Concert's Corner: Concert Log #2

Sunday Night I attended the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas night 2 "Indie Night". KROQ is LA's main "Alternative Rock" radio station. Although the show is called Almost Acoustic Christams, no band ever plays an acoustic song.

Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros - This is a quirky band that quickly caught my attention and held it for the entirety of their set. They actually seem to be having a ton of fun up on stage and were definitely Party People. Great band to kick off the night.



Broken Bells - I always thought the Shins were kind of boring live, however, James Mercer puts on a completely different show with Broken Bells. He had a lot more energy and seemed to be enjoying himself which completely changed the audience experience. I was surprised this band was scheduled so early in the night.



Temper Trap - OK band from Australia. The tweens behind me were freaking out when they came out which may explain why I'm not into them: I'm not a preteen girl.

Neon Trees - Maybe the second worst band in existence, behind Brokencyde. After only 30 seconds, I was done and had to leave the amphitheater to take a walk. Fifteen minutes later, I decided to capture their only listenable song. FYI - This song sounds nothing like anything else they played and has the potential to become stuck in your head. Sadly after uploading videos of all these bands to my youtube account, the one video that has gotten the most hits and also received positive feed back is Neon Trees. DeadFerYou wrote "completed my life ahhh <3".>

Florence and the Machine - Can I just say she has some amazing pipes? This was the first time I've seen her live and she did not disappoint. The best part of her set was that although it was slated to be 35 minutes long, she kept playing. Once she hit the 45 minute mark (the end of the video below), the venue started spinning the stage to get her off. She barely had time to complete the song before they cut the mic.

Black Keys - I don't really know any of their music but was happy to check them out. They were fine but not really anything special. They are listed on a lot of top album of 2010 lists so I might have to give them another listen.

Brandon Flowers - Brandon's solo album has a few great songs but the rest of the album is kind of blah. Seeing him live just makes me miss the Killers, although his slowed down versions of Killers songs really captivated the audience.

Vampire Weekend - This band is always fun live. Their music is bubbly and totally danceable. They had one of the best albums of 2010 and delivered a solid performance.

Phoenix - I love Phoenix and I want to see Somewhere almost purely because of the soundtrack. So I may be a little biased. Maybe the french accents have something to do with it too. Phoenix closed out the show brilliantly. This was the final stop on their long US tour but you couldn't tell. They seemed just as fresh and excited to be playing their music as they were their first LA stop of the tour. Sadly, the sound quality on my Phoenix videos is crap so I'll just post a pic.

During the Brandon Flowers set, I happened to glance to my right and noticed Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Mitchell on Modern Family). My first celeb sighting of the night. Two rows in front of him was his On-Screen husband Eric Stonestreet (Cam). To my complete shock, Cam was there was a date and it was a woman. I don't know why I was completely shocked but for some reason I just assumed in real life he would be exactly like his character. My TV lied to me!! Then I came to my senses and realized he is an actor.

Mid-way through the Phoenix set at the end of the night, I started getting annoyed by the people standing next to me who were talking and taking tons of flash photos. I started to glare at them only to realize it was James Mercer the lead singer of The Shins and Broken Bells and his bassist Jonathan Hischke being accosted by a super fan. The fan wouldn't stop asking them questions and kept trying to take the perfect picture. Luckily, the fan eventually left them alone and we all went back to enjoying Phoenix. Once the band left the stage, I felt it was OK to geek out and get a quick photo. Lesson #1 for those unaware of the unspoken concert rules: never accost celebrities while a band is playing.

As of right now, I have no more concerts for the rest of the year. Next year: Neon Trees & 30 Seconds to Mars. I am not sure why I am going to subject myself to this show but I'm sure it will provide a great blog post.