Jack White's 'The Raconteurs' @ Bimbo's 365 (4/23/08)

Jack White's 'The Raconteurs' performed at San Francisco's Bimbo's 365 last night to a sell-out crowd made-up of what I would assume to be complete Jack White fans, or lucky ticket-buyers like me! When tickets went on-sale, they sold-out quickly and were only made available at Will-Call the night of the show. In addition, when picking up the tickets, you were forced to go directly inside the venue -- effectively limiting the opportunity to scalp or sell tickets to anyone other than the original purchaser.

Well, as I said, I was one of the lucky ones to get tickets as they went on sale. We arrived at Bimbo's just after 9pm to find that the opening band, the Birds of Avalon, were already loading up their van after their performance.

After standing in a line that extended down to the corner of the building for about 5 minutes, we made our way into the show. And after a few more minutes, The Raconteurs made their way on-stage at about 9.20pm, played for an hour and then broke for a quick break before returning to the stage to play for another 25 minutes.

For those of you who don't know the history of the band (and I'll admit that I only knew about Jack White's participation) I've copied a bit of info from Wikipedia here:

The band features four members previously known for other musical projects: Jack White (of The White Stripes), Brendan Benson (solo), Jack Lawrence (of The Greenhornes and Blanche), and Patrick Keeler (of The Greenhornes).

About the formation of the band, wikipedia states that "The seed was sown in an attic in the middle of a hot summer when friends Jack White and Brendan Benson got together and wrote a song that truly inspired them. This song was 'Steady, As She Goes' and the inspiration led to the creation of a full band with the addition of Lawrence and Keeler." The band came together in Detroit during 2005 and recorded when time allowed for the remainder of the year. Due to the various members' success in other bands, they were quickly dubbed a supergroup. The band, however, asserted they were not, saying that the term implies something pre-planned, whereas they are actually "a new band made up of old friends."

Along with the song 'Steady as She Goes', they played a host of other songs that I've included below. Unfortunately, security was pretty tight throughout the night with large signs as we entered Bimbo's about no camera phones, etc being allowed in. Typically, my video isn't great, but the video I've captured below is truly sub-par as I was trying to keep the camera hidden out of sight. That said, the audio capabilities of the camera still amaze me!

As for favorites of the night, I'd probably have to say that "Rich Kid Blues" was high on my list. Take a listen for yourself here:

Rich Kid Blues:


The Raconteurs' best known single, "Steady As She Goes" can be heard here:

Steady As She Goes:


And they ended the night with "Carolina Drama" -- at which point I got a little more ballsy with the camera and actually got slightly better video footage towards the end of the song.

Carolina Drama:


I've added two others that you might enjoy, but weren't favorites of mine. "Solute Your Solution" and "Old Enough".

Solute Your Solution:


Old Enough:


Overall, the night was a great opportunity to catch a great band in a very small venue as I'm assuming they were using the night to practice before playing the summer music festival Coachella this weekend. A larger summer tour will follow shortly thereafter.

Dredg @ The Great American Music Hall (GAMH) - (4/20/08)

Sunday night shows are tough for me to attend. I'm usually drained from the weekends and I like to get a good night's sleep before kicking off the next work-week, but considering it was a Dredg show, I had to give it my best effort to attend.

Tickets didn't sell out as quickly for the concert as I had expected, and although the show was completely sold out last night, the Great American Music Hall (GAMH) didn't seem to be at full capacity. It was almost exactly a year since I last saw the band perform at the GAMH and you can check out my last review here.

In fact, I've got a number of reviews that you can check out over the past couple of years. There's a small warm-up show at the Cafe Du Nord in November '06; Another show down in Santa Cruz at the Catalyst Club; and my earliest review that I've posted to this site from a larger show at the Fillmore which was the basis of their Live CD in the Spring of '06.

Anyway, Dredg recently announced a handful of California dates in what I can assume they're using as warm-up shows for their upcoming festival performance at this year's Coachella -- one of the biggest summer music festivals in the country.

The show consisted of many of their classics, but also featured a few new songs that could potentially show-up on their upcoming album due out later this year.

I was able to capture one of their new songs right below. The video isn't great, but the audio is pretty decent.



Unlike previous shows, this was the first time I've heard the band perform a cover song -- Dave Brubeck's classic 'Take Five' which was dedicated to a friend of the band who recently died. The band was joined on stage by three 'North Beach' friends -- two on brass and a percussionist -- who led the instrumental performance. Again, the video isn't the clearest, but the audio is decent. Check out 'Take Five' here:



Lastly, I'll post Jamais Vu from the Catch Without Arms album -- their most recent studio album.



I've pulled what seems to be the complete set-list from the Dredg forums:

Canyon
Hungover
Bugeyes
Sangreal
Triangle
I Don't Know (new song)
Saviour (new song)
Same Ol' Road
(Wind)
Take 5 (Brubeck cover)
Tanbark
Sanzen
Planting Seeds
Ireland (new song)
Catch Without Arms
Noise / Experimental (new song?)
Ode to the Sun
Jamais Vu
End Up (new song)

If you're not already a fan of Dredg, check these guys out when they come to a town near you! I've got to believe that they're gaining a critical mass of fans that the labels will not be able to continue to ignore them. As I've mentioned before in earlier reviews, the labels just don't know how to market their sound -- a pseudo prog-rock, alt-metal, jam band just doesn't fit the traditional radio-friendly mold they're generally looking for.

Loop!Station & Zoe Keating plus Brad Brooks @ Red Devil Lounge (4/3/08)

Zoe Keating is the Jimi Hendrix of Cello. It's as simple as that. Looping, layering, banging and slapping the instrument -- anything short of lighting it on fire! Last night I was able to catch another incredible performance while she co-headlined with Loop!Station at the Red Devil Lounge in San Francisco.

I've been a fan of Zoe for the past few years and was introduced to her back when she was a member of the transient female cello 'band', Rasputina. Breaking out on her own, she's been able to establish herself as an up-and-coming avant-garde electronic musician who happens to play one hell of a cello.

Her technique incorporates a MacBook Pro, her cello and a set of foot pedals that she uses to record pieces of her performance and then layer and build upon to create a more traditional song structure.

Completely instrumental, fairly dark and brooding, Zoe's music has been used most recently within an online photo spread of the devastating affects of pollution in China on the New York Times website and I've even seen it incorporated into a segment on PBS recently.

My videos below don't do her performance justice, but I hope you take a listen if you haven't heard or seen her play yet!

Zoe opened her set last night with one of my favorites, "Tetrishead" -- be sure to watch how she'll lay down 'piece' after 'piece' while layering and controlling or triggering the sections of the song using a foot pedal system.

Here's "Tetrishead":



Her last song of the evening was an audience request, "Legions" -- another Zoe classic!



As she left the stage, I was getting tired -- it was a school night you know! -- and I wasn't sure what to expect from the headline band, LOOP!STATION (who spell their name with the all-caps). I decided to stay for at least 15 minutes to see what they were all about... As the two-some, made up of Sam Bass on cello and female vocalist, Robin Coomer, got ready to kick off their set. The pair pulled out 4 dozen donuts to share with the crowd, or at least get them amped-up on sugar. Scoring an old fashioned glazed donut, I thought to myself that I had already made the right decision to stay a bit longer after Zoe's performance.

Looking at the duo, my expectations were still low, but at least I was liking how they were trying to score early points with the audience! The Red Devil definitely wasn't sold out last night, and it wasn't clear to me how many people came to see each of the three bands.

So far I've neglected to mention the first opener, Brad Brooks, who performed with a quirky band that consisted of another cellist, a bass player who also played some type of electronic accordion that I've never seen before and a guitarist. For the first half of Brad's set, he did double-duty playing a vintage Wurlitzer keyboard while singing his off-beat vocals. Clearly a talented musician, but it seemed that his band needed a bit more time practicing as they got stronger as the set progressed, but never seemed to be all that cohesive.

Anyway, back to LOOP!STATION, looks can definitely be deceiving as what I was expecting from the pair was completely shattered as soon as I heard their opening notes. First of all, Sam on cello is nearly as talented a musician as Zoe, but as I quickly learned, Robin can definitely belt out the notes with the best of them. Her voice reminded me of a classic jazz singer -- one of the greats like Ella Fitzgerald or Billie Holiday.

Using the same technique as Sam used with his cello, the pair each recorded pieces of their performance that were then looped and layered with the rest of each song using their sets of foot pedals. Robin created her own harmonies using the pedals and absolutely blew me away with her incredible voice. I was amazed that I hadn't heard of the pair before and am still scratching my head why these two don't have a record deal?!?

Again, my videos don't do their performance justice, but I've tried to capture how they incorporate the looping pedal system into their performance. It's easier to notice how Sam will record a piece and then add to it with another part. In "Sweeter" below, you'll see that Sam throws on some kind of effect to make his cello sound like a trumpet while his earlier cello performance is looping in the background.

Here's "Sweeter":



Another great example of their looping technique can be seen in "The Last Time I Saw You" here:



Overall, I ended up staying through their entire set which ended around 12:15 in the morning. I wasn't looking forward to work on Friday, but overall, the show was well worth the $10 cover charge for the quality of the bands last night!

Be sure to check out both Zoe Keating and LOOP!STATION if either come to your town!