Nearly 15 years after seeing the Bosstones perform last, I was able to catch their stop at the Fillmore last night with a sold out crowd who were ready to party! And speaking of the crowd, what a great mix of people from all ages and colors! In fact, midway through the show, Dickie (the lead singer) pulled a shy 8 year old boy and his dad up to join the band on stage, which was a pretty funny moment where Dickie admitted to being one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet with one of the scariest voices you'll ever hear. A quick tidgit of info: over the past few years, Dickie has been the announcer for the Jimmy Kimmel show on ABC.
For those of you new to the Bosstones, the band's music is described as ska-core and consists of your typical guitar, bass and drums, but is also augmented with a 3-piece brass section and of course, Ben Carr, the Bosstone's dancer. Ben is absolutely amazing and makes me tired just watching him. He'll dance through the entire show, and you should see the sweat he works up!
As for last night, the band came onstage promptly at 11pm and played continuously through 'till about 12.20am where they took a quick break for Dickie to change into a dry t-shirt and then returned to the stage for 3 last songs.
The set list consisted of the following (credit due to PolarPenguin of the Bosstones boards):
The Rascal King
Devil's Night Out
Simmer Down
Jacknike
1-2-8
Na na na na na
Someday I Suppose
Let Me Be
Desmond Dekker
Rudie can't Fail
Illegal Left
Royal Oil
He's Back
Hell of a Hat
All Things Considered
Almost Anything Goes
Another Drinkin' Song
Where'd You Go
Dr. D
The Impression That I Get
Tin Soldiers
Encore:
Old School Off the Bright
Wallet
Holy Smoke
Unfortunately, the Fillmore staff were on the look-out for video tapers last night and I was stopped during both my attempts to record a couple of their songs. I haven't had a problem with this in the past, so I'm not sure if it was requested by the band or if it was just something that the Fillmore management was trying to crack down on. Either way, here are a couple of clips from the show last night.
You'll also notice that I couldn't get that steady of a shot... This wasn't because I was drunk, but because there were so many people dancing that the Fillmore floor was actually bouncing under the weight of everyone!
The Rascal King (the show opener):
The Impression That I Get:
Unfortunately, the Bosstones are only playing a handful of shows along the west coast during this swing. But they did mention that they're planning to put out a new album later this year before the holidays. So I would suspect that they'll continue to play short bursts of shows across the country when possible.
As a matter of pure chance, before the show I got to meet Dickie while we were hanging out in one of the Fillmore lounges. The picture isn't great of either one of us primarily because my camera was acting up! Dickie graciously waited for this 3rd attempt for the flash to finally go off. Clearly the camera has taken a beating during all the shows I bring it to! Anyway, here's the very bad shot of Dickie and I before the show. As he'll admit, he's one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet!
For those of you who have read my older posts, you already know I'm a big fan of Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails. I've been a fan since I was 15 years old (and I'm in my 30's now), so I've lost track of the exact number of times I've seen them play live, but it's probably between 15-20 shows... Here's a few links to previous shows I've seen over the past couple of years: here, here and here.
Last night's show at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, CA has to rank up there as one of the best. Not only because of the setlist, but also because of the experience. When tickets went on sale a few months ago, I was able to score a pair of tickets in the 5th row from the stage and just about dead center, so the seats were going to be fantastic no matter what happened. Not only that, but the line-up of acts was stellar! On the bill was Tom Morello's new band, Street Sweeper Social Club, who opened the show. As an fyi, Tom Morello is the founding guitarist of Rage Against the Machine. Next up would be NIN, who were then followed by the re-united Jane's Addiction featuring the original line-up of Perry Farrell, Dave Navarro, Stephen Perkins and Eric Avery.
At least from my perspective, that's already a great evening! But a few days before the show, Trent posted a note from his Twitter account and then on the homepage of NIN.com that there would be exciting VIP opportunities available for upcoming shows. Soon after, he announced a fundraising effort for a kid who needs a heart transplant and who doesn't have any health insurance. Without insurance, he's basically been told he's shit out of luck unless he can afford to pay for the operation on his own (costing hundreds of thousands of dollars). Long story short, Trent was offering to help out by giving fans the opportunity to donate towards the cause and rewarding those who do with a VIP package for the show of their choice. Not only could we get into the show early to listen to the soundcheck, but there'd be a meet-and-greet with the band, we'd be able to watch the show from the side of the stage, and basically hang out back stage with the band and other 'VIPs'. In my mind, this was going to be money very well spent.
The experience started at 4.30 where a crowd of about 300 people lined up outside the venue and were escorted inside to watch the NIN soundcheck start promptly at 5pm. The soundcheck consisted of:
It was basically a mini, semi-private concert for approx 300 donors, and unbelievably cool.
Here's the video of "I'm Afraid of Americans":
Here's the video of "Dead Souls":
After the NIN soundcheck, Street Sweeper came out for their brief soundcheck as well. Check out Tom Morello warming up those fingers:
Next up was the meet and greet. With about 300 people who donated, the line took about 45 minutes to get through, and totally worth the wait. Because of the number of people who turned out, we were asked to keep it moving and only get one item signed by the band. I'd brought a poster that I've had since around 1991 that featured the original touring line-up of Nine Inch Nails (Trent, Richard Patrick, Chris Vrenna & Jeff Ward) plus an extremely rare compilation CD featuring local Cleveland-based musicians from around the mid-80's -- several years before the formation of Nine Inch Nails. On the CD is a song from Cool Down Daddy, one of the few bands Trent played keyboards on before creating Nine Inch Nails. Trent seemed a little surprised to see both! He wasn't even quite sure when the CD was made. Considering both items didn't have anything to do with the rest of the band, I had those guys sign my ticket stub, while Trent signed the poster.
After the signing, we were whisked away for dinner backstage which was actually pretty decent. I think I had a grilled chicken breast with caramelized onions and crumbled blue cheese, some wild rice with sweet potatoes and tofu and to top it off, some 'whitetrash potatoes' which were fantastic. I'm not sure what was in them, but they were definitely good!
So as we finished dinner, Street Sweeper Social Club hit the stage and played a relatively short set. Around 20-30 minutes from what I remember. And after a brief break, Trent and co. were ready to hit the stage.
I can only assume that this is a bit of a pre-show ritual?!?
After this bit, I headed back to my seats which were going to kick ass compared to watching the show from the back/side of the stage!
Here's some video from my seat:
And a couple of photos:
The setlist for the show included:
Home 1,000,000 Terrible Lie Discipline March of the Pigs Piggy Metal The Becoming Burn Gave Up The Fragile The Way Out is Through Wish Echoplex Survivalism The Day the World Went Away The Hand That Feeds Head Like a Hole Hurt
After NIN wrapped up, I headed back to the back of the stage and hung out with a few pretty cool people including some of the guys from the band!
Here's a shot of Robin Finck (NIN guitarist) and I:
Here's a shot of Justin Meldal-Johnsen (NIN bassist) and I:
Although Perry didn't hang out too long, I was able to snap this picture of him as he got ready to hit the stage:
And later on in the night, here's a shot of Mr. Navarro and I:
Overall, the Nails performance blew away their last show at the Oakland Arena last fall. The band seemed to be having more fun onstage, and they weren't constrained by the over abundance of visuals that were included in the last 'Lights In the Sky' tour. This was a stripped-down performance that gave the band more freedom to change up the set each night. And maybe the most important part of it all... Being a part of a fan community who has been able to raise over half a million dollars for Eric De La Cruz in under a week! That's just amazing!
Lucky for me, Dredg is a SF Bay Area based band, so over the past 7 years I've had a chance to catch these guys play a dozen or so times. Last night offered a glimpse of some of their new material from their upcoming release on June 9th. But overall, the band stuck to their hits while at the same time inviting a number of friends to perform onstage with them.
With both Torche and Judgment Day opening, Dredg didn't come onstage until 10pm, but played non-stop until 11.30. After which, the band left the stage and the house lights quickly went up.
I got to the show late, so I missed Judgment Day altogether and saw about 15 minutes of Torche which seemed to be a somewhat aggressive prog-rock instrumental 3-piece. Not too bad for an opening band.
Anyway, my video below is fairly dark, but the audio is decent enough. Check out "Jamais vu" from the show last night:
Dredg is preparing for a short European tour, but should be back in the states in July/August.
Confirmed dates so far are listed below. Be sure to check them out if they come through your city! You won't be disappointed!
Appearing with Rx Bandits and Good Old War: Wed 07/08/09 Anaheim,CA House Of Blues
Thu 07/09/09 San Diego, CA SOMA San Diego
Fri 07/10/09 Tempe, AZ The Marquee
Sat 07/11/09 Tucson, AZ Club Congress
Sun 07/12/09 Tucson, AZ Club Congress
Tue 07/14/09 Dallas, TX Granada Theater
Wed 07/15/09 Austin, TX Emo's
Thu 07/16/09 San Antonio, TX White Rabbit
Appearing with Rx Bandits and Zechs Marquise: Fri 07/17/09 Houston, TX The Meridian
Sat 07/18/09 New Orleans, LA House Of Blues
Mon 07/20/09 Orlando, FL Club Firestone
Wed 07/22/09 Fort Lauderdale, FL Culture Room
Thu 07/23/09 Jacksonville, FL Fire Bird
Appearing at "XPoNential Music Festival" Fri 07/24/09 Camden, NJ Wiggins Park
Appearing with Rx Bandits and Zechs Marquise: Fri 07/24/09 St Petersburg, FL Jannus Landing
Sat 07/25/09 Atlanta, GA The Masquerade
Sun 07/26/09 Carrboro, NC Cat's Cradle
Tue 07/28/09 Towson, MD Recher Theatre
Wed 07/29/09 Philadelphia, PA Theatre Of The Living Arts
Appearing with Rx Bandits and As Tall As Lions Thu 07/30/09 New York, NY Fillmore New York At Irving Plaza
Appearing with Rx Bandits and Zechs Marquise Fri 07/31/09 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom
Appearing with Rx Bandits Sat 08/01/09 Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club
Sun 08/02/09 Montreal, QC Les Foufounes Electriques
Mon 08/03/09 Toronto, ON Opera House Concert Venue
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