All in all a solid performance of a mediocre setlist. The band, coming off an arena tour in support for Foo Fighters, must have been stuck in Promote-New-Album-Introduce-New-Fans-To-Old-Material mode. The majority of the NYC crowd were fans who most likely already have the new album and were ready for some surprises. While the band was as tight and great sounding as I’ve heard them, they failed to deliver on the spontaneity. And nothing from Life On Other Planets!
I think the band caught on to their faux paux after it was too late but pledged they would come back to play a new setlist. Here is my recollection of said mediocre setlist (margin of error +/- 2 songs):
Diamond Hoo Ha Man
Bad Blood
Mary
345
Late In The Day
Rebel In You
Ghost Of a Friend
Moving
Outside
St. Petersburg
Butterfly
Strange Ones
Richard III
Sun Hits The Sky
Pumping On Your Stereo
Lenny
Caught By The Fuzz
Over the past couple of years, I have made a concerted effort both at home and work to keep my workspace clutter-free. This means little to no pictures, chotchkies, plants and books (unless I’m using them). While it helps me get comfortable in my workspace, I know this can make it look cold and uninteresting. In fact, I am sure it was weird to see my workspace at MLB.com (TPG4Life!) among the many desks strangled by hats, pennants, baseball cards, bobble-heads and other memorabilia. Not that there’s anything wrong with that…
Today, I came across something that, if I were going to break my non-clutter rule, it would be the first to go up: A Texas Designer’s Map of the World. Props to DJ Stout @ Pentagram.
The post-per-month bullshit must stop. I feel as if my website has been on life support for the past few months and probably much longer when one considers the quality and personal thought that has gone into recent posts. They always say that when a blog comments on its own frequency, or lack thereof, the blog is already dead…
Lately, I have been thinking about how to address that issue yet maintain both a presence on the web and a creative outlet for when I need it. And that, dear friends and dear blog, is the problem – I no longer need a creative outlet thanks to my solid, blessed career providing requiring a substantial amount of creative energy to operate. Yet, I feel it is important to spend energy on the self. I should not need another creative outlet but want one.
Such an outlet can exist here, aside from the now boring formality of reviewing every live music experience I have. The fact is, I started this blog as a method of writing regularly and to collect thoughts and experiences for future reflection. 5+ years later I am burned out. A reboot is in order. In short time, I will know if that reboot can serve the content itself or if a more drastic approach is needed, such as re-thinking the whole format of my “blog”. Either way, I’m making a renewed commitment to making things more interesting at this URL.
Stay tuned. And a hearty thanks to everyone who actually noticed the collection of dust.
This was always my favorite:
Aussie disco punk at it’s finest. I had become a fan of this band from Digitalism’s remix of Down, Down, Down and few other singles off of their earlier album, Beams. Little did I know how much I would enjoy the tracks from their new album, Apocalypso which I had not heard before the show.
This new record will probably be a strong contender for the best electronic/dance album to come out this year but we have a lot of year left and clearly, some big releases have been falling through the cracks for me.
The show itself is what you would expect from an electronic band and unless you love to dance and/or get off on vintage electronic gear from the 70s and 80s, this show might have gotten a little boring. However, a friend of mine, who has a lot of experience at the Bowery, said he had never seen the crowd dancing like they were for The Presets. And if you take into consideration that New York crowds are supposedly boring, this show just might have been exceptionally good.
I enjoyed it.
Talk Like That
Down Down Down
Girl
A New Sky
Yippiyo-ay
Are You The One?
Together
Aeons
Girl and The Sea
Steamworks
This Boy’s In Love
Kicking and Screaming
My People
Anywhere
I Go Hard, I Go Home
This week was important and exciting for the USA: Barry finally clinched the nomination. I couldn’t be more pleased with the choices for POTUS this year, especially when you consider who else was running 6 months (or even a week) ago.
I will continue to support Barry for a variety of reasons which I may touch upon here and there during the general election season. The first reason is a distinct difference between the candidates that several of my colleagues will appreciate: barackobama.com utilizes standards-based markup with near-valid xhtml and CSS positioning. Naturally, johnmccain.com uses the – ahem – old practice of table-based layouts with little thought to accessibility and web standards.