Concerts & Shows of 2008
April
4/9 - Theater: The Optimist (Off-Broadway)
4/14 - Concert: This Is Ivy League, The Mood (NYC - Knitting Factory)
4/18 - Concert: The Mood (NYC - Delancey)
4/26 - Concert: The Mood (NYC - Bitter End)
May
5/6 - Concert: My Chemical Romance/Taking Back Sunday/Drive By (Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory)
5/7 - Concert: My Chemical Romance/Taking Back Sunday/Drive By (Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory)
5/9 - Concert: My Chemical Romance/Taking Back Sunday/Drive By (NYC - Madison Square Garden)
June
7/9 - Concert: Lovecats (Asbury Park, N.J. - Asbury Lanes)
7/19 - Concert: Id Life Crisis/McMickle Brothers (NYC - Fontana's)
7/27 - Concert: Lovecats (NYC - Highline Ballroom)
July
7/8 - Concert: The Mood/Heavenly Tenants (NYC - Knitting Factory)
7/10 - Concert: As Tall As Lions (NYC - Mercury Lounge)
7/12 - Concert: Bon Jovi (NYC - Central Park Great Lawn)
August
September
9/7 - Concert: Leathermouth/Reggie & the Full Effect (NYC - Highline Ballroom)
9/12 - Concert: Leathermouth/Reggie & the Full Effect (Sayerville, NJ - Starland Ballroom)
9/19 - Concert: Bouncing Souls (NYC - Terminal5)
9/20 - Concert: Bouncing Souls (Asbury Park, NJ. - Convention Hall)
9/26 - Concert: The Mood and La Strata (NYC - Baruch College)
October
10/3 - Concert: Phantom Planet (NYC - Webster Hall)
10/13 - Concert: Manhattan School of Music Jazz Band (NYC - Jazz at Lincoln Center)
10/18 Concert: McMickle Brothers/Bern & the Brights (Jersey City, NJ - Lucky 7 Tavern
10/31 - Concert: The Mood (NYC - Crash Mansion)
November
11/1 - Concert: Brine & Bastards (Carlstadt, NJ - Axis Lounge)
11/6 - Concert: McMickle Brothers, Fairmont, Bern & the Brights (Newark, NJ - Killkenny's)
11/19 - Concert: The Academy Is... with We The Kings/Carolina Liar (NYC - Roseland Ballroom)
11/28 - Concert: John Ginty (Dover, NJ - The Fireside)
December
12/6 - Concert: Tub Ring/Leathermouth/Mindless Self Indulgence (Sayerville, NJ - Starland Ballroom)
12/7 - Concert: Tub Ring/Leathermouth/Mindless Self Indulgence (New Haven, CT - Toad's Place)
12/16 - Concert: Fall Out Boy (NYC - Nokia)
12/26 - Concert: Bouncing Souls (Asbury Park, NJ - The Stone Pony @ the Arcade)
12/27 - Concert: Bouncing Souls (Asbury Park, NJ - The Stone Pony @ the Arcade)
12/27 - Concert: various (Asbury Park, NJ - Asbury Lanes)
12/28 - Concert: Bouncing Souls (Asbury Park, NJ - The Stone Pony @ the Arcade).
Top 5 shows of the year? (in no particular order!)
01. My Chemical Romance at the Electric Factory in Philly. I saw them three times that week (capped off at MSG) but the first one was very special because I finally got to see them live and they were every bit as beautiful as I had hoped for.
02. This is Ivy League at the Knitting Factory (*sob*) It is such musicy music. It's the music I grew up with. I told Ryland its like Bread & Butter music to me... but the bread is from Sullivan Street and the butter is French. It is also the show where I first saw The Mood whom I have grown to love and I try to never miss their shows.
03. The third night of the Bouncing Souls Home(less) for the Holdiays shows. For lots of mushy reasons.
04. LeATHERMØUTH at the Highline. I went because it was Frank's Other Band. I discovered a much more satisfying approach to dealing with the uglyness within. It involves sweat. And spit. I also discovered how amazing a paunchy, furry, man can look in pink Hanna Montana pajamas.
05. The Love Cats at Asbury Lanes was pretty epic. A month to the day after MSG I'm eight feet from Frank Iero the first time he performs on a bass. And then I developed a burning desire to see The Bouncing Souls play from watching half of them play Cure songs. Asbury Lanes' stage is built on the four center lanes of a bowling alley, people are bowling on either side. There were nearly as many bowlers as audience. The venue is teeeny. Matty's set list fell off his keyboard and I picked it up and put it back for him. And I have fallen in love with DJ Values. Forever.
Total number of shows?
At least 35. There are 32 on my list and three more I can't remember the dates of. There may be some I forgot entirely.
First show of the year?
This is Ivy League at Knitting. ( 2009's answer to this is going to be SO COOL)
Last show of the year?
The final show of The Bouncing Souls Home(less) for the Holidays.
Most surprising show?
Oooh! I was traumatized leavign this out of the top 5! The Bouncing Souls at Terminal 5. It was my first Souls show and I never knew that could happen. Their fans are in love with them, and it’s a strong, passionate love. It’s girls and women and boys and men singing at the top of their lungs, tears on their faces; it’s this aggressive joy all around. They didn’t just sing along, they sang their hearts out. It was a couple thousand people embracing. The band walked off at 11:00 p.m., and I foolishly let go of the barricade. When the guys came back for an encore I was blown out to sea. I was quickly sucked backwards one row... two rows... three... there was no getting back; it was a fucking riptide and it was a little scary. Then I tripped and fell backwards... and no fewer than three sets of hands caught me, lifted me bodily, and set me on my feet. Suddenly I felt very safe and stopped fighting and just let myself get washed around in the sea of several hundred giant singing sweating beautiful open-hearted boys and men. Then a pit opened up behind me so I grabbed the nearest large person around the waist so I wouldn't go in and watched them charging at each other. It happened again and again - wrapping my arms around strangers to keep from falling. We never even looked at each other's faces - we just held on and kept singing.
Most disappointing?
Not a single one. Occasionally audience members tried their darndest to ruin the evening, but they never did.
Farthest traveled?
Philly. Unless Asbury Park is further.
States attended shows in?
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut
Venue most visited?
Hmm.. I guess the Arcade at Asbury park because we were there three nights in a row.
Worst injury?
I had a big chunk of skin scraped off my elbow at my first LeATHERMØUTH show. There were plenty of bruises and aches, but that drew actual blood.
Most expensive ticket?
MCR at MSG. With fees it was around fifty bucks. Most of my shows are ten or twenty.
Band seen the most?
The Bouncing Souls 5 times. LeATHERMØUTH 4 times. Mindless 4 times.
[Edit: Oooh! I'm shitty! I saw The Mood at least 5 times too.]
The artist seen most times, however, was Frank Iero. He was in four bands (My Chemical Romance, The Love Cats, LeATHERMØUTH, Reggie and the Full Effect) and played in with a fifth (The Bouncing Souls). I saw that guy ten times last year (twelve if you count the Reggie shows seperate from the LeATHERMØUTH shows they shared a bill with). I think he's following me around.
Best new discovery?
Just one? Reggie and the Full Effect. Its the most influential anyway -- I saw the rambly folky performers of my youth integrated with the loud screaming shit I listen to now. It was like a big light went on over my head.
Bands seen this year that also broke up this year?
Phantom Planet. sighhhh.....
Friends at shows?
So very many. Amanda, Sam, Deb, Marisa, Rachel, Yoko, Lanie, Steph, Katherine, Lisa, danacias, fuschia, rufus, screaming_mimie, nini_darko silverhawthorn achtung_meggie and a special mention to cass404 because of all the concert calls.
Band members met?
Bunches. Most of them that I saw, actually (but not Gerard Way or Ray Toro -- probably just the universe protecting me from heart failure and/or attempted rape charges).
Best souvenir from a show?
Toro's pick.
Longest time in line?
I slept out at the Electric Factory. It wasn't so much to get a good spot as that I'd gotten the ticket at the last minute and had nowhere to stay.
Shows seen from the barricade [front row]
Easier to list the ones that weren't: The Academy Is, Fall Out Boy, Phantom Planet, Mindless Self Indulgence
Most shows in one week?
Between opening bands and after party I saw 13 bands in 3 days at the Bouncing Souls Home(less) for the Holidays.
Most shows in one month?
Seven in December.
Biggest crowd?
MCR at MSG
Any drunk encounters?
Teenagers making out annoyingly at the Phantom Planet show. Annoying because once they paused in their dry humping they expected me to return the spot I had just swiped from them. No dice, kittens.
Top 5 worst 2008 concert moments: (no order)
01. It's really all been pretty beautiful. Sorry. We got cold at Electric Factory, security gave us coats to sleep under. We got cold at New Haven, Steve Righ? brough hot chocolate to the line. Amanda lost her shoe and phone, Hambone helped her look for them. Marisa got kicked in the head, but the stage diver was Timmy Chunks. And even when there's bitchyness it never lasts long.
Top five 2008 concert moments: (no order)
01. Mindless Self Indulgence and seeing first hand that "alienation of the audience" isn't just pretentious art school shit. I love them. They're magnificient. Please note, the band is half female and they're not just "the chicks," they're the rhythm section.
02. When Tub Ring came out at Starland and the room went WILD. I have never seen a largely unknown (to the crowd) opening act embraced like that. It was amazingly exciting. And the instant love is well deserved, they are bad ass musicians who put on a very dynamic show. I would groupie that band. And I'm only kidding a little.
03. Bantering with Alex Greenwald about the nature of true love in the middle of the Phantom Planet set.
04. Sharing a mic with Frank Iero at my third LeATHERMØUTH show. For, like, half a verse. And having that amazing moment captured by a nearby photographer.
05. Countless magical occurances at Souls shows. This is not hyperbole.