Top Shows of 2009

Posted by Chris Campbell at Tuesday, December 15, 2009 0

Given a slew of reasons (fewer paychecks, preferring to sit at home and listen to records/read/take bubble baths, etc.) my nights out in rock clubs decreased pretty significantly in 2009. However, I do believe that this is temporary. There's still nothing as therapeutic and soul-grabbing as a live performance and 2010 will likely see me out much more. Like every year since 1993 or so, I was fortunate enough to see some amazing live shows. I'm probably forgetting some, but off the top of my dome, these are the most memorable:

1 Son Volt @ The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA, 12.9.09

2 Wilco & Okkervil River @ The Berkeley Theatre, Berkeley, CA, 6.27.09

3 Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band @ Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ, 10.3.09

4 Brian Jonestown Massacre @ Coachella, Indio, CA, 4.18.09

5 Damien Jurado @ Bottom of the Hill, San Francisco, CA, 5.5.09

Brian Jonestown's Mark

Posted by Chris Campbell at Tuesday, April 21, 2009 0

There's nothing like a show that continues to deliver well after the encores have concluded and the drum kit has been shuffled offstage. Of all the bands I saw down at Coachella, the performance by Brian Jonestown Massacre did one thing: It reminded me that yes, there are still great rock bands playing today.

It seems as if the majority of today's music attempts to do just about everything. Image is king and the majority of the bands touted by say Pitchfork or Stereogum strive to find their place, and in doing so, lose sight of the real force behind the damn music. They want to look different (while all looking the same) and sound a little different (while all sounding like ass), but in the end, it's nothing but a repetitive void of crap. (I really do not know what that means at all.)

Brian Jonestown Massacre took the stage with five guitar players and absolutely tore through a 45 minute set of pure and raw rock and roll. That's it. It was loud, unbelievably tight and the band seemed like a real damn band; everyone playing their part and as a whole creating a fantastic and spirited sound. I felt the music take hold. I watched five guitar players hitting every damn note and noticed that they could also feel the cohesion onstage. This was goddamn rock n' roll, something I couldn't recall seeing for some time.