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Archive for the ‘Bethlehem, PA’ Category

Deftones (Sands Bethlehem Event Center, Bethlehem, PA, August 2, 2016)

Posted in Bethlehem, PA, Deftones, Sands Bethlehem Event Center, The Smiths on August 3, 2016| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 2, 2016] Deftones

2016-08-02 23.24.33I tend to not go to metal shows all that often, but there have been a few bands that I’ve really wanted to see.  Mastodon was one and Deftones was the other.  I’ve loved just about everything Deftones have done since the super heavy “My Own Summer” and then the major turn they took into an almost shoegaze vibe on their later albums.  They are never afraid to experiment and their albums are always compelling.  Much of that is due to singer Chino Moreno’s voice.  He can whisper and sing beautifully and he can scream like nobody I’ve ever heard.  And all of that was on display last night.

Top it off with Chino being an incredibly charming and gracious frontman (who seemed to be more than enjoying himself) and you have an outstanding show.

The band sounded great.  I was right in front of guitarist Stephen Carpenter and it was amazing to watch the sounds he was making out of his eight string (8!) guitar.  I couldn’t really see bassist Sergio Vega all that well, although I was delighted that he was wearing a Smiths shirt and was singing great harmonies. (more…)

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Refused (Sands Bethlehem Event Center, Bethlehem, PA, August 2, 2016) [DEFTONES]

Posted in Bethlehem, PA, Deftones, Refused, Sands Bethlehem Event Center, Spotlights on August 2, 2016| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 2, 2016] Refused

2016-08-02 21.06.30I had never heard of Refused before this show.  I looked them up and saw that they are a Swedish punk band who supports pretty radical ideas.  The thing I missed though was that their most well known album, The Shape of Punk to Come, came out in 1998!

The band broke up right after that album (their 3rd).  They reunited in 2012 with much the same lineup (there had been some different band member in the original days as well).  Last year they put out a new album and here they were touring with Deftones.

From the little I’d read, it sounded like they were a hardcore band.  So I had very specific expectations.  But they were instantly dashed when I heard the very metal riffage that the guitarists produced. (more…)

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Spotlights (Sands Bethlehem Event Center, Bethlehem, PA, August 2, 2016) [DEFTONES]

Posted in Bethlehem, PA, Deftones, Kim Gordon, Refused, Sands Bethlehem Event Center, Spotlights on August 2, 2016| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 2, 2016] Spotlights

2016-08-02 20.18.11I have been pretty excited to see Deftones for a while.  I knew they had an opening act called Refused, who I didn’t know, and just recently they added a third opening band called Spotlights, whom I’d also never heard of.

I looked them up online and saw them described as doomgaze or sludgegaze, which I loved.  And when I listened to one of their songs that was a pretty good description–a shoegaze vibe but with some seriously heavy low end rumble and heavy metal crunch.

Seeing them live, it was a bit of a different story.  Some of the shoegaze vibe and cool subtleties on their record got a little lost in the wall of noise at the Sands Event Center.

This is not to say that the set was bad (it wasn’t at all) but that the live show had a different feel than the record.  Primarily in that the vocals were a little buried.  (They’re kind of buried on the record too, but in a different way). (more…)

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Ben Folds with yMusic (Levitt Pavilion, Steelstacks, Bethlehem, PA, July 16, 2016)

Posted in Ben Folds, Bethlehem, PA, Gracie Folds, Guster, Levitt Pavilion, Regina Spektor, Steelstacks, yMusic on July 15, 2016| 1 Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 14, 2016] Ben Folds with yMusic

2016-07-14 22.42.16This was the third time that Sarah and I have seen Ben Folds and he never fails to put on a great show.

Both of the previous times had been as an opening act (and both times were with Guster, interestingly).  So it was great to see him headlining.  I didn’t know a lot about yMusic before the show, but I enjoyed his disc with them So There.  It promised to be a great show.

And since, as I mentioned with Gracie Folds, we were literally three people from the stage, we knew the show would be special. (more…)

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Gracie Folds (Levitt Pavilion, Steelstacks, Bethlehem, PA, July 16, 2016) [BEN FOLDS w/ yMUSIC]

Posted in Ben Folds, Bethlehem, PA, Gracie Folds, Levitt Pavilion, Regina Spektor, Steelstacks, Tori Amos on July 14, 2016| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 14, 2016] Gracie Folds

2016-07-14 19.36.50The Levitt Pavilion Steelstacks in Bethlehem is one of my favorite venues.  Last year I saw Modest Mouse there and this year it was Ben Folds.  I raved to Sarah about the venue last time but I don’t think she realized just how great it would be until we walked onto the grass and walked up to the stage where there were only two people in front of us.  And, if we were pushier, we could have easily gotten up to the fence.

So, yes, we were about three people from the stage.  And just to make it better, the forecast predicted massive thunderstorms all night long, but by the time of the show, the clouds had parted and a cool breeze came in through the field.

As the show started a young girl walked out and sat at her keyboard and told us her name was Gracie.  Anyone who is a fan of Ben Folds knows he has a daughter named Gracie.  But those of us who have no concept of time passing still assume she is like 6 years old.  Well, she is 17 and she opened for her dad.  And that’s pretty awesome. (more…)

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The Flaming Lips (Live at Musikfest, Sands Steel Stage at PNC Plaza, Bethlehem, PA August 7, 2015)

Posted in Bethlehem, PA, CHAPPO, Musikfest, The Flaming Lips on August 9, 2015| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 7, 2015] The Flaming Lips

2015-08-07 20.46.40I have been a fan of the Flaming Lips for a pretty long time.  I saw them in 2000 on The Soft Bulletin tour and it was one of the most exciting concerts I had been to.  Wayne Coyne was a stellar frontman, and he spoke of love and happiness and togetherness and it was an amazingly positive experience.  So, when they broke out “She Don’t Use Jelly,” their goofy novelty hit from 1993 (which I was surprised by), and they released hundred of balloons into Irving Plaza, the whole atmosphere was filled with joy.

For that show, it was Wayne on vocals and gong (he played the gong a lot), Michael Ivins on bass and Steven Drozd on everything else.  For a drummer they used a video feed (of I believe Steven).  It was weird but it worked really well.  And even fifteen years later I remember it very fondly.

Well, in fifteen years, the Lips have gotten bigger, technology has gotten cheaper and more portable and Coyne’s ambitions have gotten more psychedelic.  And this was the most fun I have ever had at a concert when the set list was no where near one that I would have put together myself (more on that later).

So for this show, there were giant costumed characters on stage, there was a gigantic wall of video screens, there were confetti guns (mounted as well as hand held) and there were balloons (much bigger balloons than last time).  And yes, Wayne crawled out in the hamster ball. (more…)

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CHAPPO (Live at Musikfest, Sands Steel Stage at PNC Plaza, Bethlehem, PA, August 7, 2015) [THE FLAMING LIPS]

Posted in "Weird Al" Yankovic, Bethlehem, PA, CHAPPO, Musikfest, The Flaming Lips, Voirvoir on August 8, 2015| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 7, 2015] CHAPPO

2015-08-07 19.50.02I bought tickets to see the Flaming Lips at Musikfest (opening night headliners!).  By the time the show came around it was announced that there would be two opening acts.  Local Bethlehem band Voirvoir and Brooklyn band CHAPPO.  I had listened to the Voirvoir album streaming and I really liked it.  So I decided to get to the show at 6 to check them out.  Well, I didn’t realize how chaotic Musikfest was.  So between the parking and the shuttle bus and finally finding the venue I got to the band as their final chord rang out.  I didn’t even get to actually see them, just head then end of their last song.

But since I liked the stream I listened to, I bought the album… and it is fantastic.  I will post more about it shortly.  They are also playing again (3 times!) on Saturday at Musikfest, so I may try to bring the family down to check them out.

Since I was then plenty early for CHAPPO (whose music I didn’t stream because I knew I’d be seeing them), I walked around the grounds and checked things out.  And by the time I got back to the seats I was dehydrated and feeling a little unwell.  So even though I was in row H, I sat further back in the shade with a cold water.  And at first I wasn’t too impressed with CHAPPO.  The songs were good but I think the mix may have been off (or, more likely I wasn’t feeling great).

2015-08-07 19.24.10But I was watching the people up front having a great time, and I enjoyed that the singer was throwing things into the audience (turned out to be tubes with confetti (fun!)).  And I enjoyed watching the guitarist use a bow in his guitar (how many times this summer?).  And after a few songs, some water and the shade creeping into my section, I decided to head up to my seat.  And that when CHAPPO won me over. (more…)

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Modest Mouse (Levitt Pavilion, Steelstacks, Bethlehem, PA, July 20, 2015)

Posted in Bethlehem, PA, Gene Ween, Levitt Pavilion, Modest Mouse, Neil Young, Steelstacks, Ugly Casanova on July 22, 2015| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 20, 2015] Modest Mouse

2015-07-20 21.06.16Just as I had seen Neil Young less than a year ago, so I had seen Modest Mouse less than a year ago.  The last show I saw with them was a sort of preview of the then unreleased new album.  Now the album is out and there’s a single from it and everything.  This show was announced very quickly and it was in the Levitt Pavillion at Steelstacks, a venue I didn’t know, but which I will certainly return to.

It was awesome being about seven or 8 people away from Isaac to really watch him go nuts.

Modest Mouse can be really catchy, but they are often dissonant and Brock is known for being prickly.  So, imagine starting off your show with the third from the last song from your new album.  And from there, Brock sang and raged and jumped around and was a total maniac.

He seemed to get shocked twice (from sweating a lot?–it was 85 degrees at night) and said “Did you see that?  That hurt so much!”  And man can he yell. (more…)

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Gene Ween (Levitt Pavilion, Steelstacks, Bethlehem, PA, July 20, 2015) [MODEST MOUSE]

Posted in Bethlehem, PA, Gene Ween, Levitt Pavilion, Steelstacks, Ween on July 21, 2015| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 20, 2015] Gene Ween

2015-07-20 19.31.35I knew and liked Ween back in college. I stopped following them once they released their country album, so I was surprised to see just how many records they had released and just how respected they had gotten (relatively of course).

Dean and Gene Ween are from New Hope and they released dozens of records as Ween. Gene Ween (real name Aaron Freeman) quit the band in 2012, which basically dissolved the band.

Freeman released a few records under the name Freeman and some under Aaron Freeman and one or two under Gene Ween (not to be confusing or anything).  It seemed like he wanted to dissociate himself from Ween a bit, although since hardly anyone knew his real name, it seemed like a hard thing to do, which explains why he is touring as Gene Ween now.  And given that much of this show was made up of Ween songs, he’s clearly not ashamed of it or anything. (more…)

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Levitt Pavillion, Steelstacks, Bethlehem, PA: an amazing concert venue

Posted in "Weird Al" Yankovic, Bethlehem, PA, Modest Mouse, Steelstacks, The Flaming Lips on July 21, 2015| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 20, 2015] The Steelstacks Pavilion

2015-07-20 19.18.38We have been to the Sands Casino stage in Bethlehem three times.  The sound isn’t great, but it’s a close venue and that’s where we saw “Weird Al” from row three, so it will always be awesome to us.

But just a few blocks away there is the Steelstacks venue.  I’ll be seeing the Flaming Lips in the larger venue (I don’t even rally have a sense of where it is) in a few weeks.  But last night I saw Gene Ween and Modest Mouse in the Levitt Pavillion.  And while I’ll talk about the shows, I had to spend a few paragraphs talking about this amazing venue.

After going to Philly and spending $25 for parking that was almost a ten minute walk away, or traipsing to New York City ($14 just for the tunnel), imaging going to a venue and getting free, close parking (I sorta hoped that Modest Mouse would play “Convenient Parking, but they didn’t).  (more…)

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