Vivek’s Blog

Incredible, just incredible. You’d think that a break-up lasting almost 10 years would’ve had negative affects on the band, but tonight, The Verve sounded fucking awesome. They played a rocking set and had me yelling and bobbing up and down all night. My ears are ringing, my throat is sore, and my feet are tired. But it was worth it.

The set focused more on Urban Hymns which is my favorite Verve album. I’ll admit that I haven’t heard much of their stuff other than UH and A Northern Soul. However, these two are among the finest albums of the 90s and UH clearly represents a band at its peak. Richard Ashcroft has managed to preserve his voice really well, while Nick McCabe, Simon Jones, and Peter Salisbury are still adept at their respective instruments. We got on line early enough and managed to snag spots right up front - against the railing and under Ashcroft’s nose. The sound was terrific where we were standing.

Ashcroft was fairly animated on stage, dancing in his own strange way, eating a banana, drinking beer, smoking, etc. My friends who went yesterday as well say most of the set was the same but one of the songs they swapped in, “Velvet Morning”, is one I love. Quite aptly, they started with “A New Decade” and I am more than happy with the setlist, although I wouldn’t have minded some “A Northern Soul”, “Catching a Butterfly”, or “This Time.” We were also treated to two completely new songs that will make it on to the next album, to be released some time this year. Plus, the jam at the end of “Come On” was phenomenal. Insane. Mind-blowing. You get the drift.

I’m really glad that The Verve have reunited. Sure, I’ve only been a fan for the last two years, but getting to see a band perform live that you never expected to reunite, is just fantastic. Now I just wish that The Stone Roses would get together. Bury the hatchet, John Squire and Ian Brown!

One final word - the DJ who opened for The Verve was atrocious. Maybe the band forced us to sit through his crap just to make us realize how much ass they kick.

SETLIST: (More or less right order)

A New Decade
Sonnet
This Is Music
Space and Time
Life’s An Ocean
Already There
Weeping Willow
Sit and Wonder
The Rolling People
Man Called Sun
The Drugs Don’t Work
Velvet Morning
Lucky Man
Come On

-Encore-

Bittersweet Symphony
Love Is Noise

Not a lot to say today. Busy with schoolwork after last week’s lull. I’m really digging Boxer, the 2007 album by The National. I recommend it to anyone open to trying out new artists. Once you get used to the lead singer’s voice, you will discover that the songs are great. The layering of instruments reminds me of Porcupine Tree and the keyboards are used well. The lyrics are fantastic but you can certainly enjoy the music without paying attention to the lyrics. Come for the music, stay for the lyrics!

I’m posting a live performance of my current favorite, “Slow Show” from Boxer. I think the album version is better, but this liver version recreates the song really well. Also, the lead singer is quite restrained in this video - when I saw the band on campus last week, he was way more crazy.

Free concerts are the shit.  There, I said it.  Even though I’m not very familiar with the work of Grizzly Bear and The National, I had a great time at the concert.  I was all the way up front in the first row, leaning against the fence for the entire show.  I was so close that I could hear the instruments “live” rather than through the speaker system.  It was fantastic.

Grizzly Bear went first and played for almost an hour.  The one song of theirs I was familiar with, “Colorado” is apparently a rarity when they play live.  Today was certainly our lucky day - they played Colorado!  The drummer for Grizzly Bear was an interesting fella.  He did not have a bass drum but used all sorts of tricks to create a wide variety of sounds.  I could not take my eyes off his drum work.  Most of the band members are multi-instrumentalists so it was amazing to see them play several different instruments during the course of their set.

The National were crazy.  The lead singer was high on coffee and it really showed in his performance.  Again, some of the band members could play more than one instrument and they even had a trombone section!  It was a highly entertaining and energetic performance.  Being so close to the stage made it even sweeter as I got to observe the artists play their instruments.

All in all, for $0, this was a superb concert.  Anyone who says otherwise can suck it.  Also, FOUR in FOUR bitches!

I got into R.E.M. a while back when my then roommate told me to listen to Automatic For The People. I liked it and then moved to other good albums such as Murmur, Reckoning, Life’s Rich Pageant, etc. But I found their work from the last decade or so somewhat lackluster. It was missing the spark from their early work. When I heard that they were making a new album, I was apprehensive - could R.E.M. possibly turn things around?

Turns out, they could. Not only that, but they also show that they can still rock. Hard. The new album, Accelerate, gets off on a strong note with the raw and angry “Living Well’s The Best Revenge”. The one thing you’ll notice right from the start is Peter Buck’s loud guitar work is back. That, combined with Mike Mills’ meaty basslines and Michael Stipe’s vocals give this album a tremendous amount of energy. Don’t forget that these guys have been around for 25 years and are called the “grandfathers of alternate rock” for a reason.

“Mansized Wreath” continues the good work of the album opener and has some typical Michael Stipe “wow” moments. My personal favorite, “Supernatural Superserious” comes up third and immediately brings back memories of early R.E.M. Some reviewers said that this is typical song that the band could write in their sleep - but that doesn’t stop it from being good. After the weird experimentation on the last few albums, it’s great to hear R.E.M.’s old sound back.

The album is given a sense of balance with the slower tracks “Hollow Man”, “Houston”, “Until The Day is Done”, and “Sing For The Submarine.” The title track is again, quite excellent in my opinion and the lyrics seem indicative of R.E.M. as a band: I’ve got to follow another direction/Accelerate. The album might seem to slow down with all these slower tracks but it ends just as ferociously as it began, with “Horse to Water” and “I’m Gonna DJ” proving to be great closers. The latter will remind fans of “End of The World As We Know It” with its lyrics about the world coming to an end.

The production on this album is raw, not clean. I think this was intentional. A clean production would’ve taken some of the energy out of this recording. The jangly guitars sound great and Mike Mills’ backing vocals are back! I also love the drumming on this album - it adds to the overall energy (sorry for overusing this word). I was initially skeptical about going to see them live in June, but this album has me excited. R.E.M. have shown that they’re still in the game and are not going anywhere. I highly recommend this album!

Rating: 4/5

Video for Supernatural Superserious:

It’s a new year and while people go around making resolutions, I stay put and write more blog posts. I didn’t watch too many movies this year and I didn’t play too many new video games either. So, the only best of list this year will be the one for music. And notice how I retitled it “My favorite music from 2007.” It saves me from those who’ll inevitably say that I didn’t listen to some album they found outstanding - this is my blog and this is the best of the new music I tried out last year. However, I’m open for suggestions on new music!

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