If you're my friend in any sense of the word, you know I go to a lot of shows. Music has always been a very big part of my life, but it wasn't until I graduated college, moved to the west coast, and had some extra money/time that I started really getting into going to them. I don't really know how to explain why I like going so much, but being able to see somebody live - to be in the same room as them - performing songs you've been singing along to in the car for months (years) is pretty sweet. There's this energy there, and you're surrounded by strangers who all love the same band you do. You sing and dance and let loose and get to spend an evening with someone you look up to/relate to/enjoy. I thought it would be kind of fun to look back at 2015 and reminisce about some of the awesome shows I was able to see this year.
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| Decemberists Day |
I feel like I have a kind of small circle of bands I follow pretty closely, and a lot of them released albums in 2015 - of Montreal, Titus Andronicus, SSLYBY, Telekinesis, and The Decemberists. The Decemberists are a newer to me band that I'm thankful for having friends tell me about, since they're a local Portland band. They released a new album in January, and the mayor of Portland declared it "Decemberists Day" on January 20th. They held a mini-concert INSIDE City Hall downtown. It was short, cute, fantastic, and we stood next to the sister and parents of a pretty legendary Decemberists member. I even got to see Reggie Aqui interview Colin Meloy *swoon*
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| Kishi Bashi and Tall Tall Trees |
A week later Kishi Bashi came to town with a string quartet and Tall Tall Trees (banjo man). I've seen Kishi Bashi many times now, but each time is unique, and this was the first time I'd seen him with more than just him on strings. It was so beautiful, and almost majestic hearing those arrangements - I'm glad he's released a live string quartet album finally! The show was at the Aladdin which I wasn't super excited about because it's seated, but everyone ended up standing anyway. They ended with an acoustic version of Bright Whites and it was gorgeous. I got to meet Tall Tall Trees after the show which was seriously a highlight of the year. I gave him some of the "In Your Pocket" quote things he collects, we talked about JLP, and I gave him about 5 hugs. Life highlight.
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| OKGo at Crystal Ballroom |
March was a heck of a busy month and it was amazing. I saw of Montreal in DC before spending a few days with my mom in San Diego, came home to see OKGo, of Montreal twice with Yip Deceiver opening, and rounded out the month with Kishi Bashi opening for Guster (WHAT). I'd seen OKGo once before, but it was a pretty small show on a small tour before their new album came out last October. It had a few optical illusions and some cool tricks they did, and LOTS of confetti. This time was pretty similar but way bigger and more over the top. They spliced together a video of actors saying "OK" and "go" from movies to open which was cute, Damian came out in the audience right next to use to sing 'Last Leaf', we decided their confetti budget is more than my annual salary, and for the encore they did the 'Million Ways' dance. LEGIT. They're just such a fun, creative, imaginative band, and they find ways to bring that to their live shows. OH and they did a Led Zeppelin cover. So awesome.
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| Lanc, aka David |
of Montreal is my favorite band of all time ever, and I'm lucky enough to get to see them in multiple cities, due to them playing shows in Seattle and having friends gracious enough to host me and go with me in other cities. They also usually do multiple tours a year, so I ended up seeing them 5 times in 2015. Five times!! I saw them in DC, Portland, and Seattle in March. Their shows are crazy, creative, sweaty, therapeutic, dancey FUN. The DC show was fun, they did "We Were Born Mutants Again with Leafling" which had me really close to tears and was gorgeous. I don't think I'd ever heard that song live, and the visuals they did kinda stab you in the heart. It's hard to explain an of Montreal show to someone who hasn't been to one, but they do lots of visuals and dressing up, and Kevin looks better in make up, glitter, and tights than just about anyone. Their Portland show was amazing, and Yip Deceiver opened which was the coolest thing (Dobby and Davey make up Yip Deceiver and they both were in of Montreal for awhile). David actually came out to find me after the show to give me his setlist (with acting notes and all) because I was wearing my JLP Stay Rad shirt. How awesome?! I was getting a drink and I saw him walking out and looked around me like "is no one seeing this?!" and I kinda took a step in his direction and he locked eyes with me and goes "Hey! This is for you!" Amazing. I also got to talk to Dobby after the show. What an amazing night. The next day I drove up to Seattle to see them again. I got picked on by strangers for being a super fan (because I recognized Bennett outside and knew his name...ok). Yip Deceiver was awesome again. They do a killer cover of Jennifer Paige's "Crush" and I got to talk to Davey after the show who remembered me from the E6 tour they did last year/my phone case. While they were setting up the stage for of Montreal, David came over to me and shook my hand and was like hey how are ya? What an awesome guy, seriously.
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| KB being beautiful |
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| Yip Deceiver (and Clayton) |
About a week later was Kishi Bashi again, this time opening for Guster. Hello high school! It was awesome to see that Guster is just as much a laid back jam band as ever. They seem to have so much fun up there and love to laugh. One of the guys messed up on one of the songs, and they were like "Ya know, we messed up, but I don't feel like you're laughing AT us, I feel like we're all in this together" or something of the sort, and it was cute. They had Kishi out for a few songs to play violin parts, and my head exploded a little bit. Somehow I knew every song they played and had the best time singing along like I was 15, and we nabbed the setlist cuz we're cool like that.
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Kishi Bashi playing with Guster at the Crystal Ballroom
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| Deerhoof |
Record Store Day was not long after this, and I got the only thing I cared about - the of Montreal live album. Part of it was recorded in Portland, so that made it extra special. It was also the 20th anniversary of The Dandy Warhols first album, so they played most of that album an in-store down the road from me. It was a small intimate thing and really cool to witness, especially being a "Portlander" myself now. Red Bull Sound Select put on a $3 show at Dante's in early May with Deerhoof, so I went to that. It took me awhile to "get" Deerhoof after I first heard them, but I enjoy them now, so I went. They are loud and nonsensical, but all business. Basically, I want to be Satomi when I grow up. They had some great local openers, too, which is part of the reason they do Sound Select. I almost didn't go, but I'm glad I went.
This is getting way longer than I was anticipating, and I'm mostly just recording this all for myself, so I think I'm going to stop here and break this up into 2 parts. Coming up is more of Montreal, lots of Ben Folds, some Janelle Monae, and much more!
