Muse Rocked So Hard They Broke the Barricade.
Yesterday I attended Edgefest, an annual rock festival hosted by a local radio station, 102.1 The Edge. In short, it was awesome. Here is a brief write-up of the bands I saw:
Bowling for Soup - this is a Texas punk band that was playing as we walked in, famous for "1985." I don't know if you northerners out there have heard it, but they play it all the time down here. BfS is basically a not-as-good replica of NOFX, although they are still a solid band nevertheless. The lead singer's between-song banter was quite witty as well, for which they got bonus points.
Jet - I went to the show with my friends Julie and Dylan. Dylan pointed out that Jet were the only band there that really didn't seem to fit in. I agree with him. From a generic standpoint, most of the bands there could be classified as "alternative rock." Jet is much closer to a straight-ahead rock band, a la Oasis. I enjoyed what I saw of their set, but left to go see...
Placebo - if you can break into my memory bank and remind me why I knew of this band and wanted to see them, feel free to remind me. It must be a soundtrack I own that they appear on. Nevertheless, I remember thinking "I need to see Placebo, because I think they rule." They ruled.
Papa Roach - I was looking forward to seeing PR because they started many years ago as an infamous rap-rock band, but everything I've heard from them lately has been strikingly solid. "Scabs" (I believe that's the name) is a particularly good song. Additionally, they came across as being very earnest and grateful to be there, which is always nice. The singer was full of energy and made many trips into the crowd, which was cool.
Blue October - This band is odd. My mental jury is still out on them. I was telling J&D that they remind me of [(Contemporary Adult Radio Band) + Evil]. Seriously, they sing these quasi-laid back, almost "groovy" tunes, but every once in a while the lead singer screeches ferociously and gets a really nasty look on his face. Interesting stuff.
Muse - They broke the barricade. I wasn't joking. After their second song, the show was postponed for 10 minutes while a really non-hip older guy took over the mic and pleaded with the audience to "step back 3 feet immediately so we can solve this important safety issue. Once the barricade is fixed, we will, uh, get back to rocking out the night and what-not." Once the barricade was fixed Muse continued to blow our minds with more ferocious yet melodic rock music. The first time I saw this band live was at Coachella years ago, and I HAD to buy their CD immediately after the show. They are that good live.
AFI - I was looking forward to seeing what they would do since they used to crank out hard punk music, but now make music that's a bit more along the lines of goth and pop. Overall I enjoyed their show, but if I have any complaint about it, it's that they seem almost too purposefully trying to "rock out." This means there are lots of kicks, lots of jumps, and lots of dramatic arm-waving, but it doesn't quite seem as since as a lot of the other bands. It seems planned. (note that I'm sure 99% of bands that do this stuff plan it, but they seem more natural doing it.)
My Chemical Romance - Gerard Way is the man. He and the band performed like psycho zombies (the new, ultra-fast kind, not the old slowpokes) delivering fierce hard rock music to the masses. "We shall destroy you with our monster riffs and possessed looks." That kind of thing. I loved their set list and loved the performance.
The Killers - I must say, after all this rock I had SLIGHT doubts about how the Killers' performance would stack up, even though they were my favorite band on the bill. I must say, all those thoughts were dissuaded after they came out and busted out a fist-pumping rendition of "Sam's Town," from their eponymous album. What continued was literally my favorite 5 or so songs from each of their two albums. Their set list was absolutely perfect, and Brandon Flowers' vocals have only gotten stronger since the last time I saw them. They did themselves proud as the headliners and left us walking away from the venue extremely satisfied with the whole experience.
Tickets for this show were about $50 before TicketWhore bent us over with their evil transaction fees. Regardless, it was an incredible value for all that music, and if the billing next year comes close to this year, I'll be back.
Bowling for Soup - this is a Texas punk band that was playing as we walked in, famous for "1985." I don't know if you northerners out there have heard it, but they play it all the time down here. BfS is basically a not-as-good replica of NOFX, although they are still a solid band nevertheless. The lead singer's between-song banter was quite witty as well, for which they got bonus points.
Jet - I went to the show with my friends Julie and Dylan. Dylan pointed out that Jet were the only band there that really didn't seem to fit in. I agree with him. From a generic standpoint, most of the bands there could be classified as "alternative rock." Jet is much closer to a straight-ahead rock band, a la Oasis. I enjoyed what I saw of their set, but left to go see...
Placebo - if you can break into my memory bank and remind me why I knew of this band and wanted to see them, feel free to remind me. It must be a soundtrack I own that they appear on. Nevertheless, I remember thinking "I need to see Placebo, because I think they rule." They ruled.
Papa Roach - I was looking forward to seeing PR because they started many years ago as an infamous rap-rock band, but everything I've heard from them lately has been strikingly solid. "Scabs" (I believe that's the name) is a particularly good song. Additionally, they came across as being very earnest and grateful to be there, which is always nice. The singer was full of energy and made many trips into the crowd, which was cool.
Blue October - This band is odd. My mental jury is still out on them. I was telling J&D that they remind me of [(Contemporary Adult Radio Band) + Evil]. Seriously, they sing these quasi-laid back, almost "groovy" tunes, but every once in a while the lead singer screeches ferociously and gets a really nasty look on his face. Interesting stuff.
Muse - They broke the barricade. I wasn't joking. After their second song, the show was postponed for 10 minutes while a really non-hip older guy took over the mic and pleaded with the audience to "step back 3 feet immediately so we can solve this important safety issue. Once the barricade is fixed, we will, uh, get back to rocking out the night and what-not." Once the barricade was fixed Muse continued to blow our minds with more ferocious yet melodic rock music. The first time I saw this band live was at Coachella years ago, and I HAD to buy their CD immediately after the show. They are that good live.
AFI - I was looking forward to seeing what they would do since they used to crank out hard punk music, but now make music that's a bit more along the lines of goth and pop. Overall I enjoyed their show, but if I have any complaint about it, it's that they seem almost too purposefully trying to "rock out." This means there are lots of kicks, lots of jumps, and lots of dramatic arm-waving, but it doesn't quite seem as since as a lot of the other bands. It seems planned. (note that I'm sure 99% of bands that do this stuff plan it, but they seem more natural doing it.)
My Chemical Romance - Gerard Way is the man. He and the band performed like psycho zombies (the new, ultra-fast kind, not the old slowpokes) delivering fierce hard rock music to the masses. "We shall destroy you with our monster riffs and possessed looks." That kind of thing. I loved their set list and loved the performance.
The Killers - I must say, after all this rock I had SLIGHT doubts about how the Killers' performance would stack up, even though they were my favorite band on the bill. I must say, all those thoughts were dissuaded after they came out and busted out a fist-pumping rendition of "Sam's Town," from their eponymous album. What continued was literally my favorite 5 or so songs from each of their two albums. Their set list was absolutely perfect, and Brandon Flowers' vocals have only gotten stronger since the last time I saw them. They did themselves proud as the headliners and left us walking away from the venue extremely satisfied with the whole experience.
Tickets for this show were about $50 before TicketWhore bent us over with their evil transaction fees. Regardless, it was an incredible value for all that music, and if the billing next year comes close to this year, I'll be back.
posted by Badger at
8:03 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home