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KevinLesko
Alien Abductee
3712 Posts |
 Posted - 07/13/2006 : 3:54:59 PM
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Yikes, next week is going to be AWESOME, but it just might kill me:
Monday: Work 8-5 then drive down to San Diego to see Marcus Eaton open for Nils Lofgren.
Tuesday: Work 8-5 then drive to San Juan Capistrano to see Marcus Eaton again.
Wed: In-Store performance and signing by Eighteen Visions in my store, obviously this one is work, and not pleasure.
Thursday: Raconteurs show in Hollywood with my girlfriend... her choice, not my cup of tea by hopefully Jack White shines more live than he does on the cd.
Friday: Flaming Lips in San Diego... hopefully!
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god
Kevin |
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KevinLesko
Alien Abductee
3712 Posts |
Posted - 07/23/2006 : 3:27:52 PM
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OK, this will be a long post, so here we go:
MONDAY:
Drove down to San Diego after work to catch Marcus Eaton open for Nils Lofgren at the Belly Up Tavern. I've seen Tim here twice, and Chris Whitley once with the Vast Combo, and I can now for sure say that it is my favorite venue. AMAZING sound, cool area, cool staff, nice layout, conducive to great pictures... just a great venue. I was worried about driving to San Diego in rush-hour traffic but much to my surprise there was almost no traffic, and I flew right down there, and was actually early. When I got in the venue, Marcus was hanging out and remembered me from the TR run, and gave me a big hug and introduced me to his manager Keith who is a really cool guy that I hung out with a bunch over the next two days. The crowd there for Nils, and as a result, the average person was about 50 yrs old, so the crowd reaction Marcus got was different than when he opened for TR... not bad just different. A lot of feet tapping, and heads bobbing, but no dancing/going nuts like last time. Nonetheless Marcus' set was PHENOMINAL. Memory is a bit fuzzy, but I know he played my favorite song "Story of Now" along with Candle to the Sun, Road to Home, Standing Still, and a few others.
After Marcus' set, I hung around to catch Nils' set out of curiosity, and was QUITE AMAZED. What a legend, who knew? Nils was a member of the E-Street Band for 22 years, and has also played and toured with Crosby Stills Nash & Young. He played wonderfully solo acoustic and told some insane stories in between songs. Definitely catch him if you can. For an encore he busted out a Strat, hit a drum beat (similar to what TR uses) and busted into a killer version of "Because the Night Belongs to Lovers" I don't know if that is actually the name, but you know, the song made famous by 10,000 maniacs... anyways, I was telling Marcus and Keith how odd of a choice, but Keith informed me that it was actually HIS song, and that he wrote it. Very cool.
Tuesday was pretty similar to Monday except that Marcus tore it up at the Coach House even more so, and this "Old Crowd" was much more receptive to Marcus. His merch table got RUSHED afterwards with a lot of new fans coming to get cds, and meet Marcus. Didn't stay to catch Nils' set this night because I actually wanted to get some sleep, but I had a cool conversation with Keith about his friendship with Trey Anastasio.
WED:
Got to work around 3:00, right when things started to get crazy for our in-store that night. The band Eighteen Visions had approached us about doing a free concert and signing afterwards for everyone who buys their new cd that came out that week. I wasn't sure what to expect as far as a turnout went, but we ended up having 500 people in the store for the concert, and 150 for the signing. Pretty crazy.
THURS:
Drove up to Los Angeles with Tiffany to see the Raconteurs which consists of two of her favorite musicians: Brendon Benson and Jack White. We drove by the venue about 5 hours early to check to see if there was a line yet, and there was, so we got out in got in line (90 degrees in the sun outside) but it didn't matter since we had floor tickets and she wanted to be right up front for the show which we were. We ended up seeing Jason Shwartzman, Jared Leto, and Jason Bateman throughout the day. We did indeed get a pretty good spot up on the stage, and the set was pretty good. Great if you ask Tiff, but it was cool to be 10 feet from Jack White. You could tell he was holding back a bit trying not to steal the spotlight from the band.
FRIDAY:
Now the big one. All week, I wasn't really even expecting to see the Flaming Lips. Free show... general admission... too good to be true. Had ZERO expectations. We drove down the race track, got there just after 2:00pm which was when the gates opened. We wandered around a bit, and found a stage set up in this little courtyard. I thought, no way, this can't be it. So I asked the sound guy "Is this where the Flaming Lips are playing"? Yes he replied, and sure enough, I looked at all of the equipment on stage and it was undoubtedly theirs. I looked around, and no one was up in front of the stage, so the 4 of us just sat down in front of the stage even though the Flips weren’t coming on to 8:00pm. Again, 80+ degree heat, sun... but at least we had some refreshing $8 beers to help. There were a few other people around, who looked to be mad that we camped out in front of the stage, I guess they figures they could lurk around in the back since there was no one else around. HA! Oh well, we weren't missing out on this opportunity. About 3:00 my friend Chris spots Wayne just strolling around in full suit and a fan runs up to hand him a painting he made, Chris went up to Wayne, and he said "I'll be back in a bit". Yeah right we thought. But 6:00 rolls around and he comes out and was talking to people and signing things.... by now there was a decent crowd, and I almost didn't want to bother but Chris went, and met Wayne, and got his girlfriend's diver's license signed (he drew a picture over her picture haha). I figured, oh what the hell, I'll run over there too and dive into the crowd, and I actually got to meet Wayne. What a cool guy. He was having legit conversations with everyone, and taking pictures. I took a picture with him and told him we were there sice 2:00. He said "2? ... 2 EARLY!" haha, nice one Wayne. Anyways, I was so excited and told him I'd betted run back to my spot and that I couldn't wait for the set. 8:00 rolls around... and it all started. Note to Fluffy, you'll be excited to hear that they used Aphrodite’s Child "4 Horsemen" as their warm-up song. Not sure if that had anything to do with the show being at the horse races or not? But I think I was the only one who recognized it. Right before the show started Wayne said we have a special Intro... Santa Clause comes up, and takes off his beard and hat to reveal "Pedro" from Napoleon Dynamite. He said, "I told you if you elected me that I'd make all of your wildest dreams come true"! and out come the Flaming Lips. Again, we were front row center, probably 5 feet from Wayne. I don't even know what to say about the show. I was singing, dancing, covered in balloons and confetti, and had an ear to ear grin on my face the entire show. About halfway through the set he said, "The Flaming Lips play to the coolest audiences ever, in fact the front row right here was here at 2:00"! and then he looked down at us and smiled. HOW COOL!!! There was a curfew, but before the last song Wayne said they had to go, but if we make a ton of noise and refuse to leave that he'll convince them to be lenient with the curfew, and it worked... TWICE double encore! Just amazing to be right there for it all. They played almost everything I could have wished for: Race for the Prize, Bohemian Rhapsody, Free Radicals, Yeah Yeah Yeah Song, Spoonful Weighs a Ton, War Pigs, the WAND and many more. 90 min set. Unfortunately there was one big damper on the evening. After the set I turned around and saw my friend Chris looking around on the floor, turns out he was pick-pocketed and his wallet was stolen. I can't believe people sometimes. A few other people around us had the same thing happen. He took it surprisingly well, I know I wouldn’t have. So anyways, that was just a life-changing concert that can't be explained unless you see it, are showered with confetti, and have a huge balloon blown up to the point of explosion in your face.
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god
Kevin |
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Arthen
Alien Abductee
USA
4845 Posts |
Posted - 07/24/2006 : 12:54:36 AM
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Bad ass Kevin! Great pics, I envy your week. However I must ask: What the/who the hell is 18 Visions?
Man, I want to see the Flaming Lips live. I wonder if they know CW covered Mountainside... |
Steve Hackett: "I'm my own opening act, you see."
Tim (before "Faceoff"): "Peace, love....and SEX!"
cbenc41@hotmail.com |
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Robin
Yak Addict
USA
598 Posts |
Posted - 07/24/2006 : 12:50:24 PM
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| WOW! What an amazing week you had! Thanks for sharing. Really nice that Marcus opened for nils, he's pretty amazing too. Peace, Robin |
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Fluffy
Administrator
USA
10739 Posts |
Posted - 07/25/2006 : 5:21:34 PM
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Hey Kevin, sound like you had a great week of music. I am especially envious of the Marcus/Nils shows. As anyone who knows my musical taste very well can tell you I was never a huge Springsteen fan but I have always been a huge fan of Nils Lofgren. I would say my fave Nils Lofgren song is "No Mercy". Wow, wow, wow, still one of my fave songs. My fave overall Nils CD is called "Crooked Line", it was on Rykodisc. Not sure if it is still in print but definitely worth checking out. Neil Young guests on that CD. I didn't know that the Nils shows were going to be solo acoustic, I would have given almost anything to see that. I have never heard a solo acoustic album by Nils, hell I don't even know if one exists. I will have to look into that.
AS for Flaming Lips, you obviously "GET IT" hehe. Now you know why they are one of my all-TIMe fave bands. I can't believe I forgot to mention the Aphrodite's Child intro in my review of the Wakarusa show. TR and I almost jumped out of our skin when we heard it. We definitely felt like we were on the same page as the Flaming Lips as our performance started after that. VERY KEWL! As you pointed out, TR and I also joked that we wondered how many people in that field knew what they were hearing or if maybe we were the only ones who knew that music. LOL That sucks about the pickpocketing thang, I guess having worked in clubs I am just over cautious in those kinds of situations. Glad it didn't kill the experience for you. Glad you had such a great week of shows and music. Hopefully everyone can have a week like that very soon and very often. I am sure lots are envious. I know I was when I read your reviews. |
Peace & Keep the Faith
Fluffy         
"THE MUSIC BUSINESS IS A CRUEL AND SHALLOW MONEY TRENCH-- A LONG PLASTIC HALLWAY WHERE THIEVES AND PIMPS RUN FREE AND GOOD MEN DIE LIKE DOGS. THERE'S ALSO A NEGATIVE SIDE..." -Hunter S. Thompson |
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Next week: 5 concerts in 5 days (Reviews + Pics)
