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Concert Review, Music, Music Review

Concert review: Wake Up.

A band I’ve been longing to see, which hasn’t played live for six years. Arcade Fire.

The O2 in London, September 8th, 2022. Well, finally. 

Probably 20,000 people or so…  full. A diverse bunch attending the show (or maybe it’s been such a long while since a large event because of COVID, and I’ve just forgotten). Young, old, and those like me (in self-denial mode). A huge auditorium.

The Queen

Just as I left my flat before the show, the BBC on the TV said Queen Elizabeth II had died – 6:30pm BST. Then my cab arrived, and I said goodbye to my wife within minutes of the news. It was an hour-long drive, the news was on the radio in the cab, and I could see in the streets many people looking at their smartphones (at least more than usual).

No real difference at the O2, really, other than every single electronic panel/signage already mentioning her passing and sending condolences along with tributes.

As a dedication, Arcade Fire came out at the show’s beginning and played Louis Armstrong’s version of “Just a Closer Walk With Thee”, a song used primarily at New Orleans funeral processions. A minute’s silence proceeded, and then they jumped into “Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)”.

The Show

I loved it. Let’s get that out of the way. Win Butler and his wife, Régine Chassagne, alongside Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury, and Jeremy Gara did not disappoint. Régine can play so many instruments, it is mind-blowing… Drums, guitar, accordion, xylophone, and others. And of course, she sings.

Songs from all over their career. I call them a Canadian band, but Win is from California and, after many years and other places, ended up in Montreal, where he met his wife, Haitian-born Régine. The other members of the band are all Canadian. 

So, they are a Canadian band.

Most of the songs were ripped from their glorious new album, “WE”, followed by their first, “Funeral”. All fan favorites. If I was a fanboy fanatic, I’d say that many of Win’s songs start kind of slow but then build up into a fantastic crescendo of “YES!!!”, or… they start as “YES!!!” from the very beginning. OK, I am a fanboy fanatic.

So…

So, the O2 is huge. Other than those standing in the front and watching, it is also all seated. I was sort of two-thirds towards the back, but still with a great view of the stage and the “B-stage”, which is a small stage in the middle of the auditorium the band would use occasionally. 

The first few songs started… everyone remained seated during the Queen’s tribute, understandably, but then the classics poured in. But no one stood up around me. I waited. I didn’t want to ruin anyone’s view by standing.

Finally, the one song, “Ready To Start” (this was song four, I think), began, and gradually… very gradually… people around me started to stand. So, f**k it, I stood and clapped and jumped and sang along, etc. (these are the sorts of things I consider you must do when you go to a rock/pop concert, no)? After that, I stayed standing throughout the rest of the show. The couple next to me sat down a few times. I don’t know if anyone behind me did.

I didn’t care if anyone else was sitting around me. This was Arcade Fire and, yes, another band I had wanted to see for ages (OK, before dying). So, even during the slower songs, my attitude was one of “I DON’T GIVE A F**K ABOUT WHO IS AROUND ME”, so if they wanted to sit during this fantastic show, then, fine, sit.

I’m 50, though, in my head, I still think I’m 42 (maybe younger). But Win is 42, so hey, great.

They finished the main show with “Everything Now”, which I love, even though their album, Everything Now, is described as being their worst album, to the extent that Win sings on WE’s “End of the Empire IV (Sagittarius A*)”, a lyric …”We unsubscribe, F**k Season Five”. A joke about Everything Now, their fifth album.

Encore

After “Everything Now”, we had the usual, “Ok, let’s leave the stage, wait a bit and then come out and do the encore”. What I absolutely hate (and I’m sorry to those who may find this important), are the number of people who leave at the end of the show and before the encore… to get public transport, taxis, an easier ride home, a drink at a bar nearby, or… what?

So, the auditorium was still pretty full. Just not as full. I just kept thinking, “Those dorks just missed out on the best songs of the evening, which finished with Wake Up” (I think all their concerts finish with Wake Up). This is from “Funeral”, their first album, and it is a crowd-crazy pleaser to the extent that the audience can sing and let Arcade Fire just play their instruments… in essence, everyone was standing and going absolutely, arm-waving, bonkers.

Which was great. That was how I expected an Arcade Fire concert to end.

But then…

Wha?

So, I was leaving, gradually, as the place was so big, and then Win and Régine just started to … walk around. Primarily where I was seated. They walked up (OK, photo alert) and then to the left, right, down, up, left, and then down, right, and then… absolutely past me to the extent I said to Win, “Fantastic show,” and crazily patted Régine’s shoulder.

Now, when I mentioned this to my wife the next day, I felt like a little fanboy who had just met Simon Le Bon after a Duran Duran concert in 1984. Understandably, she looked at me with a blank stare, thinking, “He is 50, right?”

Well, since the concert, I’ve been digesting their music, and I can just say that Win and co. were fantastic at this show in September 2022. I’m glad that “WE” will be in my Top 10 list of “Best albums of the year of 2022”. I’m glad that, after all of this time, after this depressing delay… not being able to see live bands in a venue like the O2 because of COVID, Arcade Fire was the first one I saw.

So, thank you, AF.

Chris Garrod, Sept 10th, 2022

Concert Review, Music, Music Review, Technology

Concert review: Holy crap, what was that?

All photos by David James Swanson 

Jack White, formerly of The White Stripes and founder of Third Man Records, performed live in Baltimore on August 24th, 2022. I sat happily in the 3rd row of the Pier Sixth Concert Pavilion in awe.

OK, I say “sat.”  I mean “stood.” 

OK, not just stood. A lot of jumping and clapping along with my hands in the air, and since the guy behind me was yelling so much, I didn’t feel any need to hold back when necessary. 

Well, holy crap, what was that? That, indeed, was a Jack White concert.

The use of technology. Or non-technology

I have been to loads of shows where people appear to be enjoying themselves, but during so much of the show, they are taking photos and recording parts of the show on their smartphones without actually engaging with what they should be. The show. The artist.

I’m guilty – I’ve previously taken photos, video clips, etc.

But some folks will record entire songs and post them on YouTube, and to be honest, very rarely is the quality not… ultimately… crap. As the artist, I’d be f*&ing irritated. And why bother buying a ticket to see the artist in the first place if you’re wasting your money hoping for more “likes” on social media?

So, along comes Yondr, which Jack White and other artists (most prominently Dave Chappelle) are pioneering. It is actually brilliant. 

How it works: you arrive at the venue, and if you have bought along your smartphone, you’ll get a pouch. Enter your smartphone, which is locked in the pouch, so you cannot use it.  You’ll get briefly scanned to ensure you’re not hiding some other smartphone (smarty-pants) and then let in.

At first, it feels weird. “Hey, there’s the stage! Let me take a photo to send to my buddies!”  Nope. I arrived a bit early, and after getting something to eat from one of the stalls, I went to my seat and sat. Waiting. Watching and listening to the DJ on the stage. 

I began people-watching. The couple sitting next to me arrived to check their seat position and said, “Hey man, how are you?” I thought we were about to break into some sort of conversation, but they left. The opening act came on, and they were great. Cautious Clay from New York.

I’d never usually (as in, really, really rarely) sit and watch the entirety of an opening band, but these guys were really, really good. I later looked them up on the internet, and yes, they are.

Jack White

So, the Yondr made me pay attention. And once Jack White and his band hit the stage, I was happy it did.

Jack absolutely killed it, which I mean in a good, “I love rock music” way.  He reminded me why I love rock music so much. The total energy.

He played songs from his solo albums (mostly from his latest two, Fear of The Dawn and Entering Heaven Alive) but also a number from his time with The White Stripes (I will admit, I went bat-shit crazy when he played “Hotel Yorba”), The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather (he finished the official set with “I Cut Like a Buffalo”).

During the encore, there was a brilliant mix towards the end of what began to sound like “Seven Nation Army,”… getting everyone excited, but which then turned into “Steady, As She Goes” (from his time with The Raconteurs), which then slowed down…stopped, and turned into “Seven Nation Army.” The audience went unsurprisingly nuts.

I wasn’t initially sure he would use older material or just stick with his solo stuff. Still, as soon as he ripped into “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” earlier on, I thought, “Well, so he’s definitely going to end with Seven Nation Army,” then.

It didn’t matter anyway.  

The entire thing was brilliant from start to finish, and the lack of smartphones kept the audience enraptured (appropriately so). Jack slid across the stage everywhere, singing, playing, and jumping around. His opening songs from Fear of the Dawn justified how brilliant an artist he really is. His energy on the stage is practically atomic, and he is one of our best guitarists.

The songs are not only hooky and catchy, but they rocked the hell out of the place. Seeing Jack live singing them left my jaw open, but for the fact that I was singing along, clapping along, etc.  

He stopped at points to take breathers (him and the audience), dry off, trade guitars (I’m not sure I’ve ever seen an artist exchange so many guitars), and play a few slower songs from Entering Heaven Alive. He cheekily played “We’re Going to be Friends,” a White Stripes song where he managed to get the audience to sing practically half of it, as it is such an iconic song from The White Stripes.

I have a sort of funny list of “Bands and Artists I Want to See Before I’m Dead.”  Well, Jack White, you were on it, and thank you.  You did not disappoint. 

Chris Garrod, August 25, 2022

Music, Music Review

Review: Back stronger than a ’90s trend.

It feels like she cannot stop making music, and it’s outstanding.

Taylor Swift was born in just 1989. So she is only 31 years old.

It’s truly fantastic to see her progress. When I started to write this, I was going to detail that progress, all the way up to 2019’s Lover, which became one of my favorite albums of that year. But it just became too much.

I just want to look at the now.

Her last year, 2020.

folklore
evermore

Both released just out of the blue, folklore and evermore shocked me; the first in July and the next in December. Both albums were largely produced by The National’s Aaron Dessner and long-time collaborator Jack Antonoff, who produced a few tracks.

The best way I can describe these albums is – while Swift described them as sister albums – that they just… drift along together. Notwithstanding the various reviews regarding which one is better (Metacritic ranks folklore), I very much see these two albums as one. They’re not even sisters in my opinion. But for “Willow” being the outstanding opener of evermore, they really are hard to tear apart, running on a constant basis (NB: caveat… I’ve now listened so much to them both, I really can tell them apart, ahem).

evermore was really conceived during the Long Pond Studio Sessions documentary, recorded with Dessner and Antonoff. Indie band Haim, Bon Iver, and The National appear on three of the tracks of evermore. Bon Iver appears on folklore (more on that below.)

Although she has maintained her pop music core, these are really indie albums. They are both introspective. The lyrics are ‘in demand’ listening – you really, really have to appreciate what she is singing. Plus she swears!

Dessner stated after folklore was released:

Taylor has opened the door for artists to not feel pressure to have “the bop.” To make the record that she made, while running against what is programmed in radio at the highest levels of pop music — she has kind of made an anti-pop record.

I’m not sure I’d say either folklore or evermore are “anti-pop”. Make no mistake, for the most part, these are really still pop albums but dialed down a notch, certainly.

The one song I’d highlight, which I’d say is certainly not a pop song, from folklore, is Exile, with Bon Iver. This is a song which has been so beautifully written by Swift, William Bowery, and Justin Vernon, that on my first listen, completely brought tears to my eyes, something songs just really don’t do. I was initially taken aback by the opening: Vernon’s singing. That was followed by Swift’s. The two combined and split apart again and then hit an amazing, beautiful crescendo, which left me literally gobsmacked. Lyrically, it is incredible. The song is about a break-up between two lovers, which is irretrievable. The song is absolutely devastating.

Swift has always been a great songwriter. 1989 and Lover are examples. Her early country music output began when she was just sixteen, with Taylor Swift being released and becoming the longest-charting album of the 2000s decade on the Billboard 200. At just sixteen.

In my view, folklore and evermore have elevated her to a brand new level, and the two combined were my favorite albums of 2020.

I’m looking forward to hearing what she does next.

Chris Garrod, 10 February, 2021