Treasure Island Music Festival, San Francisco, October 16, 2010

I was looking into CMJ (in October in New York), pricing flights and hotels when I realised that a) a week in New York would be very expensive and b) I'd rather spend the money and go to SXSW.  There was a caveat though since SXSW is in March, I decided to go to Treasure Island in San Fran this year and SXSW next year.  Oh sure, logically, it actually cost me more but two trips are better than one, so I'm not complaining.  I wasn't really familiar with Treasure Island but it's a two -day festival on a disused military base in San Francisco Bay.  The bands for the Saturday were more ... I don't know, not my type of music and the deal was really sealed on the Sunday lineup.  The weather in San Francisco was in the high 20s (Celsius) in the week leading up to the festival and with a high of about 25C on the Friday that I flew in, I was optimistic for the weather to be good.  Sadly, it wasn't.  I made it out to TI early enough and caught Phantogram play a pretty good set.  My third time this year but they've added a drummer and sounded great.  I also caught Four Tet who sounds good but who doesn't talk and is well, boring to watch live.  I guess it's not really the point of his set but when you're cold and getting colder and you've got about 3 hours to wait until the next band you really want to see (Miike Snow and then LCD Soundsystem) suddenly the appeal of sticking around with a bunch of Deadmau5 fans loses its lustre and well, I bailed.  To make matters worse (although it was kind of cool), I bumped into James Murphy at the ferry building on Sunday morning and told him that I was a big fan (he's terrific live) but that I was a complete wimp and didn't stick around for his set.  He was really nice about it though.

Manu Chao @ Warfield Theatre, San Francisco, October 15, 2010

On September 11, 2001, I was in a coffee shop in Krakow, Poland (having been to Auschwitz the previous day).  I was killing a bit of time whilst waiting for a night train back home to Germany.  I was in the coffee shop for a few hours and even ordered a second piece of cheesecake (it was really good!).  After a while I finally plucked up the courage to ask what the music was they were playing, since I wasn't sure how big the language barrier would be.  The album turned out to be Clandestino by Manu Chao and I managed to find a record shop which sold it before I caught my train.  It quickly became one of my favourite albums of all time.  I had no idea what was going on in the U.S at about the same time and didn't actually find out until the next morning when I got to Dresden.  I've seen Manu Chao twice before and funnily enough, the first time was also when I was in San Francisco - in July 2006 when I was on my way to Vancouver.  He is ... outstanding live.  He sings mostly in Spanish, English and French, but it really doesn't matter if you can understand the lyrics or not (I usually can't).  He is a performer and it's a shame that he's not more popular in English speaking countries.

Broken Social Scene @ Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver, October 13, 2010

There were very few Canadian bands that I liked when I was growing up.  I mostly liked British bands.  Over the years that didn't really change much.  As I started to discover more bands, I found quite a few from other countries that I liked but it was until about 5 or 6 years ago that I started to come across bands that I really liked that also happened to be Canadian.  Having lived about half my life in Canada, it amazes me that some of my favourite bands now are actually Canadian.  This is a novelty for me.  And of those bands who happen to be Canadian that I really like, Broken Social Scene were one of the first that I discovered.  For a collective, the lineup's been relatively consistent every time I've seen them (i.e never with Feist, Emily Haines or Amy Millan).  With a great collection of songs to pull from, I've yet to be disappointed with one of their shows and when they're on, they're about as good as you can get.  Brendan Canning, their bassist, and I went to high school together ... and we never spoke.  I knew who he was (he drove a purple bug which I always thought was really cool) but for whatever reason, our paths never crossed.  Had I known back then that he would be in one of my favourite bands (too) many years later, I would have made the effort to talk to him .... who knew?

Frightened Rabbit @ The Vogue Theatre, Vancouver, October 8, 2010

I finally saw Frightened Rabbit live at the Media Club in October 2008, having been a fan for almost a year and their set was too short (they were the support) but was absolutely wonderful.  Midnight Organ Fight was my favourite album of 2008.  I made the decision to go to Monolith in 2009 mostly because of the opportunity to see them and on the stage at Red Rocks, they were fantastic.  The Winter of Mixed Drinks will be one of my favourite albums of 2010 and I've been able to see them 3 times touring it - also at the Opera House in Toronto (work trips, yay!) and at the Biltmore Cabaret in May.  I think the Vogue show has been my favourite so far.  I was right by the stage with a great view but what made it really special was to be among a decent sized crowd of fans ... it's great to see a band that I adore finally get some recognition.

Bad Veins @ The Vogue Theatre, Vancouver, October 8, 2010

Out of Cincinnati, Bad Veins were local to Woxy and the DJs were (rightly so) big fans.  I caught their set at Monolith in September 2009 and really liked them but hadn't heard much either from or about them since the plug was pulled on Woxy, so it was a nice surprise when they were added as support for Frightened Rabbit and they played their first Vancouver show.  Would be great to see them get a bit of attention on their next album cause they're definitely a band that deserves it.

Suuns @ Biltmore Cabaret, Vancouver, October 3, 2010

Suuns gave away their EP, Zeroes, for free.  Having heard a song, I jumped at the opportunity and was very impressed.  It's quite different to what I usually listen to but good music is good music, yes?  I was pretty excited to be able to catch them live when they came through town.  Aside from not playing two of my favourite songs (wtf?) they were terrific live.  The music was loud and intense and they sounded great.  I'll definitely catch them next time I can.

School of Seven Bells @ Biltmore Cabaret, Vancouver, September 28, 2010

The last time School of Seven Bells played Vancouver I was out of town so when they announced the Biltmore show I was pretty excited to get a chance to see them.  And then another band announced a show on the same date and I was very tempted to bail on School of Seven Bells, but fortunately I didn't get floor tickets to see Arcade Fire and got to experience School of Seven Bells instead.  I didn't regret it.  They're very good live.  My only complaint is that they didn't play my favourite song - 'iamundernodisguise' - but it is what it is and I'd be more than happy to see them again.