Shows from June... Just a Few....
Wow! This summer has taken me for a whirlwind. I've realized how far behind I am on concert reviews as I have to go back to the beginning of June, when I saw Liz Phair (with the incredible Soccer Mommy) at the Sinclair in Boston for a solo gig to honor her awesome 1st album "Exile in Guyville" anniversary/box set release. I didn't know what to expect as it had been about 15 years since I last saw her, at the Avalon (which is now the House of Blues) and she seemed to become far more interested in mainstream and commercial success by changing up her sound to be far more polished and then a failed attempt to go the Jewel route of trying to make an album of "dance-y" tunes. So, she sort of fell out of the radar and has not put out an album since. But, to celebrate the 25th (!?) anniversary of her incredible, low-fi, debut album, she returned to the stage. Just her and a guitar. Plus, one guy playing guitar with her. No band. An experiment in going back in time. And it worked. Her set was great. She was joking around, laughing, and most importantly played everything the audience came for. Back in the day, I definitely had a huge crush on her. She was like the quintessential indie rock queen, singing openly about sex and feminism, telling it like it is with no apologies. She proved that women can be just as sexually open and explicit as men and that it's okay. It's not posing a threat to manhood.
Her opening act, Soccer Mommy, is a young female musician that definitely brings to mind Liz Phair circa 1990s with the low-fi sound, confessional lyrics, etc. I had just seen her play a headlining gig at a super small venue in Boston about a month before this one and she was great. Here, she was playing a bigger venue and her guitar and voice could definitely echo off the walls in the room, but you could definitely tell she seemed a bit uncomfortable with the size of the room/crowd, perhaps just because she has not gotten used to the attention. Regardless, she should get used to it, because she is close to blowing up in popularity at this point.
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A few days later, The Decemberists were scheduled to play in Portland (I'd just seen them at Boston Calling) so I wasn't planning on going to this show, but they ended up cancelling the show due to the singer's vocal issues (maybe stemming from the fact that they had to play in the rain at Boston Calling). Anyways, M. Ward was also set to open for them and he must have already been in town or on his way, so he decided to play a pop-up show of sorts, at Port City, very last minute. Even though it was a last-minute gig, I grabbed a ticket for $15 and so did a lot of people because the room was pretty packed, which he was impressed with. And he made it worth everyone's time, playing for nearly a solid 2 hours. He had just put out a new album, so his set included some of those new songs, as well. It was great to see him again!
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(Monsters of Folk song)
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- Encore:
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(Julio César Sanders cover)
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My sister and I also went to see a band I'd been dying to see, Pianos Become the Teeth (especially since their new record is one of my favorites of this year), whom I've seen open for a few post-punk/hardcore bands in the past. And one of my sister's favorite bands, The World is a Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid to Die. We've seen them close to about 10x I believe, at this point, in a variety of forms, as a band. This time around, they were playing with one less guitarist but added a horn section which added a new flavor to some of their songs. Each band played a solid 50 minute set, as it was more of a co-headlining tour. Pianos Become the Teeth definitely shined for the night, though. Their set blew me away.
Pianos Become the Teeth-
The World is a Beautiful Place...
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