Fantastic Shows in the Month of May

Coming off a great trip down to Coachella, the month of May looked to follow up nicely with some stellar shows.

I started off by seeing a musician named Royal Wood (yes that is his real name). I have been listening to his music for around 7 years now after a recommendation from a friend of mine. My buddy had gone to high school with Royal and now is his webmaster. Anyway this was the first time Royal made it out to the west coast so I was very excited. He played this tiny little restaurant out on Main called the Purple Crab, and put on a really fun show. While I would have loved to see him on piano instead of acoustic guitar, I will take what I can get!

The next day I went to see Murder by Death open for Reverend Horton Heat. It was a pretty pricey show for just wanting to see an opening band, but I wasn’t let down. Their music live has so much more power to it than on the album. I love how the cello can add such depth to a song, and it really rang through in their performance. I think the show could have been better with the vocals a bit higher, but overall I was still quite happy. We took off after about 7 songs into RHH set; he just didn’t do anything for me.

The next week I went to see Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. They played Richards on Richards. The Fratellis were suppose to open, then canceled. Then The Black Angels were suppose to open, then they canceled. So we got in the end a really long set by BRMC (close to 2 hours). It was really awesome seeing these guys play in such a small venue. They sound so good live as well. A highlight of the night was when some barfly started dancing on a speaker and not a 1 person (or band member) paid any attention to her. I hope her ego took a hit.

The following week I went to see Feist at the Orpheum. I must say this was probably the best show I have seen all year. Feist played for a good hour forty five, and put on such a well put together show. Not to mention she is really fun on stage, and just an overall cool performer. I loved the way she utilized her loops to create effects (like her whistles became birds chirping), and ripped it up on her guitar. It was such a fitting venue for her (the Orpheum is gorgeous and has such a fantastic sound) , and the crowd was completely into the show. At one point she got us all to hum a little verse, and it just resonated throughout the theater. Magical.

Finally last night I went to see The Arcade Fire at Deer Lake Park. This was my first every concert here. Parking was a bit of a nightmare, but we still got in in time to catch the end of the opening band, who were well suited for the job. The Arcade Fire put on a great show (I thought however they were more intense at Coachella), and the venue was really fantastic. It as also extremely easy for us to get right to the front of the stage without any hassle. So that was an added bonus. They have some really excellent visuals on stage for this tour, and I am curious as to how many hidden cameras they use. Anyway a fantastic night, and a great way to cap off my May concerts.