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Rocktober 2010
Clark Benson For some reason, probably related to Global Tour Routing Schedules + The Weather, the month of October is always filled with more great pound-for-pound rock shows in LA than any other month. This has been the case since I moved to Los Angeles in 1992, and so shall it be going forward. Hence the Rocktober concert rankings below. Rocktober is a state of mind, hence I allow shows that occur late in Sept/early in Nov, as well as non-LA shows that I travelled to.
- 1
Rock music, Folk rock, Roots rock More“ Bridge Benefit 2010
Stunned at how good the Buffalo Springfield reunion is. Stills is playing and looking better than he has since about 1980. An even bigger suprise is how good Richie Furay is - singing about half the set and holding his own with Neil overall. setlist here http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/buffalo-springfield/2010/bridge-school-benefit-concert-mountain-view-ca-23d5007b.html „ - 2
Rock music, Folk rock, Indie rock More“ Palladium, Rocktober 3
11piece Belle & Sebastian lineup. Sound great. Stuart gives props to Runyan Canyon + LA in general. Jenny Lewis joins for a rare "Lazy Line Painter Jane". Setlist turns out fantastic, and this turns out to be the best BAS show I have ever seen, hands down. „ - 3
Post-rock, Experimental rock, Indie rock More“ The Wiltern, October 18.
BSS were an 11-piece (at least for some songs) this night, and they produced a hell of a big wall of sound. While I have seen them 2 or 3 times before it has always been in festival settings, and it was a treat to hear a full 2hour headlining set with very little filler. They also had the best sound I have heard in the Wiltern in a long time. BSS are about the best live band in indie rock IMHO. „ - 4
Elton John and Leon Russell (full headline show)
“ November 2 2010 Hollywood Palladium
What a treat seeing this at a small venue. Honestly had never had interest in seeing Elton John live before hearing this record, since it's the first recorded work I've liked of his since 1978.
Leon played a quick set to start. I was a bit disappointed as we missed the opener Tightrope, and the rest of the set was a medley. 23 mins. Next up was the joint set.
The Elton/Leon/Taupin material from The Union is truly great stuff. The Bridge Benefit set I actually found a little more exciting pound for pound, maybe because it was so fresh, maybe because T-Bone's band was SICK. Elton's band were no slouches either - there were 17 people on stage at times. Anyhow, this was an hour of terrific music - I think the whole album was played, mostly in order.
This was followed by an Elton set that was a little more than an hour. I dug the setlist - started with Burn Down the Mission, had Take Me To The Pilot, Levon, bitch is Back, Tiny Dancer and a few other classics. He did play a few of his 80s hits which I patently loathe, but such is life. Overall a great show. „ - 5
Alternative rock, Indie rock, Indie pop More“ October 4 2010 The Wiltern review
Rocktober marches on w Guided By Voices "classic" 92 - 96 lineup reunion. Not sure what to expect: bands w/ 2min songs should not have 8min intro tape. Setlists are 2 pages long - good sign. No onstage cooler filled w/ beer - ? sign.
I needn't have worried - easily the most consistently great GBV set I've seen tho certainly shorter (just over 90mins) than the marathon runs when the band was nearing the end. Half the band didn't even appear to be drinking. Bob looked and sounded great and kicked like Diamond Dave, and the rest of the band more than held up their own - this was indeed the classic lineup. „ - 6
Elton John And Leon Russell (w T-Bone Burnette)
“ Bridge Benefit October 24 2010
Playing with I believe a different band than the short tour they are in the middle of „ - 7 Alternative rock, Post-punk, Punk rock More“ Hollywood Bowl, September 30
#SonicYouth rip through a tight set can't even pinpoint the last time I saw the original unaugmented 4some. Setlist wonderfully 80sCentric. „ - 8
Alternative rock, Rock music, Hard rock More“ Bridge Benefit October 24
Pearl Jam set at the Bridge is excellent-highlights incl a totally rearranged Black - an upbeat one no less - w/ strings. Neil comes out to rip guitar on a full band Walk with Me off Neil's new record song sung by Ed. Video embedded is from the night before and is from a song they did not play tonite -here's tonite's setlist http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/pearl-jam/2010/bridge-school-benefit-concert-mountain-view-ca-63d502c3.html „ - 9 Rock music, Hard rock, Heavy metal More“ Hollywood Bowl, October 1
Having just seen a very similar ZZ Top set around Labor Day, I could have been bored, but was instead happily rocking out. I used to love ZZ back in the 80s, stopped going to see them live after a weak show in the late 90s, glad that has turned out to be an anomaly. „ - 10 Alternative rock, Experimental rock, Indie rock More“ Bridge Benefit
great set as an 8 piece with tuba and violin „ - 11 Punk rock, Indie rock, Art punk More“ Hollywood Bowl, September 30
Have a few of their MP3s but have not been particularly blown away with what I've heard so far. But seeing them live did the trick - No Age killed it with an amalgamation of late-80s era Sonic Youth-meets-Flaming Lips-meets-Naked Raygun, bookended by relatively short Noise intros and outros. „ - 12 “ Hollywood Bowl, October 1
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers are always great live, but I must admit to being slightly disappointed by this show. It wasn't the 4-song block of Mojo tracks, though putting them all together early in the 2nd half of the set was a questionable call. I guess it was just the general staleness of the Petty set as the years go on (I've probably seen them 8 times in the last 12 or so years). „ - 13 Synthpop, Electronic music, Alternative dance More“ At the start of the month, this would have been my odds-on favorite for #1, though being at a sunday nite rave I was a bit on the fence about going (certainly I wasn't going to find anyone to go with me). Sadly, this turned out to be the biggest disappointment of the month, the first time in the at least 5 or 6 times I've seen them live that I was even remotely bored - and for a solid half of their set. The new material. Not my style at all. Still great when they jammed out Dark Train or King of Snake.
This outside review from an earlier show captures my sentiment pretty well: http://drownedinsound.com/gigs/45264/reviews/4140544 „ - 14 Rock music, Hard rock, Folk rock More“ Music Box at the Fonda - November 5
Made a last min decision to catch a set of The Mule (saw the first set). Wasn't a great Mule set though as always there were a few gems - particularly the first version I have heard them do of Free's "Wishing Well" „ - 15 Folk rock, Alternative country, Americana More“ Bridge Benefit, October 24
Neko played 3 very strong songs - better than I've ever seen her and the woman has one of the most amazing voices in todays music scene „ - 16 Post-rock, Jazz, Indie rock“ The Wiltern, October 18 (opening for Broken Social Scene)
While BSS are an awe-inspiring live band, The Sea and Cake are frankly, pretty boring. Still, I am a longstanding fan of these guys and I certainly enjoyed the set. I saw them a few times in the 90s and enjoyed those sets more - I am not as into their later material, and this band is best experienced in a small, dark, even jazzy setting. „ - 17 Bluegrass, Old-time music, Traditional bluegrass“ Bridge Benefit, Mountain View CA October 24 2010
Great to see a legend play a few songs - while frail in voice Dr. Stanley (not sure what he is a Doc in) still pulled off perhaps the most heartfelt singing of the night „ - 18
- 19 Folk rock, Experimental rock, Indie rock More“ meh. in fairness, missed the first song which sounded better than the 3 i did set thru „
- 20 Rock music, Hard rock, New Wave More“ Elvis was pretty great, but I am just not an Elvis fan (don't like his voice), and this is my list, so he gets stuck below an actor. I know, not fair. „
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Rocktober 2010 at 10/05/2010 1:56 PM