Medeski, Martin, and Wood The Concert Hall @ the New York Society for Ethical Culture

Medseki, Martin, and Wood have been one of my go to bands for the past ten years. Of the 50 some times I have seen them I don't think I have ever left disappointed. And since I have been having a hard time finding my musical high place lately I was hoping that MMW would help me out of this rock slump. Last night MMW played one good set and one great set of minimal acoustic jazz improv. The first set was pretty standard for MMW, but the second set was amazing. The set began with an fuckin' kick ass bass solo from Chris. Chris would continue to be the main focus for the rest of the set. I didn't completely get back into the rocking spirit last night but I am sure that Jack White and the rest of the Raconteurs will do the trick tonight.


Last night also got me think about all the great venues I have seen MMW play. Society for Ethical Culture easily ranks in the top 5 venues where I have seen them. This room would be a great alternative to Town Hall. Which is one of my least favorite venues in the city.

The Magic Numbers @ Webster Hall

Last week I was faced with the very tough decision of choosing between Magnolia Electric Co. and The Magic Numbers. I decided on the Magic Numbers because I have seen MECo. 7 times now and I had only see the Magic numbers twice before once at the Bowery Ballroom and once at SXSW. This show was my least favorite of the three times have seen them perform. They put on a good show but I was just really tired and was having a hard time focusing on the music. Hopefully next time they come to town I will be in a better mood.

Silversun Pickups @ Spiro's

One of the bands I heard the most talk about at SXSW were the Silversun Pickups. They were also one the bands I was most excited about seeing. I was really impressed by their performance at a post CMJ show last September. I had been waiting for another chance to see and SXSW provided the opportunity. However their set at SXSW definitely didn't fulfill me. The sound was horrible and the space was packed, but the music was great. And even for a SXSW set it felt way too short. Let's hope they play New York soon.

See a few more pictures of the Silversun Pickups with all of my other SXSW photos.

Akron/Family @ High Five Loft

After The Flaming Lips show on Saturday night I rushed out to Brooklyn expecting to catch the second half of Akron/Family's show at the High Five Loft. I arrived at the show around 11:15 only to find that Akron/Family hadn't even taken the stage yet. Sweet! At about midnight Akron finally took the stage. By this point the crowd had already slowly began to melt because of the temperature in the room. It felt like it was 120 degrees. Yikes! The heat didn't stop me from enjoying a great performance by one of the best live bands performing today. Akron/Family have completed their full transformation into rock and roll animals. The band continues to find new way to redefine their songs night after night. Turning some songs into jam vehicles that can stretch for over twenty minutes. After about an hour of serious rockin' the crowd had to worry less about melting from the heat of the room and worry more about having their faces melted by amazing rock journey that Akron were taking us on. At about 3am I began to tire out. And I left around 3:30 but Akron/Family were still jamming hard. I have no idea when they played to but I am sure the rest of the show was good as the first three and a half hours. As great as this show was do think their performance at the Knitting Factory was better becasue it seemed a little more focused and the sound was way better.
On a different note I would really like to acquire some Akron/Family live recordings. If anyone out there can help I would greatly appreciate it.

Gorillaz @ the Apollo Theater (Night 1)

The Gorillaz played their first of five shows at the Apollo Theater last night. Before the show Damon Albarn came out and made the announcement that they were having technical difficulties. Apparently a few of the screens were not working correctly and no visuals were shown during the show. Although this was some what of a let down it didn't bother me too much knowing I will be seeing them again tomorrow. Even though the show lacked the visuals the music didn't suffer at all. The band of nearly 25 people included a 10 person string section, and a children's choir and an adult choir and lots of special guests. As great as the music was the crowd remained seated the entire time. As much fun as last nights concert was I would still prefer Damon to tour as himself and play music from his entire career. I really felt that he could have easily worked in a few Blur songs or the Mali Music songs would have fit in perfectly.

The Flaming Lips @ Webster Hall (Night 2)

The Flaming Lips played their second show at Webster Hall last night. It was an amazing time as usual. The set list was exactly the same as Friday night but that didn't really bother me too much. I do wish they would through in other classic songs like "Turn it On", "Waiting for Superman" or "Ego Trippin". Wayne continued to comment about how the great fans are at a Flaming Lip's show. I could agree more everyone seemed to be having a great time. Wayne also mentioned that they would be back as soon as possible and that they would play a venue in which they could play later and that could fit more people.





See all of my photos from the second night here