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Live Review: Sara Bareilles w/ Raining Jane and Marc Broussard at the Wiltern

Published

Pynk Iz The New Perez

on October 13, 2008

in Listings, Performance and Reviews

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Sara Bareilles played The Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles: October 11th, 2008.

I had the opportunity to get my first taste of Sara Bareilles on a Tuesday night about a year and a half ago. I was going through a lot of shit at the time, and dragged kicking and screaming by a male friend to see this artist whose name I couldn’t even pronounce. After a few cocktails I gave into the situation and let myself relax…hell, I made my way to the front of the stage. Being an “artist” myself who has played clubs all over the place I find that I tend to be a REALLY harsh (yet honest ) critic. Especially with young girls coming out trying to “make it as a pop-star.” I was IMMEDIATELY humbled the moment she stepped on the stage and the lights softly lit her awkward stance. You could tell from the moment you saw her she was just so humble and happy to be there yet almost uncomfortable at the same time. But when she opened her mouth to sing, you could hear a pin drop. The thick molasses, velvet-toned voice coming out of this completely unsuspecting girl. It’s not the type of voice that needs any back up, any band, all this chick needs to do is sit and play her piano and sing.

FAST-FORWARD: a year and a half later. Her EP AND album have become a staple soundtrack in my life. I know every song left right and sideways, and I spread the word of her real, and relatable self to as many of my friends I thought would get it. It’s got soul and heart. her lyrics could be journal entries out of any one of our diaries.

Through that time word has traveled quickly about Ms. Sara, and her Love Song climbed the charts on Top 40 radio. I got really excited for this debutante singer/ex-waitress/UCLA student from the redwoods of NoCal, but then I got scared that her Majorness on a label would strip away everything beautiful that I saw the moment I first heard her. It was her simple beauty, her naive yet strong witty persona that sold me from the outset.

Sara played Saturday night to a sold-out audience in Los Angeles at the Wiltern Theatre; it always amazes me when I see an artist at a venue like the ROXY for 12 bux…and a little over a year later I can’t buy a ticket except from a scalper on craigslist for 50 dollar nose bleeds that go for 25 ticket price. Needless to say, I’m a fan and so I did what I had too to see the show. Her crowd was sprinkled with middle-to-late-aged men and women, a few scattered tweens, not many - mostly girls in their 20’s and the occasional SUPER-FAN BOYS (who travel ALONE) and to whom I had the wonderful luck of sitting next to.

I wasn’t aware there would be any opening acts…but soon SARA took the stage in a modest outfit consisting of jeans and a button-down blouse to tell her awaiting fans that she would have 2 “SPECIAL GUEST” acts for the evening.

Sara seems nice….watching the opening acts confirmed this to be the case. She’s perhaps TOO nice. Whoever is running her tour, seriously needs to rethink their motives and their calling in life. I mean Girl just got done touring with Maroon 5 and counting CROWS!!! HAVE SOME RESPECT!!! WHY OH WHY?!

Before I tear into the concert, may I start by saying, on their own…I am sure both these bands are amazing….but to open up for an angel…they just ruined the whole night.

Raining Jane are an eclectic all-chick rock-folk band based out of LA. Think LILITH fair. Completely. The 2 members that most impressed me were the sitar/bass player Becky who was basically stuck in a dark corner all night….and the over-powering attention-whore cajon/percussion player Mona…who once she shut up with her REALLY annoying and un-humorous attempts at humor…chick knew how to wail her instrument like a mofo. She was forgiven.

The rest of the band(vocalists Chaska and Mai) were wonderful…I just found nothing New, and Fresh, and exciting about the band. I think they would be better off playing to an audience of Birkenstock-fitted ‘Au natural’ women holding hands in the mountains of Vermont. Not at 8pm on a Saturday to a crowd screaming for a soulful pop Elton John-level crooner.

Just when I thought they may have a redeeming moment with the song PAPERCUT…I was sadly disappointed; it came off like a bad Barenakedladies rip-off. Needless to say, their set was drab and cliche. Raining Jane is really nothing out of the ordinary.

Which then brings us to JERKOFF FEST 2008!! WOOHOO! The funky soul stylings of Mark Broussard. Picture Maroon 5 meets Justin Timberlake with a body like Joey Fatone wannabe hitting the stage…but instead of an audience in front him…homey thinks he is in front of a mirror, in his shower and is screaming his songs out..as if we can’t hear him…TRUST ME BROSEF!! YOU WERE HEARD LOUD AND CLEAR!…

I get it. What he is trying to do, and I can tell deep down underneath that great big ego and goatee of his, he is a very VERY talented young man with an incredibly unique voice - but for the sake of honest critique - it did NOT show at the Wiltern on Saturday the 11th of October, 2008. (And how come his shirts were going for 10 dollars more than the headline act at the merch booth?) Mark Broussard is worth more than our headliner??? hmmmm… prolly not. Get over yourself M.B.: to be a male artist in today’s market you REALLY have to live up to a standard and WOW the living shit out of me, on ANY level…I BEG YOU!! Let’s add insult to injury and stick a Poodle-head in the way of my line of sight while Alpha male Jack Daniel’s tour wails down in front of me.

Talk about muff fest…to sausage fest. I gave him one more chance after the 2nd? 3rd? 4th song? I couldn’t really tell because he was screeching each song at such an unbearably loud and un-intimate pitch that I wasn’t aware of when one song ended and the next began. I found myself exiting the theater and following my nose to the smell of popcorn.

FINALLY!!! at 11:20 Sara hits the stage. I want to reiterate this: Sara and her piano is all she needs. I repeat. HER voice, is anything but little: it fills the room with such a delicate strength that you are captivated and completely forget the hell you had to witness in order to just hear her sing “Gravity” (which she did as an encore song.)

Although she played most of the fan favorites: “Many the Miles,” “Love Song,” and “Bottle it Up,” she also played a few others that she claimed to be her favorites and have always been ones that I pass by on my iPod. I can only sit back and wonder how this artist’s journey will unfold…and I only hope she is in the proper hands. I feel like she is an amazing asset to the music industry even if just an inspiration to girls in their 20’s…who finally have the nerve to search for self-empowerment. She is definitely an act to keep an eye on and a voice that demands attention…if only her handlers would really evaluate the proper opening acts to accentuate the show rather than take away from it…if they would cut away the excess shit…and let her shine alone. A baby grand. A spot light..maybe some percussion. Think BIG Sara: Think ELTON JOHN.

I think she will make it all right; she’s a smart cookie. Although not my favorite concert ever, I’d definitely give her a third chance.

Check out her website and video blogs for yourself:
http://www.sarabareilles.com

I assure you, you will fall in love too without even trying.

Pynk Iz The New Perez is a guest writer for MusicZeitgeist.com

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Live Review: LA Weekly’s Detour Festival, downtown Los Angeles

Published

Truffle Jones

on October 6, 2008

in Listings, Performance, Reviews, Truffle Jones and Week of Shows

. Comments

October 4, 2008
Week Of Shows, Episode Eight

“Who is this playing?”

I look to see who’s asking. It’s a police officer – the kind who could snap me in two if so inclined — his huge, dark body barely contained by his deep blue uniform.

“Golgol Bordello,” I reply.

“What?”

Even though we’re standing at the very back of the large crowd gathered at Temple and Main, the volume from the P.A. overwhelms our exchange.

“Golgol Bordello,” I offer again, then gesture toward the stage where said band is issuing a madcap display of gypsy-cum-punk-cum-ska music from their perch, whipping the assembly before them into frenzy – as though that should explain the words coming from my mouth.

He smiles broadly, then makes a little air guitar move before disappearing into the throng with his partner, his step light in time with the music.

That’s the atmosphere at the third Detour Festival, LA Weekly’s gift to Los Angeles and more specifically, downtown L.A. — a part of the city that until recent years was a destination suited best for the adventurous few.

The Mars Volta at Detour 2008. (photo by author)

Mars Attacks: The Mars Volta at Detour 2008

Today however, the crowd is a cross-ethnic mix of young and old, and most appear to be unfamiliar with the unusual single city block setting around City Hall where the festival is situated — it’s hard to walk more than a few feet without nearly bumping into someone sweeping their head back to take in the skyline, as if they’re seeing it for the first time. And while not exactly a gathering of families, this diverse crowd is friendly and laid back, generally making the whole affair feel something like a kinder, gentler Sunset Junction. Rain threatens throughout the day, but nothing falls other than a light dusting. Instead, the mild temperatures and overcast sky make the experience all the more pleasant.

Some criticized this year’s line-up for not having draw-worthy performers in the manner Beck, J.U.S.T.I.C.E. and Bloc Party provided at previous Detour events. Nonetheless, attendance is comfortably strong, yet void of the irritations typical of an overcrowded festival (i.e. long bathroom lines, an abundance of crowd jostling and the near-impossibility of good sight lines).

And while another common Detour complaint was the fact that alcohol drinkers had to be contained in a cage-like Beer Garden rather than being allowed to wander the festival grounds, the Beer Garden this year is underpopulated, giving credence to the suggestion that people really are here just for the music.

To that end, promoters Goldenvoice have done an admirable job of booking enough pop, rock and dance options to keep festival-goers engaged all day. With enough overlap between start and end times on each stage, you can literally walk around the block from one show to the next and catch a little bit of everyone’s set.

Shiny Toy Guns does their enjoyable best to manifest their electro-pop as a form of arena rock, while Hercules & The Love Affair provide an upbeat dance party that embodies the festival experience (when their performance is temporarily marred by a loss of power to the main P.A., they continue playing anyway, their on-stage volume enough to keep the crowd going while a solution is found). One of the more remarkable set-ups is the DJ Stage, which, instead of a standard tent or outdoor platform, is actually the courtyard at the top of the steps of City Hall. Surrounded by marble and columns, dancers enjoy the unique experience of throwing their moves at City Hall’s entrance. Probably not what the building designers had in mind at the time of construction, but the effect is stimulating and fun nonetheless. Cut Copy’s synth-powered dance numbers pick up where Hercules leaves off, while the aforementioned Golgol Bordello plays a marathon two-hour set, easily keeping their audience engaged for the duration with a barrage of dance-friendly, tie-died pop awash in ethnic overtones. Peanut Butter Wolf presents an entertaining show of video and music mash-ups as people start gathering for The Mars Volta, who take the stage next. This is where things get a little more familiar.

There’s a crush at the front of the stage as The Mars Volta explodes in a volcanic eruption of Rage Against The Machine-meets-Hendrix and Joplin by way of “Bitches Brew”-era Miles Davis. The crowd is predictably dominated by white males, many of who have made it their mission to get up front and push each other around and/or get their 1993 on and do some crowd surfing. “Take care of each other out there,” Cedric Bixler-Zavala, the afro’ed Mars Volta front man asks in a rare break between songs. “There are only four or five guys in yellow shirts up here and there’s a bunch of you, so you be nice to each other.” Toward the end of a number I can only assume is named “Sweet-ass Space Odyssey Jam in the key of Rad Major,” Bixler-Zavala uses the lighting grid to hoist himself above the stage, hanging there above his band for a couple of minutes and taking it all in. Looking out at the mass of people before him against the backdrop of downtown L.A., he must have had quite a view.

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Live Review: The Dandy Warhols at The Wiltern Theater

Published

Truffle Jones

on October 5, 2008

in Listings, Performance, Reviews, Truffle Jones and Week of Shows

. Comments

October 3, 2008
Week Of Shows, Episode Seven

If all you knew about The Dandy Warhols’ leader – Courtney Taylor-Taylor – came from the documentary DiG!, you might be under the impression that he’s an ego-motivated, publishing royalty-hogging narcissist. And you’re probably right. But whether or not he’s a danger to himself and his band, he’s also enviably talented and prolific. Part of what’s continually set The Dandy Warhols apart from other purveyors of smart, self-aware pop tunes with limitless and obvious influences has been their ability to find moments on their records for unexpected, experimental sub-rock vignettes to separate their radio-friendly wares. It’s in these moments that Taylor-Taylor and company show depth, demonstrating their development as artists while simultaneously keeping the rest of their material fresh.

We Used To Be Friends: The Dandy Warhols at The Wiltern.

So it’s ironic that what’s made The Dandy Warhols most intriguing to listen to over the years also made them relatively uninteresting to watch live Friday night at the Wiltern Theater.

It would be unfair to expect any rock band to put on a live exposé of just their best-known, up-tempo songs, particularly when touring in support of a new effort (in this case, …Earth To The Dandy Warhols). But at the same time, it’s not unreasonable to expect a group to deliver the goods with minimal self-indulgence. That’s sort of the unspoken understanding between rock fans and their idols – “You can play the new stuff and the ones that make you feel artsy, but don’t forget the hits. We paid for this shit. Don’t get all Van Morrison on us.”

Things got off to a good start with the show opener, “Minnesoter” (from 1997’s The Dandy Warhols Come Down or their Black Album, depending how you want to look at it), but rapidly decayed into an uninspiring showcase of new material and less-than-live-friendly meanderings. A once-bobbing crowd grew sedate, then became thinner as the night wore on.

This isn’t to say the group avoided their most popular songs entirely, but it was a Friday night, and people wanted to have fun and dance, generally all at once — and for sustained periods of time.

To that end, the show’s zenith was the triple threat of “All The Money Or The Simple Life Honey,” (which Taylor-Taylor introduced as “appropriate for L.A./Hollywood.”) “Bohemian Like You” and “Get Off.” At no time during the night before or after was the crowd as kinetic as when this trio hit – made evident when keyboardist Zia McCabe’s face burst into a spontaneous grin as she surveyed the energized crowd during “Bohemian.”

Soon after, a pair of women beside me wondered aloud if they were then going to hear “Everyday Is Like A Holiday” (no), “We Used To Be Friends” (no), or “Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth (very understandably, no).

There were plenty of other well-known songs in the set (“Sleep,” the Bowie-esque “You Were The Last High,” “Godless” and “Welcome To The Third World” were high points, as was the first single from …Earth, “The World People Together (Come On)”), but the odd pacing and order of these songs combined with others (such as “The New Country” and “The Legend Of The Last Of The Outlaw Truckers…”) made the night a mixed bag at best.

By the time things got going again with the set-enders “Boys Better” and “Country Leaver,” a lot of the crowd was gone and there was plenty of room in the pit to stroll right up to the front of the stage. Not a sold-out affair to begin with (with pockets in the balcony painfully bare), the Dandies must have decided it was time for them to go, too – and left without an encore.

Come to think of it – those unsold seats? Maybe the people who didn’t come saw The Dandy Warhols last time around, and knew what to expect.

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