Tagged: house of blues

show recap: alkaline trio + bayside (may 3, 2013)


photo credit: weworemasks

I might’ve jumped the gun when I ballooned up The Gaslight Anthem show last week. It just so happens that Alkaline Trio is exactly the same type of band, with the same type of effect between my friends and our respective circles — to an even bigger extent. After all, Alkaline Trio are one of those bands that have been releasing music (now on their 8th studio album, My Shame is True) throughout every phase of punk rock that’s been moderately popular in the 2000s.

Throughout the years, both Matt Skiba and Dan Andriano have broken off and meddled in other bands (Heavens, Dan Andriano solo, etc) but their anchor has always been firmly planted in Chicago’s Alkaline Trio, who brought their new album, Bayside and Off With Their Heads to the House of Blues on Friday night.

-grizzly
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show recap: the gaslight anthem (april 26, 2013)


photo credit: weworemasks

Anytime The Gaslight Anthem tours, it’s an event for us. They’ve maintained the status as one of our favorite bands – putting out some of our favorite records since 2007. A core group of our friends always find a way to set aside an entire night to buddy up, throw our arms around each other’s shoulders, enjoy libations and sing along to some hearty and soulful punk rock songs.

And Thursday night’s stop of the Handwritten Tour at the House of Blues was no different.

Hit the jump for the review.

-grizzly
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show recap: crystal castles (april 20th, 2013)

You’d get the sense, watching nihilist, banshee-woman Alice Glass perform that Crystal Castles were bred for smaller, less-restrictive concert venues than the mighty House of Blues Houston. The band sure have had a meteoric rise in recent months, most likely due to our culture’s embrace of EDM, which Crystal Castles are not, however you dissect it, but their sudden stadium-status seemed counter to the band’s early

DIY ways. At Saturday night’s sold out show however, the duo, Glass and stoic synth/beat conducter Ethan Kath, alongside touring drummer Christopher Chartland, unequivocally flourished in the sold out 1,500 capacity setting, charging the crowd with an intense, hedonistic energy that made for one of the most memorable shows in recent memory.

hit the jump for the full recap.

- sunbear
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show recap: underøath’s farewell tour (with mewithoutyou, as cities burn and letlive.)


photo credit: anibyte

When news broke out of Underoath’s farewell tour, their fanbase shared mixed reactions. For the nine cities that were lucky enough to get tour dates, sheer joy and excitement. Especially since they were bringing (current and former) labelmates As Cities Burn and mewithoutYou along for the ride, and threw some letlive. in for good measure. Now, for the rest of the contiguous United States, the band was met with “wtfs” and “how dare yous” at the audacity of ignoring their friends out west.

The reasons for this, however, seemed obvious. The band was done. Why else only announce 9 dates, which I’ll refer to as “the bare minimum?” Lucky for Houston, we were one of the nine cities, and Underoath brought a fantastic night of heavy rock music to the House of Blues.

Hit the jump for the recap.

-grizzly

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show recap: bloc party [dallas, tx] (december 11, 2012)


photo credit: @vee_ron

Our third and final road trip concert in a month’s time was a special one. None of us three bears had seen Bloc Party prior to this show, so a trip to Dallas to retrieve our forgotten writer Jerome to see ‘em at the House of Blues was a must. The band’s currently on their full US tour routing in support of 2012′s Four, a grungy, but beautiful affair, and the band’s first since 2008′s Intimacy and their hiatus, which took place soon after.

We were pretty excited about this one, especially considering it’s the last big show of 2012. Why not go all out and make a trip to Dallas, only to return back to Houston at 3:30 a.m., right? YOLO, as they say.

[Note: It's been a while since we've seen a show as fans first, and due to a lack of press, none of us took photos. Apologies to the folks who had their photos ripped from Instagram. Hopefully the credit isn't too bad!]

Hit the jump for the review.

-grizzly
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show recap: band of horses (october 24, 2012)

It had been a lengthy six years since Seattle’s Band of Horses had been in town. Then the Railroad Revival Tour was announced and BOH’s destiny was locked with that of Willie Nelson’s with a performance in the historical Old Town Spring just north of Houston.

And just like that, plans for the trek were derailed (ha!), ol’ Willie’s health speculated as the cause, and BOH shouldered the weight and announced their own replacement tour to buck up the spirits of those who, in the wake of the band’s commercial success with the Grammy-nominated Infinite Arms, cozied up to the rootsy Americana of the band and the warmth of Ben Bridwell’s canyon-echo vocals.

Hit the jump for the full recap.

- sunbear
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show recap: the shins + white rabbits (october 10, 2012)


photos courtesy of Lesli Kalohi of Never Cool In School.

Last night, the latest incarnation of The Shins brought their tour in support of their first new album in five years Port of Morrow to The House of Blues in Houston. Having rebuilt the band after several lineup changes, James Mercer enlisted Beck guitarist Jessica Dobson, Modest Mouse drummer Joe Plummer, Crystal Skulls bassitst Yuuki Matthews, and indie-renaissance man/producer Richard Swift on keyboards to tighten up the Shins’ classic jangly pop sound into the slick, organic sound Mercer has been aiming for since 2007’s Wincing the Night Away.

Hit the jump for the full recap.

- sunbear
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show review: the cult + against me! (june 19, 2012)

Last night’s show at the House of Blues was a generational clash of the titans. In the direct support slot, playing as hard and fast as any former-anarcho-punk can was Against Me!, whose frontman Tom Gabel made a huge wave in the music scene by coming out as transgender and embracing her new female identity as Laura Jane Grace. The headliner of the night was the shamanistic, heavy metal revivalists The Cult, whose latest album Choice of Weapon is pedal to the metal packed with soaring choruses and hearty guitars.

The generational divide in the crowd could not have been any more palpable either, with the younger guns an organized chaos of pumping fists and black t-shirts, and the more “mature” masses a sloppy deluge of spilled beer, hootin’ and hollerin’, and an even ratio of Target-brand Merona dress shirts to vintage Rush tees. Bolstered by their favorite band’s music roaring through the speakers at eardrum-shattering volumes, every one of all ages rocked out all the same.

hit the jump for the full recap.

- sunbear
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show recap: childish gambino (april 5, 2012)


photo credit: weworemasks

Donald Glover had to postpone the first three weeks of the Camp Gambino tour due to a broken foot, pushing the start date all the way to the Texas run, which included a stop at Houston’s House of Blues. Having not seen any proper reviews for the tour, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Was he going to possess the same energy and livelihood of his narcissistic, but fantastic IAMDONALD tour? (He did.) Would having an opener hinder his creativity? (It didn’t.) Would Camp go over well live? (It did.) Will his broken foot affect his performance? (It didn’t.)

Recap after the jump.

-grizzly
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show recap: taking back sunday/thursday (july 4, 2011)


photo credit: weworemasks

Houston isn’t one to get too many ‘holiday’ shows. So an Independence Day with two bands I grew up listening to, a little beer and a solid round of company seemed like the perfect blend of circumstances to have a good time. Taking Back Sunday is newly reformed, with the original lineup of the days of 2002, which was clear and away one of the most crucial reasons the folks in attendance were there to begin with.

-grizzly
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show recap: panic! at the disco/fun. (june 15, 2011)


all photo credits: weworemasks

I’ll be the first to admit that while I really like both of these bands, going to their joint show with a crowd that was undoubtedly going to be younger than me all the way across the board isn’t my cup of tea. I’m not trying to be the bitter drunk guy who sits in the back and mumbles that “he saw Panic! in 2005″ or “Have you even heard of The Format?” – scratch that, I am trying to be that guy. Because of such a circumstance, I was completely wary of this show. However, the tour stopped by Houston’s House of Blues on Wednesday night and I attended hoping to have a good time and of course, be proven wrong of all my jaded delusions. Recap after the jump. All photos are credited to weworemasks.

[ed. note - There's an interview with Nate Reuss of fun. coming soon!]

-grizzly
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event: creme de la creme [houston edition] (2011)

friendly reminder from the bears. the fine folks at dubfrequency have been hosting some solid events at the house of blues/foundation room/bronze peacock as of late, and tomorrow night’s (thursday, june 2nd) treasure fingers set should be no doozy. as always, you can get in free if you’re 21 and rsvp to the event, and only $5 if you’re 18+. if you’re younger than that, go to sleep – it’s past your bedtime!

more details here.

-grizzly

show recap: fun./steel train (november 5, 2010)

fun. has been the absolute best thing to come from the ashes of the format, naturally. aim & ignite was my 2009 album of the year, so it goes without say that i was excited to finally catch these guys headline a show with an album to back. bringing along the sing-a-long champions of the road steel train was just an added bonus.

for reasons unknown: there was no photo pit at this show, and thus, my photo pass was both non-existent and useless. the three pictures featured on this post are courtesy of wonderful flickr-er gift of asylum. hit the jump for the recap.

-grizzly

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bootleg: lupe fiasco – live at in houston, tx / steppin’ lasers [full audio mp3] (april 26, 2010)

and now, the headliner. lupe’s live show was completely unexpected. having seen him twice before, nothing compared to this show. his glow in the dark tour set was matched with a crowd 2/3 empty and complete houston summer sun, and his bun b and friends set was a mere four songs, leaving much to be desired. accompanied by one of the best hip-hop drummers i’ve ever seen and a full band, lupe fiasco touched base on his entire discography, including a mixtape cut and five new joints. the encore provided us with the livest version of ‘swang on em’ with bun b you’ve ever heard, too.

enough chattin. tracklist beneath the jump.

download:

-grizzly

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bootleg: b.o.b. – live at in houston, tx / steppin’ lasers [full audio mp3] (april 26, 2010)

my homie jay came through once again with a bootleg. this time, he was on hand with us at the houston, tx stop of the steppin’ lasers tour to catch b.o.b. on the run to his first album release, which he’d see the day after this show. b.o.b. definitely went over well with the crowd, as he jammed through past and present b.o.b, using a full band to maximize the entire experience. i gotta say, i’ve yet to see a direct support act get more than 1/2 the love b.o.b. got during his one hour set. the tracklist is below the cut. enjoy.

this is mainly for the other 2/3 bears of this blog, who weren’t in attendance because they are both stupid and broke. and i’m the one who’s unemployed. luv yall.

download:

-grizzly

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