Concerts of 2007: What to see & what to avoid, tonight at 7!

And now, I present the concerts/artists I saw in 2007 (the headlining/main acts are in bold):


March 6th, Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland, OH: TV on the Radio, Subtle

March 19th, Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland, OH: of Montreal and Loney, Dear

March 21st, Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland, OH: Menomena, Field Music, Land of Talk

April 17th, Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland, OH: Yo La Tengo

April 20th, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA (free outdoor show): Spoon, Oakley Hall, Weird Paul

May 13th, Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland, OH: The Hold Steady, Heartless Bastards

May 14th, Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH: Animal Collective, Sir Richard Bishop, Ill-literacy

May 21st, The Grog Shop, Cleveland Heights, OH: !!! (chk chk chk), Holy Fuck

May 22nd, The Grog Shop, Cleveland Heights, OH: Tapes 'n Tapes, Ladyhawk, the Harlem Shakes

July 13th, Union Park, Chicago, IL: Pitchfork Music Festival- (shows I caught, Saturday): The Twilight Sad, Califone, Voxtrot, Grizzly Bear, Battles, Iron & Wine, Clipse, Girl Talk, some Yoko Ono-- (Sunday shows): Deerhunter, Menomena, Junior Boys, Jamie Lidell, Stephen Malkmus, of Montreal, New Pornographers, De La Soul

July 30th, Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland, OH: White Rabbits, Twilight

September 27th, The Rex Theatre, Pittsburgh, PA: The Mountain Goats, Bowerbirds

September 30th, Agora Theatre, Cleveland, OH: The Flaming Lips, Birds of Avalon

October 5th, Lifestyle Communities Pavilion, Columbus, OH: The Arcade Fire, LCD Soundsystem

October 8th, Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland, OH: Ted Leo & the Pharmacists, Man Man, Georgie James

November 1st, Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland, OH: Jens Lekman


Phew, now, some of my favorite acts of the bunch / acts you must see: Jens Lekman, Ted Leo, Man Man, LCD Soundsystem, Arcade Fire, The Flaming Lips, Grizzly Bear, Menomena, Clipse, Junior Boys, of Montreal, Girl Talk, Animal Collective, The Hold Steady, Spoon, Yo La Tengo, TV on the Radio

But, really, there weren't many weak acts out of the bunch. Field Music were a bit stoic, The Harlem Shakes brought their mother along like it was their first show (was it?), and Loney, Dear felt like a low-key Belle & Sebastian show if they weren't famous and didn't have any noticeably good hooks.

The WORST performance of 2007 has to go to Weird Paul whose best song of the night felt like a Kid Rock b-side. His worst song, well, maybe the one about being drunk at Chuck E Cheese. He might be coming near you soon if you live in Pittsburgh or Youngstown, avoid him at all costs: http://www.myspace.com/weirdpaul. Thankfully, the show was free, they played Brian Eno & David Byrne's My Life in the Bush of Ghosts on the speakers before Weird Paul and Oakley Hall, and Spoon was still fantastic. Otherwise, I might be angry.

I should make mention that I've seen local acts as usual, such as the Zou, who are always a fun show (give or take enthusiasm).

Although I did write many a good concert review, there are some that I shamefully neglected (along with writing about my trips to Colorado and Georgia). One of these I was discussing recently: Yo La Tengo. I nearly missed the show due to an honors ceremony at YSU and a speeding ticket, but while some acts (Animal Collective) may be pushing the limits of what you come to expect from a rock concert (like, leaving their guitars at home, the lights off and playing mostly new material that isn't even on Strawberry Jam), there are still some that kick your ass with a wall of sound. Yo La Tengo is this awesome show. I saw them after the shooting at Virginia Tech, and they covered "Love Power" from the Producers. Ira Kaplan included a rant about the shooting at the end; it was emotional and very charged. He often thrashes his guitar, rubbing it up against the amp, it's as if the shoegazers are getting more personal and incorporating vast doses of noise pop, punk rock and folk into their jukebox sound.

Moral of the story: don't overlook Yo La Tengo, one of the greatest rock bands playing today, when you're scrambling to see the newer, acclaimed live acts like Animal Collective, Arcade Fire, TV on the Radio, etc. Also, I'm sure you won't forget some of the other seasoned artists like the Flaming Lips. When you're handed laser pointers beforehand, then Wayne Coyne comes out on stage in a giant hamster ball/bubble, and rolls out into the crowd, you know you're in for a good show.

It's been a crazy year. C'mon 2008!