Eagles of Death Metal @ The Fillmore

When you look up 'Rock 'n Roll' in the dictionary wikipedia, this is not the picture you see... but it should be. This is Jesse Hughes (A.K.A. The Devil / Boots Electric), lead singer of The Eagles of Death Metal and he not only knows how to rock and roll, he is rock and roll... Let's see... Sunglasses, check; handlebar 'stache, check; Greasy Hair, check; tight Jeans, t-shirt, check, check; lyrics about sex, selling soul, check, check; face-shredding riffs, check.

The Eagles of Death Metal take all the fun parts of Rock and Roll bands from the Rolling Stones to the Kings of Leon and put them together. While I'm sure they take their music seriously, they don't take themselves seriously. These guys packed up whatever egos they had and shipped them off to Axl Rose who has apparently used up all of his. It was clear that they were at the Fillmore to have fun, and it makes it really easy for the audience to have a good time, when the band on stage is having fun (as opposed to 'working'). Bands often say 'You're the best audience we've ever played for' and that's kind of annoying to hear, especially when a crowd clearly isn't into the band. But the Eagles of Death Metal never said that and yet I was convinced by Jesse Hughes reactions that we were the best audience they've ever played for. As the lyrics go to the title track of their newest album, Heart On "Shoot to Kill, Aim to Please / What good's a heart if it ain't on your sleeve?" Thank You, EODM for the pure, unadulterated, fun rock & roll. I bought the '68' t-shirt.





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RATATAT returning to The Fillmore

RATATAT will be returning to San Francisco, playing two nights at the Fillmore on April 1st and 2nd, 2009. Tickets go on sale on Sunday February 8 at 10am through Live Nation.


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DeVotchKa + Crooked Fingers @ The Fillmore

Friday night I went to see the first of DeVotchKa's two-night stint the Fillmore. Here are some pictures and a video. You can read the review at Hard Rock Chick who wrote a great post about the performance .





Theremin in action


One of the Slavik Sisters acrobatic performance on the hoop...



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The Sounds @ The Fillmore

The Sounds have been touring for 3 years straight. They just flew across the country to play two shows en route to Australia where they will continue to tour. If there was a way to harness the energy they create from the body heat of their fans, the world's energy problems would no longer be an issue. Yes. The show was amazing, once again.

Tim was there... life was good. I got to see an old friend, Liam Mayclem of Eye on the Bay fame. Ironically, the first opener was called Liam and Me (Philadelphia), and they rocked a near sold-out crowd despite the fact that they weren't announced on the bill... After that, we got a great show from Under The Influence of Giants and then of course... the sweat generators, The Sounds who made us all shake our asses. I slowly wedged myself near the front of the crowd with hopes of trying to capture a camera-phone shot of lead singer Maja Ivarsson, whose hot, sweaty body I was holding up during a brief crowd-surfing moment. Unfortunately, no posters were handed out. Doesn't matter. If you were there, you won't need any poster to remember the awesome time that was had by all.

San Francisco Live Music
SFlivemusic

Just Announced: Broken Social Scene Plays Kevin Drew's 'Spirit If' LIVE at the Fillmore

That headline just rolls right off the tongue, eh? Yeah, so, the way I understand it is that members of Broken Social Scene are doing solo projects but the band members of Broken Social Scene and other Arts&Crafts label artists will be touring to perform the songs of the solo artists.... uh... whatever. Broken Social Scene Presents Kevin Drew's 'Spirit If' is playing at Fillmore on Monday, October 29. Love em to death, but I'll be at the Pipettes show.

San Francisco Live Music
SFlivemusic

Pickle!

It's hard to determine what the 'best' shows I've been to in the last two years. But if I had to give a quick list, here's what I would say:

Blonde Redhead @ Bimbo's
Ratatat @ Bimbo's
Gogol Bordello @ Fillmore
Yeah Yeah Yeahs @ Fillmore
The Sounds @ Fillmore
Arcade Fire @ Warfield
Go! Team @ Great American Music Hall
Silversun Pickups @ Rickshaw Stop

Clearly, I would see any of these bands upon their return to San Francisco. So now I'm in a pickle since the Go! Team and Silversun Pickups are playing on the same evening at two different venues on October 19. I already have tickets to the Go! Team, so it really comes down to whether or not I can double up the shows on a friday night, or sacrifice SSPU for the Go! Team. What would you do?

San Francisco Live Music
SFlivemusic

Silversun Pickups Announce Fillmore Show

Silversun Pickups will return to San Francisco on 10/19/2007 to headline the Fillmore. Special guests include Midnight Movies + The Happy Hollows.

Live 105 pre-sale info, for more info go to www.live105.com:
Start: Thu, 09/06/07 10:00AM PDT
End: Fri, 09/07/07 5:00PM PDT

Public on sale info: Sun, 09/09/07 10:00AM PDT

Tickets available on Ticketmaster.com

San Francisco Live Music
SFlivemusic

Gogol Bordello: The Fillmore Illuminated

It was a day filled with bizarre events: dogs barking at their owners, cats being friendly, Apple offering to replace my cracked iPhone for free, ex-employees offering me drinks, old friends calling without reason, the Yankees winning their second consecutive game against the Red Sox*, 77 degrees, 50% humidity. Clearly, the day claimed its stake among the extraordinary events to come. As I queued up for my will-call tickets at the Fillmore, the usual hipster/rocker/punk/preppy crowd was diluted by an even more diverse crowd from a variety of origins and ranging in a variety of ages. Being of Eastern European origins, I could relate to the loyalty associated with seeing a band with members from my native land, but I simply could not understand why there was a 75 year old lady waiting in line in front of me. If she was a family member, she'd not be waiting in line. So... was she going to rock out to the gypsy punk sounds of Gogol Bordello? If so, more power to her. Seriously, she would have needed more power. I lost track of her as I entered the Fillmore and I figured she must have gone straight through the crowd and joined the mayhem in the pit. Perhaps she was going to crowd surf. I don't know. What I do know is that people were selling tickets at over 4x face value outside to fans waiting to get a taste while Grandma Gogol is crowd-surfing and kneeing 25 year olds in the head.

Once inside, my usual joy of entering the Fillmore was deflated because Tim was not there to greet me with the usual, 'Good Evening, and Welcome to the Fillmore'. Instead, Keith, the sub, gave me a surly retort when I joked with him regarding Tim's absence, 'Tim learned everything from me', he said. Classy. Surely, Tim has much more to learn from Keith.

When I posted the show announcement on Tenacious Hand Stamp, I believe I mentioned something about bringing a change of clothes. I didn't necessarily take action to that effect, but I made sure to wear my lightest 'wicking' dri-weave T-shirt. And then I put on a jacket. Duh. Didn't matter. Jacket was off and by 3 measures into the first song I was sweating like a whore in church. You didn't even have to know the songs to get going. Some people in my group were fairly unaware of Gogol Bordello's music; others were completely unaware. That didn't stop anyone from jumping up and down, pumping their fists and dancing like nobody was watching.

Gogol Bordello brought a fresh element of excitement, rigor and sheer musical passion to everyone at the Fillmore. At one point during their set I couldn't even hear the frontman, Eugene Hutz, because the sing-along crowd was drowning him out. It didn't matter where you were in the audience, because it felt like at any given moment, he was going to leap into the crowd just to be a part of it. Gogol Bordello made us feel like they were at The Fillmore for us; not the other way around.

Half hour into the set, I'm soaked in sweat. Many people were. After all, there were a lot of Eastern Europeans there. I had to go outside to cool off. The San Francisco night came with a cool breeze (a relief from the oppressive high 70's we experience earlier in the day). My body temperature clashing with the cool night air generated a cloud that rose from my head which I tried to disguise by smoking a cigarette. The people outside were still dancing to the tunes that could be heard from the open door of the back stage entrance. I didn't want to miss anything, so I went back inside, bought a T-shirt, changed and returned to the main room. They finish their set, play their encore, lights go up, and people stayed and danced.

As I'm leaving, I ask for a poster; All out. I mean, really? Probably one of the top 5 most memorable shows I will ever see, and I don't have the poster because I stayed through the end? Damn. I walk to the corner where a young man is holding onto two posters. I ask to buy one and offer him $10. He clearly sees my yearning for the poster and my disdain for those who took more than 1 poster at the expense of the others still inside. He graciously denies my $10 and offers me the poster in return for an adult beverage if our paths should ever cross. Thank you, gentle friend with two posters. You are a good man and made my beautiful evening spectacular.

Gogol Bordello, San Francisco Live Music, SFlivemusic,

*It's not quite bizarre that the Yankees beat the Red Sox two games in a row... especially in September. I just had to mention it for the record.

Welcome to the Fillmore

His name is Tim.

Just Announced: The Sounds @ The Fillmore

When I saw the Sounds perform at the Fillmore last December, it was the last of show of their North American tour. While you could see they were very excited to return to Europe, they made sure to finish strong and gave San Francisco an amazing show. At one point, lead singer, Maja Ivarsson, sexed up her performance by bringing up a girl from the audience, grabbing her by the hair, licking her face and neck on the stage... and the rest is a blur. The set list consisted primarily of high energy dance-rock tunes and was nicely broken up by the solo piano version of "Night After Night" which I can still hear in my head to this day as clear as the day she haunted me with it.

Eagerly anticipating their return, I was quite disappointed when they posted their 2007 tour dates which did not include a single American city. That all changed yesterday. The Sounds will make a quick stop in California (on their way over to Australia) to play a show in LA on September 17th and a show in San Francisco at The Fillmore on September 18th. Tickets for The Fillmore show are $22.50 and go on sale Sunday 8/19 @ 10am through Live Nation.

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Yeah Yeah Yeahs coming atcha 8/21 at Fillmore

Fillmore 8/21 - Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Announced Yesterday. Live Nation has not yet announced an on-sale date for tickets.

Just Announced: Tiger Army @ Fillmore on Nov 4.

Psychobilly rockers, Tiger Army, return to the bay area this fall, playing at the Fillmore this time. Tickets go on sale Sunday, Nov 29 @ 10am. Listen Here:

Gogol Bordello @ Fillmore (Aug 29)

If the Gogol Bordello show at the Fillmore on Aug 29 is not yet sold out, it soon will be. They recently played at Irving Plaza in NY. Check out the Brooklyn Vegan's review of the Gogol Bordello show at the famed NY venue.



I might have to bring a change of clothes, as it looks like it is going to be quite a work-out.gogolbordellogogol bordello

New Shows Announced.. and Treasure Island Music Festival Playlists..

8/20 - MC Lars @ Cafe du Nord... buy tickets now.
8/24 - Oh No! Oh My! (Bottom of the Hill)...
9/12 - Lily Allen @ Warfield
9/17 - The New Pornographers @ Warfield
9/30 - They Might Be Giants @ Fillmore
10/02 - The Noisettes (Bottom of the Hill)
10/26 - Ted Leo & the Pharmacists (Great American)
11/12, 13, 14 - Of Montreal - 3 NIGHTS @ GAMH!
11/13 & 14 - Stars - 2 NIGHTS @ Bimbo's
11/29 - Ghostland Observatory (Mezzanine)..

Also, if you don't have tickets to the following shows, you should hurry before they sell out:
8/29 - Gogol Bordello.. This Gypsy Punk rocker will deliver an unforgettable show... guaranteed. LISTEN HERE.



9/15 - 9/16 Treasure Island Music Festival...
Saturday Sept. 15 will feature Thievery Corporation, Gotan Project, DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist, M.I.A., Ghostland Observatory, Zion I, and more. LISTEN HERE!


Sunday September 16 will feature Modest Mouse, Spoon, Built to Spill, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, M. Ward, Earlimart, Au Revoire Simone, and more. LISTEN HERE!


MC LarsGotan ProjectNew Pornographers"Treasure Island Music Festival"treasureislandmusicfestivalohnoohmynoisettestedleoandthepharmacistsofmontreal"ghostland observatory"Thievery Corporation

Smashing Pumpkins at the Fillmore

When the Smashing Pumpkins announced their new tour, I was quite ambivalent about it. The drama associated with Billy Corgan threw me off the bandwagon early on and I haven't really paid attention since 'Pisces Iscariot.' I figured they'd roll through SF and perform at large venue likeShoreline and I really wouldn't care enough to see it. But when they announced a stint that included 11 shows at the Fillmore instead of one giant arena show, it made me believe that Billy Corgan was ready to rock. And I like to rock.

I just returned from the first night of 11 shows at the Fillmore where the Smashing Pumpkins played for almost 3 hours. Upon entering the main room I was shocked by the elaborate stage set up. I wanted to hate it because it took away from the simple elegance of the Fillmore, but the lighting design was incredible and added a lot to the show. They played a good mix of old and new songs and Billy Corgan certainly has not forgotten how to rock a crowd... However, he also has not forgotten how to bore them to death with his unendending (albeit quite skillful) solos and untimely ballads. Regardless if you are an old or new fan, If you ever loved the Pumpkins, you will probably enjoy yourself.

Decisions, decisions...

Aside from the fact that 'Smashing Pumpkins' start their two-and-a-half week stint @ the Fillmore today, there is a gaggle of great shows to see this week. The trouble is that 3 of the bands I'm interested in seeing are all performing on the same day at different venues.

on wednesday, july 18th
Shout Out Louds play Popscene (Rickshaw Stop)
Oh No! Oh My play the Independent
Circus Diablo opens for Mondo Generator (featuring Nick Oliveri from QOTSA) at Cafe du Nord.

I'm pretty sure it's going to come down to the mood in on Wednesday. I vote Shout Out Louds.