The Mowgli's at The Roxy

Show: The Mowgli's (+Terraplane Sun)

Venue: The Roxy- Los Angeles, CA

Date: 5/8/12

Show #31

Ahh The Mowgli's. A friend of mine highly suggested I came with them to see one of their favorite bands, The Mowgli's. Given I'm always excited to find new bands to love, I agreed to go, and I'm so glad I did.  The Mowgli's are an 8-piece (yes, eight) band from Southern California that are all about having a good time. The show was  an album release party for their debut album "Sound the Drum". From beginning to end, the entire venue (myself included) turned into a non-stop dance party. Their music is so contagious and fun, you physically can't stop moving, smiling and singing along. They're a group of close friends who pride themselves on spreading the love and that definitely radiates on stage. I highly suggest you check them out!

I recorded 3 songs from that night, Slowly Slowly , Carry Your Will and We Are Free.

I got to The Roxy in time to see 2 opening acts. One of which was Samuel Larsen, the winner of the Oxygen TV show, The Glee Project. Not having ever seen the show, I didn't know who he was and for the life of me couldn't figure out why there were hoards of screaming girls freaking out over him. Glee aside, he's actually a very talented singer/songwriter. He even covered a Coldplay song (video here).

While I was impressed with Samuel, nothing could have prepared me for the band to follow him. I saw them setting up, not thinking anything other than "please don't suck", which is what I say to myself about any opening band. When they actually started singing, I was talking to a friend, but the second I heard the lead singer's voice, I stopped mid-sentence and gave my undivided attention to what was happening on stage.

Their name is Terraplane Sun, also from Los Angeles, and they sound like the Black Keys had a baby with Cage the Elephant and grew up in the South. The lead singer's voice is refreshingly different, which is what first drew me into them, but the variety of different instruments used (harmonica, mandolin and trombone to name a few) and catchy lyrics with swag are what turned me into a fan. Their song "Get Me Golden" has been featured in a few movies recently such as 21 Jump Street and What to Expect When You're Expecting. You can see the video I recorded of it here.

Now for photos!

Samuel Larsen

Terraplane Sun

The Mowgli's

Death Cab for Cutie at Walt Disney Concert Hall

Credit: Mike Lawrie/Getty Images

Show: Death Cab for Cutie

Venue: Walt Disney Concert Hall- Los Angeles, CA

Date: 5/7/12

Show #30

This was a show I was dying to go to, but the insane ticket prices were keeping me from even trying. Ironically enough, I got a call from a friend 2 days before the show who said "I have an extra ticket to Death Cab on Tuesday, it's yours if you want it." Obviously I accepted, and wished calls like that happened more often!

I had seen Death Cab before, but I was particularly excited for this show because of the unique venue, and they were going to be backed by the Magik Magik orchestra.

Opening the show was Youth Lagoon, who if you're a fan of Death Cab, you'll definitely love Youth Lagoon.  It's a guy who looks to have outgrown his keyboard, but man does he know how to use it. Youth Lagoon uses trance inducing vocals and synth pop to capture the fascination of the audience. You can't understand a word he says, yet you find yourself trying to sing along while bobbing your head. If you need something to just zone out to and relax, I recommend Youth Lagoon. He was a great pairing with Death Cab as the audience was left wanting more. Fun fact about Youth Lagoon, he recorded his debut album in his bedroom, a kitchen and 4 car garage in Boise, ID!

Next it was time for Death Cab to take the stage! The addition of the orchestra put a refreshing spin on old classics. They didn't use the orchestra for every song, but when they did, it filled the concert hall with a sound I can only describe as enchanting. Yeah it's cheesy, but seriously.

I recorded a ton of video! Sorry about the shakiness, and bad framing, but cameras were not allowed, so I was slouched down in my seat covering the back of my camera so the brightness of it couldn't be seen by security or bother anyone behind me.

I Will Follow You Into the Dark w/ orchestra (Favorite performance of the night by far!)

Codes and Keys w/ orchestra

Steadier Footing
Different Names for the Same Thing
What Sarah Said
Title and Registration
Cath

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros at The Greek Theater

Show: Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

Venue: Greek Theater- Los Angeles, CA

Date: 5/4/12

Show #29

It was opening night at The Greek Theater in LA, and I was so excited to be seeing Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. You couldn't have asked for better weather on that Friday night either. To top off the pre-show excitement, I scored the coveted front of the line parking spot for stacked parking, meaning I wasn't going to have to wait an hour for cars around me to leave after the show in order to pull out. High fives all around!

I had seen Edward Sharpe once before, on the Railroad Revival Tour with Mumford and Sons last year and they were so great, I had to see them again. In case you're not familiar with them, you may know their hit song "Home".

They look like a bunch of vagabonds who fell off a train somewhere in another era, and I love them for that. Edward Sharpe is a messianic figure of the imagination of lead singer Alex Ebert who according to Alex, "was sent down to Earth to kinda heal and save mankind...but he kept getting distracted by girls and falling in love." That pretty much sums up the persona of the band right there.

Opening the show was actually a former member of the 10+ piece band of Edward Sharpe, Aaron Embry. Given he was part of the band, I thought "He must be good!". Right? Wrong. As you may have noticed, I can usually find a bright side of just about any artist and find a way to enjoy myself, but I really really struggled with Aaron. The purpose of an opening act is to get the crowd warmed up and ready to go for the headliner, and Aaron more just put them to sleep, and just made them feel sorry for him. You needed a chainsaw to cut through the awkwardness in the air when he was on stage.

(Photo credit: Rozette Diaz of Restless Cities)

He seemed visibly nervous and unsure of himself. It was also just him, and no backup band. Just him and a guitar. There are few even well established artists that can pull off the solo, acoustic, singer/songwriter act at such a big, historic venue such as The Greek, so for a new act like Aaron, I think it was just a poor choice to throw him up there. Once that train wreck was over, it was time for the main event!

As I mentioned before, the one other time I saw these guys was on The Railroad Revival Tour, which if you're not familiar with that tour, it was one giant party on stage at all times, and SO much fun. So going into this show, that's what I had expected. This show was unfortunately a little slower paced than that one. Still good, I guess I just had some high expectations of the show that were not met.

(Photo Credit: Black Vinyl Magazine)

I think it was a the cadence of the show that made it weird. Alex at one point said that they had no set list for that night, they were winging it. Which if I were to be told that beforehand I would have thought "That's awesome!". But instead it just made for long drawn out moments of silence to give time for discussion after each song to figure out what they wanted to play, which then took setup in order to get the appropriate instruments in place. If they had written out a set list, I think they could have gotten at least 5 or 6 more songs in, that's how big the gaps were. It really interrupts the flow of the show when that happens. A great song will finish and you just wanted it to keep going, but instead it was talking, random banter, and stagehands running around.

One of the best moments was when Alex jumped off the stage to dance with his mother:

Wow this is getting long. Ok so in summary, I'd still suggest you see them live if you've never had the chance. Here are a few videos from the show that I recorded:

Fiya Wata

That's What's Up

Mayla

(Written about Aaron Embry's Daughter, Mayla)

Their latest album Here, is out now!

James Morrison at Avalon

Show: James Morrison
Venue: Avalon- Los Angeles, CA
Date: 5/3/12
Show #28

I'm going to let this post be mostly photos, but just in case you're not familiar with James Morrison, let me give you a little background. He's a singer/songwriter from the UK. He was most well known for his song "You Give Me Something" in 2006.

He put on a great show! I was really impressed with him and taken back a bit due to the fact I was expecting this scraggly/nerdy shy guy because for some reason that's the impression I get from his first album cover from 6 years ago. I guess I shouldn't judge a book by its cover because he was charming, hilarious and had a cool swagger about him, far from the perception I had built up in my mind. The one pre-notion I had about him that was correct though, was that his powerhouse of a voice would be just as good, if not better in person. Highly recommend you see him if you get the chance!

By the way, you'll want to make it to the bottom of the post for a little surprise. :-)

Videos recorded:
You Give Me Something
Up
One Life
Slave to the Music
In My Dreams
Broken Strings

His opening act was a band named HoneyHoney, a country/folk group from Los Angeles. An odd choice I thought, since it didn't seem like the same fan base between the 2, but people enjoyed it. They're a little too country for my taste, but appreciate that they seem crazy talented, and I see why people loved them. I recorded a video of their song "Ohio".

Oh yeah, and this happened

Katie Herzig and Andrew Belle at The Troubadour

 

Show: Katie Herzig and Andrew Belle
Venue: The Troubadour- Los Angeles, CA
Date: 5/1/12
Show #27

A friend suggested I go check out these 2 singer/songwriters Katie Herzig and Andrew Belle, and seeing as I was bored and had nothing to do that night, I decided to go. I didn't know anything about either of them prior to going, other than listening to a clip of 1 song each before heading over.

Note- Sorry about the crappy pictures! I brought my Nikon in, only to find out that I left my battery at home charging. Womp womp. I took lots of video though to try and make up for it.

Up first was Andrew Belle. I hate calling him an "indie singer/songwriter" because I feel like that puts him in the same bucket as all the other million indie singer/songwriters, but he's so much better than that. He has such a soft, beautiful, soulful voice with just the right amount of grit to it. He reminds me a lot of Mat Kearney. Simple, beautiful, well written songs. He's also adorable and terribly charming.

 I recorded a bunch of videos of him that night, see below!

"Static Waves" ft. Katie Herzig

"In My Veins" (Featured in Grey's Anatomy)

More videos:
Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want
Sky's Still Blue
The Ladder

Katie Herzig, also an indie singer/songwriter with a beautiful voice, was up next. You might know her for her song "Lost and Found", most recently heard on the season finale of Cougar Town. It's easily my favorite of hers. One of the reasons I loved her set was because of her crazy talented band. Any time I can see drums, guitar, cello and clarinet in the same set, I'm sold. I recorded 2 other songs from that night:

"Midnight Serenade"

"Make a Noise"

Coachella Day 3- Weekend 2

(The scene of everyone leaving after Snoop and Dre)

Show: Coachella Day 3
Venue: Indio, CA
Date: 4/22/12
Show #26

So I made it to day 3. Barely. But I made it. IP Profin was bar far my best friend that morning! But I sucked it up, and even made it inside for one of the first shows of the day at Noon.

Sleeper Agent
Rolling Stone described this band as "Shaggy Kentucky kids whose songs are sweet, fizzy and combustible as a can of shook soda." Oddly enough, if you listen to them, it describes them pretty well. Unfortunately the sound that day on this stage wasn't the greatest. It was really hard to hear any vocals, but I went home and listened to their album and was impressed.

Lissie
Ahh Lissie! I've been obsessed with this girl since I had the pleasure of seeing her at Coachella. She sounds like... if Adele did indie folk music and grew up in the mid-west. She also did a cover of Kid Cudi's "Pursuit of Happiness" that's just amazing. Seriously, check her out.

First Aid Kit
First Aid kit is a Swedish indie-folk sister duo. Great voices, not the most entertaining. I found myself bored to tears during this show.

Fitz & the Tantrums
I had heard about these guys for a while so I was excited to finally see them live, and they did not disappoint!   They're an indie-pop/Soul group from LA. They do a great job at putting a modern twist on big band/soul/disco all at once. The show was just a great time, check them out live if you ever get a chance. I recorded a video of one of their more known songs "Moneygrabber"-

Santigold
This was an interesting show to say the least. She's a mix of pop, reggae, hip-hop, new wave and electronica all rolled into one. She also had these 2 awesome dancers who were identical, never out of sync with each other, and I don't think they smiled once. At one point there was even a dancing horse on stage:

She even brought a ton of audience members on stage with her for "Creator".

Nero
Nero is an electro/house/dubstep duo from Britain. I'm normally not a fan of either of those things, but I listened to them as I was deciding on my schedule for the weekend and loved these guys. Their song "Doomsday" has such a sick beat to it, it makes you want to lean back to the beat with your eyes closed, further accentuating my white girl'dness but whatever. Also, they do a remix of "I've Got A Crush on You" thats pretty awesome.

"Doomsday"

Gotye
I know you all know Gotye by now from his song "Somebody That I Used to Know". He was the must see act of the day for a lot of people. I decided to head over there to catch some of the set after I saw Nero, and I couldn't even get close to the stage. That was the most packed I had seen that tent all weekend. I only stayed for a song or 2 because it was just ridiculous. Most people left after he did his big song. The rest of his album is awesome though. While I don't think he has any singles on there that will get anywhere close to "Somebody That I Used to Know", the rest of the album is worth a listen.

Girl Talk
Oh my god. I can't even begin to tell you how much fun this show was. I had always heard about Girl Talk being a DJ that just mixes other people's songs together and I never saw what was so special about it, until I saw this guy live. He manages to seamlessly mix together songs you would never think of would go together in a million years. It's a non-stop, high energy dance party. So. Much. Fun.

Justice
I didn't see a ton of this set, but managed to see "D.A.N.C.E.", which had the whole crowd at the main stage going. Another non-stop dance party!

Florence and the Machine
This was my first time seeing Florence and I have to say, I wasn't blown away. Maybe I just had high expectations, but I wasn't feelin it for some reason. Maybe I didn't like going from 2 high energy dance shows, to slow power ballads.

Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg
This was my favorite show of the whole weekend. It was just on another level of ridiculousness. Even though everyone on Weekend 2 knew the hologram was coming, everyone still flipped their shit when we actually saw it with our own eyes. It really does look as lifelike in person as everyone said it did. The whole show was a perfect blend of past and present, with songs like "Forgot About Dre" (w/ Eminem), "Gin and Juice", and Snoop even performed a newer song with Wiz Khalifa. 50 Cent even did "In Da Club". A+

And just like that, Coachella was over. My friends and I decided to drive back after the show, where we ended up sitting in our car in the parking lot for nearly 2 hours before they let us out of the Car Companion lot. Our driver actually got out of the car and slept on the grass for a little bit! Haha! We got home around 4am, and the first thing I did was take a shower. I may have stained my tub from all the dirt that rolled off of me. Yeah it's gross, but whatever, Coachella is worth it!

If you're one of those people who think they can go to work the next day, just don't. I took that Monday off from work and I'm so glad I did. I just slept all day and tried to recover. Everything hurt, and I mean everything. I can't wait to do it all over again next year!

Coachella Day 2- Weekend 2

Show: Coachella Day 2
Venue: Indio, CA
Date: 4/21/12
Show #25

By day 2, we were pretty settled in to the camp site, and had embraced the fact that at no point for the rest of the weekend would we feel cool, refreshed, or the least bit clean. If you've never camped at Coachella, here's a few things you should know:

- Car Camp. It's reassuring having a car there to store your valuables in while you're sleeping and at the festival.
- Don't camp with more than 6 people to a camping spot. We had JUST enough room with our 6, but I couldn't imagine being able to squeeze anyone else in, comfortably anyway.
- You'll quickly learn that baby wipes work miracles, and will gladly use those instead of waiting 2-3 hours in line in the early hours of the morning for a 5 minute cold shower.
- Bring a BBQ! We ate pretty damn well in our campsite:

- Bring a tarp, or something to put over the campsite to block the sun. Seriously though, you'll be miserable without one.

On to the shows!

Childish Gambino
If you're not familiar with this guy, Childish Gambino is actor Donald Glover's (from Community) rapper alter ego. When you think Donald Glover you might think it's just a joke, but he's the real deal. Check out the video I recorded of him free styling:

Awolnation
This was hands down my favorite show of Day 2. You might know them for their hit song "Sail". Not only were they amazing live, but I got to take part in my very first crowd surfing experience! During the show they go "Let's see how many ladies we can get crowd surfing for this next one." A guy next to me turns to me and says "Wanna go?" and I gladly accepted. Him and one other guy hoisted me up and I was on my way! Just see for yourself:

"Not Your Fault"

The Head and the Heart
The Head and the Heart are an indie folk group from Seattle who have a strong underground following. A friend strongly suggested we go see them and I'm so glad we did. The highlight of the set was their performance of "Rivers and Roads" to close the show.

"Winter"

Manchester Orchestra
I only went and watched a few songs of these guys and wasn't too impressed.

Andrew Bird
This was our "let's go over there and sit and relax for a minute" show. So we sat in the back and just listened to him. All I remember is lots of whistling!

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
I had listened to some of Noel Gallagher before, and I was kind of bored with it, but for some reason I was really in to him live. The only reason I went over to watch him was in hopes he would sing Wonderwall, but actually ended up enjoying the rest of his set!

David Guetta
Same issue with Black Keys. I know I was there, but unfortunately don't remember much, but I'm told it was a great time. :-)