Still time! And we'll get to hear "Like I Used To" live.
Stoked for this. Seen Angel a bunch, but haven't seen SVE since seeing her as a "High Violet" support act, and haven't seen Julien at all.
My first thought is how shockingly unfunny this is, but Sufjan has repeatedly proven himself to be better than me in every way, so I'm probably the asshole here.
I don't believe anything this man says - a man who is well-known for saying dumb things, writing dumb lyrics, and giving dumb names to children. (I also love this dumb man, even though he is dumb.)
Whoa, I assumed it did well because that crappy BTS collab shot to #1 and stations are playing "Higher Power" more than they did the singles from the last few albums, but I just checked and it peaked at #4 in the U.S., which is LOW for a band of their size releasing a fully pop album.
Beaches really starting to step into psychedelia - these first two chapters are JOURNEY. In fact, I'm kinda hoping for a comedown moment in Chapter 3 after this bombastic first half. The light show for this tour is gonna be bonkers, isn't it?
I've given up on Primavera LA ever actually happening. If it does, 2022 is going to be a very fruitful music festival year in LA County after a two-year absence.
I know The Black Keys are an easy target who have really been coasting on this album's success since, but "El Camino" feels like the last straightforward mainstream rock record that not only made a huge splash, but was a pretty fun shut-off-your-brain listen! (though as someone said above, you could also argue for "AM" being the last) For what it's worth, I definitely prefer "Brothers" for being the sweet spot between their bluesy roots and their current radio-friendly sensibilities, but the singles on this one were still bangers. Were you even a hardware store if your ads didn't feature "Gold on the Ceiling"?
Same, I was fully sold on AFP after seeing them live. "Amok" was solid but felt like a Thom solo record, but it came to freaking life live. Hell, Flea looked way happier performing with Thom and Nigel than he did when I saw RHCP!
Saw this pop up on my Hulu homepage last night and raised an eyebrow. I didn't watch it (was more concerned with finishing The Great), but it was not framed as a news special. It had a giant logo and "Season 1 episode 1" labeled underneath, implying it was a Fyre docu-style miniseries someone was too eager to make. Since that is apparently not the case, this one's on the marketing team.
Obviously Tong is one of the best to ever do it, but I thought Louise did a fine job on that tour. Plus, Moakes and Tong were on "Four", which tried going back to the rawer sound after they went all dancey, and most of that album sounded like a fart.
Whoa, they remembered they have a guitarist.
(I haven't cared about this band's output since 2007 and you haven't either, but I also still play those first two albums on a regular basis.)
As someone who's been on board with this band all along, "7" was the sonic recharge they needed, and I hope this album continues being that adventurous. No disrespect to Depression Cherry/Lucky Stars, which are both good albums, but they also very much reinforced the "every Beach House album sounds the same" narrative.
There was a week in 2011 where I saw both The National and Fleet Foxes, and The National had a much more diverse crowd! Fleexes was all white, whereas The National was only like....95% white!
Saturdays=Youth was my introduction to M83, so I consider the "Before the Dawn>Saturdays>Hurry Up" run pretty perfect. As I said above, I'm a little biased when it comes to the frog song because watching that little girl sing and twirl in front of 17,000 people was ADORABLE, but I probably didn't care for it much beforehand. I do feel it's less jarring than say..."Past Life" on "Currents".
This is a strong candidate for my favorite album of the 2010's. It's such a whimsical odyssey, and just when it's about to overwhelm you, it hits you with a track like "Wait" or "Splendor". One of the most delightful concert experiences I've had was the M83 show with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, where they played the magic frog song and brought out the ACTUAL LITTLE GIRL FROM THE MAGIC FROG SONG to perform it and dance.
I was thinking along the lines of acts like One Republic, The Fray, and Train that filled that same space of piano pop alongside "Speed of Sound" and in the mid-2000's.
Yes, "My Universe" is terrible (not sure I'd call it worse than the Chainsmokers song, merely because it doesn't involve the Chainsmokers), but a part of me admires Coldplay's willingness to do whatever it takes to remain the center of pop and rock radio alike, while their 2000's contemporaries are now stuck doing amphitheater nostalgia tours. I said this album was either gonna be a pleasant surprise or a full-blown trainwreck, and it's sounding like the latter for sure, but it'll probably pay for enough mansions that the cycle can repeat and their following album can be a riskier, more subdued affair.
I was one of those insufferable "too cool for pop music" prudes who wouldn't let anyone know I was listening to anything that didn't have some ripping guitar. And then "Call Me Maybe" hit. At first, I feel it was a song people talked about ironically, making fun of its meme-able hook. It later became clear that the song was lightning in a bottle. For a number-one pop hit, it's surprisingly minimalist too.
Obviously, CRJ is a pretty different artist these days, and playing "Call Me Maybe" live feels more like an obligation than a showstopper. But would we have gotten "Emotion" and everything else since without this song? Probably not.
Phoebe is absolutely capable of lively showmanship - if you saw Better Oblivion Community Center live, where she was bouncing off drum sets and screaming in Conor's face, you know this too - but her solo material is largely campfire music. This is an observation, not a criticism. I saw her in a smaller setting on "Stranger in the Alps", and it worked there. But she blew up so quickly to festival headliner that she hasn't accumulated many explosive hits like "Kyoto" and "Motion Sickness" yet. Given time, it's safe to assume she'll have more, but I feel this is the price of her early success.
Was about to upvote this (because same for me) until the last sentence. The outdoor venue mask requirement is purely an LA County move. Not sure why we have that but no vaccine requirements for any establishments like other cities have, but none of it has to do with Fauci.
Someone in AF's marketing team is probably jealous and getting inspired by the Solar Power rollout. I'm already nostalgic for the Daddy's Home rollout!
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