musics

so i've been to a lot of musics this week. let's talk about it.

We Are Each Other: one of two opening bands for Edward Sharpe etc. they were basically a smaller, less good version of Edward Sharpe. they weren't bad, but.... i wouldn't pay just to see them. top song: the one that jade sang. amazing.

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes: fantastic...when they played. it took several hours to get the whole band on stage at once, but once they did, it was well worth it. i'd say give them a year to really get used to live performances and to build up enough music to play a whole set without having band side-bars to decide what to do next. i love alexander, but i wish jade sang more. unfortunately, she could barely make it longer than two songs in a row before she had to leave the stage. still amazing, though, including when alexander crawled in to the audience for the encore song. oh, and our seats were perfect. top songs: 40 day dream. home. up from below.

Julian Velard: opening act for Jamie Cullum. not bad. he kind of wished he was ben folds. fun live show though...i'd say he sounded better in real life than on his cd. he doesn't need a full band, but i liked him. top song: there was a pretty funny one about america. i don't remember the name of it. i don't really remember the names of any of his songs, actually.

Jamie Cullum: fantastic performer. smallest human alive, but great show. definitely worth the drive to alabama. the audience was kind of country club, though. i haven't seen that many polos since the Bubba Sparxxx incident of 08. great show, though, and the musicians in his band are fantastic. they covered a rihanna song and the intro to gold digger. this show also ended with jamie crawling in to the audience. this seems to be a theme. top song: cry me a river.

The Whigs: opened for the Hold Steady. it was just ok when the singer was the only one on stage, but as soon as the whole band joined...well, things got rough. the drummer looked like zack braff with a nasty wig and the lead singer thought he might be kurt cobain. it was just bad all around. top song: when they finally stopped singing.

The Hold Steady: gave an absolutely wonderful performance....unfortunately, the sound guys at the square room are too stupid to figure out how to adjust the sound. don't get me wrong, i have no problems with loud shows. i have been to plenty. this, however, was unnecessarily loud. after writing a slightly impolite note to the sound guy and moving to the very back of the room things got a little better, but still not great. it wasn't the band's fault; on stage they have no idea how loud stuff is...but the instruments were just too loud to really hear craig finn's voice. despite all of this, i have been listening to them all day (well, once i got my hearing back and stopped yelling when i thought i was whispering). top songs: weekenders, you can make him like you, and chips ahoy.