Let it SNOW, Let it SNOW, Let it SNOW!

Started snowing last night and what a beautiful sight to see early this morning when I took the dogs out. We now have almost a foot of snow and more on the way. They say that the heaviest snow fall is still to come with this warmer air coming up from the carolinas.. Can you believe it? My sister was out shopping this morning! Dogs were having fun out in the snow. Will have to take more photos later of them...

Hands Down This is the Best Day - or so a friend said

Dashboard Confessional - The Ottobar - December 13th, 2009

It might have been 20-something degrees outside in Baltimore, but at the Ottobar that night, it was a packed house and it was steaming hot! Onstage was Dashboard Confessional, who after cancelling their major headlining tour, set out on a 13-date acoustic tour with New Found Glory. Of course, considering that Dashboard can easily pack and sell out much larger venues, the Ottobar sold out immediately, which left many fans literally out in the cold. For Dashboard's frontman, Chris Carrabba, these shows bring him full circle. He began as a solo artist and no matter how you look at it, Dashboard Confessional is Chris Carrabba.

A Dashboard Confessional show is definitely an experience to be had. Whether it's a fully plugged-in show or an acoustic one, this is a show that is full of crowd participation. Having seen Dashboard in sold out arenas where the crowd sang over him, it was great to be in a smaller venue where the crowd complimented Chris' voice instead of drowning it out. I was also very happy that those around me could actually sing on key. Nothing worse than having someone next to you screaming out lyrics and being off key! 

The set encompassed the career of Dashboard. Even though their current CD was released last month, only a small fraction of the 20 songs performed came from that CD. There were songs from all of Dashboard's CDs included as well as a cover of Ingrid Michaelson's "Breakable" and Weezer's "El Scorcho". The set also gave Dashboard's guitarist John Lefler, who accompanied Chris on this tour, a chance to perform one of his songs, "Up My Sleeve", from his own CD that was released over the summer.

There is a connection that occurs at a Dashboard concert; a connection between audience members and a connection between performer and audience. It's not something that occurs at all concerts and not all frontmen are able to pull this off either. Chris Carrabba is one of those that can. His music ignites, surrounds, and penetrates your soul. Sure stick this in the Emo category. This is the artist that all of those others try to emulate but fall short.

Rockin' Us with a Hurricane

Hurricane season may have ended Nov 30th, but that didn't stop Switchfoot from bringing its own brand of Hurricane to Baltimore. And by hurricane, I mean Hello Hurricane, which is the current release from the band. Billed as "An Evening with Switchfoot", the show highlighted the new release with the band playing it in its entirety from start to finish.

The night kicked off with the first track from Hello Hurricane, which had most of the audience searching for frontman Jon Foreman. He was up on the balcony singing surrounded by fans. Here is a man who is not afraid to be in the middle of the crowd as was evident by the multiple times he ventured onto the packed floor and balcony.

The first set concluded and Foreman announced to the crowd that they would be back out and he wanted the crowd to start singing whatever they wanted to sing. Two halves of the floor were singing different Switchfoot songs when the band came back out on stage and launched into their second set of the night. At one point during this set, Foreman teased and asked how the opening band was. Of course this set included the singles that anyone listening to radio would have known but here was a crowd that sang to every song, so to them it didn't matter whether or not these were the popular songs or not.

Known for their energetic live performances, this band definitely did not disappoint anyone here tonight. Having seen this band a few times over the years, it's been great to see their growth. I can remember seeing them back at the 9:30 Club early in their career. The crowd, which was mostly made up of church groups, just stood still and when Jon Foreman attempted to crowd surf, they didn't know what to do. I don't think that would happen today. While attaining their mainstream status, they have been able to stay true to themselves. There are many bands out there that could learn from a band like Switchfoot.

Road Trip A Long Time Coming

It is said that you can never go back but that is exactly what I did ~ well back to Minneapolis, back to see Soul Asylum at First Avenue.

For whatever reasons, it had been quite awhile since I had seen Soul Asylum, a couple of years to be exact but as soon as those first notes were played, those years were stripped away and all that existed was me and a band that I absolutely love.

Here was a crowd that didn't care whether that hit song was played or not. This was home for Soul Asylum. Here was where they could be whatever they wanted to be and play whatever they wanted to play. I'm sure everyone in attendance had their own favorites that they would have loved to have heard but nobody went home disappointed.

The set was filled with songs that spanned their career as a band and of course included a couple of covers - which we all know this band is known for doing. This night we heard Wyclef Jean's "Gone 'Til November" and The Who's "My Generation" which incidentally featured bassist Tommy Stinson on lead vocals. Also tossed into the set was "Silly Love Songs" at the end of "Misery" (knowing that garnered me an increase in my "coolness factor" I was told by a fellow photog).

There was a dedication to Bob Stinson just before "Easy Street" and of course "Without a Trace" went out to Karl Mueller as we all raised our glasses/bottles in the air. At one point front man Dave Pirner had us vote on whether or not we wanted to hear the next song. Judging by the black acoustic guitar strapped on him, I voted "NO" but the majority did vote "YES" and we got "Runaway Train". I don't dislike the song, I actually do love it but I don't listen to it any longer. There's a certain point in the song that just hits me and I miss Karl.

Missing from the night were songs from "Candy from a Stranger". Granted this album wasn't received as well as some of the others, but there still are some very good songs on there. Oh and I don't think any of us that have seen the band perform the title track (which isn't on the album) live will ever forget Dave's dancing! Dave did hint about the new material that they are working on but unfortunately the band decided not to play anything new for us this night.

Here is a band that could have just called it quits but instead they have persevered and are having the times of their lives performing. They genuinely look like they are having fun on stage. The interaction between the members just intensifies the love I have for this band. I look forward to the future and what it brings for Soul Asylum.

Emilie Autumn & The Bloody Crumpets Bringing the Asylum to You!

So have you caught an Emilie Autumn show? This is definitely a show not to miss. On tour in support of her "Opheliac -- The Deluxe Edition", she and the Bloody Crumpets are on their first North American Tour and we were lucky to catch them in both Baltimore and Washington DC.

Now if you are thinking that this is just a concert, you will be sadly mistaken or maybe not. The show which lasts about 2.5 hours blends her songs with theatrical performance as well as circus type acrobatics in the venues were these are doable. In Baltimore at Bourbon St. they were able to do these antics as well as incorporate a bit of pyro into their act but at the 9:30 Club that was not to be the case.

For the most part the show flowed well but at times the dialogue between songs seemed to drag on and come across forced. This could be due to having seen the show before and even with some subtle changes in it, it became a bit predictable. Being this is their first North American tour, it will be interesting to see how the show changes from tour to tour.

The highlight of the night though was towards the end when Emilie did her cover of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody". Covering a song such as this is a huge undertaking and she definitely hit it.

Anberlin/All-American Rejects/Taking Back Sunday

Tyson Ritter of All American Rejects
Originally uploaded by photobycourtney

It was a scene kid’s dream line-up. The All-American Rejects and Taking Back Sunday doing a co-headlining tour with Anberlin opening, but for some reason, this Monday night, the Patriot Center in Fairfax was about half full. Maybe it was the fact that if you weren’t a college student the tickets were $35. Who knows. The only thing that I do know is that it was a great line-up and a great show. Those that weren’t there totally missed out.

The night kicked off with Anberlin. Opening for Taking Back Sunday is nothing new for this band as they were in this same position earlier in the year when they opened on Taking Back Sunday’s club tour. Their set, although it was short, encompassed their career except for their first release Blueprints for the Black Market. They also included their cover of New Order’s “True Faith” which they were releasing as a single the following day.

Next up was The All-American Rejects. Now seriously I’m a bigger fan of them than of TBS and was disappointed that TBS was closing out the show even though I got to see AAR earlier. AAR is seriously my guilty pleasure; just ask Michelle; she can tell you some funny stories about that. But back to the concert…having seen this band since 2002, it’s been great to see them grow as performers. Tyson Ritter is a great frontman and definitely knows how to play up to the crowd. At one point, he grabbed a flashlight and singled out those in the stands that were sitting. It was a magic light he said that made people jump up, unfortunately I think its magic ran out as those highlighted didn’t listen. They finally did move when he went out into the crowd during “Mona Lisa” and as he was mobbed by many girls, Ritter jokingly commented how he hated his job. A definite change from when I used to see them back in 2002; Ritter seems more energetic almost like a marionette and someone is pulling his strings. Some things do get better with time. It also helps that Ritter gives up his bass guitar for a few songs so he’s no longer trapped by the microphone stand. AAR brought their set to a close with “The Last Song”, which turned out to be really the second to last song since they couldn’t very well end the night without their hit single, “Gives You Hell”.

All-American Rejects Set List :
Move Along
Fallin’ Apart
Dirty Little Secret
Top of the World
Swing, Swing
I Wanna
Mona Lisa
Real World
It Ends Tonight
Damn Girl
The Last Song
Gives You Hell

So closing out this night was Taking Back Sunday who have been touring in support of their fourth studio release, New Again. TBS is fronted by Adam Lazzara, who like AAR’s frontman, knows how to work the stage and the crowd. Lazzara is always moving, but for tonight, he was mainly stationary for the first two songs. A photographer’s dream! (had to throw that in, all of us photographing commented on this after our three songs in the barricade). But that didn’t last for long as Lazzara was all over the stage, swinging his microphone as usual, for the rest of the set. Their set encompassed their entire career of studio albums, which for their fans would equal to a great set even though it was only 13 songs long. That’s the problem with these co-headlining tours; both bands get to play for an equal amount of time. But TBS made the most of their time, ending their set with a trio of songs from Louder Now, which left the crowd chanting in hopes of that TBS would return to the stage. No such luck though; everyone will just have to look forward to upcoming tours.

Brand New at The Electric Factory

So after not seeing Brand New for quite a few years I caught their set at Voodoo Experience and was reminded about why I loved them so much. I just had to see them again. That alone proved to be an experience in itself but with help from a few people, off I went to Philadelphia to catch night one of a two night sold-out stand at the Electric Factory.

A sold out club, this is where Brand New is totally in their element. While the direct support of Thrice was a good mix as far as the fans went, Thrice's set was lacking in something. As one waiting for Brand New to come onstage, you could feel the change in the crowd and knew that this was really who this sold out crowd came to see. The set kicked off with the instrumental "Welcome To Bangkok" which I have to say that I'm glad that the security personnel it the barricade didn't know the songs because technically we were in the barricade shooting for four songs instead of our usual three! (shhh! I'm not telling)

The set moved through the career of this band and while it had its highs and lows (drummer Brian Lane putting his foot through the bass drum) the set flowed. In comparing this to their performance at Voodoo, here frontman Jesse Lacey was comfortable, not as introverted. Gone was the ski cap which seriously at Voodoo seemed more of a way for him to hide. He fiddled with it as well as fiddled with his festival bracelet. There were also little smiles and comments that were made during the set at the Electric Factory. He was definitely more open.

He gave a shout out to those from Long Island who knew the guys in the band before they were ever in a band and it was that group of guys that were bouncing around me during the two songs of the set that were from the band's debut studio album Your Favorite Weapon . These two songs "Jude Law and the Semester Abroad" and "Seventy Times 7" were definitely crowd favorites.
The rest of the set was a mix of their albums with seven songs coming from their recently released album Daisy. As a photographer I pay attention to details and lighting and I do need to remark on the lack of lighting for much of the set. Dim lighting does give atmosphere but that can also be created with lighting where you don't to struggle to see the band on stage. The night ended with Jesse alone on stage for the beginning of "Play Crack the Sky" tuning his guitar. After a bit of trouble tuning it he commented on how he should be able to do this after 20 years of playing guitar. The vulnerable Jesse Lacey was back. He was joined on stage by guitarist Vin Accardi for the song partway through and then the show was over.

This show was amazing. Would have loved to have been back for night number two but wasn't possible and all the others within driving distance are sold out! Definitly have to be there next tour!

In the week since this show, I've been doing a lot of thinking about this show and thinking of the comparisons others have made. The thing I love about the songs of Brand New is definitely the lyrics. I love how they twist and turn; how some come off very tongue in cheek and contradict themselves. There is definitely a story being told if one just knows how to listen.

Brand New @ Electric Factory , Philadelphia PA 11-14-2009