en http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/ Thu, 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 Thu, 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 60 http://www.audioscrobbler.net/data/webservices http://www.last.fm/user/Chunnifer/journal The Last.fm journal for Chunnifer. Last.fm journals are a place to talk about all things music. http://www.last.fm/user/Chunnifer/journal/2009/09/20/30vfj4_yyy_at_the_pearl_las_vegas Sun, 20 Sep 2009 08:22:45 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/Chunnifer/journal/2009/09/20/30vfj4_yyy_at_the_pearl_las_vegas Sat 19 Sep – The Yeah Yeah Yeahs

We paid $40 a ticket for the floor. I think the concert hall was at 60% capacity. Sad. YYY? In Vegas? Take advantage, man.

I didn't think they were gonna have any openers. I couldn't find anything anywhere about it, but they did. And it was No Age. No Age did a 30-minute set ... Yeah. People didn't seem so impressed. Except for maybe the guys in front moshing. They moshed during YYY, too. I didn't really think YYY was a mosh kind of band. Yo-Yo Ma, maybe, but not YYY.

So like any band with a chick in it, the "whole band" isn't on stage til the girl is on stage. Rick and Brian came out and the crowd was all "Whoo!" then Karen O comes on and everyone's all, "WHOOO!"

She wore like this neon Native American Elvis hapi coat thing with tassels and tiger-print tights and shit.

The stage set up was okay. The back curtain had this big sparkly spiral thing that spiraled into this giant white beach ball. Right before YYY took the stage, the stage hands turned the ball around and it was a giant eyeball! as per the cover art for the Zero single. Several times, Karen exploded clouds of red confetti Y's ... I ate one. You're inside of me now, Karen. You're part of me forever.

Karen kept doing this thing where she takes a gulp of water and sprayed it straight up like Rampage Jackson.

Their set was about an hour and 15.

Set list (I think):
"Shake It"
"Dull Life"
"Gold Lion"
"Black Tongue"
[missing a song here]
"Shame and Fortune"
"Heads Will Roll"
"Cheated Hearts"
- Karen O costume changes, puts on a robe thing
"Skeletons"
"Hysteric"
"Soft Shock"
"Honeybear" - they played it faster than normal and it was really percussive in the beginning
- Nick takes a picture of the crowd and Karen does another costume change, puts on her studded black leather KO jacket
"Zero"
- encore:
"Y Control"
- dedications, including one to Las Vegas lovers
"Maps"
"Date with the Night"

Bummed they didn't do "Tick" and "Turn Into".

It was a really good show. Karen was really personable with the crowd and she hit all her notes. Good times. I get to cross them off my list.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/Chunnifer/journal/2008/11/06/29gmxa_of_course%2C_i_do_remember. Thu, 6 Nov 2008 05:47:40 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/Chunnifer/journal/2008/11/06/29gmxa_of_course%2C_i_do_remember. Sun 2 Nov – The Faint, Mika Miko, Dr. Dooom aka Kool Keith at The House of Blues, Mandalay Bay

Security was really discerning in checking my purse for recording devices and contraband. I think when the venue isn't clusterfuck packed, security has more time to take investigating each person.

Doors were at 530p. After the opening band and DJ, The Faint didn't come on til 815ish.

The lead singer wore a lab coat and goggs. Not beer goggs. Just ... goggs.

My friends guessed there were ~500 people in attendance. The dance floor looked pretty full, but the mezzanine and bays were kinda emptyish. At points in the performance, The Faint was able to bring to crowd to a pulsing mass. Crowd participation was par excellence and participated in the sing alongs.

Because it was all ages, there were a lot of young'un hipsters.

The stage was back lit, dramatically silhouetting band members. All band mates had a lot of energy, but the singer and keyboardist had the most fervor. The keyboardist stood in profile, center stage. Profile is under-ratedly dynamic. I counted four keyboards on stage. The singer used one.

For the most part, singer was unsynthesized. Sometimes he was heavily synthesized.

I love the Faint. Honestly, I only had and worshiped Wet From Birth from release. I bought Blank Wave Arcade second hand only a few months ago. I bought Danse Macabre at the venue the night of the concert. And I have yet to buy Fasciination. I will, I promise. The Faint is music that robots make love to.

I like the transformation that The Faint has taken on through their albums.

Some of the songs they sang, in no particular order:

"Agenda Suicide"
"Desperate Guys"
"The Conductor"
"Worked Up So Sexual"
"Paranoia"
"Posed to Death"
"I Disappear"

Can you tell I'm big on Wet From Birth?

They ended at 930p and came back on for an encore which included:

"Birth"
"The Geeks Were Right"

Mi encanta.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/Chunnifer/journal/2008/10/14/27zghh_she%27s_a_lady. Tue, 14 Oct 2008 17:37:04 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/Chunnifer/journal/2008/10/14/27zghh_she%27s_a_lady. Sat 11 Oct – Santogold, Mates of State, Low vs. Diamond at House of Blues (Las Vegas)

According to her MySpace, Santogold was scheduled for 730p. According to House of Blues will call, she wasn't scheduled to come on til 9p.

At 915, she hit the stage with her DJ and two dancers. And that's pretty much it. She didn't have any decor or a supportive band, really. Just the DJ and his turntables and laptop. The dancers had a microphone each, that I'm not even sure functioned as they should've. I think those mics were there as props. Even the dancers didn't have much function besides that of stage props. All of their moves were choreographed. They were robotic and hip-hop all in one rad package.

Santogold wore this aqua 80's jumpsuit/ Sgt. Pepper costume with gaudy gold trim and her dancers wore a baggy gold kind of garbage bag top, black leggings and 80's sunglasses.

I waited too long to write this review and I don't remember all of the songs she did. She did "L.E.S. Artistes," "The Creator," "You'll Find a Way," "Say Aha," "My Superman," "Lights Out," "Starstruck," "Anne," and "Unstoppable" for sure. But she did one other song that wasn't on her debut CD. She also did a cover of the Clash's "Guns of Brixton" which sounded wicked. She might've been saying "the guns of Kingston," but I'm not sure.

All of the sons sounded just as they do on the CD. She didn't adapt anything to a live setting and her sounds didn't deviate. Her vocals were on point and she hit all of the hard notes.

Her back up dancers were a riot. They had microphones in front of them, but I don't think they were on. They moved their lips, but I think it was for show. They would stand still for a very long time and then break out into a choreographed krump. Very sexy-goofy.

During her "last" song" (before the encore) she called up a group of ten from the crowd to dance with her. The first guy on stage was one of those hardcore fan kids. Seeing him from the bar all the way in the back, he looked like Pete Wentz from Fall Out Boy.

There were some other true fans, dancing like everyone was watching. Pure entertainment. I had fun watching.

The concert wasn't packed. It wasn't hard at all to find a perch for 5'2" me. And, bonus, I didn't have to deal with any drunk people. Probably because most people there weren't old enough to drink.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/Chunnifer/journal/2008/10/03/27b39c_you_should_go_down. Fri, 3 Oct 2008 23:57:39 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/Chunnifer/journal/2008/10/03/27b39c_you_should_go_down. Wed 1 Oct – Filter at Wasted Space (Las Vegas)

Promptly at 10p, the band entered one by one, Richard last.

His band mates wore t-shirts and jeans. Richard wore a black button down and stunner shades, a Richard Patrick trademark.

The Wasted Space venue is really small and you can barely squeeze a four-man band on the little platform. Richard was pretty conservative in his rocking out for an industrial rocker. Although he did have some violent moments with his mic stand and dared the crowd to start a mosh. The whole night, their guitarist did this head-banger move where it looked like he was trying to break flaming cinder blocks with the top of his head. * bash *

Richard can still scream like back in the day.

Set list:
"Welcome To The Fold"
"American Cliche"
"Dose" strong sounds of STP. First song of the set that Richard picks up a guitar.
"What's Next?"
[new song. had "So where do we go?" in the lyrics]
"Trip Like I Do"
"Its Gonna Kill Me"
"So I Quit" Before this song, Richard asks the crowd, "Do you know punk rock?"
"Jurassitol" After this song, Richard declared that song is about and old man that tells a young man to go to war. "Do you understand?" he asked. He said they wrote it ten years ago.
"Cancer"
"Hey Man, Nice Shot"

They "closed" at 11p and came back on for an encore a minute later. Their encore consisted of four songs:
"The Take"
"Captain Bligh" ? Extended? Richard demanded the crowd clap our hands, "Keep time," he said. I don't really like it when performers make the audience clap. If the audience feels it, they'll show it. But then again, Vegas is a really hard place to perform. My very wise friend who works in the Joint has a saying, "People here just don't fucking care."
They closed with "Take A Picture" I'm not getting into the sell out discussion. Who ever knows what the artist's intention is? But I will say that I thought it was a little fruity of them to close with this song.

Richard seemed unsatisfied with crowd participation and lack of enthusiasm, once saying "Fuck yeah, come alive, bitches!" and throughout the concert emptied a total of three water bottles over the crowd. He said, "Something drastic had to happen."

In the beginning of the show, someone in the crowd yelled out, "Play that song we know." If Richard jumped out in the crowd and beat the dude, I totally would've understood.

As far as the venue goes, I like Wasted Space. Its always cold, though. Like you can feel the AC pounding down on you. I learned to layer. When the show is done, a DJ comes on and gogo dancers take to the platforms.

I thought the sound was good. I thought it was full and balanced, the bass was hard and thrusting. The instruments didn't overpower vocals. But my friend said it sounded tinny. But then again he goes to a lot of concerts. He and my bf wore earplugs. I listened bareback.

I was reading some lyrics and lyric notes on Welcome to the FOLD (http://filter.seven10.com/main.html), a Filter fan community. Whomever moderates, writes the meanings of most of the songs. I've read conflicting information on other websites in some regards. But anyway, some of the song meanings are interesting as pertains to the literal lyrics.

Overall: 3/5 stars.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/Chunnifer/journal/2008/09/23/26kehn_goldfrapp_at_the_orpheum%2C_la Tue, 23 Sep 2008 09:51:09 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/Chunnifer/journal/2008/09/23/26kehn_goldfrapp_at_the_orpheum%2C_la Sun 21 Sep – Goldfrapp, Jaymay

I don't really know what happened to her for her to revert back to her first album style. Was she returning to her roots? Was she just trying stuff out? Did she feel like she sold out for her middle two albums? I've seen clips of her concerts past where she did the whole dramatic, sexy, dark lighting and used all of the sexy chicks in bikinis with animal heads. That's what I half expected for this show. But then Seventh Tree was very ... autumn.

The other half of me expected a simpler show. And that's what she delivered. Down to her costume. Instead of fuckme boots and a horse hair ponytail hanging from her knickers, she just wore a little harlequin pajama thingy. Barefoot.

The show was distilled down to raw elements like that. Her musicians were in nondescript white polos and frocks. The lighting and stage props weren't elaborate or gaudy or even busy.

Her supporting musicians played keyboard, keytar!, electric guitar, bass, drum kit, and harp. Oh, and violin. Dude, the violinist had pedals! I never thought about applying pedals to a violin, but why not, right? Brilliant.

She did a lot of songs off Seventh Tree, the new album, which was to be expected. But is it just me, or did the old hook-y songs like "Train" sound obligatory?

Some of the songs from her set (in no particular order): "Utopia" (amazing live), "Train," "You Never Know," "Ooh La La," "Paper Bag," "Number 1," "Clowns," "Little Bird," "Cologne Cerrone Houdini," and "Satin Chic." Three songs for her encore, including "Strict Machine." Of course.

She even whipped out her "lovely stick" for "Train." That was hot. But still, seemed like an obligatory thing to please the crowd.

The live adaptations were almost perfectly true to original recordings. Which I can appreciate. Some songs didn't seem basey enough though. That's just me. I love bass.

When she did the songs where she had to do falsetto or operatic things, she nailed 'em. Her performing voice was just as quality as recorded sound. Some of the notes she hit were just incredible and gave me goosebumps.

After the second (or first?) song, she gracefully strutted off stage for a second, I'm pretty sure to tell her sound guys to turn up her mic.

Her dancing and prancing around was great. She did like this marching in place thing, sometimes surrendering her body to the music and flopping around. So cute.

At the end of her show and encore, she gave many gracious thanks to the audience and acknowledged her musicians.

The Orpheum was such a great place to see Goldfrapp. Beautiful and refined, just as Alison is. Its not a way huge venue and I'm surprised she didn't sell out. It was quite easy to get tickets close to the concert date.

The lighting was okay. Sometimes warm on the performers, cool on the stage and otherwise set apppropriate ambiance per song. They projected animated texture, sometimes kaleidoscope images on the wall behind them. The sound was mixed well and not retarded loud.

Encores are overrated and outdated.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/Chunnifer/journal/2008/09/21/26fx3k_miss_kittin_%2526_the_hacker_at_the_avalon_la Sun, 21 Sep 2008 10:26:43 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/Chunnifer/journal/2008/09/21/26fx3k_miss_kittin_%2526_the_hacker_at_the_avalon_la Sat 20 Sep – Miss Kittin & The Hacker, Paolo Mojo, The Glimmers, Andrew Kelley, Shaun Reeves

Miss Kittin is no longer on my list.

My list of people I need to see perform live before I can die happy.

Doors for the event opened at 10p, according to the flyer online. Miss Kittin's MySpace alleged the event starts at 11p. There were two other DJs spinning that night. But I could've cared less. It was all about my French mama and her supportive DJ.

They didn't come on until a little after midnight. The curtains at the front of the dance floor rose, and there they were in all their glory. MIss Kittin & the Hacker.

They played a bunch of Batbox as well as some classics. Some of the ones I remember: "Playmate of the Century," "Frank Sinatra," "Stock Exchange," and encored with "Stripper."

The Avalon was a super cool place. At first we were on the dance floor and couldn't see shit. But then we upgraded to the balcony seating. I got a spot right on the rail and got an unfettered view of the players.

She was super lowkey. She didn't freak out all over the stage. She just did her sexy undulating. So French. So lovely. She wore a silver sequin dress and matching headband and black tights. The Hacker did his own thing, playing wingman, mixing music on the spot, while Miss Kittin synthesized her own voice on a a laptop. I love self-sufficience. For one song, she even picked up a bass guitar.

I'm happy I got to sing "Frank Sinatra" alongside Miss Kittin. Even though she didn't know I was there.

When they finished, I wanted to go backstage and find her like a loyal little groupie. But I just didn't know what I would say to her. "Miss Kittin. Did you see me in the audience? I was the one on the balcony. Dancing like the railing was on fire and I was trying to put it out with my vagina."]]> http://www.last.fm/user/Chunnifer/journal/2008/06/22/21bb6k_wasn%27t_ladytron_supposed_to_be_here%3F_ Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:05:54 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/Chunnifer/journal/2008/06/22/21bb6k_wasn%27t_ladytron_supposed_to_be_here%3F_ Sat 21 Jun – Thievery Corporation, Gnarls Barkley, Bebel Gilberto, Federico Aubele

We showed up at 8p, but I think we could hear what was going on, as we were across the way at the Border Grill Grill for some $14 mojitos.

When we got there, some chick was finishing up her set. I think she was Brazilian.

Then came Thievery. Their opening was for the first time breath-taking. Lighting was good, but the sound was off. Like it was distorted loud. Still, it gives me chicken skin to hear the first few chords of a favorite song.

Thievery played their populars, but their set last night was a little more reggae than I've seen them in the past. It was a nice adaptation to the summer and the beach/ pool setting.

The lay out of the beach was favorable to the Hard Rock or Red Rock set ups, the only other out door pool venues I've been to. The stage was elevated enough so that everyone could see the performers. The stage was moated almost all the way around, and the water was bordered with a strip of sand.

There was the perfect amount of people there and it was so nice out. The sand was still warm from the day and if even that was too hot, you could cool your feet and dance in the pool.

Gnarls Barkley was on next. Nice performing voice. Cee-lo had a nice command of his band mates, the crowd, and the music.

But wasn't Ladytron supposed to be there? Did she open? Did she close? We didn't stick around til the end. But still. The second time we are spurned by Ladytron.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/Chunnifer/journal/2008/01/05/3q3v3_now_i_can_die_happy. Sat, 5 Jan 2008 10:57:42 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/Chunnifer/journal/2008/01/05/3q3v3_now_i_can_die_happy. Sat 15 Dec – Björk, Ratatat

Seeing Bjork perform live was seriously one of the events I wanted to witness before dying. I'll probably get cancer tomorrow.

I was supposed to see Bjork at last Coachella, but dramatic things were happening with family that kept me. Then I wanted to see her in SF in May or something and the same family circumstances kept me.

Finally, a chance encounter with Vegas happened. I was willing to pay almost anything to make this concert. I know other people there felt the same way. Why did this venue not sell out? Sad ...

Anyways, the first five songs kept my eyes wet. I wailed along with her, fighting back tears. No, seriously.

I've really put her on a pedastal. I was kind of afraid she wouldn't be par with her studio recordings, that she would falter as many studio artists do in a live situation. But her charmed voice rang strong. It was surreal.

Even though I'm a Bjorkphile, we hung in the back instead of fighting the crowd. I've learned that with my 5'2" stature, its not worth fighting the mass of 5'10"+ haoles for a glimpse at the star or starlet every few minutes.

I liked all of the elements: her wacky costume, the stage decor, her multi-tasking chorus/ brass section babes, the reactable that you could kind of spot ...

Her encore was a fucking tease, though. A one song encore ... Yamo need more than that.

I liked her set list. The one song I really wanted to hear was Isobel. Although its probably for the best she didn't do it. I might've burst into flames.

Ratatat was good, too. I think I'll spend the $5 on Amazon for a used album.

The setlist: http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/bjork/2007/pearl-concert-theatre-las-vegas-nv-4bd68346.html]]> http://www.last.fm/user/Chunnifer/journal/2007/10/30/3q3eh_thievery_corporation_%3D_goodness Tue, 30 Oct 2007 08:32:29 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/Chunnifer/journal/2007/10/30/3q3eh_thievery_corporation_%3D_goodness Fri 26 Oct – Vegoose At Night Concert Series featuring Thievery Corporation

[abridged]

Once inside, it was a night-long struggle trying not to punch people in the throat. Doors didn't open 'til 11p, giving people a long time to get nice and drunk. Thievery sold out, so ... yeah. Packed crowded + drunkt. Plus every one there was like, 6'4" it seemed. Life's rough for people under 5'5".

It seemed like it took forever for Thievery to take to the stage. I think security didn't finish admiting the long line of people in for an hour after doors opened, then Thievery had to take the stage fashioably late.

One of the way cool things about Thievery is they always have a spotlighter. Like, they're DJs, right? How is it entertaining to watch a DJ just spin right round? But Thievery always has a dancer or live singer on stage. They also have a hearty montage of live musicians, including a sitar player. Fucking orgasmic, I can't stant up straight ...

I tried to remember what songs they played. From The Cosmic Game album: "Revolution Solution", "Warning Shots", "Sol Tapado (Feat Patrick De Santos)", "The Heart's A Lonely Hunter", "Wires And Watchtowers", "The Time We Lost Our Way". From The Mirror Conspiracy: "Le Monde", "Indra", "Lebanese Blonde", "So Com Voce", "Shadows Of Ourselves", "Illumination". From The Outernational Sound: "Heaven's Gonna Burn Your Eyes" [one of four songs for the encore]. From The Richest Man In Babylon: "The Richest Man In Babylon" [encore], "Exilio (Exile)", "Until The Morning". And "3845". To name a few.

They had a belly dancer dance for a few of the songs. They had four female vocalists and four male sing a few songs each. I've been listening to Thievery for a while now (prolly a good four years), but I've never put faces to any of the vocalists. Listening to their voices, you don't really believe something so beautiful could come out of a human person. You'd expect, I dunno, some kind of shimmering, perfect being.

At the end, the very end of the encore and everything, they had a whole bunch of girls come and dance on stage. About half were dressed in costumes on account of Halloween weekend. The show was really nice, but that finale was so bizzare and ugly. Expecially considerring there was a hot girl in a pink mini with a Richard Nixon mask (totally disturbing) and some other fug girl trying to talk to the singers while they were singing.

You can find pictures from this concert on my Flickr and a short clip on my YouTube.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/Chunnifer/journal/2007/09/02/3q3an_great_expectations%3A_shiny_toy_guns Sun, 2 Sep 2007 08:38:21 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/Chunnifer/journal/2007/09/02/3q3an_great_expectations%3A_shiny_toy_guns Thu 30 Aug – Shiny Toy Guns

The thing with high expectations is you're easily disappointed. "Le Disko" was the first STG song I've ever heard. Then I bootlegged the We Are Pilots CD and what I heard was much different from what I expected. I was disappointed at first, but kept listening. I like the album as a whole, but wish I hadn't heard "Le Disko" first. "Le Disko" is so industrial and sexy. The rest of the album is a little more frou frou.

The concert was the same. Watching female vocalist Carah Faye Charnow in the "Le Disko" music video, you think she's some kind of robo sex pot. Live, she's like ... tepid. I dunno, maybe because it was hot enough to cook Satan's balls out there at the Rio VooDoo pool where the concert was held.

By the way, its always the female members that make the band, isn't it? Like "the band" isn't on stage until she's on stage.

The live adaptations to some songs were sorry, too. Still it was a good concert. Especially considerimg it was free. I just put them up on a pedastal too much.

Taking into consideration they're a fairly new composition of people, they have mediocre chemistry. Let's give it some time ...]]>