Because of that risk of other drunk students, car insurance is extremely expensive for students. It doesn’t have to be. See Waa makes it easy to compare to other prices and to save on car insurance. Come to See Wa and see how much you can save. And have a piece of mind with your student driver.

Skylar Grey: You know who this is without knowing it. She’s been featured with almost every big name in hip hop lately. Diddy, Lupe Fiasco, Dr. Dre and Eminem are just a few of the names that Grey has collaborated with. She penned “Love the Way You Lie” too. If you watched the Grammys, Grey was the mystery voice that didn’t get any spotlight onstage with Em and Rihanna. I’m pretty sure it was in Ri Ri’s contract that another woman on the stage couldn’t be seen.

Gold Motel: This is the new band from Greta from the Hush Sound. Their summery tunes will be perfect for an afternoon set at Lolla. Make sure you get up close enough to see how purdy Eric Hehr’s Rickenbocker shines in the Chicago sun.

Mayer Hawthorne & the County: If this is new to you, don’t call yourself my friend. It means you haven’t been reading Festival Crashers or paying attention to anything Zack or I have said in the last two years. For those newbies to the site and people who would like to get back in my good graces, get to know this “funky Jewish boy with soul.”

Smith Westerns: Any of my “music friends” will laugh at calling these guys a lesser known band. The rest of you will know them soon enough. The catchy riffs of Dye it Blonde have seen heavy play from me the last couple months. Excited to see them for a first time.

Delta Spirit: Fun stuff. We’re getting higher up on the bill now, but I’m sure many of you aren’t aware of Delta Spirit yet. At least some of the kids I’ve been talking to today about the Lolla lineup weren’t. If you don’t know, now you…can watch this video:

In the midst of this DJ dominated festival, where MDMA ran rampant, the spirit of American Rock and Roll remained alive and well onstage with Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. I was blown away, having never seen or heard her music before. Now, I’m a guy who was raised on classic rock. Every morning I was given a “Spoonful” of Cream before school, and you could bet your ass the Stones would be playing at my house when I got back. Hearing Grace’s raw energy and watching as she bounced along the stage like she was possessed by Jagger transported me to a time that I never knew. She’s Janis Joplin. She’s Tina Turner. She’s a firecracker. I have to admit, I fell in love when she looked my way, but maybe I was blinded by the mini-skirt… hey, she’s hot (oh, and did I mention she kills it on the organ and guitar too?).

When you have a southern belle like Grace keeping the crowd’s jaws firmly on the floor you could probably get away with any old band playing behind her, but the Noctournals are a beast unto themselves. Lead guitarist Scott Tournet, drummer Matt Burr, rhythm guitarist Benny Yurco, and bassist Catherine Popper round out the lineup (Don’t miss her. There’s nothing sexier than a girl with a bass). You can’t help but draw the comparisons to Fleetwood Mac with Stevie Nicks or the Black Crowes, when the whole band is up there ripping into “Medicine.” There’s something distinctly American about them. Long hair and southern twangs. I love all kinds of music, be it techno, rap, classical, jazz, hell, I’ll even dabble in opera. When you get that country sound blending so well with a dynamite band, it sets me off to a new level. It’s pure.

Grace and the Nocturnals are damn good performers. She can make your blood rise and put the hair up on the back of your neck. “It’s a festival for all!” Grace shouts. “Having said that, there’s a 4 year old in the audience. I apologize for this next song… it’s naughty.” The sex running through that Chicago air could be cut with a knife. She screams the chorus of “Paris (ooh la la)” as she slowly grinds against her guitar – “If I was a man I’d make my move, if I was a blade I’d shave you smooth, if I was a judge I’d break the law, and if I was from Paris, if I was from Paris, I would say Ooh la la la la lala.” The whole crowd joined her, belting “Ooh la la la la lala”. Don’t misconstrue my adoration. It’s not to say that she’s just strutting across the stage shaking her tail, but moreso that her downright spunk is impossible to ignore. I said she was Tina Turner, didn’t I?

She brought the crowd to a hush with a southern gospel “Nothing but the Water.” “I have fallen so many times for the devil’s sweet cunning rhymes. This old world has brought me pain but there’s hope for me again. Well, won’t you take me down to the levee? Take me down to the stream. Take me down to the water, we’re gonna wash our souls clean.” As the band re-enters, her voice intertwines with the scorching guitar and tenderly licks the sound as though they were lovers. It was something to behold. Red hot and electric.

When you have to sum it up, it’s fun, it’s raw and it’s got so much energy that we should be running the country’s powergrids off their sound. If you’ve got the chance, definitely try to catch a live performance. Witnessing Grace Potter and the Nocturnals in action will change you. I’m not from Paris but god damn, I say Ooh la la la lala. Check em out.

@shiftywhiteguy:  In 2007, Zack was trying to talk me into going to Bonnaroo.  The Flaming Lips, The White Stripes, and many others seemed like pretty good draws, but I wasn’t 100% convinced until he mentioned the band that he knew would catch me hook, line, and sinker:  Ween.  Ween is a one of a kind band, to say the least.  Their music is technically proficient, rocks so incredibly hard, is hilarious, and is a lot of times, really biting commentary and satire on other genres.

As much as I liked Ween, I had not seen them live up to that point.  Ladies and gentlemen, you are simply a Ween fan trainee until you see a show.  There is no way of accurately appreciating this band until you’ve seen the living riot that is a group of Ween fans in the act of worshipping their band.  At that ’07 show, Ween was preceded by Fountains of Wayne.  Zack and I worked our way over to This Tent during FoW’s set to make sure we could get close for Gener and Deaner.  I remember standing right behind a girl who looked at the mass of people huddling around This Tent, then mentioned to her friend, “Wow, Fountains of Wayne really drew a crowd!”  Poor thing, she had no idea what was about to happen to her.

The very second Fountains of Wayne stopped playing, even as their handful of fans sat around cheering, the Ween fans started the mad rush.  FoW couldn’t have possibly heard their own applause, as we immediately began the “Ween! Ween! Ween!” chant, and ran over any poor FoW fan that wasn’t smart enough to realize they were being overrun by a swarm of crazy fans of an even crazier band.  The previously mentioned Fountains of Wayne fan* turned around with the most shocked, scared, and overwhelmed look on her face,** and frantically scurried out of the way.

Zack and I got as close as possible to the stage, and once we were within 40 feet, we found ourselves comfortable with our spot, and started to take a look at our surroundings.  Zack was the first to notice that the girl next to us had a homemade Boognish*** belt buckle, which he complimented.  The girl was really nice, said thanks, and then asked if we wanted to smoke some opium.  Now, ladies and gentlemen, I’ve only been on the planet for about 26 years, but in my experience, there are not a whole lot of times in your life that a stranger will ask you to join them on a bowl of opium.  But, these are Ween fans.  Expect the unexpected, and know that all of the people around you are insane with joy.

Think about that phrase for a second, because I mean it very seriously – insane with joy.  Everyone has their favorite bands, but Ween fans are unique.  We don’t just have fun at Ween shows, we become entirely different people.  You can spot us by our massive sing-alongs, never-ending request shouts**** and ear-to-ear smile rivaling the Boognish’s.

After that first show, I made sure I never, ever missed any Ween show I could possibly make it to.  Later that year, I moved to Florida.  But, right before I left, Ween announced they were playing a makeup show at the Bluebird in Bloomington, a venue they had cancelled on not long prior.  I did what any self-respecting Ween fan would do.  I drove my happy ass the 1000 miles back to Indiana, just weeks after the move to Florida.  I sure don’t remember the drive, but you’re goddamn right I remember that show.

Bonnaroo 2010 was my 4^th Ween show, not including a Gene Ween solo show,+ but my festival partner @andlaurasays, despite being a Ween fan, had not seen a show yet.  As expected, she was overly excited, but I don’t know if she fully understood how over-the-top the experience was going to be.  Luckily, Regina Spektor was on Which stage before Ween, so again, we could count on an audience that would pretty much clear out and leave us room to get close.  Within 2 minutes of the end of Regina’s set, we were right up front, in front of Deaner’s spot on stage, and we were surrounded by our brethren and the “Ween!” chant.  Boognish flags flew in several spots.  The dude next to me had on a Boognish mask made from a pizza box.  One guy had constructed a boognish out of a soccer ball, mounted to the end of the pole.  It was superbly constructed.  And, in a bit of déjà vu, a guy in front of us turned and asked if we wanted some free mushrooms.  Again, I’ve been around for a while, and this is not something you’ll experience too often.  He saw the expectedly confused expression on my face, and the following conversation ensued:

“It’s the last day, and we had a bunch left still, we figured we’d just give them out to the people around us at Ween,” he explained.

“Just give them away?” I asked.

“Yeah, good for the karma bank, you know?”

“Well, I um…”

He could see the concern on my face, and alleviated my concern before I could even ask.  “I know what you’re thinking.  I would also think it sounded too good to be true, but I’m a Ween fan.  You know some shit like this is something only Ween fans would do.”++

Needless to say, the show was absolutely amazing, but unfortunately, they were on Which stage at 3:30 in the afternoon.  The non-tented stages at Bonnaroo are unbearable dens of immense, unrelenting heat that are literally life-threatening if you’re pushing your limits.  So, eventually, we ran out of water and had to leave our amazingly close spot to the stage.  The second half was caught from a little farther back with less person density, and in the less-dedicated part of the crowd, but you could still hear the shouts and chants and excitement of our people in that mass, and they continued to contribute to the value of the show.

That’s the thing about Ween and their fans.  Our relationship is fascinating.  We egg each other on, we challenge each other.  We watch Gene and Dene in varied states of disrepair.  The days Gener looks like he just did a keg stand and a handful on Xanax, we cheer extra hard, because we want to pick him up.  And then every couple of years, when you see a show where he looks put together and excited, you cheer extra hard to reward him.  It’s a sick, codependent lifetime love affair.  But, we love it, and we’ll rally around it forever.  Our band kicks your band in the dick, then laughs and makes fun of it.  And I’ve got a nation of insane, dedicated, ridiculous, hilarious, awesome people from all of the random walks of life you can imagine that all agree.

*I know.  I’m shocked they exist as well.

** It was the same face I’d imagine someone would have if they had never seen a dick before and John Holmes dropped his pants in front of them.

***The Boognish is Ween’s most common logo, it looks something like this: http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/reverb/BoognishArmy.JPG If Ween Nation were a real thing, without a doubt the flag would feature a Boognish.  And the guy in that picture would definitely be a high-ranking officer in our defense program.

****Which are always different, by the way.  Ween has an enormous catalog, and you’ll never hear an audience shouting requests for the same song.  It’s always a hysterically entertaining chorus of 30 different people shouting 30 hilarious song titles simultaneously.  Example:  “Mister won’t you Please Help my Pony!” “Piss up a Rope!” “Poop Ship!” “Flies on my Dick!”  “Spinal Meningitis got me Down!” You can imagine how awesome it is to hear a bunch of people yelling these things in an extremely loud and gleeful cacophony.

+Earlier this year, Zack and I crashed a Gene Ween solo acoustic set at a very tiny venue called the Cactus Café in Austin.  Gener was extremely responsive to the tiny, stuffed-in crowd, and even led an a cappella version of “Freedom of ’76” that the entire crowd sung along with.  It was a tiny moment in history that I feel extremely fortunate to have been a part of.  See successful crashes #27 & 28.

++ It was invincible logic.  I think if I were ever a hitchhiker, I’d make a sign that said “Ween fan.  Need a lift.”  I’m sure I’d have a 750% better chance of being picked up.  Because you know the very first Ween fan that comes by is going to be like “Oh, we can trust this guy.  Let’s help him out.”

@shiftywhiteguy:  In 2007, prior to going to Bonnaroo, my good friend Phred made a really convincing case as to why I should make sure to see Michael Franti & Spearhead.  Phred has hardly ever steered me wrong,* so I gave them a shot.  In ’07, he played an afternoon set at Which stage in the height of the day’s sun.  I went in with neutral expectations, and it ended up being at least an entertaining enough show to sit through the entire set.  That is really saying something when you’re playing on one of the non-tent stages in the middle of the afternoon, and your audience is only slightly removed from being cooked like rotisserie chickens.  However, I wasn’t exactly blown away, and would have given that set a grade in the high sixes/low sevens. ** I was in no hurry to go out and buy his album, but I was definitely entertained.

So, when I saw Franti on the bill again this year, I had every intention on catching at least some of his set.  And, from the very first second of the show, it became very obvious that his later start time made all the difference.  He played on the same stage as ’07, but had a post-sundown start time this year.  Without the distraction of the heat, Franti’s set takes on an entirely different feel.

For those who are not familiar with Michael Franti and Spearhead, they’re a full-band ensemble with a style containing elements of hip hop, reggae, and jam-band style rock.  There is absolutely nothing notable about the music itself.  The lyrics are generic, and all about fun-time hippy stuff like universal peace and love.  Franti’s band is actually pretty talented, but they don’t do anything crazy.  Everything is technically pretty simple, and you’re not ever going to listen to a Franti and think things like “Holy shit, did you hear Spearhead’s guitarist?  He shredded that solo!”

But, Michael Franti himself, despite not being a notably great musician, is an exceptional showman.  If you’re not thinking about things like how freaking hot you are, he will keep you very entertained.  First of all, you can tell he genuinely loves to perform.  He has the biggest, goofiest smile throughout the entire set, and is having a blast every second on stage.  Second, he insists on crowd involvement and gets it.  He is constantly bantering with the crowd, and his stage presence and command over the audience is really admirable.  Third, I’m pretty sure he’s Batman.  At the end of his set this year, during the last song, he kept popping his head out of different parts of the audience.  I could not figure out for the life of me how he could possibly get from one end to the other so quickly and unnoticed.

Now, I still have no intention on buying a Franti album, and furthermore, if I did own one, I couldn’t picture myself getting in my car, looking through my cd’s and thinking “Ooh, Spearhead.  Yes, it’s definitely a Franti day.”  But that’s exactly what makes his live show so impressive.  On a recording, I wouldn’t think much of what I was hearing.  But live?  The show was so incredibly danceable, I couldn’t stop myself, and the thought of going to a different stage didn’t even enter my brain.  Isn’t that what makes a notable Bonnaroo set?  The idea that you don’t even consider leaving the show you’re at, when so many other awesome options are out there, speaks volumes.

This puts Franti in weird territory.  I can only think of a few bands that are significantly better live than their recorded music would lead you to expect.  Gogol Bordello, Neon Indian, and Ghostland Observatory are a few off the top of my head that outperform their music.  But, Franti isn’t just better than his music, He entirely transcends it.  I would actually listen to Gogol Bordello, Neon Indian, and Ghostland Observatory albums.  They just happen to be better and more fun when being performed live.  I wouldn’t ever think to listen to Spearhead album.  I give their music a sub-6.  But, a can’t-miss show.  The performance this year was in the high 8/low 9 range.  I can’t decide if that’s a compliment to Spearhead or not, but I do know I’ll never skip Franti if he’s on the bill.  That would be crazier than playing soccer on hallucinogens.

*I on the other hand, have steered him wrong several times.  Advice given by me to Phred in high school:  “Dude, you can definitely play soccer on hallucinogens.  You’ll be totally fine.”

**Yes, I know there’s a new FC grading system.  I didn’t start sending text messages until 2006…I’m not the type of guy to hop on board with new methods right away.

@snoogans913 I knew going into this past week that it was going to be one to remember, but I still couldn’t fathom just how epic it ended up being. The week kicked off with a bang with the start of the conference finals between the Hawks and Sharks on Sunday, and as I gathered around my TV with my friends and Buffalo Joes in tow, I was already elated. I wait the entire year for playoff hockey, and here I was, in good company, watching my Hawks tear shit up on visiting ice. As you should know by now, the Hawks got the W that day, and the next game was set for Tuesday. I had a panic attack when I realized that was the very night that I’d be in the presence of rock G-ds at the Them Crooked Vultures show. So when Tuesday finally rolled around, I donned my Blackhawks skull cup and headed out to the Aragon.

Tuesday

I always go into shows at the Aragon with a certain sense of disappointment already aligned, I’ve been to enough shows there ruined by awful sound quality to get too excited now, but I figured if anybody could rock the Aragon right, it would be TCV. We arrived in the middle of Alberta Cross’ set and felt immediately at home amongst the crowd full of mostly drunk older males in Led Zeppelin t-shirts reminiscing about that one time they met Robert Plant after a gig in Chicago 30 years ago. I was constantly checking my trusty iPhone for the latest Hawks news as we stood and waited, but as we got further into the crowd my signal was dying. I decided that whether I was constantly updated on the game or not, the end result would still be the same, so I shut my phone off and focused all my energy on having a kick ass time. When the house lights finally dimmed, we pushed our way to the front of stage to get as close as we could to the legend that is John Paul Jones. They opened with “No One Loves Me & Neither Do I,” my favorite track off the album and rocked the fuck out of the place from that point forward.

Hommes seemed to be having a blast and Grohl never let up, pounding those drums as if he were Adam Burish and the set was…well, any poor sap who got caught in his crosshairs. Luckily there was no ref to assess a 5-minute major and Grohl continued beating the shit of his set. By the end of their encore-less set, I couldn’t have been more satisfied with what I’d just witnessed – legends doing what they do best. I couldn’t help but jump for joy as I finally checked my phone while waiting at the Lawrence L stop after the show…the Hawks had won and now were leading the series 2-0. As I lay in bed that night I thought to myself could this night be any better? It was then that I remembered I had tickets to see Conan O’Brien the next day. I slept like a baby that night.

Wednesday

We got to The Chicago Theatre about 15 minutes before the show was supposed to start and scoped out the scene. Just from gallivanting around the lobby I could tell the crowd was going to be a great one, and I wasn’t wrong. The opening comedian, Reggie Watts, took the stage at about 7:45, and had me laughing out loud for his entire set. His comedy style falls somewhere between Stephen Lynch and Steven Wright. His songs were hysterical, and his banter in between was even better – he kept changing his accent and I still have no clue what his actual voice sounds like.

After 30 long minutes that felt like a lifetime, a hilarious video starring a fat, bearded, post-NBC debacle Conan trying to find work played and was quickly followed up by the Legally Prohibited Band taking the stage, bringing the place to life before Conan finally appeared and received a lengthy standing ovation. Conan talked to the crowd about the whole NBC thing, while the crowd chanted things like “FUCK NBC” and “LENO SUCKS”, to which Conan replied “Yeah, I know.”  Despite the fact that Conan was legally prohibited to say any disparaging remarks about NBC, he managed to work his way around it.

Saturday

Cut to Saturday at 3:30 p.m. and I’m heading to my friend’s apartment in the city just so I’m closer to wherever I may need to be when the location of the show was announced at 4. The location was finally revealed…it wasn’t a venue and was simply labeled as “Marquardt Trucking Company” with cross streets but no address. After frantically searching google maps, I received a text from FC’s own @ZackTeibloom with the exact address, so I plugged it into my iPhone and we headed out. We arrived at 4:40 and there were already at least 100 people in line.

We got in line, struck up a conversation with the people we were going to be standing next to for the next four hours, cracked some beers that were handed to us by fellow fans, and waited. What could have easily been a boring 4 hour wait turned into a great experience where we met tons of cool people. At around 7:45 the line finally started moving and we were ushered into a warehouse that they had converted into a ridiculous party complete with a DJ, OPEN BAR(!!!!), giant TV screens, and advertisements for Verizon’s KIN phone that sponsored the event. I immediately grabbed as many drinks as my hands could carry, made a bee line for the guardrail and waited for The Dead Weather to melt my face off.

Sunday

On Sunday afternoon, just to be consistent, we picked up a tray from Buffalo Joes and headed to my place to watch Game 4. The Hawks won, of course, sweeping the Sharks in only 4 games. For the first time in my lifetime (or at least the part of my life that I can remember) the Hawks are going to the Stanley Cup. It’s a great time to be in Chicago.

@Shiftywhiteguy Gather ‘round, kids, I’m about to tell you a story.

The year was 2001, and I was a naive 16 year-old. At the time, I felt as though the local music scene in Indianapolis needed my support. Ok, so that wasn’t so naive…those guys needed all the help they could get.

Regardless, at the time, I was a big fan of a band called Forefront, which was having their farewell show.* Forefront was your average circa-2000 neu-metal band, and in retrospect, they were a silly reason to be at that show in the first place. Forefront was playing with two bands I had never heard of, Knut and ISIS. After speaking with a very good friend of mine** who was much more in to the metal scene than I was, it turned out that Knut was some weird Scandinavian band, and Isis was a “prog metal” band from LA. The term “prog metal” had never been brought up to me, so I dismissed most of the show, and decided that after Forefront, I would head to Steak n’ Shake, get some free shit, and call it a night.

Let’s skip two weeks into the future. I was at my favorite record store,*** looking for Portishead CD’s, and heard the most fantastic overture of metal mixed with droning jams mixed with pure, raw, intricate, well-produced beauty. I grabbed the used copy of the self-titled album I was looking for and asked the dude behind the counter what I was listening to. Son of a bitch if it wasn’t the band ISIS that I had walked out on a couple of weeks prior. I quickly snatched up Celestial, the album I was listening to, and started on a fantastic trip that has lasted nine years. Ever since then, I have repeatedly kicked myself for leaving that show. If I had a running list of my top 10 all-time regrets, this would easily be in the top 3.****

That brings us to present day. Since that idiotic decision, I haven’t even come close to being able to see ISIS live. In the meantime, they’ve released four more albums, all of which progressed beyond Celestial, the album I first fell in love with.

Genre skipping is something Americans don’t like. We love to be able to put things in boxes, so that when we talk, we can sound really smart by addressing entire groups with a single explanation. Unfortunately, ISIS is one of those bands that simply can’t be stuffed into a box as small as “prog metal.” ISIS combines the droning metal aesthetic of Tool or Neurosis with the technical aptitude of Tom Morello (very loose comparison, I’m just trying to say they manipulate their instruments in to a sound very unique to their style). At the same time, they add the symphonic, thematic, arching structure seen in bands like Pink Floyd while maintaining the jam element present in bands like Phish, where the progression within songs become songs in themselves. Yes, yes, hyperbole, I know, but I can’t find better ways to describe their abilities, and I’ve been trying for nine years.

Just today, ISIS announced that they are disbanding. All of their June shows, including Bonnaroo, will be part of a farewell tour that wraps up in Montreal on June 23rd. ISIS was already on my must-see list for Bonnaroo (stay posted for that one), but now their set, if possible, takes on more meaning for me. If there was ever a good explanation granted as to why a band is breaking up, it was this one:
“Simply put, ISIS has done everything we wanted to do, said everything we wanted to say. In the interest of preserving the love we have of this band, for each other, for the music made and for all the people who have continually supported us, it is time to bring it to a close.”

Oh, how saying goodbye makes me cringe. ISIS is a band that is surely out of Festival Crashers’ wheelhouse, but if you are lucky enough to be making the pilgrimage to Tennessee in June, do yourself a favor and catch this band while you can. You never know how much you’ll regret passing it up.

*This show was the weirdest thing ever. The venue was a clubhouse in a country club in the ritziest, uppity, pain-in-the-ass suburb of Indy. When I first got there, I thought for sure I had been duped.

**Worldwide Alfination! Alfie, I knew sooner or later, you would be referred to in writing.

***Ironically enough, owned by the guitarist of Forefront.

****Number two: My first girlfriend. Number one: Leaving the miraculous 2005 WVU-Louisville game after the 3rd quarter. Ouch.

@JordanLipshutz Little 500 2010 kicked off Thursday night with the Flaming Lips playing to a sold out crowd at IU Auditorium. Despite being confined to a small auditorium, the Lips brought all of their toys out to play. The band took the stage one by one, emerging from a giant strobe-lit vagina. Then lead singer, Wayne Coyne, appeared in his infamous transparent “space bubble” despite being advised not to by IU Auditorium staff. Wayne only walked to the edge of the stage in the space bubble, because the auditorium staff feared the crowd would not be able to support him. The crowd was less than thrilled at this, but still swelling with energy as the Lips launched into “Worm Mountain,” a song they recorded with MGMT on their latest album.

I must say I was pretty underwhelmed, as they continued into their set. Their production was spectacular but the performance, not so much. The constant confetti, balloons, free laser pointers, strobe lights, trippy visuals on giant LCD screens and the group of dancers on stage dressed as DJ Lance from Yo Gabba Gabba were the only things that got this show the rating I gave it. The setlist was poor, featuring several songs from the bands latest album. The songs are pretty good on recording, but don’t translate well to live experience I’ve had hyped up to me that is The Flaming Lips. Many of these songs were slow, psychedelic soundscapes that simply didn’t keep the crowd interested. The most devastating part was that “She Don’t Use Jelly” and “Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots”, two of the bands most popular and engaging songs, were performed solo by Wayne. This was a huge let down. The only songs that really got the crowd going were “The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song”, “The W.A.N.D.” and the “Do You Realize??” encore.

I got a chance to catch up and chat with Wayne after the show. I asked how they were feeling about their upcoming summer tour. Wayne said that he was mostly thinking about today’s show and the show they’re playing tomorrow in Kansas City with the Dead Weather. He said that he doesn’t like to think about the future too much. In their encore the Lips played “Brain Damage/Eclipse” off Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon. A few months ago, The Flaming Lips recorded their take on the classic album with Stardeath & White Dwarfs and Henry Rollins. I asked Wayne why they chose this album.

“I think it was out of dumb luck. [iTunes] wanted to do seven exclusive tracks right as Embryonic was coming out. We didn’t really have any extra tunes. We recorded this double album real fast and just wanted to be done with it. I sort of just said it in a panic why don’t we do Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of The Moon? I knew it was short, I liked the songs, I knew there were some instrumentals in there.”

I asked if there was any album he would like to do next. Wayne said, “If we ever do a cover again I’d like to do Black Sabbath’s first album”. The Flaming Lips already have a thunderous cover of “War Pigs” in their repertoire so Black Sabbath’s debut album would be very fitting.

Little 500 rolls on tonight with Snoop Dogg, Jeremih and Sam Adams playing for an intimate but surely wild crowd tonight at ZBT/Sammy’s parking lot. Stay tuned for updates on this one of a kind performance. Speaker City isn’t sponsoring the event, but make sure to bring your green hat!

5.0/10

I’d heard about RX Bandits for several years.  But when I heard of them, it was the local Long Beach, OC ska-band with horns and things. Meh, not interested … but then came boyfriend after boyfriend after boyfriend trying to get me into them. CD’s at Christmas, tickets to shows, are you joking? Let me be!

It became a joke with the first two and finally with the third I had to fold. One show won’t kill me, right? Might as well just go, have a beer or two and check it out…

Fast forward a year… RXB three consecutive nights in NYC at Gramercy Theater. Their last 3 albums, in their entirety. I was still conflicted, but they’ve actually completely evolved as a band, and I’ve come to embrace them.

I did nights 2 (..and the battle begun) and 3 (Mandala), naturally, because those were the albums I’ve learned to grow and love. I was completely blown away and actually regretfully that I hadn’t given the first night’s album, The Resignation, a shot. The band’s Facebook and Twitter thanked everyone saying, “Playing for you guys last night was likestanding on stage in front of a massive choir singing us our own songs; totally incredible.” Man. “Oops” is all I can think for missing it.

Well, 2 and 3 were events of their own. RX Bandits have been around for ages but still feel like a local band, because they tour like crazy and play tiny places. It’s almost ironic. Small enough for one bus and house lights, but big enough that they can sell out 3 nights in NYC and everyone in the venue is singing every word to every song, even the ones that aren’t singles. It was powerful. Matt Embree is brave enough to write everything he feels. Very political, strong, emotional lyrics.

Their stage presence is incomparable. That chemistry comes from over ten years of playing together. They have a very solid stage presence. The songs are powerful. It’s an amazing thing to see full-album shows because albums in their entirety are pieces of art. They take weeks, months even at times years to write, perfect, record, produce and release. RXB have recorded a number of their albums live. It’s a true testament to their live show.

For me, it’s the charisma of the lead singer, his spastic dancing, the drum circles, the jamming, the bassist in the dark in tune with the crowd and the sound. They truly are genre-bending. A little bit of rock, a lot of groove, a lot of heart and just a little bit a ska. They connect with their audience. It’s a lot of sing along, it gave me goosebumps. To be totally honest, it brought tears to my eyes.

My personal highlights? Night two in it’s entirety. I’ve listened to that album from top to bottom hundreds of times, and that alone speaks volumes since it’s a band I used to refuse to listen to. “Only For the Night” seems to become like an anthem for them. They’ve turned it into an almost 10 minute jam that hits you, over and over. The song ”Apparition” is true to its title, it’s haunting.

Now Mandala, that album is extremely experimental. A bit of spanish (which I can appreciate) and a song which is truly an anthem. “Bring Our Children Home or Everything Is Nothing” is powerful. It calls for the audience to get into the emotion with you and sing along.

“White Lies” has the lead singer on the keys, it’s really personal. Those were moments I won’t forget. The keyboards, the guitars, and music was irresistibly danceable. It carried over to an unforgettable show.

We didn’t end it there! Like I said, being that they still feel like a local band, RX Bandits are still completely accessible. It’s not uncommon for them to stay after the show and share drinks with you at the venue bar. I got the chance to tell Matt Embree myself how thankful I was to finally appreciate them, and he appreciated that. It was a funny conversation, to tell someone you used to hate their band, but now can’t get enough. I’m glad it went over well!

I’m gonna try again in a few weeks, to get to California and break into Coachella’s Saturday
side. I can’t imagine seeing RXB in my favorite setting, in the desert only a few hours from where we were both brought up. We’ll see if I can pull it off.

To be continued….