Fall and spring normally provide many opportunities to see live music in the San Francisco Bay Area. Fall 2010 was exceptionally fruitful.
- The Chemical Brothers @ The Fox Theater, 28th August
Great sounds. Fantastic visuals. Superb venue.
- Does It Offend You, Yeah? @ Mezzanine, 18th September
Lead singer was ill and didn't show so they played a short set of their "bangers". New tracks sounded promising.
- Kele (Bloc Party) @ Mezzanine, 18th September
Kele sang and played a little guitar while his group (three more people) did percussion, keyboard and effects. He also took off his Public Enemy t-shirt for the last few songs - the crowd approved. (He kept his basketball shorts on).
- Local Natives @ The Fillmore, 22nd September
High energy indie rock with mesmerizing choral harmonies and numerous instrument rotations. More lively than expected, they resisted the urge to rock psychedelic. Methinks they will be awesome at Coachella 2011.
- School of Seven Bells @ The Independent, 30th September
Great and also much more energetic than expected, thanks in part to their drummer - he beat the s**t out of his kit and enjoyed doing it.
- Kaskade @ The Warfield, 1st October
The show was a bit different - it was 18+, so there were semi-naked teenagers aplenty. Kaskade came on stage soon after midnight and played for nearly three hours. There was a lot from dance.love but he also mixed or sampled The Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy, Justice and Swedish House Mafia among others. I was tired from the night before but we danced long enough to hear "Move For Me" close his set as we left.
- Treasure Island Music Festival, 16th October
- Holy F**k - I feared the open air, daylight performance would not work for their style. They proved me wrong.
- Die (fokken) Antwoord - When I grow up I want to be a Ninja...but maybe without the incessant dick slang.
- Phantogram - sounded good...even from the food and merchandise stalls.
- !!! aka Chk Chk Chk - Nic Offer's funky dancing took him into the crowd. On returning he proclaimed "...advice for you! Join a band! It's a lot of fun!!".
- Four Tet - great, livelier than expected.
- Kruder & Dorfmeister - good tunes, first-rate light show, slightly annoying MC.
- Deadmau5 - fantastic light show, quirky DJ goofiness, disappointing music. After two opening tracks, Joel Zimmerman played 20 minutes of tuneless beats that did not impress this fan or win new ones. He also didn't play "Hi Friend" at all (which strikes me as perfect festival music).
- Miike Snow - much harder, better dance music than their recorded material might suggest. So much dry ice!
- LCD Soundsysyem - excellent, polished, sober (I think!). We were a ways back and left after about four songs to catch the bus home.
I had tickets for Sunday too but I wasn't as excited about the lineup - cold, wet weather meant I made other plans.
- Bell X1 @ Swedish American Hall, 21st October
The venue was cool but the seats were very uncomfortable. Bell X1 were funny and charming.
- Laura Veirs @ The Independent, 2nd November
Had tickets but strep throat intervened.
- Florence and the Machine @ The Fox Theater, 5th November
Florence was like a supernatural force. She was entertaining to watch and a joy to hear. At times, her show verged on over-indulgent (e.g. the "shawl song") but that was easily forgiven.
- Thievery Corporation @ Greek Theatre, 6th November
Thievery Corporation's live performance (by twelve people!) was brilliant but they made the mistake of opening with their best-loved tunes e.g. "Lebanese Blonde" - some fans had not yet arrived or were still searching for seats.
- Massive Attack @ Greek Theatre, 6th November
Massive Attack's propaganda machine blew my mind (again). A captivating light show of incredible, infuriating and shocking statistics (that we strained to read from near the back/top of The Greek) was accompanied by a melancholic, Mezzanine-drenched soundtrack e.g. in Britain anyone can be detained without charge for up to 42 days. In USA, imprisonment is (still) indefinite. (Canada is a single day). The concert closed with the words "beyond petroleum"...
PS A thick blanket to sit on makes all the difference at The Greek!
- Stars and Geographers @ The Fillmore, 10th November
I'm a recent Stars fan and until this gig, I'd never seen them in person or paid attention to their publicity shots. They did not look how I imagined. Amy Millan was five months pregnant but still rocking out. Torquil Campbell's melodious voice belied his physical and facial intensity (which quite often, more closely matched his lyrics).
Opening acts aren't always worth seeing but Geographers were great. Solid vocals, interesting electronic melodies and beats, strings and a drummer that looked like "Vin Diesel in a beard and sunglasses".
- Junip (Jose Gonzalez) @ The Independent, 13th November
The focus was off Jose and on his new band. His vocals were good but not quite as enchanting as the recorded material. Jose also refused to play any solo songs insisting "This is Junip".
- Pretty Lights @ The Fox Theater, 24th November
Watched and danced from the perfect spot - one section back, behind the barrier, beside the stairs. The "white-boy hip-hop" was fun but eventually the tunes became difficult to distinguish. The amount of weed smoked by crowd was impressive. No need for dry ice!
- Bonobo @ The Rickshaw Stop, 28th November
The nine-person band including live drums, lead guitar, trombone, trumpet, flute/saxophone/clarinet, bass guitar, keyboard and live vocals (from Andreya Triana) squeezed into a small venue that was packed in spite of the Sunday night and late start. The set was mostly tracks from Black Sands. This one was very impressed.
PS Gigs I missed included: Ratatat, Dirty Projectors, Gotan Project, Broken Bells, Caribou, Paul Oakenfold, Birds & Batteries, Hot Chip
and Sleigh Bells, Clinic, The Frames.
PPS Acts I'd like to see in 2011: Soulwax, Alex Metric, Eric Prydz (aka Pryda), Phoenix, Broken Social Scene,
Wolfgang Gartner,
Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs (aka TEED).
Joe And Will Ask?,
The Souls.
