Upcoming/Recent Shows

Another concert I've recently been to is the Pet Shop Boys. It was held in a nearby town called Oberhausen, in an arena that can hold about 13.000 people. It was postponed twice I think due to Covid, and was sold out. The inner field was seated, so I had opted for a seat in the lower ranks. Thus my pictures aren't too sharp. They basically played their Greatest Hits and some songs from their recent album. Having listened to their music since I was a 11yo kid, it was a pleasure to see them live for the 3rd time in my life. Neil Tennant's voice did sound superb and also the music sounded really good. They played for around 2 hours. Their video screen did show really artful color shemes, also many very colorful ones, though I wasn't able to catch them in good quality for the photos. Their show was a pleasure for both eyes and ears, and I can recommend going to see them if they play somewhere near.

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I mentioned it in the challenge thread, but I checked off a "way too long a time coming" artist last night. Jack Johnson opened up his Meet The Moonlight Tour in Gilford, NH last night to a sold out Tuesday crowd. This was his first true touring year since 2018 and given he is a Hawaii resident, the opportunity to see him is a lot less frequent than it is for other artist in the U.S. He's played a good number of shows in Massachusetts, but this was his first ever New Hampshire show which I think drew a lot of people from the region (he's played one non-festival show in New England in the past 11 years that wasn't in Bangor Maine, which is a haul and a half).

I'll stick to the music mostly but I do have to say...holy crap do the expenses add up really quickly if you do anything but go to the show and leave now. So, the cheapest "get in" tickets for the show was about $120 for a pair after fees for a severely oversold lawn (I took a peek after the opener and good luck finding space there without bumping elbows). You have to park on site or carpool in, and parking on site starts at $15 a car. Jack's merch was all over the board pricing wise but even a poster and water bottle combo would run you $50. $16 hard seltzer, $10 pizza slices. And people were spending. Normally when my GF and I go to shows we really go frugally but decided to spend this time...next week I'll be eating some sandwiches I make beforehand.

Anyway the music. Durand Jones and the Indications were the opener. I know folks here love them, I never really got into it from the recorded music but they were quite a good live group. Good energy and vibes from the stage, great soul opening group. I don't think I need to promote DJatI much here so I won't but they were great to listen to get excited for some live music.

Jack Johnson was really interesting. In many ways, he's exactly what a lot of people think he is - chill dude strumming a guitar singing low key catchy songs to a crowd full of drunk people. OK, very much what it was. With that said, there were a lot of nice treats in there I didn't expect. I've heard this on his life recordings, but his production folks have his right sound profile down. It was very full sounding at appropriate volume with some oomph for the right moments. Second, I was a bit afraid that with it being a new album tour and the album not being out that he was gonna spend a lot of time on new songs - maybe for later shows he will but he only played four or five new tracks and stuck mostly to his bigger songs. A lot of spread over his albums, a couple deep cuts. He also brought out DJatI to cover Stevie Wonder and, out of nowhere, Zac Brown to cover Petty, Steve Miller, and Sublime. Really a lot of fun - I feel like he's his generation's Jimmy Buffett in terms of live atmosphere and vibes.
 
Kenny Chesney last month in Huntsville, AL.
Carly Pearce opened. She did not sound good at all considering she was 2021 vocalist of the year. She needs a new sound engineer.
Kenny totally played his ass off. Covered in sweat by the end of the show. This is a brand new amphitheater and one of the first shows to play. His sound was on point.

I am not the biggest Chesney fan but it was fun to get out with friends for dinner a concert.

We are off to a Bourbon, Brews and BBQ show at another new amphitheater this Friday night. BLACKBERRY SMOKE, DRAKE WHITE, AND READ SOUTHALL BAND

Saw Drake at a small venue a few years ago and the violinist was incredible. Not even sure if he's still with the band. Fingers crossed 🤞

It's great to be out there again!

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I saw Sigur Ros on 6/6. It was great, but I only recorded a few videos on my phone and forgot to take photos. There was no opener, so they just took the stage around 8 pm (glad I got there on time!). They played two sets that felt like they were like 90 mins each with like a twenty min intermission. It was nice and sounded good - the staging was pretty minimal, as you’d expect. It did feel kind of exhausting and repetitive though towards the end. It felt like there was more than one song where he just sings “youuuuuu sighhhhhh” over and over. But it was beautiful each time. One thing that also kinda sucked the energy out of the show for me was that it was a seated show with assigned seats, so it was pretty disruptive when people in the first few rows showed up late and needed to step over a bunch of people in their row to get to their seats, or if people got up to get a drink or use the restroom in the middle of a song - their music is so frequently quiet and meditative that any disruptions really take you out of it. They did have a few louder moments that were cool. It did feel a little stiff overall though - the audience sometimes would start clapping when the music died down (thinking that the song was over) and they just waited for everyone to stop clapping and for the whole place to be completely silent before finishing the song. At one point, security went over to a guy that was standing up and dancing and told him to sit down. Definitely a different vibe than most concerts.
 
I saw Herbie Hancock at the Kennedy Center on 6/10. He said it was the first show of his new tour. Terence Blanchard was on trumpet, so it was cool to see him, too. James Genus was on bass and it was cool to see him live after so many years of seeing him on SNL sitting behind the host when they did their monologue. Lionel Loueke was on guitar and did some cool vocal percussion type stuff. The drummer, Justin Tyson, was incredible.

They all seemed to have a lot of fun and the crowd had a great time, too. They closed with “Chameleon” and Herbie came out to center stage with a key-tar and brought the house down. Did not disappoint.

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Jbraswell said:
Kenny Chesney last month in Huntsville, AL.
Carly Pearce opened. She did not sound good at all considering she was 2021 vocalist of the year. She needs a new sound engineer.
Kenny totally played his ass off. Covered in sweat by the end of the show. This is a brand new amphitheater and one of the first shows to play. His sound was on point.

I am not the biggest Chesney fan but it was fun to get out with friends for dinner a concert.

We are off to a Bourbon, Brews and BBQ show at another new amphitheater this Friday night. BLACKBERRY SMOKE, DRAKE WHITE, AND READ SOUTHALL BAND

Saw Drake at a small venue a few years ago and the violinist was incredible. Not even sure if he's still with the band. Fingers crossed 🤞

It's great to be out there again!

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I do not see you in that photo. You must be using an old pic for your avatar.
 
Went to see Midnight Oil on Sunday in NYC and Wed in Philly. We will also be seeing them tomorrow night in DC, which will be their last ever US show. Both shows were phenomenal, Peter Garrett's voice is in top form. It's bittersweet knowing this will be our last time seeing them.

I was fortunate to get a setlist both nights, hoping for similar luck tomorrow. Pix are from Philly.

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threesunrises said:
Went to see Midnight Oil on Sunday in NYC and Wed in Philly. We will also be seeing them tomorrow night in DC, which will be their last ever US show. Both shows were phenomenal, Peter Garrett's voice is in top form. It's bittersweet knowing this will be our last time seeing them.

I was fortunate to get a setlist both nights, hoping for similar luck tomorrow. Pix are from Philly.

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Why no more US shows?
 
Viking Dan said:
Why no more US shows?
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They've stated that this is their final tour, though they may continue to make music together.

"The band also announced that this will be their final concert tour while making it clear that this does not mean the end of the Oils. Each of the members will continue their own projects over the years ahead. They remain very open to recording new music together in future and supporting causes in which they believe, but this will be their last tour. It will see them performing classic Midnight Oil songs from across their repertoire while also showcasing some urgent new works."

Full announcement here: News — Midnight Oil
 
Regina Spektor / Norah Jones at the Rady Shell, San Diego

Lovely evening on the waterfront. Newer venue typically used for the San Diego Symphony, sound is impeccable, even from the back. Great performances from both artists. Regina solo, and Norah with a small band. They did a duet of Tom Petty's "Angel Dream (number 2)".

Regina Spektor at sunset

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Norah Jones

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