Posted by Joel Weiss on Jul. 31, 2009, at 11:39 am
Shitty concert etiquette can destroy what could otherwise be an out-of-this-world concert experience. I’ve attended hundreds of metal, rock, and punk shows and witnessed all manner of drunken douchebaggery. The more intense the show, the more idiocy you’ll have to put up with.
I’m not a people person. I don’t go to shows to get shitfaced. I don’t go to shows to intentionally collide with people galloping in a sloppy circle while shadowboxing. There’s nothing wrong with either of those things, and I have no problem putting up with people who engage in them — I just want to enjoy an awesome live show.
Gogol Bordello played the Ritz Ybor last Monday. They were just as amazing as their last Bay Area appearance at the State Theatre, and I had an awesome time. Early on, however, I feared my evening would be ruined by the most egregious concert etiquette faux pas. An error so heinous it transcends rock shows and infringes upon normal everyday life: exceptionally awful body odor. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Lily Reisman on Jul. 30, 2009, at 2:16 pm
It was ridiculously hot. It took me 15 minutes to realize that my white wife beater would become my face towel for the day. It was loud. It was colorful. It was my first time at Vinoy Park. And finally, at the age of 24, it was my first time experiencing Warped Tour.
It’s been three years since I attended a music festival and as I walked through the ticket line into a field filled with tents, stages, beer stands and even a slip n’ slide, I instantly recalled why I love outdoor fests; passing through the gates meant entering a world of the unpredictable and the unexpected. I didn’t know what kind of crazies I’d come across (there were bound to be some amidst the 10,000 attendees), what kind of new music I’d hear, or how pleased I’d be with the bands I was there to support. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Leilani Polk on Jul. 22, 2009, at 2:25 pm
A quick breakdown of this weekend’s most worthy concerts beginning with Thursday, ’cause that’s when the weekend really starts, right? For a more comprehensive schedule of concerts, check out our Upcoming Events page.
Thursday, July 23 Nightmare Of You (pictured) w/Plushgun/Brian Bonz/Aushua In Nightmare of You’s single, “I Think I’m Getting Older,” frontman Brandon Reilly laments about aging against jangly guitars and post-punk bounce, and right before it peters to an end, there’s a brief breakdown of lazy, watery dub. Haven’t heard the rest of the Long Island, NY, four-piece quartet’s just-released second album, Infomaniac (Bevonshire), but my curiosity is piqued. Plushgun and Brian Bonz are both Brooklynites; Plushgun does cloying electro-pop (oft-described as “infectious”) while Bonz has a husky vocals and a pleasant ambience to his organic experimental rock. Thurs., July 23, 9 p.m., Crowbar, Ybor City, $10 in advance/$12 dos (18 and up).
Ex-Norwegianw/The Lighthouse and the Whaler/PemberleyWhile the name may imply far away origins (or an appreciation of Monty Python’s Flying Circus), Ex-Norwegian hails from Miami Beach and their music has the bright and shiny quality you’d expect with hand-claps, acoustic guitar and cheery vocals. Ohio’s Lighthouse and the Whaler make airy folk rock with percussive trimmings and multi-voice harmonizing that give the music a tender, rustic feel. Thurs., July 23, 9 p.m., New World Brewery, Ybor City, $7. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Eric Snider on Jul. 16, 2009, at 12:39 pm
For years, the annual Warped Tour has been more or less a knucklehead boys club on wheels — with music in between — but in recent years more female-dominated bands have been cracking the lineup. Count among them Meg & Dia, the two easy-on-the-eyes, Utah-bred sisters Frampton (no relation to Peter) — Meg, 23, and Dia, 21 — and their three male bandmates.
The group has been on three Warped jaunts, including this year’s.
Meg & Dia is supporting its first major label release, Here, Here and Here (released April 21 on Sire), an accomplished collection of confessional and sometimes confrontational (and irrepressibly catchy) modern rock that takes more stylistic liberties than most bands in the pop-punk/emo realm.
Dia (foreground in photo), who sings lead and splits songwriting duties with Meg and the other band members, called from the tour bus and proved to be a lively, open interviewee. Here’s an edited version of our conversation.
What are the good parts and the bad parts about Warped?
(Coughs) Well one of the bad parts is getting sick and not being able to get better. We don’t have a hotel, a place to take a hot bath. I’ve been cleaning out my nose with a netti pot. I’d give anything for a hotel right now, a quiet room. Yesterday I had a crazy fever.
Paramorevocalist Hayley Williams has told Rock Sound that naming the songs on the band’s upcoming third album might be an easy process:
”We only have a few song titles confirmed at the moment,” she admitted recently. ”I was looking through my journal the other day and wondering if we are going to keep a lot of the working titles we have been using while writing. I know a lot of people have grown used to novel length song titles that are pages long but that has never really been our thing, I think we might keep the song names as they are at the moment and not change a thing!”
Following that comment Williams stated that ‘Ignorance’, ‘The Only Exception’, ‘Brick By Boring Brick’, ‘Misguided Ghosts’ and ‘Feeling Sorry’ are the only confirmed track titles thus far.
Paramore have been playing new song ‘Ignorance’ live recently (video below).
Currently on the road opening for No Doubt, Paramore is one of the better/lasting acts to come out of the Warped Tour in the last 5 years. This third as-yet-untitled release may solidify their status or doom them to overhyped limbo. The Tennessee-based band pop-punk band found breakthrough success on their 2007 album “Riot!”.Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Leilani Polk on May. 18, 2009, at 2:55 pm
Dozens and dozens of acts will make it onto Tampa Bay area concert stages this summer. Here’s our best bets, in a wide range of genres.
Stanton Moore The bespectacled founder of NOLA funk purveyors Galactic is widely regarded as one of the best drummers currently drawing air. This show has him in a trio setting with estimable guitarist Will Bernard and keyboardist Robert Walter. The small ensemble allows room for Moore to strut his Crescent City-honed skills. Expect expansive jamming and finely honed interplay. (Video: Stanton Moore Trio performing at Emerald Lounge in Asheville, N.C., Sept. 10, 2008.) (May 28, Crowbar, Ybor City)—Eric Snider
Sunday, May 31 WMNF Jazz Jam feat. Sam Rivers/PBS/World Afro-Cuban Ensemble/Infinite Groove Orchestra/Impromptu/Trio Vibe/others TBA Tampa Bay’s community radio station has been putting together more jazz events of late — thank you for that — this being one of the more ambitious. Saxophonist Sam Rivers, 83, was once a front-rank player on the New York (and thus international) avant-garde scene. He’s settled into legendhood well, living in Orlando and taking gigs as he pleases. A potpourri of locally-based acts rounds out the bill. (May 31, Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa) —ESRead the rest of this entry »
This just in! Submit for your chance to play The “Kia Kevin Says” Stage on the 2009 Vans Warped Tour. This is an opportunity for a Tampa band to get noticed and maybe even sell a few CDs.
Sonicbids has partnered with Warped Tour to bring bands this opportunity. The Kia Kevin Says Stage is a stage on the Warped Tour that features hand-picked local, regional, and independent bands in every market. There is one performance slot in each market reserved for a Sonicbids artist.
Confirmed bands for the 2009 Warped Tour include: Thrice, 3OH!3, The Ataris, Chiodos, The Devil Wears Prada, Bad Religion, Flogging Molly, Less Than Jake, NOFX, Anti-Flag, Bouncing Souls, Silverstein, Underoath and many more.