Tagged: show recap

show recap: thrice farewell tour (may 10-11, 2012)


photo credit: weworemasks

Well, folks. This is the last “last tour” I would want to be reviewing. Since 2001, Thrice has been a mainstay in my musical emergence, maturation and all that mushy stuff. It was good to be presented with a weekend opportunity to catch them twice: once in Austin and once in our hometown. So we rallied up our closest friends who were Thrice fans, trekked to Austin to catch a set for fun, and trekked back home to catch what would probably be our last Thrice show for sentimental and blog purposes.

I’m going to go ahead and throw this out there: this is an incredibly biased recap; if you’re here to see what was wrong with it, you’re looking in the wrong place. Hit the jump for the review, setlists and photos.

-grizzly
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show recap: enter shikari/letlive. (may 7, 2012)


photo credit: weworemasks

After an e-mail blast about the Enter Shikari tour with letlive, I was naturally curious to attend. Having no prior knowledge of Enter Shikari beforehand proved to be both out of my comfort zone musically and a challenge to write about journalistically. Sure, I was a fan of letlive., having seen them (no joke) four times in the past year. But a tour with a UK post-hardcore outfit that relies greatly on electronics? Why not – the two have toured together in the past.

Hit the jump for the recap.

-grizzly

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show recap: mayer hawthorne and the county (april 29, 2012)

Say what you will about Stones Throw’s throwback-to-Motown act Mayer Hawthorne, but the only cheeseball moment from the neo-soul singer came about halfway through his set when he encouraged the crowd at Fitzgerald’s to “Take out those camera phones – take the picture you’ve been wanting to take. Facebook, Instagram: Go for it – Tell the world you’re watching Mayer Hawthorne” and proceeded to ham it up with cookie-cutter lounge act poses with his band. For Mayer Hawthorne (real name Andrew Mayer Cohen), a guy who looks more investment banker than Al Green, and who for an hour and a half treated the Sunday evening crowd to a set of classic soul and late 60’s early 70’s Motown, a little bit of cheese goes a long way.

Hit the jump for the full recap.

- sunbear
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show recap: say anything + kevin devine (april 27, 2012)

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photo by maysa askar

To the casual music observer, Say Anything might have just been a flash in the 2004 emo pan. A breakthrough album …is a Real Boy with singles to boot and a dedicated following of young, angsty anti-hipsters, frontman Max Bemis was the poster boy for the myspace generation, seething cynical sarcastic barbs for the disillusioned youth. A little more homework and you’d uncover a band that for a decade, recorded six albums, including the all-star, 27-track hyper-musical In Defense of the Genre, and managed to keep a healthy albeit very specific fan base of diehards who take Bemis’ word as emo gospel.

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: fun. (march 20, 2012)


photo credit: Arielle Gutierrez

fun. has really propelled themselves into the mainstream as of late. Their single “We Are Young” is being played to high hell on radio stations, Chevy commercials and much more. This particular show was book for the Warehouse Live studio, but due to the high demand of tickets, was moved to the Ballroom, which is roughly 4 times the capacity. And even THAT sold out.

Hit the jump for the review.

-grizzly
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show recap: A$AP rocky (february 26, 2012)


photo credit: marco torres/houston press

A$AP’s blown up quite a bit, hasn’t he? From being somewhat of an underdog at last year’s CMJ Festival to opening up for Drake on the Club Paradise tour to headlining the Ballroom at Warehouse Live, his career’s been fast-tracked, to say the least. Expectations were high, the show was sold out, and the rumors were buzzing.

Hit the jump for the recap.

-grizzly
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show recap: big k.r.i.t. (february 22, 2012)


photo credit: grizzly’s phone/instagram [forgot my camera at home]

After having caught onto Wuz Here sometime in 2010, my appreciation for K.R.I.T.’s vulnerable southern snarl was immediate. There’s just something about the man that screams ingenuity and honesty. He’s taken the absolute best (and believe me, there are only a few) things about southern rap music and ran with them, highlighting his ability to tell stories, producing incredible beats and turning heads all the while.

This show was supposed to be a release party for 4eva And a Day, his upcoming mixtape due out March 6th, but due to a push back (the original date was February 21st), K.R.I.T. kind of left himself in the dust. He had a slew of new songs to premiere and no one would know em – and surprisingly, Houston didn’t seem to mind. Review after the jump.

-grizzly
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show recap: watch the throne (december 5, 2011)


photo credit: weworemasks

Fair warning: This review will hardly be objective. It’s hard not to bask in the glow of two of my favorite emcees of all time. And all of you know the pedestal Yeezy gets around these bear parts. But in all seriousness, this was a historic tour. A mentor and a mentee, both of whom collaborated on a huge record and have worked together plenty of times in the past, were touring together. Nevermind the fact that the tickets were costly and the tours grossed around $1 million a night – this was the Karate Kid of hip-hop tours. And you know how badass Karate Kid is.

Review after the jump.

-grizzly
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show recap: morrissey (november 17th, 2011)

At 28 years old, seeing Morrissey live has always been at the top of my “must see” list, but the timing just never worked out, so you can bet ‘excited’ was an understatement when Morrissey and his gang came through Dallas last week. Hit the cut for a recap of the nights’ event, that included opener Kristeen Young.

- panda

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show recap: saves the day/bayside/i am the avalanche (november 3, 2011)

Saves the Day and Bayside are both veteran bands with impressive new records that hit retail earlier this year, so a co-headlining tour made sense in terms of doing what’s best to fill venues. Despite how jam-packed these lineups were, people just aren’t going to shows as much anymore, which is sad. The Warehouse Live Studio is a marquee venue for tours like this, and after seeing New Found Glory and Saves the Day perform here together two years back, we knew that this would be a nostalgia-infused show for the ages.

Hit the jump for the recap.
-grizzly

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show recap: beirut/ramesh (october 31, 2011)

When Zach Condon first oom-pah-pah‘ed his Balkan way into the indie consciousness, he found himself a warm home, snuggled in between the baroque pop of The Decemberists and the sonic parade of Neutral Milk Hotel, comfortably nested into a scene where the Rhineland reigned supreme. Hailed for his muli-instrument prowess, firm grasp on Balkan folk and Gypsy music, and especially his age (the wunderkind was a mere nineteen at the release of his highly praised Gulag Orkestar), Condon’s band Beirut were as cutting edge as they were ethnographically eclectic. Now three albums into their career, Beirut have expanded beyond their niche musical stylings and with an exercised sense of restraint on The Rip Tide, they’ve created an album that’s more focused on flexing Condon’s songwriting muscle and less on geo-tagging musical genres. In support of that album, Beirut brought horns a plenty to Houston’s Warehouse Live this past Halloween night, their first return visit since their momentous performance at the grand Free Press Summerfest music festival. Hit the jump for the full recap.

- sunbear
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show recap: thrice/moving mountains (october 5, 2011)


photo credit: weworemasks

As a reader of this blog, no one should be surprised to see Thrice show recaps on the reg. I’ve seen nearly every Thrice tour in Texas since 2001, and the current tour in support of Major/Minor is #20. That’s right, I’ve seen ONE band TWENTY times, and I’ve never gotten tired of it. Excuse my clearly biased glow and praise of this band, and hit the jump for the recap.

-grizzly
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show recap: austin city limits festival [day three] (september 18, 2011)


photo credit: amicitas

A familiar Texas friend reared his sunny head over Zilker Park on Austin City Limits’ final day. No it wasn’t Win Butler, thought that did also happen. A jilted sun reappeared after two overcast days with scattered showers and for the first time over the three-day weekend it finally felt like an outdoor Texas festival. Regardless of the heat, Sunday saw the most over/well dressed musicians, risking heat stroke to maintain their dapper image and leave an impression on ACL’s last day.

Recap after the jump:

-sunbear
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show recap: city & colour (september 15, 2011)


photo credit: weworemasks

Dallas Green has been an incredibly busy man for the last seven years. As he’s been a full time member of Alexisonfire, he’s fit City & Colour into his schedule when possible,. As far as touring goes, he’s been limited. He’s about to go on an immense world tour, starting with a few Texas dates, leading into ACL this weekend. Houston was the second stop on the tour, and I was more than happy to attend.

Recap after the jump.

-grizzly
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