Category: Show Reviews
We Survived SXSW Again. These Were a Few of Our Favorite Things
March 20, 2012
While some of the Ticketfly team is still lagging back in Austin, due to some crazy thunderstorms and tornadoes at the worst possible time (that time when you’ve been at SXSW for a week and all you want to see is your bed…), the rest of us are back at work trying to remember it all.
We sponsored a ton of events this year! You can see some of them here.
So before it’s all a distant memory, here are our top ten favorite moments from SXSW 2012. As you can see, we’re a pretty mixed bag of humans.
If you want to see all the photos, head over to our Flickr or Facebook page.
1. “Springsteen reminding us all of the true power of rock and roll. BRRRUUUUUUUUUUUUCE!!!!” – Drew Beck, Interaction Designer/ Springsteenaholic
2. “The cast of Workaholics freestyle rapping at BandPage HQ. They were hammered.” – Ryan O’Connor, Business Development / Lover of bromedy
3. “Is it OK to say that my favorite moment is when the drummer of Broken Social Scene came and planted a kiss on my face? Cause I didn’t like it.” – Acacia Newlon, Sales Coordinator/ Frequent recipient of unrequited love from indie musicians
4. “Metalachi. Metal + mariachi band. Metalachi.” – Gannon Hall, SVP of Marketing/ Former metal drummer
5. “Lionel Richie at ACL- Live. When Kenny Rogers walked onto stage and said ‘Ladyyyy’” – Brian Arnone, VP of Sales / My current biggest mortal enemy for not inviting me to this show
6. “I thought I was gonna have to walk 5 miles back into town after a show on the outskirts. But then I just followed the music and slept in a hobo camp. I couldn’t believe how friendly everyone was!” – Stefan Wicks, Senior Customer Support Rep / Easy-going dude
7. “Lucero family picnic at Cedar Street. J Roddy Walston, William Elliott Whitemore, Chuck Ragan and Lucero all together? Whisky drinking country dreamboat punks ALL DAY!! Not steam punks. Dream punks.” – Me, Community Manager / Recovering lover of musicians with drinking problems
8. “Watching Nancy and Ann Wilson in conversation with SXSW. Why wasn’t anyone yelling ‘HEEEAAAAART?!’ I hear Nancy is available. Don’t tell my wife I said that. Or Cameron Crowe.” – Dan Teree, COO and Co-Founder / Owner of pink Heart guitar that lives at Ticketfly HQ
9. “Seeing fun. and then bolting to sneak back stage for Skrillex. The hype is all true!” – Chip Thomas, East Coast Sales Rep / Fast runner
10. “Going to bed on Saturday.” – Leif Osbakken, Southern Client Services Rep / Austin local
Thanks a million to our partners in party crime:
My Old Kentucky Blog
Windish Agency
Collective Concerts
Spaceland/ Echo/ Echoplex
FYF Fest/ MWTX Party
See all you crazy kids next year!
* Thanks to Instagrammer @elevin11 for the great photo of Dan Deacon at our Windish Agency Showcase
Categories: News, Our Favorites, Show Reviews, SXSW
Ticketfly Makes Magic in Tahoe!
January 31, 2012
Alex’s magic is approachable and family friendly. Kids, parents and grandparents can watch and enjoy this experience together.
Ramon has been seen on national and international television, has made elephants disappear in a puff of smoke, transformed men into tigers, and levitated Whoopi Goldberg.
“Mystifying Magic”-The New York Times
Tickets are just $24.95 plus tax & fees, with FREE tickets on Sundays for guests 12 and under (one free ticket with each paid adult). Also, all guests under 12 receive a FREE $5.00 pre-loaded arcade card for every show. See – Alex and Horizon do love the kiddies!
• Shows nightly Thurs- Mon 8:00pm
• Two shows Saturday 7:00pm and 9:00pm
Don’t delay; get your tickets before they all disappear!
Like Illusion Fusion on Facebook and you might win free tickets!Categories: Editor's Show Picks, Show Reviews
Show Review: Bridge School Benefit, Shoreline Amphitheatre
October 25, 2011
by Dakin Hardwick, Customer Support Shift Supervisor
The great thing about living in the Bay Area is that we can easily stretch out our Summer well into fall. Some of our nicest, warmest days fall in October, and we can stretch out the outdoor concert season to as late as Halloween. Although we still have a few more weeks of outdoor shows in us, the season’s de facto closer is Neil Young’s Annual Bridge School Benefit Concert.
To brief you on a little history, the Bridge School is a school for children with severe physical impairments and complex communication needs, and it exists primarily based on donations, with a huge chunk of it’s funding from Neil and his wife Pegi Young. In order to make ends meet, Young puts together an all-star concert. The thing that makes it especially interesting is that all performers are required to perform acoustically. He also doesn’t always book bands that typically perform in this format. Past performers have included Ministry, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, Sonic Youth and Metallica, none of which are known for their “acoustic” sound.
This year’s set, although generally comprised of artists that are pretty comfortable working in the acoustic format, was still a widely varied affair. Young, as per his usual, opened the show with a brief set, followed by a performance by Devendra Banhart. This was his first local gig in quite some time, and he looked great. Gone was his trademark long, flowing hair & beard, and he replaced it with a new short cut, with a well-trimmed beard and a black suit. He sounded wonderful, playing a four song set of bossa nova-tinged folk songs accompanied by a second guitarist and a hand percussionist. It was short and sweet, and the perfect summery music for a warm October afternoon.
Next we were treated by a rare live performance by Norah Jones’ side project The Little Willies, a group of New York musicians that originally set out to do Willie Nelson covers for fun. It’s great to see Jones step outside of her persona as the queen of mellow, and genuinely look like she’s having fun. Their set, which included an intense cover of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene,” in addition to other “olde timey” classics like “Tennessee Stud” and “Lonesome Blues,” all played like a bunch of friends enjoying cheap beers on a warm day.
In a sort of yin/yang moment, Beck played a set of songs using his band from his stunning 2002 record Sea Change, which was full of melancholia and rich, beautiful layers. The acoustic format faired well for these songs, showing how truly delicate these pieces were. He also threw in a cover of Young’s “Pocahantas,” because this show really revolves around Young.
After Beck played, Carlos Santana played, introducing his new band with his wife, Cindy Blackman Santana (The drummer with the big afro from Lenny Kravitz’s “Are You Gonna Go My Way” video), Los Invisibles. They opened their set with a bit of Cuban jazz improv, using the melody from the holiday classic “Greensleeves” as it’s root. The crowd met this piece with, well, a bit of apathy. As a performer that has been in the business for 50 years, Santana knew he was losing them. So he switched up the set and launched into the high energy Salsa of “Corazon Espinado,” which got the crowd moving, and he kept the crowd dancing for the two hit singles off his mega album Supernatural: “Maria Maria” and “Smooth,” vamping our the former song into a 10 minute long latin dance number that nobody seemed to want to end.
Soliciting bigger cheers than Young was Eddie Vedder. Looking dapper in an Indiana Jones inspired fedora, and without Pearl Jam behind him, he did just fine. His grizzled baritone is still one of the most distinctive voices in rock, and he sounded in fine form this evening. He chose to open with another Young cover, “Don’t Cry No Tears,” only to flub the lyrics halfway through the first verse. Instead, he opted for a cover of The Beatles “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away,” which got the entirety of the crowd, all about 30,000 strong, singing along. He alternated between guitar, ukulele, and mandolin, playing an array of covers and originals. He brought out Regine from Arcade Fire to sing harmony on “You Belong To Me,” and Beck, in a meeting of 90’s alt rock minds, to sing Graham Parsons’ “Sleepless Nights.”
Vedder brought us to UK folkies Mumford & Sons. They are a 4 piece band that has a banjo player and no drummer. (The singer hits a bass drum with his foot on occasion.) They are also the biggest band to break out of 2011, much to the surprise of nearly everyone. I was not overly familiar with their work prior to this set, but I was genuinely amazed by their set. It was high energy, all members of the band exuded charisma. If anybody doubted this band, they just need to see them live to understand how they managed to sell out Merriweather Post Pavilion in just over a week. I was certainly converted.
Now, it was time for the comedown. It was getting later, and the temperatures started to drop sharply. Dave Matthews came out with his collaborator Tim Reynolds, ran through a 45 minute set of obscure Dave Matthews Band album cuts, killing the energy of Mumford, and prompting me to decide that my time was better suited for securing a funnel cake. (Done. And delicious.)
The “headliner” is always Neil, but the band that plays before Neil is usually the real headliner. This gig gave us Arcade Fire, the Montreal, QC 8 piece project that managed to take the world by storm. I don’t quite know what I’m missing, but their set was passable. Singer Wyn Butler knows how to engage a crowd, and their songs are catchy, but they don’t stick with me. I was the minority, however, since the crowd ate up very last moment of the set.
Young popped back out, only at was already after midnight, so he did a short & sweet set of acoustic hits, closing up with “Heart Of Gold,” and then bringing back nearly every musician of the night to do the Youngblood’s classic “Get Together.” Thereby closing up another epic summer of live music in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Categories: Music, Show Reviews
Show Review: Shellac at The New Parish, Oakland
October 24, 2011
by Sean Campbell, Ticketfly Senior Accountant/ Financial Analyst (Yes, even the accountant writes show reviews)
Shellac is one of those bands that has a bit of mystery about them. They’ve only released four studio albums in 20 years, rarely tour, and don’t count on Facebook or Twitter to keep their fans interested. Saturday’s show at the New Parish brought home what keeps fans interested: their utterly unique, driving noise/math rock sound, heavy on the sarcasm and the rhythm and light on traditional conventions of live shows. Shellac shows have no encores, intro music, or fashion statements, though they do feature bassist Bob Weston’s audience Q&A, which usually goes like this:
Weston: “Steve is tuning. Questions! You in the front!”
Fan: (inaudible)
Weston: “What? Huh? Turn your cellphone camera off, jerk! Next question!”
It’s that sort of warm and fuzzy band/fan interaction that compelled me to leave a beautiful Santa Cruz beach on Saturday evening and drive up the 17 to Oakland. I’ve never been to the New Parish, and I will be returning. This is definitely my favorite club in the East Bay. Balcony? Check. Outdoor Patio? Check. Liquor? Check. It’s a great sounding, roomy venue that knows what it’s doing. The show was sold out but there was room to move and buy drinks. I look forward to checking out their sister club, Brick and Mortar Music Hall in San Francisco.
Opener Helen Money is a solo cellist that plays through loops and effects, sometimes strumming the cello like a guitar, sometimes playing it as a percussion instrument. She was a very engaging performer.
Shellac came onstage and set up with drummer Todd Trainer in front, crash cymbal 10 feet in the air. They launched into “Canada”, “Squirrel Song”, “Steady as She Goes”, my personal favorite “Watch Song” and other fan favorites. They absolutely rule live. You can really hear the distinctive sound of their Travis Bean instruments (necks made out of aluminum) and custom amps. Bass and drums locked into the groove while singer/guitarist Steve Albini sang about radio, aliens, Satchel Paige, fighting, and ghosts. They played for about 90 minutes, stopping only for question time and to announce a song, “this song is about an a******, **** him and **** all his ****.” They announced their last song and said they’d have t-shirts for sale after the show.
They played no encore or solo acoustic songs. Just one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen, without frills. Definitely check them out when (if) they come to your town. They’ll be making their way up to the Northwest in the coming week. And check out the New Parish!
Local photographer Shannon Corr got some great photos of the New Parish show you can check out on his Flickr.
Categories: Editor's Show Picks, Show Reviews
Show Review: Boris at Regency Ballroom, SF 10.8.11
October 13, 2011
by Stefan Wicks, Senior Customer Support Rep
My only previous experience with the Regency Ballroom was seeing the monolithic stoner metal band Sleep perform. On the way to the 10.8 Boris show I was recalling surprisingly vivid memories of standing in the ornate wooden ballroom with its intricate wood carvings and crystal chandeliers. Sleep’s massive amplifiers on stage shook the whole thing. The sound at the Regency is great because with the right band it’s not just sound, it’s touch. You can feel it in your body. You receive the vibrations through your feet like an elephant can feel a fellow elephant’s low grumble of warning when a rhinoceros approaches.
Japanese amplifier worshipers Boris did not disappoint, solidifying the Regency’s place as holy ground to those who bow down before the gods known as Sunn, Orange and Marshall. Despite some brief technical difficulties toward the beginning of their set they started out strong, got stronger, then got transcendent. Here’s how it went down:
Their first few songs weave between heavy rock grooves and My Bloody Valentine style washy vocals and guitars. Then they start to rock so hard that they might as well walk up to each member of the audience, punch them in the stomach and kiss them in the face all at the same time. I mean this was a musical performance that made your blood run. This was an experience that reminded you that you were alive.
Now after this balls out rock assault they drop right into solid 4 on the floor dance grooves. The audience stands bewildered and a general WTF vibe seems to permeate the room. Female guitarist Wata takes lead vocals on this song and her serenade is reminiscent of Sarah Cracknell interpreting french ye ye pop of the 60s. If St. Etienne on acid tastes like fennel then this song would taste like a steak seasoned with fennel with ice cream doused in sweet liqueurs for dessert. No one dances. I now know what it is like to stand in a room full of awkward dudes with boners.
After our ice cream liqueur dessert we get some soft serve Slowdive swirl, then it’s time for some traditional Japanese melodrama in the tradition of 90s goth tinged rockers L’arc-en-ciel. Then more rock assault, then 2/3 of the way through their set they turn up and tune down. Those who came for the heavy shit are about to get their money’s worth. The drone begins, and this is truly where Boris is at the top of their class. Despite the wide array of textures, styles, chord changes, melodies, and non melodies Boris has employed across their expansive back catalog, they are most often touted as a “sludge/doom” band. I can only assume this is because this is where their strengths lie, although even within their “doomiest” songs there is still a range of emotions and musical textures seldom achieved by Sabbath worshippers releasing albums which may as well be called “Volume V.”
Boris expressed their full range at the Regency show. Only the most cantankerous of souls could have walked away from this show saying they did not get what they wanted, not an easy accomplishment for a band who has been releasing records for 15 years. One thing that can be said definitively about Boris is that unlike 70s prog rock bands, who are ugly people making ugly music, here we have beautiful people making beautiful music. Another thing that can be said definitively is that they are the greatest rock band on the planet.
Categories: Editor's Show Picks, Show Reviews
