BRONCHO AT THE LARIMER LOUNGE

I bought tickets to see Broncho as soon as I heard they were coming to Denver, loving their propulsive and infectious sound.  Playing at the Larimer Lounge this evening were Dudebabes, Hindershot, Mozes and the Firstborn with Broncho closing the place down.  Being a Tuesday night, there might have been a hundred people in the place at most, with many being members belonging to the bands.  After the show I drove the truck to the Morrison exit where I parked it and slept in the back, giving myself an extra hour of sleep (versus going home) before meeting others to head off to the Western Slope.

Westword writes:

Broncho hit the stage last night like a great, long lost band from several eras. With its catchy melodies, and its infectious exuberance and aggression, Broncho recalled the Buzzcocks by way of the Stooges, except the guitar sweep and atmospherics were more like some psychedelic '60s garage band playing riffs more grounded in '90s noise rock.

Frontman Ryan Lindsey sang with a calm, cool confidence but he also let loose with fiery yelps and during the instrumental passages, and he leapt in the air to rhythms and dynamics provided by drummer Nathan Price and bassist Johnathon Ford. Guitarist Ben King seemed to synch perfectly together with Lindsey to create interlocking, searing leads and a vivid, sometimes contrasting, tonal layer.

The band really got the crowd going with "Try Me Out Sometime." It was especially impressive that the crowd was so engaged considering how little interaction the band had with the crowd. At one point, Lindsey pointed out that Denver was going to be the next capital and made mention of the artwork at DIA. Curtis Wallach from Dudebabes said something about how it was a weird airport to which Lindsey remarked, "Conspiracy weird." Other than this exchange, Broncho didn't interact much with the crowd and instead left it to the music to inspire folks to movement both inwardly and outwardly. At the end of the show, a woman said, "I think I'm going to cry."

Read it all here:
http://blogs.westword.com/backbeat/2013/08/review_broncho_denver_larimer_lounge_august-27-2013.php

The surprise of the evening were Mozes and the Firstborn, playing their first night here in the US on their tour with Broncho.  It is written:

"The band is a group of youngsters from the Netherlands, with the age between 18 and 22 years. The lead singer has been working on the band for 4 years and has lived a year in London where he has searched the true roots of garage-rock. After playing a few years as amateurs, Mozes and the Firstborn started to receive a lot of attention from all the major Dutch record labels last year. However, they decided not to sign any contract, but they wanted to produce a good album first. They built their own studio, quit side jobs and studied and spent months non-stop in their basement studio, practicing and creating new songs. After this, they signed a good contract with the record label Top Notch. They have released their self-titled debut album on the 2nd of March. This band is the newest talent from the Netherlands, playing old style hard rock. It is a long time ago the Netherlands produced this kind of rock. For the last couple of months, they’ve played their album at a few festivals, getting 5 star reviews and already being labeled as the most talented new artists from the Netherlands."

I liked them enough to pick up a CD of theirs after the show.

Download the Mozes and the Firstborn show here:
http://www.filefactory.com/file/mvmtvgax7wd/n/MATF_Larimer_Lounge_Denver_Co_August_27_2013_rar

Broncho is good and I thoroughly enjoyed their short performance!  Others have written:

"Perhaps the best debut album of 2011 came by way of BRONCHO, a garage-punk quartet from Norman, Okla. Frontman Ryan Lindsey is better known as the keyboardist for the Starlight Mints, but this side project has been touring the Midwest since early 2010. Can't Get Past the Lips hit stores this August, and "Try Me Out Sometime" was an instant standout. It's not a complex song, by any means, and the simplicity is fantastic because the execution is so strong. Three chords are plenty enough backdrop for Lindsey to yelp out the hooks."

Download the entire Broncho show here:
http://www.filefactory.com/file/ju4z22cjhzl/n/BRO_Larimer_Lounge_Denver_Co_August_27_2013_rar

BARONESS AT THE BLUEBIRD

Baroness is touring the country and one of their stops was here in Denver, headlining the night at the Bluebird Theater. 

Another killer show! Not much to say about the opening act, but Baroness knocked it out of the park! The audience really appreciated the performance and the band reciprocated by playing an extra long set. I met John, the band leader, outside before the show while I was having a cigar and commented on their enthusiasm at Lollapalloza, hoping to see the same tonight. I met him again after the show and personally thanked him for the great performance. I wish I met Peter because he's a phenomenal guitarist.  I am mesmerized while I watch him play.  But he's very modest, always letting the audience know who's the man, frequently turning and pointing to John.

Since it was a weekday night, I biked to the theater and peddled back to the area of the office after the show, choosing to sleep under the cottonwoods beside the creek.  When I woke up the next morning I noticed that my hiding spot has been discovered, with someone else having slept nearby in the past, cardboard and plastic covering a patch of the ground.  Didn't know that the night of the show because my flashlight had burned out and I made my way in the dark.  I was lucky I dd not stumble on someone in that  darkness.

Download the whole show here:
http://www.filefactory.com/file/2f98a10ynhlb/n/B_Bluebird_Theater_Denver_CO_August_21_2013_rar

RED: SAMMY HAGAR

I was originally scheduled to see Baroness at the Black Sheep in Colorado Springs on August 20th, ticket already in hand, but I learned that Sammy Hagar was on his "Four Decades of Rock" tour with a stop in Loveland, Colorado.  As far as I can tell, there was no advertising for the show, the loyal fans hearing about it by word of mouth, as was my case.  I had to pass on the Baroness show and instead went up to the Budweiser Events Center for a night with the red rocker, probably the only time I'll get to hear him perform pre Chickenfoot songs live.

Because there was no advertising, the events center was a little more than half full, as Sammy acknowledges midway through the show.  "I'll tell you what, it don't look full but it sounds fucking full!" A very different crowd is drawn to the show, not the young and the beautiful, but an older and more grizzled, blue collar group of people.  Many wearing Harley Davidson colors.  No chatty, screaming girls.

Great, high energy performance by Sammy.  Yeah, he may have had some trouble hitting some of those high notes and he's not shy about pushing his new product line, Beach Bar Rum, but it was still a fun evening out.

There’s a lot of rock ’n’ roll history in Hagar’s career. As the frontman for Montrose, Hagar sang now-classic rock hits such as “Bad Motor Scooter,” “Rock Candy” and “Paper Money,” while his post-Montrose days gave us legacy tracks such as “Red,” “Trans Am” and the format-crossing “Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy.” Hagar’s ode to speed – “I Can’t Drive 55” – is still a pedal-to-the-metal joyride nearly 30 years after its release.

Then there are Hagar’s Van Halen years with albums such as 5150, OU812, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge and Balance and songs like “Right Now,” “Finish What You Started” and “When It’s Love” that further locked down his place as one of rock’s top frontmen.

These days when he’s not running his distilled spirits empire, Hagar spends his time singing in Chickenfoot with bassist Anthony, Joe Satriani and Chad Smith and doing his own gigs. This summer is the season for the latter.

Hagar’s tour begins in the Pacific Northwest and winds its way across the country, stopping in Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, Ontario and Missouri before wrapping in San Francisco.

Hagar will be playing with his long-time band The Wabos Aug. 15-18 and Sept. 4. Anthony joins him for shows scheduled for Aug. 23-31 and Sept. 6-7. Carmassi and Church appear Aug. 31 & Sept. 6-7.

http://www.pollstar.com/news_article.aspx?ID=805258

Download the show here:
http://www.filefactory.com/file/4l8o5334a9bt/n/SH_Budweiser_Events_Center_Loveland_CO_August_20_2013_rar

LOLLAPALOOZA 2013, DAY 1, SECOND HALF



Everyone said that Chicago was blessed with "cool" weather this weekend, getting no higher than the 80's.  The first day was marked by clouds and a brief shower, enough rain to turn parts of the grassy park into patches of mud.  It did not dampen the mood of the festival.

All stages went quiet at around 10 PM, after which the thousands poured out onto the streets of Chicago, some going home, some to nearby bars and restaurants, others who were fortunate enough to have tickets to the after parties scattered around the city in which bands who either performed that day or were scheduled to perform at Lollapalooza appeared in smaller venues that night and all weekend long.  Those tickets were largely sold out.  I instead had a late snack and made my way back to the truck via the Red Line.  When I got to the truck it must have been around midnight, crawling into the back beneath the camper shell and curling up under a blanket for a comfortable and undisturbed sleep, a light breeze blowing off the lake.

FATHER JOHN MISTY

It is written:
Singer/songwriter J. Tillman's music paints languid, sadly beautiful portraits of love and life on the margins with the moody depth of Nick Drake and the country-influenced textures of Ryan Adams.

When discussing ‘Father John Misty’, Tillman paraphrases Philip Roth: ’It’s all of me and none of me, if you can’t see that, you won’t get it’. What I call it is totally arbitrary, but I like the name. You’ve got to have a name. I never got to choose mine."

Joshua Tillman (born May 3, 1981) is an American folk singer, guitarist, drummer, and songwriter, currently performing under the moniker Father John Misty. Maintaining a steady output of solo recordings since 2004, Tillman is a former member of indie rock bands Saxon Shore and Fleet Foxes, and has toured extensively with Pacific Northwest artists Damien Jurado, Jesse Sykes, and David Bazan.

 

Download the show here:
http://www.filefactory.com/file/b47cnkb2781/n/FJM_Lollapalooza_August_2_2013.mp3

Only one interruption when the batteries needed to be swapped out near the end of one song.

IMAGINE DRAGONS

It is written:

Las Vegas-based indie rockers Imagine Dragons formed in Provo, Utah in 2009. Like their desert-born stadium rock contemporaries the Killers, Imagine Dragons blend engaging, synth-based dance-pop with emotionally charged, Brit-pop-inspired alt-rock. After releasing a pair of well-received EPs (Imagine Dragons and Hell and Silence), the group inked a deal with Interscope Records and headed into West Hollywood's famed Westlake Recording Studios with producer Alex Da Kid (Eminem, Paramore) to record its first major-label release, 2012's Continued Silence EP, which was followed later that year by the group's full-length debut, Night Visions.

Download the show here:
http://www.filefactory.com/file/4ub62ret9ehx/n/ID_Lollapalooza_August_2_2013_rar

THE KILLERS

After Imagine Dragons I went right for New Order who were followed by the Killers who closed down the south end of the park by appearing on the Red Bull Sound Stage, what appeared to be the biggest stage/field in Grant Park.    Excellent performance, Brandon Flowers energized by the tens of thousands of people before him.  As would happen this and the next two nights, unless one got to the stage early and hung out all afternoon, there's no way one could get anywhere near the stage.  The festival fixed that by placing a second set of speakers a hundred yards out from the stage.

It is written:

The Killers are an American rock band formed in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2001, by Brandon Flowers (lead vocals, keyboards) and Dave Keuning (guitar, backing vocals). Mark Stoermer (bass, backing vocals) and Ronnie Vannucci Jr. (drums, percussion) would complete the current line-up of the band in 2002. The name The Killers is derived from a logo on the bass drum of a fictitious band, portrayed in the music video for the New Order song "Crystal".[4] The group has released four studio albums, Hot Fuss (2004), Sam's Town (2006), Day & Age (2008) and Battle Born (2012). They have also released one compilation album, Sawdust (2007) and one live album titled Live from the Royal Albert Hall (2009). To date, the band has sold over 6 million albums in the United States, over 5 million albums in the United Kingdom, and a total of 20 million worldwide.

Download the show here:
http://www.filefactory.com/file/1avzyeseu5sl/n/TK_Lollapalooza_August_2_2013_rar