Behold Alex Crick‘s photos of Queensrÿche performing songs from Operation: Mindcrime, and other tunes at the Moore Theatre. Queensrÿche, including original singer Geoff Tate, are celebrating the 25th anniversary of Operation: Mindcrime, and the band heads for sunnier climates of California in August for a string of dates. Opening for the June 29th show were Ireland’s the Voodoos.
Queensrÿche
The Voodoos
Dylan Moran @ the Neptune Theatre, 6/28
Review by Dagmar
Seattle loves its comedy, and it was happy to see Irish comedian Dylan Moran (Black Books, Shaun of the Dead) at the Neptune Theatre. The June show, titled Yeah, Yeah, met a sold-out crowd of appreciative and attentive fans. Even a small bit of heckling was polite – more on that later.
Dylan Moran
Much of the stand up-comedy that works, for me, is made up of how conversational the comedian make his performance. Do I feel involved? Does it matter that I am there? Is the comedian’s tone natural? And still, do I consider at times, “yes, what he’s saying is what others might think but just can’t express?” Also, is what he saying unique? Dylan Moran hits the target on all of these. He’s got a real skill at getting and keeping an audience’s attention
Moran’s material covers death, sex, parenthood, dating, drugs, pets, religion and getting older. You’re more than likely familiar with most of these. You might even be familiar with all of them. But it’s what Moran does with his comedy that makes the difference. It’s quirky. Though only 42, he’s ready to see 25-year-olds as just debauched young people. He thinks of his doctors as Pixar characters who criticize his “smoking and drinking smoking and drinking.”
The material can also be very dark. We were told fairly late in the performance we were all going to die. When he took his child to the pet shop to select a pet, Moran thought of asking the kid something such as which thing that dies would you like?
As in any comedy performance, much of the success of commentary, jokes, what have you, depends a lot on the delivery – and the atmosphere. The vibe was just right that evening. Moran brought up embarrassing things about himself. He mentioned that his wife told him he looked “fat, red in the face and booby” in a red shirt. When he was visiting a museum in the States, he noticed a couple pointing out his mismatched socks. The couple was laughing at him.
Towards the end of the evening a kind heckler yelled at Moran to take his shirt off, to which Moran promptly answered no, warning that his paleness would blind the audience and turn them into a “pile of ashes on top of jeans.” We’d risk it happening.
The great Lenka, an Australian singer and songwriter, was the headliner at Barboza on June 7th. Lenka, who brought Los Angeles’ Satellite with her, also brought a tiny bee puppet (as seen in a photo below). That’s pretty wonderful and adorable. We’ve got photos of her set, and Satellite’s, from Simon Krane and Kirk Stauffer:
Lenka – photos by Simon Krane
Lenka – photos by Kirk Stauffer
Lenka – photos by Simon Krane
Lenka – photos by Kirk Stauffer
Satellite – photos by Simon Krane
Lenka – photos by Simon Krane
Lenka – photos by Kirk Stauffer
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We’re lucky to have Irish comedian Dylan Moran here on Friday, June 28th. Moran has appeared worldwide, performing his biting stand-up in such countries as New Zealand, England, Russia and the States.
Dylan Moran – photo by Andy Hollingworth
Moran, who’s also an actor, with roles in Shaun of the Dead and Run Fatboy Run, brings his show, Yeah Yeah to Seattle, a city that should sell out the Neptune Theatre – as have audiences in the UK and Australia. We love comedy here. Also, the French publication Le Monde called him “The greatest comedian, living or dead.” He’s had his own sitcom, Black Books, and is working on a book. The Irish County he’s from, Navan, has a population of only 28,158, and Pierce Brosnan grew up there. That’s some awesome production of talent.
Dylan Moran may be a natural talker, but in a 2013 interview with Interview Magazine he mentioned that, “When I was a teenager, you wouldn’t go to a bar and find lots of televisions everywhere. People were talking. Talk was the mental fire you would gather around in the evening. It occupied a big part of your existence.”
If you’re not familiar with Moran, check out his recent appearance on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.
For more details and tickets, follow this link. Show is all ages and begins at 8 PM.
Imagine Dragons – Amazon Post-Holiday Party at CenturyLink/WaMu Theater
January 19, 2013
by Chris Senn
Imagine Dragons – photo by Alexandra Sermon
What do a double-decker bus, the Eiffel Tower, Bollywood dancers, Japanese wall dancers, Chinese dragons, a makeshift Las Vegas and Imagine Dragons have in common? They were all part of the Amazon Post-Holiday party inside the CenturyLink Field Events Center on January 19th.
If you think that Imagine Dragons would feel at home in the middle of a party with dragons and a mini version of their hometown you would be right. They put on quite a show. It was quickly evident that most of the crowd was already somewhat familiar with the band, giving it their all on sing-alongs of the band’s current hit “Radioactive” and the more subdued “Demons.”
The whole band gave it everything they’ve got on stage but it’s very evident that Dan Reynolds is the front man. He takes the job of making sure the crowd has fun very seriously. He was running back and forth across the stage engaging the whole audience. He frequently made his way back to center stage where he beat the crap out of a gigantic bass drum with an equally gigantic mallet.
There wasn’t moshing per se, this was a company party after all, but those inclined to get their groove on did so during a high-energy version of the calypso-influenced “On Top of the World.” They closed out the hour-long set collaborating with the audience to power through “It’s Time.”
I feel very lucky working for a company that has bands such as Imagine Dragons play company parties. This is definitely a band worth seeing live.
(Editor’s note: the delay in posting this item is all my fault. Apologies.)