A week or so of live music.

It's been a while, but since completing my already inaccurate album lists I have not been so sure what to do.

I saw a bunch of great shows though, starting with last Saturday which I guess was June 29.  That day it was the 4 Knots music festival.  I did not get there when it began and I did not pay attention to all the artists like the seemingly abrasive Marnie Stern and someone else whose name I cannot recall.  I wanted to sit down at that point.

Parquet Courts, photo by Liam Carroll

I got there just in time for Parquet Courts, who I had been most excited to see since hearing their great track "Stones and Starving."  I was not yet familiar with the entirety of their debut Light Up Gold as I was unable to find a copy until after their set, but the album is both a stoner and New York City classic.  A rare combo, but this was the band destined to make it.  The live set lived up to that.  It started off a bit slow and I was even getting worried they would not live up to that aforementioned song, but in their brief set they quickly turned it around.  They concluded with "Stoned and Starving" which extended to about ten minutes with some awesome noise and some great vocalization from A. Savage.  If you're not hip to this band yet, changed that around, they're something special, both live and on the record and they have a great dynamic.  I was particularly fascinated with their drummer, but they do have one hell of a frontman too, and as you can tell a Thurston Moore type on the other guitar - always a good thing.

Next, the Men played.  That was okay.  I can't say I get the big deal (if there even is one and my favorite aspects of their set were the fact that they described themselves as "pigfuck" on the program and they ended with a cover of  "I Wanna Be your Dog," which was helped by guests on vocals and sax.  As the name implies, it was a bit macho and they had no songs.  At their best I just kept thinking "Parquet Courts did this kind of thing much better."  Afterwards I voiced this and my friends all agreed.

Kurt Vile and the Violators, photo by Tommy Holden

I skipped the next band whose name I still forget, then Kurt Vile began.  He looked great and most of his band looked similar.  I had been wanting to see him since just barely missing him at Big Sur just before he blew up (too early in the morning) and he and his band lived up to just about any expectations you could have.  He rocked out, he droned, made noise, and let his band take a break to play acoustic on his own.  It was all there and of course his band was extremely talented.  I have to admit I am a bit behind on his material, but of what I know he covered a lot of his different sounds from his whole career and it all sounded great to me and the rest of the audience.  It was perfect music for the sun's descent on the New York Harbor, I just wish I had more energy for it because it was pretty powerful.  Vile really knows how to keep a crowd going and his vision and professionalism is unquestionable.  It was a shaking set and I could not have asked for more from the artists.

Then we moved on to Bowery Electric to see Diamond Doves.  Several bands were playing that night, but we only saw two.  First there was No Sky God which was unbelievable (not in a good way.)  The first thing I noticed was that the bass player had 5-strings.  That's one of the worst signs there is.  Also he looked scared.  The frontman looked like Chuckie Finster if All Growed Up was a horror show - so you can imagine the hair... and the glasses... and the mustache...  Their lead guitarist was your typical arrogant lead guitarist that thinks its all about him and he was sort of right as he was the best to listen to, though he had no dynamic... not like that it would have made it better.  The drummer, who apparently was new was wearing a baseball cap that matched his shirt.  He also had a tie and a crash with holes in it.  They had a song called "Homophobia."  If you want to be confused look them up.

Diamond Doves was great though, maybe the best set I saw that day.  They may or not have been missing a member, either way it was one less than usual, but whether or not he is still in the band is unclear.  That gap was filled mostly through heightened integration of electronics coming from both a laptop and their phenomenal drummer's rig.  In fact, if you haven't heard of Nick Kinsey before you should keep your eyes and ears open because he may be the greatest drummer I have ever seen.  This show was also extra special as the long-reclusive Elvis Perkins made his low-profile return with his former bandmates and made this an excellent show that points to some great things int he future for both artists.

The Feelies.  Photo by Alec Signorino.

 Then it was Thursday, July 4.  After a lovely day of swimming in Hoboken and getting on of the best views I could imagine of the Hudson River fireworks we headed to Maxwell's for the first of the three consecutive Feelies shows - their last (supposedly, probably) at the legendary venue.  This, of course, was unbelievable.  There was no opening band, and the quintet opted to do two sets.  They played material from all over their career, including much more from Crazy Rhythms than the first time I saw them.  From that album, you had the title track, "Raisred Eyebrows," "Everybody's Got Something to Hide (Except for Me And My Monkey)," "Moscow Nights," and in one of four encores, "Fa Cé La."  As always, the band looked col and was on fire, especially their rhythm section.  Unfortunately, it was hard to see Dave Weckermen, but he was working as hard as the great Stanley Demeski and as obvious as it is I should mention how amazing "Too Far Gone Was."  They had their guests too with John Baumgartner lending accordion to one track and Glenn Morrow from the Individuals joining them ont eh first encore of cover tunes like "I'm A Believer," and "Real Cool Time" (I think.)  The encores were mostly covers and in addition to the more obvious ones like those mentioned before and"Paint It Black," and they surprised us with "See No Evil" and R.E.M.'s "Shaking Through."  The Feelies continue to be one of the best live bands around and gave their home bas just what it deserved.  They also give us fans what we deserve, materialistically with one of the most impressive merch tables I have ever seen.  You can probably get some lovely items as Feelies coffee mugs and pint glasses somewhere online and should!

The Feelies with the drummer of Gentle Giant.  Photo by Liam Carrol.

Then I went to my final show at Maxwell's just last night, surpassing any live music expectation I had in this life and seeing the Flamin' Groovies.  Unfortunately though, there was an opening band this time.  They were called Daddy Longlegs and they are on Norton records (whose founders were there.) So you can imagine exactly what they are like.  They had good energy but no bass and I had heard it all before.  Their maraca player/drummer was the oldest one and the guitarist looked like Scott Baio as Johnny Thunders.  The singer/harmonica player looked like Ginger Baker.  He could play, I mean they all could, but bands that think that rock died before their parents got pubes aren't really cool.  Show us something new!  It just goes to show that there are two kinds of Groovies fans:  Those who love them because they're from the past and those who love them because they're from the future.  Even when they were brand new in 1967 you could love them because they were like Chuck Berry and Bo Didley or you could love them because they're like Big Star and Television.  Being firmly in the latter I just wanted these clowns off the stage no matter how good they were at playing "good, real" rock and roll and I was ready to get back to my Vampire Weekend and Caravan records.

Flamin' Groovies.  Photo by Liam Carroll

Then the future boys came onstage and all was saved.  While Cyril Jordan may have looked creepy at first in his wig and pedophile glasses he quickly proved himself to still be the koolest guy around and he, Chris Wilson, and a now very Miyagi-looking George Alexander kicked as much ass as possible.  No matter how great of a show they play and even considering that there are only two guitars and no Roy Loney you will always need more Groovies at the end.  So with that said I will admit I really wish they played "Yes It's True" and "Tell Me Again," and a few more covers, especially, "Please Please Me," which had been in my head all day.  They did do some Chuck and "Feel A Whole Lot Better," which was stunning and was the best I could have hoped for with the Byrds sadly gone, and I did not even think this would be possible.  Plus, they did do "Please Please Girl," so what can you demand?  Another early/mid show highlight was "You Tore Me Down" which was a big dream for me along with the maybe even better "I Can't Hide."  Jordan is great onstage and tells all kinds of great stories behind the songs and the other memories around them such as on "First Plane Home" and "Slow Death" and "Shake Some Action" - two of the last, and obviously best songs of their set.  After all the encores the Feelies had done I was hoping for a lot more, but we just got one single-song encore.  It was the best we could have hoped, and then some, especially as Loney-era songs were nowhere to be found (other than Slow Death") when they kicked into "Teenage Head."

Thank God this happened.