Category: Concert Review (Page 1 of 8)

Recap: Land Of Talk @ Hollywood Forever

July 3, 2017 / aftertheshow

When: Sunday, July 2, 2017

Where: The Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Los Angeles, CA

What: Land Of Talk play their final show of the tour

After a long six-year hiatus, Land Of Talk delighted fans with an announcement of a new album (Life After Youth) and a tour. The band kicked off their set at the Masonic Lodge with “Yes You Were,” which is fittingly the first track on the new album.

It was great to see a handful of very enthusiastic, excited audience members towards the front, singing along to every word. Highlights of Land of Talk’s set included old songs “Some Are Lakes” and “Quarry Hymns” — which got huge cheers from the crowd — as well as new songs “Loving” and “This Time.”

The encore song was “It’s Okay,” the perfect way to slow down the intensity and end the show.

Pandora’s 2015 Grammy After-Party

February 9, 2015 / aftertheshow

Last night, Pandora’s 2015 Grammy Awards After-Party at Create Nightclub in Hollywood was a huge success.

The event, Pandora’s 2nd annual Grammy After-Party, was sponsored by T-Mobile and featured Lil Jon on DJ duties.

Blasts of white confetti (see below) kicked off Lil Jon’s DJ set, and the crowd responded enthusiastically to his song selections.

Lil Jon played some of his own songs, as well as snippets of songs like “Lose Yourself” by Eminem, “No Scrubs” by TLC, and “Work It” by Missy Elliott. I wish he had played more of “Work It,” though — he only played an instrumental part!

Can’t wait to see what Pandora brings next year for their post-Grammy Awards celebration!

The Record Company @ The Satellite

April 6, 2014 / aftertheshow

The Record Company headlined a sold out show at The Satellite on Friday April 4th, celebrating the release of their new vinyl EP Feels So Good.

The EP contains unreleased B-sides (which played over the Satellite’s speakers before The Record Company took the stage).

The roots/rock/blues trio consists of Chris on vocals/guitars/harmonica, Alex on bass/vocals, and Marc on drums/vocals.

The show started with Chris singing an a cappella intro before launching into the set. “On The Move” came early and sounded similar to the album version with its slightly distorted vocals.

I thought the best part of the show was the third song — the bassist played both bass guitar and harmonica on “Baby I’m Broken.”

The Record Company went on to play a bunch of songs acoustically (even with an acoustic bass), like “Hard Day Coming Down.” Sonically the songs were a throwback to the early rock and roll and blues of the late 1950s and early 1960s.

For “Don’t Let Me Get Lonely” there was lots of dancing in the audience, and The Record Company ended their show by bringing opening band The Janks up on stage for a cover of “Will The Circle Be Unbroken,” an old hymn.

Website: The Record Company

Ume @ The Satellite

April 5, 2014 / aftertheshow

Ume (ooh-may) performed at The Satellite in LA on Friday April 4th to support their new record Monuments (Dangerbird Records, the follow-up to 2011’s Phantoms).

Playing a cool green Fender guitar (before switching to a darker green one for the second song), Lauren kicked off Ume’s set and powered through, song after song, with almost no talk in between.

Ume played a mix of harder, almost screamo-influenced songs and softer songs, which reminded me of No Doubt circa Return Of Saturn. I definitely preferred the softer songs, like “Too Big World” and “Barophobia.”

The new song “Barophobia” was, in fact, the highlight of the Austin-based band’s show. Placing it in the middle of their set, Ume changed “Barophobia” up from the album version, distinguishing the choruses from the verses more by emphasizing distortion on the chorus.

Unfortunately the Satellite’s sound that night wasn’t the best — the bass was way too loud and made the vocals hard to hear. A bigger space and stage would fit better with Ume’s expansive sound — it felt a little constrained and loud in a room the size of the Satellite.

There were also videographers filming the concert, so keep an eye out for that footage to surface.

UmeMusic.com

The Melodic @ The Satellite

January 30, 2014 / aftertheshow

I’m so glad I saw UK-based band The Melodic last night (Tuesday 1.28.2014) at the Satellite.

I didn’t know much about The Melodic (except that they’re from the UK), but I thought I’d catch their set because of the headliner Johnny Flynn (who co-stars with Anne Hathaway in the upcoming movie Song One, scored and composed by Jenny Lewis & Johnathan Rice).

First off, I’ve never seen The Satellite so crowded — the show was sold out, and it was completely packed.

I was very pleasantly surprised with The Melodic — their music was relaxing and gentle, yet still upbeat and interesting. It can be tough to straddle the line between mellow and boring, and they weren’t boring at all.

The band’s 5 members kicked off their brand of indie-folk with “Hold On.” The drummer used brushes a lot, and the tiny tambourine he had on top of his hi-hat really made a big difference and contributed to their sound.

Highlights were “On My Way,” featuring a nice trade off between male and female vocals, and “Come Outside,” with Johnny Flynn playing the fiddle part.

The penultimate song of The Melodic’s set was a really nice cover (I didn’t catch who wrote the original) — stripped back acoustic with just the female singer on vocals.

For more on The Melodic, visit their website + their Facebook

Kan Wakan @ The Troubadour

November 6, 2013 / aftertheshow

Kan Wakan played to a full room last night (11/4/2013) at the Troubadour. I wasn’t expecting such a large band — there were seven musicians on stage!

To begin their set, a sole violinist played as the other band members came out, and everyone wore all black (except the singer, who wore a white and red jacket over an all black outfit).

Kan Wakan played effects-laden music with a ton of influences — I heard some tropical/Hawaiian sounds, as well as smooth jazz, psychedelic, experimental, and at times folksy vibes. On the second song, the singer shook a tambourine and one guitarist shook an egg shaker — this percussion as well as the saxophone really added to the overall sound.

I also noticed that the electric guitar player used a slide and the drummer played with his snare drum turned off in a few of the long, jamming songs.

Kan Wakan finished off their set with “Midnight Moon Pt 1 & 11” — the song went on a pretty long time, but the two marimba players were the best part. People in the front of the crowd were really into the music and were moving around.

+ Check out KanWakan.com for more info. on the band.