Belle & Sebastian @ Nokia Theatre Night 2

"After Party? But you just got here. Worry about this party." was the suggestion from Belle & Sebastian last night. Unfortunately the audience last night didn't adhere to this good advice. Most people seemed a little more concerned with what they were going to be doing after the concert than enjoying themselves. However that didn't stop us from rocking out to some great northern soul meet modern pop rock. After battling through the cold last night it was nice to be inside the beautiful Nokia Theatre. And although we had to sell our first born son to afford two drinks, the Nokia theatre is a great place to see a concert. The sound is great and the room is set in the best possible way. Belle and Sebastian's hour and a half set which contained mostly new material was very well performed. New songs such as "The Blues are still Blue" and "Sukie in the Graveyard" sounded great live. But even though these new songs sounded great the crowd never really got grooving except during old favorites like "Judy and the Dream of Horses". In our opinion the highlight of the even was breathe taking version of "Piazza, New York Catcher" which could easily pass for a lost Simon and Garfunkel song. If last night taught us anything it is that Belle & Sebastian are secret Journey fans.



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The Strokes @ the Hammerstein Ballroom Night 1

The Strokes played the first of three shows at the Hammerstein Ballroom last night. The show was amazing. A great mix of old and new material. In all they played 23 songs during their set. Almost every song from "Is this it" was played. They also played a great cover of the Ramones' song "Life is a Gas". The high light of the show was the three song encore of New York City Cops, Someday, and Take it or Leave it. During which it seemed like everyone in the place was having a great time.

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Oakley Hall @ the Bowery Ballroom

Part of the reason that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' concert on Saturday night was so much fun was because the totally awesome Oakley Hall were the warm up act. For those unfamiliar with Oakley Hall, they play a sort of southern rock meets indie rock. Imagine a less Neil Young obsessed Magnolia Electric Co. with a more ferociouss approach to music and you would get Oakley Hall. Oakley Hall will be performing with Kinski at the Mercury Lounge on April 20th.

Downloads:
Lazy Susan
Lanlord
Eyes Lock and Steel

Yeah Yeah Yeahs @ the Bowery Ballroom Night 2

Oh Yeah! Last night the Yeah Yeah Yeah's turned the knobs up to eleven and just plain destroyed the Bowery Ballroom. The second show of their two night stand at the Bowery Ballroom was anything but the mediocre performance they had put on the night before. The new material sounded amazing and the crowd was really digging it. Perhaps it was because there were so many people from the night before and now the material wasn't as new to them. Whatever the reason, the crowd just went wild during songs like "Phenomena" and the less known "Rock to Sallow". But it was older material like "Art Star" and "Y control" that transformed the audience into a wild pack, of Karen O obsessed rock beasts, that were dancing, clapping and cheering at the top of their lungs. By the end of the show most of the crowd's socks were rocked off and their faces melted.



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