Out of all the shows i wrote about this year in music, the following were my favorite:

Amanda Palmer @ Henry Fonda Theatre

Snow Patrol @ House of Blues San Diego, 12.13.08

Swell Season @ SDSU Open Air Theater 10.3.08

Goldfrapp @ The Orpheum 9.21.08

The Duke Spirit @ The Troubadour 5.10.08

The Ting Tings @ The Troubadour 6.13.08

Ingrid Michaelson @ House of Blues San Diego 11.5.08

Everyone else is doing it so why should I?
The list isn’t ranked in order because that is far too difficult!

The Raveonettes “Lust Lust Lust”
The Duke Spirit “Neptune”
M83 “Saturdays = Youth”
Lisa Hannigan “Sea Sew”
Goldfrapp “Seventh Tree”
Amanda Palmer “Who Killed Amanda Palmer”
The Rosebuds “Life Like”
The Submarines “Honeysuckle Weeks”
Sigur Ros “Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust”
Mates of State “Re- Arrange Us”

I have been lucky enough to see Amanda Palmer play the Troubadour earlier this year along with the Dresden Dolls twice (also this year) and she was wonderful during all three performances. However, tonight’s “performance” with the Danger Ensemble has taken my idea of showmanship to a completely higher plane. Part performance art combined with Amanda’s vision for her music, the show is what I dream of having the opportunity to write about. The band consisted of Amanda, Zoe Keating on cello and Lyndon on Violin. As a result, it was a very classical arrangement. The band played a mix of Dresden Dolls material and Amanda’s solo songs while a theatrical group called the Danger Ensemble interpreted some of the songs. By performance art, i don’t mean the stereotypical over the top throwing blood on yourself and interpreting it as the beginning of life type art. no no no. They created poetry through their movements making Amanda’s songs seem grandiose but not in a corny way.

Set List
Intro
Dirge/ Neil Gaiman
stage entrance/ Astronaut
Ampersand
Blake Says
Bad Habit (Dresden Dolls)
I Want You But I Don’t Need You (Dresden Dolls)
Strength Through Music
Guitar Hero
(guitar auction)
Oasis
Coin Operated Boy (Dresden Dolls)
Ask Amanda
Trout Heart Replica (new song)
Have To Drive
Half Jack (Dresden Dolls)
Umbrella (Rhianna cover)
I Google You
Who Killed Amanda Palmer Answers
I Kissed A Girl (w/ special guest Katy Perry and Margaret Cho)
Leeds United

The set began with a dirge was played by Amanda’s band and surprise guest, NEIL GAIMAN (the inner fangirl in me got really excited) came out to read an elegy he wrote about the death of Amanda Palmer. Amanda then made a grand entrance walking through the crowd complete with veil until members of the Danger Ensemble lifted her onto the stage. This set the stage (pun intended) for the show.

Blake Says captured that loneliness and isolation of the song. Another beautiful demonstration of Amanda’s piano playing. Strength Through Music, one of my favorite songs from her solo record makes my heart wrench. The song was composed of Lyndon read the names of the injured victims in the Virginia Tech shooting. Amanda, repeated a simple piano chord drilling into your heart the tragedy of the song. The lip synching performances of Guitar Hero, I Kissed A Girl, and Umbrella was a blast to watch. It injected a different type of playful gaiety in between the otherwise somber songs and riled the crowd up. The audience was also graced with a new piano ballad called “Trout Heart Replica”. Its a song of yearning and about soldiering on despite everything.

With the Dresden Dolls, I never realized what a talent Amanda is on piano/ keyboards. Her solo material reflects not only her ability to pound away like a mad scientist but how classically inspired and cinematic her playing style is. Zoe on cello and Lyndon on violin was brilliant accompanying Amanda because it made her material sound more somber like her record. Particularly impressive was the dueling violin, cello, and piano parts during “Half Jack”.

Thank you Amanda and the Danger Ensemble- your art makes the world a better place. I’m a firm believer that great music not only has the power to break your heart but it also has the ability to heal you. I have never been this moved by any performance- from laughing through “Umbrella” to being shaken to the core by “Ampersand” and tearing up through “Strength Through Music”… This show made me experience the spectrum of emotions. I vehemently recommend catching Amanda’s performances. This show has effectively closed out my year of shows on an apex and I couldn’t be any happier.

Check out the rest of my photos from the night on my Flickr Page

Snow Patrol has met much success in the last few years with “Chasing Cars” being played on Grey’s Anatomy, other television series and films. Therefore, its a rare opportunity to catch the band in a small venue such as the House of Blues. Three out of the handful of shows was presented by Shockhound as a sort of warm up/ press tour before the band heads out on a major U.S. tour next year.

First off, I was very unhappy with how The House of Blues staff allowed the pass the line program to be in effect because the show was supposed to be a private event. There were some people in line since noon waiting to get inside and the pass the line participants were allowed in before them. Ranting aside, lets move onto the show…

Set List

If There’s a Rocket Tie Me To It
Chocolate
Please Just Take These Photos From My Hands
How To Be Dead
Run
The Golden Floor
Shut Your Eyes
Chasing Cars
Make This Go On Forever
Crack The Shutters
Take Back The City
You’re All I Have (aborted)
You’re All I Have
————————————————-
You Are My Joy (Reindeer Section) dedicated to the birthday girl
The Lightning Strike
Open Your Eyes

The band played a solid set with all of my personal favorites spanning all 3 studio releases.
Accompanying the band was an additional acoustic guitar player and Richard Colburn from Belle and Sebastian on percussion.

In between songs, when not telling strange metaphors or drawing disturbing analogies, Gary was jittering around as if he was channeling a less epileptic Ian Curtis. I was surprised by how similar and rich his vocals sounded in comparison to the records.

Once “Chocolate” started, they even had me become a swooning fan girl. It was during “The Golden Floor” when you could really hear Colburn’s contributions to the song. On “Shut Your Eyes”, Gary organized a little crowd participation by inviting the more than enthusiastic women to sing the chorus. After, he even managed to get the reluctant boyfriend’s in the audience singing the chorus. By the end of the song, even the men were cheering for more. During the opening bars of “Chasing Cars” you could almost feel had every woman in the room gasp. Don’t worry Gary, I’m sure every person in the room either wants to “lay here with you” or be you.

Photos and a review of the show coming up after i get some sleep.

Set List

If There’s a Rocket Tie Me To It
Chocolate
Banter
Please Just Take These Photos From My Hands
How To Be Dead
Run
The Golden Floor
Shut Your Eyes
Chasing Cars
Make This Go On Forever
Crack The Shutters
Take Back The City
You’re All I Have (aborted)
You’re All I Have
————————————————-
You Are My Joy (Reindeer Section) dedicated to the birthday girl
The Lightning Strike
Open Your Eyes

A special thanks goes out to Snow Patrol and Shockhound for providing the once in a lifetime experience of seeing Snow Patrol in an intimate setting.

Hello Friends,

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for reading, commenting, and supporting The Audio Taco. I always relish the opportunity to share new artists and write about my concert experiences and i find the feedback you give invaluable to this project. I also wanted to thank the friends on my blog roll for fighting the good fight by providing an outlet to share music that otherwise wouldn’t be talked about anywhere else. So, please take the time to check out the other music blogs out there. A special thank you goes out to my programmer Amit, Angela at Filter, and the friends that i have dragged along to go to shows with me.

Stay tuned for my last roster of gigs and my favorite shows and records of the year.

Winter Song

I was lucky enough to catch the Smashing Pumpkins (minus Darcy) in 2000 during the Sacred and Profane tour. The show was epic. I’m almost sorry I went to the RIMAC gig because Billy & Co. was a shell of who they once were and has effectively destroyed my memory of who and what the band should be. I find the new guitarist and bassist boring and they lack the energy of a rock band. If they were inserted behind a curtain with Billy and Jimmy placed front and center, I wouldn’t have noticed. However, the addition of a keyboardists, violinist and the trumpet players were quite nice. The additonaly instrumentation sounded really beautiful on “Tonight Tonight”, one of the few songs played during the night that sounded like the original version. My main gripe with the performance wasn’t that the songs were changed into unreconizable rock versions with guitar solos but that Billy didn’t seem into the show until the very end when thanking San Diego for their support. Sure, the songs showcased Billy’s amazing guitar work but everything was dissapointing.

what i got of the set list:

Superchrist
As Rome Burns
Bullet
Bodies
Gossamer
Tonight, Tonight
Song For A Son
Eye
I Of the Mourning
99 Floors
Owata
The Rose March
MCIS
Tarantula
G.L.O.W.
Soma
Cherub Rock
Zero
Heavy Metal Machine
Glass
The March Hare/ Suffer