...with a choir and an orchestra with strings and horns. Mindblowing, mesmerizing, massive, epic, surreal, amazing, glorious, fantastic, "Best Concert Ever", "I can Die Happy Now"... whatever adjective you choose, Spiritualized was it at Radio City Music Hall on Friday night. Jason Pierce and band performed their most acclaimed album, 1997's Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space, in NYC's swankiest venue, followed by a 2-song, 'spellbindingly sensational' encore of "Out Of Sight" and "Oh Happy Day" to close out the setlist.

The Friday night show was the fifth of five ZYNC-presented SPIN 25th Anniversary shows (the other four were all at Terminal 5). And thankfully there was an online stream, so those who couldn't be at the concert, could still experience it live, and can probably experience it later since the whole thing is sure to show up in various bootleg forms including on YouTube fairly soon. Speaking of the stream, since it's Friday night and the show just ended and we won't have any real pictures anytime soon, a whole bunch more stream screen caps that still give you a good idea of what it looked like, continue below...

Continue reading "Spiritualized played Ladies & Gentlemen @ Radio City..."

photos by Matthew Eisman

"They opened with a strong, stirring rendition of "Start A War" (Featuring the immortal lyrics: "You were always weird but I never had to hold you by the edges like I do now. Walk away now. And you're gonna start a war.") and they never looked back. Highlights included stellar performances of "Bloodbuzz, Ohio," "Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks," "Fake Empire" and "Mr. November" some charming, semi spastic arm waving gestures by the tall skinny lead singer with the wonderfully soulful baritone voice and a delicious veggie dog from the roof deck. They closed the show with "Terrible Love"--the opening song from their newest album. The only disappointment for me was they they did not perform "Racing Like a Pro" or the magnificent "Gospel." But it was a really great night. And a great live musical christening of my second half century." [Teddy Vegas]

Two days after their Prospect Park show, The National headlined the fourth SPIN/ZYNC party at Terminal 5 (The National's 2nd ZYNC gig this year). Openers at the Thursday night show were Kurt Vile and Suckers. NYC Taper taped the show and you can download it at his site. More pictures and the National's setlist, below...

Continue reading "The National, Suckers & Kurt Vile @ Terminal 5 (SPIN 25) - pics, setlist, live audio "

photos by Diana Wong

"Black keys midnight show at Terminal 5 melted my face. I officially have no fuckin face!" - Joe Thompson

Despite playing a headlining show at Summerstage earlier in the evening, the Black Keys still managed to melt faces for 90 minutes and 22 songs at Terminal 5 last night (7/28). The SPIN/ZYNC show, the third in a series of five, was opened by The Whigs and Lee Fields and the Expressions (including some familiar Daptone faces)...

"But the show belonged to Auerbach and Carney -- even when they had help. About halfway into the set, two members of Fields' backing band came out to play bass and keyboard for a few numbers. The extra muscle made songs such as Brother's "Everlasting Light" sound a tad conventional when compared to the lean aggression that fired "I Got Mine," from 2008's Attack & Release, but the former song's creeping eighth note bassline and eerie, clanging keyboard stabs were thrilling in their own right." [SPIN]

The show also streamed online, like the National/Suckers/Kurt Vile gig happening at the same venue will tonight. More pictures from it, with the Black Keys' setlist, below...

Continue reading "The Black Keys, Lee Fields & the Whigs played Terminal 5 (SPIN 25) - pics & setlist"

photos by Vincent Cornelli

"Everyone always says that when bands play places like L.A. and New York that no one wants to have a good time," frontman Wayne Coyne told the giddy crowd at Manhattan's Terminal 5 before The Flaming Lips' show last night. "But I think that's fucking bullshit!" [SPIN]

The Flaming Lips played the same 14 songs they played at Central Park Summerstage one night earlier, last night at Terminal 5 in NYC. The show was the 2nd of five SPIN/Zync shows happening in NYC this week. Catch the Lips on Letterman tonight (7/28). More pictures and the selist from Terminal 5, below...

Continue reading "Flaming Lips & Fang Island played Terminal 5 (pics & setlist)"

photos by Jen Maler

"Billy Corgan says something about being our rock n roll puppet, still has beef w/ Pavement, mimes puppet him killing "guy from Pavement"" - BrooklynVegan

"LOL, one guess at the only thing @BrooklynVegan cared about from tonight's show. It's just too easy for Billy to troll the indie bloggers..." - Hipsters United (a blog about the Smashing Pumpkins)

Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan had one message for long-time fans last night: I'm sorry.

The indie rocker issued the apology for reasons that remained unclear Monday night during a sold-out performance at Spin magazine's 25th anniversary concert at Terminal 5.

"For the old-school fans, sorry for what I've done to you," lamented the crooner, who headlined the event.

"We love you guys. Thank you so much." [NBC]

Smashing Pumpkins kicked off the week long Zync-sponsored SPIN parties at Terminal 5 last night, Monday, July 26th. And Billy did in fact make that apology, and said the bit about Pavement.

Don't forget that all five SPIN shows, including tonight's Flaming Lips show, are streaming online. For part of the show last night I was watching the stage with one eye, and the live video they were capturing with the other (on a TV screen), and the video was actually more fun to watch. They were doing a great job thanks in part to the serious set up they have going on with cameras flying over people's heads and on stage and in the photo pit.

The venue was decked out with SPIN magazines - on tables and pasted on the walls along with "Zync Zones" and other sponsor stuff.

It's hard to get past the new band, and I wasn't really expecting much from the Billy Corgan show, but they sounded and looked (lights, stage setup, outfits) good. There was lots of wailing by Billy and a bunch of highlights in the set list, which you can see below with more pictures and some videos (grabbed from the stream) from the show...

Continue reading "Smashing Pumpkins @ Terminal 5, NYC (SPIN 25) - pics, setlist"

It's a busy week for big NYC shows. The Flaming Lips are here for two performances, starting with the gig tonight/Monday at Central Park SummerStage. Oneida opens. The Flaming Lips show Tuesday night at Terminal 5 is part of the Spin25 series of gigs running each day this week.

Spin25, sponsored by American Express's new ZYNC card (as you can see in the picture above), kicks off with Smashing Pumpkins tonight at Terminal 5, and continues with Flaming Lips on July 27th, the Black Keys on July 28th, the National on July 29th (all at Terminal 5), and Spiritualized on July 30th at Radio City. Show openers are listed below (Spiritualized, which has no opener, is the only one with tickets available currently).

THIS WEEK AT TERMINAL 5
7/26 - Smashing Pumpkins @ Terminal 5 (w/ Kill Hannah & The Jim Jones Revue)
7/27 - The Flaming Lips @ Terminal 5 (w/ Fang Island)
7/28 - The Black Keys @ Terminal 5 (w/ Lee Fields & The Expressions & The Whigs)
7/29 - The National @ Terminal 5 (w/ Suckers & Kurt Vile)
7/30 - Spiritualized playing Ladies and Gentlemen (TICKETS)

If you don't have tickets, we're offering one more chance for you to see the shows. We have two pairs of tickets to give away to each of the last four (that's all minus Smashing Pumpkins). Details on that are below...

You can also watch the shows online: SPIN & ZYNC are streaming them.

Several of the above bands have more shows this week too. The Black Keys play two SummerStage shows with the Morning Benders on July 27th and 28th (the second being the an early show on same night they play T5). Those two shows are also a tour kick-off for the two bands. All dates below.

The National also play Celebrate Brooklyn on Tuesday, July 27th with Beach House opening. They'll be back in September for a show at Wellmont Theatre with Owen Pallett who opens both Arcade Fire shows at MSG next week.

Contest details and dates below...

Continue reading "SPIN 25 this week (win tix, stream the shows) ++ it's a busy week w/ more Black Keys, Flaming Lips & National shows too "

The Flaming Lips in Poughkeepsie in April (more by Ryan Muir)

Remember the five Spin 25th Anniversary shows announced in March? Here they are:

7/26 - Smashing Pumpkins @ Terminal 5
7/27 - The Flaming Lips @ Terminal 5
7/28 - The Black Keys @ Terminal 5 (a late show)
7/29 - The National @ Terminal 5
7/30 - Spiritualized playing Ladies and Gentlemen in its entirety @ Radio City Music Hall

A ZYNC/AmEx ticket presale for all five shows IS GOING ON NOW (started at 10am). Public sale happens Monday, June 14th at 11am. That is exactly consistent with the on-sale info Spiritualized posted with the previous announcement for this Radio City show, and with the on-sale info posted with the "Smashing Pumpkins" announcement. The Smashing Pumpkins Terminal 5 show is part of a string of "intimate" shows Billy Corgan and band are playing in July.

The Spin shows are sponsored by American Express Zync, just like the National @ BAM show that happened in May.

The National have other dates (including Radio City June 16th) coming up. The Flaming Lips and the Black Keys both play Central Park SummerStage around the time of the T5 shows. In fact, the July 28th T5 show is late show following one of the Black Keys SummerStage shows.

Some related recent videos below...

Continue reading "Flaming Lips, Black Keys & the National, Smashing Pumpkins & Spiritualized playing SPIN 25th birthday shows (on sale now)"

words by Rachel Kowal, photos by Getty Images for American Express
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All week, The National has sponsored nightly events at their "High Violet Annex" to celebrate the release of their highly anticipated fifth album, High Violet. On Friday they even performed a set of National songs at the space. Saturday night's sold-out "ZYNC from American Express Presents The National to Benefit Red Hot" show at BAM capped off the week's festivities which started earlier the same evening at the Annex where 70-or-so lucky attendees were, unexpectedly, given tickets to the BAM show and then bussed to the Brooklyn venue to see the show...

the bus @ BAM

The BAM show began with a brief behind-the-scenes video about their recording process, and then the band launched into "Mistaken for Strangers" and then played a string of new songs. Though the National is technically a quintet, as many as nine additional people joined them on stage to play a variety of string and brass instruments. Sufjan Stevens joined the band to sing backing vocals (like he did on Letterman) on a handful of songs. Sometimes National-members Padma Newsome and Thomas Bartlett (Doveman) made a rare appearance together on stage (usually its one or the other as a member of the band). The biggest surprise band member of the night was the Arcade Fire's Richard Reed Parry who sang backup and played a variety of instruments throughout the set. Richard, Sufjan and Thomas all also contributed to High Violet which is out now.

With its ornate molding, dramatic curtains, and theater-like seating, BAM may be a bit of an odd choice to host what is essentially a rock show, but the beautiful space complimented the dapperly dressed band and gave them enough room to spread out on stage. Possibly sensing that something was not quite right, lead singer Matt Berninger hopped off the stage and began pulling people up into a standing position early into the show.

Throughout the show, Berninger was a sight to behold. One moment, he'd take a sip of white wine and sing softly into the mic stand and the next, he's wildly pacing back and forth on stage with his head down, pounding his hands together like a mad man. The contrast between Berninger's smooth baritone voice and his manic behavior makes for a dynamic performance. During the four-song encore, Berninger leapt off stage again and rushed the audience in the orchestra section. With his impossibly long mic chord trailing behind him, Berninger climbed desperately over anything in his path - be it chairs or people. From the middle of a row, he stood recklessly on a chair, screaming the chorus to "Mr. November" into the faces of ecstatic fans.

When all was said and done, The National played the entirety of High Violet in addition to a number of older songs. Film directors D. A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus were on hand to direct the live webcast of the concert that was happening on YouTube (the band addressed the Internet audience a few times), and which you can still watch there (some videos below too).

After the show, a fancy ZYNC-sponsored afterparty was held around the corner at One Hanson Place, aka the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower, downstairs in the old bank's bottom floor (now used as an event space). The National, their friends and associates, partied until late with an invite-only crowd that also included members of Grizzly Bear and Beirut, and some celebrities who had attended the show (like Julia Stiles). And there was a lot to party about - recently completed Europe tour and a week of festivities in NYC aside - High Violet is selling really well too. More pictures from the show and the afterparty, with the setlist and some videos below...

Continue reading "The National & guests played BAM & YouTube (pics & video) "

The National on WNYC's Soundcheck

The National's Brooklyn Academy of Music show on May 15th will be going on presale tomorrow (May 6th) at 10am. Tickets are here (pw: "VIOLET"). They go on general sale through BAM May 7th at 10am. Apparently you don't actually need a ZYNC card to get the tickets. You can also try to win your way in (and get flights and a hotel) through KEXP and via KCRW.

The show is a benefit for the Red Hot Organization (which the Dark Was the Night project also supported) and will be filmed by Don't Look Back D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus for an Internet simulcast on YouTube.

The National recently appeared on WNYC's Soundcheck, and videos of their performance on that show are posted below...

Continue reading "National BAM show tickets, presale & contests, WNYC videos "