Austin-based rocker Bob Schneider and his band played for two hours straight last week in front of a packed and primed Triple Door crowd. Bob is currently on tour in support of his latest album, A Perfect Day.
Show Review & Photos: Bob Schneider @ the Triple Door
Bob Schneider @ the Triple Door
Show Review & photos by Heather Fitzpatrick
Bob Schneider played his first of two dates at The Triple Door on June 4th. That night marked the third time I’ve seen him live, twice with a band and once solo. If you’ve ever been to one of his shows, you know to expect the unexpected. He incorporates a whole lot of comedic prose, hilarious stories of his upbringing, and stories from the road to name a few. This tour, simply called “Bob Schneider Heads West,” brought all of that and more. He was accompanied by a full band, played songs from his latest CD, A Perfect Day (4/12), and got a little irritated when the ENTIRE audience wouldn’t sing along to (one of my older favorites) “Tarantula,” off of his Lovely Creatures CD. He literally stopped once the chorus began, had ALL of the house lights brought up, demanded that EVERYONE get on their feet, and sing along. It was all in great fun, and it wasn’t a hard sell, as you could tell everyone was more than eager to participate, and even dance in the aisles. In addition to being able to pick up his entire set from a show that night on a USB drive, he makes most of the audio performances available from past shows as a download here. Just know that it may take a while for the recent shows to be added. (Whether or not you saw him at his last solo show in Seattle at the Tractor in February 2011, you should definitely get that too. I mean, 24 tracks for $5. WIN! It includes a 14 minute version on his song “Batman.” I was there for that show, and if you haven’t heard that track yet, you’re in for a real treat.)
Bob Schneider
Laura Warshauer @ The Triple Door
Jersey girl Laura Warshauer played a second show at the Triple Door main stage on Tuesday during her first trip to Seattle. Flanked by Kiara Ana Perico on violin/vocals and Calle Lehmann on guitar/vocals, Warshauer played numerous songs on her latest album, The Pink Chariot Mixtape. An interesting note about Laura – she attend college with Will and Kate. Yes, that Will and Kate in London. Going to be in Chicago this August? Be sure to see her at Lollapalooza. Laura opened for Bob Schneider, who she’s been touring with since late April.
Photos: Ed Sheeran @ the Paramount
Ed Sheeran opened for Snow Patrol on May 1st, but he’ll be back in Seattle for a headlining show on October 6th at Showbox SoDo. The Brit’s press release alerts us he’s achieved no small feat by “having the best selling debut album by a UK male artist in the last 10 years.” Also the video for “Drunk” features him having shots with his cat. Love. Love. Jason Tang got some exquisite shots of Sheeran in May:
Ed Sheeran
Show Review & Photos: Ramona Falls, Land Of Pines & Natural Selection @ the Sunset
Ramona Falls, Land Of Pines & Natural Selection @ the Sunset, 5/17
Review & photos by Abby Williamson
I’m just going to warn you that this is going to be a long-winded post. I have lots to talk about, but while you give this a little read, I strongly advise that you listen to the new Ramona Falls album. You can thank me later.
Speaking of Ramona Falls – they played a show at the Sunset Tavern last week! Natural Selection and Land of Pines opened for them! And it was awesome! I would have preferred it at the Crocodile or something slightly more open than the Sunset with its awkward rectangle shape that makes everyone feel like they’re stuffing themselves into a burrito. But other than that, I can’t complain.
Ramona Falls
The show began with Natural Selection’s offbeat performance, two guys – one guy at the drums and one with the mic, accompanied by a computer. I can’t say that I didn’t enjoy it, but I can’t really say I enjoyed it either. The music was catchy and upbeat, but it didn’t translate that well to a live setting. There was a lot of awkward moving around and inexplicable objects on stage and I just didn’t get it.
Land Of Pines
The next band, however, was splendid live. Land Of Pines, a group of local kids, rocked the house. They reminded me of The Lonely Forest, and in such a fantastic way. The group played off each other so well, and the banter between songs was priceless. Singer Evan Easthope was bounding around this tiny stage in his equally tiny shorts, with as many grins as grace on stage. The intensely earnest lyrics complimented the relentless power pop so well that it made me want to buy all their EPs, even the ones that I couldn’t even get anymore because there were only like 100 copies printed. Needless to say, Land of Pines set the bar high as far as performances go. They were so good, it helped ease the anxiety I had waiting for Ramona Falls.
And that was some anxiety.
Explanation for said anxiety: When Brent Knopf left Menomena last year, I almost wept (seriously), until I realized that he would be doing Ramona Falls stuff full-time (yay!). Then in September I discovered his producer project Lost Lander (so good), and I re-fell in love with his musical genius. Can you tell that I’m a fan? Anyway, I have listened to the new Ramona Falls record Prophet a lot (I have over 300 plays on iTunes alone). It is my favourite record of 2012 by far. So I was a bit antsy at the prospect of seeing – let alone meeting – one of my musical idols.
The set was phenomenal. The one thing I was worried about when listening to Prophet those 300+ times was how it was going to translate to a live setting because Knopf is a bit of a mad scientist when it comes to sound and sound mixing. No, a magician. But I was so pleasantly surprised that it sounded great live. And this was all with a new guitarist for the tour that had just started learning the songs like three weeks before. The only negative about the new guitarist was that because he had only learned a number of songs, an encore didn’t happen. Drummer Paul Alcott actually came out to the crowd after they left the stage to tell everyone so we would stop cheering.
Ramona Falls