Here's a few pics from The National's show in Austin this past Saturday night at Stubbs. It was my fourth time seeing the band overall and first time on this tour. I'd have to say it was probably the best set I've seen them play, with the new material sounding especially strong. Catch the whole setlist at the bottom after the photo's.
THE NATIONAL (10-5-13) Stubbs, Austin Tx. Setlist
I Should Live in Salt
Don't Swallow the Cap
Bloodbuzz Ohio
Demons
Sea of Love
Afraid of Everyone
Conversation 16
Squalor Victoria
Abel
All the Wine
I Need My Girl
This is the Last Time
Apartment Story
Pink Rabbits
Graceless
About Today
Fake Empire
Encore
Humiliation
Mr. November
Terrible Love w/ Justin Vernon
Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks w/ Justin Vernon
With SXSW kicking into full gear this week, you'll be hearing a lot about bands and artists to watch for 2012 and beyond. If her debut shows in NYC this past weekend are any kind of early indication, I think it's a safe bet you'll be hearing a lot more about UK's, Daughter (Elena Tonra). I saw her and her band play to a packed house at Glasslands gallery in Brooklyn on Saturday night and it was truly a mesmerizing set. Daughter's voice on record has that odd quality of sounding confident and shy at the same time, but in concert that innocence really shined through and stole the room. Elena seemed genuinely in awe that she was playing to a full house, even commenting a few times how grateful & surprised they were that people were showing up to their first U.S shows. Playing songs off her two EP's that were released last year, His Young Heart and The Wild Youth, the 3 piece took control of the room early with a stunning version of, "Landfill" with great backing vocals provided by the guys in the band. Other highlights of the set for me included the popular, "Youth", and "Love" which slowly builded until the tension explodes in the song. Switching to play acoustic a couple of times during the show, another standout track was, "Candles" off of her first EP, His Young Heart.
If I had one complaint abot the show it would only be that I wish she had more songs to play, and that it lasted longer. Hopefully there's a full length in the future toward the end of the year.
But for now both EP's are available, and they were just recently added on iTunes via Glassnote music.
I had the chance to attend the album release show for Adam Arcuragi last night at Union Pool in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. His new album, Like a Fire That Consumes all Before it... came out this week and like I said previously, it's fantastic. I'm relatively new to his music so this was my first time seeing him in concert. On record his music comes through as deeply intense and passionate, so I was anxious to see what he would bring to the live setting. It wasn't really a surprise but he delivered ten fold with an emotion filled set, opening with a one two punch of "Presidents Song" & "Oh I See." I've seen his music get described before as 'death gospel' and I guess I never really fully understood the description until seeing him in person. His soulful voice paired with the foot stomping and hand clappin' on stage and in the crowd definitely gave off that spiritual vibe.
Check out some pictures from the show below, plus more over on our Facebook page HERE.
Watching Fanfarlo at The Bell House in Brooklyn last night, you get the feeling that this might be one of the last times you'll get to see the band in such a small and intimate style venue. Just one night prior in NYC, the band sold out The Bowery Ballroom, after the show got moved from the much smaller Mercury Lounge. Last nights show at The Bell House was the bands last of a quick one week tour of the U.S, with select dates on the East and West Coasts, and all this comes without the band even having a full on release of their fantastic debut Reservoir, which has only been available digitally or through the bands website. That will all change shortly as the group recently signed on with Atlantic/Canvasback for Reservoirs re-release, which is due out Oct. 6th.
The band who's music ranges from sweeping anthems to gypsy-infused folk, kicked off the night with a slightly stripped back version of "Drowning Men," with just three members, before swelling back later to it's usual six and seven. Besides a slight tuning problem in the middle, the band was tight throughout the set, interchanging instruments and harmonies, with Cathy Lucas especially strong, lending backing vocals, along with violin, mandolin and xylophone. With the just under one hour set, the band played mostly tracks off of 'Reservoir", with particular highlights for me being the full band sing along of,"The Walls are Coming Down", "Harold T. Wilkins" which I liked much better than the album version, the slow stomping "I'm A Pilot" and the delicate epic, "Comets." The band did manage to blend in a new song before the night was done called, "Waiting in the Wings" which showed a diverse sound that should quell the critics, before wrapping up the night with encores of "Ghosts," which saw the band handing out whirling noise-making tubes (check the video below) to help with the intro. The festivities ended with a cover of Neutral Milk Hotel's, "In The Airplane Over The Sea" before Balthazar lost his voice, which he said was starting to go on him.
for more info on the band visit Fanfarlo.com
photo credit- G. Paul Burnett/The New York Times (from Monday's Bowery show)
Fresh off the release of his second full length, When The Devil's Loose, which dropped last week, A.A. Bondy stopped by The Mercury Lounge in NYC as part of his current headlining tour. While Bondy's brand of sincere Americana can have a very old school vibe to it, making you feel like taking a trip out on the old Route 66, there's also an ever present menacing quality to his music. Seeing him live for the first time it was clear right from the get go, with the brooding opener, "The Mightiest Of Guns" that the dark side of his music could take hold and capture the room. The intensity level was high all night, with yells and whistles from the crowd between and during songs, which Bondy said was full with lot's of friends and family. Playing with a drummer and bass player, A.A. switched between electric and acoustic guitar breezing through new songs like, "When the Devils Loose", "Oh The Vampyre" and personal favorite off the new disc "I Can See The Pines", while older tracks off of '07's 'American Hearts', received the biggest reception. "There's a Reason" had the crowd singing along, as well as "Vice Rag", which was complete with perfectly timed handclaps by the audience, which Bondy seemed to fully appreciate. Other highlights of the night included new song "The Coal Hits The Fire" and older track "Killed Myself When I Was Young" which was scorched through by the band, including a nice solo By A.A. Following his current September dates, Bondy will be heading overseas with The Felice Brothers, before returning to the U.S. for a three-week tour with Elvis Perkins in Dearland in November. You can check his myspace for all the dates.
