Van Stone
I pulled up to parking lot and walked in to catch the magnificent Van Stone. Van Stone is a riot. A laugh riot that is. Imagine if a band combined the theatric elements of GWAR and comedic genius of Spinal Tap. That is the essence of Van Stone. With song titles that I dare not type out here, Van Stone summoned every rock cliche from the 1980's and had my friends and I laughing hysterically. One of the guitarists is Travis Draft who was on Buzzkill from MTV back in the day. Van Stone was throwing head bands out into the crowd and even prefaced one of their songs by unfurling a Subway banner stating the song was sposored by Subway. Just when things couldn't get any funnier, Randy Van Stone (Lead Vocals) faked his death on stage as they summoned the "paramedics" to take Randy away on a stretcher. Van Stone play their swan song on Oct 12th at the Roxy. I would probably be there if it wasn't in the midst of my Morrissey marathon.
Rabbit In The Moon
Rabbit In The Moon were the darkhorse and saving grace of Saturday's Street Scene. Based out of Tampa and Los Angeles, Rabbit in The Moon consists of a David Christophere (Keyboards/DJ/Sampler) and Bunny (Vocals/Performance Artist). Bunny first came out in a full suit that was covered in small christmas lights. The music was a hypnotic, pulsating mesh of Breakbeat, House, Techno, and Electronica. It was an excellent auditory/sensory experience that made me think they should have or could open for Daft Punk. Some of the other interesting costume changes included a spacesuit outfit that resembled Buzz Lightyear and a mad scientist outfit. Rabbit In the Moon did a pulsating cover of David Bowie's "Let's Dance" that had the whole tent going nuts. They are playing Las Vegas during the Vegoose night shows but I already have tickets to see the Shins at the Hard Rock Hotel. I hate concert conflicts.
Muse
"Muse Saves!" was the text message I got from my friend right before Muse came on. I was feeling a little underwhelmed by the whole Street Scene experience and was relaying that message to my friend which garned the above response. My friend was right as Muse gave another blistering performance albeit shortened compared to Irvine but retaining the energy level. I was fairly far back from the stage but got a full view of the screens and could really take in the light show and watch the LCD screens with all the different imagery. I felt nostalgic when the spaceship from the video game Galaga appeared on the screens along with various robots, spaceships, and aliens. Matt Bellamy (Guitar/Vocals) was tapping on his Korg Kaoss pad again during the solo for "Supermassive Black Hole". I also noticed that Matt had another Kaoss pad on his pedalboard as if the one built into his guitar wasn't enough. There is also a camera on Matt's microphone stand that would broadcast distorted images of Matt when he was singing. The band also broke into a Heavy Metal jam after "New Born". The crowd sang along loudly to "Time Is Running Out". A storm of feedback from Matt's guitar was immediately identified as coming from the Z Vex Fuzz Factory pedal. The night was capped with a sludge metal jam ending to "Stockholm Syndrome" with Matt kicking over his amp head and stood on top of his cab for dense waves of feedback. I can't wait till Vegoose. I will make the prediction now that Tom Morello comes out for a jam with Muse for Vegoose.
Muse Setlist for the Coors Amphitheatre San Diego Street Scene (9/29/07)
"Knights Of Cydonia"
"Map of the Problematique"
"Hysteria"
"Supermassive Black Hole"
"Butterflies & Hurricanes"
"Feeling Good"
"Invincible"
"Starlight"
"New Born"
"Time Is Running Out"
"Plug In Baby"
"Take a Bow"
"Stockholm Syndrome"
No comments:
Post a Comment