Thursday, December 14, 2006

Wolfmother at the Hollywood Palladium






After smokin' the Joint at the Hard Rock, I figured Wolfmother could not put on a better show in L.A. I was really, really wrong. I usually don't like going to the Palladium but I will make the exception for a good show. For those who haven't had the pleasure of going to the Hollywood Palladium, you aren't missing much. I have seen some great shows at the Palladium back in day like Alice in Chains, Tool, Pearl Jam, Deftones, and Morrissey but good shows at the Palladium have been few and far between. I did miss Ladytron/The Faint at the Palladium while I was in Vegas for Wolfmother but I made the right choice in retrospect. The Palladium is notorious for its strip search frisk at the door as well as outlawing any object to enter that isn't your money or your ticket. I was going to leave my camera at home but managed to sneak it in by placing my cell phone and wallet together on the table while I was getting the pat down. Unfortunately not many pictures came out as one would think the Pope was in building with all the security patrolling the venue so I included some outtakes from the Las Vegas show. Pink Mountaintops opened the show with an extended forty minute set. They hail from the great north(Canada) and play a fuzzed out brand of psychedelic rock. Brothers in arms include Darker My Love, Queens of the Stone Age, and a sprinkle of the Jesus & Mary Chain fuzz for good measure mixed with a bit of folk. They had 2 percussionists as well as some female singers as well but had a good groove going during the set. Wolfmother was on next and destroyed the crowd from the get go. On the guitar side, Andrew Stockdale rocks the Gibson SG (silent nod to Angus Young of AC/DC?) and runs it through an Orange Amp. I have seen a few of my guitar heroes play through Orange amps such as Billy Corgan, and Matt Talbott(Hum). His tone is as crunchy as a jar of Skippy peanut butter. If you want to tap into your inner Rock Star then I suggest you pick up Guitar Hero II and rock out to "Joker and the Thief". Some of the differences compared to the Vegas show include a rousing extended version of "Joker and the Thief" and "Woman". The real treat was a cover of "Communication Breakdown" of Led Zeppelin. My jaw hit the floor after that spot on rendition. Wolfmother thanked the crowd as this was the last night of the tour and called Los Angeles "Our Spirtual Hometown". I hope they play home more often.

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