Remembering the Encores

Who: Jimmy Eat World with Matt Pond When: September 22, 2013 Where: The Warfield/ San Francisco, CA With: I don't have friends here. Of Note: I am probably too old to be mosh pit adjacent Jimmy Eat World's 'Bleed American' is the rare album that has the ability to transport me to two very specific, very different places in time. The year is 2001 and I'm a sophomore in college. I'm sitting at my desk in Lehman, in front of my Compaq desktop trying to get work done, probably on my hellishly miserable Advanced Macroeconomic Theory class after carefully reading everyone's AIM Away Messages, while trying desperately to stay focused and not flail around to 'The Middle'. Nine times out of ten, I fail at sitting still, schoolwork abandoned in favor of jumping around like a crazy person. This album was my jam; we spent a lot of quality time together. Fast forward ten years, or so. Barb and I were having one of our epic happy hours and had made...

Who: Matt Nathanson with Lights When: August 23, 2012 Where: Thursday at the Harbor/ Buffalo, NY With: Katie, Josette, Katie, Kyle, Others Of Note: We rocked Matt Nathanson so hard his pants ripped Matt Nathanson is part of the genre of music I like to call "cute boys with guitars". I was really excited when he was announced as the last act of Buffalo's free concert series, Thursday at the Harbor. I gathered up a posse and off we went. (Oh man, I almost forgot that I have the best "Jen [& co.] is a dumbass" story about getting to the show. Because parking at the Harbor can be tricky, I was going to meet Katie at her office (the same building as the old KegWorks office, awwww) and we were going to take the "train" down. When it pulled up, we couldn't get the door to open. Instead of walking to one of the other doors, we stood and looked at it, with perplexed expressions until it pulled away. While we stood on the platform. So we...

Train featuring Ashely Moore / Bruises This is so much better than the rest of their more recent stuff - perfectly represents the conversation with someone you haven't seen in years. One Republic / Counting Stars Another "Wait, really?  That's One Republic?" song. Gavin DeGraw / Best I Ever Had This sounds just like some other song, though I can't place which one. Hunter Hayes / I Want Crazy (A lot of these sound alike, huh?) Pentatonix / Cover of Lordes' Royals They're so good.  I'm still bitter this song didn't come out when Gossip Girl was on air and we could've gotten a baller Jenny Humphrey montage Walk Off The Earth / Red Hands This is the 5 people & 1 guitar group.  This is also an awesome song!  

Who: Lollapalooza Day 3 When: August 4, 2013 Where: Grant Park/ Chicago, IL With: Dude-Bros, "Water Guy", Dancing Girls #22 & 35, some actual grown-ups Of Note: Day 3 is a hard day to be your most packed Want to skip around? Emotional Horseshit Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Jake Bugg, Alex Clare, The Mowgli's, Two Door Cinema Club, The Vaccines, Vampire Weekend, Phoenix Jake Bugg is totally a thing - he's been blowing up all over England and starting to catch on here. The best description I've heard, from a guy standing next to me, was, "He's like Britain's answer to country music." Live, he was great - all strong stage presence and classic rock/ rockabilly inspired sound, but clearly from the UK, if that makes sense. The set closing 'Lightning Bolt' was a highlight, as was the crowd, who were there to get down - even given the early set time and bright sunshine. My favorite guy in the crowd was "Water Guy", who had ...

Who: Lollapalooza Day 2 When: August 3, 2013 Where: Grant Park/ Chicago, IL With: Drunk Frat Boys from Iowa & Medical Assistants from Illinois Of Note: Jennifer, you are not 22 any more but you can totally still hang! Want to skip around? Emotional Horseshit Day 1 Day 3 Day 2 Ben Howard, GRiZ, a hot minute of Matt & Kim, Ellie Goulding, The National, Mumford & Sons So, after a bit of a rough start to Day 1, I started Day 2 in more comfortable shoes, a belly full of screwdrivers (more effective than mimosas!), and a much more positive outlook. It paid off. Ben Howard is still the dreamiest dreamboat ever to dreamboat. I'd seen him in April in SF (which I haven't written about yet, oops) and the Lolla set was an abbreviated version of that. It didn't really matter - he's one of those guys who I would listen to sing a microwave oven manual. I adore the contrast of his voice - soft and storytelling, as compared with louder and more forceful...

Who: Lollapalooza Day 1 When: August 2, 2013 Where: Grant Park/ Chicago, IL With: A Random Cast of Festival-Going Characters Of Note: Denim diapers are not attractive, btw Okay, so we've discussed my feelings. Let's get on to the music - same format as usual, highlights only, with some special emphasis on the cast of characters I encountered. Want to skip around? Emotional Horseshit Day 2 Day 3 Day 1 Emeli Sande, Icona Pop, Smith Westerns, Atlas Genius, Imagine Dragons, New Order, The Killers I caught the tail end of Emeli Sande and homegirl definitely has a voice. Icona Pop was super fun - somehow I ended up next to a million high school kids in some sort of dance off, which was hilarious. Halfway through, the sky opened up and poured for a hot minute, rendering the entire park muddy for the rest of the day. It was also really funny that everyone just kept saying, "Play the song! When are they going to play the song?!" They closed with ...

Apparently, music festivals make me reflective. And give me feelings. And make me want to talk about those feelings. (This sat in draft for more than a month now.  I've decided to publish it because, I'm not 100% mortified by it like I thought I would be.) (Shut up Jen, nobody cares about your feelings. Get on with objectifying bass players and talking about drunk frat boys.) Want to skip ahead to the music? Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 So, I went to Lollapalooza this past week-end. I was in Chicago for work and figured I'd stay the extra couple of days to hit the festival. You see, I knew some folks were going and figured it would be a fun chance to see some old friends and some great music. Plus, who doesn't love a good festival? The festival was amazing - a mix of interesting people, douchey children in high-waisted jean shorts, performances from old favorites, new bands to be enamored with, sunshine, mud, Bud Light, and a really sweet tan line on my wrist...