The Flaming Lips @ Webster Hall (Night 1)

Wayne Coyne and company continue their pursuit of being the most endearing band in all of rock and roll. Last night's show proved that Flaming Lips will continue to be one of the best bands you can see live. Wayne just gives so much to the audience and all he expects back is for the audience to have a good time and just let themselves enjoy the moment. The highlight of last nights concert was easily hearing the new material live for the first time. These songs are just so bad ass. People just destroyed by "The Yeah Yeah Yeah song". When it reached the really fast part at the end the crowd just went wild. The only thing I was disappointed with is that I would still like to see a few older numbers thrown into the setlist. And speaking of the setlist here it is.
The Flaming Lips at Webster Hall march 31, 2006:
Intro, Race for the Prize, Bohemian Rhapsody, Free Radicals, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Part 1, Cow/Duck Jam, YoshimiBattles the Pink Robots Part 2, The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song, The Gash, The W.A.N.D, She Don't Use Jelly, Do You Realize
Encore: Love Yer Brain, War Pigs




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The Pink Mountaintops @ Emo's Annex

The Pink Mountaintops played a great set of space rock at Emo's Annex as part of JagJaguwar showcase. The Pink Mountaintops is fronted by Stephen McBean who is also part of Black Mountain. The band puts on a great show and gave the impression that if they weren't restricted to a short set they would have played all night. Pink Mountain is opening for The Flaming Lips this weekend at Webster Hall and they are also playing The Knitting Factory on June 7th and Southpaw on June 8th.

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The Elected @ Webster Hall

Blake Sennet of Rilo Kiley brought his side project, The Elected to Webster Hall on Tuesday night. The Elected play sort of pop southern rock that draws influences from such classic rock bands as the Beatles, the Band and maybe a little Grateful Dead. Blake seemed to be having a great time playing inspired leads and jumping up on amps.

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Gil Mantera's Party Dream @ The Parish

After Belle and Sebastian's set at Stubbs on the first night of SXSW I decided to walk around and see what else was going on. The moment I walked into the Parish I knew I was going to like Gil Mantera's Party Dream. Upon entering the two person band was jamming of simple electronic rift and pouring beer down each others pants and them slapping each other in the ass to create a kind of explosion of beer. The set ended with one member removing his pants, a girl poking him in the crotch and them both members falling on each other and rolling off stage. I haven't laughed so hard at concert in a very long time. Gil Mantera's Party Dream play North Six on April 6th.

The Magic Numbers @ Arthur Magazine Party

The Magic Numbers played a great, but short set at the Arthur Magazine party at SXSW. The set was a stripped down acoustic performance by just three members of the band. It seems like most people were there to see the Magic Numbers including Beth Orton who was hanging out all day. The set featured such great songs as "Mornings Eleven" and "Love me like You" as well as one new song. The Magic Numbers play Webster Hall tonight.

Magnolia Electric Co. @ Emo's Annex

Magnolia Electric Co. continue to be one of my favorite bands live and on recording. Their performance at SXSW wasn't the best I have ever seen but it sure was fun. The band opened their 40 minute set with a great version of "Hammer Down" but from their the set fell a little flat. Jason and company just seemed a little rushed. You could tell they were skipping songs that they had planed to play do to time constraints. However the band seemed to be in a very playful mood. Throughout the entire set the band made joke after joke about Jason brand new t-shirt. Magnolia is playing Avalon tomorrow night.



See more photos from SXSW on my flickr account.

MUSIC FOR THE FUTURE OF MUSIC

On Friday night Charles Bissell of the Wrens hosted a benefit for The Future of Music Coalition. The concert featured performances by Eugene Mirman, Nada Surf, Charles Bissell and Will Sheff of Okkervil River, and Man Man. "The Future of Music Coalition is a national nonprofit education, research and advocacy organization that identifies, examines, interprets and translates the challenging issues at the intersection of music, law, technology and policy. FMC achieves this through continuous interaction with musicians and through collaborations with other creator/citizen groups."



See all of my photos from Friday here.