Concert review: KFMA Fall Ball (Against Me!, Cypress Hill, and Smashing Pumpkins)

Even though I was initially bummed that the Smashing Pumpkins "reunion" meant only half of the original members returning, I was still pretty excited about the possibility of finally seeing them live. But when they were announced for the KFMA Fall Ball festival, I was a little hesitant, because radio shows and the people that attend them usually SUCK. However, once I found out that Against Me! was on the bill as well, I was sold.

Seeing as the first few bands were unspeakably dreadful (Silverstein? Paramore?? I'd rather shove nails in my ears), my friend James and I didn't get there till around 4:30, which gave us plenty of time to mill around and for me to find a good spot up front for Against Me!. I managed to score a spot in the front row, which was cool, but a band like Against Me! is not meant to be experienced from 15 feet away behind a fence and tons of security guards. I knew that this was the worst possible environment to see them in (short set, no intimacy, a crowd full of assholes who had never heard of them, etc.), but I'd already seen them twice before in more favorable circumstances, so it wasn't that big a deal.



As I expected, they kicked ass, and even had a sense of humor about the many projectiles being hurled at the stage. "Oh please," Tom said with a grin as plastic beer bottles sailed past him, "we've had much worse than this." Here's their set list; it's out of order but complete:

Up the Cuts
New Wave
Thrash Unreal
Borne on the FM Waves of the Heart
White People For Peace
Americans Abroad
Ocean
Stop
Pints of Guinness
Reinventing Axl Rose
Cliche Guevara
Rice and Bread
Sink Florida Sink
Unprotected Sex With Multiple Partners
From Her Lips to God's Ears
Problems

They played 8 of the 10 songs on their new album, which was what I expected, but I still wished they would have thrown a few more bones to us die hard fans, like "Those Anarcho Punks Are Mysterious" or "Walking Is Still Honest." Oh well.

Next up was Cypress Hill. My knowledge of their music doesn't extend much beyond Rage Against the Machine covers and that one episode of the Simpsons that they were in, but they were still pretty entertaining. Obviously, I'm not familiar with their catalogue at all, but I know that they played "How I Could Just Kill a Man" and "Insane in the Membrane."

Finally, the moment everyone had been waiting for: the Smashing Pumpkins. It took forever for them to get set up, but that just got the crowd more excited. They opened with "United States" off of their new album, Zeitgeist, which I thought was a weird choice for an opener, but it was still pretty awesome. They also played "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" early on, which made the crowd go apeshit, and also "Hummer," which I wasn't really expecting. As they launched into "Tonight Tonight," it started to rain, but that just made that song all the more intense and amazing, especially when the downpour seemed to intensify as the song built to the climax. It was honestly one of the most dramatic and emotional concert moments I've ever experienced.



Unfortunately, it started raining TOO hard, and after that song they had to take a break while the technicians attempted to restore the power on the stage. That's when things started going downhill. Despite the calm explanation from a concert organizer that the band would be back on shortly as soon as the rain stopped (and we know that downpours never last more than 5 minutes in Tucson), the crowd got increasingly restless and irritable, chanting "Bullshit!" and "Rain or shine!" when the delay began to drag on. Finally, Billy Corgan walked out, noticeably irritated, and said "Hey! We're right back there, and we'll be back on in just a minute, so chill the fuck out and stop throwing shit at us!!" Sure enough, they came back out, but their set from then on was dismal. Even James, a much bigger Pumpkins fan that I, didn't recognize any of the songs they played after the delay, except for "Tarantula."

After playing these obscure tunes to a very confused and wet crowd, they left the stage after less than an hour of actually playing. No "Zero," no "Today," no "1979." It was extremely disappointing from that viewpoint, but they still put on a great show, and really showed their talent as musicians. After some research, I was able to find the entire set (in order):

United States
Bullet With Butterfly Wings
That's the Way (My Love Is)
Hummer
Stand Inside Your Love
Tonight Tonight
Glass and the Ghost Children
Superchrist
Heavy Metal Machine

Theme playlist #3: Road Trip!

Ah, the great American road trip. Sure, it's fun to just pile in a car with your buddies and blast off to parts unknown, but it's even better if you've got the right soundtrack for the occasion. Here's some tunes that, for one reason or another, make great driving songs. They'll make you put the gas pedal on the floor and drum on the steering wheel with your hands, but don't blame me if you get pulled over.

1. Deep Purple- "Highway Star" (preferably the Made In Japan live version)
2. Golden Earring- "Radar Love"
3. Black Sabbath- "Hole In the Sky"
4. Sleater-Kinney- "Not What You Want"
5. Clutch- "The Mob Goes Wild"
6. Motorhead- "Ace of Spades"
7. Pantera- "Cowboys From Hell"
8. Hot Water Music- "Remedy"
9. The Clash- "Train In Vain"
10. Metallica- "Master of Puppets"
11. Led Zeppelin- "Celebration Day"
12. Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band- "Thunder Road"

High On Fire- "Death Is This Communion"

Popping in a High On Fire album is an experience that goes beyond just listening to some great metal. Sometimes, with the thundering rhythm section and guitar riffs that hit you with the subtlety of a freight train going off the tracks, it feels more like you're being stampeded by a herd of elephants. Death Is This Communion, the follow up to the amazing Blessed Black Wings, takes the intensity of that album and tightens up the formula just enough to make everything a little...better. The guitar tone is even heavier, the drums are positively seismic, and Matt Pike's vocals are sounding more like Lemmy every day.

The opening track, the aptly-named "Fury Whip," has a fantastic guitar riff, and when Pike starts screaming the title over and over towards the end of the song, you'd swear the world was coming to an end. The 8 1/2 minute title track features a chorus that's actually pretty catchy, and the slower tempo channels Black Sabbath perfectly. The band shows that they're not afraid to do something different by including "Headhunter," which is one-and-a-half-minute drum solo with very primal, tribal undertones. The genius of this track is that the volume slowly builds until the end, when it feels like your speakers are going to explode from all the pounding. Listening to it on headphones is almost a religious experience. "Rumors of War" is an up-tempo, barnstormer of a song that is very Motorhead-like, both in the vocals and the general feel of the song. Finally, the album closes with "Return to NOD," and while I have no clue what that means, I can tell you that the riffs in this song are absolutely monolithic, and the final minute or so encapsulates everything that this band is about.

Blessed Black Wings really raised the bar for this band, but like their equally amazing peers in Mastodon and Pig Destroyer, they managed to completely exceed expectations and create a stunning album that is sure to define their careers.

Oh, and did I mention the unbelievably bad-ass album cover?

Theme playlist #2: Living Well Is the Best Revenge...

Been jilted by your lover? Get dumped by that special someone who you thought was "the one?" Well, get a hold of yourself, you crybaby. Why be sad about a breakup when you can blast these songs and give a big "FUCK YOU!" to your ex? Here are some of my favorite bitter post-breakup songs:

1. Johnny Cash- "Cry, Cry, Cry"
2. Say Anything- "Every Man Has a Molly"
3. Against Me!- "Cavalier Eternal"
4. Brand New- "Seventy Times Seven"
5. Excuse 17- "This Is Not Your Wedding Song"
6. Green Day- "Stuart and the Ave."
7. Sleater-Kinney- "One Song For You"
8. Jawbreaker- "Sluttering (May 4th)"
9. The Dresden Dolls- "Dirty Business"
10. Guns N' Roses- "You're Crazy"
11. Quasi- "I Never Want to See You Again"
12. Alkaline Trio- "Radio"

"One Song For You" was the inspiration for this playlist; Corin Tucker screaming "Drop little boy crumbs you can follow back when you get lost becoming a man!!!" is enough to make any guy feel a little emasculated. "Radio" is another classic because there's nothing like imploring the other person to kill themselves. Green Day's entry has the classic line "Standing on the corner of Stuart and Ave./Ripping up my transfer and a photograph of you." Finally, Jawbreaker's "Sluttering (May 4th)" finds the narrator looking on in disgust as the object of his affection finds someone new, and when Blake sings "Congratulations to you both, I hope somewhere you're happy," the sentiment is dripping with more than a little bit of sarcasm and disdain.

Theme playlist #1: Protest Songs

This is the first installment of something I hope to do every week: I'll come up with a playlist where all the songs follow some kind of theme. This week's theme: protest songs. Sorry, you won't find any Bob Dylan or Woodstock types here. That stuff is great, but there's plenty of anti-war and anti-Bush music out there right now, and it's no wonder. There's a lot to be pissed off and outraged about these days, and this is only a small sampling of what I feel is the best current protest music around. Yes, some nitpickers will point out that "Heaven Is Falling" was written about the first Gulf War, but I'll change it just as soon as you show me that's not still 100% true.

1. Rise Against- "State of the Union"
2. Sleater-Kinney- "Combat Rock"
3. Dillinger Four- "Like Sprewells On a Wheelchair"
4. Bad Religion- "Heaven Is Falling"
5. Chuck Ragan- "It's What You Will"
6. Against Me!- "White People For Peace"
7. Iron Maiden- "The Legacy"
8. None More Black- "M.A.T.T.H."
9. Tool- "Vicarious"
10. Jello Biafra featuring The Melvins- "Dawn of the Locusts"
11. Thought Riot- "You're Gonna Die"
12. Propagandhi- "Iteration"

I varied this list quite a bit, both in terms of style and subject matter. Some of them ("Combat Rock," "Heaven Is Falling") are very specific in their topics, and others ("Vicarious," "The Legacy," "It's What You Will") take aim at general societal ills. My favorites are the tracks by Sleater-Kinney and Dillinger Four; they both sum up the post-9/11 attitude of this country flawlessly. The most interesting and unique song, though, is Propagandhi's "Iteration," which presents an alternate reality in which Donald Rumsfeld is tried and convicted of war crimes, and is sentenced to...well...just listen to the song to find out. I don't want to ruin it for you.

Concert review: AFI w/Sick of it All and The Dear and Departed- Rialto Theater, 2/17/07

AFI are one of my favorite bands, so you can imagine my excitement when they said they were playing here in Tucson at a tiny venue. It sold out a long time ago, so I figured I should probably get there really early in order to get a good spot. I got there at about 3:30, the doors opened at 6:30. It was pretty boring standing there for 3 hours, but oh well. The doors surprisingly opened right on time (they were almost half an hour late last time I was at this venue), and I grabbed a beer and secured a spot on the floor, close to the front and off to the left to try and avoid some of the inevitable crush.

The Dear and Departed took their sweet fucking time getting on stage, and they sucked bad. They played with a lot of energy, and were genuinely grateful to be on the tour as a new band, but that didn't make them any less boring or awful.

I'd heard one Sick of it All song before, so I wasn't familiar with their material at all, but goddamn they were amazing. They're bona fide legends in the hardcore scene, and have been around for 20 years. They're an amazing live band, and I walked away from their set a new fan. The singer got a mini- "Wall of Death" going at the beginning of one song, which was pretty cool.

After a rather long setup, AFI finally took the stage. Their set went by really fast, which made me think it was a little shorter than usual, but it wasn't. The official setlist:

Prelude 12/21 (Intro)
Girl's Not Grey
Kill Caustic
The Leaving Song Part II
Summer Shudder
File 13
Silver and Cold
Dancing Through Sunday
The Missing Frame
Wester
This Time Imperfect
Death of Seasons
The Leaving Song Part I
Song 2 (Blur cover)
Love Like Winter
--------------------------
God Called In Sick Today
Miss Murder

File 13 and Wester were both absolutely fucking amazing. I almost lost my voice singing along to the chorus of File 13: "THROW!! ME!! AWAY!! I'VE GOT NO USE!!!" I was one of the only people around me who knew that one, which wasn't surprising. Wester was amazing because it's one of my favorite AFI songs, and they don't play it very often. A guy from the AFI board jumped up on stage during that song and sang the bridge with Davey, and did a hell of a job too. You can see the video of this awesome moment here. The rest of the set was very predictable, except for their cover of Blur's "Song 2." Davey did his usual crowd-walking bit during "God Called In Sick Today," and then they closed with "Miss Murder."Overall, it definitely ranks up there with the best shows I've ever seen, and it was made better by the fact that I was pretty comfortable throughout most of AFI's set, and didn't get crushed or bashed around by crowdsurfers, which was nice for a change. I also got to meet some people I knew from the message board, who were very cool people.

Year End Extravaganza!

Since the end of 2006 is nearly upon us, I thought I’d pontificate on the best and worst musical happenings of the year.

My Top 10 Albums of the Year

1. Mastodon- Blood Mountain
2. Converge- No Heroes
3. Iron Maiden- A Matter of Life and Death
4. None More Black- This Is Satire
5. The Lawrence Arms- Oh! Calcutta!
6. AFI- Decemberunderground
7. Thursday- A City By the Light Divided
8. Quasi- When the Going Gets Dark
9. Tool- 10,000 Days
10. Brand New- The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me

Song of the Year
Three way tie: Mastodon- "Colony of Birchmen," Converge- "No Heroes," The Lawrence Arms, "The Devil's Takin' Names"

Best Moments of '06:
1. Mastodon continues their rise to the top of the metal world
2. Dio's cameo in Tenacious D's "The Pick of Destiny"
3. Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden takes a fan's banner reading "Play the old songs," tears it up in front of him, and goes into the next song from their new album.

Worst Moments of '06:
1. Sleater-Kinney calls it quits
After releasing what could be considered their crowning achievement last year with The Woods, the Portland trio suddenly decided to pack it in for an "indefinite hiatus." Who knows how long that will last. In the meantime, I mourn the loss of one of the most exciting, amazing rock bands of the last 20 years.

2. Hot Water Music breaks up
Not totally unexpected, but heartbreaking nonetheless. 2004's The New What Next showed that the band was going in new, interesting directions, and were continuing to pave the way for post-hardcore bands everywhere. Luckily, they were re-incarnated (sans Chuck Regan) as The Draft, who pick up where HWM left off.

3. Panic! At the Disco continues to exist
Why, God, why??

4. CBGB's Closes Down
A punk institution is forced to close its doors, and a little (but significant) part of music history dies.

The "No Shit, Sherlock" Award:
Guns 'n Roses says "Chinese Democracy" is coming out. It doesn't. No one is shocked.

Most Bizarre Collaboration:
Mike Watt records bass for Kelly Clarkson's next album. Oooookaaaayy...

Best Queen Impression:
1. My Chemical Romance- "Welcome to the Black Parade"
2. Queen with Paul Rodgers

Best Bruce Springsteen Impression:
The Killers- "When You Were Young"

Best Thing From England Since Tea and Crumpets:
Lady Sovereign
A 5 foot, 20-year-old, white British girl who just happens to rap better than most other people. At last, a female rapper who doesn't spend entire songs describing unspeakable sex acts.

Asshole Lead Singer Lifetime Achievement Award: Bono
Buying iPods and Nikes will save Africa, huh? Whatever you say, fuckbag, but I think the 8-year-olds in the Nike sweatshops would have something to say about that.

Song Title of the Year:
"You Suck! But Your Peanut Butter Is Okay" by None More Black

Best Cover:
"Like I Love You," by Dillinger Escape Plan (originally by Justin Timberlake)

Best Music/Concert DVD:
Mastodon- The Workhorse Chronicles
Live footage of almost every single song the band had released to that point, plus great and hilarious interviews and behind-the-scenes footage.

Worst Music/Concert DVD:
Dillinger Escape Plan- Miss Machine: The DVD
I paid 8 bucks for 3 videos and a handful of shitty quality live footage?

Album Title With Most Exclamation Points:
Against Me!- "Americans Abroad!!! Against Me!!! Live In London!!!"

Best Song About Snakes on a Plane:
Cobra Starship- "Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)"