I’ve been in a funk for the past few months. My band Dirty Rugs lost two members and I’m halfway dealing with what you may call a midlife crisis. In spite of it all, music always gets me through. In the past 2 months since I’ve last posted I’ve found quite a bit of music and have even been to what may possibly be the best concert I’ve ever attended “The Who”.
I’ve been procrastinating writing about The Who show because it was so monumental and I know its going to take a lot out of me to write the full thing. Until I work up the…willpower…to write about it I wanted to post this song as an easy spotlight.
I heard of these guys on KEXP and immediately loved it. Totally unique and rocking. The whole album Nude Casino is perfect, but Spasms may be my favorite song off of it. Please give it a shot and enjoy it as I have. It’s been my running music and my morning commute music for weeks now. So happy its in my life and hope you give it a chance as well.
It’s 11:30pm and I’m freakin’ sleepy so I’m heading to bed. But before I drag my weary old body to bed I told myself I have to share this before I forget. I Want Result by The Obits is the best song I’ve heard in a long time and its been on nonstop repeat for me for the past 2 or 3 weeks. Everything about it is what I consider real rock and roll. I can’t recommend this song enough, and if you ignore my advice and don’t listen to it you are only doing yourself a huge disservice. Get inspired and listen to this absolutely killer track by them.
This is one of the few concerts I didn’t plan for. Lately (in what I call my “old age”) I’ve been very NOT spontaneous. Actually if it would have been just me I probably wouldn’t have gone to this, but my Dad was in town and in searching for something fun we could do I saw that Steve Miller Band was playing at Chateau Ste. Michelle.
Now my Dad doesn’t like music like I do. I can count on one hand bands that I know he likes. ACDC, Hank Williams Jr., Def Leppard, Three Doors Down, and yep you guessed it… Steve Miller Band. Once I saw that they just so happened to be playing while he was in town I knew we had to go.
I was worried he would say no to going since he’s not one to typically deal with crowds but luckily he was down, and even excited to go. We made up our mind to go literally the day before and I was able to get the tix off stub hub for half the price. I guess with it being Labor Day people had other things going on which paid off for us. I got tix for me, Dad, and Alyssa and we were all set to go.
The day of the show we were kind of antsy so we go to the winery pretty early. Around 4pm. There was already a line and we decided to wait so we could get some good seats. Alyssa and Dad went into the winery to scope everything out while I waited outside. After about 15 minutes they came back with 3 bottles of wine. Lets just say me and dad were in for a wild ride.
We started drinking on the sidewalk there and by the time they let us in we had already finished a bottle. We unfortunately didn’t get as close as I had wanted but we did get pretty close. just right behind the line that separated the small chairs from the big chairs. Luckily we were able to get some seats behind people that had the smaller chair so we could see fine.
Dad and I kept drinking and Alyssa had the occasional glass but she was DD and did a good job of keeping us corralled. I actually was not looking forward to Marty Stuart and neither was Dad. We just thought of him as really lame. The show had a random opener with some solo acoustic guy that I believe lived right up the road. He was OK but nothing memorable. After his short 30 minutes set then Marty Stuart took the stage.
By this point I remember where I was because we had finished the 3 bottles of wine and I was buying 2 more. I came back and was impressed at Marty’s music. It was right up my alley! Just sounded like real country to me. Maybe it would have been music I wouldn’t like in high school, but these days I appreciate good true honky tonk country. Anymore I’m just blown away at what passes for country these days.
His set ended with his song “Time Don’t Wait” and I really dug it. Definitely catchy and its been added to my iTunes playlist. I never thought going into this that I would have a Marty Stuart song in my library. Dad was impressed too, definitely liked Marty’s cover of Johnny Cash “Ring of Fire”.
After the set Dad went and bought merchandise for me Kayla and Keryn. Loved the shirt he got. We were definitely feeling good at this point and then Steve Miller hit the stage. Lets just say he hasn’t lost it!
I’m constantly surprised by these older musicians and how they sound so good. I mean all of the older musicians I’ve seen recently (rolling stones, John Fogerty, Steve Miller) have been great live, and full of energy, I honestly don’t know how they’re still stand-in after years of playing.
The set was predictable and predictably awesome! Just filled with hits. I’m so happy I got to experience it with my Dad. I had previously seen Steve Miller when he opened for Journey probably 5 years ago but unfortunately I drank too much and don’t remember the whole show! this show more than made up for it.
Fly like and eagle was amazing, and jet airliner was a dream come true. Rock’n Me was probably my favorite of the whole show. Again, this is one of those things that you just gotta be there to experience.
All in all it was one of th most memorable shows for me. Me and my Dad don’t get a lot of hang time these days, in fact its probably been 5 or 6 years since he was last out here, so this was a good bonding time. On top of this show we saw a Led Zeppelin tribute band the night before at Snoqualmie Casino so it was definitely a music filled trip for both of us. I’m looking forward to the next show we go to together! Below is some video I got from the show. In the meantime, turn up some Steve Miller loud! I was happy to hear a new one after this show “Abra Cadabra”. Spin it!
I hadn’t listened to King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard in years, mainly due to the fact I didn’t care for their last umpteen albums. I got real into them when Nonagon Infinity came out because I thought it was such a great creative concept. An album that’s nonstop and just repeats! Songs flow into each other, seriously was a great idea and super creative.
Anyways after that they had some weird albums that were a little too far out there for me to get into. Some real Frank Zappa type stuff. Which is great and all if you’re into that but I’ve never been that much into “out there” music.
Anyways I had seen a month or so ago the video for Planet B and loved it as it reminded me of some good ole thrash metal. I was hopeful at that point that they would be working on a thrash album and then luckily I saw “infest the Rats Nest” came out. Thank God! Total redemption for them as far as I’m concerned.
My favorite song off the album is Mars for the Rich. Just a great throwback to some thrash and maybe some Black Sabbath/T-Rex/Sleep as well. Right up my alley. I’d highly recommend to any and all fans of hard rock, check it out,
This was a show I thought for sure I would never witness. For Christmas 2018 Alyssa surprised me with tickets to see the Rollings Stones in May and I was beyond thrilled. One of the founders of rock and roll (as I think of rock and roll) and I was going to get to see them?! The only way it could have been better would have been if they were tickets to see Led Zeppelin. I was ecstatic.
May came along and Mick Jagger suffered some heart trouble. They had to delay the show and I feared the worst. The same thing happened to my Ozzy Osbourne show and his was delayed a year. I ended up selling those tickets as I could use the cash (and to be fair I had already seen him with Black Sabbath at Tacoma Dome a couple years back).
Luckily for everyone involved it was delayed until August 14th and we got to keep our tickets. The price of the tickets were insane and we were relegated to the back section! The back section at a rolling stone show though is better than a front section at other shows as I came to find out.
I left work and came straight to Alyssa’s. It was a rough day so I wasn’t in the best mood but I was excited and wanted to get down to that area of town and have some drinks with my girlfriend and get into the show early. Our uber driver ended up being the worst driver ever and took us an extremely long way to the stadium. Me and Alyssa were flustered and walked 6 or 7 blocks to the Central to grab some pre show brews. I believe we grabbed a coors and a shot of tequila. It was pretty packed with other rolling stones fans so after the drinks we headed towards the stadium.
On the way in we spotted a merch booth and nabbed some shirts and merchandise. It was a relief that the line wasn’t too long. It also felt good to grab some tour merchandise on what could possibly be their last tour. We headed indoors with almost no line (unbelievably!) and grabbed some burgers, food, and drinks. Alyssa was treating me extra special as this was my Christmas present from 2018. We were having a great time after dealing with the stress of just getting there.
After sitting in our seats for a bit Willie Nelson’s son, Lukas Nelson kicked things off for the stones. He has a great voice and sounds very much like Willie. All things being said he put on a great show. I had listened to him before the show and wasn’t that impressed but live he really proved me wrong. That being said the music isn’t something I remember. I would describe it as your typical American folk rock music. Lots of C-D-G kinda chord music. But still a good time and Alyssa really liked it.
Before the Rolling Stones Show at Century Link Field in Seattle
Next up was the Rolling Stones! They came out strong and played Street Fighting Man which was an unexpected start (I was gambling on Start Me Up) but it was the right call. From the moment they came out I was absolutely stunned at the sheer energy of Mick Jagger. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anyone work the stage like he did. Closest I can come up with is Adam Levine and he’s half Mick’s age.
We were towards the back so after a few songs I was really wanting to get better shots of them other than the big screen as they were just so far from me and hard to see. As if they knew (and only after 5 or so songs) they moved forward to the circular stage in the middle of the stadium. They played a couple of acoustic songs I didn’t recognize but I loved it.
After the acoustic break they played Sympathy for the Devil which was awesome. Mick Jagger had a glittery jacket on and a top hat and was spinning around in circles. It truly seemed like something out of the movies. After that Keith Richards sang a few songs. This was the low point of the concert for me. I was really excited to see Keith live but life been tough for him. He just doesn’t have the energy, although you could tell he was having fun.
They ended the show on a string of hits which I remember as start me up and brown sugar. They then had an encore and came out to play two more (which were Gimme Shelter and Satisfaction.) It was the perfect end to a pretty perfect night and Christmas present. I would normally take this time to recommend a song and tell you to check out the band but everyone knows the Rolling Stones. Before the Show I had been jamming the song “She’s A Rainbow” non-stop but they never got around to playing it. Anyways.
I would like to say that this show was the best of 2019 that I’ve been to, but I may be lying. It’s at least tied with the Jim James show I went to not too long ago. Had it been at a different venue, like Showbox or Paramount it would likely be the best but hey, we work with what we get! And that being said WAMU sounded great and I was able to clearly see everything as opposed to my last show so it was a win all around.
For this one I begged Alyssa to go with me as I really wanted her to get into the Raconteurs. She’s not a big fan of Jack White, so after giving some songs a listen she still decided that I should give these away to someone who would really appreciate the show. Cody (who plays bass in my band) had recently really gotten into the Raconteurs and in fact all of Jack White’s material so I offered up the pricy tickets his way. $70 is a grip but I felt it was well worth seeing the Raconteurs perform live. Cody paid me the money and then I found out Jake Flatt and Michael Gill were going to be going as well so we devised a plan of all meeting up at the Central Saloon and then walking the rest of the way.
After my last show getting too wasted I took it slower this time. Cody and I had a beer or so at Chop Suey then ubered the rest of the way to have a few at Central. By the time we got to WAMU I was feeling good but not overly good. A cool thing about this show was a lot like the last Jack White show I came to…no cell phones! As disheartening as that is for my little blog here, it made for a way better concert experience. No annoying hands in the air or hands in my face.
We headed to the beer garden section and had some beers there while the opener played in the background. I wasn’t too interested in her to be honest as it was little more blue grassy or country than I’m into. Her name was Lillie Mae I believe? Not to say that it was bad, in fact everything sounded “good”. It just wasn’t my thing.
After she played we drank a few more and in fact tried to make it outside for a smoke break but unfortunately no luck. It’s a good thing too though because The Raconteurs started playing and we rushed back in. I went all the way to the little reserved handicap “cage” area and stood there. Wasn’t much of a crowd and had an awesome spot to see the band play. Don’t worry I wasn’t blocking any handicap people, we were outside the area.
What makes a concert like this so great is that I knew every song. That happens rarely for me, probably because I go to a lot of shows. Nevertheless I’m always excited when it happens, and the fact that they only have 3 albums probably helps. Concsoler’s of the Lonely was an album I wore out back in 2010 when my first band started and the fact that the Raconteurs kicked off with Salute your Solution really helped kick off a great concert experience for me.
From that they went into a wide berth of all their hits. Bored and Razed from their new album, to the Level from their first. Jack and Brendan seemed to have great chemistry on stage although it was clear that Jack is the conductor on stage. Consistently letting everyone what to do next, changing guitars, jumping on keyboard and then back to guitar. And absolutely SHREDDING if I might add.
Thank God Cody came, because about 8 songs in Jake and Michael left to go party somewhere else. Even if Cody didn’t come though I would have stayed as I had been looking forward to this show forever.
Some of the highlights of the show were surprisingly the slower songs. Only Child really sounded good. And the piano parts of Shine the Light on Me really really sounded great. Don’t Bother Me didn’t really translate that well live, which was the only occurrence of all the songs that’s I noticed that didn’t sound as good as the recorded version.
The real highlight though was the super long encore. 6 songs, which included Help Me Stranger and Sunday Driver that I had been waiting on all night to hear. By this point I had already ran off to the march booth super quickly to buy a shirt and a poster so I definitely looked like a fanboy standing there with all of my mercy in hand. Once they started playing Steady as She Goes I knew the show was over, so we headed out, unlocked our phones, called an uber, and were on our way back. We were both thrilled beyond belief at the show we had just seen.
In closing, I truly feel Raconteurs is one of th great current rock bands and highly suggest you catch them live if you have a chance. Below is a snippet of one of my favorite songs of theirs live.
I was so happy to be introduced to this band. Our IT guy that comes into my work once every other week found out I was in a band and randomly brought in a flash drive of some bands I might like. We had talked music before and seemed to have the same taste so I was really looking forward to hearing what was on there.
Wet & Reckless’ self titled album immediately jumped out to me. It is rare that I immediately connect and like an album on the first listen through. It’s these kinds of surprises that I live for. This whole album is what I consider a perfect representation of well thought out and good pop rock music. The singers lower register vocals fit perfectly and are a nice refreshing change of pace for female rock vocals. Kind of in the vein of the Screaming Females who I also love.
Anyways, the most surprising fact of being introduced to this band was the fact they are not huge. Seriously, they have like 1700 likes on Facebook. Please please please give them a listen and a like, bands like this deserve it. Favorite song of the album below:
As a preface, this will likely be my last Gorge trip where the sole purpose is to pregame and get super messed up before the show. I’m not exactly sure how many times I’ve been to the gorge but I believe this was my 7th time and just as it was with going to Panama City beach for spring break 3 or 4 times, the experience gets less and less meaningful the more times I go. I guess you could say the “glamour” and fun of partying all day just loses it’s edge over time. Plus I’m old now. Being 30 has its downfalls I guess.
Anyways, I was really looking forward to this show, mainly for Spoon who I listen to on a regular basis. I like Cage the Elephant a lot too, although not to sound too snobby but that is largely due to their first album. They were playing around the area a lot when I started my band Po’ Brothers back in 2010. Once I saw Beck was on the bill I felt this was a must see show. I figured it would be no issue getting a large group of friends to go to the gorge and even tried to get Jake from Indiana to come but no luck. Everyone had plans and things they were already doing. Luckily for me I had my always faithful concert friend, Jake Flatt, down and ready to go.
As opposed to almost every other time I’ve been to the gorge, we decided to wait until the day of before heading up to the show. The whole week I had been experience stomach pains and it thankfully let up the day of the show. I don’t know if this was me mentally willing it to be so or if it was just coincidence. I later found out I had appendicitis so it was probably a good call I didn’t head up the night before!
We took our time on the way up. Stopped at the twin peaks cafe in North Bend, got the biscuits and gravy to help soak up the booze I would soon be ingesting, and then we were on the road listening to good tunes the rest of the way. Trip was quick for once, I think we got their in like 2 hours. I had just got the Raconteurs album so pretty sure we listened to that all the way through 3 or 4 times.
Once we got up there we hit it pretty hard. It helped that it was hot outside. Not too hot but probably every bit of 85 to 90. To halfway quote Dumb and Dumber, the beer flowed like the salmon of Capistrano. As a sidenote and as a reference to the earlier preface, this is exactly what I want to avoid in the future as this would later set me up to barely remember the whole show. Anyways, we met our neighbors who were pretty cool (a young 20 year old company who were just coming to the gorge for the first time).
The beers continued to flow and we went with our new found friends to meet up with Scott who plays in another local band, Either / Or. He had some friends with him and after my urging everyone, we headed on the road to the stage. I definitely didn’t want to miss Spoon which was pretty much the whole reason I wanted to come. Luckily, after the mile walk we got in now problem and I was sitting on the hill halfway through their first song.
Unfortunately we had some far away seats and the bands didn’t have a big TV screen for people in the back to be able to clearly see what was going on on-stage. Our seats were conveniently by the beer and food stands so that wasn’t an issue. We also weren’t far way from the port-a-pots so silver linings I guess! Anyways by this point Jake had given me a few adderalls so I was feeling very high strung I guess you could say. Anyways this was the highlight of the show for me as I enjoyed every single song Spoon played, with probably, surprisingly, Hot Thoughts being the favorite.
I have bad eyesight so honestly I couldn’t see much of that was going on stage. I could see the faces of members of the band projected on the TV but as for stage presence and what was going on, you could tell me just as much as I could tell you. What I can say for certain was they sounded great, super tight, which says a lot considering they have a new touring bassist. They ended their set on Rent I Pay.
After them I was surprised that Cage the Elephant was on next. I had expected going into the show that Beck would be on second. Since Beck was the artist I was interested in least this boded well for me and my drunken state.
Cage the Elephant sounded good as well but again I couldn’t see much of what was going on. I only clearly remember the first couple of songs of their set. I was disappointed I couldn’t see much because I have seen Cage the Elephant play at Easy Street records and his stage present is amazing. Brokenboy, Spider head, and Cold cold cold were all great and sounded good. I would say the only criticism I could offer was it sounded like was listening to the radio. No real improvisation or added musicality to make the songs truly special.
Cage the Elephant ended and on came Beck. I was so happy he started with Loser because its one of the few songs know by him. After that were a lot of songs I wasn’t familiar with. He had a better presence with the crowd than Cage and Spoon as he seemed to talk to the crowd more than the others. However, since I was messed up and unfamiliar with the songs, Jake and I decided to beat the crowd and head back to the campsite. Long story real short, I made it back sat in the chair and almost passed out. I then made my way to my tent and had one of the most rock solid sleeps at the gorge of all time.
I sadly woke up at 6 am with Jake sleeping in the grass in front of the tent. I started packing up shit and we hit the road at 7, which is by far the earliest I’ve ever left. We had an awesome breakfast in Ellensburg at a place called the Red Horse Diner. Definitely want to make it back there.
In conclusion, and looking back, I have a couple things I want to change up in the future:
From now on I am going to get good seats at the Gorge. I’m over bad seats. Chalk it up to me being older and having more money. I’m in my prime and want to fully enjoy the show. I put a lot of time in coming out to the gorge and I might as well be able to fully utilize and enjoy the time
I’m going to drink more responsibly and not smoke weed at the show. All this does is cause me to be super out of it and not fully enjoy it. Plus I’ve done it so many time the thrill has worn off.
I’m going to buy merchandise. I did it this time with buying a Spoon shirt and its so worth it as it allows you to have a keepsake from the experience.
All in all I was disappointed with my bad seats and my..uhh..lack of attention. But that being said I did have a great time with Jake. I now know that all 3 bands are good live and I look forward to catching them at some smaller more intimate venues in the future!
Slowly over the years I’ve become a bigger and bigger My Morning Jacket (and therefore Jim James) fan. When I was 16 in high school I signed up for that CD service, which was like 10 buck a month and they sent you like 10 cds to start off and then a couple cds a month? I can’t remember what that was called but if anyone knows please leave it in the comments.
Anyways, one of the first 10 albums I got I chose My Morning Jackets album Z, mainly because of the artwork. I had no idea what to expect and although I liked a few songs on the album I wasn’t a HUGE fan. I did really like the song “Gideon” off that album and still regularly play it to this day.
I remember then hearing them again in one of those free cds you get in Guitar World magazine or whatever. The song was “Amazed” and I really like that song as well. I got their next cd and kind of the same story, I liked a few songs but wasn’t a huge fan. Fastforward a few years and I got their latest “waterfalls” album and finally got to see the in concert at the paramount and was absolutely blown away.
Probably around that time Jim James album Eternally Even came out and I completely loved that album. So good and surreal. Almost one of my favorite albums of all time. His latest album came out “Uniform Distortion” and I bought the record and have listened to it all the way through at LEAST 30 times, probably much more.
To change topics super quickly, I saw Primus live at the paramount a couple of years and it was kind of the same story as with My Morning Jacket. It was a phenomenal show that absolutely blew my mind. One of the better live shows I’ve ever seen, which then sent me on a couple month spree of listening to Primus nonstop.
OK, so after that lengthy introduction, when I saw that Jim James and Claypool Lennon Delirium were co-headlining, I didn’t even think about it, I immediately bought 4 tickets. I just new that a live show containing both of them was going to be amazing, and I was not disappointed.
I sold two tickets to Eric from Mister Master, who then sold them to Brandt and Erik which was a cool surprise. I sold my extra ticket to Ben, and Jake Flatt ended up buying a ticket last minute to join in on the fun.
Jake and I pregamed at Chop Suey and Ben met us there. We had a few drinks and left just as a drag show was starting. Ben was nice enough to be DD and drove us down to Showbox SoDo where we went to this bar and pregamed a bit more. Jake bought 2 pitchers to kick it off and while we attempted to get those out of the way we ran into Dave Place from Hobosexual and had a long convo with him.
By the time we walked into the show we had missed most of the first act. I only caught one song but never caught their name. They sounded good from what I heard.
Claypool Lennon Delirium was on next and they did not disappoint. We were unable to get super close for the show but from what I could see they both were wearing some crazy hats. Sean Lennon was smaller than I pictured, at least when compared to Les Claypool. So maybe he was taller than I remember? Who knows.
Anyways what really blew my mind was just how much some of the songs sounded like LSD Beatles tunes. Sean definitely has his father’s voice, and it helps to have the drippiness of les claypool on guitar. There was a few moments I swore what they were playing was from some of the Beatles trippy back catalogue.
The bass tone was unbelievable. Seriously the stuff clay pool is able to pull off and actually have it sound good is amazing. So deep and full but doesn’t sacrifice the mid to highs somehow. I only wish I could have been closer to the stage to really see some more of the musicians in the back. Sean can definitely shred guitar, I did pick up on that much.
Once they were done everyone cleared out for drinks and to the use the restroom. I went quickly and bought a Jim James tshirt, luckily there was 0 line. This is also where Ben, Jake, and I took the chance to sneak up nearly to the front. I’d say we were about 4 to 5 rows of people back. We waited there for what seemed like forever. I’m not sure what time it was at this point but I’d guess that Jim came on around 10:15 to 10:20.
I always get to these moments in writing my little blog where I try to describe in detail the show and how good it was and sometimes it just seems kind of pointless. Like I couldn’t possibly recap how great of a time it was and how good it sounded, but I’ll try.
First off Jim comes off like a complete rockstar, he’s just got that attitude. The lights on stage help, as they were set up surrounding him to give the look of almost a stadium “all eyes on him” kind of thing.
See what I mean?
Most of the songs that were played were off the last album uniform distortion and it sounded SO GOOD. Blew the record away. I mean I go back and listen to the record and just wish it was produced better, although I doubt that’s the sound he was going for. Seriously a lot of the licks you hear on the record don’t have that “force” behind the like they do live.
I knew almost every song played, I maybe didn’t know one. He played a couple songs off of eternally even and it was great to see how he pulled those off without all the keyboards and production behind them. I almost preferred them better.
I definitely needed a good show out to help inspire me in my own band’s venture and this served the purpose for sure. One of my favorite shows I’ve been to and I was happy to be able to make it out with my friends. Halfway through the show Ben pulled out his pipe and I smoked some weed right there in the middle of the crowd, which I haven’t done in YEARS. Was a great feeling to let loose and enjoy the moment.
I caught a snippet of the show on video which I’ll upload below. It’s kind of shitty but I didn’t want to put my phone in peoples faces. You’ll see how close I was and how good it sounded though. 10/10 would definitely recommend catching Jim James if I were you! One of my highlights of 2019 for sure.
Sometimes I surprise even myself with the random music I like. I was listening to the apple iTunes “chill” playlist that basically guesses what kind of music you like. This came on and it immediately brought me back to watch some jazz musicians at Huber’s Winery in Indiana. I liked it so much I’ve played it pretty much nonstop for over a week. Since that’s been the case I figured I have to add it to my song spotlight. Give it a listen and let me know what you think. It has such a cool casual “cool” feel to it. Makes me just want to drink wine in a nice shady little garden area.
