Lou Reed Played Highline Ballroom Last Night (May 6th)

Last night, Lou Reed played the one-year anniversary show at Highline Ballroom. After the negative reviews on Reed's show at Highline Ballroom last year (see previous post), I skipped last night's show.

It sounds as though I missed a good show as Reed was described as being in reasonable spirits and good form. Here is the set list (taken from the Highline Ballroom blog) for the show:

01) Mad
02) Sweet Jane
03) I'm Set Free
04) Ectasy
05) I'm Sticking With You
06) Power of the Heart
07) I Wanna Know
08) Halloween Parade
09) Video Violence
10) Guaridian Angel
11) Magic and Loss
12) Pale Blues Eyes
13) Perfect Day
14) Satellite of Love
15) Walk on the Wild Side

This is an infinitely better set list than the prior year's show and it sounds like one of the highlights of the show was a 15 minute version of "Ectasy" with John Zorn.

Lou is off the road until June when he heads over to Ireland for a couple shows.
Links:
Lou Reed's Website
Village Voice Review of the Show
Pictures from the show from Highline Ballroom blog

The Saints Imperious Delirium Tour Pictures - Maxwell's, Hoboken, NJ 10/30/07

I promise to get off my Saints kick (until they come through town again) after I post these pictures from the Maxwell's show.











I have more pictures from The Saints' show posted to my Imeem profile (BrooklynRocks on Imeem).

Links:
The Saints' Website
The Saints' MySpace Page

Keith Caputo Live In Hamburg, Germany, Sept. 18, 2007

This post needs a bit of an advance explanation. Last December, I posted about Keith playing a three song acoustic jam at Club Retox (with Scott Ian, etc.). This post keeps getting traffic and the information is now long out-of-date.

I was looking for updated info on Keith and ran across some photos and a live bootleg of a recent show in Hamburg, Germany. Thanks to someone named "limulus", I have included the complete set list and an mp3 from the show encore (just click on the link).

Hopefully this post will be of more interest than info on a 2006 concert.

According to Keith's MySpace page, his new CD is finished but no release date has been scheduled.

"A lot of people have been asking when the new album will be out. The truth is, we don't know yet. We are trying to find a good label home for the album and that takes some time. Rest assured though, we are working hard to make sure it will be available as soon as possible cause we can't wait to let everyone hear the new stuff."

Setlist from Sept. 18th show:
01 - Upsy Daisy (from "Died Laughing")
02 - Kill with God (from "Hearts Blood On Your Dawn")
03 - New York City (from "Died Laughing")
04 - Ramshackle (from "Hearts Blood On Your Dawn")
05 - Razzberry Mockery (from "Died Laughing")
07 - Troubles Down (unreleased)
08 - Fix Pop Bang Shot (from "Hearts Blood On Your Dawn")
09 - Lamb To The Slaughter (from "Hearts Blood On Your Dawn")
10 - Dew Drop Magic (from "Died Laughing")
11 - New Song (unreleased)
12 - Our Moon Our Stars (from "Hearts Blood On Your Dawn")
13 - Selfish (from "Died Laughing")
---------encore-----------------
14 - Living The Blues (from "Hearts Blood On Your Dawn")
15 - Let's Pretend (from Life Of Agony's "Ugly")

Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero CD Review

Compared against the last Nine Inch Nails release, the band's latest CD is pretty solid. The band's sound has almost gone full-circle back to the early (pre-Woodstock) days. At one point, it seemed that Reznor was going for more of a "live" full band sound but this disc is a return to Reznor as a one-man show. In commenting on this CD, Reznor said that "[a]ll [songs were] written and performed by me, produced / programmed by me and Atticus Ross."

There was a lot of pre-release hype around this release ('mysterious' websites and flash drives) and Reznor bills this release as a concept album. "What's it about? Well, it takes place about fifteen years in the future. Things are not good. If you imagine a world where greed and power continue to run their likely course, you'll have an idea of the backdrop. The world has reached the breaking point - politically, spiritually and ecologically. Written from various perspectives of people in this world, "year zero" examines various viewpoints set against an impending moment of truth. How does it sound? You will hear for yourself soon enough, but given the point of this document is to provide information..."

I am not sure this release works as a concept album as the music is too similar across tracks. When I think of a concept album, I think of work by The Residents, Biomechanical and Anata. With these bands, the music forces you to pay attention to the story line. With Year Zero, this simply sounds like a well put-together Nine Inch Nails release.

Trent Reznor evidently doesn't see this release as an end-to-end concept as he is only playing a couple songs from this release in the band's current setlist. Here is a recent setlist from one of the band's shows last month in Europe:

01 HYPERPOWER! (from Year Zero)
02 The Beginning Of The End (from Year Zero)
03 Heresy
04 Terrible Lie
05 March Of The Pigs
06 Closer
07 Survivalism (from Year Zero)
08 Burn
09 Gave Up
10 Me, I'm Not (from Year Zero)
11 The Great Destroyer (from Year Zero)
12 Eraser
13 Only
14 Wish
15 The Good Soldier (from Year Zero)
16 No, You Don't
17 Suck
18 Dead Souls
19 The Hand That Feeds
20 Head Like A Hole
21 Hurt

Of the 16 tracks on the CD, only 6 are in the set list for this particular night.

This is a solid CD and well worth the listen for fans of Nine Inch Nails. I don't think this release is going to convert many new fans. Old fans need to know in advance that there aren't any "radio hits" on this release. (None of the tracks compare to "Head Like A Hole" or "Suck")

Links:
Nine Inch Nails' Website

Satellite Party @ Irving Plaza (The Fillmore), NYC 9-5-07

Once Mink left the stage, the chants of "Perry... Perry" started. The room was full for Mink but the crowd seemed to grow exponentially between the sets.

I have seen Jane's Addiction and Porno for Pyros about a dozen times in total and Perry continues to be the ultimate showman. It must be tough to be in a band with Perry as he is such the focal point for the crowd. Last month, Nuno Bettencourt and Kevin Figueiredo left the band. Their replacements sounded great but I don't think anyone at the show noticed that two of the original members were missing.


The set list was a mix of cuts from the Satellite Party CD mixed with classic Jane's Addiction and Porno for Pyros.

I didn't snag a setlist (and wasn't trying to write one down when the band played) but I did find a setlist on the 'net from the band's show on 9/1. This looks pretty close to the band's set at Irving Plaza.

01. Wish Upon a Dog Star
02. Just Because
03. Under the Tahitian Moon
04. Mountain Song
05. Insanity Rains
06. Hard Life Easy
07. Superhero
08. Summertime Rolls
09. Pets
10. Only Love, Let's Celebrate
11. Been Caught Stealin'
12. Stop
13. Ultra Payload
14. Jane Says




Check my previous post on Mink for upcoming tour dates - the band is playing a couple dates in the Southeast the week before heading over to the West Coast.
Links:
Satellite Party's MySpace Page

Meat Puppets' Set List from Knitting Factory, August 29th, 2007

It sucks that I forgot to charge the batteries in my camera...I don't think there is any point in posting dark, motion-blurred photos.

Anyway, the show was excellent -- it is great to see the Kirkwood brothers back in action. I just wish Derrick Bostrom was back in the band...

Here is the set list from the show...

1 Sam
2 Touchdown King
3 Snow
4 Up On The Sun
5 Plateau / Lost>Working On A Building>TheWhistling Song
6 Look At The Rain
7 My Baby's Gone
8 Station
9 Fly Like The Wind
10 Comin' Down
11 Oh Me
12 Severed Goddess Hand
13 Never To Be Found
14 Lake Of Fire
15 Climbing
16 Backwater

Meat Puppets Play Knitting Factory and Luna Lounge

The reunited Meat Puppets are playing this Wednesday and Thursday (Aug 29th and 30th) at the Knitting Factory and the band is coming back through town for a September 8th show at the Luna Lounge in Williamsburg. This is the band's first tour in 11 years with original bassist Cris Kirkwood. Unfortunately, original drummer Derrick Bostrom is not part of the reunion -- the drum chair is filled by Ted Marcus.


Here is the set list from the other night in Texas -- I would expect the set at the Knit to be similar:

Sam
Touchdown King
Snow
Up On The Sun
Plateau
Look At The Rain
Lost/
The Whistling Tune
Severed Goddess Hand
Flaming Heart
Never To Be Found
You’re An Island
Station
Oh, Me
Things
Attacked By Monsters
Lake Of Fire

Encore:
Comin’ Down
Back Water
Climbing
Box of Limes
Pee Pee The Sailor

Links:
Knitting Factory
Luna Lounge
Meat Puppets' Website
Derrick Bostrom's Meat Puppets Blog

Lou Reed @ Highline Ballroom, NYC, 4/30/07

Let me start by saying that I did not attend this show. I am a huge Lou Reed fan but $85 a ticket was too rich of a price for me. Based on the set list and reviews, it sounds like I made the right choice. The set list was composed exclusively from later period material (from 1988's New York onward).

Set List:
1. Dorita
2. What's Good
3. Last Great American Whale
4. Gassed And Stoked
5. Trade In
6. Sword Of Damocles
7. The Dream
8. Faces And Names
9. Who Am I?
10. Ecstasy
11. Baton Rouge
12. Magic And Loss
(encore)Rock Minuet

Rolling Stone posted a review of the show.

I don't need to hear Waiting for the Man every show but I was disappointed and a bit bored by Reed's Magic & Loss CD. With five of the songs performed at this show coming from this release, I'm glad I skipped the show.