Coldplay
Shoreline amphitheater
August 19th 2005

Coldplay as a band is a bit deceptive. When you hear their music on the radio or on a CD it has a very laid back, smooth, quiet feel and sound to it. This is not what they are like live. I remember the first time I saw them live, I fell completely, head over heals in love, and I have stayed a fan ever since. I had heard some of their songs on MTV and on the radio and liked them, but seeing them live is a whole different animal. They rock 100 times harder, have 1,000 times the energy and the live shows are 10,000 times more passionate. If you think that their music is good, but lacks that rock edge, you will be really surprised by seeing them live. Even their live album didn't do their live shows justice, they are just one of those "you had to be there" bands. This is the 7th maybe 8th...oh, who the hell knows how many times I have seen them and I never get tired of them. I have remained in my honeymoon phase with this band. I will, however, admit that it took me some time to warm up their new album. We had seen them twice this year(once in LA and again at Coachella) and so heard a lot of their new stuff even before the CD came out, but it is hearing the CD in it's entirety that made me love it. It has a flow and rhythm that needs to heard as a whole. Of course I have my favorite songs, but each song compliments the next. I think another reason it took me a while to really get into this CD was that it had a different feel to it than their first two CDs. The other ones felt kind of like the were playing the songs for the first time. I don't mean unrehearsed or sloppy, just like they were sung from the heart, very spontaneous. This album has a more mature, electronic, produced feel to it. This concert had the same feel.

This was definitely the best media experience of any of the Coldplay concerts I have been to. They always have really great lighting that compliments each song, but this time they added a screen behind them as they played that showed images in addition to the different lighting for each song. This worked particularly well at the Shoreline since this venue has a large tent that covers the stage and first section of seats allowing the multi-media show to spill off the screens and onto the white tent.

One of the things I have always liked about seeing this band live is the feeling that these guys are just so fucking happy to be there. They always seem to be genuinely surprised that all these people showed up to see them and they try to interface with crowd as much as possible (at least Chris Martin does, the rest of the band usually leave the talking up to him.) Chris involves the audience in the songs and tries to get them closer and get closer to them. At one point inviting the people in the higher seats to come closer during the song "God put a smile on your face," which caused a scramble to the front clogging all the aisles. After the song security shooed everyone back to their seats, much to the disappointment of those that had come closer. Chris also made several trips into the audience to sing and get the crowd singing as well. They even like their audiences so much they turned off all the lights on the stage at one point, making it pitch black, so that the band could take pictures of the crowd. All you could see from the stage were flashes of light coming from their cameras.

They played a great set of songs, the only exception being the song "Speed of Sound." Chris kept forgetting the words and even the rest of the band didn't seem to be in synch for this one. This was strange considering that the rest of the songs they played were executed perfectly. They also sang the beautiful song "kingdom come" that they had written for Johnny Cash, along with a lovely rendition of "Ring of fire."
I am hoarse from singing every song and had a great time as I always do at their shows. My only complaint is that it was a short concert in contrast to other Coldplay shows I have been to. But a little Coldplay is better than no Coldplay at all!

Dave Matthews Band
SBC Park
August 13th 2005

The openers for this concert were Jem and The Black Eyed Peas. Unfortunately we hit really bad traffic on the bridge getting there so missed Jem as well as half of BEP. The Black Eyed Peas is a powerhouse group with more energy than four humans should have. They jumped, danced, sang and rapped there way through a booty shaking set of pure energy. I do have to say that Fergie has got an amazing set of pipes. I also like that they are so culturally diverse (one black guy, one Mexican guy, one Filipino guy and one white girl). They were a lot of fun and seriously got us in the concert mood.

Ok, so, I admit it, I have not yet bought the new Dave Matthews Band CD nor have I been listening to a lot of DMB recently. But, thankfully going to a DMB concert is like being welcomed back into the loving arms of old friends. I didn’t feel like I had been away from their music at all. It is seeing 5 old friends that love their music, each other and their fans, and their fans love them right back. Listening to DMB live is like listening to a series of perfectly crafted, brilliant gems of music seamlessly strung together until they become a beautiful stream of consciousness that washes over you like a rippling river over the rocks and each and every song is written just for you. That, my friends, is the live Dave Matthews Band experience. Tonight was no exception.

Or, it could have been the contact high I got from all the people smoking pot around us.

Naaaahhh…their music really is that good.

Want to see more photos from this concert? Click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/50208355@N00/sets/759020/

White Stripes
Greek Theatre
August 12th 2005

We saw the White Stripes a few years ago at a music festival, and while we really liked the music we had not exactly been overly impressed with their stage show or their energy. Maybe they were having an off night or they were not thrilled with being in the festival. All I can say is this show was very different. They were Fan-fucking-tastic! They absolutely blew me away. I cannot believe two people can make music that big. Even though the acoustics at the Greek are not the greatest, they filled every corner with their big, tight, perfectly arranged show. They moved smoothly from the hardest rock to the twangyist blues to the quirkiest of ballads. Jack White moved from one instrument to the next with a flair all his own. He played three different guitars, the piano, an electric mandolin and even the marimbas! His high pitched, wavering voice perfectly complimenting the intense soul wrenching lyrics and ground shaking rock and blues. I can’t believe someone that young (and pale) can play the blues like that. I could feel it all the way to my bones. This man was made to perform and Meg kept perfect beat to compliment every note. This band is definitely going on the permanent must see concert list. Wow, wow, wow. If you have a chance see they live, you will not regret it!

Want to see more photos from this concert? Click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/50208355@N00/sets/758944/

Howie Day
Fillmore
August 11th 2005


First I want to say something about the Fillmore. This is my very favorite venue to see a band. It is positively dripping with history and the bands that play there seem to feel privileged to do so and play accordingly. That gives the place a great vibe that can’t be found anywhere else. It also has amazing acoustics, the strongest drinks of any club I have ever been to and to top it all off, if you are lucky, you get there on a night that they are giving away free posters for the band you are seeing. Oh yeah, this place is a class act all the way.

Now on to the bands…

There were two openers:

First up was Missy Higgins. She is from Australia and plays sort of folksy, rocky stuff. It is just her playing the electric piano and another guy playing the guitar. Between each song she would tell the audience what the song was about and what prompted her to write it. It was kind of like VH1’s Storytellers – Just with someone you had never heard of.


Anna Nalick was up next. I was not impressed. She seemed to be trying way to hard and came off as over rehearsed and under talented. She sounded like Avril Lavigne trying to do an impressing of Fiona Apple. Just without Avril’s popularity and Fiona’s clever lyrics or charismatic weirdness. Whatever…Next….


The headliner was Howie Day. Oh, the sweet, popy goodness! Fun personal lyrics, good band and all the spiky hair you could ever want. He bantered with the audience and made the show a lot of fun to watch and participate in. At one point he told a lady in the front that repeatedly asked for the same song (Collide); “I remember my first beer too.” And later after she had screamed the name of the song at ever point she could he told her; “When you only have one hit you will eventually play it, so don’t worry, I’ll play the fucking song!”

He did a great cover of Crowded House’s "Don’t Dream, It’s Over", part of "Hey Jude" and even a few bars of Toto’s "Africa." Can you get better that that? I had a great time and left the show one happy camper.

San Antonio Texas

I just spent a month in San Antonio working. Let's just say I am glad to be home. Not that San Antonio is that bad of a city, it actually has some very pretty parts and for the most part it was not a bad experience. I visited the Alamo (which is smaller than I thought it would be and gave me the urge to yell out "where's the basement?") and walked along the river walk. The river walk is basically the stretch of the San Antonio river that flows through downtown and is built with a walking area on either side and lots of restaurants and a few hotels along the walkway. It is all very well done and is a tourist magnet for the city. There was also some good shopping in the area to be had as well. The place I did most of my shopping was the area called the "Mercado"(the market). It was an area of shops that sold mostly Mexican handicrafts interdispiredwith reasturants. Closer to down town was an area called "El Villita" (the village, for all you non Spanish speakers out there) it was more high end than the Mercado and was a small collection of local artists and craftspeople all set up in a historic grouping of houses.

The place I spent most of my time in San Antonio though was at the clinic were I was working. The clinic was located in the "medical area" of the city that had most of the hospitals and specialized clinics. The building where we were was a actually an old psych ward. And believe me I felt like I was right at home. The coordinators that was were working with actually had there desks right in front of the old "rubber rooms." I got to go in one and see what it was like. I can tell you it is not at all like the movies that show an all white tufted padded cell. They are actually really hard rubber walls with only a skylight for light and a drain in floor for, well, you know. They are now being used for storage. I was told all kinds of stories from the staff about the place being haunted. I can tell you it would be scary enough to see a ghost, but to see a crazy person's ghost would scare the bejesus out of me. The only weird experience I had there was in the bathroom of the office I was using (that used to the one of the rooms the patients slept in) the bathroom always smelt like flowers and even if I shut the door firmly, it would always be open again (sometimes with the trash can in front of the open door) if I left the room. Hmmm..odd.

Ok now for the bad news about San Antonio; it was hotter than Hell and so humid I couldn't wear my glasses outside or they would fog up. There were also sudden thunderstorms the caused flooding and frequent lightning strikes. Nice to look at from inside but a bitch to be caught out in. There was also the matter of the a certain type of Texan. For the most part they were very polite southern folks and it was fun to hear "y'all" all the time. BUT the other Texan was the Bush loving, war cheering, flag waving kind that really pissed me off and made me long for home where these people are in the minority.

So, there you go, a month of my life in the middle of Texas.

Yee Haw!

So Long Y'all!

Want to see more photos from this trip? Click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/50208355@N00/sets/759139/