So from time to time, I get on the road and go see shows. This year, my quest for live music took me to places like Detroit and Indio and Toronto and Chicago and Detroit. The shows made my ears ring louder, my wallet emptier, and my body creakier. At times, I was beset by storms of dirt and dust and clouds of body odor and farts. But on occasion, I had moments of sanctified joy that made me want to go through all that and more. These are some of those moments, with the first half of the year first.
Iggy Pop [7 April, Fox Theatre, Detroit] -- There's a famous '70s photo of Iggy Pop, clad in a T. Rex t-shirt, with David Bowie and Lou Reed standing to Pop's left and right. To say that Pop is the last man standing is a bit of a misnomer, given Pop's gnarled posture and cursive spine, but while his body has diminished, his energy -- the spark that launched the fires of punk -- hasn't flagged one bit. This show, ostensibly to promote a strong new album cut with members of Queens Of The Stone Age and Arctic Monkeys, was a de facto celebration of Pop's work with Bowie on The Idiot and Lust For Life (both released in the halcyon days of 1977), and what a celebration it was. The best of three great albums, plus the '80s amphetamine rager "Repo Man," played less than 100 miles from where Pop got his start. What could be better than that?
Underworld [22 April, Coachella, Indio] -- The former DJ in me knows one absolute truth: great electronic music on a powerful sound system surrounded by tens of thousands of dancing men and women dancing in unison is an experience you can't replicate in any other fashion. And when the music comes from Underworld, and when their ace new tracks are blended with their classic bangers that span two decades of dance floor dominance, and when it's hot and sweaty inside a tent at night, you forget about the spike of titanium where your leg bone should be and you jump and flail and smile and laugh and never want the beat to stop.
The Cure [10 June, VIC Pavilion, Chicago] -- Most bands will never reach the juncture in their careers that The Cure find themselves in at this particular point in time: They have a fan base that will allow for the deep catalog dive as well as the predictable hits, they have no pressure to put out new material, and they have a band around singer/guitarist Robert Smith that's as rock-solid as any they've ever put on a stage. So what better to do on an early summer's eve than listen to 32 (!) energetic and well-played songs from one of the landmark post-punk bands of all time?
Flight Of The Conchords [16 June, Fox Theatre, Detroit] -- Americans generally don't like their music to mix with their comedy, Spinal Tap and "Weird Al" Yankovic aside. And yet, Flight Of The Conchords are widely and wisely recognized as modern masters of the medium, be it on television or on vinyl or live and in your face, albeit respectfully. This show had everything the middle-aged fan would want, from nice comfortable seating to a 10pm departure time. Oh yes, and the songs and sketches and monologues and improv, new and classic alike, all killed. Man, do I miss that show.
Iggy Pop [7 April, Fox Theatre, Detroit] -- There's a famous '70s photo of Iggy Pop, clad in a T. Rex t-shirt, with David Bowie and Lou Reed standing to Pop's left and right. To say that Pop is the last man standing is a bit of a misnomer, given Pop's gnarled posture and cursive spine, but while his body has diminished, his energy -- the spark that launched the fires of punk -- hasn't flagged one bit. This show, ostensibly to promote a strong new album cut with members of Queens Of The Stone Age and Arctic Monkeys, was a de facto celebration of Pop's work with Bowie on The Idiot and Lust For Life (both released in the halcyon days of 1977), and what a celebration it was. The best of three great albums, plus the '80s amphetamine rager "Repo Man," played less than 100 miles from where Pop got his start. What could be better than that?
Underworld [22 April, Coachella, Indio] -- The former DJ in me knows one absolute truth: great electronic music on a powerful sound system surrounded by tens of thousands of dancing men and women dancing in unison is an experience you can't replicate in any other fashion. And when the music comes from Underworld, and when their ace new tracks are blended with their classic bangers that span two decades of dance floor dominance, and when it's hot and sweaty inside a tent at night, you forget about the spike of titanium where your leg bone should be and you jump and flail and smile and laugh and never want the beat to stop.
The Cure [10 June, VIC Pavilion, Chicago] -- Most bands will never reach the juncture in their careers that The Cure find themselves in at this particular point in time: They have a fan base that will allow for the deep catalog dive as well as the predictable hits, they have no pressure to put out new material, and they have a band around singer/guitarist Robert Smith that's as rock-solid as any they've ever put on a stage. So what better to do on an early summer's eve than listen to 32 (!) energetic and well-played songs from one of the landmark post-punk bands of all time?
Flight Of The Conchords [16 June, Fox Theatre, Detroit] -- Americans generally don't like their music to mix with their comedy, Spinal Tap and "Weird Al" Yankovic aside. And yet, Flight Of The Conchords are widely and wisely recognized as modern masters of the medium, be it on television or on vinyl or live and in your face, albeit respectfully. This show had everything the middle-aged fan would want, from nice comfortable seating to a 10pm departure time. Oh yes, and the songs and sketches and monologues and improv, new and classic alike, all killed. Man, do I miss that show.
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