live music – Page 6 – 7th Level Music

Live: Wolfmother and the Living Statues – July 10, 2016 – Chicago, IL

I’d wanted to see Wolfmother live for many years, but their U.S. dates were few and far between for me. A friend of mine had seen them on their first tour and described their live show as “orgasmic.”

Lo and behold, I was in Chicago on the same weekend they were playing at the Double Door. I managed to score a ticket and get there in time to meet my friend and catch the last half of the opening set from The Living Statues – a local pop-punk band with hints of Buzzcocks, Beatles, and the Killers. They had a lot of hometown fans there and put on a good show.

The place was packed by the time Wolfmother took the stage. We got a nice spot along the bar and near the stage right corner. Wolfmother came out gunning by playing “Dimension” right away. The crowd was singing and jamming within seconds. They followed up with “New Moon Rising” and then the first single off their new record, Victorious, “Gypsy Caravan.”

Wolfmother start strong with “Dimension.”

The crowd was bonkers by the time they reached “Apple Tree,” “California Queen,” “Victorious,” and “White Unicorn.”

They ended with the lead track off Victorious – “The Love that You Give” and then “Mind’s Eye,” both songs calling for compassion and looking past the illusions we create. The encore was “The Joker and the Thief,” which sent everyone over the edge into stoner / psych-rock madness.

Wolfmother flattening walls during “The Joker and the Thief.”

It was well worth the wait. My friend sent me a text message two days later that read, “I’m still high on Wolfmother.” I too had been humming the songs for two days. I’m sure the rest of the crowd was still buzzing, because Wolfmother shook the rafters.

Keep your mind open.

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Riot Fest Chicago releases full 2016 lineup.

Riot Fest Chicago has released its full daily lineup schedule for 2016. Great additions include the Flaming Lips and Sleater-Kinney. Both of them are worth the price of admission. Don’t miss your chance to see them or Julian Marley performing Exodus and all the other great bands there.

Keep your mind open.

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Rewind Review: Screaming Females – Live at the Hideout (2014)

Recorded at Chicago’s Hideout January 30-31, 2014, Live at the Hideout is essential for any fan of Screaming Females, rock, or quality live recordings. Steve Albini did a great job capturing the fury and power of a live Screaming Females show, and the band (“King” Mike Abbate – bass, Jarrett Dougherty – drums, Marissa Paternoster – guitar and vocals) played not only for the lucky Hideout crowd, but also apparently for everyone on the international space station to hear.

“Leave It All Up to Me” gets the album off to a fine start, showcasing Paternoster’s now-trademark shredding. “Foul Mouth” temporarily downshifts the show, with Abbate’s bass groove planting deep roots before he and his band mates take off like a nitro-burning funny car from the starting line. The band takes that nitro and uses it to almost burn the Hideout stage to the ground on “Buried in the Nude” – which is a blistering punk rock screamfest.

“Extinction” keeps the punk pumping, with Paternoster’s vocals evoking Poly Styrene. “A New Kid” has one of her best solos on the record. It moves back and forth between metal, psychedelia, grunge, and even a bit of shoegaze. “Lights Out” is one of the best metal tunes you’ve heard in a long while, and Paternoster’s solo might make you hang up your guitar.

“Sheep,” a gut punch of a song about a cheating lover, hits even harder live. “It All Means Nothing” is one of their biggest hits, and one of their best live tracks. Paternoster sizzles throughout it and Dougherty’s pulsing beat is a great foundation. His wicked beats continue on “Starve the Beat,” which has some of Paternoster’s most masterful guitar work and Dougherty and Abbate’s best clicking rhythms.

“Little Anne” is a strangely hypnotic short song that’s almost an introduction to “Pretty Okay,” which brings out Buzzcocks-like frenetic energy from the whole band. “Baby Jesus” reminds me of a spinning dynamo. It’s fiery energy that seems barely contained and could overwhelm you at any moment. Paternoster’s solo rises into psychedelic realms halfway through it and then tears into something you’d hear in a crazy anime film about starship pilots fighting Cthulu on the edge of a black hole.

The album ends with “Boyfriend,” in which the band not only topples over the edge from metal into punk rock madness, but also pulls the whole Hideout audience and anyone listening to this record with them. Paternoster screams to the rafters, Dougherty thumps on his kit harder than Chuck Norris beating up thugs in Good Guys Wear Black, and Abbate pounds on his bass with a drumstick at one point. I don’t know what will convince you that this band is a force of nature if this song doesn’t.

It’s a great live record, not only for the song selection but also for catching the power of a Screaming Females performance. If you can’t see them live, at least pick up this record. It will only make you want to see them live more or see them live again again, but that’s a good thing.

Keep your mind open.

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Top 10 concerts of 2016 so far.

I’ve been lucky enough to see a lot of good shows this year, and the year is only halfway finished. I already have two more shows planned for the next couple months (John Carpenter and L7), and might be able to wrangle up a couple more before summer’s end.

Here are my top 10 shows of 2016 so far.

Bebel Gilberto – Ann Arbor Summer Fest – June 18th
Gary Wilson – Levitation Chicago March 10th
Night Beats – Levitation Chicago March 12th
Earthless – Levitation Chicago March 12th
Screaming Females – Fort Wayne, IN June 26th
Ceu – Chicago June 24th
Golden Dawn Arkestra – Levitation Austin May 1st
Clutch – Fort Wayne, IN June 10th
Night Beats – Levitation Austin April 28th
The Blind Owls – Levitation Austin April 28th

Keep your mind open.

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LCD Soundsystem announce Beach Vibes music festival in Mexico.

Not ones to rest on their laurels during their triumphant return, LCD Soundsystem have created the Beach Vibes music festival in Riviera Maya, Mexico. Tickets go on sale to the general public July 11th, but you can get early sales on July 8th if you register for their mailing list. A word of caution for your wallet: The only way to attend is to buy a three-day package at one of the host resorts, and packages for even one person cost upward of three grand. You can put 30% down on a package and then pay it off over five months to make it a little easier.

Some of the resorts are all-inclusive, however, so that helps a bit. Airfare is not included in your price, but cheap airfare to Mexico from the U.S. isn’t hard to find.

LCD Soundsystem have announced they will headline two nights of the festival, and the lineup is already good. Hot Chip, Holy Ghost!, Juan MacLean, and Shit Robot are personal favorites, and more are to be announced.

Start planning now. This would be a great winter getaway.

Keep your mind open.

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Screaming Females announce first Australian tour.

Screaming Females are taking a month off from their tour of the U.S. and Canada and are then off for six dates Down Under for the first time. Fans are already excited for their first shows in the land of Oz, so don’t miss them if you’re there. They put on a fantastic show and might not get back to the land that gave us Mad Max and Razorback soon.

Keep your mind open.

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Sound on Sound 2016 announces lineup.

Austin, Texas continues its tradition of being the music festival capital of the U.S. The latest is the Sound on Sound festival November 4-6th, which is located in McDade, Texas and a short eastbound drive from Austin.

The lineup is impressive. Phantogram, the Descendents, Guided by Voices, the Dead Milkmen, Thee Oh Sees, Bob Mould, and Metz are all worth seeing. It would be a great way to spend a couple fall afternoons. A three-day pass will cost you less than $200.00.

Keep your mind open.

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Levitation France 2016 announces first lineup artists.

The final Levitation festival of 2016, Levitation France, has announced the first batch of bands playing in Angers September 16th and 17th.

It’s a great lineup so far. Thee Oh Sees are psych-fuzz giants, La Femme puts on a great, trippy show, Dead Meadow are a great psychedelic outfit, Zombie Zombie make horror-electro, and Golden Dawn Arkestra are a funk band from another dimension.

Get to Angers if you can.

Keep your mind open.

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Live: Screaming Females, the Dead Records, Ron Gallo – June 26, 2016 – Ft. Wayne, IN

L-R: “King” Mike Abbate, yours truly, Marissa Paternoster, Jarrett Dougherty

I’ve wanted to see Screaming Females live since 2012 (when I discovered them while working for WSND), and was delighted to see they were playing barely over an hour’s drive from my house last Sunday at the Brass Rail in Fort Wayne, Indiana. They were gracious with their time and kind enough to let me interview them while sitting in their touring van. I’ll have a full transcript of that interview soon, and I’m working on an audio version that I’ll play on a future show on WSND.

The night started with the Ron Gallo 3, a fun punk trio who played a loud set of songs like “Kill the Medicine Man,” “All the Punks Are Domesticated,” and “Why Do You Have Kids?”

Up next were Ft. Wayne’s own Dead Records, who dropped a loud, fast, screaming set on the crowd of friends and new fans.

Screaming Females then got on stage for their first gig in Ft. Wayne. I’m not sure how many people there knew who was about to play, but I saw a few of us singing along within moments. Everyone else stood dumbfounded for the first three songs because Marissa Paternoster, Jarrett Dougherty, and “King” Mike Abbate almost flattened the place.

I’d seen videos of their performances, so I had a slight idea of how powerful they are live (especially in a small venue like the Brass Rail). The videos don’t do them justice. They have a chemistry that can only be created through lots of performances and deep friendships. Paternoster, who is without question one of the best guitarists today, emotes power through her vocals as well as her axe (which she straps around her waist instead of over her shoulder, giving her even more of a gunslinger presence).

As much as Paternoster wields her guitar like Clint Eastwood in A Fistful of Dollars, Dougherty hits his drums like Franco Nero blasts a Gatling gun in Django and Abbate drops his bass riffs like James Coburn drops dynamite in Duck You Sucker. The two guys in the band get into heavy grooves that make Abbate break into grins and Dougherty to go into what appears to be Zen-like meditative trances.

The fans had snapped out of their stunned state by the time the band played “Empty Head” from Rose Mountain. Paternoster thanked everyone for coming to their first Ft. Wayne gig. “Please move here!” A man yelled, echoing the thoughts of everyone in the room.

“Leave It All Up to Me” and “Ripe” were other crowd favorites, and they were cooking with gas by that point.

They closed with the powerful, stunning “Triumph,” which is a fitting end for such a set. It was a triumphant debut for them in a town they hadn’t played in before then.

A friend of former bandmate of mine, Chad, saw the show with me, and he’d only heard one song (“Hopeless”) by the band before seeing them live. He was shaking his head in a bit of disbelief by the end of their set.

“She’s not fucking around, is she?” Chad said.

“No, she’s not,” I told him.

And now I’m telling you. Screaming Females aren’t fucking around.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jarrett for getting me a press pass to the show, and to him, Marissa, and Mike for being such groovy cats.]

Mamby on the Beach festival offers 25% off tickets through Groupon.

Get it while you can. Chicago’s Mamby on the Beach festival is offering 25% off single day, weekend, and VIP passes to the festival through a Groupon deal that will be gone by the end of the month. Discounted tickets to see Santigold are alone worth your consideration.

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