It's This Time of Year Again- I Present to You: An Update.
Nothing of significance has happened in my life, except for the past two weeks. I'm merely here to write the following down for myself and share it with you guys.
I gots me tickets to the following musicians/bands (Yeah, it's this kind of post):
____________________
DEVOTCHKA
at WATT, Rotterdam - August 12th, 2009
It was a no-brainer to get tickets to their show at WATT, Rotterdam. Little Miss Sunshine introduced me to this band and sure enough I had to get a hold of their own albums. The show was good. They didn't interact with the audience much, but they sounded nice and they played extremely well. What I like about concerts is that I get a better appreciation for bands. And I had a great time being there.
I arrived way too early. I chuckled at a guy who was wearing a shirt that said: "I'm huge in Japan." Almost two hours went by when I finally saw the band standing back stage for a minute or two. Nick Urata was recognizable. I like that Tom Hagerman was dressed in a suit and how he was leaning on the stairs was a classy picture. Without an introduction they quickly took the stage.
During the break, before the encore, two girls, who I presume were The Slavic Sisters, came on stage to throw roses and balloons at the crowd. That was fun. Also, someone, who I know via YouTube and last.fm, due to our common fondness of Jason Mraz, came to say hello to me afterwards. That was nice. I could barely hear a word she was saying and then figured I was still wearing my earplugs, which, by the way, were very helpful - during 'The Enemy Guns' I took one out of my ear and it was LOUD.
Anyhow, we said goodbye. I can't remember how she got my attention again, but she wanted to hand me a balloon, but I had just grabbed one off the stage. I guess I didn't want to walk out of there with two balloons. One balloon was okay.
And I got a set list again. The woman I'd asked went around looking and then finally took the one of Shawn King's (the drummer).
I filmed on chest level, because there was no way I was going to pay too much attention to the screen. I only got a couple presentable pictures. Looking at them now I should have switched to a higher ISO.
I (still) got the one in the front. It's actually turquoise/green-ish of colour.
Weird ass photograph. On the other hand, how cool looking is that!?
Set list. As if I need to tell you that.
The woman I'd asked went around looking and then finally took the one of Shawn King's (the drummer).
The videos, aside from the lighting and shaking, turned out rather good. Well, the sound was surprisingly acceptable seeing there was an amp/sound box right in front of me; so I consider that good.
And I'm just going to say it: Nick Urata looked very handsome up close. It was a treat to see him standing not that far away from me. Liked the way he was chucking that bottle of wine.
____________________
ANDREW BIRD (support: Les Singes)
at WATT, Rotterdam - August 18th, 2009
I arrived shortly before the doors went open. The difference with the last time is that they were checking bags. They threw away my bottle of water. I need my water, damnit. I soon found out it was probably because they were going to be more people this time around as the concert was set in a bigger hall.
The room filled up. I saw a guy standing in a Flight of the Conchords shirt. Win. A photographer I saw at the DeVotchKa show was here again. Other than that nothing special happened.
Les Singes, a Dutch band from Amsterdam, did their performance. It wasn't anything great or something, but kind of cute? I couldn't help but only think that the dude had Zac Efron!hair, and then he started to look like Zac Efron.
When they were done I turned around and found myself noticing the YouTube/last.fm girl sneaking to the front and I started waving.
Les Singes
Before I knew it Andrew Bird took the stage, quickly grabbed his violin and started playing. It felt like he'd just left the universe to perform for us. You could tell he was really into it, and the audience was there with him. Even though almost every song had the same build-up (he used loops), it never became repetitive. I was amazed by all of it and by how well he could play and how fast he could switch to all those instruments. And the whistling - That was wonderful.
It was only halfway through the night he began to talk to the audience. As he was trying to explain the songs he was struggling with words. Even though he said he wasn't "very articulate [that night,]" he was pretty humorous: “It's always nice to come to Holland. It seems to be, I don't know, if Holland wasn't here I wouldn't be as fulfilled.” And he mentioned that the new album was paraphrase: 'more mellow than this [the performance]" and that "he was not going to apologize for it."
Mr. Bird
I couldn't get a set list, but I asked a girl if I could take picture of hers and I was granted permission to do so. I actually took more than the one shot, because I had no idea if I would be able to read it afterwards.
Have a solo performance by the man.
I didn't upload the videos of the rockier songs, because those will make your ears bleed. Same goes for the next band.
____________________
BLITZEN TRAPPER (support: The Horse Company)
at Paard van Troje, Den Haag/The Hague - August 20th, 2009
The doors hadn't opened yet when I arrived. Soon they did and I headed in. Two people working there assured me that if you didn't like the first fifteen minutes of the main act (Blitzen Trapper) you could get out and ask for a refund. Is this a common policy? I already sure as hell knew I wouldn't leave before the band the end, so thank you for the information, but, yeah, okay, thanks.
Slowly, emphasize on s...l...o...w, people came into the room. At one point an old man, age 70 walked to the couple sitting next to me and asked: “Is it true?" Obviously the answer back was "What?" "That she's waiting for me?" and the old man points to the, compared to me, also old lady. “Not this time,” her guy defended her, "I think it's her" and he points at me. I was sitting there with "wtf" written all over my face, and then (genuinely) smiled.
The Horse Company was the support act. I listened to a couple of their songs on MySpace earlier that day and I thought it sounded promising. They were indeed good. It was too bad the room wasn't exactly filled with people. During their performance people were taking a three/four metre distance from the stage. It was only after they'd left the stage people, including me, took steps forward.
The Horse Company
Guess who's standing there against the wall. Well, it's none other than Eric Earley from Blitzen Trapper. He walked past me earlier, but I didn't dare to say anything. Blergh. So I took this creepy picture.
When Blitzen Trapper started to play, it was still very empty. I could spread my arms, make a 360° and not touch anyone. Exaggeration, but you know what I mean. Despite of the lack of people, they performed really well.
It didn't seem they used paper set lists, so I can't remember what they exactly played. But they opened with with the album opener 'Sleepytime in the Western World,' which I like so much. 'Gold for Bread,' 'God & Suicide,' 'Saturday Nite,' 'Love U,' 'The Last Thing on My Mind,' a Neil Young cover? 'The Man Who Speaks True,' 'Furr', Jericho,''Stolen Shoes & a Rifle, 'Not Your Lover,' 'Lady on the Water,' 'Echo/ Always On/EZ Con' and a couple others followed?
It was over and after the majority of the people left the room, I stayed behind and saw two of the band members, Erik Menteer and Marty Marquis, on the stage talking to people. Should I walk up to them? Yes. No? Well... I left the room.
Here is the same Eric Earley in better light.
Marty Marquis left the stage for half of a song before returning to put one of his strings on his guitar.
Exciting stuff, right?
There were a lot of disco balls in the air. Paraphrasing, I believe Brian Adrian Koch (on the left): "Usually we ask to have the disco ball turned on during this song ['Not Your Lover'], but there are a thousand of them up there tonight. Can someone turn them all on?"
____________________
And westlifefan tagged me a while ago -- so behold a (handwriting) meme:
1) Write your username.
2) Write your the name of two of your favourite bands/artists.
3) Write "I ♥ ______". This is to see how you write hearts.
4) Write the name of your all-time favourite person.
5) Write the name of a recently favoured person.
6) Tag six people to do this.
I've been told (multiple times) it's unreadable. They blind.
Well wasn't this awesome?
...Yeah, I don't care. I only update this often, so suck it.
____________________
On a more personal note; Some of you may know that I will be heading off to university soon (read: officially in two weeks, but there's an introduction upcoming Monday). I hope it won't, but undoubtedly know that this will mean the time I spend on the Interwebs (in this case LiveJournal) will be reduced a great amount (Oh, noes!). I will still try to read every (personal) entry on my flist, but, you already may have noticed: commenting will be another story. So if you ever wonder where I am or what I am up to, it's because I'm participating in the world outside of this one. However, if for some reason I'm still around as much as usual, then you now know I am starting college.
Cheers.
I gots me tickets to the following musicians/bands (Yeah, it's this kind of post):
____________________
DEVOTCHKA
at WATT, Rotterdam - August 12th, 2009
It was a no-brainer to get tickets to their show at WATT, Rotterdam. Little Miss Sunshine introduced me to this band and sure enough I had to get a hold of their own albums. The show was good. They didn't interact with the audience much, but they sounded nice and they played extremely well. What I like about concerts is that I get a better appreciation for bands. And I had a great time being there.
I arrived way too early. I chuckled at a guy who was wearing a shirt that said: "I'm huge in Japan." Almost two hours went by when I finally saw the band standing back stage for a minute or two. Nick Urata was recognizable. I like that Tom Hagerman was dressed in a suit and how he was leaning on the stairs was a classy picture. Without an introduction they quickly took the stage.
During the break, before the encore, two girls, who I presume were The Slavic Sisters, came on stage to throw roses and balloons at the crowd. That was fun. Also, someone, who I know via YouTube and last.fm, due to our common fondness of Jason Mraz, came to say hello to me afterwards. That was nice. I could barely hear a word she was saying and then figured I was still wearing my earplugs, which, by the way, were very helpful - during 'The Enemy Guns' I took one out of my ear and it was LOUD.
Anyhow, we said goodbye. I can't remember how she got my attention again, but she wanted to hand me a balloon, but I had just grabbed one off the stage. I guess I didn't want to walk out of there with two balloons. One balloon was okay.
And I got a set list again. The woman I'd asked went around looking and then finally took the one of Shawn King's (the drummer).
I filmed on chest level, because there was no way I was going to pay too much attention to the screen. I only got a couple presentable pictures. Looking at them now I should have switched to a higher ISO.
I (still) got the one in the front. It's actually turquoise/green-ish of colour.
Weird ass photograph. On the other hand, how cool looking is that!?
Set list. As if I need to tell you that.
The woman I'd asked went around looking and then finally took the one of Shawn King's (the drummer).
The videos, aside from the lighting and shaking, turned out rather good. Well, the sound was surprisingly acceptable seeing there was an amp/sound box right in front of me; so I consider that good.
Click to viewAnd I'm just going to say it: Nick Urata looked very handsome up close. It was a treat to see him standing not that far away from me. Liked the way he was chucking that bottle of wine.
____________________
ANDREW BIRD (support: Les Singes)
at WATT, Rotterdam - August 18th, 2009
I arrived shortly before the doors went open. The difference with the last time is that they were checking bags. They threw away my bottle of water. I need my water, damnit. I soon found out it was probably because they were going to be more people this time around as the concert was set in a bigger hall.
The room filled up. I saw a guy standing in a Flight of the Conchords shirt. Win. A photographer I saw at the DeVotchKa show was here again. Other than that nothing special happened.
Les Singes, a Dutch band from Amsterdam, did their performance. It wasn't anything great or something, but kind of cute? I couldn't help but only think that the dude had Zac Efron!hair, and then he started to look like Zac Efron.
When they were done I turned around and found myself noticing the YouTube/last.fm girl sneaking to the front and I started waving.
Les Singes
Before I knew it Andrew Bird took the stage, quickly grabbed his violin and started playing. It felt like he'd just left the universe to perform for us. You could tell he was really into it, and the audience was there with him. Even though almost every song had the same build-up (he used loops), it never became repetitive. I was amazed by all of it and by how well he could play and how fast he could switch to all those instruments. And the whistling - That was wonderful.
It was only halfway through the night he began to talk to the audience. As he was trying to explain the songs he was struggling with words. Even though he said he wasn't "very articulate [that night,]" he was pretty humorous: “It's always nice to come to Holland. It seems to be, I don't know, if Holland wasn't here I wouldn't be as fulfilled.” And he mentioned that the new album was paraphrase: 'more mellow than this [the performance]" and that "he was not going to apologize for it."
Mr. Bird
I couldn't get a set list, but I asked a girl if I could take picture of hers and I was granted permission to do so. I actually took more than the one shot, because I had no idea if I would be able to read it afterwards.
Have a solo performance by the man.
I didn't upload the videos of the rockier songs, because those will make your ears bleed. Same goes for the next band.
____________________
BLITZEN TRAPPER (support: The Horse Company)
at Paard van Troje, Den Haag/The Hague - August 20th, 2009
The doors hadn't opened yet when I arrived. Soon they did and I headed in. Two people working there assured me that if you didn't like the first fifteen minutes of the main act (Blitzen Trapper) you could get out and ask for a refund. Is this a common policy? I already sure as hell knew I wouldn't leave before the band the end, so thank you for the information, but, yeah, okay, thanks.
Slowly, emphasize on s...l...o...w, people came into the room. At one point an old man, age 70 walked to the couple sitting next to me and asked: “Is it true?" Obviously the answer back was "What?" "That she's waiting for me?" and the old man points to the, compared to me, also old lady. “Not this time,” her guy defended her, "I think it's her" and he points at me. I was sitting there with "wtf" written all over my face, and then (genuinely) smiled.
The Horse Company was the support act. I listened to a couple of their songs on MySpace earlier that day and I thought it sounded promising. They were indeed good. It was too bad the room wasn't exactly filled with people. During their performance people were taking a three/four metre distance from the stage. It was only after they'd left the stage people, including me, took steps forward.
The Horse Company
Guess who's standing there against the wall. Well, it's none other than Eric Earley from Blitzen Trapper. He walked past me earlier, but I didn't dare to say anything. Blergh. So I took this creepy picture.
When Blitzen Trapper started to play, it was still very empty. I could spread my arms, make a 360° and not touch anyone. Exaggeration, but you know what I mean. Despite of the lack of people, they performed really well.
It didn't seem they used paper set lists, so I can't remember what they exactly played. But they opened with with the album opener 'Sleepytime in the Western World,' which I like so much. 'Gold for Bread,' 'God & Suicide,' 'Saturday Nite,' 'Love U,' 'The Last Thing on My Mind,' a Neil Young cover? 'The Man Who Speaks True,' 'Furr', Jericho,''Stolen Shoes & a Rifle, 'Not Your Lover,' 'Lady on the Water,' 'Echo/ Always On/EZ Con' and a couple others followed?
It was over and after the majority of the people left the room, I stayed behind and saw two of the band members, Erik Menteer and Marty Marquis, on the stage talking to people. Should I walk up to them? Yes. No? Well... I left the room.
Here is the same Eric Earley in better light.
Marty Marquis left the stage for half of a song before returning to put one of his strings on his guitar.
Exciting stuff, right?
There were a lot of disco balls in the air. Paraphrasing, I believe Brian Adrian Koch (on the left): "Usually we ask to have the disco ball turned on during this song ['Not Your Lover'], but there are a thousand of them up there tonight. Can someone turn them all on?"
____________________
And westlifefan tagged me a while ago -- so behold a (handwriting) meme:
1) Write your username.
2) Write your the name of two of your favourite bands/artists.
3) Write "I ♥ ______". This is to see how you write hearts.
4) Write the name of your all-time favourite person.
5) Write the name of a recently favoured person.
6) Tag six people to do this.
I've been told (multiple times) it's unreadable. They blind.
Well wasn't this awesome?
...Yeah, I don't care. I only update this often, so suck it.
____________________
On a more personal note; Some of you may know that I will be heading off to university soon (read: officially in two weeks, but there's an introduction upcoming Monday). I hope it won't, but undoubtedly know that this will mean the time I spend on the Interwebs (in this case LiveJournal) will be reduced a great amount (Oh, noes!). I will still try to read every (personal) entry on my flist, but, you already may have noticed: commenting will be another story. So if you ever wonder where I am or what I am up to, it's because I'm participating in the world outside of this one. However, if for some reason I'm still around as much as usual, then you now know I am starting college.
Cheers.