So it’s the first week of October and we all know what that means brown leaves, candy corn until your stomach hurts and amazing concerts!
Last March I had the great misfortune of missing one of my favorite bands, The Smith Westerns, play a sold out show at The Great Scott. But alas I’ve been gifted a second chance by the music gods (or my bosses who booked the show). What perfect timing too because these Chicago rockers always remind me of the glorious shift from summer into fall, probably as a result of their Dye It Blonde album cover.
After doing the festival rounds this summer The Smith Westerns are heading on over to BU Central Saturday October 22nd at 9 pm. So here’s a little preview of the sounds that will be shaking the GSU basement:
One of the best things about living in a major city? Easy access to concerts! I spent much of my freshman year getting acquainted with Boston’s numerous venues , and I intend to keep that up this year. My schedule may now be a bit more rigorous, but y’all can bet on me getting to as many shows as I have time for.
Here’s three dates I’m looking forward to most this fall!
NEON INDIAN - I had the good fortune to catch the Texan foursome at a festival last year and experienced one of my most intimate connections with music. The indie electronic band just released their second album, featuring the extremely danceable single “Polish Girl.” They’ll be playing Brighton Music Hall on 10/20 with tickets only $16 if ya pick em up at the venue (or even at Paradise Rock Club, which is essentially a part of BU’s West Campus). Event info can be found here.
THE NAKED AND FAMOUS - These New Zealanders burst onto the hipster scene last year with their unique brand of indie rock. I was a bit late to the party with them, and it wasn’t until early August that I finally gave their debut a listen. I became instantly obsessed and it didn’t take long for them to totally dominate my Last.fm account. The group plays Paradise Rock Club, my personal favorite venue, on 10/25 and tickets run for $20 if you pick em up there. Event info can be found here
M83 - This French electronic band has been spewing out quality dream pop for over a decade now, and I am beyond stoked to see them hit up Boston in support of their recently released sixth album. I completely lose myself in their music, and that is essentially guaranteed when I’ll be swaying with the crowd at the House of Blues on 11/20 (the event was recently moved from Paradise Rock Club due to consumer demand). Tickets are only $18 if pick em up at HOB! Event info can be found here.
37. The atomic number of rubidium. The number of plays William Shakespeare has written. Probably the amount of times I’ve eaten Chipotle in the past few months. But also, the number of concerts I have attended so far in 2010.
This doesn’t include festivals, because that would just get ridiculous, but it’s a pretty big number. Live music is something of a hobby for me, in case you couldn’t tell. There is just something amazing about being in the same room with an artist you admire. But when you see as many shows as I do, you have to keep a list of the best ones, the performances that went so far beyond your expectations that you leave the venue speechless.
Last year, a group of my friends and I decided to make a list of our top ten albums of 2009. The list also included 5 “discovery” albums, albums not released in 2009 that we found ourselves listening to over and over again, and also our top 5 shows of the year. That list probably took me longer to write than the final paper I was working on at the time.
So for this year, I’ve already started keeping track, and last weekend, I saw the fourth addition to my top 5 shows list.
Gayngs is a 23-person band made of of members of Bon Iver, Megafaun, Solid Gold, Andrew Bird’s band, and P.O.S. of Rhymesayers. The touring band is a little smaller, made up of about 9-10 people, depending on the location of the show. As a pretty huge Bon Iver/Justin Vernon fan, I immediately bought tickets to their show at the Paradise the day they went on sale.
The show was phenomenal, to say the very least. I somehow ended up in the front row, three feet directly in front of Justin Vernon. Seriously, I wanted to cry. There are very few words that properly describe this experience, so check out this video and these tracks.
