NIne Inch Nails and Ladytron at the Brixton Academy

After the cancellation of night 2 at Birmingham, I was more then prepared for night #1 of Nine Inch Nails at the Brixton Academy. The Brixton Academy is about the size of the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles. In case you haven't been following all the marketing by nine inch nails, they have been placing USB keys at concerts containing new songs from the upcoming album. I missed out on a USB key that was taped to a flyer right next to me. Luckily my brother in arms obtained a USB key that contained the new Nine Inch Nails video for “Survivalism”. Ladytron appeared on stage like clock work at 8:00 and opened with the usual “High Rise”. Ladytron has definitely hit their stride and have been received very well by the Nine Inch Nails fans. It always seems like Ladytron’s set is finished before it even starts as they only have 30 minutes to cram in as many songs as possible. I was fortunate enough to get a setlist for Ladytron. “Somewhat Damaged” was the opening song for another destructive setlist by Nine Inch Nails. It turns out that it was a similar setlist to night#1 at Birmingham. I can’t complain as it is my #1 setlist that the band plays. I was getting crushed on the rail as “Last”, “Heresy” and “Ruiner” had the pit swarming behind me. During “Piggy”, Trent jumped down into the crowd a few people from me and shined the light in their face as the fans screamed the lyrics. A very high energy perfomance that had the crowd buzzing long after the closing feedback squalls of "Head Like A Hole".

Forever Like Red at the Cambridge Loft

I had 2 options for shows in England on my “night off”. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club was playing in London or Forever Like Red(FLR) was playing at the Cambridge Loft. Since Black Rebel Motorcycle Club is from Los Angeles, it would have been foolish to miss Forever Like Red. Forever Like Red consists of Cameron Meshell, Pelle Hillstrom who had toured with Alessandro Cortini in ModWheelMood. They were signed to a U.K. record deal and will have a debut album out in the summer. Their album Distance was produced by Brad Wood who also produced one of my favorite bands Hum. Forever Like Red is fronted by Cameron who possesses an impressive vocal range to accompany his dynamic stage presence. The loft is a small venue about the size of Spaceland back in Los Angeles. Forever Like Red rocked the house with lots of emotion that blew me away since this was their first show of the European tour. I see big things in their future and I anxiously await their new cd. Pelle added great solos and countermelodys to Cameron’s shimmery guitar strums. Pelle’s solo at the end of “Father” cut like a knife. Pelle had an impressive army of effects pedals including a Line 6 Modulation, Line 6 Delay, and an Octafuzz pedal. They just started a tour in the U.K. and hope to hit the states in the future. You have been duly warned.

Nine Inch Nails and Ladytron at the Birmingham Academy

After partying in Nottingham all night, I boarded the train to Birmingham. I arrived at the venue early and was told to put my camera and cell phone in a paper bag as a “social event” was going to take place for the Nine Inch Nails fan club. The surprise event was a listening party for the new Nine Inch Nails album that won’t be released until April. As a long time fan, I was blown away by the 1 hour and 15 minute disc. Trent had described the album as being noisy and I would have to agree. I took notes about the album and may post it later if I get a chance but I will go on record now and say that “Capital G” and “The Great Destroyer” will be Nine Inch Nails favorites. Along with the listening party, pizza and drinks were provided which was a bonus as well as being inside the venue instead of being outside in the 10 degrees celsius weather. The Birmingham Academy is about as big as the House of Blues in Los Angeles and was packed when Ladytron started their set. I can’t say enough about Ladytron, just get their cds and you won’t be disappointed. Nine Inch Nails proceeded to play a blistering set that will go down as one of my more memorable shows. I was blown away by the double barrel shotgun blast of “Last” and “Heresy”. Two of the heavier songs in the Nine Inch Nails catalog. Aaron North also debuted a mounted Korg Kaoss pad which he used to add color to his feedback. Best show and setlist yet!

Nine Inch Nails and Ladytron at the Nottingham Ice Arena

Nottingham knows how to party. After the concert, my friends and I ventured to Nottingham Rock City which is a Heavy Metal/Rock N’ Roll club that was voted the premier rock club in England. It was open till 3am on Saturday night and the amount of people partying in the streets didn’t stop till at least 4am. This capped another excellent show by Nine Inch Nails and Ladytron. Ladytron was up first and played their usual silky electronic set. The bassist was rocking a Marshall Bass Cab and Head along with a Line 6 Bass Pod for all the songs except when she switched to keyboards for “Destroy Everything You Touch”. The concert was held in a hockey arena so the sound was okay but had a spot of echo in it. Nine inch Nails came out to “Love is not enough” and I could feel the wave of people crash over me on the barrier. “No, You Don’t” and “Into the Void,” were highlights from this show as again I was treated to some songs that Nine Inch Nails don’t normally play. Josh destroyed on the drums during “Wish”. The stage setup for Nine Inch Nails includes interrogation like lights hanging from above the band members heads with pull strings attached. Jeordie White was particularly interested with his light and had it moving all night long. Aaron North broke Trent’s pull string for his light. This was also the first time I got to see the new song "Survivalism" off of Year Zero. The song featured some extra riffage courtesy of Alessandro Cortini. Trent was also using a Snarling Dog Wah pedal during parts of "Survivalism". Ironically, the Killers were scheduled to play the next night but I needed to head down to Birmingham for another dose of Nine Inch Nails.

Nine Inch Nails and Ladytron at the Manchester Apollo (Night 2)

Night number 2 started on a positive note with the splendid performance by Ladytron. The prior night was their first opening show for Nine Inch Nails and it was complicated by monitor problems for all of the Ladytron members. This was not the case tonight as the sound was dialed in and the bass was kicking. It was the same set as the previous night but I will never get tired of hearing "Seventeen", "High Rise" and "Destroy Everything You Touch". I hope they are able to switch up their songs once they get the kinks ironed out. Nine Inch Nails attacked the stage with the opening chords of "Somewhat Damaged". The energy level remained high as a blistering version of "You Know What You Are?" devasted the crowd with some brutal drumming courtesy of Josh Freese. The crowd was treated to the pig double feature of "March of the Pigs" and "Piggy". During "Piggy", Trent grabbed a huge spotlight and jumped down into the crowd and sang along with the fans. There will be video appearing somewhere I am sure. "We're In This Together" took me by surprise as this is another song in Nine Inch Nails lore that hasn't been played frequently in a live setting. The song also featured Alessandro Cortini on guitar to enhance the main riff. "With Teeth" was played and featured some tambourine by Trent Reznor as well as some acoustic guitar by Alessandro. Aaron North gave another blitzkrieg like performance punctuated with a leap into the crowd during "Head Like a Hole". I was also impressed with his E-Bow solo on "Hurt". "Burn" seemed like it had a more synth featured intro with assistance by Aaron North who sauntered over to the keyboards to help Alessandro create a noisy intro. Aaron must have won the guitar lottery as he played 5 or 6 different guitars throughout the whole show. Some of his guitars include a Fender Jaguar, a Gibson Les Paul with a Bigsby tremolo, a Yamaha and his staple guitar the Hagstrom. The show finished with Trent stating, "I will see ya in the Summer". I think I might need a summer vacation to recover from this one.

Nine Inch Nails and Ladytron at the Manchester Apollo

Greetings from Manchester, England. I decided to take a vacation from Los Angeles concerts and go on holiday in the U.K. Ironically enough, Nine Inch Nails are in town with Ladytron opening. Sounded like a good vacation to me. The Manchester Apollo is a cool theatre about the size of the Wiltern theatre back in Los Angeles. The venue has a no camera policy so I figured I would take good notes instead. Ladytron opened up first with "High Rise" and continued to raise the energy level with "International Dateline" and "Destroy Everything You Touch". Ladytron had a movie screen behind them showing old footage from various flicks. The crowd cheered them on but one could sense the building anticipation for Nine Inch Nails. Chirping noises soon rang out through the P.A. system and the marching anthem of "Pilgrimage" stirred the crowd into a frenzy. "Mr. Self Destruct" got the crowd going early with the triple guitar assault of Alessandro Cortini, Jeordie White, and Aaron North. Trent was circling the stage like a predator anticipating the destruction of his prey. "Last" was astounding as it has not been played on recent tours. All of the band members were sceaming the chorus to make the song as visceral as it is on the cd. "Sin", "Burn", "Terrible Lie", "Something I Can Never Have", "March of the Pigs", "Wish" kept the momentum running high. "Ruiner" was another surprise with Aaron nailing(no pun intended) the guitar solo. Alessandro added some flavor with octave chords on guitar during the song. At prior shows in the United States, people would always scream during "Hurt" and ruining the song. The rendition that I heard tonight was the quietest version yet. Aaron North was jumping, stomping, kicking, and slipping all over stage with a great performance. This was a great opening night for the U.K. tour and I have a feeling it will only get better.

Sparta, The Movies, The Press Fire at the Echo

The Press Fire

The Movies


Sparta




Early shows are good ideas in my opinion, especially when I can be home at 11:00. The Echo listed a show time of 6:00pm for the nice line up of Sparta, The Movies, and The Press Fire. The Press Fire were up first and had a slew of band members on stage. Mi Jin Gregory(Keyboards) was rocking the Roland Juno-D adding textures to their indie punk songs. I likened them to The Sounds because of their incorporation of keyboards, punk like guitars, and rapid fire vocals courtesy of Nicole Hajjar. The cowbell even made an appearance during their set. Their album New Dress, New Rules was produced by Tony Hajjar(Sparta) and can be found on itunes. The Movies were up next and were quite the spectacle. Silversun Pickups are big fans of this band and even covered "Creation Lake" on their Pikul album. Brian Cleary(Keyboards) was sprinkling keyboard lines via a nice Kurzweil PC 88. I haven't seen a Kurzweil on stage since the days of Fear Factory. They reminded me of the Talking Heads with some Kraftwerk like electronic bleeps and bips percolating thru the songs. Timothy James(Vocals) was pacing around on the short stage while managing to mix in some onstage jumps. Timothy was also trying to entice the monitors to feedback by waving his microphone in front of them.The Movies lyrically are hillarious. Check out such gems as "If I Had the Cash", "Ed", "Timothy James" and "Nam". One sample of their lyrics taken from "Nam" was "When we were in Vietnam, we partied in Saigon". The Movies will be playing the Viper Room on 2/26. Sparta hit the stage to a rapturous applause and the opening chords of "Untreatable Disease" rang out. Just like Stellastarr*, Sparta has had some record label problems before finally partnering with Hollywood records for their latest release "Threes". Besides the fact that "Threes" is their third full length release, I imagine that it is a reference that bad things happen in "Threes" in terms of the departure of Paul Hinojos and Jim Ward(Vocals/Guitars) mentioning at prior concerts how he wanted to dissolve Sparta completely at one point. Sparta always puts on a superb performance and tonight was no exception. Unfortunately they didn't play some of my favorite songs "Rx Coup", "Vacant Skies" but masterfully played "Air", "Taking Back Control", and "While Oceana Sleeps". "Guns of Memorial Park" was remarkable due to the hyperkinetic drumming of Tony Hajjar. His drumming is highly regarded and it was easy to see why. Jim Ward played almost every make of guitar as he switched between a Fender Telecaster, Gibson Hollowbody, Rickenbacker, and an Ibanez Jet King. Both Jim Ward and Colin Keeley(Guitars) were stomping on their Line 6 Delay modulation pedals all night to help augment their sound. Sparta is now going out on tour with mewithoutyou and Aloha so catch them while you can.

Everybody Else at the Orange County Museum of Art

I almost forgot about the free Orange County Museum of Art concert series that occurs on every third Thursday of the month sponsored by Indie 103.1. Everybody Else stopped to showcase their jangle rock/pop songs. Named after a Kinks B-side, Everybody Else plays straight up power trio rock drenched in harmonies. Austin Williams was thumping on a nice Fender Mustang Bass and Carrick Garety(Vocals/Guitar) had a rocking Fender Mustang. Mikey McCormack was punishing his drums all night with a vengeance that cost him a crash cymbal. Carrick also used an E-bow on one of the songs that produced Mellotron like notes. Stylistically one could detect a hodgepodge of influences from the Beach Boys, Cheap Trick, Clash and the Strokes. Song highlights included "In Memoriam" and "Meat Market" and "Rich Girls/Poor Girls". Some upcoming free shows include Venus Infers and Monsters are Waiting which I recommend you attend. It is difficult to beat a night of free art and music. What else are you going to do?

Albert Hammond Jr. at the Troubadour

Love was in the air on Valentine's day at the Troubadour.The love fest was started by Har Mar Superstar. When I say Har Mar performed a stripped down set, I mean it literally and figuratively. Armed with just a DAT(Digital Audio Tape) machine, Har Mar danced around on stage with his R-rated Justin Timberlake, Maroon 5 and Mickey Avalon hybrid rap/dance/disco/funk songs. Har Mar worked the audience well and had time to go to down into the crowd to order a Patron shot of tequila from the bar mid song. When I saw Morrissey and he lost his shirt there was a large cheer from the audience. Har Mar received more cat calls then cheers and I tend to think they were on the sarcastic side. I have to say I liked his band the Sean Na Na's better. Did you know that both Har Mar Superstar and Albert Hammond Jr. have opened for Incubus? Albert Hammond Jr. was up next and delivered the goods. I have heard the new album over on NME and was impressed, but I have admit his live show was even more convincing. I usually worry about a guitarist stepping out for a solo album but Albert definitely has the skills. His backing band also featured the guitar work of Steve Schiltz who fronts the band Longwave. Steve was rocking a sweet Fender Jazzmaster thru his Hiwatt stack. Albert Hammond Jr. was rocking his trademark Olympian white Fender Stratocaster with two Jekyll and Hyde Overdrive pedals. The Jekyll and Hyde pedal has two channels with one channel modeled after the classic Ibanez Tubescreamer 808 and the other an all out distortion channel. Apparently the Artic Monkeys use the same pedals. Stand out tracks from the set include "101", "In Transit" and the smoking closer of Hard to Live(In the City). The set was really quick (approx 45mins) and I could see Matt Lazano (drums) tell Albert in between songs that the song they had just played was really fast. If Albert Hammond Jr. decides to go solo, it would change the Strokes and signal the death knell of Longwave. Hopefully all bands will remain intact. Check out his album Yours to Keep on March 6th. You can also boost your indie rock credentials if you can identify the cover songs on the setlist.(one hint: not white).