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Archive for the ‘The Stone Pony Summer Stage’ Category

Almost Queen (The Stone Pony Summer Stage, Asbury Park, NJ, September 10, 2021)

Posted in Almost Queen, Asbury Park, NJ, Happy Birthday, Philadelphia Freedom, The Stone Pony, The Stone Pony Summer Stage, The Unforgettable Fire on September 10, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 10, 2021] Almost Queen

S.’s co-workers invited her to see Almost Queen with them late in June.  She agreed, thinking it would be a fun night out.  As September approached, she realized that the friends had a slightly different plan for the evening than she did, and realized that she couldn’t ride down with them.  So she asked me to come along.

I was game, of course.  I have never intentionally paid to see a tribute band before.  But since this was a band that I would never be able to see live (Queen last played in New jersey in 1982–although the version with Adam Lambert had played here more recently), I said why not.

I was intrigued that a cover band had two opening acts, also cover bands: Philadelphia Freedom, The Elton John Tribute and The Unforgettable Fire: The U2 Tribute.

However, the combination of Friday night plans and Friday night traffic meant we got to the Stone Pony during the final two U2 songs (“One” and “Bullet the Blue Sky”–a rather odd final song I thought).  They sounded good from the street, but I have no real opinion of The Unforgettable Fire.

The place was PACKED and there was no vaccination requirement (good grief).  This is my third Summer Stage show in a few years and honestly, unless there is something really amazing playing there, I don’t think I’d go back.  The crowd is just terrible–filled with drunken Jersey dudes and dudettes.  If this was a band I really wanted to see I’d have been really annoyed by them all.  Fortunately, this was a fun tribute act and I was happy to just kick back and enjoy.  We somehow managed to find our group (amusingly, I told S. to have her friend hold up her phone and wave it.  Immediately someone did and we followed the light only to realize that it wasn’t her friends, but the person standing right next to them–weird). (more…)

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Trey Anastasio Band (Stone Pony Summer Stage) NJ, May 24, 2020) [CANCELLED]

Posted in Asbury Park, NJ, Cancelled, Coronavirus, Newport Folk Festival, Phish, Quarantine, The Stone Pony Summer Stage, Trey Anastasio, Trey Anastasio Band on May 24, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[CANCELLED: May 24, 2020] Trey Anastasio Band

indexI have seen Trey Anastasio once solo at Newport Folk Festival (amazing) and with  the Trey Anastasio Band (super fun).  I didn’t expect him to tour so soon because Phish is playing in Atlantic City this summer.  So it was great to see that he was going to do two shows this summer.

It’s a bummer that this show was cancelled, not to be rescheduled, but this show also wound up conflicting with my friend Armando’s wedding party so technically I wasn’t going to be able to go.  I was trying to trade for a ticket to the Saturday show, but that’s moot now.

TAB cancelled their show pretty early (Mar 24) for a show that was all the way at the end of May, but it was better not to have to wait.  So far, Phish hasn’t cancelled their shows on August 14-16, but we’ll see.

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All Them Witches (Convention Hall, Asbury Park, NJ, June 1, 2018) [PRIMUS]

Posted in All Them Witches, Asbury Park, NJ, Convention Hall, Mastodon, Primus, The Stone Pony Summer Stage on June 1, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: June 1, 2018] All Them Witches 

I didn’t know All Them Witches before this show.  And I don’t know them after this show.  Parking in Asbury Park was pretty rough and, it being after Memorial Day traffic was worse than when I had driven down there in the winter.

Because of the impending torrential thunderstorm (which never actually materialized), the show was moved from the Stone Pony Summer Stage to Conventional Hall.  It was the right decision given the forecast, but….well, whatever.

Anyhow, I missed them entirely.  I walked in as they were packing up their gear.

Sorry.

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Pixies (The Stone Pony Summer Stage, Asbury Park, NJ, September 23, 2017)

Posted in Asbury Park, NJ, Black Francis, David Lovering, Frank Black, Joey Santiago, Kim Deal, Paz Lenchantin, Pixies, Sunflower Bean, The Stone Pony, The Stone Pony Summer Stage on September 23, 2017| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 23, 2017] Pixies

I saw the Pixies live at Giants Stadium in 1989.  They opened for The Cure and played a rollicking set.

I was a huge fan of their original albums and I’ve enjoyed The Breeders and Frank Black’s solo stuff to varying degrees.  I was intrigued when they reunited, but I wasn’t super psyched about it.  I didn’t really love the new songs they released–they were all fine, but I figured either I was past them or they had changed enough to make their new stuff less dramatic.

But when I saw that they were playing at the Stone Pony Summer Stage (the day after Autumn officially began), I thought I might like to go.  The face value  of the tickets was $37, which wasn’t too bad, but somehow after Ticketmaster got involved, the total was $59, which was way too much.  We were near Asbury Park during the summer and I stopped by the Stone Pony to buy a ticket at the box office.  But they were closed! (Closed Tuesdays, apparently).

It turned out that day of the show tickets went up to $52 (!).  Well, I was on the fence, and then while I was trying to find out what time the opening band went on (no official word except that gates opened at 5:30), I came across a ticket for sale on Stubhub for $20.  I’d never bought anything on Stubhub before, because I’d always heard the prices were crazy expensive.  Well, including fees, these tickets were less than face value.  Which is pretty awesome.  And I was all set.

For many people, the dealbreaker (ha) for this show was that original bassist Kim Deal as no longer in the band.  I had heard new bassist Paz Lenchantin and thought she sounded enough like Kim (especially in an outdoor venue) that it wouldn’t be all that noticeable that Kim wasn’t there.  What I didn’t realize and which I respect even if it meant that we lost out, was that they didn’t play any songs that Kim sang lead on.  Paz did all of the backing vocals and sang lead on the one song she sings on the newest album and the encore, but that was it. (more…)

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Sunflower Bean (The Stone Pony Summer Stage, Asbury Park, NJ, September 23, 2017) [PIXIES]

Posted in Asbury Park, NJ, Pixies, Sunflower Bean, The Stone Pony, The Stone Pony Summer Stage on September 23, 2017| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 23, 2017] Sunflower Bean

As with most new bands, I first heard about Sunflower Bean on All Songs Considered.  I loved the psychedelic yet punky sound of the song “2013.”  And the entirely of their full length album Human Ceremony is really good–catchy songs with a great vibe.

I was really excited to hear that they were opening for the Pixies show–although I didn’t exactly see how their music would jibe with Pixies songs.

Well, I needn’t have worried.  Sunflower Bean rocks a lot harder live than on the record.  And their set included a number of new, heavier songs that complemented the night well.

Confusingly, this show stated that the Gates opened at 5:30, but they would not say anywhere what time Sunflower Bean went on.  I was sure they wouldn’t start at 5:30.  I assumed they’d start at 6:30, and yet that was still really early for a Saturday night show to end.  Because the day was really busy (Tabby had a piano recital earlier!), I managed to get to Asbury Park at 6:40 and drove around a bit to find a free parking spot.

The timing was perfect because Sunflower Bean went on at 7 and that gave me time to buy an outrageously over priced pretzel ($6) which tasted terrible. (more…)

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Jane’s Addiction (The Stone Pony Summer Stage, Asbury Park, NJ, July 16, 2016)

Posted in Asbury Park, NJ, David Bowie, Dinosaur Jr., Jane's Addiction, The Stone Pony, The Stone Pony Summer Stage on July 17, 2016| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 16, 2016] Jane’s Addiction

2016-07-16 21.49.18When Jane’s Addiction came out back in the late 1980s, I loved them.  Nothing’s Shocking was my favorite album for a few years and Ritual de lo Habitual was a close second.  There was something about their sense of sleazy and weirdly catchy songs that I totally gravitated towards. I probably should have gone to Lollapalloza that year, but I didn’t.

But then I moved past them.  When they released Strays back in 2003, I didn’t even give it a listen.  Same with The Great Escape Artist in 2011.  I just didn’t care all that much.  I’d also gotten a little overexposed to Dave Navarro and his exploits over the next decade.

And while I was interested in seeing them–especially since they were doing Ritual in its entirety, I was much more excited to see Dinosaur Jr.

But wow, was I impressed by their show.  The most impressive thing for me was the sound quality.  Whether that is chalked up to the venue (I doubt it–outdoor venues aren’t usually that good) or the way they mixed it (more likely), I couldn’t get over how great the band fit together–it sounded like the album (not like it was prerecorded or anything, just really full).  And most of the applause goes to Navarro. (more…)

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Dinosaur Jr. (The Stone Pony Summer Stage, Asbury Park, NJ, July 16, 2016) [JANE’S ADDICTION]

Posted in Asbury Park, NJ, Dinosaur Jr., J. Mascis, Jane's Addiction, Living Colour, Lou Barlow, Minus the Bear, Primus, The Cure, The Stone Pony, The Stone Pony Summer Stage on July 16, 2016| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 16, 2016] Dinosaur Jr.

2016-07-16 19.49.10I have wanted to see Dinosaur Jr for many years.  I intended to see them last year when they toured with Primus, but I couldn’t get to the show.  So I was pretty excited that they were touring again, this time with Jane’s Addiction.

I had never been to a Stone Pony Summer Stage (never been to The Stone Pony either) and I didn’t really know what to expect (reviews on Yelp are pretty harsh).  Things got even more questionable when the weather turned nasty.  The show was supposed to start at 6, but as of 4:30 there was a huge thunderstorm in Absury Park, so they delayed the opening of the show.  And since there were more storms threatening for later, it was possible that it might get cancelled.

Just to make things a little more unsatisfying, Living Colour was supposed to be the first band on the bill.  I’ve never seen them and while I wouldn’t go out of my way to see them, I thought they’d be a lot of fun live.  I found out yesterday (although this was probably decided much earlier) that they weren’t playing in this show (they are in Germany), and that Minus the Bear would be opening instead.

I don’t know Minus the Bear (a lot of bands with names like “noun the noun” lately, and I don’t really know any of them).  I listened to a few songs before the show and thought they might be fun.  But the gates didn’t wind up opening until 8PM, so Minus the Bear didn’t even play. (more…)

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