Trey co-produced the album with Peter Katis (The National, Interpol, Jonsi) last fall in Katis’ Tarquin Studios in Bridgeport, CT. Along with Trey Anastasio Band, Katis invited several artists to work with them, including Mates of State’s Kori Gardner, The National’s Bryan Devendorf and Matt Berninger, and Icelandic percussionist Samuli Kosminen.
Trey’s playing at the The Fillmore Silver Spring on the 24th of October. Such a shame the dude no longer plays the 930 Club.
From a 930 Club email promoting the U.S. Air Guitar Championships – D.C. Regional:
If you don’t think a guy or girl losing their mind on stage, hurling around an invisible axe while doing a tapping solo, is totally rad, then you simply have no soul.
Normally when I get tickets for a show, I buy two: one for me and one for the phantom friend who might be interested in coming along. With Angels & Airwaves, though, I only bought one. That turns out to have been a pretty good call. The show wasn’t awful, but I probably would have regretted dragging someone else to it.
I arrived at the gig last night at around 9:45, not long after the band went on. My first impression was the volume. I had ear plugs with me, and they went right in.
Second impression was the serious light show, and then the third impression was the vocals. DeLonge put a lot of effort into his performance, but it didn’t sound to me like he was having a terribly good night. He was slipping out of key and struggling to hit some of the higher notes in the songs. Also, maybe that’s the problem with really produced pop; the live show is bound to fall short of the record.
Again, I’m not saying the gig was terrible. They all seemed into it, particularly the drummer, Atom Willard, who I noticed was mouthing the words of the lyrics as he let rip some grade A chops. The hardware on the stage was interesting too. Here’s a photo:
Overall, though, it wasn’t quite the pop revival that I was expecting. One thing about the crowd was that there were a lot of couples. Here’s DeLonge, showing off some his rock star mojo and talking about the band’s approach to love songs.
Like most gigs I attend these days, I left early. As I exited the club, a DC cop walked in, followed by a very concerned looking bouncer who made a quick move through the door. Someone said that a fight had broken out, to which a young woman remarked: “A fight? At Angels and Airwaves?”
Have you ever listened to Chicago X 12 by Rogue Wave? I just listened to it 3000 times in a row.
So, I’m checking out the band. SoundCloud has a free stream of their new record up – serious hooks. And it turns out Rogue Wave is playing at 930 this Friday for a very reasonable ticket price of 15 bucks. Not sure if I’ll make the gig, but it’s looking likely that I’ll download the record.
Tickets went on sale today for the May 6 Angels & Airwaves show at the 930 Club, and I bought one. In these situations, I normally buy two tickets, on the thinking that I’ll find someone who’ll be interested in attending the gig with me. For Angels, though, I had trouble imagining any immediate pals who’d be especially into it.
Anyway, I’m looking forward to the show. I bet the live act is polished. One thing I’m not sure of is the crowd. What will the median age be? I’m guessing 30. My sense is that Blink’s popularity peaked in at the turn of the century, and I bet the median age of their fan base back then was about 20.
I also got a movie ticket today: Crazy Heart. I can’t remember the last time I went to the movies.
It was hairy to get to this show. When I set out at 8pm for the club, snow was falling heavily, and there was an ominous feel out there on the streets of DC. Not much traffic out on the slick roads. I got a cab pretty quickly, though, and we set out slowly on our way.
We hadn’t gone more than a few stoplights when I realized that I had forgotten my motherf’n tickets at home. The cab driver was understanding, and he took me back, even waiting for me with the meter running on M Street while I scurried to grab my tickets.
Anyway, I thought the harsh conditions were going to thin the herd over at 930. Wrong. Place was packed! As full as I remember it being the last time I saw Trey there (in 2006).
The band had already started when I arrived – they were playing “Gotta Jibboo.” The mood for that song was the pretty much what was evident throughout the rest of the gig (at least the part that I stayed for; I ducked out about midway through the second set). I would call it “relaxed tight.” Trey was energetic but not hopping all over the stage. He directed the band ably, and they held things down very steadily. Musically, I found it a much different vibe than a Phish show, where the four band members are collaborating pretty much as co-equals.
I’m looking forward to downloading this show someplace. Here’s a video snippet.
Rebranding: I’m trying out a new domain. Two reasons for the switch: one, I have a thing for vanity URLs. Second, I’m pondering broadening my blogging subject matter somewhat outside of music. Not really sure about that, though. The narrow focus is working for me, so I may end up sticking with it.
Ben Folds. He’s playing the 930 club in late March, although it looks like it’s just “Ben Folds and a piano.” Hmmm. I like Ben Folds, but I’d rather see the dude with a good band.
On my recent travels, I only had one moment where I was glued to a computer (not including the iPhone): January 14, when tickets for Trey Anastasio’s February 9 gig at the 930 Club went on sale to the general public. At around 9:55am, five minutes before the on sale time, I logged on to the 930 Club’s ticket vendor. I manically refreshed until, shortly after 10am, the screen popped up where you could enter your information to buy tickets.
But no dice. Either the show sold out in like six seconds, or it was all bullshit, and there were never any tickets available for the public to begin with.
Either way, the secondary market offers no comfort at the moment. Over at StubHub, prices start at $90 presently. I’m a fan of both Trey’s solo stuff and the 930 Club, but I wouldn’t pay much more than $50 for that show.
