This stream was originally to take place on January 11th but due to COVID restrictions going back into place got moved to February 19th. Lucky me since not only did I miss the stream for Grassroots but also forgot all about this stream until after the 11th when I then realized my lucky break. The eponymous “Blue album” in full, in sequence? Yes please.
The format and setup of this stream was almost identical to the one for Music that I caught back in November and just like that one I was nodding my head pretty much the entire time throughout the stream. Highlights for me were the same songs as my favorite songs on the album; “Down,” “Random,” “Jackolantern’s Weather,” Hive,” “Misdirected Hostility” and “Purpose.” After they worked their way through the whole album they took a short intermission and came back for a set of six “B-Sides” including fan fave “Firewater.” S.A. Martinez got so into the performance that he had to change his shirt for the Q&A portion at the end because he was sweating so profusely. I also noticed Tim Mahoney’s “guitar face” a lot more this time but that could have been due to me being completely sober this time.
A killer bonus of this stream was the announcement that they decided to do streams for their next three albums Transistor, Soundsystem and From Chaos starting March 11th, which I am sure they will have something special up their sleeve for since that is 3/11.
In early April on the verge of announcing a highly anticipated tour it was revealed that Fleetwood Mac parted ways with Lindsey Buckingham and he would be “replaced” by Neil Finn of Crowded House and Mike Campbell of the Heartbreakers. This was extremely disappointing because Lindsey Buckingham is a monster guitar player, great voice and the songwriter responsible for many of the Fleetwood Mac songs I love. Even this huge loss could not keep Ingrid and I from attending because Fleetwood Mac had been on Ingrid’s bucket list for quite some time, they still had the great Stevie Nicks and they decided to come through San Diego ON A SATURDAY. We ended up scoring four tickets through a co-worker from an American Express presale and decided to take Ingrid’s dad and his wife with us as a birthday present. Ingrid’s father does not condone drinking in the manner that we like to so this meant no drinking for us but on the bright side also meant no hangover to deal with the next day.
A couple days before the show Ingrid’s dad informed her that he would not be able to go after all but his wife was still in and would be bringing her daughter along instead. Since I could not drink (I was driving) I instead ate half a gummy bear just to get a little in the zone but remain undetected. When we arrived at our seats I noticed that one of the seats had a puddle of beer in it that matched the exact same color as the beer one of the two ladies standing above us was holding. Neither of the ladies would look at us even after I looked at Ingrid and said very loudly “HOLD ON. I’LL GO GET SOME NAPKINS TO CLEAN THIS UP.” Much to the surprise of nobody one of the same “clumsy” ladies behind us later spilled beer on my head. To top it all off on the beer front the co-worker that helped us get the tickets ended up sitting directly across the aisle from us and later brought me a beer that I had to politely decline.
The absence of Lindsey Buckingham lowered my expectations quite a bit, especially since I had been so blown away the last time I saw Fleetwood Mac, but I could tell from the very beginning of this show when they played “The Chain” that it was going to be a good one. The sound was very full with 11 people in the band comprised of original members Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, veterans Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie, newcomers Neil Finn and Mike Campbell as well as an additional percussionist, keyboardist, guitarist and two female backup singers.
Lindsey Buckingham left some big shoes to fill but Neil Finn did an admirable job filling in for his vocals and some of the guitar work. I assumed they would just skip the songs that were predominantly sung by Lindsey like “Second Hand News” and “Monday Morning” but those songs were simply too big to ignore and Neil’s vocal timbre had enough similarities to make it work. I think in the spirit of celebrating a “new band” they brought back some Peter Green era Fleetwood Mac tunes with “Tell Me All the Things You Do,” “Oh Well” sang by Mike Campbell and “Black Magic Woman,” which I thought was a Santana song before this concert. I also thought it was pretty cool of the Mac to let Neil incorporate a solo version of “Don’t Dream It’s Over” from his Crowded House days into the show.
Another key cog to filling Lindsey Buckingham’s void was the guitarist Mike Campbell. This guy was amazing in the Heartbreakers and left my jaw on the floor more than a couple times on this particular evening. The hobo chic look he has adopted also worked well to emphasize that this guy is a total rock star and total pro.
Lindsey Buckingham could never truly be replaced. The two aforementioned gentlemen did an outstanding job in filling in the depleted lineup but the real person that filled in the most was Christine McVie, who was ironically the only person missing from the from the most commercially successful lineup of Fleetwood Mac the one other time I saw them back in May of 2009. What this meant was that although I did not get to see Lindsey Buckingham do “Never Going Back Again,” “Big Love” or “Tusk,” I did get to see Christine McVie do “Little Lies,” “Say You Love Me,” “Everywhere,” “Hold Me,” “You Make Loving Fun” and “Don’t Stop.” Fair trade.
The inimitable Stevie Nicks has still got it and as evidenced by the loudest applause of the evening during band intros people worship her. “Landslide” with just her singing and Neil playing guitar was damn near perfect as were her vocals on “Gold Dust Woman.” She did get a little emotional for a very cool Tom Petty tribute at the end of the show as she sang, “Free Fallin’,” which made the moment that much more beautiful.
Mick Fleetwood is an animal. He did what felt like a 10-minute drum solo and was interacting with the crowd the entire time he did this. The crazy visuals on the screen behind him that made me feel like I was on LSD almost matched his crazy eyes and even crazier energy that he kept up for the entire concert. At the end of the show he came to the front of the stage and announced, “The Mac is back!” Had I not just witnessed a hell of a two-hour run I may not have believed it a couple hours earlier but after they knocked my socks off I can wholeheartedly concur that indeed THE MAC IS BACK.
AFTERWARD: Parking in any “beehive” type structure is always a nightmare to exit in these situations but thankfully after not moving for close to 10 minutes sitting in the line to get out I remembered an alternate way out of the parking structure which ended up saving us what I am sure was at least 45 minutes. I guess that education I paid for at San Diego State University paid off after all!
SETLIST: The Chain, Little Lies, Dreams, Second Hand News, Say You Love Me, Black Magic Woman, Everywhere, Rhiannon, Tell Me All the Things You Do, World Turning, Gypsy, Oh Well, Don’t Dream It’s Over, Landslide, Hold Me, Monday Morning, You Make Loving Fun, Gold Dust Woman, Go Your Own Way, Free Fallin’, Don’t Stop
Smashing Pumpkins reuniting will all the original members except for D’Arcy playing strictly songs from their first five albums? Yes, please! The last time I saw Smashing Pumpkins was about 11 years before this when they were promoting the Zeitgeist album without James Iha. That time was alright but the older stuff did not sound quite as thick without James.
After a little pre-funk at the bar down the street Ingrid, her friend Laney, her friend Laney’s friend Dick and I made our way to the venue and ended up getting there slightly late. We had no interest in the opening band and unfortunately misjudged the timing but thankfully only really missed “Disarm.”
Upon arrival I immediately was overtaken by familiar sounds of “Rocket” and was relieved that Billy Corgan’s voice had not lost that magic. What the fuck he was wearing was a different story. He appeared to be wearing a long silver skirt with some sort of gladiator type sandals with silver socks underneath. He could have been wearing a tutu for all I care but it was at the very least noteworthy.
About this time my “cookie” had reached peak effect and I was in hog heaven. A brilliant cover of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” was just around the corner and I think Bowie would have approved. While we are on the topic of covers let me just say this is the only time I can remember any band I have seen cover “Stairway to Heaven” and it was off the charts. The main guitar riff was replaced with piano but otherwise a very faithful rendition that left many jaws on the floor of the Aztec Arena.
For this “Shiny and Oh So Bright” tour they retained the services of extra guitarist Jeff Schroeder, which freed Billy Corgan up on many songs to get in touch with his inner showman or sit down at the piano. This was a fantastic production full of gems being shown on the mammoth video screens that were serving as a backdrop to the stage. I had a feeling that I would be hearing one of my favorite songs “Soma” at some point in the evening and I was right. To me that song perfectly sums up what I like about Smashing Pumpkins, which much like Black Sabbath is the soft and the heavy. Other standout moments for me were “Zero,” “Porcelina of the Vast Oceans,” and “Thirty-Three.” People for the most part were present and not on their phones for the nearly three hour set but to be fair most of us in attendance probably did not have our first cell phone until way after becoming fans of this band. Having James Iha back in the lineup made all the difference in the world and it was pure magic to see him and Billy make sweet music together again.
SETLIST: Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, Disarm, Rocket, Siva, Rhinoceros, Space Oddity, Drown, Zero, The Everlasting Gaze, Stand Inside Your Love, Thirty-Three, Eye, Soma, Blew Away, For Martha, To Sheila, Mayonaise, Porcelina of the Vast Oceans, Landslide, Tonight, Tonight, Stairway to Heaven, Cherub Rock, 1979, Ava Adore, Try, Try, Try, The Beginning Is the End is the Beginning, Hummer, Today, Bullet With Butterfly Wings, Muzzle, Solara, Baby Mine
Bob caught wind of a crazy Australian band called Parkway Drive on Sirius XM’s Octane channel and suggested I check them out. I am not sure which of their songs I heard first but they definitely sounded like something that was worth further inspection.
This was the first show I had been to at Soma for about eight years and once Bob and I arrived I could not help but notice the larger security presence all around, although this could have been due to the heavier nature of the bands playing. It was a far cry from being able to walk in the back door like Marvin and I used to do. I had also forgotten what a sweatbox Soma is. When we entered to see the last half of August Burns Red I was quickly reminded that there is zero ventilation in that place so you are going to sweat even if you decide to watch the show in a stationary position.
Parkway Drive was touring for their sixth album Reverence that was released on May 4th and this was the opening night of the tour. Right after I randomly ran into the gal that cuts my hair the house sound system started playing quite the warmup of singalong 80’s songs such as Mr. Mister’s “Kyrie,” Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” and Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ On A Prayer,” which I thought was a very funny tongue-in-cheek move for such a heavy band.
Once the band came out the crowd went absolutely apeshit. Usually a small mosh pit will erupt near the front of the stage but for Parkway Drive the mosh pit went front to back. It was full on meathead madness with more than one person cruising around throwing haymakers. I was completely sober and not entirely familiar with the songs so it was interesting trying to hold the position I was in. Some idiot kept finding water bottles and windmilling them over his head so I was soaked in no time but to be fair I was already gross from sweating and it did feel kind of good.
Frontman Winston McCall did a great job of well, being a frontman. He was able to continually whip the crowd into a frenzy with just a few choice words and commanded the stage like that was exactly where he was supposed to be. The dual guitar attack of Luke Kilpatrick and Jeff Ling fed well off of one another and the rhythm section of Jia O’Connor and Ben Gordon held down the fort. The songs are very accessible. I don’t want to say predictable breaks but rather something akin to following along with the bouncing ball onscreen. Digestible. All I know is that Parkway Drive made a new fan that night.
SETLIST: Wishing Wells, Prey, Carrion, Vice Grip, Dedicated, Boneyards, Cemetery Bloom, The Void, Idols and Anchors, Dead Man’s Chest, Karma, Absolute Power, Wild Eyes, Crushed, Bottom Feeder
I never saw Jack White perform as a solo artist and in fact had not seen him in any way, shape or form for 10 years when I last saw him with the Raconteurs. When he announced he was swinging by San Diego in support of the five month old wonderfully weird album Boarding House Reach I knew I would be attending, just not the details. The details ended up being buying a last minute ticket from Larry and going by myself. Larry ended up having to travel for work and my friends Calvin and Jane that were there had apparently bought tickets during the presale.
This was the first show I have been to that utilized something called Yondr, which is essentially an opaque pouch you were forced to lock your phone in upon arrival so you could not use it unless you went outside to a specific “phone zone.” I have been saying for awhile now to anyone willing to listen that the way to get everyone to put their phones away at concerts was for the artists to hire a professional videographer/photographer and make the videos and pictures available to everyone that had attended. Why would you take some shitty video if you knew you could get professional quality videos? Why not just include it in the price of the ticket? I would pay extra for this and I am sure I am not the only one. This is what I envisioned was going to happen since the show ticket came with a disclaimer that said “our official tour photographer will be posting photos and videos after the show at jackwhiteiii.com…repost our photos and videos as much as you want.” So far the only thing posted on his website are some photos but zero videos. Good idea but the execution part still needs some work.
I only had a digital ticket on my phone and did not memorize my seat before locking my phone into the Yondr pouch so I just took a seat in the vicinity of where I knew my seat was. I did not think this would be an issue since there were many open seats (not sold out) and I was literally sitting at the top rear of the arena, but when people started filling in the open spots they were adamant on sitting in their assigned seat. By this point the cookie I ate was in full effect so I am glad I stuck to water at the show because the no phone zone started to get weird sitting by myself stoned out of my mind wondering if I was in the right seat.
There was no opening band advertised so I thought this paranoia would soon wash away at 8 pm when the lights went out and the show started but we all got tricked. The show did start at 8 pm but instead of Jack White we got a guitarist named William Tyler who played by himself. He was a great guitar player but in a live setting bigger than a coffee shop it did not translate song after song. It could have been the cookie but it seemed like he played forever. What was especially funny to me is that he had these elaborate song titles for songs with no words, just him playing guitar.
The time had finally come for Jack White and he was well worth the wait. His band consisted of two males playing keyboards, one male playing bass and one very hard hitting female drummer. The most impressive part of this journey is that they were improvising the setlist. Jack would just kind of wave his hand, shoot them a look or play a small part of something to get them on the same page and they were off. His guitar sounded fantastic and made the songs sound so much heavier live, especially “A Martyr for My Love for You,” “I’m Slowly Turning Into You,” “Steady As She Goes,” “Sixteen Saltines” and my personal favorite “Hello Operator.” Jack White is an innovator, a guitar god and musical genius. I am pretty sure I made the right decision to come alone rather than not come at all.
SETLIST: Over and Over and Over, Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground, Lazaretto, Corporation, Cannon, Respect Commander, Hotel Yorba, Love Interruption, Battle Cry, Get in the Mind Shaft, Trash Tongue Talker, A Martyr for My Love for You, I Cut Like a Buffalo, Humoresque, Hello Operator, Just One Drink, I’m Slowly Turning Into You, Steady As She Goes, Sixteen Saltines, Connected By Love, Seven Nation Army
Despite all of the negative things I could rant about when it comes to Ticketmaster and Live Nation it is cool that for most shows you can choose the exact seat you want to purchase from the website. Several months before this show my buddies PM and Don that I used to work with text me which seats they bought and I was able to buy the open seat literally right next to theirs due to this feature.
After not being able to agree on a plan for meeting up with PM and Don beforehand I decided to ride down with Bob, his son, Larry, Christi, their two kids and the two Norwegians they were with, who had all decided to get lawn tickets at the last minute. Once we grabbed a quick bite at some weird place close by called Canada Steak Burger that was much more Greek than Canada, a quick beer and “cookie” (just me) everyone I came with went in and I met up with PM and Don in the parking lot before we went in.
I do not really know any Sleigh Bells songs but due to my fondness/fascination of bands with only two members I did kind of want to see them so I was a little bummed this did not happen. By the time we got through security, took a leak and grabbed a beer we made it to our assigned seats on the 200 level with enough time to watch the last half of the Pixies set. This is a nutty band that I also do not know a whole lot of outside of their song “Where Is My Mind?” but I do respect the influence they had on several “Alternative” bands that I love. It was cool to recognize Paz Lenchantin that I knew from A Perfect Circle holding down bass duties.
The last time I saw Weezer it was what I considered a somewhat half-baked performance about a year before this at Kaaboo. Not this time. This was my sixth time seeing Weezer overall and since that last show they had released the album Pacific Daydream, but more importantly had recently re-entered the Zeitgeist with their cover of Toto’s “Africa.” Apparently a 14-year-old girl started a Twitter account for the sole purpose of coaxing Weezer into covering the song. They first trolled her by covering Toto’s “Rosanna” (badass) and then finally gave in to “Africa.” It is not like Weezer has not been pumping out albums forever, but their return to relevance combined with the fact that this was the second to last date of the tour seemed to re-energize them back to the levels I had come to expect. We had good seats, the kinks (if there ever were any) had been worked out of their set and their normal stage setup boasted some upgrades. They essentially opened with a replication of the Arnold’s Diner setup from the “Buddy Holly” video as they played the song live and then slowly shed that in favor of a garage looking setup for “In the Garage.” Eventually it was onward to their winged W logo to full on fire and sparks raining down from the top of the stage. Rivers played “Island In the Sun” from a “boat” that was being pushed around between the stage and the first row of seats. A very entertaining set from a very talented band that knows how to keep things interesting.
SETLIST: Buddy Holly, Beverly Hills, Pork and Beans, Undone – The Sweater Song, Hash Pipe, Perfect Situation, My Name is Jonas, El Scorcho, In the Garage, The Good Life, Happy Together, Keep Fishin’, Island in the Sun, Take On Me, Burndt Jamb, (If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To, Feels Like Summer, Africa, Pink Triangle, Say It Ain’t So/Paranoid
It all started in July when I was scrolling through Facebook and came across an ad for the five dates Stevie Wonder would be playing in Las Vegas during the month of August. I did not remember ever seeing Stevie Wonder touring near me so I took a screen shot as a reminder to mention it to Ingrid. I remembered later that night on our way to dinner and her response was an ecstatic “We are going! He is a bucket list concert for me!” I did not take her totally serious until we returned home and she bought tickets and booked a hotel!
I am not exactly sure when or how I first heard Stevie Wonder but in all fairness I have never lived under a rock and his music is not only timeless but also universally liked by all types of people. This man is a legend through and through. I can say with certainty that the first song of his that truly grabbed me was “Superstitious.” That song creeps into my bones and makes me start dancing every time I hear it and I am not what anyone would describe as a dancer.
Due to scheduling conflicts we ended up getting tickets to the first performance and the day had come. Despite proclaiming that we would never drive to Vegas again after about a 10 hour ride home when we went to see Soundgarden years before, here we were driving to Vegas to pinch a few pennies on our spontaneous trip. We left San Diego at 11:30 am sharp and did not end up getting to Vegas and checked into our hotel room until 6 pm, which turned out to be perfect because it gave us a solid hour before we had to hop into a Lyft to make our way to the Park Theater. Apparently the whole Park MGM was a fully renovated/recently reopened Monte Carlo. Thankfully our Lyft driver knew this because we were about to get dropped off at the MGM and wander around aimlessly for who knows how long before we figured out we were in the wrong place.
I did not realize Stevie Wonder’s blindness was so severe that he would need assistance walking across the stage until I saw it with my own eyes. His band consisted of a DJ, two horn players, two drummers, three female backup singers, a bassist and a guitarist and they crushed it. Everyone in the crowd was up and dancing the whole time and it was just a good vibe all around. I would have been satisfied just hearing “Superstition,” “I Wish,” and “Sir Duke” but he played those and so many more. At one point he mesmerized me by playing from where I was standing what looked like a paper scroll. After some research I found out it’s called a harpejji, which in his own description is “somewhere between a keyboard and a guitar” with 16 strings. This man has brought great joy to the world and his music will continue to spread that joy for him long after he is gone. I am beyond thrilled that I got the chance to witness it live while he was still here.
Loverboy? That band from Canada that had a handful of hits back in the 80’s? Yep. I grew to actually like five of their songs as I was exposed to them time and time again growing up in the 80’s and the show was on a Saturday so I figured what the hell? Much to my surprise the cheapest tickets were going for $60 so I decided to just check back periodically figuring they would get cheaper as the show got closer. My suspicions were confirmed when I received an email from Goldstar offering tickets for $20 but I did not have anyone to go with and the concert was 30 miles from my place at Viejas Casino in Alpine. By the time Bob said he would go when we were at the Breaking Benjamin concert a few days earlier the tickets on Goldstar were gone so I was right back in the same ticket conundrum as before.
There were exactly four tickets listed for sale on StubHub and each was $55. I did not want to see Loverboy that badly so I checked Craigslist, which had three postings. One linked back to StubHub, one was a pair for $30 each and one was a pair for $20 each. I responded by email to the $20 post but did not hear anything back all day so I called the $30 post and was informed the tickets were just sold. Right when I was about to let Bob know we would not be going I finally got a response from the $20 ticket posting saying they were available and we could meet up at the venue.
After picking up Bob from SeaWorld (he was there all day with his family) we were on our way to the middle of nowhere. There would be no drinking for me since I had to drive so I brought a little wacky tobacky and had some back at the car once we arrived and secured the tickets. We squeezed into our seats near the back and could not help but notice that there were a lot of empty seats. This surprised me since there were so few available on the secondary market but I rationed that the casino probably comped quite a few tickets that never got used. Bob and I would eventually take it upon ourselves to move to a row of our own much closer to the stage.
Once Loverboy took the stage to an underutilized video screen backdrop used simply to display Loverboy in typewriter text it was hard to miss the singer Mike Reno, who was once a normal sized man back in the day and was now a portly man. The crowd was precisely the crowd I envisioned and by that I mean old. The band was under no false pretenses about this as Mike Reno addressed the crowd with “We are at a different time in our lives. The kids have moved out of the house…” The band was very good at playing their instruments but it would be seven songs in before I even knew a song they were playing. I was very confused that a band of this nature would make the crowd wait through the entire first half of their set to hear a “hit.” When they finally played the songs I came to see it felt like they were showing off how much better they had become at playing their instruments in 40 years instead of playing faithful renditions of the songs people were there to see. One highlight for me was when keyboard player Doug Johnson played a snippet from “Riders on the Storm” by the Doors. That guy had some of the fastest fingers I have ever seen. The encore of “Lovin’ Every Minute of It” made the whole outing worth it but I can now say with certainty that Loverboy falls into the category of been there done that.
SETLIST: Notorious, Lucky Ones, Queen of the Broken Hearts, Take Me to the Top, It’s Your Life, This Could Be the Night, The Kid Is Hot Tonite, When It’s Over, Hot Girls In Love, Turn Me Loose, Working for the Weekend, Lovin’ Every Minute of It
This show was not on my radar at all but Bob was jazzed to go and this was quite simply an opportunity to hang out and have some drinks with one of my favorite peeps. I do like Breaking Benjamin but I would have been good with the one time I did see them almost three years before this at Aftershock and I am not a fan of Five Finger Death Punch whatsoever. It did help that I scored a ticket for only $6 off of StubHub.
I originally thought Bob was going to drive us, which would have allowed us to grab a bite and have a couple beers in the parking lot but that did not happen. Instead we had beers at my house, no dinner and caught a Lyft to the show. We missed the opener Bad Wolves but once we arrived we were informed that our tickets were upgraded since the lawn section had been closed off due to a lack of ticket sales. Even better, when we got to the table where they were exchanging the lawn tickets we were upgraded to General Admission Pit tickets for no charge and no particular good reason. No complaints here as that meant my $6 lawn ticket turned into a $6 floor ticket. The good news kept coming as we then found out that Five Finger Death Punch was to open for Breaking Benjamin as opposed to the other way around like I had thought.
Five Finger Death Punch was touring for their seventh album And Justice for None that was released about two months before this. The floor section was not all that packed so we stood fairly close to the right side of the stage. The bass player was on our side of the stage a lot and looked like he was some sort of octopus creature from Pirates of the Caribbean due to his beard. I did not know the significance of the red hand painted on singer Ivan Moody’s face but apparently their fans did and he pulled about 10 of them with matching red hands out of the crowd to join him onstage for a song. They were good musicians but save for their cover of “Bad Company” I just could not get into it.
SETLIST: Lift Me Up, Trouble, Wash It All Away, Jekyll and Hyde, Bad Company, Fake, Wrong Side of Heaven, Remember Everything, Coming Down, Burn MF, Gone Away, Under and Over It, The Bleeding
Breaking Benjamin was touring for their sixth album Ember that was released on 4/13/18. I am fairly certain that I saw them at Aftershock during the day so seeing them at night was a much different experience. They seemed more in their element and had more presence this time. Maybe it was partially due to the darkness and maybe it was partially due to the dark beers I had consumed. Their mashup of the Star Wars Imperial March, Tool, Nirvana, Pantera and Metallica was pretty cool but anything Pantera is going to win points with me. Bob and I made a rare appearance in the mosh pit because a.) it felt criminal to get upgraded to floor tickets and not go in the mosh pit and b.) the pit was fun since it was more of a weak dancing circle than a full on slam dancing/get punched in the face on accident kind of a thing.
SETLIST: Red Cold River, I Will Not Bow, Never Again, Breath, Imperial March/Schism/Smells Like Teen Spirit/Walk/Sad But True, Sooner or Later, Blow Me Away, So Cold, Angels Fall, Psycho, Failure, Until the End, Believe, Torn In Two, The Diary of Jane
AFTERWARD: All the goodness of the evening was counterbalanced by the reality of life the next morning when we awoke to realize that Bob’s car had been towed since Bob did not end up driving and we did not put a parking pass in Bob’s car. $263 later and the universe was right again. I would do it all over again if given the chance.
When I brought up this show to Ingrid she asked me what kind of music Primus made and I was perplexed. Partially because she did not really know who Primus was and partially because I could not really think of how to describe Primus. I guess in my mind they are a unique mix of rock, funk and psychedelia with a virtuoso bass player that sings.
I had seen Primus almost exactly a year before this but three months after that they released the concept album The Desaturating Seven based on the children’s book The Rainbow Goblins, which was the first album since 1995’s Tales From the Punchbowl to feature drummer Tim Alexander.
This was one of the only times waiting for a ticket paid off because Calvin and I were able to get tickets a couple days before for only $8 with all fees off of StubHub. That is not a typo but it did make me feel like a criminal. Calvin and I showed up with just enough time to grab a beer before Mastodon took the stage to open. I have tried to like Mastodon but it just does not speak to me. This time of trying to like them was no different so I took the opportunity to stock up on beer while the lines were short. In hindsight I probably did not need much more beer since I started out the night with my first six pack of the hemp infused 7% New Belgium beer The Hemperor.
I love that Primus sandwiched The Desaturating Seven album in its entirety in between a choice selection of songs from Suck On This, Frizzle Fry, Sailing the Seas of Cheese and Pork Soda. Sneaky sneaky. This may have been the first time I ever saw “Nature Boy” live and it was worth the wait.
SETLIST: To Defy the Laws of Tradition, Pudding Time, Here Come the Bastards, Too Many Puppies, The Star-Spangled Banner, American Life, The Valley, The Seven, The Trek, The Scheme, The Dream, The Storm, The Ends?, Nature Boy, Welcome to This World, My Name is Mud, Jerry Was a Race Car Driver, John the Fisherman
I never saw Jack White perform as a solo artist and in fact had not seen him in any way, shape or form for 10 years when I last saw him with the Raconteurs. When he announced he was swinging by San Diego in support of the five month old wonderfully weird album Boarding House Reach I knew I would be attending, just not the details. The details ended up being buying a last minute ticket from Larry and going by myself. Larry ended up having to travel for work and my friends Calvin and Jane that were there had apparently bought tickets during the presale.
