Gnarls Barkley @ Alice's Now & Zen Festival in San Francisco (8/17/06)

What an interesting mix of people at Sunday's Alice Now and Zen festival in Golden Gate park! I guess it shouldn't have been much of a surprise after looking at the concert line-up, but it was almost shocking to see such a varied crowd. I think it was Blue October's semi-goth crowd mixed with 20-something hipsters blended slightly with a more pop, mainstream crowd who have fallen in love with Gnarl's Barkley's "Crazy" top 40 single and mixed-in even more with the B-52's boyztown gay crowd.

I'll be honest with you, I'm not a huge fan of Alice 97.3 radio. In fact, I barely listen to the station, but it is programmed in my car radio. Not because it's a top station, but because there are so few choices I have to choose from. But I am a fan of Gnarls Barkley, and more specifically Chris Vrenna and Clint Walsh, the duo otherwise known as Tweaker, but who are also on tour with Gnarls Barkley as GB's live drummer and guitarist.

As you might have read below, it's only been a couple of months since Gnarls played their opening US show at San Francisco's Fillmore, but they returned to play at this year's Alice Festival -- most likely a label trade for additional spin's on Alice Radio -- but that's what it takes to get added in today's state of FM commercial radio.

Just like their show at the Fillmore, they came onto the stage dressed in costume -- this time as Ninja's, and played through most of their only album, St. Elseswhere. Considering how much they've been touring and how little material they have to perform, it's amazing that they're not tired of playing the same songs over and over, but if they are, they certainly didn't give that impression. It looked as if the band is still having fun and were trying to make the most of the afternoon in SF.

After Gnarls left the stage, there was a short set-change and The B-52's soon took over. Why in the hell were these guys/girls headlining the show when they haven't put out an album in over a decade? I have no idea. Judging by the huge numbers of people who left after GB, it was clear that the artist schedule should have had the B-52's opening for Gnarls. A better line-up would have left the B-52's off it altogether.

Dredg @ The Catalyst Club, Santa Cruz (8/15/06)

I'd been looking forward to this show the minute after Dredg announced the previous night's scheduled performance. Let me go back a few weeks by saying that Dredg posted an announcement of an upcoming exclusive performance at Santa Cruz's Catalyst Club of their entire first album (Leitmotif) that was scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 14th. At the time, I already had tickets to see Nitzer Ebb @ San Francisco's Slim's -- another show I didn't want to miss -- and luckily, only a day or so after the Leitmotif announcement, Dredg announced this past Friday's performance of their entire second album "El Cielo", my favorite of their three current releases anyway!

I've said this before, but I'm just amazed that these guys haven't broken out sooner -- and it can only be related to the fact that their sound is just so hard to describe. Their label must have the toughest time trying to pitch their singles to radio considering their 'sound' just isn't that radio friendly.

As usual, the band was excellent! They performed the entire El Cielo album plus a few ditties from their recent release "Catch Without Arms". If these guys ever come around to your town, be sure to catch their live show. Until then, look 'em up on iTunes or your local record shop!

Nitzer Ebb @ The Slim's (8/14/06)

It was 1991 when I last saw Bon Harris perform with Douglas McCarthy when Nitzer Ebb performed at Philly's Trocadero. I was 15 at the time. I couldn't even drive at the time and if you're familiar with downtown Philly, you might know that the Trocadero isn't in the best neighborhood. It's not a bad neighborhood, it's actually right on the border of Philly's Chinatown and only a few blocks from the Convention Center, but not really the place I'd choose to hang out at. Anyway, Nitzer Ebb put out another album after 91's "Ebbhead" but with declining sales and popularity, they broke-up shortly thereafter.

In 2005, McCarthy teamed with Terrance Fixmer (a german DJ) to work on a new album under the creative moniker, Fixmer / McCarthy -- and rumors began to swirl about a Nitzer Ebb reunion tour. Early in 2006, the rumors became real when a small U.S. tour was announced... Including this past Thursday night's show at San Francisco's Slim's!

Bon and Doug were joined onstage by Kourtney Klein -- a live drummer who added some sex appeal for the guys in the audience who weren't gay -- and there weren't that many of them. And not that there's anything wrong with that!

So as far as the performance went, it included plenty of the classics and it was amazing to hear songs over 20 years old performed just like it was 1987!

That's all I'll write for now. Overall, a fun show, but probably the last time I'll be seeing Nitzer Ebb.