Sunday, February 13, 2011

Concert reviews up the ass.....

Alright, I promised I would review some shows this weekend and am finally getting around to it. I've been busy honestly. Last weekend I was at George Clinton and Moe., while this weekend I made it to see All Capitals, Oak Creek, Fishbone, Hot Gun, Bonnie Situation, Lola Black, and Reno Divorce. I told you I was busy. Let's get down to business.


George Clinton at the Fillmore

It's only February and I think I may have the candidate for worst show of the year. You may think you are reading this wrong but you aren't. George Clinton is terrible in concert. He might have been good 20 years ago but now it's nothing but bullshit. First off, he no longer has his signature dreads. What the hell is up with that? No one recognized him. I didn't actually believe he made it on stage until I saw a current picture of him. (check out my page on Facebook, musicamilehigh, so you can see the pictures yourself) At one point in the evening they ended up doing a cover of that horrible rap song by Little John, to the window to the wall, till the sweat drips down my balls. Yes, that was covered and I have no idea why. Half the time George wasn't onstage and he had his band play random bullshit. They had a random pimp doing nothing onstage, a couple of hoe's and very little talent. I was never so excited to get out of a show in my life.

Moe. at Ogden

We made it to night 2 of Moe. at the Ogden and ended up having a blast. After the terrible show the night before, we were excited to hear something great. Moe took the stage around 930 and ended around 130 in the morning. Their first set was probably one of the most rocking sets by a jam band I've ever seen in my life, ending with 32 Things , which could easily be called 32 minutes because that's probably as long as they jammed that song out. During that particular jam, the violinist from Cornmeal joined them onstage and completely took that song to a whole new level. I'm nominating that song for a Jammie award. The second set was pretty mellow in comparison but they ended the set strong, making everyone want to dance more. Those cats had incredible energy all night and I'm glad we went to the second night and not the first night. They played a couple songs I just don't care for in the first night.

All Capitals @ Bender's

I had the chance on Friday to start out my night properly at Bender's where All Capitals were opening the night. I wasn't able to stay for the whole set because I had other places I had to be (more on that in a minute) but they played an excellent show. Their bassist played the entire night without a D string, making everything a bit tougher to play but he made it through the evening like a professional. I dug their new song a lot and it was a great way to slide into the night. My only complaint is a venue issue. Everything seems more amplified there than it needs to be and it sometimes drowns out some of the sound. It's been like that for every show I've ever seen there. It's still a million times better than Rockaway though.

Oak Creek @ Walnut Room

After All Capitals finished, I headed over to the Walnut Room for the CD Release show for Oak Creek. Having never heard them before, I was relying on my dear friend Brad Smalling of Evergroove Studios advice as a band I needed to see. Since he worked hard mixing their CD, I figured he knew their sound pretty well. I have to say I was glad I went. The song I listened to online initially didn't really grab me but I'm a firm believer that you need to see a band live to appreciate them. Those guys rocked the house. In the mix of their new songs, they covered Dreams by Fleetwood Mac and Oh Darling by the Beatles and both played to perfection. They have a folky acoustic sound with beautiful vocals and one of the best back up bands in Denver, that include members of Frogs Gone Fishin' and Yamn. There were a couple times I was convinced there was going to be an extended jam busting out and then it got brought back in to the song being played. If you get a chance to see them, do it. They could use the support.

Fishbone@ Cervantes

To end this awesome evening of rock I headed on down to Cervantes for Fishbone. This was a show that was just off the hook. They went on around midnight and ended at 220 AM. Keep in mind that bar close is 2AM. I missed a bit of the set but got there in time for Bonin' in the Boneyard. By the 4th song I was there for I had made my way to the very front of the stage directly in front of Trombone, their trombone player naturally. They rocked out Party at Ground Zero, Alcoholic, Date Rape, and several other songs and had everyone dancing. This was supposed to be an acoustic show but that never happened. I think by acoustic they meant Angelo wasn't going to Stage Dive at all. Rocky George was on fire too, shredding the guitar like he was a combination of Eddie Van Halen and Yngwie Malmsteen. This was the third time I've seen them and they had the highest energy I've ever seen them have. I was sad the night ended.

Hot Gun, Bonnie Situation, Lola Black, and Reno Divorce@ Herman's Hideaway

This was one show I had been excited for since the moment it was announced. I love Bonnie Situation and Reno Divorce. To see them on the same bill was a great experience. Candie had never seen either band before and was excited for Reno Divorce since she loves Social Distortion and has seen Brent solo in the past. I have to say, this show lived up to all expectations.

Hot Gun started the show out strong. While they sounded great, they managed to cover every band I do not care for too much. Squeeze, Thin Lizzy, meh. I understand why they are popular but they just don't do it for me. I'm in the minority but whatever. The important thing is they put on a great set and had one of the best cat suits I've ever seen anyone wear. They were a great start for the evening.

After Hot Gun, Bonnie Situation took the stage and played a great set. While there weren't many new songs from previous shows, they still threw in a surprise or two. They played tight covers of Anything, Anything by Dramarama and Hot Legs by Rod Stewart and teased Run To The Hills before going into a cover of Believe by Cher. Eventually after a verse and a half they went back to Run To The Hills creating probably one of the most unique mash ups I think I've ever heard. Great job guys. Once again they were awesome.

After that, it was Lola Black's turn to play. After some technical difficulties they started to annoy everyone at my table. Songs with a lot of screaming for no reason and the shittiest version of Beautiful People I've ever heard. I have heard better versions of that song at a karaoke bar. I don't get why these guys are popular but I was glad when it was all done. Worst part of the night for sure.

Finally Reno Divorce took the stage and pretty much killed it for the next hour. If you aren't familiar with their work, go grab yourself a Social Distortion record and play it. If you love it, then go to a Reno show. If you hate it, it's probably better that you don't show up. Brent prides himself at how much like Mike Ness he truly sounds like. (I don't even care if that sentence was structured wrong) Reno has a great following and I only expect bigger things from them soon now that they are playing Kegs and Eggs this year. This was seriously a great show all night minus Lola Black. Herman's had one of the biggest crowds I've ever seen, and the place stayed jumping all night. Incredible.

1 comment:

  1. Jeremy! Just a little clarification... Oak Creek tracked drums, bass, vocals, some guitar and trombone and trumpet here at the studio. Due to scheduling issues... we weren't able to mix the CD. That was done by Dan (of Oak Creek) and Brian Neubaurer.

    No biggie but I just want to have the credits correct for the sake of the other people that also worked hard.

    See you soon!

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