Soundwave Music Festival > is going on today at Big Surf in Tempe. This will be the 2nd time this year the waterpark will host an entire day [4pm-2am] of DJ's, mixmasters and electronic music galore. In the spring the tour boasted a mean lineup of with headlining acts like Diplo and Boys Noise and this time around the bill features more heavy hitting electronic illness with Kaskade and Phoenix's very own Z-Trip.
Kaskade makes his first return to the desert since last summer's Friday night set at Axis-Radius in Scottsdale. That was a pretty fun night and he set it off proper but the Radius side of the joint got way too packed so it was tough to move around and dance [plus it was June and it was hot so that event was almost like partying in my Bikram yoga studio on New Year's day]. Z-Trip comes back home to show us how much he's all growns up and all growns up. Whether I'm in LA or Vegas, every time I see a Z set these days is a testament to how much he continues improving his craft.
These gentlemen will hit the decks later tonight [probably around 10] as headliners on the main stage [Waikiki] but there are other stages throughout the venue where other international and local artists will do their thing. So get your party pants pressed and your dancing shoes shined because you do not want to miss the festivities that will ensue today. Join the pre-party with the Posse at Grigio today [tweet for deets: @marcdzb]. Surf's up!
Videos from CSS & MEN > last night have been uploaded to the zBORED YouTube channel just for your eyeballs and earholes. Please view and enjoy. The one below is 'Move' which is my favorite CSS song off my favorite CSS album, Donkey and 'twas my fav song they played yesternight.
Aside from the above, Cansei de Ser Sexy played a lot of other tracks from Donkey like 'Beautiful Song' [another gem] and 'Jager Yoga' [don't mess my holiday!]. Last night's show being part of the front leg of their North American La Liberación tour, they made sure of getting to plenty from that album too with songs such as 'Fuck Everything' and the release's first single 'Hits Me Like A Rock'.
Opening for CSS was MEN lead by former frontman for Le Tigre, who I just found out is a girl and not a dude [whoops!]. She sounds like Ralph Tresvant of New Edition before he hit puberty. You know, from back in the 'Candy Girl' and 'Mr. Telephone Man' days. She killed it. MEN rules. They have a killer guitarist too. I'm a fan.
Yesterday I posted about my high anticipation for checking out a show at the new Crescent Ballroom in Phoenix. It's everything I hoped it would be. Actually, more. There's a cool little restaurant up front with good food and very moderately priced drinks. I had 3 Ketel-tonics and an Irish coffee [don't judge me, I quit Red Bull] and the lady had a Honey Badger [fruity specialty drink], a dirty martini and some sort of gourmet quesadilla thing. The tab was $39 and some change and once we got into the venue my Pacificos were $3 each at that bar.
Crescent Ballroom is an old warehouse built almost 100 years ago but renovated into a sort of posh venue with lounge-type feel. The pit is moderately sized, about the size of the 18+ area at the Clubhouse in Tempe. Behind that are high tables with high chairs and behind that are modern-style wood finish bleachers [genius]. Left of the stage are about 6 Tetris style blocks for additional seating. The bathrooms are super clean and big. For dudes the main room latrine features 3 pissers and 2 shitters so it really beats the hell out of 1 total toilet like at the Clubhouse [sorry, still love you!]. There are 2 dressing rooms with the talent's names artistically drawn onto the doors' fancy chalkboards and even the merch table is fancy!
So aside from legit aesthetics, food, libations and urination stations let's not forget about the most important quality that makes for a great venue: the sound. There's plenty of state of the art speakers and sound equipment but I feared echoes with all of that pretty stained concrete throughout the joint. You shan't worry. It sounds great in there. Really crisp in every area I stood and danced in with the perfect amount of boom blaring. Furthermore, the sound stage is located in a little nook in the back between the bleachers, not to take up any unnecessary space or jeopardize the performance when it gets super packed full of drunkards having trouble standing.
I think you can tell by now I really like Crescent Ballroom and it may already be my new favorite place to catch a show. Kudos to Charlie Levy of Stateside Presents for spearheading this. We've been waiting a long time for such a place. Amen.
Cansei de Ser Sexy in the PHX > finally! Tonight's show is actually a make-up show for what was originally slated for April 19th but was postponed due to a rumored Coachella-related illness. So the 6-month rain check plus their last appearance in the desert being 5 years ago makes for a very highly anticipated return for my favorite Brazilian electropoppers. They just kicked off the North America leg of their La Liberación tour last week so they should be coming out with some high energy this early in the journey.
I haven't been to Crescent Ballroom yet but I'm pretty excited to check it out. It has only been open a few weeks [or less] and has already been generating a lot of positive buzz in my hood [Tempe] and the socialsphere. Stateside Presents' Charlie Levy spearheaded this project to offer the Phoenix area another option for Stateside shows and a much bigger one at that. Word on the street is this joint is not quite the size of Marquee Theatre but much much bigger than The Clubhouse. This will be great for us when bands come to town who don't really necessitate a venue like Marquee but sell out the smaller ones in 10 minutes.
Crescent Ballroom is also a lounge and a kitchen which boasts a menu created by the gentlemen of Pizzeria Bianco and Gallo Blanco. Far from typical bar food I can only assume so I look forward to not taking a major colon gamble if I get hungry before a show [ahem, Horse and Hound]. The lounge is open daily and will supposedly have live music for FREE every night of the week! All of the aforementioned plus its lightrail proximity have me amped to the max. Now if we could only rip out the seats at Comerica Theatre and US Airways Center for those types of capacity shows.
FYI tickets for the originally planned CSS show at Venue of Scottsdale in April will be honored for tonight's show. The Party Posse will be hitting the lightrail from Mill Ave around 7:00pm so join us if you like and come check out a really fun band at a new spot that sounds like it will kick a lot of ass. Do it.
Videos from Fall Frenzy > over the weekend have been posted on the zBORED YouTube Channel so check them out when you have a chance, I posted my favorite one below. It features Jimmy Eat World wrapping up their set with 'Sweetness'. Not only is this one of my favorite JEW songs but it's also a single from their Bleed American album which was released 10 summers ago. So while we celebrated the end of the brutal desert summer at Fall Frenzy we algo got to celebrate with Jimmy and company the 10th birfday of arguably their best album and a finally coming back home to the desert and finishing up a nearly year-long Invented tour. It was a great show and you'll see that there was some great energy in the crowd of thousands of heads listening, whooooooaaaa-ing and singing it back [get it?]. I also got some vid of 'The Authority Song'.
I was supposed to be in the photo pit for Matt and Kim but their tour manager gave me incorrect set times so I got there too late to pick up my photo pass. Bummer about that but in the end I enjoyed being up front drinking beers anyway. With my non-drinking hand I was able to capture 'Good Ol' Fashioned Nightmare', their cover of Alice Deejay's 'Better Off Alone' and a cool jam sesh they did before closing out their set with 'Daylight'. Fun show they put on but I think I like the shows they headline better, especially their show at the Clubhouse last year.
I did get some video of a few Blink-182 songs like 'Always', 'Josie' and 'Our First Date' but we were up mad close for all of Blink's show and right near the speakers. That proximity plus Travis' kick drums and Flip's inferior built-in mic make for shitty-quality footage that I shouldn't share with you until I get it cleaned up or audio-swapped. Stay tuned and I'll let you know when that happens. Peace in the east valley yo.
Arizona Fall Frenzy '11 > is the perfect way to end September, a sendoff to the desert summer in festival fashion as we welcome several months of utmost blissful happenings ahead here in the valley this fall. Today we head to Tempe Town Lake at Mill Ave to enjoy 8 hours of festival fun. Beers galore, food for days and live music a plenty at the 3rd annual Fall Frenzy shall be our Friday happy hour.
Matt and Kim return to Tempe for the 3rd time in the past year [they played Marquee in the spring and Clubhouse last October]. Having completed their Invented tour earlier this year, Jimmy Eat World will be rocking their home turf again 10 years after these Mesa natives released their career-thrusting Bleed American album. Headlining is Blink-182 who this week just released Neighborhoods, their first studio album since reuniting after a 5-year hiatus.
Just these 3 bands alone I've seen a collective 17 times and all of those shows have been the blastest blast. Matt and Kim [3] play with an unbelievable amount of energy and in addition to playing their fun album tracks they always throw in a few funky keyboard-drum covers of songs from artists from opposite genres like Europe or Alice Deejay. Jimmy Eat World [6] never disappoints either. They have nearly 2 decades worth of album illness behind them so we're sure to get a superb combination of favorites from all over the years. Finally, Blink-182 [8] definitely know how to put on a good show, well at least from what I remember. It's been almost 10 years since I've been to 'The Rock Show' but I'm sure the trio still know how to get the crowd involved and hit us with everything that has gotten us to love them, including stuff from Cheshire Cat and Dude Ranch, the pre-Travis era.
It's going to be a fun festival to the max so get yourself a ticket and meet up with the Party Posse for good times galore into the finally-cool desert evening. Oh, and post-show party on Mill at midnight [hopefully we don't turn into pumpkins when October hits].
Blink-182Neighborhoods > today Blink is back with their 6th studio album and 1st since the band reunited. The last studio release was their self-titled album in 2003 and shortly after that tour began a half-decade hiatus so 8 years in the making, per se, the trio has finally given us fans the long-awaited follow-up.
The band's break from each other wasn't a break from the rest of the world though. Mark, Tom and Travis have kept pretty busy over the years putting their talents to work with other artists forming new bands, supergroups and even dj-combos. Mark Hoppus fronted +44 with Travis Barker on drums while Tom DeLonge fronted Angels & Airwaves. Both bands were fairly decent side projects in my opinion but I really liked what Travis did away from Blink, joining Tim Armstrong and other Rancid all-stars in the supergroup Transplants. Travis also teamed up with the late great DJ AM collaborating and touring as TRV$DJAM, a drummer and mix-master combo that really brought mash-up to life and in cool, raw form.
While I along with millions of other Blink fans didn't want the band to break up, I can't say it was entirely tragic per the aforementioned productions and what Blink-182's new album brings about. All 3 dudes have become better musicians and it's apparent in Neighborhoods. They don't deviate from their classic Blink formula, splitting vocals between Mark and Tom, and the sound is still fairly bubblegum in nature but it's much more crisp, well-produced [by just them for the first time btw!] and they've subtly experimented with some new pedals to add a little more roughness, a different sound we haven't heard too much of from them in the past. Check out their first single 'Up All Night' or 'Fighting The Gravity' and you'll know what I'm talking about. The interlude before 'Heart's All Gone' shows off their maturing as well.
They're all growns up and they're all growns up and even though we anticipated a continued growing after Blink-182 it's still a pleasant surprise to hear it all come together so nicely. So get your copy of Neighborhoods at your neighborhood shop stat, Zia has it for $9.99 or $11.99 for the deluxe version [or download on iTunes for the same respective prices]. Pick it up. Do it.
Manu Chao por gratis > that's right, Manu Chao will be playing in Phoenix later today and the show is free! He's performing here to support the efforts of Alto Arizona, an organization formed to protest the controversial Arizona Senate Bill 1070, also known as SB 1070.
I like to keep my political beliefs to myself and keep my posts fun for all of you but as a person with so much passion for music and as a voice for you beloved fellow music enthusiasts I feel I should at least address an aspect of SB 1070 and its impact on us, as fans of live music.
There's a coalition of artists known as The Sound Strike who have formed to boycott performances, shows, appearances, etc. in the state of Arizona. They are bypassing us on tour, canceling previously agreed-to shows and rejecting performances here to protest SB 1070. While I generally support people standing up for their beliefs, I think the efforts of The Sound Strike are extremely misguided. They are hurting the wrong people.
Whether or not you agree with SB 1070 you and I had nothing to do with its inception. It was brought about entirely through state legislature. It seems The Sound Strike assumes that we, the fans, voted for SB 1070 and they are sticking it to us when it's possible that many of these artists' fans could even be on their side in this matter. Who knows? They certainly have no idea.
I think this is the naive or worse, lazy, way of protesting. What are they really doing anyway? How much can concert revenue really swing the state's economy? Are they even positive that people know what they're doing this for? Were you aware such a coalition existed? Did you know this was the reason why Maroon 5 never passed through the desert on their latest tour or why My Chemical Romance canceled their show here? Most people I've talked to had no idea; I didn't before I did my own digging around earlier this year when I noticed an unusual amount of quirky tour schedules. So perhaps The Sound Strike's efforts are in vain and possibly losing fans for all the wrong reasons.
I like that Manu Chao is driving his sword straight into the heart of the beast, per se. He'll be using this opportunity to speak directly to the people who can do something about SB 1070 if they want to. The only other artist I know of who has strategized accordingly is Lady Gaga. I wasn't at her show here last summer at US Airways Center but my mom and sister were there and they told me about her using the stage as a platform to educate and enlighten the sold-out arena rather than just skip Phoenix on tour.
Again, I'm not saying I'm for or against SB 1070 but I am saying the biggest artist revolt in response to it is going about it the wrong way. Fans and people who had nothing to do with SB 1070 in the first place should not have to miss out on their favorite artists' performances. That said, I'm excited to finally see Manu Chao live and direct in Phoenix after being a fan for nearly a decade. From what I hear it's a great show. Hopefully this ignites a different approach to the protesting. The show starts at 6pm in the lot across from El Portal Restaurant [W. Grant and S. 2nd Ave].
Here's a video of Manu Chao performing one of my favorite songs of his:
