words & photos by Keith Marlowe

Scratch Acid @ Webster Hall

In lieu of a review of Monday night's Scratch Acid show at Webster Hall, their first NYC show in many, many years, writer/photographer Keith Marlowe presents this open letter to the band's frontman:

===================

Dear David Yow,

I love you. I've always loved you. I've never felt about other singers the way I feel about you. You gave me "HEAD" with the Jesus Lizard, and I want to return the favor. I want to marry you and have your babies. We both hit the sauce hard, so they would probably be all crazy and hideous, with foreheads so huge we could attach windshield wipers. If we ever got bored with our deformed skull babies, we could give them to some shitty no-talent shock-rock band like Slipknot to use as stage props. Or NAMBLA. I don't care, really. Do you think any of the dudes in NAMBLA have fetal-alcohol-syndrome fetishes? Let's find out together.

I wouldn't expect you to be monogamous, because I figure you treat lovers like you do bands. You've been in long-term relationships with Scratch Acid, the Jesus Lizard, Qui, and had one night-stands with the Melvins, Helmet, Shellac and Cop Shoot Cop, among others. I've caught you numerous times when you've flung your body violently into the audience, so you can trust me to catch you during tough emotional times too. I'll always be there for you, no matter what kind of project you're involved with, even that western you acted in starring the Insane Clown Posse.

It's not just about your music either. I'm very physically attracted to you. I've seen your dick a bunch of times over the years, and I think it's super hot. You make great art too, and if the money ever ran out we could live off all the free booze and cheese at your openings, like the one you just had at the Fuse Gallery right here in NYC.

I love you David, and I hope that someday, you'll love me back. Because that would be the "Greatest Gift" of all.

Yours truly,
Keith

===================

Noveller, who has opened for Jesus Lizard in the past, was added as a last minute opener to the NYC show. More pictures and the setlist, below...

Continue reading "Scratch Acid played Webster Hall (pics, setlist & an open letter to David Yow)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield, words by Rachel Kowal

Twinkling blue lights covered the backdrop of the stage like stars when I arrived at Webster Hall last night (11/3), but as if to mirror the sparse simplicity of opener Cate Le Bon's brief solo set, everything faded to black when the Welch singer-songwriter appeared carrying a single electric guitar. Themes of heartbreak shaped Le Bon's songs, injecting a note of sadness into her deep, rolling voice. Though much of her older material is in Welch, Le Bon sung in her native tongue just once last night - to cover the Gruff Rhys song "Pwdin Wy 2."

Though Le Bon later lent backing vox to St. Vincent, the contrast between the performances of the two female artists was stark. The lights and effects were minimal for Cate Le Bon, but for the main act, columns of rainbow-colored light shone through the thick, machine-generated fog. A master performer, Annie Clark easily matched the intensity of the light show with her explosive guitar solos and urgent lyrics, often introducing slight deviations not found in the recorded versions of her songs to keep things interesting. Though covered in shadows for the majority of the evening, her backing band of 3-4 was solid.

Clark drew heavily from her most recent album, the excellent Strange Mercy, omitting just one song ("Hysterical Strength"), but she also peppered her set list with a handful of older songs, like "Marrow" and the buoyant "Actor Out of Work."

Apart from her sheer talent - Clark's voice was flawless, what made her performance so compelling was her ability to channel both her sweet and kick-ass sides. One minute, she was charming the audience with stories of chatting up eccentric bar tenders and sneaking into cemeteries to chase deer, and the next she was crowd surfing while playing the guitar. I couldn't help but chuckle a bit at the appropriateness of the title of her chosen cover, The Pop Group song, "She Is Beyond Good and Evil." At one point, a debate broke out in the audience:

"Shred it Annie!" someone yelled.

"She doesn't shred!"

"Yes she does!" a third person quickly countered.

"What is this, a live Twitter feed?" Clark joked.

I do believe this debate was resolved several times over.

Clark wrapped her show with a two-song encore of older songs, ending on "Your Lips Are Red," the only song from her debut album that made the cut. Annie also stage dove during the song, continuing to play on the crowd, but then back on stage in time to sing "your skin's so fair it's not fair."

Despite the annoying strobes that started to take over as the night progressed, St. Vincent's show will undoubtedly make it into my top ten list this year.

----

St Vincent's tour comes to an end in Boston tonight, but you can catch Cate Le Bon again Monday at the Rock Shop.

More pictures and the setlist from Webster Hall, below...

Continue reading "St. Vincent & Cate Le Bon played Webster Hall (pics/setlist/review)"

We Were Promised Jetpacks at BV-CMJ (more by BBG)

Scotland's We Were Promised Jetpacks spent their Mischief Night (10/30) at Webster Hall in NYC. We invited the band's frontman Adam Thompson into a studio earlier that day to record a session for BrooklynVegan (stay tuned). He told us it was maybe the largest headlining show of their career so far. It was definitely their largest in NYC, and much larger than the show they played for us at Knitting Factory during CMJ. How was it?

Opening at Webster were Royal Bangs and Bear Hands who are still on tour with the Jetpacks. They're making their way towards Austin for Fun Fun Fun Fest where WWPJP will play the fest while BH and RB will link up with Dom & Pujol for a FFF Nites set on 11/6.

Bear Hands return to NYC and headline Music Hall of Williamsburg on 12/16 with guest Fort Lean. Tickets go on AMEX presale at noon on Wed (11/2) and regular sale on Friday. Fort Lean will ALSO be at Le Poisson Rouge on 11/26 as part of the 2nd Annual Voidwell Homecoming Dance with Gordon Voidwell and his band, Emil and Friends, Emily Warren & The Betters and a DJ set from Aaron Pfenning (tickets).

All dates and WWPJ's new video for "Human Error", from their new LP In The Pit Of The Stomach, below...

Continue reading "We Were Promised Jetpacks played Webster Hall, Bear Hands add Brooklyn show (dates)"

photos by Chris La Putt

Happy Mischief Night!. Two garage rockin' opening bands and many fans braved the ugly weather in NYC last night (10/29) to get ugly with the Black Lips at the Halloween-themed "Hell at the Hall" extravaganza. Here are some pictures from the night. They continue below...

Continue reading "Black Lips, Davila 666 & Xray Eyeballs dressed up for Halloween @ Webster Hall (pics)"

photos by Kurt Christensen

Dawes headlined a sold out show at Webster Hall last night (10/27). Both Blitzen Trapper & Smoke Fairies opened the show which was part of a tour that lasts through mid November. Pictures from the NYC show are in this post, Halloween decorations included.

Dawes will return to the area by themselves to play three shows in December. First up is the annual WFUV Holiday Cheer show at Beacon Theater on December 5th with the massive lineup of Dawes, Mavis Staples and The Head And The Heart. That should sell out quick when tickets go on general sale Friday (10/28) at noon. Dawes will spend the next two days at the more intimate Maxwell's in Hoboken. Tickets are on sale now for December 6th and December 7th. Dawes play New Year's Eve in Minneapolis.

More pictures from Webster Hall below...

Continue reading "Dawes played Webster Hall w/ Blitzen Trapper & Smoke Fairies (pics), announce 3 December NYC-area shows (dates)"

Green Day has been in NYC lately, hangin with Little Steven and fighting cancer. On Thursday, 10/27 (tomorrow), they play the very small Studio at Webster Hall. Good luck getting tickets at noon.

photos by Vincent Cornelli & Chris La Putt

Twin Shadow @ Webster Hall (by Vincent Cornelli)

Twin Shadow headlined Webster Hall on Friday, 10/7 tour-mate Diamond Rings. It was the last night of a tour that one night earlier hit the Paradise Rock Club in Boston...

Accompanied by fellow genre-straddler Twin Shadow, O'Regan (of Diamond Rings) went out with a synthy bang at his 2nd to last show on the 'Clean Cuts' tour. He covered every inch available to him, dancing--and even rapping- on all four corners of the stage.

...he paired his 80's infused dance moves with impressively baritone vocals to provide the audience with the best possible idea of what it is to be Diamond Rings.

"Diamonds are multi-faceted and precious, but also the hardest rocks out there," O'Regan said. "I can cut you if you're not careful."

This contrasting quality seems to be representative of his musical identity as a whole. From his deep voice against catchy synth-beats to his colorful makeup against his pale skin, O'Regan's music is full of clean collisions.

...Diamond Rings' eccentric style has been compared to that of David Bowie and even Lady Gaga. At the show, he was dressed in a graphic t-shirt, a white leather jacket, a chain necklace, and a pale face of makeup. O'Regan said that he uses fashion as a way to express himself and connect with the world.

"People listen with their eyes," he stated. "It's naïve to imagine that image isn't a big part of being a musician in the modern world." -[BU Quad]

If you missed Webster Hall, then hopefully you live in either the Dominican Republic, Nova Scotia, or Asheville, NC. Twin Shadow has dates in all three in the coming weeks, with the latter going down at Moog Fest 2011. Tickets are still available.

More pictures from Webster Hall are below...

Continue reading "Twin Shadow @ Diamond Rings played Webster Hall (pics)"

photos by Anna Webber

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah @ Bowery Ballroom

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, who we just mentioned will play a live performance for KEXP at Ace Hotel during CMJ, also have some other upcoming dates coming up. The band will play Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin and then play a few Australian dates before returning to the US for a few shows in November/December which includes Webster Hall on December 7 (three days before the just-announced Antlers show at the same venue). Tickets for the NYC show go on sale Friday (10/7) at noon with an AmEx presale starting Wednesday (10/5) at noon.

Considering CYHSY's last NYC show was at Bowery Ballroom and it sold out pretty quickly, Webster Hall seems to make sense this time around. Speaking of that Bowery show, which was one day before that Philly show at Union Transfer, here are some pics from it.

Check out their video for "Maniac" off the recently released Hysterical, their performance of "Same Mistake" from the same album on Fallon, more Bowery pics and all dates below...

Continue reading "Clap Your Hands Say Yeah played Bowery (belated pics), playing Webster Hall (and other dates)"

The Antlers @ ACL 2011 (more by Tim Griffin)

Tickets will be available at the door to tonight's Explosions in the Sky/Antlers show at Wellmont Theater in NJ (10/3). The Antlers play an opening set at 8pm. From there they stay on the road for a couple more days before coming home. They head to Mexico and California later this month, and then it's off to Europe in November. By December 10th they're back home because that's the date they'll headline their own NYC show at Webster Hall! Ticket info TBA shortly. All tour dates below...

Continue reading "The Antlers add Webster Hall show (play Wellmont w/ Explosions in the Sky tonight) ---- updated tour dates"

words by Rachel Kowal, photos by David Andrako

Thirty minutes before the opening act, Webster Hall was already getting crowded - good news for Alessi's Ark, the opening act. Much like Laura Marling, Alessi Laurent-Marke combines acoustic guitar-based folk songs with a good deal of charm, but what Marling's discography lacks - levity - Laurent-Marke makes up for. Instead of singing about ghosts, going mad, and lost hope, Laurent-Marke tends to stick to lighter topics (like kite flying) and a more delicate, gentle sound.

Many musicians lose their accents when they sing. Lauren-Marke is not one of them. Accompanying her rich voice is a relatively pronounced British accent (she hails from West London) that makes her vocals all the more alluring - especially when she shares the mic with her friend Marcus, who also accompanied her on the guitar throughout the performance.

Though the crowd was certainly attentive during the opening act, the energy in the room seemed to triple as soon as Laura Marling walked on stage. Shrieks, whistles, and high-pitched giggles replaced demure clapping and extended into the first notes of the opening song ("Rambling Man"). But the crowd became fantastically silent as soon as Marling began to sing.

Blending intimacy with power, she often begins her songs with soft finger plucked melodies before calling on her five-piece backing band to contribute thunderous instrumental interludes on banjo, mandolin, upright bass, drums, keys, cello, and guitar.

Marling performed a smattering of songs from her three albums, including older crowd favorites like "Alas I Cannot Swim" and "Ghosts," which she played back-to-back toward the beginning of the set. Midway into the evening, her bandmates took a break, leaving her alone on the stage to play stripped down versions of a handful of songs, including a brand new, as of yet, untitled song.

In typical fashion, Marling apologized for her inability to grasp the art of stage banter and proceeded to charm the crowd with her asides, random facts, and general awkwardness.

There was no encore, well not technically. "We don't consider ourselves rock 'n roll enough to do an encore," said Marling. "So we have a way of getting around it [...] so if you did want an encore, than this is the last song, and if you didn't, than this is the second to last song." The real reason they don't do encores? The crowd would never let them leave. Somehow, though no one appeared to be dancing, the floor of the venue began to shake in time to Marling's last song, "All My Rage," as if the room itself had undergone a conversion and could no longer contain its excitement. Despite Marling's disclaimer, no one budged after she walked off stage, no doubt hoping she would have a change of heart. No such luck.

Last night's show marked the last stop in Marling and Laurent-Marke's tour that also passed through Chicago.

Earlier in the day Laura awarded some fans who bought her album with a very special afternoon event that involved her playing songs for two people at a time in an extremely intimate setting.

More pictures from Webster Hall and both setlists below...

Continue reading "Laura Marling & Alessi's Ark played Webster Hall (pics, setlist)"

The Rapture @ Webster Hall (photo by davidoliva)

"Embrace for a moment the idea that the most important band to emerge from early-2000s New York wasn't the Strokes but the Rapture. Sure, the Strokes went on to arenas, to overblown follow-up albums, to myth, all while the Rapture idled, then fizzled, then reconstituted, only to fizzle some more.

But that's because there was no way to recapture the specific high of the Rapture's breakthrough, particularly the 2002 single "House of Jealous Lovers," which was the sparkplug of New York's dance-punk revival and remains that scene's greatest document. But while many rock micromovements of the day were ingested by the mainstream, the Rapture stayed small, a champion of a world preoccupied with itself and the preoccupation of few others. It lived as subculture. It died as subculture. It remained a pulsing memory.

At least that's the best way to explain how almost a decade after those earliest hits the Rapture -- Luke Jenner, Gabriel Andruzzi, Vito Roccoforte -- is still able to play to a full Webster Hall, as it did on Friday night, in what was as much a celebration of a lapsed idea about New York as a vital incubator as it was of the band that was once its soundtrack."
[NY Times]

Speaking of DFA-signed bands, YACHT is playing a show at Brooklyn's Dekalb Market on October 9th. The market is a free place. The show is not free. More details below...

Continue reading "The Rapture played Webster Hall, YACHT playing Brooklyn Night Bazaar @ Dekalb Market..."

Mobb Deep @ Rock the Bells (more by Dana (Distortion) Yavin)

When Malkmus got bumped from Terminal 5 to Webster Hall (good news for Malkmus fans, bad news for Malkmus), the hip hop show that was already scheduled at Webster Hall that night got bumped down to the even more intimate Studio, and that show features Mobb Deep (performing "The Infamous") & Lloyd Banks (performing "The Hunger For More"). Mobb Deep performed the same album at Rock the Bells. Tickets are still on sale for that, and for Malkmus too.

photos by Greg Cristman

Opeth @ Webster Hall

"Swedish metal act Opeth played to a packed Webster Hall, debuting new songs from just-released record Heritage and putting new spins on old favorites.

Opeth may have started as a full-on death metal band, but recent years and albums have shown that both the band and its fans' affinity lies with the beautiful, progressive tracks that seem to pour out of frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt, and the death growls have slowly but surely been fading out of the picture, and are nowhere to be found on the new album.

The band opened with two new songs off of Heritage, The Devil's Orchard and I Feel The Dark, and the enthusiastic fans cheered wildly for the new music. Webster Hall's relatively small capacity meant that fans were crammed shoulder to shoulder, but even in the very front of the crowd, everyone was abnormally pleasant when compared to a typical rock show, and that positive energy was reflected on stage as well, the musicians all clearly vibing with one another. Åkerfeldt is an outgoing frontman, and took a break every few songs to joke with the crowd about everything from masturbation to Swedish royalty. [Examiner]

Their tour continues at the Trocadero in Philly tonight. Updated tour dates and more pictures below....

Continue reading "Opeth & Katatonia on tour, played 2 nights @ Webster Hall (pics, setlist, more dates)"

Stephen Malkmus @ Other Music in Aug (more by Dana (Distortion) Yavin)

Terminal 5 haters rejoice. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks had to do some rearranging...

The New York show is being moved from Terminal 5 to Webster Hall, and will now take place on Sunday, September 25 instead of Monday, September 26. All tickets purchased for the Terminal 5 show will be honored at Webster Hall.

The Chicago show originally scheduled at the Vic Theatre has been moved to Metro, 3730 N. Clark. Tickets purchased for the Vic Theatre will be honored at Metro. Showtime is 8:00pm; Holy Sons will open the show. Tickets for the Metro show are $22.50 and are on sale now through etix.com and jamusa.com. Ages 18 & Over.

Continue reading "Stephen Malkmus gig moved to Webster Hall (updated dates)"

photo by Cesar Perdomo, words by Rachel Kowal

Cat Power @ Webster Hall

After a string of shows got canceled this weekend, I was glad that there was at least one that was unaffected by Irene: Cat Power. (Chan Marshall's advice for those living in "hurricane city"? "Don't sleep under a window.")

Friday evening's show at Webster Hall, Chan's second in a row at the NYC venue, began not with Xray Eyeballs (Thursday's opener), but the one-woman act, Vorhees. Though her music is relatively unknown, Dana Wachs has been involved in the scene for a number of years both through her job as a sound engineer at DC's club The Black Cat and through her work on the road with artists like Black Dice, MGMT, MIA, and yes, Cat Power.

Perhaps unsurprisingly for a sound engineer, Wachs' music is heavily layered. Still in its beginning stages now, Vorhees dabbles with a number of influences. At its core, it's ambient and droney, but Wachs' chirpy, upbeat vocals recall 80s pop, and her beats bring a little hip-hop flavor.

After playing a handful of original songs, Wachs concluded her short 30-minute set with a Lindsey Buckingham cover and a few words of caution on the weekend's inclement weather.
__

Cat Power's backing band had already begun to play by the time Marshall walked onto the dimly lit stage. After a quick "hello" to the crowd, she grabbed the mic out of the stand and, dragging the chord behind her, retreated farther into the shadows where she kicked off the show with a couple of ballads, including a grim new song about alcohol, sleeping on the streets, and inescapable memories.

As if to draw as little attention to herself as possible, Marshall had dressed in all black, and her long bangs fell over eyes and covered half of her face. Periodically, she pulled at her clothes, clutching at both the collar of her shirt and her neck as if she were uncomfortable in her very skin despite receiving generous accolades from the crowd every few minutes. ("I love you!" "You're so beautiful!" people cried.)

Not one to bask in the spotlight, Marshall awkwardly shuffled back and forth, obviously favoring the far left and right to the center. Though she often had her back to the audience and hardly made eye contact with her praise-shouting fans, her nervous, self-conscious behavior was strangely intimate (in the way that someone who is confiding something extremely personal will rarely look you in the eye). Here was Chan Marshall in all her beautiful vulnerability. Somehow, her deep, smoky voice seemed even heavier and more world-weary live than recorded.

Though the music was largely subdued and melancholic, every few songs, the band let loose, and there were sudden moments of cacophonous instrumentation - electric guitar riffs, crashing drums.

After playing through a string of covers (from Jukebox) and new songs, Marshall closed the first portion of her set with a dramatic extended version of "Greatest," complete with flashing stage lights and a rowdy instrumental segment. She hardly got out the first few words of the song before the crowd interjected wild cheers. As the song stretched to eight minutes, Marshall simply walked off stage as the band continued to play. One by one, her band mates joined her until only a distorted melody remained to be repeatedly looped. The long wait definitely tested the patience of the audience, but no one seemed to move. (At this point, she had only played for about 50 minutes, or eight songs total.)

Finally after nearly fifteen minutes had passed, Marshall and the band returned to play nine additional songs. For the first time of the evening, Marshall joined in on guitar, at least for a couple of songs.

Between the heaviness of the songs themselves and Marshall's apparent unease, it was not the most uplifting show, but she did pick things up toward the end of the set and eventually made an odd request.

"Can you turn on the houselights? Like all of them?" The house obliged, leaving Marshall to sing the last song ("Don't Blame Me") to an audience bathed in bright lights as if born again. Then, after a series of odd bows, waves, and salutes, she walked away, again leaving her band mates to wrap up the song one by one.

So, was there a big breakdown? Well, no, not unless you count Marshall's periodic disappearances from the stage or the lengthy intermission. But despite the relative stability of her performances now, there remains a soul-stirring sadness in her voice and her delivery that in some ways is as difficult to bear as a show addled by an alcohol-induced haze of forgotten lyrics and on-stage crack-ups.

A video and the night's setlist below...

Continue reading "Cat Power played two nights @ Webster Hall in NYC ------ (review, video & setlist)"

photos by Jessica Amaya words by Andrew Sacher

Deerhunter @ Webster Hall

Eleanor Friedberger (of Fiery Furnaces) and her band took the stage around 9 PM at Webster Hall last night (8/23) for the second of two shows with Deerhunter, while a cover/remix of The Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby" played through the PA. They played a great opening set. Eleanor's got an awesome voice and she's a killer downstrummer on the guitar. The set was enjoyable throughout, but the undeniable highlight came for me on the last track, "I Won't Fall Apart on You Tonight." The vocal harmonies she did in the chorus with her guitar player meshed so well, and were definitely something I wished I'd heard more of.

You can catch Eleanor again in NYC TONIGHT (8/24) at UCB, and when she opens for Wild Flag during and around CMJ (who just announced their initial 2011 lineup).

At around 10:15 PM, Deerhunter minus Bradford Cox walked out onto the stage at the sold out venue and began filling the room with noise and ambience. While awaiting Bradford's entrance, the band were joined by Colin Mee, an original member of Deerhunter who left in 2007. Bradford then appeared, taking solely to the mic like he did in Deerhunter's earlier days, and they began playing the intro to "Fluorescent Grey" off the EP of the same name, released shortly before Colin's departure from the band. Without a second of silence in between songs, they progressed into the first few tracks on Cryptograms, building the songs around the layers of noise they'd been creating. As the band moved through their set the stage was flooded with languid clouds of fog and absinthe-green lights, silhouetting the members and adding a visual companion to the heavy atmospheres of their music.

After about a half hour, Colin left the stage and Bradford returned to his guitar for the remainder of the set. In a slightly sarcastic manner, Bradford commented on yesterday's earthquake hitting NYC and that he was glad we were all okay, before going into Halcyon Digest's opening track "Earthquake." The band followed that with a couple more tracks off the album, including a distortion-ridden version of "Don't Cry," before going into a few Microcastle cuts. After extending "Nothing Ever Happened" into a trance-like passage, Bradford started screaming the "Horses" section of Patti Smith's "Land" over the mix. They left the stage after ending the climactic "Twilight At Carbon Lake" with a reverberating crunch that continued through their entire break before returning for an encore. The 2-song encore included the Lockett Pundt-fronted "Desire Lines" and "Calvary Scars II," which again ended with hypnotic noise that didn't cease until the lights in Webster Hall were turned back on and the stage crew muted the amps.

More pictures from the Tuesday night show below...

Continue reading "Deerhunter & Eleanor Friedberger played 2 nights @ Webster Hall (pics & review)"

Panda Bear at MHOW in July (more by Amanda Hatfield)

As mentioned, Panda Bear plays Brooklyn Masonic Temple on October 2. We also mentioned that the show would reportedly be taking place one day after another NYC show that would probably be at Webster Hall. It's since been confirmed that the other show will take place on October 1 at Webster Hall. Tickets go on sale Friday (8/26) at noon for the Webster show and the Masonic Temple show. An AmEx presale for the Webster Hall show starts Wednesday (8/24) at noon.

In other Paw Tracks news, Prince Rama's collaborative show with Sun Araw happens at Music Hall of Williamsburg this Friday (8/26), and Prince Rama have a bunch of other shows coming up too including September 8th at Issue Project Room.

All tour dates are listed below...

Continue reading "Panda Bear's Webster Hall show confirmed, Prince Rama shows too (dates)"

photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin

Patti Smith @ Escape to NY

Patti Smith is playing a free show at Webster Hall on September 8 in commemoration of the tenth anniversary of 9/11. France Inter, the French National Public Radio Channel, is hosting the free event. Email concertbooking@radiofrance.com to RSVP (required). The show is at 8 PM. Check Webster Hall's website for more details.

Patti headlined the first night of the three-turned-two day festival Escape to NY in the Hamptons on Friday. A full set of pictures from the shortened weekend is coming soon, but here are the shots of Patti and band who also recently played a NY show at Castle Clinton.. They continue below...

Continue reading "Patti Smith played E2NY (pics), playing free show to commemorate 9/11 @ Webster Hall "

Cat Power @ Summerstage 2009 (more by Chris La Putt)

Cat Power (aka Chan Marshall) told Rolling Stone last October that she plans to release a new album and play all of the instruments herself. She has since debuted some new songs live at The Fillmore in San Francisco this past February, which you can check out along with a video of the Rolling Stone Interview below.

Cat Power, who is also on the new Eddie Vedder album, will hopefully bring some of these new songs to NYC when she plays Webster Hall on August 26. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (8/5) at noon with an AmEx pre-sale starting Wednesday (8/3) at noon.

The NYC show is two days before Chan plays LouFest in St. Louis, MO along with The Roots, TV on the Radio, Deerhunter, The Hold Steady, !!!, Surfer Blood and more.

More Cat Power dates TBA? Videos below...

Continue reading "Cat Power playing Webster Hall before LouFest (dates)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

Oh Land / Sia

Sia played Webster Hall last night (7/26) with Oh Land and Ximena Sarinana. Sia played material mainly off of her last two albums, including Madonna's "Oh Father," and Ray Davies' "I Go to Sleep," both of which she has recorded covers of. She also revealed a new song titled "Hostage" and ended her encore with the 2004 single "Breathe Me."

All three of them play Webster again tonight (7/27). Tickets, like they were for last night, are sold out. The Sia/Oh Land tour continues through August 19th.

Ximena also played a free late show at Rockwood Music Hall last night. Oh Land just added her own Bowery Ballroom show. Tickets go on AmEx presale today at noon.

More pictures, videos and Sia's setlist from last night's Webster Hall show are below...

Continue reading "Sia, Oh Land & Ximena Sarinana played Webster Hall (do again tonight) -- pics, video, setlist"

photos by Bao Nguyen

"One of the sickest shows I have ever been too,
James Blake blew the roof that bitch." - Lily Nunez

"My teeth are vibrating. At James Blake in Webster Hall" - Brennan Moore

"Seeing James Blake at Webster hall.
This is what soul and bass should sound like" - Static TV

James Blake played to a sold out crowd at Webster Hall last night (7/13). His set included all of the James Blake standouts as usual, but also some interesting additions. He played a live version of "CMYK" which he only recently began doing (video below). He ended his set with a cover of Digital Mystikz' "Anti-War Dub" and then returned for an encore to play "The Wilhelm Scream" and a new track, "Tell Me, Are You With Me" (video below).

Catch James at Webster Hall again on October 5 as part of his fall tour. Teengirl Fantasy opened the show, though we missed them. They have other upcoming shows too.

More pictures, videos, and the setlist from the Webster Hall below...

Continue reading "James Blake played Webster Hall (pics, video, setlist)"

photos by Jessica Amaya

Beady Eye @ Webster Hall

"...in the Fall of 2009 the Oasis brothers, Noel and Liam Gallagher, get into a heated argument, which may or may not have involved the destruction of one or more musical instruments, Noel quits the band, Liam and the other band members decide to carry on. Fast forward to the spring of 2011 when what essentially boils down to Oasis minus Noel Gallagher drop their debut album, Different Gear, Still Speeding, under the new moniker Beady Eye." [Live4Ever]

The Webster show was opened by New York locals The Dig and is pictured in this post. Beady Eye played their entire debut Different Gear, Still Speeding, including the iTunes bonus track "Man of Misery." They also covered the World of Twist song "Sons of the Stage" in the encore.

Full Webster setlist, more pictures from the show and the Letterman video, below...

Continue reading "Beady Eye played Webster Hall & 'Live on Letterman' (pics, video & setlist)"

photos by Ryan Barkan, words by Andrew Sacher

Being that I'm admittedly too young to have seen Paul Simon in his prime, I wasn't totally sure what to expect from his BV-presented Webster Hall show last night (6/6). After watching him deliver a 26 song set, which failed to show any signs of slowing down, I lost sight of all expectations I had and embraced the fact that Paul Simon was just straight up impressive. The set spanned his entire career from his days in Simon & Garfunkel through his recently released So Beautiful or So What, and also included a few covers. The songs off So Beautiful or So What resonated as strongly as his earlier material and blended right in. During the song "Rewrite" I even found myself debating over which of his albums the song was on, only to later realize it was in fact a new one. The entire set was so consistent that choosing any sort of standout is difficult, though if I had to say, When Paul and his band flowed seamlessly from Jimmy Cliff's "Vietnam" into Paul's own classic, "Mother and Child Reunion," I was pleasantly caught off guard.

The real treats, however, came during the encores. After a massive end to the initial set, Paul and band left the stage only for Paul to return with nothing more than an acoustic guitar. He provided some foreshadowing guitar which eventually built into an extremely intimate version of the Simon & Garfunkel staple "Sounds of Silence." Contrasted with a largely upbeat set, that small dose of melancholy left the audience still, silent, and possibly even more captivated. The impact that song holds almost 50 years later isn't matched by many, and Paul Simon's still-strong deliverance is matched by even less. Paul's band returned to the stage and the encore continued for three more songs including a rendition of the George Harrison-penned "Here Comes the Sun."

When the first encore finished and the stage crew scrambled to set up another mic stand, it was obvious that the band was returning for a second encore. But little did I know, the second mic was being set up for none other than David Byrne. The fellow worldbeat loving New Yorker sounds like the most appropriate guest on paper (except for maybe Art Garfunkel) and it was even more than that in real life. As mentioned, David, Paul, and band performed Talking Heads' "Road to Nowhere" and Graceland favorite "You Can Call Me Al." Byrne left the stage and Paul Simon and band played two more, appropriately including "Still Crazy After All These Years," before taking their final bows and exiting the stage after playing "Crazy Love, Vol. II".

Check out more pictures from the show below...

Continue reading "Paul Simon @ Webster Hall in pics & review"

Paul & David @ Webster Hall -- photo by Ryan Barkan

An already excellent show was made epic when David Byrne surprised everyone by joining Paul Simon on stage at Webster Hall to perform two songs during the encore last night (6/6). First Simon and band backed David as he sang Talking Heads hit "Road to Nowhere". Then, like they did at BAM in 2008, David and Paul traded verses on Simon hit "You Can Call Me Al". A full review and set of pictures (more like the above) from the Monday night club show are coming soon. In the meantime check out some videos people posted to Youtube, below...

Continue reading "David Byrne joined Paul Simon @ Webster Hall (pic & videos)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield, words by Rachel Kowal

Lykke Li @ Webster Hall

"She looks like a normal non-idiotic Gaga. With better music." Or at least, that's what the consensus seems to be among Lykke Li fans on the music site Last.fm.

Lykke Li's rise to fame over the last few years has not been incidental. She's got an ear for catchy pop music, sexy dance moves, and just the right combination of Swedish genes. On stage, she seems to exude a cool confidence. And yet, in the song "Dance, Dance, Dance," she insists that she's actually quite shy. Of course, with her dramatic eye make-up, form fitting clothing, and sleek physique, she's gorgeous, but not in a way that incites resentment or makes her seem elitist or impossible to relate to. When she encourages you to dance, you want to respond accordingly, even though the room is far too crowded and you know you won't have the space to dance as gracefully as she does. Behold the draw of Lykke Li.

"We're lucky we're seeing her play here. She won't play anywhere this small again," a concert-goer said to his companion. One thing's for sure: She's certainly a tough act to precede.

But despite the fact that few people at Wednesday night's show at Webster Hall (the second of two sold out shows at the venue) seemed to even know there was an opener on the bill (let alone the identity of said opener), the audience seemed highly receptive to the Toronto one-woman outfit Grimes - even when she (Claire Boucher) momentarily flubbed the intro to her first song.

With her catchy keyboard-driven melodies and thumping bass lines, Grimes at times reminds me of a female Baths - but with an otherworldly twist due to Boucher's distinctive high-pitched, childlike voice and indecipherable lyrics.

Boucher's performance was certainly not as polished as that of Li (She coughed right into the microphone at one point), but her experimental leanings nicely contrasted Lykke Li's more straightforward pop sensibility.

With the exception of some dramatic lighting, the stage set-up was fairly minimal for Grimes, but for Lykke Li, the venue piled on the drama. Following a long intermission between sets, the room suddenly went dark and the smoke machines on stage kicked into overdrive.

As music played in the background, Li's backing back assumed their positions, and the tension escalated. Finally, Li herself appeared to rapturous applause. As if the setting on stage wasn't dramatic enough, Li looked like a widow in mourning in her black veil and oversized cloak. Bursts of blinding white light, thick clouds of smoke, and well-placed fans made it seem as if a tempest had broken out on stage. Long black curtains billowed in the manmade gusts and effectively enveloped Li until she brushed them aside with a graceful flourish.

Of course, it wasn't long before the veil fell and revealed Li's beauty mark, well-defined cheekbones, and unblinking gaze; and the cloak fell open. Li powered through her hour-long set, playing songs both from her most recent release and a few old favorites, including "I'm Good, I'm Gone" and "Little Bit." At the encouragement of the audience, she extended her encore and closed with "Unrequited Love."

Lykke Li's lyrics may not be particularly groundbreaking, but she performed with the poise of an experienced pop star and a level of intensity typically reserved for an encore. Perhaps she said it best herself: "Words can never make up for what you do."

--

Lykke Li's next NYC show is in fact in a bigger venue, Central Park Summerstage on August 1st. Tickets are still available. In the meantime, Lykke continues on her current North American tour which runs through the end of May with Grimes.

More pictures pictures from the Wednesday night show at Webster Hall, and the setlist, below...

Continue reading "Lykke Li & Grimes played Webster Hall (night 2 pics & setlist)"