Are you a concert goer?

[LexieCat]

Went to a FANTASTIC show last night at Philly's Festival Pier: Arcade Fire.  I've always liked their music but had never seen them live.  One of the most thrilling shows I've ever seen!  They are mesmerizing to watch, and the music and energy of the show was amazing.  Hamilton Leithauser opened for them, and enjoyed him, too.  

It was my first time to the Festival Pier (outdoor venue on the Delaware waterfront--Penn's Landing--in Philadelphia).  

Tomorrow night: Pixies and Weezer.  I've seen Pixies numerous times--they are one of my favorite bands.  Weezer I know only from a handful of songs on the radio.  

And a couple weeks ago I saw Foo Fighters for the third time--always a good (and LONG) show--they played almost three hours!

[Steff]

Sounds like a blast!!

[LexieCat]

This week's concert report:

Pixies--awesome as always!  I always love their shows.  I wish I could have seen them when bassist Kim Deal was still with them (I've seen Kim with her band The Breeders (along with her twin sister Kelley)).  The new bassist isn't bad, though, and she's been with them for a while at this point.

David Byrne!  OMG, this show was INCREDIBLE.  He and his touring band of about 15 or so musicians and singers/dancers performed in grey menswear suits and bare feet, and they were in constant motion--even the keyboardist was wearing his keyboard and racing around the stage.  They did a lot of Talking Heads music, as well as stuff off Byrne's new solo album.  Never saw Talking Heads, except in Stop Making Sense (which I saw while I was still in law school).

Weezers--not for me.  And ditto for Smashing Pumpkins.  Both of those bands rose to fame during the time I wasn't that into music (lots of reasons, none of which are relevant here), but both got "big" enough that I thought I should check them out.  There are a lot of bands I pretty much fell in love with after seeing them live.  Both of these two shows I wound up leaving about an hour into the show--long enough to decide they just weren't my cuppa tea and that I'd rather beat the traffic out of the parking lot and get home early.  

I DID, however, really enjoy a couple of the opening bands.  Sylvan Esso opened for David Byrne, and I really liked them--they were so very energetic and I loved all the electronics (the MacBook sat onstage like any other musical instrument--which is what it amounted to).  And the opening band for Smashing Pumpkins was a band called Metric--another electronic band with an amazing sound.

Upcoming this week:  Radiohead (another guaranteed good show) and Rise Against/AFI/AntiFlag at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park.  Always love a good punk rock show.  I remember going to one about two weeks after my surgery last year and sticking it out for about 20 minutes up near the stage before I decided my recovery wasn't quite ready for moshing.   

AND on Friday (my birthday) I'm going up to NYC to see Hamilton (for the second time).  Plan to hit a couple of museums up there, too--staying overnight Friday and coming back Saturday.

[Tom Galli]

Lexie,

I hear Billy Joel was cancelled at the Philly ball park due to bad weather. True?

[LexieCat]

Apparently there was a delay. http://6abc.com/entertainment/rain-delays-billy-joel-concert-in-philly/3836818/  I was at David Byrne in Camden that night--only the people on the lawn got wet.  My seat was under cover, so I'm not sure how long it rained, though I did feel for the folks with lawn tickets.

I mostly avoid big stadium concerts anyway.  The last one I remember going to was the Stones back in college.  Madison Square Garden is about the biggest I'll go to.  That, or Wells Fargo Center.  Those are big, but it's easier to get seats close to the stage.

[LexieCat]

Hey, wonder if Eric is related to David Byrne?  David was born in Scotland...