Tag: concert
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SHOW REVIEW: 2013 NCAA Big Dance Concert Series
The NCAA came to Atlanta last weekend and in addition to basketball fanatics a like, the sporting event brought with it The Big Dance concert series. High profile and sought after artists such as Muse, Dave Matthews Band, and Sting headlined the Saturday and Sunday shows in Centennial Olympic Park.
Saturday’s Coke Zero Countdown show kicked off that afternoon with the Athens’ favorite Yacht Rock Revue. Following our favorite ‘70s tribute band, was Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. In addition to making thrift stores popular as ever, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis proved their worthiness in the music spotlight not just by singing about poppin’ tags. The duo started us off with their song “Ten Thousand Hours” later followed by Macklemore (aka Ben Haggerty) draped in his now famous fur coat enthralling the audience with their chart topping hit “Thrift Shop.” That afternoon the crowd was also treated to the fan favorite “Same Love” and the recent hit single “Can’t Hold Us.”
In his hometown glory, Ludacris took the stage after Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. His charisma was the highlight of his performance (as if you have seen Ludacris perform before, you’ve seen it all) before. If his set at the Coke Zero Countdown happened your first time seeing Luda in action, it was a memorable performance as he broke out all the old favorites such as “Welcome to Atlanta,” “Act A Fool,” “Money Maker,” and “Roll Out”. Flo-Rida’s set followed.
The most anticipated act of the evening was of course the infamous MUSE. No surprise that they were headliners due to the NCAA using their chart topping hit “Madness” as the theme for this year’s March Madness. Although they gave us this single early on in their set, they were able to jam pack what seemed to be any song everyone hoped to hear from them into their hour long performance. Their stage presence was electric, captivating, and powerful. So powerful in fact that during “Follow Me” they blew the power (or perhaps just the mix board generator lost power). Following the 20 minutes of silence they continued on and Saturday in Centennial Park ended on a high and ever memorable note.
Sunday was the last day of the music festival and an early arrival to the park proved to be crucial in order to see the headliner of the Capital One Jamfest Dave Matthews Band. Before the park hit its limit of the 30,000 capacity and a small riot outside the park ensued later that day, Blind Pilot started the concert early that day followed by the ever loved Grace Potter & The Nocturnals. In her staple sparkling ensemble and spunky stage attitude she enchanted the audience with her ballads of “Stars” and my personal all time favorite “Apologies,” and then amped up the energy with the sounds of her single “Paris” and “Medicine.”
Sting took the stage next mixing in some Police favorites along with some of his top hits. He opened his set with “If I Ever Lose My Faith in You” and then into “Demolition Man.” A Few songs later the audience was singing a long with “Fields of Gold,” “Message in a Bottle,” and “De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da.” He closed out his set with “Roxanne” and soon encored with favorites of “Desert Rose” and “Every Breath You Take.”
Dave Matthews Band closed out the music festival and they did so with an energy that reminded me of their Central Park show in 2003. The Jamfest show from last weekend was reminiscent of this throwback due to both shows having the same opener “Don’t Drink the Water,” or perhaps DMB is just as good as they ever were. Their set was an all night jam fest that included crowd favorites of “Crush,” “Jimi Thing,” “Mercy,” and the ever loved “#41”. DMB brought the pure heat with their encore of “Two Step.” Whether you were in the front row or standing outside on the sidewalk after being shut out, anyone in the area of Centennial Park that night heard something special, and I couldn’t think of any better way to end this music, and basketball, filled weekend.
SHOW REVIEW: EOTO at Georgia Theatre
On the eve of a month that many of us consider to be the start of the season of spring, a flower was in full bloom. Instead of promises of warmer weather, the blooming spectacle of EOTO’s iconic lotus flower stage promised concertgoers a night of seemingly endless body-moving jams. The duo, comprised of Jason Hann and Michael Travis, both members of the acclaimed jam band The String Cheese Incident, played the Georgia Theatre in Athens on February 28. The electro-jam show was a complete improvised, free-formed, and live mixed party.
With anticipation for the main act growing, opener Crizzly and his MC took the stage with high energy that translated through the receptiveness of the crowd. Between the bass drops and familiar hip hop samples, Crizzly’s set of “crunkstep” enthralled the audience and the party started — the night could only go up from there.
As Hann and Travis took to the lotus stage, a welcoming roar of the crowd filled the theatre. The set began with down tempo jams and complementing visuals as the lotus flower morphed with colors of pinks, purples, and blues. It wasn’t long until EOTO was building the crowd up through a fusion of jam and dubstep. In addition to the inevitable bass drop that was to come next, EOTO pleasantly surprised the crowd with laser visuals. This use of lasers and the manifestation of psychedelic images on the lotus set the tone for the rest of this livetronica set.
Travis’ use of his MacBooks, software, keyboards, guitar, and bongos, and Hann’s drumming and vocals kept the audience on a unstoppable trip of funky heavy house music. With a steady energy of builds and drops, Hann’s spitting freestyle was added into the equation. Throughout the night, the music of EOTO was constantly evolving and maintaining a pace that left the crowd constantly wanting more.
The set progressed into a blend of something I can only define as Arabian reggae–sounds of the Middle East fused with slow motion grooves and island vibes. This journey of worldly sounds eventually blasted off into a raw spacey trance with an accompaniment of mesmerizing visuals. Heavy bass and a fast tempo throughout the rest of the show kept the crowd continually raging until the very end.
With the end of the encore and the house lights of the Georgia Theatre turned on, a disappointment swept over many in the crowd that night. A disappointment because the intoxicating transcendental escape from reality was over.
An evening with Blink-182
I just went to see blink-182 at Aaron’s Amphitheatre in Atlanta. This was an incredible show. I left right after my morning class and got there three hours before the gates were to open (‘cause I’m super cool like that and determined to get up to the front).
As soon as they opened the gates, I booked it to the stage—didn’t even stop to get a free spray-on blink tattoo (which I sincerely wanted to do). Dedication paid off. I got up to the very front on the rail and strategically positioned myself right in front of where I guessed that Mark would be, according to their previous stage set-ups. Made friends with the security guy, which paid off later when some kid (a.k.a. giant manboy) tried to rough me out of my spot and was promptly told to back off.
I’m not going to spend much time on Matt and Kim and My Chemical Romance (openers), because that’s not why I was there. I will say that Kim is frakking awesome and My Chemical Romance, despite the fact that I haven’t really listened to them much since high school, gave a great show and made me feel young..er…again.
Now for blink. They came out, and I lost it. No chance whatsoever of keeping my cool. They opened with “Feeling This,” and it was such a powerful start. Plus, I could not have been more in front of Mark. Success.
The rest of the setlist was a good mix of old and new. The new included “Up All Night” (which I screamed along to despite my personal distaste for it), “After Midnight,” “Heart’s All Gone,” and “Ghost on the Dancefloor.”
When they started to play “Heart’s All Gone,” Mark stopped and announced that they were filming their music video and would be playing through the song twice to get the footage. Win. Yes, I would like to be in a blink-182 video (fulfilling 15-year-old-me’s ultimate dream). No, I would not mind seeing one of my favorite songs from the new album played twice. Needless to say, I kind of freaked out a tad.
Other highlights of my show experience…Now, Mark had a Polaroid camera on stage, and he grabbed it at some point during the show to snap some photos. He went up to Travis while he was in the midst of some hardcore drumming and took a pic of him. He then went up to Tom and did the same. Guess who got the Polaroid of Travis? That’s right…me, and I shall treasure it forever.
Finally, at the very end of the show, after the encore of “Carousel” and “Dammit,” Mark decided to give me one last parting gift. In a diary-entry inspiring handoff (brief but glorious hand squeeze), Mark gave me his last pick. And that was it.
Jimmy Eat World: Sometimes You Can Meet Your Idols
Living on my own in college, I take advantage of my independence by bailing on school every time a band I love goes on tour. Doesn’t matter the day or how far the drive is – I’m gonna be there if I love them enough. I definitely love Jimmy Eat World enough.
The show was in Athens on a Monday night…3 hours from my school. I had a 9:00 class the next morning. NBD. I called my best friend and fellow JEW freak, Katie (a student living in Athens), and that was that.
Predictably, the show was fully worth it. Pretty much blew my face off. In the middle of the show, guitarist and vocalist Tom Linton handed me a water bottle. Yeah….. it’s still sitting on my dresser.
The water bottle would have been enough. I was perfectly happy with that being the highlight of my night.
Until I met the rest of the band (way to bury the lead, right?)
Katie and I decided to wait outside the trailers in case they came out. Weirdly, there were only about 15 or so other people willing to brave the cold and wait around. First to emerge was Rick Burch, bassist, toting an impressive case of Terrapin Beer. (Brewed locally in Athens. Obviously, these guys have sources).
After some nervous hesitation, Katie and I approached him. We spent about 5 minutes geeking out over the show and making no effort to play it cool. However, once we regained our composure, we actually ended up having a simply delightful conversation.
Next out was Zach Lind, the drummer. He was the chattiest of the group, laughing with us and talking to each fan individually. He wanted to know where we were from and what the cool places to hang out in Athens were. He asked us all our names, and thanked each of us for coming out.
Once Zach and Rick peaced out and loaded themselves onto the bus, it seemed like the night was over. We were hoping to get to meet or at least catch a glimpse of Jim Adkins or Tom Linton, but it didn’t look like they were going to show.
After awhile, the small crowd got even smaller, and people started to give up and go home, one girl declaring, “If Tom or Jim show up, I’m going to hate all of you.” After about five minutes, out comes Jim Adkins.
Poor girl. Bummer.
When Jim showed up, people got a little weird. Now, I always thought that I was a little bit of a weirdo/creeper/nerd about music. When I love a band, I know the members’ birthdays, follow them on Twitter, watch their documentaries, read their biographies, and basically memorize everything there is to know about them. And I have found myself being distressingly uncool on the few occasions that I was lucky enough to meet some of my idols.
However, even compared to myself, I was unaware how obsessive some fans can be. Not to mention how presumptuous.
Back to when Jim showed up. We all crowded around him. Everyone wanted one-on-one face time, and everyone abandoned their nonchalance and gave in to near hysteria.
One dude, particularly star struck and shaky, told Jim that he had given Zach a gift intended for the band. The gift, he said, was a nickel and a dime (for those of you who don’t get this- and don’t worry, it’s a stretch- the lyrics to one of JEW’s songs called Futures are “we close our eyes while the nickel and dime take the streets completely”). Jim was gracious and appreciative, and the coin guy was elated.
One group really surprised me. I would never presume to critique the way a band designs their show. I appreciate that they put a lot of work into their set lists and their performance. Not everyone sees things that way. (Do I sound pompous? Unintentional).
There were a whole lot of “I wish you had played…” and “I can’t believe you left out…” comments registering complaints about the set list. Many people attempted to make Jim promise to play their personal favorite songs at their future shows. He politely promised to do the best he could to try to satisfy them next time around.
Finally, one girl said to Jim, “Ask Tom to come out. Not that meeting you isn’t great, but meeting Tom would just change my life.” Um….. Seriously?!
Jim took it well and made a joke that Tom was already inside wrapped up in his Snuggie (which he later confirmed was a vicious, vicious lie).
Tom never came out. But even so, I can tell you that Jimmy Eat World, apart from being one of the best groups I have seen live, is one of the nicest, friendliest bands ever. They truly love and appreciate their fans – no superior attitude. I’ll never forget the night I met them, and, though I didn’t meet Tom, at least I can say I have his water bottle.