Category: show reviews

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Rock ‘n’ Roll Photog: Lucero/Social Distortion

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Social D., yo. What more needs to be said? (Aside from, “Buying music at the grocery store, what!?”)

Before I get started on this one, I have to tell y’all that Social Distortion has a very special place in my heart. I spent a good decade (1998-2008) in cultural exile, by which I mean only listening to the classic rock station, buying music at Whole Foods and getting my (musical) news from Rolling Stone — okay, perhaps not so much cultural exile as descent into premature middle-age – and as you might have guessed, I didn’t go to a whole lot of shows during this time. The few I did attend were either Bon Jovi or Social D. (The epiphany that prompted my return to modern rock occurred at a Bon Jovi show, but that is a story for another time.)

Back then my sister had to coax me out, arguing that Social D hardly ever came east and I shouldn’t miss seeing them play. Things are different now, obviously, but their shows still feel like a special treat. This particular one also featured Lucero, who I honestly had forgotten was going to be there, and so was pleasantly surprised to see them.

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After listening to their set, I concluded I’d like to see them at their own show, somewhere other than the big cavern that is Roseland Ballroom. They didn’t get lost in it, but something about the ambiance was off. They have a big heavy country sound – this might seems like a contradiction in terms but I promise you it isn’t – and I think I might have gotten more into it at, say, Irving Plaza or the Bowery Ballroom. In any case, I only took a few pictures before I retreated to our spot on the risers. There was a big column blocking my view of the stage, but being up away from the crowd where I could breathe was well worth it.

At one point I did try to see if I could wiggle my way back in to edges of the pit to get some shots of Social D, but there were just too many people. So here’s the view from the risers:

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Brent Harding


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Brent Harding, Mike Ness


In the end I didn’t really care that I couldn’t really see them all that well. I could hear them just fine, and the power of Mike Ness’ voice has not diminished one bit. Plus they played my favorite song – Ball and Chain – and it occurred to me that I used to sing along because I could identify with the sentiments (I’m sick, and I’m tired, and I can’t take any more pain) and now I sing along because I did actually manage to slip loose of my metaphorical ball and chain. Though I do still sometimes buy music at the grocery store. Anyway, in conclusion: Thank you, Social D, for keeping me company during those bleak times, and I look forward to seeing you (and perhaps actually seeing you) the next time you come around.

— Jennifer

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Trampled by Turtles/The Infamous Stringdusters at the Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland, Ohio, 11.6.10

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Trampled by Turtles

Many times, when you hear one song by a band and are instantly excited
by it, the rest of that band’s repertoire can be disappointing. I
heard Trampled by Turtles’ “Wait So Long” a while back and loved it
instantly, so when they started off their set at the Beachland
Saturday night with a mellow number, while it was a lovely song, I
wondered if I was in for impending disappointment. But all misgivings
were completely wiped out by the second song when TBT launched into
the thrash-grass sound that’s been garnering them fans all over the
country.

TBT played a very good mix of slower tunes with their fast tunes, but
it was obviously the fast ones the audience had come for, and I don’t
think anyone was disappointed. Between the foot-stomping that was
going on out on the floor and the guy who was headbanging to my left,
for a moment, I wondered if a mosh pit was going to erupt in the
ballroom.

The band themselves seemed to be having a great time, too, smiling and
laughing often. They traded off lead vocals once to let their talented
bass guitar (note: not upright as you usually see in string bands) Tim
Saxhaug take the reins on a good-feeling-inducing song about wishing
you knew then what you know now. And with their talented roster (Dave
Simonett on guitar and lead vocals, Dave Carroll on banjo, Ryan Young
on fiddle and Erik Berry tearing it up on mandolin) and amazing
energy, they are able to pull off what not many other bands of any
genre can without losing the audience halfway through: instrumentals.

(Sidenote: Even though TBT are from Minnesota, I couldn’t help wishing
they would cover the classic “Rocky Top”.)

They played for an exhilarating hour, closing with a rendering of
“Wait So Long” that seemed to work the whole of the Beachland into a
frenzy, resulting in the first time I’ve ever experienced an opening
act being called back for an encore. They certainly made a lot of new
fans in Cleveland.

The Infamous Stringdusters

The Infamous Stringdusters (Andy Hall on resonator guitar, Andy Falco
on guitar, Chris Pandolfi on banjo, Jeremy Garrett on fiddle, Jesse
Cobb on mandolin, and Travis Book on upright bass) are musicians’
musicians, centering many of their extended songs around trading off
solos and flexing their chops. They’re a bluegrass jam band, in other
words. There are a lot of solos… and a lot of “faces” (you know
those faces that some musicians make when soloing hard), especially
from Pandolfi and Falco.

Despite a couple of sound system issues (the between-set house music
wasn’t turned off until midway through the first song and there seemed
to be interference in Falco’s equipment late in the set), the
Stringdusters played through tunes like “I Am a Stranger”,
“Blackrock”, “Deep Ellum Blues”, a great cover of U2’s “In God’s
Country”, “High on a Mountaintop” and more straight country get-downs
like “You Can’t Handle the Truth” and “Why You Been Gone So Long”.

(Props to Garrett for his Google search and destroy T-shirt.)

For their encore, the Stringdusters teamed up with Trampled by Turtles
and brought the show down to the ballroom floor… which I’m sure was
great if you were part of the inner circle that gathered around the
bands but was barely audible to those of us left on the outskirts.
Though I can report from the singing along heard from the audience
that the bands played a sped-up version of the classic “Sittin’ on Top
of the World”.

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Trampled by Turtles and the Infamous Stringdusters are coming to Cleveland.

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The Beachland Ballroom will become string-band-a-topia this Saturday, November 6, when Trampled by Turtles and the Infamous Stringdusters descend for the night (the show will be a part of a stringband weekend to which the Beachland is offering special package deals that include a Friday night show from Cornmeal and Railroad Earth). These bands are like two sides of the same coin. The Infamous Stringdusters offer up a polished stringband sound in the tradition of classic Grand Ole Opry mixed with the longform solo proclivities of the jam band genre (NTSIB normally detests noodling, but when said noodling is done on banjo, fiddle, mandolin and steel guitar, somehow it doesn’t seem so bad). Trampled by Turtles is the faster, more immediate, slightly more ragged cousin to the Stringdusters’ sound – it’s stringband music with a rock ‘n’ roll heart. (You’ve likely heard, and loved, their song “Wait So Long”.)

We’re really looking forward to this show, and the videos below should show you why.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVaonoikASA?fs=1]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3zJ4f4NRiE?fs=1]

The Infamous Stringdusters and Trampled By Turtles
Saturday, November 6
Beachland Ballroom
15711 Waterloo Blvd
Cleveland, OH 44110
7pm doors, 8pm show
Tickets $15

Trampled by Turtles MySpace (where you can stream their newest album Palomino and others)

Infamous Stringdusters Things That Fly Album Stream

Trampled by Turtles Daytrotter Session

The Beachland Ballroom and Tavern

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Rock ‘n’ Roll Photog: Titus Andronicus/The Felice Brothers

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NTSIB loves the Felice Brothers. NTSIB also loves boys in dresses. Now we can enjoy our two great loves together! Hurray for Halloween!

Continuing my ongoing life-theme of music related traveling, last weekend NTSIB friend Joy and I drove up some twisty mountain roads to Poughkeepie to see Titus Andronicus and the Felice Brothers. Trivia: Joy first saw The Felice Brothers when they were playing on the subway platforms in Brooklyn; I only learned about them this past January, and for all of the times I’ve seen them this year, this show was the first one in an actual club. And it was wonderful.

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Titus Andronicus was once again amazing. The crowd was of course much smaller than the one at Webster Hall, and during the first song I thought they might be a little bit lukewarm. Oh, was I ever wrong. As soon as the second song started, they began moshing. And I do mean moshing; there was hair, beer and limbs flying everyehere, Joy almost got knocked over four times, there were dudes in tweed sport coats pummeling the bejsus out of each other in a circle pit during almost all fourteen minutes of Battle of Hampton Roads, and it was fantastic.

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Then the Felice Brothers came out. They had gotten properly into the spirit of the weekend and busted out some costumes. I’ll just let the pictures do the most of the rest of the talking:

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Various members of the Diamond Doves came along to play the horns and the occasional drum, and they also dressed up for the occasion:

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And there was a costum contest in the middle of the show. Here’s Ian Felice with his favorite, the girl who was dressed as a refrigerator:

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And in conclusion, one from the encore. This is the one that Joy leaned over to say “I like that one” after I took it:

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As for the music – I’m completely useless with setlists, and can only tell you that the songs they played included Run, Chicken, Run, White Limosine, River Jordan, Frankie’s Gun, Ballad of Lou the Welterweight, and Take This Bread, and that overall it was much more up-tempo than they have been recently. By which I mean, they didn’t play Damn You, Jim this time, to my everlasting relief. It’s a beautiful song, it’s just I find it unutterably depressing. (Song I really wish they would play live: Cooperstown.) In any case, it was a great night, and a great show.

— Jennifer

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Rock ‘n’ Roll Photog: Black Cards

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Jennifer re-employs her uncanny ability to get killer shots of Pete Wentz as he broadens the current trend of bands with “Black” in their names. While my taste frequently diverges from Jennifer’s, and NTSIB would not have any Wentz-related content without her, I’m truly proud to be able to feature her great shots here.

Black Cards

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Pete Wentz amid a forest of hands and cameras

Apparently I have some mysterious talent for taking reasonably good but yet oddly blown-out pictures of Pete Wentz. I took this a week and a half ago in a teeny-tiny club in Poughkeepsie. The occasion was the last night of a three-show mini-tour by Black Cards, which is his new band. Blown out or not I’m fond of it, though, because, well, look at his little grinny face. He was having fun, y’all, and I was glad I could be there to see it. (Also, that forest of hands and cameras? They were there ALL NIGHT. I was three rows back from the stage and that was essentially my view!)

As for the music: it was great. Their sound incorporates elements of reggae and dance-pop and is wholly different from Fall Out Boy, but is still definitely rock and roll. They don’t have a record out yet, but based on what I heard, I’ll be picking it up when it does appear. Meanwhile, you’ll find links to listen to and/or download the two singles they have on the internet here. Note: the singles are representative of their dance-pop side. They’re much heavier live, and the drums and guitars have a larger, more solid presence. I won’t make April’s head explode (today) by using any “sounds like” comparisons, but I will say: imagine what No Doubt might be like if they had Chicago grit and New York City glamour going for them.

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Bebe Rexha, Nate Patterson, Pete Wentz


You might now be wondering whatever possessed me to take a two hour train ride to Poughkeepsie to attend a show in a teeny-tiny bar by a band with no record out and only two singles on the internet. The answer is: April has Greg (fucking) Dulli, I have Pete Wentz. Also, while I’m not going to get into the tedious gory details, suffice it to say, the tour and the music were and are the physical fruits of Wentz’s recovery from a rough year. And it was really, really good to see him happy on stage again.

Meanwhile, here is another one of my favorite pictures from the evening:

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Bebe Rexha


This is Bebe Rexha (of Staten Island!), lead singer for the band. Her voice is delicious, and her stage presence is killer. I believe I used the phrase “hot reggae swagger” to describe it to people.

I’ll conclude now with an atmospheric shot of the alley next to the club, in honor of Halloween. And because everyone needs some spooky lights and shadowy dragons in their Wednesday, right?

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— Jennifer

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Rock ‘n’ Roll Photog: Mark Ronson and the Business INTL

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This week, Jennifer reveals the quirky interests of her childhood and sees Q-Tip! (Oh, and this Mark Ronson kid.)

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Mark Ronson and the Business INTL

I have spent a certain amount of time in the last couple of weeks listening to Record Collection and pondering the question of how to descibe the sound of Mark Ronson and the Business INTL. A potpourri made of hip-hop and synth-rock electronica? The soundtrack to someone else’s glamorous life? The kind of thing that would be playing the background of a Wes Anderson movie? All of the above? I finally settled on: a delicate, complicated game of vocal pick-up sticks with hot dance beats, though The Business’ Twitter bio says they’re “Nature’s The Traveling Wilburys”, which might also be a wholly accurate description.

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Stuart Zender (Jamiroquai) and Alex Greenwald (Phantom Planet)


Ronson has certainly managed to pull in an eclectic collection of musicians, representing multiple generations of multiple genres. I was at the Webster Hall show, where in addition to the Business – Rose Dougall, Alex Greenwald, Stuart Zender, MNDR, and MC Spank Rock – hip-hop artists Q-Tip and Pill showed up to jam. At his UK shows, audiences were treated to Boy George (!) and Duran Duran (!!).

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MC Spank Rock

What all of that talent in one place translates to is some great tunes amd a really, really fun show. I’ve already expressed my appreciation for the title track; I’m also especially fond of You Gave Me Nothing and The Night Last Night. It’s important to note here that I am normally not so much into synth-pop; back in the early ’80s, while my sister was wearing out her Rio tape, I had my radio dial tuned to hockey games, Larry King Live and Loveline. But these grooves are kind of irresistible.

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Q-Tip

Also, for those of you who are squinting at your screen right now thinking Mark who?, his previous (concurrent?) incarnations include being a DJ and, perhaps most notoriously, Amy Winehouse’s producer. Though he’s worked with a whole lot of other people as well, in fact he made a handy flow chart for an interview he did with New York Magazine.

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MNDR and Mark Ronson

In conclusion: If you did like synth-pop, or still do, and in particular of you prefer your synths poppy and untroubled by industrial undertones, there is a lot for you to love here, and you should totally check them out.

— Jennifer

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Craig Wedren/Greg Dulli at the Grog Shop in Cleveland, OH, 10.16.10

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Craig Wedren

Given my long-standing love for Greg Dulli (generally referred to in my world by his proper name: Greg fucking Dulli), it was a given that I would jump on tickets to this special acoustic show, Dulli’s first solo tour. When it was announced that Craig Wedren of Shudder to Think would be opening, my eyes nearly rolled back in my head. In the later 1990s, before bands began breaking up and band members died, my holy triumvirate of music was topped by the Afghan Whigs with Morphine and Shudder to Think anchoring the other corners. I was fortunate enough to see each of these bands play before tides turned, and I cherish the memory of those shows. To be able to check in with the frontmen of two of those bands in one night was a special treat.

Wedren looked exactly as I remembered seeing him back in 1997 when Shudder to Think toured in support of 50,000 B.C.: fresh, lean and handsome with a spectacular smile and a sparkle in his eye. Mixing his solo and film work (including a song from his project Baby) with a few Shudder to Think favorites – like the ubiquitous “Red House”, “Hit Liquor” and “X-French Tee Shirt” – Wedren switched off between acoustic and electric guitars and occasionally employed a loop station to create a rich layers of sound. And he was as at ease on stage as ever, cracking wise, musing and making dedications to his mother and his wife.

Craig Wedren’s best instrument has always been his voice, and it remains strong and supple. He ranges from baritone to falsetto and back again with ease, sometimes using the loop station to create eerie harmonies with himself. Beautiful from start to finish.

Greg Dulli

When Greg Dulli took the stage, flanked by frequent collaborator Dave Rosser on guitar and Rick Nelson on cello and violin, it seemed he might be satisfied to rest on his laurels for this low-key “Evening with”. While the first four songs of the set, which included the Gutter Twins’ “God’s Children” and brand new Twilight Singers’ track “Blackbird and the Fox”, were good, something was missing. The renowned Dulli fire was set to low. But with the Twilight Singers’ stormy “Bonnie Brae”, the burner was turned to high, and that familiar, scorching howl rolled forth from Dulli’s ragged throat.

Though the evening was heavy with Twilight Singers songs, Dulli did, as promised, trot out some Afghan Whigs classics like “Let Me Lie to You”, “If I Were Going” and “Summer’s Kiss”, and even, per an audience request, an unscheduled turn on “66” (the first time played on this tour, Dulli quipped that Cleveland had broken his cherry).

The encore, which kicked off with the Twilight Singers epic “Candy Cane Crawl”, contained the only true non-album cover of the night, a passionate take on José González’s “Down the Line”, culminating in Dulli’s repeated howl warning “Don’t let the darkness eat you up”. It was a goosebumps moment.

Dave Rosser already has a solid reputation as a stand-up guitarist and didn’t fail to impress, but it was Rick Nelson who really shined on the strings this night, sometimes flowing a layer of incomparable beauty under a song and sometimes ramping up the passion to roof-blowing proportions.

But it wasn’t a perfect evening. In attendance was the drunkest crowd I’ve ever experienced in such a small venue, and they kept sending their loudest, gabbiest emissaries to stand right in front of the stage and chit chat, both to Dulli and among themselves, through both sets of the night. One particular offender, who had bullied her way rudely in front of people who had been holding their spots for two hours, had to be called out by Dulli twice before she got the message to “shut your fucking mouth”. It was possibly the first time I’ve ever left a show annoyed.

Greg Dulli Setlist

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Henry Clay People/Drive-By Truckers at Musica in Akron, OH, 10.5.10

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The Henry Clay People

The Henry Clay People took the stage with confidence and ease, and while the beginning of their set struck me the same way their album Somewhere on the Golden Coast struck me – decent but same-y – things picked up with a song dedicated to the Drive-By Truckers (“This Ain’t a Scene”, I believe) and only got better from there. Joey Siara helped endear the band to the crowd by soliciting requests for cover songs… though the crowd was possibly stuck in a time-warp as Siara’s guidance to suggest a band from the ’70s was met with a shout for Guided By Voices. After a creditable rendering of “Game of Pricks”, Jay Gonzalez was brought on stage to join the band for a stop-start go at “Space Oddity” that included audience participation in the form of countdowns and hand-claps.

After a couple more stand-up originals, the band finished out their set with a cover of “Born to Run” that made the now slightly time-worn classic vital again.

Drive-By Truckers

The Drive-By Truckers, too, started their set a little low-key (though not quietly – it was the Drive-By Truckers, after all) and more toward the twangy side of their country-edged rock. I couldn’t help think of Tim Quine’s post on Rubber City Review suggesting that the best soundtrack for Akron was honky tonk and of the pig roasts of my youth which were often accompanied by a bar band of some stripe. Though those pig roasts would have been a hell of a lot more exciting if DBT had provided the entertainment.

After a few songs, the band picked up steam and brought out a string of their rockers, sounding almost like a heavy metal band with their low guitar riffs and Patterson Hood’s impassioned howls. It was impossible not to headbang along. It’s on these songs that the dynamic between the band’s de facto double-lead, Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley, is best appreciated. Cooley strikes cooler-than-cool guitar god poses (with the chops to back it up) while Hood bounces around and looks like he’s having the time of his life.

They kept the pace up throughout the rest of the show, which was a smart move in light of the mood of the audience. The only real break in the pace came with the lovely “The Flying Wallendas” which received a great reception from the crowd thanks to the line about “the fine folks of Akron” (sang as “the good people of Akron” this night).

I try to keep my opinions about audiences to myself, but this audience was something else. While the crowd gave it up good for their favorite songs throughout the night, it was the laziest audience I’ve ever experienced when it came to calling out for an encore. There were long lulls between half-hearted cheers and anemic chants of “D B T”. People mostly stood around as if they were waiting to be served. If I were the Truckers, I wouldn’t have come back, but the Truckers are better people than me, and they came back for a hell of an encore. DBT seem to be able to create their own energy and were in a fine, fine groove. Hood was apparently so excited that he played them into a second go at “Lookout Mountain”. Not that anyone was complaining, especially as it rocked even harder the second time around.

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Rock ‘n’ Roll Photog: Free Energy

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Free Energy gets their own spotlight this week. Jennifer digs her some punk pop.

And now, as promised: Free Energy, who were so awesome they needed their own post. I came into the show knowing nothing about them and about three songs in I was up on my toes, grinning at them and clapping along with the rest of the crowd. This band is fun, y’all, in all of the ways pop-punk should be.

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Musically, they have big hooks and catchy choruses; it’s the kind of thing that makes you want to dance, and also sing along. Also, it was the last night of a long tour, and lead singer Paul Sprangers was still bouncing around the stage and dancing with a tambourine. I tried to get a picture of it, which didn’t work so well. The one below conveys the general spirit, though:

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When I checked their MySpace to see if they’d be back to visit New York any time soon, I saw they are starting North American tour with Foxy Shazam in mid-October. Tragically, I will be away for Thanksgiving when they get here, but y’all should check their dates and your calendars make it your business to get out to see them. I promise you it will be an evening of high-energy joy-inducing punk rock. Free Energy is also jumping over to France for a week in November, to play some festivals with, among other people, Surfer Blood. If we have any French readers: You are also seriously in for a treat!

— Jennifer

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Rock ‘n’ Roll Photog: Titus Andronicus

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This week, Jennifer gets excited about some punk fuckin’ rawk.

The best way I can explain The Monitor, the new(ish) record from Titus Andronicus , is to say that it is like two photographs, one from the 21st century and one from the 19th, carefully overlaid so that their elements blend and the eye is left with the challenge of determining what is now, what was then, and what is both, eternally suspended on the thin webbing of successful illusion. Internet, I have listened to this record a lot. I was really, really excited to finally be able to see them live.

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Patrick Stickles (l) and Ian Graetzer (r)

Following opening acts Screaming Females (solid punk band; their singer can also really shred) and Free Energy (pop punk so awesome they get their own post next week), Titus Andronicus kicked off the show last Saturday night at Webster Hall with A More Perfect Union, a song which references, among other things, the Newark Bears, the Garden State Parkway, Born to Run as well as both the Battle Cry of Freedom and the Battle Hymn of the Republic. The recorded lyrics include the phrase tramps like us, baby we were born to die, but Patrick Stickles sang born to run instead, infusing (and transforming) the line with howling punk rock defiance. Naturally the pit went crazy. And it only got better from there.

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Amy Klein, playing her violin while wearing her guitar

One of highlights of the show came during The Battle of Hampton Roads. The song is 14 minutes long and they played all of it. The middle section is instrumental, a fusion of fuzzy guitars, parade drums and what I thought were bagpipes on the record but live turned out to be keyboard effects. It sounds like a column of weary Union soldier walking home on a dirt road in the rain. It is the kind of thing that just begs for a drum line. And so the barrier provided one: we stretched out our hands, all of us, all the way down as far as I could see, and pounded on the stage. Meanwhile, the floor was vibrating from the pogoing feet of the pit behind us.

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l to r: Patrick Stickles, David Robbins, Eric Harm, and Ian Graetzer

In conclusion: that was awesome, and I can’t wait to see them again when they open for the Felice Brothers in Poughkeepsie in October. If you live in the tri-state area and are waffling about going to that show, BUY A TICKET NOW. It’s going to be good.

— Jennifer