Alkaline Trio @ Richmond, VA -- 06.19.2008

First show review. SO I've come up with some categories, I'm going to try to stick to these for all live show reviews. Maybe I'll add some, but for now this is what I'm going with. I'm rating 3 different aspects: band, crowd, and venue.

Band:
Stage Prescience
Showmanship/technicality
Song Selection

Crowd:
Audience participation

Venue:
Ticket price
Sound quality
Drink/food

Let me start by saying that Alkaline Trio is one of my favorite (recorded) bands, so I may be a bit biased.

That being said...for any fan, the show was good. For a non-fan (someone who only knows a few songs), you would have been completely lost, but you still would have had fun. To me, Alkaline is a "sing along" band, as in, if you know the song and can sing along you'll enjoy it but if not then you're Shit Outta Luck (SOL).

Matt Skiba (vocals/guitar) forgot lyrics at least 3 times in the first 4 songs. And on "Old School Reasons", he forgot the whole verse and stopped the song, laughing. It wasn't really that funny. Then he restarted the song where he got lost originally, and couldn't get the lyrics right again! Did they rehearse at all before they hit the road?

Alkaline Trio is generally a dark and brooding band; most of the songs are about lost love, alcoholism, drug use, anger, or any combination of those. But Matt was on stage in his popped collar half-sleeve shirt with one of those funky hats. He looked like he should be listening to Fall Out Boy and shallow-slicing his wrists just enough so it leaves tiny scabs, so he could brag to his friends about them.

But overall, I enjoyed seeing them live. It's been 2 years since they toured, so it was good to have them back in action.

Also - this was the best version of "Radio" I've ever seen. It was the last song of the set, but they were all (finally) into it. They had GREAT audience participation, and it was a great ending to the evening.


Set List (approximate, if there's a # I forgot the order). I'm pretty sure I'm forgetting a few songs as well:

1. Private Eye
2. Clavicle
3. I Lied My Face Off
4. Mercy Me
5. In Vein
#. Goodbye Forever
#. Every Thug Needs A Lady
#. Skeletons (off the new album, not sure of the title)
#. She Took Him To The Lake
#. Help Me
#. Time To Waste
12. Armageddon (GREAT version)
13. Crawl
14. This Could Be Love
E: 15. Old School Reasons
E: 16. Radio


Alkaline Trio -- The National, Richmond VA -- 6.19.2008
Band:
Stage Prescience: 3/5
- Matt Skiba (vocals/guitar) and Dan Andriano (bass/vocals) share singing responsibilities almost equally, which means they're tied to their mic stands since they're also playing an instrument (no headset mics, they're not a boy band). When they're not singing they're moving around somewhat, but overall I've always been a little bored at their shows since they're so stationary.

Showmanship/technicality: 3/5
- Neither Matt or Dan are particularly "great" musicians: they're both (lyrically) phenominal songwriters. Derek Grant (drums/vocals), is a great dummer, although he uses more of his arms than feet. But both Matt and Dan do basic/rudimentary guitar and bass lines, no solos. I could play better with my buttcheeks.

Song Selection: 2.5/5
- There was a definite skew towards "new" stuff. I know, with any band it will be that way because they want to sell the new album. But Alkaline Trio has so many old old fans (I've been listening since 1999) that they should pepper in a few more old tracks, in my opinion. Of course there were old staples that they play every show, but how about a few rarities?

Crowd:
Audience participation: 1.5/5
- The audience SUCKED. They just fucking stood there. The front row or two were going nuts, but that's to be expected. Past that, everyone just stood there. Fuck Richmond fans, apparently.

Venue:
Ticket price: 4/5
- $17.50. Not bad, I guess. I bought through the presale as well, which may have saved on service fees.

Sound quality: 2/5
- Second show I've been to at The National, and both times I thought something was off with the sound. I can't pinpoint it; maybe the highs are too tinny, and there's not enough bass. There's no subs on the stage like I'm used to, so maybe that's it. The speaker stack seems underpowered as well.

Drink/food: N/A
- I didn't buy anything. But based on past shows at The National/Norva (owned by the same guy) everything would have been way overpriced if I HAD bought anything.

Overall show rating: 3/5

I gave it a 3/5 cause of certain band factors, but keep in mind that Alkaline Trio is one of my favorite bands. I've seen them 4 or 5 times, and I'll admit it, they're not great live. I'd go see any show near me, but for most people, this show probably isn't worth the money. Listen to the CDs instead.

At any rate, I had fun.

Rock on,
- Jon

"I've got a needle scratch in me,
It injects the poison of alcohol IV"
- Trio

Striving For Mediocrity

I meant to write this 2 weeks ago when the album came out but...it just slipped my mind. Anyway...

The new Weezer album blows. And it blows hard.

The aptly titled "Red Album" (they must have known it would make my ears bleed) starts off decent. The first two tracks are nothing to write home about, but they kept me entertained. But by track 3 ("Pork and Beans", the first single), I had started to lose interest. The tracks just started blurring together. And by track 7, I had lost all hope for humanity. I forced myself to listen to the rest of the album, then stared at a blank wall for a second because it was more interesting that what I had just heard. As a whole, it felt like a remake of the "Make Believe" album, which sucked pretty bad as well except for the song "Perfect Situation".

On the second listen (I always try to give music a second chance, no matter how hard an album blew the first time), nothing improved. Seriously, nothing.

I will give them credit where credit is due - they still have a sense of humor. The video for "Pork and Beans" is kinda funny, but the song sounds like...well...sounds like they're channeling past singles, like "Hash Pipe" and the utterly terrible "Beverly Hills".

Overall - save your $15. Just listen to Make Believe, it sounds the same anyway.

Weezer - The Red Album - 1.5/5

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

As usual, I'm a little behind the times on seeing the movie. Deal with it.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall was definitely worth it. Funny throughout, great characters, and pretty good storyline.

Judd Apatow scores again. Superbad, Knocked Up, Talladega Nights, 40 Year Old Virgin, Anchorman...the list goes on and on. All his comedies focus on a loser/clueless character that the audience can identify with. While it's a great movie, he's chosen a relatively simple concept and stuck with it (and he does it well). It'd be interesting if he branched out in future movies, maybe tackle a more serious topic, or something.

Jason Segel played the part of the dumped relationship-mourning loser very well. His songs were great. Could have done without seeing his twig and giggleberries though.

Mila Kunis and Kristen Bell did well in their roles, and they're both damn hot. Especially Mila Kunis.

My favorite character was Paul Rudd, even though he only had a couple scenes. He played the stoned Hawaiian-implant surfer dude to perfection. Hilarious.

Not a whole lot of character development, but I guess that wasn't the point of the movie. And the male nudity was totally unnecessary. There's really not too much to say...it was funny, that's about it.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall - 4/5