It was only last year that I grew smitten with The Avett Brothers. Their major label debut, “I and Love and You,” produced by Rick Rubin, was my top album of 2009. It was the way they blended these different elements of country, folk, and bluegrass with pop, punk, and rock ‘n’ roll that caught the attention of my ears. As I listened to the album more and more, I could feel a personal connection to the honesty of their lyrics.
I got to see them this past Saturday at the Fox Theater. Posted up my thoughts about it on the CW Blog:
Hailing from North Carolina, The Avett Brothers, consisting of brothers Scott and Seth Avett, on banjo and guitar, plus stand-up bassist Bob Crawford, cellist Joe Kwon and new touring drummer Jacob Edwards, are well-known for their intense and raucous live shows. Knowing this, I was incredibly excited going into their sold-out show this past Saturday (4/17) at Oakland’s Fox Theater.
Clean-shaven and neatly dressed to impress, the band surfaced onto the stage to the earsplitting cheers of the crowd, who were a random mix of young and old, frat boys and punk rockers, hipsters and hillbillies.
After the acoustic opener, “Four Thieves Gone,” the guys immediately went to work, segueing into their soaring epic ballad, “Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise” (my personal favorite off the latest album). The song was so powerful live, especially with everybody singing along and raising their fists in triumphant enthusiasm. From there, the crowd participation only increased, as the band proceeded with a couple of fun and bouncy numbers, “Go to Sleep” and “Kick Drum Heart.”
The energy level never let up throughout the entire show. Even with the slower acoustic ballads like, “November Blue” and “Murder in the City,” the audience remained completely engaged.
Brothers Scott and Seth were perfectly harmonized, both with their vocal harmonizing and complementary instrumentation. Their vocals were spot-on, switching from sweet, calming whispers to full-throated screams with ease. The two took turns on lead vocals and would swap duties between piano and guitar. Scott absolutely killed it on the banjo, frenetically strumming and plucking with superior skill (seriously, I’ve never seen anyone rock so hard on a banjo).
Bob Crawford on the upright bass and cellist Joe Kwon were just as animated and proficient with their instruments, pleasantly hopping along to the fast tunes and demonstrating their fine technique on the slower songs.
The Brothers were fine with handling percussion on their own, through their stomping and slapping of instruments, but Jacob Edwards stepped in to drum for a few songs when they needed an extra rock oomph to the overall sound.
The Avett Brothers’ performance was met with thunderous applause and a standing ovation. It wasn’t long before they came back on stage for the encore. Being the polite Southern Gentleman, Seth voiced his appreciation by saying, “You’re too kind” with a warm smile. The band ended the night with a Roger Miller cover, “Where Have All the Average People Gone” and their latest single, “Slight Figure of Speech.”
If you’re on the fence about The Avett Brothers, I recommend going to one of their live shows. It’s guaranteed you’ll be in for a good time.
http://www.myspace.com/theavettbrothers
Here's a little snippet I caught from the show of the band playing, "Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise". Sorry for the not so great quality. My seat was pretty far, my hand was shaky, and people's heads were in the way:
Here's another video (that someone else took) of Scott playing "Murder in the City". One of the most memorable performances of the night:
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Atoms for Peace @ Fox Theater
Hey Peeps! Apologies for not updating for a while. I'll be graduating college in about a month or so, so these past few weeks have been quite busy.
Earlier this week, I got to go check out Thom Yorke's Atoms for Peace @ Oakland's Fox Theater. It was amazing to say the least. I posted about it up on my Cw Blog.
I ended up editing some stuff out on for that blog for the sake of keeping it concise, so here's my fuller, unedited review of the show:
Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke released his solo side project, “The Eraser,” in 2006, but only late last year did he assemble the recently named Atoms for Peace. Consisting of Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, longtime Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, famed session drummer Joey Waronker, and Brazillian percussionist Mauro Refosco, this ragtag ensemble is on an eight-date tour, hitting up a few major cities in the US, of course, including the two sold-out dates in the Bay Area’s own Fox Theater in Oakland. I attended the first show on Wednesday night (4/14).
If you were like me, you probably thought WTH is up with this line-up, right? However, watching the band makes you come to understand how it all, in some strange and crazy way, perfectly fits together. It’s one of those things you have to see to believe.
I really didn’t know what to expect. “The Eraser,” with its electronic glitchiness and mostly gloomy tone, is one of those albums that is perfect for a rainy day or a lonely zone-out (or both). Apparently, Thom Yorke was set on turning the album inside-out, astonishing the crowd with an oddly colorful and groove-heavy live arrangement. Mostly, he just wanted to get people dancing (and I have a feeling this whole thing was an excuse for him to show us his crazy awesome moves).
Starting with the title track, “The Eraser,” Atoms for Peace were clearly ready to kick things off into high gear dance-mode as a jazz trumpeter burst out during the last few minutes of the song. The band managed to gain complete control of the crowd from the get-go and held on to it for pretty much the rest of the night.
The band surprisingly had some great chemistry. Thom and Flea were like a match-made in heaven, dance heaven that is. Flea was like this big blue-haired ball of non-stop energy, jumping all around and doing his whole tribalistic-like, convulsive strut. Thom had a couple of go-to moves of his own: one being the “sexy” dance, where he sensually swayed his hips from side-to-side, with arms flailing above his head; the other being the “freakout”, where he just spazzed out like crazy as if a bomb went off.
Anybody else pulling off those moves would’ve looked like a fool. But, it’s Thom Yorke, and anything he does is plain cool. Plus, there’s something endearing about losing all inhibition, not giving a crap about what people think. You go, Thom!
Lurking not too far behind Thom and Flea were the other three members, who anchored the set down with their calm and cool demeanor and impressive execution.
The band played the entirety of “The Eraser” album from beginning to end. It was truly amazing. Still, the night only got better.
A solo Thom Yorke returned to the stage for a special encore, and a resounding hush fell over the crowd as he played a couple of stripped-down Radiohead covers, including “Like Spinning Plates” and “Everything in its Right Place.” It was no less than awe-inspiring, and the audience loved every minute of it.
There was plenty more where that came from as the rest of the band joined him for a second encore, playing a handful of rarities and b-sides, such as “Paperbag Writer” and “The Hollow Earth.”
Towards the end of the night, as the band left the stage, the crowd showed their utter respect and appreciation with a standing ovation. Even when the houselights came on, the boisterous crowd refused to leave and continued to clap and cheer for a good 15 minutes.
Then, a remarkable thing happened—the band made a glorious return to the stage for a THIRD encore. In all my concert-going days, I’ve never seen anything like it. Atoms finished off the night with an impromptu jam session, as Thom took the helm, teaching the rest of the gang how to play a few parts.
This show was a unique experience I’ll never forget. It’ll easily go down as one of my top shows of 2010.
I took a little video from the show. My seats were pretty high and my hand was kinda shaky, so yeah the quality of this video isn't all that great. But, hey, at least it's something! Here's Thom Yorke playing "Everything in its Right Place":
Earlier this week, I got to go check out Thom Yorke's Atoms for Peace @ Oakland's Fox Theater. It was amazing to say the least. I posted about it up on my Cw Blog.
I ended up editing some stuff out on for that blog for the sake of keeping it concise, so here's my fuller, unedited review of the show:
Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke released his solo side project, “The Eraser,” in 2006, but only late last year did he assemble the recently named Atoms for Peace. Consisting of Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, longtime Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, famed session drummer Joey Waronker, and Brazillian percussionist Mauro Refosco, this ragtag ensemble is on an eight-date tour, hitting up a few major cities in the US, of course, including the two sold-out dates in the Bay Area’s own Fox Theater in Oakland. I attended the first show on Wednesday night (4/14).
If you were like me, you probably thought WTH is up with this line-up, right? However, watching the band makes you come to understand how it all, in some strange and crazy way, perfectly fits together. It’s one of those things you have to see to believe.
I really didn’t know what to expect. “The Eraser,” with its electronic glitchiness and mostly gloomy tone, is one of those albums that is perfect for a rainy day or a lonely zone-out (or both). Apparently, Thom Yorke was set on turning the album inside-out, astonishing the crowd with an oddly colorful and groove-heavy live arrangement. Mostly, he just wanted to get people dancing (and I have a feeling this whole thing was an excuse for him to show us his crazy awesome moves).
Starting with the title track, “The Eraser,” Atoms for Peace were clearly ready to kick things off into high gear dance-mode as a jazz trumpeter burst out during the last few minutes of the song. The band managed to gain complete control of the crowd from the get-go and held on to it for pretty much the rest of the night.
The band surprisingly had some great chemistry. Thom and Flea were like a match-made in heaven, dance heaven that is. Flea was like this big blue-haired ball of non-stop energy, jumping all around and doing his whole tribalistic-like, convulsive strut. Thom had a couple of go-to moves of his own: one being the “sexy” dance, where he sensually swayed his hips from side-to-side, with arms flailing above his head; the other being the “freakout”, where he just spazzed out like crazy as if a bomb went off.
Anybody else pulling off those moves would’ve looked like a fool. But, it’s Thom Yorke, and anything he does is plain cool. Plus, there’s something endearing about losing all inhibition, not giving a crap about what people think. You go, Thom!
Lurking not too far behind Thom and Flea were the other three members, who anchored the set down with their calm and cool demeanor and impressive execution.
The band played the entirety of “The Eraser” album from beginning to end. It was truly amazing. Still, the night only got better.
A solo Thom Yorke returned to the stage for a special encore, and a resounding hush fell over the crowd as he played a couple of stripped-down Radiohead covers, including “Like Spinning Plates” and “Everything in its Right Place.” It was no less than awe-inspiring, and the audience loved every minute of it.
There was plenty more where that came from as the rest of the band joined him for a second encore, playing a handful of rarities and b-sides, such as “Paperbag Writer” and “The Hollow Earth.”
Towards the end of the night, as the band left the stage, the crowd showed their utter respect and appreciation with a standing ovation. Even when the houselights came on, the boisterous crowd refused to leave and continued to clap and cheer for a good 15 minutes.
Then, a remarkable thing happened—the band made a glorious return to the stage for a THIRD encore. In all my concert-going days, I’ve never seen anything like it. Atoms finished off the night with an impromptu jam session, as Thom took the helm, teaching the rest of the gang how to play a few parts.
This show was a unique experience I’ll never forget. It’ll easily go down as one of my top shows of 2010.
I took a little video from the show. My seats were pretty high and my hand was kinda shaky, so yeah the quality of this video isn't all that great. But, hey, at least it's something! Here's Thom Yorke playing "Everything in its Right Place":
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