Live Review: Them Crooked Vultures

Them Crooked Vultures
Fox Theater
Oakland, CA
11.19.09



"So fuckin' good they almost killed me"

"They killed it bro"

You hear these Spicolli-inflected pieces of musical zen when people talk about a recent concert they caught. Clearly still in their post show glow, these phrases cut to the heart of why many music fans attend live concerts: Go to a show, get your mind blown.

The crowd that packed the Fox Theater in Oakland to see Them Crooked Vultures Thursday night were most likely blabbing the same thing to friends and coworkers the next morning.

When drummer Dave Grohl, vocals/guitar Josh Homme, guitar/keyboards Alain Johannes and bassist John Paul Jones hit the stage and started tearing into songs off their new eponymous album, it was clear the band came to blow the roof off the joint.

Songs like "Elephant", "Mind Eraser No Chaser" and "Dead End Friends" exploded waves of heavy riffage on the crowd. Grohl and JPJ were the perfect rhythm section storm, with Grohl doing his best to destroy his drum kit before the shows end.

Take equal parts Nirvana, Led Zeppelin and Queens of the Stone Age and serve with amps on 11. This, was rock'n roll bliss.

We could try and describe what this lil' aural slice of heaven sounded like, but you are better off watching this.


Let me tell you how good this band is: During the song "Interlude with Ludes", I couldn't help but notice how psychedelic the lights had become, and how heady the music was making me feel. I started to feel like I was tripping.

My first thought: I've been dosed.

Looking at my brother-in-law standing next to me, who had ordered the same beer at the bar as I had seemed fine. Then I almost passed out and hit the floor.

I had dehyrdrated/overheated. Concert tip #7: Always take your heavy coat off at a show kiddies.

After grabbing some water, I enjoyed the remainder of the show, including the jam on "Spinning In Daffodils", before heading home with a big shit eating grin on my face.

The Vultures had almost killed me.

Sonic Youth Announce Tour Dates

Tour dates in support of Sonic Youth's upcoming album The Eternal have been announced. This will be the band's first album released through Matador Records

The tour gets underway June 28 in Chicago, and will wind through the Midwest and South before heading to the West Coast, where the band will finish up the 21-city trek Aug. 2 in Oakland, CA.

June 2009

28 - Chicago, IL - Vic Theater
29 - Royal Oak, MI - Royal Oak Music Theatre

July 2009
2 - Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory
3 - New York, NY - United Palace Theatre
6 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
8 - Richmond, VA - The National
10 - Knoxville, TN - Bijou Theater
11 - Nashville, TN - War Memorial
12 - Birmingham, AL - Sloss Furnaces
13 - Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse
15 - Dallas, TX - House of Blues
16 - Tulsa, OK - Cain's Ballroom
18 - Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theater
20 - Milwaukee, WI - Turner Hall
21 - Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
23 - Boise, ID - Knitting Factory
25 - Seattle, WA - Capitol Hill Block Party
28 - Portland, OR - Roseland Ballroom
30 - Salt Lake City, UT - Twilight Music Fest
31 - Denver, CO - Ogden Theater

August 2009
2 - Oakland, CA - Fox Theater

Live Review: Oasis / Ryan Adams and the Cardinals

Oasis with Ryan Adams & the Cardinals and Matt Costa
Oracle Arena, Oakland CA
12.03.08


Show # 2 on a month- long rock 'n roll live show extravaganza saw us head north to Oakland's Oracle Arena to catch up with the Gallagher bros in Oasis and watch a rocking opening set by Ryan Adams and the Cardinals.

This is going to show my age, but remember when big arena shows were these crazed, just-one-step-away from sheer anarchy affairs? Beer and drugs flew through the air like a WWII firefight and bodies tumbled over the barricades like the incoming tide of a hurricane, and the last thing you wanted to be caught doing was actually sitting in your assigned seats?

Yeah, those days are gone.

The sight of people carrying buckets of popcorn and a tall soda as they searched for their floor seats and tried to text their new bff on Facebook are the norm these days and the gestapo security of Oracle arena ensured a safe PG-13 time in what should have been an R-rated environment.

But enough about that, lets talk about some fucking music.


Normally a band that plays theaters and large clubs, Ryan Adams & the Cardinals adjusted their song selection to provide an uptempo and rocking opening set to fill the cavernous arena. The tom-heavy percussion of opening song "Cobwebs" off this year's Cardinology created an urgency as the band - Neal Casal, Brad Pemberton, Jon Graboff, Chris Feinstein and Ryan Adams launched into a set that sampled their extensive catalog.

Highlights included a driving rendition of "Let it Ride" off 2005s Cold Roses, "Come Pick Me Up" from 2000s Heartbreaker, and "Sink Ships" off Cardinology. After slowing down briefly with "Two" off last year's Easy Tiger album, the band let out one last blast of rock with "Magick" and then exited the stage.

All in all, you couldn't have asked for a better set by an opening band. I look forward to the band returning to the Bay Area for their own headlining show in 2009.

Ryan Adams and the Cardinals Setlist:
Cobwebs
Crossed Out Name
Everybody Knows
When the Stars Go Blue
Fix It
Let it Ride
Go Easy
Sink Ships
Come Pick Me Up
I Taught Myself How to Grow Old
Two
Magick

Promptly at 9PM, the house lights dimmed and the familiar cacaphony of "Fuckin' in the Bushes" exploded from the arena PA as the huge video screens and stage lights went crazy and synched with the song's backbeat, prepping the crowd for the band's entrance. Vocalist Liam Gallagher strutted non-chalantly to the front of the stage and greeted the crowd with his patented Mancunian attitude as the rest of the band took their positions with their instruments.

Everywhere else in the world, Oasis are huge, drawing fans by the tens of thousands to their sold out gigs. Stateside, they draw a lot less, but the 6,000 strong fans cheered loudly as the band revved up with opener "Rock 'n Roll Star" and launched into a two hour show that pulled from their back catalog and showcased tunes off this years big-beat psychedelic album Dig Out Your Soul.

"Lyla" off 2006s Don't Believe the Truth and new song "Shock of the Lightning" lubricated the crowd nicely before sending them over the edge with the classic "Cigarettes & Alcohol". Oasis did a great job all night of balancing classics with newer, more unfamiliar material off Dig Out Your Soul. New drummer Chris Sharrock more than filled the vacancy left by Zak Starkey, pummeling his kit with reckless abandon on songs like "Meaning of Soul" and the new, Middle Eastern-tinged song "To Be Where There's Life".

Highlights included the stomping march of the new, Noel Gallagher-sung "Waiting for the Rapture", a roaring, riff heavy "Morning Glory" and the Brit Pop psychedelia of "Slide Away" which caused one fan to pass out and Noel to reply "Did someone get overwhelmed? I'm sorry about that. Buy a t-shirt on the way out, please".

The encore ended the show on a high note: a touching, acoustic rendition of "Don't Look Back in Anger", the pharmacological haze of new song "Falling Down" and the bliss of the crowd-sung "Champagne Supernova" set up the show closing "I Am the Walrus" complete with the crowd coo-coo-a chooing as Liam spat out the verses and the band paid tribute to their idols in the Beatles.

Oasis setlist:
Rock 'N Roll Star
Lyla
Shock of the Lightning
Cigarettes & Alcohol
The Meaning of Soul
To Be Where There's Life
Waiting for the Rapture
The Masterplan
Songbird
Slide Away
Morning Glory
Ain't Got Nothing
The Importance of Being Idle
I'm Outta Time
Wonderwall
Supersonic

-encore-
Don't Look Back in Anger
Falling Down
Champagne Supernova
I Am The Walrus

Photos used without permission and found here at Rollingstone.com and Anirudh Koul's flickr page under the Creative Commons license.