Acoustic Cafe Tour (1/29/12)

Erin McKeown with Carrie Rodriguez & Kelly Joe Phelps - at Nighttown - YES PLEASE.  This was another year of a traveling Acoustic Cafe tour supporting artists and the Acoustic Cafe radio program.  While I guess Carrie Rodriguez has at the "helm" this show was really about Erin McKeown for me.  Having seen Erin several times before, I was really excited to see her in this venue - which I had actually already seen Carrie Rodriguez. I wasn't too familiar with Kelly Joe Phelps - but was willing to learn.

The first half of the show had each artist performing a couple songs of their own, typically with a transition parter to then perform their own set.  Not bad.  The second half was all three performing together.  I'll reluctantly admit that things did seem a bit off… like Erin & Carrie were really trying to work things up - but Kelly gave off this old grump mentality.  I only note this because I've seen how good these kinds of shows can be - and this wasn't quite there.  But then, I could see just about anything at Nighttown and be super-pleased in that venue.

Check out some pics, and there's a clip of an article talking about the tour below...

Carrie Rodriguez helms "Acoustic Cafe" tour

Austin singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Carrie Rodriguez will host the third annual "An Acoustic Cafe Evening" trek, sharing the stage with Kelly Joe Phelps, Erin McKeown and Pieta Brown along the way.

The singer/songwriter-focused road trip, inspired by the syndicated radio show "Acoustic Cafe," gets underway Jan. 24 in Ann Arbor, MI, and cruises through the Midwest, stopping by clubs and theaters in 11 cities. The schedule is currently slated to wrap up Feb. 4 in Minneapolis.

Rodriguez will host and perform each evening, as will Phelps. McKeown will be part of the line-up through Jan. 30, after which Brown will join the tour."

(Continued... Carrie Rodriguez helms "Acoustic Cafe" tour)

 

He's My Brother She's My Sister (1/26/12)

As I mention before, these guys have toured with Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic fields before, and I can see the symbiosis.   He's My Brother and She's My Sister is definitely a slightly-off the center party band with amazing energy and creativity.  They were just beaming good energy… but we'll get to that.

The night started out early - particularly so I could catch both opening acts and grab a bite to eat. I do want to make a point to say how GOOD the new menu is at the Beachland.  My friend Carrie & I tried three different things between us and they were all amazing.  I'm excited to eat there again!

OK… back to music.  I've seen the local Lowly, the Tree Ghost before - and they're fun to listen to.  Definitely a solid local band that has the big chamber-folk thing down - but with some room for polishing.

Next up was my first time seeing Shivering Timbers - finally!  This band out of Akron has been eluding me, to my detriment.  These guys have the dark, sultry folk thing down pat, and Sara Benn's voice was superb.  I'm just now getting familiar with their stuff - but anxious to see them again (and again).  Looks like there are plenty of opportunities!

By this time it was a well primed evening when He's My Brother She's My Sister just took it home.  Again, another strong female voice (swoon).  Throw in a painted upright bass, a top hat, some glitter, and a person tap dancing on a drum and I'm sold.  A total party, and I was thrilled to see some people dancing to this.  Go see these guys!

Akron/Family (1/19/12)

This was a particularly exciting show, as I had family visiting from back home and was very excited to take them to a show at the Beachland!  Especially being Akron/Family, who I thoroughly enjoyed last time I saw them.  Leave it to this scenario (where I'm showing someone the Beachland for the first time) for it to be a completely different experience than normal.  We walked in to the band being set up in the middle of the floor.  Case in point:

It was an interesting setup and it played nicely with the crowd - but this was a completely different experience than before.   Last time it was just this amazing non-stop jam session.  This time, there was much more engagement with the audience (which always makes me a little nervous).  I think part of the issue was that there were just generally less people than last time (and in a larger space).  That didn't stop Akron/Family from rocking out though.  They were as avant-garde as ever… I'm not sure my guests entirely appreciated it, but I still did.  I'll be looking forward to a  new release from them coming sometime soon.

Caveman (1/15/12)

Caveman was another last-minute discovery, and another show at the Happy Dog.  Though I was hoping that the sunnier, pop/electronic aesthetic would play better at the Happy Dog.  It did, but I have to admit that since that show, I like these guys even more - and now I'm even MORE excited for their return at the Beachland Tavern (Wednesday, March 21st).  Check out some photos - and then a clip from my favorite song of theirs, Thankful.

Now download a copy of it for yourself for free.

Greycoats (1/12/12)

In a last-minute decision, I chose to go see the Greycoats at the Beachland Tavern instead of Langhorne Slim at the Grog Shop.  Having seen Langhorne before, and with some sweet new singles by Greycoats - I thought I'd try my luck with the dark horse.

Opening was Winter's Warm who played with no drummer - not bad, but not fair to review with missing a third of their band.  Next up was ME.  Now I wish for the life of me I could find a website for them (realize how hard searching just those two letters are), because I would love to know when they come back.  An extremely quirky duo, with an alternative swagger that was raucous and unapologetic.  These guys made the night for me.  Anybody know them?

Thankfully ME was good, because Greycoats were meh.  They did play a song from their upcoming album that would give me some hope, but I can't imagine seeing these guys again.

Theophilus London (1/11/12)

Finally, getting into the new year.  As I mentioned, I was late to the Thesophilus London game, so I didn't have a lot of context coming into this show.  This was one of the situations that with the right crowd it could have been an amazing performance, but not nearly as many people were there as I would have expected.  The overall performance was decent (sans crowd contribution) but not much to write about, though you can get a much more emphatic review of this show over at TVD Cleveland if you're interested.  (btw, the crowd looks great in these photos, but directly behind me was sheer emptiness)

Machine Gun Kelly (12/15/11)

I'd been waiting to catch Machine Gun Kelly for some time - as I think it's a straight-up guy who I'm glad loves Cleveland so  much.  I missed his last performance at the Grog Shop and was really excited to see him perform at House of Blues, now supported by Diddy.  But the night ended up being a longer story than I'd put here, but I basically got to House of Blues late, only catching a couple songs before the show was over.  From what I saw, it's what you'd expect... but it's a little consolation that MGK'd be proud knowing I raged. I would still like another chance for a truly Laced Up experience.

Here's another crappy iPhone photo:

Beirut (11/30/11)

I suppose that since this post is about Beirut, it should be some extensive review about an awesome show by a stunning band.  And I guess it could be - but this show left me a little salty for paying $30+ to see a band perform for about an hour.  Granted, they performed *very* well - so much that I would recommend & probably see them again (for less, or at least a different venue) - but in keeping up with my catching up, you're getting a couple crappy iPhone pics (courtesy of HOB Cleveland's no camera policy).

Herzog (11/23/11)

I'm about to start the grueling process of catching up on some shows that I've seen, but not written about.  The sad thing is that I'm reaching all the way back to late November here - though things were quite slow through the holiday, which means I've probably been behind by more shows at previous times (just my own self-pacification).

So the last Herzog album has been winning me over.  To see they had a new album coming out, and that the CD release show would be at the Happy Dog was thrilling.  However,  some happy-hour drinks and a really late show at the Happy Dog left for not much of an attention span (not to mention the on-going, excessively loud sound issues) - so not much to wax poetic about this show.  I did grab some pics though...

Though not to do Herzog a complete disservice, you should listen to a new track "Fuck This Year" over at thenoiseis.net. Here's the rest of the pics...

www.flickr.com

 

The Dø - The Calendar

Just posted about The Dø on this past Video Tuesday.  Let's follow that up with a live performance from The Best Fit Sessions.  Again - I think these guys are superb.