they were well represented for the Black Lips show.
We left while the band was in full swing so we could grab some good seats for the King Khan and BBQ Show across the road. Unfortunately in these type of festivals you have to make some hard choices and sometimes they are not always the best ones but we feel that we did right – the festival gods were with us. (see King Khan review)
All photos courtesy of Vix @ YATM
The Black Lips – It Feels Alright
The Spits @ Scion Garage Rock Fest Portland Oregon October 2009
The Spits hail from Seattle Washington’s punk rock scene. They have been around for a decade and have been consistently putting out solid punk rock albums. The band is said to be on par with the Black Lips and King Khan as far as their musical appeal and abilities. They have been known to play in costumes and this night was no excception. As you can see from the photos they could be playing your next Halloween Party. This band plays hard and delivers some outrageous stage performances.
The Spits have been described as “a mix of The Ramones’ simplicity and cartoonish tough guy images, today’s lo-fi garage punk sounds and the radiator punk weirdness of classic groups like The Screamers or Devo to create a sound that has made for a string of great albums and sloppy yet amazing live shows.”
We couldn’t have said it better. It was like watching Fred Flintstone sing while his cartoonish mates played along and they were really rocking the venue at Berbati’s. It was insane down in the front of the stage! It was impossible to duck into the middle of it to grab a few close up shots for the blog without risking life and limb! Good on you Vix for those photos!
Those Darlins @ Scion Garage Rock Fest Portland Oregon October 2009
We have to admit, if it weren’t for fact that the venue schedule was screwed up in a major way, like at least an hour behind, we would have missed Those Darlins perform at the Someday Lounge. We had arranged to see the Brimstone Howl perform but instead Those Darlins filled the time slot, but what a nice surprise INdeed!. Previewing the various bands before the show, we felt Those Darlins were a bit too country for our tastes. But we were dead wrong. In many cases, as we have found covering bands, the live act brings out an entire different dimension to the “entertainment” value of their music. In the case of Those Darlins, they put out, it was an incredibly awesome performance.
All Photos courtesy of Vix @ YATM
The girls just let loose from the start of the set and the place went wild. They ended up their set with a couple of songs that found the girls jumping into the audience and singing, dancing, and drinking beer with the fans… how’s that for audience engagement hey? Afterwords, we found time to visit them after down at the merch table and thank them for such a great set.
All Photos courtesy of Vix @ YATM
The Brimstone Howl @ Scion Garage Rock Fest Portland Oregon October 2009
When the Brimstone Howl came on after Those Darlins they had quite the act to follow. We were really enamored with Those Darlins but The Brimstone Howl wasted no time making a big impression on us. They, as one media person next to us shouted, were “frantic” and played the guitars like men possessed. We really liked the bluesy vocals and accompanying guitar riffs. The final song was huge. The lead singer jumped on the floor in front of the stage, opened his arms in a crucifixion-like pose head to one side while the lead guitarist (who seemed just slightly, read as quite a lot heavier… no offence mate) jumped on his shoulders and then they proceeded to parade around in the audience playing the guitar, it was an awesome finish to a great set. Look for them in future posts. But check out the two songs below and jump on board with this Omaha Nebraska sensation!
Look for their new album out Nov 24th, titled Big Deal…. What Has He Done for Me Lately?
The Boys (one on top of the other) went parading through the crowd, rocking it up !!
All Photos courtesy of Vix @ YATM
Brimstone Howl – Suicide Blues
The King Khan and BBQ Show @ Scion Garage Rock Fest Portland Oregon October 2009
Live at Scion Garage Fest
After watching several great acts at various venues throughout the day at the Scion Garage Fest in Portland Oregon last week, we were treated to the “topper” of the festival (although Roky Erikson was the headliner for the Festival) King Khan @ BBQ. We at YATM, have been waiting for this opportunity to see and hear King Khan and tonight was the night. As well, we had a bird’s eye view up in a small balcony of this well known smaller venue, Dante’s, for his performance.
We started following King Khan after his “rooftop” performance for Pitchfork was posted a little over a year ago. It was a 6 song set up on top of a Brooklyn NY rooftop and he was as outrageous as ever! (see below)
As expected, they came out in costume, King Khan with his wild shimmering blue mini skirted outfit with matching sparkling wig and some very wild spiraled specs with his sidekick (literally aka kick drummer) BBQ outfitted in red turban, sash, and cape. From the minute they hit the stage, the crowd went ape shit! As you can see from our photos, King Khan strutted his stuff, shook his mini skirted ass, batted his eyelids at us, prancing across the stage as he delivered a barrage of King Khan-istic blast of Garage Rock. How do you describe this guy? Even though it was a small venue of about 200 or so, the floor dynamics looked more like a few thousand with the crowd moving as one from one side of the venue to the other (as in an arena rock fest). It looked phenomenal from our vantage point but I’m sure that the crowd felt the effects of being driven over by a truck the next day!
The Sultan (Mark Sultan aka BBQ) sat for the majority of the set behind his drums, barefooted, a tambourine taped to the foot petal which played every time he hit the drum. As much King Khan is the showman, BBQ, is just as amazing with a voice that he can belt out with great force which is equally as stunning as King Khan’s showmanship. We were blown away by his vocals!
They played for a solid hour and a half with no break between songs, it was full on. However, it did appear that King Khan looked a bit tired and seemed like he held back toward the end of the set but to his credit, he played a damn good set. Perhaps with all the crowd and the stage lights the effects of wearing the wig the entire set, no doubt he was steaming hot!
King Khan & BBQ – treat me like a dog
All photos courtesy of Vix at YATM
Official Scion Garage Fest site
The Crash Kings/Mason Jennings @ The Wonder Ballroom, Portland Oregon 09-27-09
Crash Kings performing live at the Wonder Ballroom Portland, OR
“The Crash Kings have been touted as occupying a curious unclaimed space between the White Stripes and Ben Folds Five — a space unclaimed not so much because nobody thought of it, but nobody really wanted it. Crash Kings boldly go where no group has gone before, and after the bluster of the opening “Mountain Man” — a modern-rock makeover of “My Doorbell,” a track where producer Dave Sardy leans heavily on his work with Wolfmother — fades, it’s clear that no matter how much fuzz bass the band piles up, Crash Kings lean a bit too heavily on the Folds part of the equation, loving his pounding eighth notes and clever-clever wit. Fortunately, the band has a bit of a melodic flair, too, not so much writing big, anthemic pop hits and ballads but the kind of twisty, winding lines that piano-bound popsters tend to favor. All this does mean that Crash Kings are most intriguing when they play up the Stripes part of their equation — when they get loud, as they do on “14 Arms,” or when they mimic the Whites’ thud and caterwaul as they do on “You Got Me” — because that’s when they don’t seem like another politely pressed and pleasant piano pop band.” Stephen Thomas Erlewine
The Crash Kings Lineup: Tony – vocals, pianos, Jason- drumset & Mike – bass hail from LA. Apparently they were only supporting Mason for three shows in September (the last which we attended) but not the October gigs with him due to some sort of scheduling conflicts.
The Crash KIngs hit Portland on a dreary fall evening to open for Mason Jennings and when we say hit we mean ‘HIT IT’
From the first bars of the opener “All Along” they took control of the audience who steadily moved toward the band podium from their possies near the bar…
Their performance was fast, hard and for the entire set they had the stage by the balls, simply they nailed it.
We especially liked ‘Mountain Man which was the highlight for us…
When we asked their Tour Manager what came next for them he said simply ‘I dunno’. After this enlightening conversation we set about finding out for ourselves what they were up to next and saw this on their MS blog Oct 15th
“So, when we got the call to pack our bags for Florida on Oct 13th, they really meant “pack your bags right now!!!) We hit the road at 630 am. on the 14th and drove 28 hours straight to Houston, where we stopped at Jason’s mom’s house for a few hours to nap and get an oil change. Then we hopped back in ol’ blue, and hit it once again. We’ll drive straight to Ft. Lauderdale through the night into the morning of the 16th, grab a hotel, and crash till we have to load in for our show tomorrow night. What a life! Trust me, we’re not complaining one bit…we love this. We’ll be opening for The Bravery for ten dates, up until Salt Lake City, then head back to LA for our Viper Room show!”
It seems they are literally all over the place as we also heard that they were playing in Seattle with The White Rabbits and Oregon Donor this past Tuesday
We at YATM really enjoyed their set and hope to see them do more live work soon…
Setlist:
All Along
Carry On
Its Only Wed
You Got Me
1985
Come Away
Mountain Man
Raincoat
My Love
They have recently contributed songs to the film, “Dynasty”, the current Warren Miller Action Thriller.
Their song “Mountain Man” is the lead single off their self titled album.
Mason Jennings performing in Portland, Oregon
Mason Jennings put in a solid performance however we at YATM felt that his live stage performance does not add much entertainment value to his music. Having said that, we really love his music so we had very high expectations for his show.
All photos courtesy of Vix @ YATM
Previous Crash Kings post on YATM
