The Year In Concerts: One Reporter's Opinion
note: originally published on the Baltimore City Paper Noise blog, republished here when it disappeared from their archives
Of all the dozens of shows I've covered in this space in 2007, it
could be more interesting to look back at all the bad performances,
bad venues and bad vibes I experienced rather than what actually went
right. But that would also essentially be like running the same
negative review twice, and
it personally the first time. So let's just focus on the good here
with the top ten concerts I saw this year:
1. Kix and
the Blues Vultures @ Rams Head Live
Friday, September 21st
There are dozens of middle-tier glam metal bands that never quite
reached the commercial stratosphere alongside Motley Crue or Poison,
but had a couple hits and can still hit the reunion circuit whenever
they please. But there's something about Kix, and their fanatical
local following dating back to the Hammerjacks era, that makes their
yearly victory laps through Baltimore and the surrounding area feel
just a little more special than your average '80s nostalgia trip. And
a large part of that is that the sleazy, bluesy new wave metal of the
band's early albums has aged surprisingly well, and they've still got
the chops to play the hell out of those tunes a couple decades later.
2. Avec,
Karmella's Game, Endless Mike and the Beagle Club, and Velociraptor @
The Ottobar
Wednesday, May 2nd
Indie rock bills with several bands tend to be a crapshoot, where at
least one act is so lousy or unremarkable that they kind of drag down
the night's momentum. But this was one of those rare nights where all
four bands on the bill, three local, were all worth seeing, and
included exciting previews of sophomore albums by both Avec (released
in September) and Karmella's Game (still forthcoming).
3. Skarr
Akbar, Bossman, Mullyman, Barnes, Huli Shallone, B.O.M.B., Comp,
TestMe @ 5 Seasons
Monday, April 9th
I saw practically every artist on the B-More Fresh Fest's bill
multiple times this year, and in some instances they performed better
sets on one of those other occasions. But to whatever extent a scene
as under the radar as Baltimore hip hop can deliver spectacle and
starpower, this show had it: half the city's biggest MCs on one stage,
at one point nearly all at the same time during Skarr Akbar's set,
performing for a packed house with no beef or bullshit.
4. Monarch,
Thrushes and Minmae @ the Lo-Fi Social Club
Wednesday, March 28th
The one memory that I'll always associate with Lo-Fi's short-lived
original Brooklyn location is hearing Monarch's gorgeous "Obituary"
for the first time, rocking back and forth on my heels and closing my
eyes and feeling completely caught up in the moment. It's a happy
memory.
5. Rasputina
and My Brightest Diamond @ The Ottobar
Wednesday, August 8th
I didn't go out of my own aesthetic comfort zone too often this year
when figuring out what shows to go to. But I'm glad that when a friend
was in town, I decided to accept his invitation to check out a bill of
two eccentric chamber pop acts I'd never heard before, who put on a
more enjoyable show than many bands whose songs I already know by
heart.
6. ShellBe
R.A.W., Jade Fox, B-Fly, G.E.M. and Symantyx @ 5 Seasons
Saturday, May 12th
The documentary Even A Man Can Do This, and this showcase
concert affiliated with the film, attested to the fact that there's an
uncommonly high percentage of talented female rappers in Baltimore,
and that I wasn't merely grouping a disparate group of artists
together on the basis of gender for the sake of a
piece. It is a disparate group, though -- from B-Fly's sensual
live band set to G.E.M.'s ferocious tag team rhymes to Symantyx's
hilarious freestyles, they cast a far wider net than comparable
male-dominated bills like the B-More Fresh Fest.
7. Ted Leo
& The Pharmacists @ the 9:30 Club
Saturday, December 8th
Ted Leo is one of the few national acts that I'll come out to see
almost every time he rolls through the area, which included three
times this year alone. And the best of those was the latter of his
recent two night stand in Washington, wherein Leo and his band capped
off the Living With The Living tour with a road tested run
through a fast-paced, overstuffed setlist, and a spontaneous rendition
of the oft-neglected live favorite "Ballad of the Sin Eater."
8. The
New Flesh Vs. Everyone @ The Sidebar
Monday, August 9th
A member of The New Flesh described their performance, which involved
playing short sets between several other bands in the Sidebar's own
bizarro open mic format, later that night as "like hittin' a brick
wall." But the abrupt start-stop momentum of The New Flesh alternating
with likeminded bands like the Flatliners, Animal and Archaeopteryx,
was a fun way to hear a whole lot of nasty, loud music in quick
succession, at least for an outside observer.
9. Private
Eleanor @ The Walters Art Gallery
Friday, April 20th
This show, an intimate release party for their album
Sweethearting in a swanky seated venue, was pretty much the
ideal circumstance in which to see Private Eleanor, perhaps the
quietest of the many bands making a very gentle noise in Baltimore
these days.
10. Sloan @
the Black Cat
Sunday, May 13th
Sloan released my favorite album of 2007, which means that their D.C.
show in support of Never Hear The End Of It was one of those
rare occasions where a band with a deep back catalog chose to focus
heavily on the new record, and it actually wasn't a problem at all.
Of all the dozens of shows I've covered in this space in 2007, it
could be more interesting to look back at all the bad performances,
bad venues and bad vibes I experienced rather than what actually went
right. But that would also essentially be like running the same
negative review twice, and
it personally the first time. So let's just focus on the good here
with the top ten concerts I saw this year:
1. Kix and
the Blues Vultures @ Rams Head Live
Friday, September 21st
There are dozens of middle-tier glam metal bands that never quite
reached the commercial stratosphere alongside Motley Crue or Poison,
but had a couple hits and can still hit the reunion circuit whenever
they please. But there's something about Kix, and their fanatical
local following dating back to the Hammerjacks era, that makes their
yearly victory laps through Baltimore and the surrounding area feel
just a little more special than your average '80s nostalgia trip. And
a large part of that is that the sleazy, bluesy new wave metal of the
band's early albums has aged surprisingly well, and they've still got
the chops to play the hell out of those tunes a couple decades later.
2. Avec,
Karmella's Game, Endless Mike and the Beagle Club, and Velociraptor @
The Ottobar
Wednesday, May 2nd
Indie rock bills with several bands tend to be a crapshoot, where at
least one act is so lousy or unremarkable that they kind of drag down
the night's momentum. But this was one of those rare nights where all
four bands on the bill, three local, were all worth seeing, and
included exciting previews of sophomore albums by both Avec (released
in September) and Karmella's Game (still forthcoming).
3. Skarr
Akbar, Bossman, Mullyman, Barnes, Huli Shallone, B.O.M.B., Comp,
TestMe @ 5 Seasons
Monday, April 9th
I saw practically every artist on the B-More Fresh Fest's bill
multiple times this year, and in some instances they performed better
sets on one of those other occasions. But to whatever extent a scene
as under the radar as Baltimore hip hop can deliver spectacle and
starpower, this show had it: half the city's biggest MCs on one stage,
at one point nearly all at the same time during Skarr Akbar's set,
performing for a packed house with no beef or bullshit.
4. Monarch,
Thrushes and Minmae @ the Lo-Fi Social Club
Wednesday, March 28th
The one memory that I'll always associate with Lo-Fi's short-lived
original Brooklyn location is hearing Monarch's gorgeous "Obituary"
for the first time, rocking back and forth on my heels and closing my
eyes and feeling completely caught up in the moment. It's a happy
memory.
5. Rasputina
and My Brightest Diamond @ The Ottobar
Wednesday, August 8th
I didn't go out of my own aesthetic comfort zone too often this year
when figuring out what shows to go to. But I'm glad that when a friend
was in town, I decided to accept his invitation to check out a bill of
two eccentric chamber pop acts I'd never heard before, who put on a
more enjoyable show than many bands whose songs I already know by
heart.
6. ShellBe
R.A.W., Jade Fox, B-Fly, G.E.M. and Symantyx @ 5 Seasons
Saturday, May 12th
The documentary Even A Man Can Do This, and this showcase
concert affiliated with the film, attested to the fact that there's an
uncommonly high percentage of talented female rappers in Baltimore,
and that I wasn't merely grouping a disparate group of artists
together on the basis of gender for the sake of a
piece. It is a disparate group, though -- from B-Fly's sensual
live band set to G.E.M.'s ferocious tag team rhymes to Symantyx's
hilarious freestyles, they cast a far wider net than comparable
male-dominated bills like the B-More Fresh Fest.
7. Ted Leo
& The Pharmacists @ the 9:30 Club
Saturday, December 8th
Ted Leo is one of the few national acts that I'll come out to see
almost every time he rolls through the area, which included three
times this year alone. And the best of those was the latter of his
recent two night stand in Washington, wherein Leo and his band capped
off the Living With The Living tour with a road tested run
through a fast-paced, overstuffed setlist, and a spontaneous rendition
of the oft-neglected live favorite "Ballad of the Sin Eater."
8. The
New Flesh Vs. Everyone @ The Sidebar
Monday, August 9th
A member of The New Flesh described their performance, which involved
playing short sets between several other bands in the Sidebar's own
bizarro open mic format, later that night as "like hittin' a brick
wall." But the abrupt start-stop momentum of The New Flesh alternating
with likeminded bands like the Flatliners, Animal and Archaeopteryx,
was a fun way to hear a whole lot of nasty, loud music in quick
succession, at least for an outside observer.
9. Private
Eleanor @ The Walters Art Gallery
Friday, April 20th
This show, an intimate release party for their album
Sweethearting in a swanky seated venue, was pretty much the
ideal circumstance in which to see Private Eleanor, perhaps the
quietest of the many bands making a very gentle noise in Baltimore
these days.
10. Sloan @
the Black Cat
Sunday, May 13th
Sloan released my favorite album of 2007, which means that their D.C.
show in support of Never Hear The End Of It was one of those
rare occasions where a band with a deep back catalog chose to focus
heavily on the new record, and it actually wasn't a problem at all.
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