Virtually Home

This is just a stub of a post to say: I went to see The Decemberists with a recently-opened venue in Saint Paul. Gaelynn Lea opened with her violin playing, loop pedal, and intriguing vocals. Chris Funk came out to play a song with her. I thought her set was captivating. The Decemberists continue to impress me with their technical precision on stage, even though they tend to play a predictable set and use the same gimmicks over and over. Their new whale featured in their Mariner's Revenge encore was beautiful, and I had a blast at the show. I have now seen them a bunch of times, in Texas, Washington, Maryland, Minnesota, and England. Even the tours supporting albums I'm not as crazy about have been really fun.

My dream of seeing Phoebe Bridgers headline with her full band finally came true. The "Farewell Tour", made a stop in Saint Paul and the little Turf Club sold out way faster than I anticipated. I tracked down a ticket anyway, showed up at doors opening in the freezing April. I thought I would be able to walk right in, but the doors weren't open yet and I regretted leaving my jacket in the car. I met some new friends in line, and we chatted while the room filled up. The album cover art was the backdrop they hung up behind the band. A prom-style silver curtain with its title was set up in the back for fans to take photos, with or without the band. The main microphone was strung with fairy lights. I was into the vibe. Lomelda opened, huddled in a heavy coat. Hailing from Texas, she couldn't believe the show. I sympathized. Her set was synthesizers and an electric guitar -- sad vocals, I recall, but not what she was saying. She had a charming stage presence. Phoebe ...

Phoebe and Harrison in Saint Paul I decided these shows can share one post: Conor Oberst and Phoebe Bridgers at the Palace Theatre, Saint Paul, 9-7-17 Phoebe and Harrison in Milwaukee Saint Paul was a no-brainer. The Palace only recently reopened after having been closed a few decades, and it was my first chance to see the venue. It's an old-fashioned theatre with a standing-room-only pit and a balcony with seating. The vibe is an interesting mix of ornate and run-down that appeals to me. It has a kind of annoying series of ramps and staircases to get to the stage, which the venue implemented so they can check tickets before people get to the pit, but is annoying when everyone is trying to exit at the same time through bottlenecked passageways. "Lua" trio Conor Oberst and Phoebe Bridgers at the Pabst Theatre, Milwaukee, 9-8-17 The Pabst was cool because I had never been to Milwaukee before, and it's the middle of downtown, with a "secret...

Everything Now A friend invited me last-minute to see the Arcade Fire on their stadium tour. I had caught them once at a festival and remembered it as a raucous celebration of a show -- in my memory, now, it's more of a bright roar than anything. I thought it sounded fun to revisit, even though I haven't really heard any of their last couple of albums. The gimmick of Everything Now  is that the band is sponsored by a bunch of fictional global corporations. The logos cover all the merchandise, the performers' clothing, and scrolled across the scoreboard and banners in the arena. I wasn't sure how I would like this. The pre-show was fascinating and also irritating, by design. Every few minutes a green-screened cowboy would take over the scoreboard and make an announcement in a patently fake accent. Win Butler's visit to our section Just as the band was entering, in a boxing-style procession to the center of the arena, I realized I had lost my wallet. I was...

Nils of RAA I found out Rural Alberta Advantage was playing pretty last minute, through an online ad. I bought a ticket the day of and went solo. The band was incredibly nice, and expressed gratitude toward Minneapolis for being the most supportive US city on their tour the last couple of years. They stopped through the Twin Cities and played at a sold-out Cedar Cultural Center to try out some new tunes in November of last year, which was a great show. They since recorded their album and promoted it all over North America and Europe, and last night was their last American show before heading back to Canada to wrap up the tour. Paul of RAA Yukon Blonde, another Canadian band, opened. Their music was at times sort of soul-inspired, but mostly really enjoyable and catchy rock. It's a five-piece band that features three people who seem to share the songwriting (or at least the singing) duties. I'm not sure it's the kind of thing I would listen to on my own, but I enjo...

Gogol Bordello, from really far away I went back to the venue Ryan Adams played Friday night to see Modest Mouse last night. I've seen Modest Mouse a handful of times, and I have generally thought their performance can be kind of uneven. Once, they played Norman and they were stumble-drunk and belligerent. Once, they played Sasquatch Fest and I thought it was one of the most incredible shows I've ever seen. I'm glad I went, but I think we got both worlds last night. I confess I missed the first act. Gogol Bordello played second. I had seen them a festival once, and what stuck in my mind about that performance was how absolutely on their frontman is. He didn't disappoint this time, either. The band comes across as incredibly engaged, intentionally quirky, and borderline manic. The frontman is singing, slinging his acoustic guitar around on his back, and waving a bottle of red wine so enthusiastically it's spraying everywhere when it's not being drunk by var...

Cory Chisel's opening set I couldn't not see more dates on the  Prisoner  tour. I was kicking myself for not buying tickets for Chicago, and trying to figure out exactly how much wriggle room I had in my work schedule to take a road trip (honestly, bad idea). But then I found out that Ryan was, after a swing through Europe, a break, and a UK tour, coming back to the Upper Midwest....to do a show with the legendary Emmylou Harris. Emmylou has been on my concert bucket list for a while, so I can't tell you how excited I was for this. The show was outdoors at Breese Stevens Field, in the busiest part of Madison on a Friday. Music started early, at 5:30 p.m., when the laser sun was right in the performers' eyes during the opening set. Cory Chisel opened with Adriel Denae on backup vocals and tambourine, and a bassist. He's a Wisconsin native who's apparently been gaining notoriety in Nashville (and by the way, you have to hear Emmylou pronounce "...

Ryan Adams and the Unknown Band Sometimes a show changes your life -- at least in a daily lived experience kind of a way. The set that Ryan Adams and the Shining played at last summer's Basilica Block Party in Minneapolis was one of those. It kicked off a year-long exploration of Adams' catalog (which is pretty extensive and to be honest I haven't even scratched the surface - the guy seems to write 72 songs for every 15 he releases). Setlist night 1. Photo credit: Ryan Adams via Instagram Naturally, I was thrilled to learn Ryan was playing two weekend nights in a row in Saint Paul on his really ambitious  Prisoner  tour. Living in the Midwest, you usually don't see a lot of two-night stands, and you almost never get weekend shows. It seems like tours are just perpetually passing through most of the Midwest on their way to Chicago for a weekend night. I got there early and met a handful of really cool fans, some of which I would go on to see again at Conor Ob...

Kansas City was night 2 of a 3-night trip during the March leg of the Salutations tour. I had a lovely time visiting some high school friends, Jessi and David, that I hadn't seen in a long time. Jessi and I went to the venue early and camped out in the 40-degree weather for kind of awhile. The venue owner came out after an hour or so, and she congratulated us on being the first in line and offered us drinks. We drank some water and chatted with her about what it was like to own a venue. The Felice Brothers The venue was beautiful, with curved staircases up to a pretty swanky balcony. However, the stage is ridiculously tall. So tall that, if you're standing right in front of it, you have to crane your neck to see up at it, and probably wouldn't be able to see anything over the monitors. We ended up opting to see the show from the balcony, which made our sitting in line for hours in the cold kind of a moot point. The show was excellent - the Felices were in fine form...

Matt Berninger is a  great songwriter , but it took me a long time to figure that out. The first things I notice about The National songs are the weird interplay between the musical rhythms and the lyrical rhythms, and the repetitive lines. Now that I've looked closer, I often like what he does with his words. Berninger wrote the lyrics to The National's "England" in part about this weird music venue in Koreatown, LA. It's literally a Catholic church, a cathedral, that they rent out for shows. If you know me very well at all, you probably know that religion isn't my thing. Cathedrals, though, with their vaulted ceilings, attention to detail, feelings of immensity, and glorious acoustics? I loved touring old cathedrals and basilicas during my time in Europe. I even went so far as to take a course in college called Medieval Church Architecture between the 4th and 12th Centuries. Believe me when I tell you that contemporary alt folk performed in a cathedral is mo...

Miwi La Lupa, left, on guitar and vocals I have a feeling this show is going to remain one of my favorite musical moments. The 40th Street Theatre was recently acquired and remodeled by some folks who own a stringed instrument store in Omaha. Apparently they did all the work themselves, and it looks like it was a little theatre, before. It has room for 200, if people are friendly, and a small raised stage. Conor decided to play a show there, and I think it was the inaugural show for the venue. Tickets were sold only in person, for cash, at Solid Jackson/Almost Music or Pageturners. Ryan was kind enough to pick me up a pair on his lunch break. They were really good-looking, hand-numbered, screenprinted tickets that glowed in the dark and displayed a secret message. I thought this was a really great touch, especially in the era of identical, mass-printed Ticketmaster ticket stubs or print-at-home sheets. Hartford/Focht opened. They're a husband-wife team who play and sing tog...

Omaha's twin venues, The Waiting Room and Reverb Lounge are celebrating their 10th anniversaries this month. They're celebrating, unsurprisingly, with shows! Conor Oberst played a Thursday night show for their 9th night of celebrations, and there was a sort of "afterparty" at Reverb immediately following that set. There was a $10 cover, and lots of folks who had been at the Waiting Room migrated over to continue the night with Har Mar's set. Ian, Christmas, and Farley from the Felice Brothers were there, and so were members of High Up and a bunch of my other Omaha heroes. Har Mar Superstar is a Twin Cities band that I had heard of but never quite managed to see. It's categorized as R&B or pop, which is generally not my thing, but Sean Tillman has a sort of shtick -- despite looking incredibly average and increasingly middle aged, he takes his clothes off, getting closer to naked as the night progresses, while singing a lot about his own sexual prowess. I...

Ian and Christmas of the Felice Brothers opened The Waiting Room is one of my favorite venues. First of all, it's in Omaha, where opportunities and great memories of previous shows abound. But practically speaking, it's also got a low stage, no barrier, isn't too big, and boasts a really excellent collection of concert posters. I met up with show-going friends and waited in line all afternoon. The temperature was pleasant in the sun, and the glass doors mean that while waiting, you can both hear and see the sound check. We had a blast hanging around, and then ate a pretty wonderful dinner at Lot 2 shortly before doors. The crowd was amiable before the show, and I got to catch up with a bunch of acquaintances. The Felice Brothers played a great set, if a somewhat solemn one. Phil and Farley seemed to be joking around in the wing at stage right, but the others were pretty serious. Since I hadn't seen the Felice Brothers before, I didn't make much of it, but w...

Female cricket at my field site. January started in the back lot of a Lutheran Church in Hilo, Hawaii. I recorded and captured crickets with my colleagues, counted invasive cane toads, and collapsed into bed sometime after midnight Hawaii time (hours after my friends in Europe and the continental US had finished celebrating). I spent as much time as possible on that trip snorkeling and reveling in the warm weather. Grand Canyon is Grand February was pretty quiet, but we saw the Wild play the Islanders in Saint Paul, and the Gopher men's gymnastics team take on the Nebraska Cornhuskers in Minneapolis. I caught Josh Ritter and Guster on tour. I tried not to freeze to death. My life as a lab rat in the spring In March, Jacob and I took a massive trip to Arizona. We visited his family in Phoenix, camped for three nights on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, and roadtripped to Canyon de Chelly, Walnut Canyon, and other places. We saw a lot of amazing Pueblo dwe...