My groin injury was preventing me from skating so what better time to go to some concerts and enjoy a few cold ones?  The first show was High On Fire on 4/20.  Yeap.  On the hill in Boulder on 4/20.  Zach thought the metal music would keep the hippies away.  Nope.

We may have missed the opening band, but the band that was on was bad enough we went to drink tall cans in the alley. Dave, Zach, Jason and PJ.

Everyone went to this show.  Jason and Gordon.  I didn’t listen to much of Priestess.  What I heard reminded me of why I didn’t make an effort to hear them.

High On Fire.  I’m not going to claim I was much of a fan before this show.  I thought after how much I enjoyed Tauntaun it would be worth it to see another metal band.  To say I was let down is an understatement.  I tried to enjoy them and I think during the encore I finally saw what people like about this band, but it wasn’t what I like in metal.  Not enough chords.  Not enough sludge/grunge.  A boring ass drummer.  Seriously, how can you have a boring drummer in a metal band?  Not enough big powerful riffs, etc.  Oh well, my friends that like them said the show was good so there you go.

The next night Liz and I went back to the Fox to see White Rabbits.  We arrived early enough to see the opening act Here We Go Magic.  They were decent.  At times great.  They have the potential to be a really good indie rock band, but it’s not there yet.  Good opener though.

White Rabbits came on and established immediately that they were gonna put on a fantastic show.  It’s funny how the drumming in a pop/indie rock band like White Rabbits could blow away the drumming from metal heads High On Fire.  It completely did though.  At times there would be 3 Rabbits beating the hell out of the drums.  It was amazing.  I’ve only mentioned the drums, but everything was on point.  The singing was perfection as well.

During the encore most of Here We go Magic joined the Rabbits on stage.  Everyone was having a blast and the music was still kicking.  Yes, that is Beaver from Leave It To Beaver on the guitar.

Look at all the dudes beating up the drums!  Show of the year so far!  Not only was the show so great, but it quickly established White Rabbits as a new favorite and a band I will never pass on seeing live again.

A few nights later Liz, Carleigh, John and I went to see my friend Zach’s first ever show with his new band Straighten The Crooked.  I had heard some mp3s beforehand so I knew the show would be decent, but it ended up surpassing all expectations quickly.  The music is kinda like Kyuss or something.  Grungy metal or whatever you call it.  I was impressed with the bass and how it didn’t just play along with the guitar.  The whole show was more creative and impressive then I thought it would be and I went in with somewhat high expectation.  And yes I thought they were way better than High On Fire.   Kudos Zach!

Liz and Carleigh thinking about the two hot dudes moshing by themselves and running into Zach’s parents.  Or maybe they were thinking about throwing their drinks at the barricade in front of the drums.

Proof that Liz actually thought I was funny that night.  Unheard of.

The kids were staying over at a friends so Liz and I decided to go to this show.  After eating some good BBQ with TF and watching the Nuggets win we headed to Denver with Carleigh.  We got into the show about the time the opening band Cannon started.  They ended up being really good.  They were pretty heavy indie rock at times, somewhat metal at other times.  Next up was Lion Sized which was the only band I had seen before.  I liked them a lot the first time I saw them, but this time they kinda let me down.  The music is a lot like Hot Snakes, but it just didn’t do it for any of us this time.

The headlining band was called Tauntaun.  We had never heard of them. We figured if they sucked or were even just mediocre we’d leave so we could get to sleep early.   They started the show by cranking the fog machine up so much that Liz left the front room.  Ha.  Within the first song it was pretty clear that they were awesome.  Really awesome.  I don’t like much metal, but this was incredible.  It reminded me of classic metal.  Sabbath, Maiden, Priest and Motorhead with a bit of grunge thrown in to make it completely incredible.  It was so good that Liz liked it, and she hates most metal.  It was also so good that I bought a Tauntaun t-shirt and record.  Check them out, they rule.

The family and I was in Omaha for Christmas and it just so happen’s that one of our favorite musicians Conor Oberst was playing a show while we were there.  Being the the cool cats we are we were put on the VIP list of course.  Or was it we spent $60 on ebay for tickets?  I can’t remember.  Anyways, we got there early through the freezing rain and proceeded to play the worst game of pool the bar has ever seen.  Finally some music came on so we could stop embarrassing ourselves.

Up first was Renee Hoover.  Decent Omaha style music.  Mellow, grown up and talented.  Good opener.

Up next was Simon Joyner.  Did I mention these photos were taken with my cell phone?  Well, they were.  I didn’t like this set at all.  BORING.  Put me in  bummer mode and made me tired.  From what I can remember Liz enjoyed it somewhat at least.

Finally Conor and crew came on stage.  Here’s the setlist that I found on what is hopefully a reliable blog.

North of the City
Cape Canevral
I Won’t Ever Be Happy Again
Something Vague
Train Under Water
Bowl of Oranges
10 Women
Scale
I Know You (new song)
Poison Oak
Moab
Milk Thistle

Encore:
New Year
Freemen
Roll On
I Don’t Want to Die (In the Hospital)

Pretty much the whole set was awesome.  Hearing some of the older Bright Eyes songs was awesome.  My favorites of the night were Something Vague and Train Under Water.  I didn’t really enjoy the encore when pretty much everyone from the previous two bands got on stage and joined them.  But I totally dig that about Conor Oberst.  He wanted to have a Christmas party type show and he did.  Fun times.

Pre Dinosaur Jr Pizza fest in Boulder.  I only ate one slice.  Sorry Gordon.

Lou Barlow & The Missingmen.  Wasn’t so hyped on the Boulder show, but they killed it in Ft Collins.

A couple photos from the Boulder show.  Both shows were awesome.  The setlists were quite a bit different.  The highlights from the Boulder show for me were Thumb, Forget The Swan, Raisons, Pieces, I Want You To Know and surprisingly Freak Scene.

Little Jack was there.

Reed was there too and even bought me a beer.  Sick!

Here’s the setlist for the Fort Collins show:

Thumb
Leper
Kracked
Imagination Blind
Get Me
Pieces
Plans
Pick Me Up
Feel the Pain
Over It
Little Fury Things
The Wagon
Freak Scene
Gargoyle

encore:
No Bones
The Lung

On a scale of 1 – 10 Ft Collins was a 50.  In the top 5 shows I’ve seen in my life.  It was so good that no one could really speak after it was done.  They didn’t play my dream setlist but they did play my request of Leper for Zach.  So sick.  The sound at Aggies was much better and it was way louder.  Ft Collins rules.  They played Gargolye for a long time and ended it with this crazy noise that seemed like it would blow out an amp.  Between songs they jammed more then I’ve ever seen and seemed as happy as ever.  I hope they keep it going.

Found this clip on youtube of the show I went to in Seattle. More photos and pictures soon, but I’m up in this one starting at 1:33 holding David Yow’s hand. Ahhh. It was an incredible show to say the least.

Liz and I set off to Denver to sell some stuff at 303 and then go to the AA Bondy show at the Hi Dive. AA Bondy is one of Liz’s current favorites. We got to 303 slightly before they close and Liz was helping me get some stuff out of the trunk, but accidentally shut the keys in the trunk when the car was locked. Crap.

8:00 pm – Call a locksmith who shows up in 10 minutes.
8:15 – They get the front door open. The alarm goes off and the trunk button doesn’t work. Oh boy.
8:30 – They try hot wiring the trunk button. No worky.
9:00 – The button to release the back seats is in the trunk, we’re trying to pull the keys out using some wires through a hole between the seats. No love. We’re trying to hit the seat release. No love.
10:00 – Hyundai roadside assistance can’t provide the key code to get a new key made easily. Keep trying to somehow miraculously pull the keys out using wires.
10:30 – Send Liz off in a cab to the Hi Dive to see AA Bondy.
11:00 – New locksmith arrives to try and make a key to open the trunk.
11:40 – Liz calls. Says the show was awesome and that she slammed 4 drinks and she’s chatting with Scott Bondy (aka AA Bondy).
12:00 – SUCCESS! The trunk is open and I have the keys.

I go to the Hi Dive. A full 12 hours after my last meal I walk in to drunken karaoke. I was a complete mess. Starving, annoyed with everyone, etc. Liz wants to chat with Scott more, but he’s apparently gone so we bail. She raves about the show and how rad of a dude he is. I’m thinking about food and only food. Get home around 1:00 and eat dinner finally. What a night. Glad Liz got to see the show. Bummed I missed it.

The Mighty LZA and I have been married 11 years now.  What better way to celebrate our anniversary then to go out for dinner in Denver then go see the Thermals?  Seriously, the Thermals!  One of our favorite bands and one of the funnest bands to see live.  

I accidently called Kathy ‘Karen’ and felt like a total idiot.  Luckily she’s super nice and didn’t beat me up.  There’s a great story behind this photo, but I can’t tell it yet.

Chad and Chris’s art school buddies Earl and Kit were there.  Kit got kicked out for smoking at the start of the Thermals set.  Ha ha don’t you know smoking sucks!  Luckily he pulled off being a roadie for the middle band and got back in.

Greg Harbour’s twin was there.  I’m talking Greg from a few years ago before he started dieing his hair.

You don’t see shades on the back of a head in hipster bingo.

The first band was Point Juncture, WA.  They were pretty good.  A bit too mellow at times for me, but the rockin’ stuff was really good.  

The next band was Shaky Hands.  They were from Portland too.  They were boring and unoriginal.

The Thermals finally played to a very enthusiastic crowd.  People were going nuts and everyone was smiling and having a blast.  It was seriously some of the most hyped on a band I’ve seen a crowd in a long time.  The setlist was a mixture of new and old, heavy on the new.  I wanted to hear the new stuff so this was perfect.

They opened with ‘Returning To The Fold’ then went into ‘I Let It Go’.  After that I’m not so sure, but here’s a list of what I think I remember which is NOT in order.

Returning To The Fold
I Let It Go
It’s Trivia
No Culture Icons
A Passing Feeling
 Back To Grey
How We Know
Sappy (Nirvana cover)
Here’s Your Future
Pillar Of Salt
Test Pattern
St Rosa & The Swallows
We Were Sick
Now We Can See
I Called Out Your Name
When I Was Afraid
How We Fade
You Dissolve 

Encore was:
I Hold The Sound
Everything Thermals 

I might be missing one or two or messed it up.  Either way that’s close enough.  All of the new stuff sounded super good.  The crowd completely freaked out to Here’s Your Future.   The ground up front at the Marquis shakes when people get jumping and at times it felt like I was on a trampoline.  Awesome.  I completely loved every song, but my stand out favorites were “How We Fade”, “When I Was Afraid”, “I Called Out Your Name”, “Test Pattern” (never heard it played before), “St Rosa & The Swallows”, “Here’s Your Future”, “Pillar of Salt” (yes pretty much the whole set) and of course “Sappy” was an awesome surprise.  I think they played “I Let It Go” too early in the set because it’s probably my favorite song on the new album and the sound wasn’t dialed in yet.  Oh well though, excellent excellent show.  I like that they don’t have the extra guitarist anymore and I think Hutch gave his best delivery I’ve seen.  Kathy was on point once again driving the bass the way she does.  They are so fun live!  Everything Thermals!

Aaron Betcher’s band O’er The Ramparts played the first Null premiere back in July of 2004.  Man that seems like forever ago.  Anyways, he’s in another band called Magic Mice and Brian, Jason and I went to check out a show of theirs in Boulder.

Should have known Rick would be there, but I didn’t expect those shoes!  

The first band was a couple ladies singing with a glass of wine and an acoustic guitar.  It wasn’t bad, not my cup of tea though.  Brian was the only one texting more than me.  

Magic Mice came on shortly and played a pretty rockin’ set.  Brian told me the Westword mentioned Dinosaur Jr as one of their influences or something.  That can never be a bad thing and there was definitely some sick guitar solos and distortion.  For the most part though they reminded me of good garage rock and I really enjoyed it.  Check out their myspace page HERE.

An old man laughing at at old man!  Ha.  The guy in the background was having a ball and dancing it up.  You can’t really see from the photo, but he was getting jiggy.  Rick approved.  The best part was when he stood next to a pregnant lady and stuck out his belly.  Golden material there.

If I ever get serious about concert reviews maybe I’ll actually start getting within 20 feet of the band when taking photos.

Up next was a horrible band named Ego Vs Id.  Some Boulder band I guess.  How embarrasing.  They could play their instruments well enough, but it was cocky jam lets get chicks crap.  We left.

I got a text from my friend Ethan in the afternoon saying his band was playing that evening in Denver.  I ran it by Liz and she was in and our babysitter was down to watch the kids so all of a sudden Liz and I were gonna be going out.  Whew.  We told our babysitter to come a bit early so we could hit up Wax Trax records on the way, but then it turned out there was a surprise gathering for Jam’s birthday at Wahoos.  Jam’s been bugging me about a Null Thermal for quite some time now so I figured since it’s his birthday and all maybe I should finally hook it up.  Jam was hyped.  Until ..

.. he opened the mother of all presents.  A brand new super tech jacket.

I got one upped

Oh look, it’s even got a hidden full face hood thing

Jason, the victor.

The TF was rolling deep.  Brian looking serious.

Neil lost the elbow game and had to lie down.

After dinner Jason, Kathy, Fuzz, Leslie, Liz and I went to Moes Original to see Ethan’s band Gangcharger play.  When we arrived Lions The Brave was already playing.  We have seen them before and both Fuzz and I love them.  It’s instrumental rock that builds up and destroys on each song.  Go see them, they are excellent.  Fuzz and I both bought EPs and all. Check out their myspace HERE.  It’s got all kinds of youtube clips and whatnot.

This was our first time to Moes.  It’s also a BBQ joint and the smell of the food is absolutely amazing. In fact it smelled so good that we all ended up getting food and enjoying every bit of it.  Nothing like good BBQ with a cold beer.  

Gangcharger came on next and blasted their sonic boom.  Tons of LOUD distortion, fuzz, noise and guitars.  In other words I love it.  I was surprised at how well the songs were structured and the distortion was always perfect.  Anyone can blare distortion, but it takes talent and patience to make the perfect sound.  Gangcharger’s got it.  Check out their myspace page HERE.  Thanks for the cd Ethan!

Last up was Sonnenblume.  I’ve never heard of them, but clearly they are veterans to this music thing considering how well they could play their instruments.  Both the guitarist and drummer would kill their instruments on every song.  I mean, KILL them.  Especially the drummer.  I’m surprised he didn’t destroy his drumset.  The music was good.  Fuzz loved it.  I thought the singers voice was a little to pretty for my tastes.  They are a good band for sure though.  Denver is coming up!  Check out their myspace here.