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Archive for the ‘The Head and the Heart’ Category

The Head and The Heart (State Theatre, New Brunswick, NJ, November 4, 2023)

Posted in Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors, New Brunswick, NJ, State Theatre, The Head and the Heart on November 5, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 4, 2023] The Head and The Heart

My wife and I saw The Head and the Heart in 2019 and it was terrible (not the band, the crowd)

I wrote:

But holy crap, the people around me sucked so bad that they ruined the whole night.  I am writing this ten days after the show and I hate to say that I am still annoyed by them all.  …

So I had quite possibly the worst concert experience of my life at this show.  And I want to reiterate it had nothing to do with the band.  There may have been a song or two in the middle that I wasn’t too excited about, but overall, they sounded great, played some really fun songs and seemed to be really enjoying themselves.  I wouldn’t mind seeing them again to make up for this show, but I probably won’t.

So last time they came around, I decided not to see them.  But I figured they were coming to the State Theatre, how bad could the audience be?

And indeed, they weren’t too bad.  They talked a lot during Drew Holcomb, but were largely good during THATH.  The strange thing to me was how many kids there were there.  Like dozens of them.  Which is fine, it was just surprising as they’re not a notably kiddie band.  Although when I asked some parents about this, the dad said they were not offensive, which is very true. (more…)

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Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors (State Theatre, New Brunswick, NJ, November 4, 2023) [THE HEAD AND THE HEART]

Posted in Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors, New Brunswick, NJ, State Theatre, The Head and the Heart on November 4, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 4, 2023] Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors

I had purchased these tickets a pretty long time ago–a chance to see The Head and the Heart again after the disastrous last time we saw them.

Then The Last Dinner Party announced that they were playing a couple of shows i the U.S. and I grabbed a ticket trying to decide if we could blow off The Head and the Heart.  But I thought it would be more fun to see a show with my wife, so we went.

Then Drew Holcomb came on and I was sure I’d made the wrong choice.

Holcomb is a Tennessee country singer.  Ouch.

His voice wasn’t the worst in terms of twanginess.  But his songs were so generic and bland it was sad.  His lyrics were also really meh.

In the first song he lists a bunch of things that “I am” an endless list which included (more…)

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The War on Drugs / Shakey Graves / Lucius / Steve Gunn (The Stone Pony Summer Stage, Asbury Park, NJ, August 18, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Asbury Park, NJ, Lucius, Shakey Graves, Steve Gunn, The Head and the Heart, The Revivalists, The Stone Pony, The Stone Pony Summer Stage, The War on Drugs on August 18, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: August 18, 2023] The War on Drugs / Shakey Graves / Lucius / Steve Gunn

My wife and I saw The War on Drugs as our first show after the pandemic.  And it was wonderful. We were seated in a terrible seats at The Met, but the show was chill and mellow and we sat far away and the music swept over us.

I wasn’t sure if we’d want to go to this show, though because Stone Pony Summer Stage is a questionable proposition.  It’s a lovely venue but depending on the crowd, it can be terrible.  Plus, I know that standing around for four bands can be exhausting.  Especially since I wanted to see Lucius, but not necessarily Shakey Graves.

Steve Gunn is a musician who I thought I didn’t know, but I have seen a Tiny Desk of his.  He plays a kind of slow acoustic guitar with an eastern-style drone. It’s slow and addictive but I don’t think I’d want to stand to hear it.

Lucius is a band that I’d like to see live but somehow keep missing, as they play every stage that I’m not going to.

Shakey Graves and Lucius were both at the Guster festival this past weekend.  Which is kind of crazy.  I had said that I didn’t want to see Shakey Graves, but when I re-read my thoughts about his Newport Folk performance from a few years ago, I remembered that I thought he’d be fun to see live–he’s great at getting the crowd psyched up.

But, honestly, we were happy to stay home on a Friday night.

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The Head and the Heart / The Revivalists (Skyline Stage at The Mann Center, July 12, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA, Skyline Stage at The Mann, The Head and the Heart, The Revivalists on July 12, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: July 12, 2023] The Head and the Heart / The Revivalists

I’m actually surprised that this show was at the Skyline stage instead of the main building at The Mann.  That kind of made me want to go a little bit more (but very little as The Mann is a pain in the ass to get to).

Turns out, though, that we were away on the night of the show, so, it did’t matter anyway.

My wife and I saw The Head and the Heart at the Met Philly in 2019.  Here’s what I wrote:

I had quite possibly the worst concert experience of my life at this show.  And I want to reiterate it had nothing to do with the band.  There may have been a song or two in the middle that I wasn’t too excited about, but overall, they sounded great, played some really fun songs and seemed to be really enjoying themselves.

I wouldn’t mind seeing them again to make up for this show, but I probably won’t.   I also feel like I never want to go to the Met Philly again.  I feel like it attracts the wrong crowd–rich people who are looking for a night out rather than fans of music.

Re-reading the review I spent 2/3 of it complaining about the people around me. They were loud talkers and drinkers, completely louder than the band at times.

I would like to see The Head and the Heart again, I think.  Although it turns out they released a new album last year and I didn’t even know it.  So, I guess I won’t miss them that much,

I just checked and this show is sold out, so I guess they won’t miss me either.  And it really sounds like an event I don’t want to be at.

The Revivalists are a band that get some airplay on WXPN.  I do like one of their songs but overall their vibe is a little too retroey for me.  They are probably a very good fit with The Head and the Heart, although I feel like they veer in a direction I don’t enjoy as much.

 

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The Head and the Heart / The Revivalists (The Stone Pony Summer Stage, Asbury Park, NJ, July 9, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Asbury Park, NJ, The Head and the Heart, The Revivalists, The Stone Pony, The Stone Pony Summer Stage on July 9, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: July 7, 2023] The Head and the Heart / The Revivalists

My wife and I saw The Head and the Heart at the Met Philly in 2019.  Here’s what I wrote:

I had quite possibly the worst concert experience of my life at this show.  And I want to reiterate it had nothing to do with the band.  There may have been a song or two in the middle that I wasn’t too excited about, but overall, they sounded great, played some really fun songs and seemed to be really enjoying themselves.

I wouldn’t mind seeing them again to make up for this show, but I probably won’t.   I also feel like I never want to go to the Met Philly again.  I feel like it attracts the wrong crowd–rich people who are looking for a night out rather than fans of music.

Re-reading the review I spent 2/3 of it complaining about the people around me. They were loud talkers and drinkers, completely louder than the band at times.

I would like to see The Head and the Heart again, I think.  Although it turns out they released a new album last year and I didn’t even know it.  So, I guess I won’t miss them that much,

I just checked and this show is sold out, so I guess they won’t miss me either.  And it really sounds like an event I don’t want to be at.

The Revivalists are a band that get some airplay on WXPN.  I do like one of their songs but overall their vibe is a little too retroey for me.  They are probably a very good fit with The Head and the Heart, although I feel like they veer in a direction I don’t enjoy as much.

 

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Ben Costa & James Parks–Rickety Stitch and the Gelatinous Goo: The Road to Epoli [Book 1] (2017)

Posted in Ben Costa, Children's Books, Graphic Novel, Imagine Dragons, James Parks, Of Monsters and Men, Ogres, Supernatural, Surreal, The Head and the Heart, Unfinished series, Unicorns, Walking on Cars on February 20, 2021| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: WALKING ON CARS-Colours (2019).

Walking on Cars drummer Evan Hadnett cited some pretty heavy bands as influences in the Irish Drummers book.  But also noted how important Irish trad music was to Irish drummers.  None of the songs on this album are as heavy or fast as anyone he talked about, but you can hear the anthemic power of those bands.

I hadn’t heard of Walking on Cars and I’m kind of surprised by that because they seems like they could have been really big.  They just called it quits after releasing the 2020 EP Clouds.

But Colours pushes every button for anthemic angst pop.  I’m hearing Imagine Dragons, The Head and the Heart, Of Monsters and Men.  and that’s just in the first song, “Monster.”  A huge chorus and dramatic vocal chops are only the beginning.  “Waiting on the Corner” has some processed “oohs” that could be an immediate hook.

Most of the songs are filled with intense angst–Patrick Sheehy’s voice is gravelly and passionate–“she’s in love with somebody else–someone who won’t let her down” (“Somebody else”) and “I was looking for a friend / And it all came to an end / But I survived, yeah I survived” (“Coldest Water”).  His voice is also prominent in the mix “yeah it as better when we were kids” (“When We Were Kids”), where he also throws in some angsty falsetto.

“Two Straight Lines” plays simple guitar lines off of electronic washes and “Too Emotional” is even poppier than the other songs.  “One Last Dance” features co-lead vocals with pianist Sorcha Durham (I’m surprised there weren’t more prominent female vocals on other songs).  Paul Flannery rounds out the band on bass and vocals.  The final song “Pieces of You” ends the album with a big piano ballad.

The big surprise to me about thee songs is that they’re all pretty short.  The longest tracks on the record are just over three and a half minutes and the whole album is just over half an hour.  It seems like an album full of over the top anthemic bangers might stretch out and maybe overstay its welcome.  But this record is efficient.

It seems like the band is ending their career on a high note. They’d been together for ten years and played around the world (although never the U.S. it seems).  I imagine if they’d gotten this album in the right hands they could have definitely opened for one of those earlier mentioned bands here.

[READ: February 15, 2021] Rickety Stitch and the Gelatinous Goo

I saw this series at the library and thought it looked promising–I rather liked the cover art work.

So I was quite surprised to open it and find it in black and white.

A skeleton seems to have come to life and is walking with a mass of other skeletons through the woods.  They all seem to know their destination but our skeleton does not.  Then a song begins and sings of his plight.  It tells of the Road to Epoli.

Then the book switches to color and Rickety Stitch is seen sleeping on a rack. (more…)

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John Patrick Green–Kitten Construction Company: A Bridge Too Fur (2019)

Posted in Architecture, Cats, Children's Books, Dogs, First Second :01, Graphic Novel, Iggy Pop, 투모로우바이투게더, John Patrick Green, Kittens, Korea, Racism, The Head and the Heart, The Monkees, TXT on February 6, 2020| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: TXT (투모로우바이투게더) ‘Cat & Dog’ (2019).

Because this book is about cats and dogs, I was going to put “Cats & Dogs” from The Head and The Heart as this song.  Bit when I searched for “Cats & Dogs” the first video was for this song.  And any band whose name is in a language I can’t read will certainly get posted here.

In fact, I didn’t even realize they were called “TXT” I thought it was something to do with text messaging.

Turns out TXT stands for Tomorrow X Together.  Of course.

The video starts with five cute boys running to the a window and looking out on a cartoon world.  It seemed like The Monkees.

So I was quite surprised when the song started with heavy bass and auto-tuned and I realized that duh, this must be a K-pop band.

I assumed I’d heard of all of the popular K-Pop bands by now (how many could there be?), but here’s one I’d not heard of.  Nevertheless. this song has over 47 million views.

I really don’t know how to talk about K-Pop.

The five of them are adorable and pretty much identical (hair color being the distinguishing factor).  They all seem to dance well (in the heavily edited sequences).  All of their voices are auto-tuned so who knows if they can sing.  They are also singing in at least two languages, so who knows what they are singing.

I assume the language I can’t understand is Korean, although it sounded to me like Spanish at one point (which seems very unlikely).

There’s a repeated refrain of someone gong “brrrp brrrp brrrp” which is a weird but catchy hook for all languages.  I assume that none of the boys’ voices can possibly go deep enough t make that sound.

Apparently, this song has something to do with cats and dogs because there are meows and barks in the song (and in the video they do lots of synchronized cat and dog ear movements).

I’m kind of curious what the chorus actually says–are they saying the word “Pet” or is a Korean word?

At the end he sings I just wanna be your dog, but not in any way like Iggy Pop.

Sometimes it’s fun to dive into music you don’t ever experience.

[READ: February 6, 2020] Kitten Construction Company: A Bridge Too Fur

I really enjoyed the first Kitten Construction Company book.  I loved the premise–not that the kittens were good at building things–but that no one took them seriously because they were so cute.  It allowed for a lot of funny frustrations from our feline friends.

Well, now the city of Mewberg has fully accepted the Kitten Construction Company. They have built a new stadium with updated energy efficiencies and plumbing.

There’s a nice joke that while accepting the adulation for this stadium, architect Marmalade can’t help but knock the microphone stand off the podium.  I only wish that Green had drawn it to look more deliberate–that would have been a lot funnier.  Instead it almost seems like an accident. (more…)

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Illiterate Light (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, January 27, 2020)

Posted in Duo, Illiterate Light, Jim James, Johnny Brenda's, Neil Young, Promise of the Real, Rock duo, The Head and the Heart, The Met Philadelphia on January 27, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: January 27, 2020] Illiterate Light

S. and I saw Illiterate Light open for The Head and the Heart back in October.  We were really impressed by them–their power (especially for just two people), their intensity, and their overall sense of fun.  In fact, because of annoying crowd people around me, I enjoyed Illiterate Light more than TH&TH.

I knew that they would be really great to see when they were the headline act, so when they announced a show at Johnny Brenda’s, I quickly got us both a ticket.

The band is a duo with Jeff Gorman on guitar and bass pedals (and what a huge difference those bass pedals make) and Jake Cochran on drums (and dancing).  The dancing is important because unlike most drummers, Cochran plays his drum kit standing up.  This allows him a lot of mobility–he wanders the stage, hangs out with Gorman and hits cymbals from all angles.

We couldn’t help but notice that there were several camera dudes all around the stage.  They told us that they’d be filming this show for some kind of upcoming something or other.  I’m looking forward to seeing it (we’re bound to be in it).  Although there was SO MUCH FOG (which is why my pictures are so hazy) that I have to wonder how good their video will be.

The guys came out and set up their gear (I was amused at how much more stuff Cochran had–I guess since his floor tom is removable?).  Although when Gorman brought in his foot pedals (a cool Moog device) he raised it over his head to much applause. (more…)

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The Head and the Heart (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, October 8, 2019)

Posted in Illiterate Light, Of Monsters and Men, Philadelphia, PA, The Head and the Heart, The Met Philadelphia on October 8, 2019| 1 Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 8, 2019] The Head and the Heart

After being really impressed by Of Monsters and Men last month, I had pretty high hopes for being impressed by The Head and The Heart as well (because I get the two bands mixed up even though I like them both).

It was the same venue, although this time we had seats instead of the GA section.

It was nice to not worry about your location between acts.  But holy crap, the people around me sucked so bad that they ruined the whole night.  I am writing this ten days after the show and I hate to say that I am still annoyed by them all.

The people next to me came and went and came and went and came and went all while we were seated.

The guy in front of me was an old man (older than me even).  During Illiterate Light we thought it was cute that he and his wife (I assume) were videoing things and being adorable together.  Then during The Head and The Heart he stood up.  And was a freaking giant.  Worse yet, the people next to them didn’t come to the show, so they had a lot of room, which meant he spread out and stood right in front of me (and here I was excited about having empty seats in front of me).  He also filmed nearly every song, but rather than being discrete or considerate of the people behind him, he held yup his camera to his face which meant elbows out thereby blocking even more of my view.  His wife also filmed a lot but she apparently didn’t realize that phone cameras come with a flash, because it was on every time she took videos.  How it took the people in front of them six songs to actually say something (and they were very polite about it) I can’t imagine.

But the worst were the people behind us.  A loud row of eight loud talking, loud boasting, loud everything.  The craziest thing about them is that they were all huge fans of the band, they knew every word, knew when they played a “rare” song and sang along to just about every lyric. (more…)

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Illiterate Light (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, October 8, 2019) [THE HEAD AND THE HEART]

Posted in Geddy Lee, Illiterate Light, My Morning Jacket, Neil Young, Newport Folk Festival, Philadelphia, PA, Promise of the Real, Rock duo, The Head and the Heart, The Met Philadelphia on October 8, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 8, 2019] Illiterate Light

I had heard of Illiterate Light from NPR, but didn’t really know them.  They played at Newport Folk Festival but were early on Saturday and we arrived after them.

Traffic getting to this show was terrible and I was annoyed that we’d miss Illiterate Light (or part of their set anyhow).  S. said she didn’t mind missing the opening act as long as we made it for The Head and the Heart.

We walked in just as Illiterate Light took the stage and we got seated around the middle of the first song.  And I couldn’t get over how loud they were (particularly opening for a not-especially-loud band like The Head and the Heart).  They had big rocking guitar and crashing drums.

Then I looked up and realized that there were only two of them on stage. (more…)

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