Category: Live Show Review

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Dirty Honey @ Neumos, Seattle WA – February 21, 2020 (Birthday Show!)

I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to write this but I think by now that’s the most familiar theme of this whole private-esque blog thing I got going on here.

This show was a real last minute kind of plan. My sister and I share the same birthday (although we’re born 2 years apart). She lives in Indiana and was coming in town for a week for our birthday. I think she’s been in Seattle the past 3 years so it’s become something of a tradition.

Anyways she mentioned she had wanted to see a good rock show when she was in town. I had actually just heard a song or two of Dirty Honey and when I was looking through the Stranger I saw that they were just so happening to play Neumos the same day as our birthday.

I wouldn’t call myself a super fan by any means but I figured it would sell out quickly because from what I heard I compared these guys to Greta Van Fleet, and although I haven’t seen those guys I’d heard they sold out everywhere they played.

I bought me, Alyssa, and Kayla all tickets and created an invite on Facebook to hopefully get a bunch of my friends out and about to see the show. Luckily everyone agreed and we were all set for an amazing time.

We went down early and grabbed some drinks at Chop Suey. We waited until we had a bit of a crew, then went on to The Unicorn for drinks there. Its crazy to think at this time the COVID-19 outbreaks were beginning to happen but no one really took it seriously at this time…anyways….

After the unicorn we headed to the Runaway which is the bar right next to Neumos. Alyssa is not much of a drinker and she was really wanting to get in there. I was still chatting it up with everyone who was showing up so she went on in without me. I wish now I woulda went with her because I missed the first couple songs of the first band, The Amazons. She also was able to get her merch signed by Dirty Honey which is super cool. She described the guys as down to earth and really nice! Now I have a signed record thanks to her! Very cool to have as part of the collection.

Anyways my sister and I were pretty wasted. I was towards the back right of the venue and definitely was doing some dancing. I really liked the Amazons although I can’t say nothing jumped out at me. Their set seemed super short but who knows it could have been the alcohol. At this point every time I turned around I was getting a free beer from Paige, Cody, or Collin.

Dirty Honey came on and I was very surprised at just how good they sounded live. His voice was maybe even better live than recorded, which is saying ALOT! The guitar solos were insane and they really put on a great show. I can say that my whole group was dancing and everyone was having a great time. There was literally a few times I just had to stop and look at someone in disbelief at how great either his voice was or the shredding was.

They did two great covers which fit their sound. Last Child by Aerosmith and Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin. Kayla loved it! Led Zeppelin is both of our favorite bands. Was a great birthday for both of us for sure.

The ended the show with Rollings 7’s which is no surprise as it’s likely their best song. What a great way to bring in 31. I hope next years birthday is just as good. Would highly recommend seeing these guys live to really get a feel for what a real rock show is like….and should always be like!

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The Who – October 19th @ T-Mobile Park Seattle

I may have waited too long to write this unfortunately as my memory isn’t the best. What I can say this was the best show I’ve ever seen. And I’ve been to hundreds and hundreds of shows.

When this show was first announced I bought tickets for both me and Alyssa. They were relatively cheap, especially when compared to tickets of the same caliber (looking at you Rolling Stones and Pearl Jam). Alyssa wasn’t much looking forward to the show since it’s only 2 of the original members but I told her they were legends and we needed to see them.

In typical fashion we went down a bit early and grabbed a drink at the central saloon. We walked up to TMobile Park (what used to be Safeco Field) and went to our seats. I actually didn’t drink too much. Not sure there was an exact reason but I just wasn’t feeling it. Some of my friends made it out to the show but were in different sections so I actually didn’t get to see them.

Liam Gallagher was first and was underwhelming to me. I found the show to be very boring. I’m not sure he moved at all. He just stood with his arms behind his back, leaned forward, and singing into the microphone. His new songs were nothing special, and the only highlights for me at least were Wonderwall and Champagne Supernova.

Champagne Supernova sounded weird or different. It made me wonder if he had to sing it different due legal issues with Noah. Regardless it was cool to see these Oasis songs live…songs I’ve partied to and have been part of my life since I was in high school. But to be honest it just felt like a money grab, with no emotions and nothing exciting to make me ever want to see it again. That being said his voice did sound good, so there’s that.

After that the main event, The Who came out and just blew everyones minds. Pete Townshend was extremely funny and him and Roger Daltrey seemed to get along famously. They started the set out with a shortened run through of the album Tommy which was amazing.

Completely unknown and unexpected for both me and Alyssa was the fact they were using a complete orchestra. This may have contributed to it being the best show I’ve ever seen. The sheer emotion conveyed by the orchestra, in combination with the complexity of the songs was just something I’ve never seen before. When you combine that with Pete’s excellent guitar playing, and Roger’s absolutely emotionally charged voice, it gave sheer goosebumps to both me and Alyssa.

After Tommy they ran through some other songs and went to a band-only portion. The band only portion was good, but I definitely missed the orchestra, that being said, transitioning to a band only part was good for the concert as a whole because it mixed it up and really highlighted their performance as well as the performance of the orchestra as a whole.

After 4 or 5 songs they then brought the orchestra back on and also a surprise guest…Eddie Vedder! This may have been the single greatest moment I’ve been able to catch live. Tough to narrow it down, but this is definitely top 3.

Eddie seemed happier than I’ve ever seen him, and put on one hell of a performance on the song “The Punk and The Godfather”. Luckily I was able to capture this on video which I’m posting below. Sorry for the shitty quality in advance!

After that Eddie went off stage and they played Love Reign O’er Me. This song also hit me harder than any song I’ve seen live. When you add the orchestra and brass to the emotion in Roger’s voice, as well as the screaming guitar, I literally had tears in my eyes and full on goosebumps. There was a member of the audience in front of me standing up and just losing it, grabbing his head and waving his arms like a crazy person. I’ve never seen someone so affected by a song in my life. I looked over and Alyssa was crying. This was truly something to always remember.

They ended the show with Baba O’ Reilly and brought out an amazing violinist who just shredded all over the place. After the show was over (and it was a long one! maybe 3 hours?) Alyssa and I proceeded to buy shirts and posters. We were absolutely blown away and it made The Who possibly my favorite band of all time. I would absolutely see them again, and I just wish I could have seen them back in the day with Keith Moon and John Entwistle. If you get the chance you absolutely need to see The Who while they’re still around. Video I took below!

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Steve Miller Band w/ Marty Stuart at Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery

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!

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Rolling Stones – Century Link Field – August 14, 2019

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.

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Raconteurs – WAMU Theater – July 18, 2019

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.

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Cage the Elephant, Beck, Spoon @ the Gorge – July 13, 2019

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:

  1. 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
  2. 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.
  3. 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!

Favorite song of the whole show below:

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Jim James / Claypool Lennon Delirium @ Showbox SoDo – June 24th, 2019

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.

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Low Cut Connie @ The Sunset – Seattle, WA April 12, 2019

I’ve dug Low Cut Connie for a while now, ever since I started playing in a band in Louisville, KY. A booker I know there (actually also went to college with) named Hunter was a huge fan and turned me onto them. The singer has got a bigger than life personality and treats each venue likes it a huge amphitheater. It’s always a good time.

Anyways I noticed they were coming to town when some girls at work asked what was going on the weekend of April 12th/13th. I’m glad they did because it allowed me to see that Low Cut Connie was playing back to back shows. Even though the 13th was sold out I was able to get two tickets for the 12th. I’ll be honest, I also tried to get my band on the bill to open for them. NO SUCH LUCK unfortunately.

Anyways tickets were pretty cheap, I asked the drummer in my band Dirty Rugs if he wanted to go and he was down. His last band Lanford Black got to open for them and he’s a fan.

Before we got there me and Ben jammed out some new songs at the practice space right down the road. We then went to a place I believe was called Big Alberts for some pre-show brews and food. I’m glad we got the food part because I was pretty buzzed up. Was a LONG week at work and needed to let loose.

We showed up at Sunset and were able to catch the first band Electric Nono. They weren’t bad but they were a two piece and all I could think of was the missing bass. I know people like the two piece thing, but its just not for me. That being said they were talented, just not for me I suppose.

They were the only opener and Low Cut Connie was fairly quick to hop on afterwards. The came out to a lot of fan fare. The singer was almost immediately up and dancing on the piano bench. He does a great job of crowd interation, pointing out people, “petting” peoples heads, giving high fives, acting like he’s taking his jacket off, and general overall showmanship.

I was happy to hear a few hits I knew previously like “Rio” and “Beverly”. All the songs are great, they have an old timey almost saloon-y vibe that makes it easy to dance around and drink to. Every member of the band was into it. A guy from the crowd jumped on stage and danced around a bit. He ignored the singer’s request to “get the fuck off the stage” and the guitarist ended up shoving him off. Luckily that was the end of that. I thought for sure the dude would get kicked out but must have been his lucky day.

I watched the show up until the end and then I stepped out. I do like Low Cut Connie and it definitely was a good night out, but after a while the songs all kind of sound the same. Some of the showmanship felt a little forced as well but hey, it’s rock and roll and better than most everything else out right now.

After the show we walked to Conor Byrne and caught a couple of songs from a band called Black Giraffe. They had a great singer but again, they were a two piece. Not sure if we missed the full band or not but I’d be down to hear more.

After finishing that up, we rented lime bikes and biked to Barhouse for some nightcap PBR’s. Was a long eventful night full of lots of fun and drinks. It was enough to put me out of commission for the rest of the weekend but it was definitely a good time. Check out my favorite song by them below!

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J Roddy Walston @ Showbox Market – September 16, 2018

This show was a cool one to go to.  Jake ended up buying tix off his brother for this show so I got to go for free! woohoo!

I drove to the venue and found parking right on pike place market which was cool. Not sure I’ve ever found space down there before, especially for free.  We grabbed 2 beers at that bar down there, I forget the name but it has a perfect view of the market sign. After all the talk of the Showbox shutting down we were anxious to get there so we headed out a little early in time to catch the opener, William Elliot Whitmore

The opener, W.E.W was a little generic folksy for my taste but he was good.  I’d never heard of him before, I guess he had some hits back in 2009 so that makes sense, right when the big Mumford and Sons explosion hit.  It was just him up there but he did a good job entertaining the crowd.  I did enjoy the song “hell or high water”.

We had decided since it was Sunday we were going to get home early. At least early for us.  J Roddy was surprisingly playing second so that worked for us. I guess the headliner was a band called Murder by Death? I tried listening to them but was not into it at all.  Anyways, back to the show at hand…

W.E.W finished and J Roddy hit the stage.  I had seen them once before 3 or 4 years ago at the Crocodile.  I absolutely love J Roddy. His brand of rock is honestly what I consider perfect rock music to be. Edgy and cutting and gravelly and raw…but with a perfect amount of pop thrown in to make it catchy and singable.

We moved up from the bar to catch the show at a closer vantage point. I stopped drinking since I had to drive so it was a nice change to actually be able to comprehend the show with a clear mind. He played all the hits I had seen last time.

His energy was just as high as it always is but I could tell his voice was bugging him. He wasn’t pushing it completely and couldn’t go as high as he does in the recordings. Thats bound to happen when touring! The whole crowd was into it. Really the only thing I can say bad about it was they didn’t play any new material.  Other than that the show was great an he sounded great as ever.  If you want a guaranteed good night out I’d highly recommend J Roddy!

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Jack White – August 13, 2018 – WAMU

My excitement for this concert was a fickle thing.  It started out at a 10.  Then I heard the new album Boarding House Reach and my excitement dived to a 6. I got tickets when they were first announced, so before the album came out.  I thought for sure it was going to sell out. I don’t think it ever did. I’m still surprised as to how that didn’t happen.

Anyways I got tix for me and my concert buddy Jake Flatt.  My roommate Josh was supposed to go but ended up bailing last minute. We called around and asked just about everyone to fill in the last spot.  Our buddy Michael who does booking down at the Central was down so we ended up driving down that way and meeting up with him there for some quick drinks.

From the Central we walk to Wamu.  Once we showed up we were surprised to see they had these pouches you had to put your phone in so that you couldn’t use them during the concert.  They’re locked tight so theres definitely no filming or pictures allowed. Or finding your friends if you lose them in the crowd. I will say I love this idea though.  I’ve been to lots of concerts where the crowd is cell phone centric and it does ruin the “aesthetic”. The Maroon 5 concert is one great example of that.

Anyways I definitely did not care for the opener.  Can’t even remember their name.  I just remember thinking “how the heck did they get the opening spot?!”

We just chilled in the beer garden portion of Wamu in the back left the whole time but we had a great view of the stage.  Jack White finally came on and of course it was amazing. There was a cool countdown movie before he got on stage.  It was made especially cool since no one had cell phones so we just kind of had that clock to go off of.  The clock would speed up and slow down so everyone was kind of on the edge of their seat as to when he would hit the stage.

He started off with his best song off of the new album “Over and Over”.  All of the musicians are of course top notch and I immediately was impressed with Jack White’s guitar work. The stage was bathed in Blue Light and in fact throughout the whole concert it was just constant blue light.  It really made for a cool experience. You wouldn’t think it would be exciting but it does give it a unique look.

Song and song that came on Jack White always stood out for his amazing guitar work. Especially the tone! His guitar tone is topnotch.  I mean I guess thats common sense but it was just cool to me to hear it live, not produced on an album.  Highlights for me were hearing Hotel Yorba, Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground, and Daughter (Pearl Jam Cover).

Quick funny story on Hotel Yorba. Its always been one of my favorite White Stripes songs. When I worked in a call center you always had to say letters over the phone to the old customers.  So it would be like “B as in boy, or C as in cat”.  One day I was spelling something out and I got to Y an I said “Y as in….Yorba”.  The lady was like “Yorba?!!” I just responded with “yea Yorba”. Pretty hilarious. Anyways..

The Daughter cover was absolutely killer! it almost sounded like Eddie Vedder on stage. I thought it was cool because Pearl Jam had just did a White Stripes cover less than a week earlier at Safeco so it was a cool nod of the head their way.

Anyways, after 12 or 13 songs we ended up ditching out early.  It was a Monday night and we all were worn out from the weekend and having to work in the morning. I ended up googling the rest of the setlist an only missed 5 songs, so for what its worth it wasn’t too bad.

I will say that after seeing him live I have a new respect for Boarding House Reach.  The musicianship live is something to be well respected, and its no wonder that he’s become one of the biggest names in Rock and Roll in the past 20 years.  I look forward to catching another show next time he swings through town.

Here’s a cool example of how the show went (although this is not from the Seattle show)