THE NBHD

I spent Wednesday night at the Ogden Theater here in Denver to see the LA band The Neighborhood. When I walked by the theater around 6 PM before dinner there was a line of people waiting to get in , 95% of them teenage women. What that meant was…lots of screamers. A light dinner and a drink at the Cheeky Monk, followed by a quick cigar, arriving inside the theater a half hour before the first band to take the stage. White Arrows opened up the show, a psych-pop group from Los Angeles. I liked the sound and may take a closer listen to their music. Towards the end of their show the combination of the heat and my aching knees (knee surgery only a week and a half ago) forced me to walk around and find a less crowded area to catch my breath. After the second band took the stage, I made my way back towards the front to watch The NBHD.



I continue to enjoy their indie rock sound, as did all the girls who would scream and swoon at anything happening on the stage. This was a first based on the audience in attendance at the last two shows I saw of theirs.   Most songs off their first album with new ones sprinkled in between.  The show closed with ­­ taking selfies with cameras from the audience followed by bras and panties thrown up on stage.  I think the predominantly female teenage audience in front of the stage even surprised the band.

Reverb writes:

The Neighbourhood is a crowdpleaser, for sure. Pretty much everybody in the packed venue was waving their arms in the air, shrieking in delight and swooning over the bandleader. The California natives fed off the audience in return. Rutherford dove off stage during W.D.Y.W.F.M.? — a song about exes, he explained — and came back on stage with a fan’s cellphone. He dramatically took a selfie and returned the phone to the star-struck young woman. Then three more cellphones were desperately tossed on stage, and he snapped a few more pics to satisfy the fans.

The band opened with “Female Robbery,” and other notables included fan favorites “Uh Oh” and “Let It Go” and “A Little Death” from its “Thank You” EP.

The singer said this would be the last tour for its debut album, “then we’re gonna move the ***k on.” The band did play a few new songs, though, including “West Coast,” “Jealousy” and “Honest” from “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” soundtrack. “Jealousy,” from the group’s mixtape project, marks a different direction for the band, with saxophone drops courtesy of the DJ.

More here:

http://www.heyreverb.com/blog/2014/06/26/neighbourhood-ogden-theatre-6-25-14-photos-review/91269/

All black and white photos below from Reverb.

I thought I’d have to sleep in the back of the truck this evening but the drinking was minimal and I was able to safely drive home. Forget the alcohol, it was the cigar I smoked on the way back that gave me quite a buzz by the time I pulled into the driveway.

Here’s a sample from the show, the audio recording paired up with the video. Audio quality on this video is the same as what’s available for downloading below.

Download the audio from the show here:

http://www.filefactory.com/file/326y9pz7xjvr/NBHD25062014mp3.rar



THE JEZEBELS - EL REY THEATER, LOS ANGELES

We went to LA for the purpose of visiting a school my daughter is considering going to, visiting several art museums and attending a postponed performance by The Jezebels at the El Ray Theater.  They were originally supposed to put on a show at that theater back in March but, I was told by one of the roadies unloading their equipment earlier in the day that the show was cancelled due to visa issues when trying to enter the US after their European tour.  During this trip we also saw Macklemore and Ryan Lewis at Club Nokia and WASI (We Are, She Is) at a bar near the hotel.

Beautiful SoCal weather, lots of walking, riding the bus and trains, and the usual collection of broken street people to either entertain or sadden us.  A big show at the Museum of Contemporary Art for the deceased artist Mike Kelley.  My daughter found it disturbing, I saw it as thought provoking and at times funny.  Our return flight was delayed for two hours because of severe weather in Denver, expecting a nerve rattling turbulent flight back but it was not so bad, the weather having moved onto the eastern plains.

A good performance by The Jezebels.  My only disappointment is that they focused on their newer songs and did not bother to play some of what I think are their "classic" songs from early on.  Shouted requests were ignored.  The performance lasted a little over an hour.  Had we not had other reasons to go to LA I might have chosen not to make the trip for this show alone, considering the time and money involved.

The following is a video shot that evening, using the better quality audio of the bootleg recording.

Enjoy. 

Download the audio for the entire show here:
http://www.filefactory.com/file/58mks4qq9l0h/JZBLS%20LA%20June%205%2C%202014%20mp3.rar