Final Twilight

You can't spell summer without TwiCon!

For the past two months my senses have been overloaded as I attended all but one of the Twilight Concert Series shows. (I missed Big Boi and Chromeo for a family vacation) I was smothered by the crowds at Modest Mouse. (Worst crowds of any show I have ever been to) I moshed with the herds at Girl Talk. (Also receiving my first real second-hand marijuana high) I was wowed by Beirut and uber-wowed by the New Pornogrpahers. Sharon Jones melted my face. I discovered some great new bands. (Memory Tapes, The Dodos, and Jamie Lidell) TwiCon has become my favorite part of summer and 2010 surpassed 2009. I can't wait until next year! Here are some pics from the final show: She & Him.

The Dum Dum Girls, who opened the show. Their look freaked me out but they actually impressed me. I'm easily impressed, but still, a good show in my book.

Here is our little group. The odds were in mine and Ben's favor. And not in favor.

Kasie and Nicole with Nicole's friends. I don't remember your names, but if you ever stumble across this blog and read this post, you are great. The End.

Kasie, Ben, Nicole, and random dude get their mischievous face on.

Gwen did not want her picture taken and decided the best defense was, of course, karate.

But she lightened up once I got in the shot.

She & Him came out and played their music, which is all light, fluffy, similar songs. Simultaneously boring and good.

Most everyone was there to get a good look at Zooey Deschanel, movie star of Elf, 500 Days of Summer, and Yes Man fame. She did not disappoint in the music department. Or in the looks department.

Although I was happy to see Zooey (the She), I was even more happy to see M.Ward (the Him). He takes a backseat during most of their songs, but on a few occasions he took center stage and shredded. My overall feeling about the concert was a desire for a lot for Him and a little less She.

Life Changing New Porn.

...ographers. Haha. Sorry I had to go there. Just for the record, this post is in no way about about porn. It's all about these guys:

The New Pornographers (there name is a reference to when rock and roll music was dubbed "the new pornography" by some crusty square) I was just trying to be funny and use whatever means I could think of to get someone to actually read this. Anyway, moving on...

My friends and I made the trek back to Salt Lake for week 4 of the Twilight Concert Series. We've made it somewhat of a tradition to stop at Wendy's before the show. Emily and Kasie were super excited about their kid's meal toys.

We had a few minutes to kill, so I gave Spencer his own personal concert of our favorite Chuck Berry song.

Here is a pic of the stage at Pioneer Park.

The opening band, The Dodos. They were quite impressive.

My sister Shalane and my cousin Cristy joined us at the show this week. Yay! (You can tell who got the attractive genes in our family. Not me.) They elected to stay in their blanket spot while me and my friends went up closer for the main event. They thought it would give them a better chance of getting hit on.

The girls and I pose in our sweet spot. Spencer was supposed to be in this picture...

...and he was a little sad about not making it in the shot.

More gratuitous shots of ourselves...

I'm trying to show off my New Pornographers shirt here but didn't get the right angle going. Spencer is obviously the more accomplished shirt model.

And here is the band we have all been waiting for...

Notice the guy with the dark, bushy hair with his back facing the audience? That's Dan Bejar, one of the (four) lead singers in New Pornographers. He finally came on stage during the band's second song and went back stage during half the songs only to return with a full cup of beer. If he was onstage and not singing, he spent the entire time doing exactly what he is above, not looking at us.

Neko Case and Carl Newman, two more of the band's singers.

I'm pretty much in love with Neko Case. (mostly for her voice) I told her I loved her about a million times during the show. (Mostly in my head)

I had to take a picture of the guy playing the cello in background because he made a lot of weird faces while he was playing. Unfortunately, I took a picture of him during the one moment he wasn't making a weird face.

Here is Kathyrn Calder, the fourth singer in the band. What a revelation she was.

She even played the accordion!

Now that you've made it to the end of the post, you are probably wondering, was it any good. I say unto you, YES! I've been waiting to see these guys live for years and they lived up to the hype, surpassed the hype, and ran back to the hype and punched it in the face like Ronnie did in season one of Jersey Shore. They played 24 songs, each one full of energy. The talents of each member of this super-group gelled together perfectly giving the audience a euphoric trip into musical ecstasy. This will easily rank among the top 10 concerts I have ever attended. Good porn indeed. :)

The Day Has Finally Arrived

The New Pornographers have been one of my favorite bands for years and it has long been my dream to see them perform live. Tonight that dream becomes a reality

TwiCon Preview Pt.2

Another great band playing in Utah for free...

TwiCon Preview Pt.1

Summer in the great state of Utah can only mean one thing: the Twilight Concert Series will soon be upon us. The bands are announced, the venue is set, and the countdown has begun. (27 days) I've been checking out a few of the opening bands that I was not familiar with and there are definitely some gems in store. Chief among them is Chromeo, appearing Aug. 19 with Big Boi.

What's Better Than Free?

Ohhh, summer. How I love it. Without the stresses of classes and homework I have been able to spend my time doing the things I do best. Taking naps, playing XBox, ultimate Frisbee, watching PTI and a string of VH1 reality shows, and going to concerts. A lot of concerts. I listened to the classic sounds of the Eagles at the beautiful Rio Tinto Stadium. I endured the darkened confines of the Urban Lounge in the name of The Helio Sequence. I even partied with thousands of teenage girls at the Pussycat Dolls/Britney Spears concerts at ESA. (If you have a problem with this I have three things to say to you: My little sister invited me, I had a great time, and deal with it.) To top all this off, in a week I will be in Chicago for the massive music, beer, and sweat-fest known as Lollapalooza. Aside from being totally awesome and sardine-esque, these concerts had one thing in common: Expensive.

Being a concert junkie and living in a town without concerts can be a pricey habit. Between gas, food, merchandise, and tickets (blast you, service fees!) it is pretty easy to spend between $30 to $100 for a show. That's of you don't care where you sit. (Grand total on the Rihanna concert expenditure of last summer was around $400. Worth it.) Luckily this summer has blessed me with the discovery of the free concert. The Twilight Concert Series (TwiCon, anyone?) at the Gallivan Center has been a revelation. With bands like Bon Iver, Jenny Lewis, Black Keys, and the incomparable M.Ward, the music has been top-notch and the crowds are energetic and entertaining. The outdoor venue provides a great setting as the sun goes down and with the shows wrapping up around ten, it is easy to get back to Logan Land at a decent hour. I've loved it so much I am considering driving to Vermont and performing a commitment ceremony to it. That was a weird thing to say.

Continuing on with my free concert high, my bro Marcus and I drove out to Park City on Tuesday for the MLS All-Star Jam featuring Soulive. Our main purpose was supporting Mar's brother, whose band, Shaky Trade, who opened the festivities. Shaky did great (I will blog about them some other time. I have seen them multiple times and they can really wail.) and after they finished, Mar and I debated on whether we should stay for this unknown (to us) band or get back home. To make a long story short, we stayed and were rewarded ten-fold. Soulive is a jazz/funk trio consisting of a drummer, guitarist, and organist. With very few vocals, the three combined to create a beat that seemed to far exceed the abilities of only three people. The highlight of the night came when a power surge cut power to half the lighting and part of the organ. Instead of waiting around for a fix, the three quickly went into improv mode and continued to tickle our collective jazz bone. To make things even sweeter after the show we joined Shaky Trade backstage for a little meet and greet with the band. I even talked to the organist. It went down like this:

Me: Hey, great show.

Mr. Evans: Thanks, man.

I wish I could have held on to that moment a little bit longer. First of all, if your jazz bone needs tickling, I highly recommend a little Soulive. Second, free concerts are wonderful. Third, have I learned my lesson and stopped spending so much money on concerts? Absolutely not. As I write this, I simultaneously have a few hundred dollars invested in Lolla, Killers, and Elton John/Billy Joel tickets. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I think it all evens out somehow. But free is definitely more fun.

Here is a short clip of Soulive to give you an idea of what I got to see: