Remembering the Encores

Robert DeLong / Global Concepts This is so much more electronic than I usually listen to but I am so struck by the lyric "Did I leave my life to chance/ Or did I make you fucking dance?"  that I can get over the random bleep bloops in the middle.  The melody on the sung part is riveting. P!nk featuring Nate Ruess / Just Give Me A Reason Further adventures in my "I'd listen to Nate Ruess sing anything" series.  Plus, who would have thought that Miss "I'm Coming Out" would be behind some of the most gut-wrenching and honest looks at heartbreak the last decade has seen? The Lumineers / Dead Sea Everyone is sick of Ho Hay anyway. Ben Howard / Keep Your Head Up SQUEE!!!!  This whole album is amazing and has been on repeat for days, but this is the one I find myself singing along to most. Sit Kitty Sit / Purge I saw these guys in my neighborhood and really liked them.  I LOVE the piano intro on this one. The Mowgli...

Who: Goo Goo Dolls When: July 4, 2004 Where: Niagara Square, in front of City Hall/ Buffalo, NY With: Jenn, Melissa, Amanda Of Note: Buffalove, Buffalonian Pride, SO MUCH RAIN So, the 90s are back in full force this summer, huh? I mean there's The Package Tour with 98 Degrees, New Kids on the Block, and Boyz II Men (I wonder if Nick Lachey and Shawn Stockman are excited to hang out together?), the Last Summer on Earth tour with Barenaked Ladies, Ben Folds Five, and Guster and then the co-headlining Goo Goo Dolls/ Matchbox 20 tour. That's a lot of musical nostalgia for one summer. Anyway, as a result, I've been thinking a lot about the 90s/early 00s lately. And, as a by-product of my recent relocation, thinking a lot about Buffalo. So, this seems to be a good time to tell the story of a concert that is so uniquely Buffalo. 2004 was a bit of a tumultuous year. I graduated from undergrad, convinced that my two degrees with honors and three years of retail ma...

Who: Charlene Kaye & Alexz Johnson with Misty Boyce and Jay Stolar When: March 24, 2013 Where: Brick & Mortar/ San Francisco, CA With: a burning desire to get out of my squatter apartment Of Note: so I live in California? Someone I follow on tumblr (mostly for Glee related commentary, shut up), recommended going to see Charlene Kaye. I checked out the schedule and saw that her tour would be in San Francisco shortly after I arrived there. Thus, this concert has the honor of being my very first San Francisco concert as a San Francisco resident. Truthfully, I was just excited to get out of my then still empty apartment. It was a great night of music and I'm really glad I went. First up was Misty Boyce, a blonde with a pixie cut, big glasses and a slightly awkward demeanor. She was a perfectly serviceable opener. There were two things I remember about her set. First, the song 'Perfect Wheel' was AMAZING. I mean, stuck in my head afterwards, grips yo...

Who: Ben Folds File with Nataly Dawn When: January 31, 2013 Where: The Warfield Theater/ San Francisco, CA With: my unbridled hope for an awesome west coast life Of Note: 2001 Jen is SO PUMPED to be here After putting it off for a considerable amount of time, I had to finally get serious about moving to San Francisco, so I arranged to spend a week in the city to do it. Finding an apartment in San Francisco is an enormous pain the neck , in general. I managed to get lucky and rent one of the first two places I looked at and had the whole process wrapped up by Wednesday. To celebrate, I decided I wanted to do something fun Thursday night - it was either Ben Folds Five or 'Anything Goes'. I opted for Ben Folds and am glad I did! The opener was Nataly Dawn, who I had not heard of, but who was really good! She had a total folk/indie vibe, a dress that I loved the lace top of, and a blonde pixie haircut that made her look like my favorite gym class instructor Angie. ...