The Committee to Keep Music Evil Forum

big tipper's over there

Got to the venue late, way down the queue.  And the street smelled like toenail clippings!  But luckily HelloTina and 12StringDreams had arrived early, which allowed me to queuejump shamelessly and get to the front (Thank you both!)

Tonight's show seemed more spirited.  Perhaps everyone is demob happy?  The mix was LOUD and the bass distorted but, for once, I didn't care.

High point: At the Portland show last May, I heard David Bowie for the first time and Matt Hollywood accused me (unfairly) of being almost  in tears.  Well, tonight it would have been a fair accusation.  I don't know if it was the song, not wanting the tour to end or (possibly) the amount of personal stuff I've had to deal with recently, but it sounded beautiful and I almost cried.

A special mention also for There's A War Going On - at the end of that song, there's some moments where you can pick out each member of the band doing something special.  Every time.

Low point: Straight Up and Down.  Nothing at all to do with the sing or performance but... there were 2 large nets stuffed with white balloons suspended over the auditorium and I was expecting a cheesy ending... and didn't get it.

New York, Webster Hall
August 25, 2012
w/ Magic Castles

Stairway to the Best Party
Vacuum Boots
I Want to Hold Your Other Hand
Got My Eye on You
Anemone
Wisdom
Viholliseni Maalla
Super-Sonic
This is Why You Love Me
You Have Been Disconnected
There's a War Going On
Not if You Were The Last Dandy
Clouds are Lies
David Bowie I Love You Since I Was Six
Walking Up to Hand Grenades
Open Heart Surgery
Jennifer
Who?
Prozac v Heroin
That Girl Suicide
Sailor
Servo
Oh Lord
Straight Up and Down

I may have a couple more photos to post but otherwise that's it for now. 

Overall, this tour has been wonderful.  There are a couple of songs I would like to hear once in a while  (Yeah-Yeah and Fuck You... spring to mind) but the new songs sounded good, especially Stairway and Hand Grenades - I prefer hearing the new songs live because Dan's drumming is SO immense.  And I loved hearing some of the older songs live for my first time - I'm always happy to be surprised by the setlist.

The crowds seem bigger and very receptive.  I didn't see anyone trying to provoke Anton and I met a lot of lovely people at their first BJM shows (often because they'd been below the venue age limits up until now).

The band are so consistent now, there don't seem to have been any difficult shows.  The worst I could say is that they've sometimes seemed a bit tired.  On the other hand, it's been a  while since I've seen a completely spectacular show.  Maybe I've been spoilt.  Maybe I'm getting old and jaded.  Or maybe those shows only happen when there's more tension and it's better for everyone if they don't?

Anyway, whenever they play again, I hope I'll be there.

Right, now I'm off to The Cake Shop.  Until next time..... x

Loved the NYC show. It was great seeing Gia again too. I missed going to the Cake Shop though. I made the mistake of stopping by my hotel room - it is near the venue - and that was it, I couldn't get going again.

All in all an awesome show to end a tour that reminded me of why I am a fan of BJM. I'll probably have a bit more to post before I fade away until the next BJM milestone. I will say this though, for me the theme of this tour, along with the new CD could be titled "You Have Been Reconnected"

I will be uploading the videos I captured tonight over the next week. The audio is pretty good - I'm listening to it on a tiny, tinny hotel room iPhone dock and it seems OK. It seems that some songs suffer from bass pumping due to the limiter and the excessive subwoofer volume. The video is pretty bad - I truly just kind of aim the phone in the general direction of the band and hope for the best as I enjoy the show.

I'm sitting in Newark airport waiting for the first leg of my flight home. I'm tired, but still in a state of bliss over last night's fine show to cap a fine tour. I'm kicking myself ever so slightly for missing the after show at the Cake Shop, particularly since I had already visited the place earlier yesterday to confirm the show. In my defense I will say that I needed to drop some merch off at my hotel and I have a really bad back that was acting up after stomping around NYC for three days and standing at the show for nearly five hours. Once I got to the hotel...oh that room seemed soooooo niiiice....

But yeah the bottom line is I lamed out on the after party which is a shame because I really enjoy the Flavor Crystals and Vacant Lots.

Cheers Gia - after a quick listen, it seems as though I have really good audio and acceptable video of David Bowie from last night. And I agree with you, that was a very good performance of that song last night.

Have a safe trip home. Hope to see you again soon.

Webster Hall last night was my third BJM show and maybe my favorite. The band seemed excited and upbeat and the set list was perfect. "There's a War Going On" is my favorite song of the past few years, and it just slayed me live.



The crowd was mostly great, but some idiots shouted... well, who cares, something asinine and rude. I gave them a fairly nasty glare.

A Paddington stare! Good call, Lakeman

12StringDreams - looking forward to hearing that. I need to check out the DC material drawk posted too.

The Cake Shop was very hot, sweaty and a little too claustrophobic for me. I caught Chatham Rise and Flavor Crystals and really enjoyed both. Josh had some guitar trouble but Checker Board is such a great tune... I missed Rosco and Vacant Lots and I left just as DJ Frankie Teardrop showed up, so I have no idea what aural delights they all provided. But I caught up briefly with Norton, which is always a pleasure.

I was a bit concerned about that - I have been to shows at the Cake Shop and it is quite "cozy"

I'm a tad clausterphobic and the crowds in NYC in general and at Webster Hall were about as much as I wanted to handle in one day. Still, I'm mildly kicking myself for not heading over to the party - I wasn't ready to end the good times.

Well thank you Gia and it's always my great pleasure to see you at any venue! I thought that last nights' show may have been my personal fave. Dans drumming was so on it really kept the flow and sound right on. I mean that bass drum was blasting perfect. The Flavor Crystals were also a highlight as their new triple lp is,well, its awesome and they played quite a bit off it. Lucky enough to have VIP entry and had the pleasure or chatting up Sune Rose Wagner from the Raveonettes and he told me he is working on a sounds of New York album, songs that sound like music from NY over the years, real interesting stuff. Also had the pleasure of meeting Rickys mom Virginia and his sister. Joels' wife Sarah was also a charm. After seeing the band for I don't know how many times,lost count, such a bunch of fantastic people who have always made me feel welcome and I have truly come to LOVE them as I would my own family! Heck they were even bringing us out beers from their personal coolers! So much so as I am hoping to have a nautical trip On the Great Soth Bay tomorrow with a couple of the guys, just ffine pointing the details!!!

I couldn't come up with any funny punch lines...




One of the BJM Groupies...

I hope Gia didn't catch 'her' underwear...

Shame we didn't meet up, I'm sure we would have hit it off nicely. I have to say that last night's gig was one of my favorites too. It wasn't pitch perfect (Anton's vocals were buried at times and, for me, the venue's subwoofer was too heavy) but it was rock and roll perfect. For me that is what really matters. I can let a lot slide if a show has the right vibe and last night had it...

I'm going to be a bit hard on myself over the next few days for calling it an early night...

Hah hahhah.......so true Gia.........Soooooo true

I have started posting my videos to YouTube, but that is not why I'm posting this message (there's only one posted so far).

Instead I have a request for those of you that have iPads: are you able to view the HD iPhone video that I posted here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJLBxTAI7L0 (Stairway To The Best Party)

Somewhat suddenly and certainly unexpectedly I am unable to view that video on my iPad. I first noticed the problem when I tried to view forum member drawk's videos from the Washington DC show. At the time I chalked it up to the possibility that drawk used an encoding and/or size not supported by the iOS codecs. But now I see that I am unable to view my own videos which has not at all been the case in the recent past. I can view it just fine on my iMac, even my iPhone. But on my iPad I get and endlessly spinning beach ball. I am using iMovie for all of my editing, just as I have for all of my clips.

Yes, it plays fine on my iPad, through the YouTube app.

Drawk's videos play fine too

ooh yeah I forgot about the YT app and a quick check on my iPad shows that drawk's videos play there as does mine. I completely forgot about the app (doh! ) because I pretty much stick to using Safari on my iDevices for viewing YT videos. HTML 5 has come along so quickly and so well that the YT web site usually works better than that old YT app that will soon be going away when iOS 6 debuts.

So my problem really lies in the browser version of YT, but that is good to know because it narrows it down a good bit.

Thanks Gia for checking it out on your iPad and for reminding me that I should have also checked the YT app.