NYE with Shelia E & Sergio Mendes

When: Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Where: Walt Disney Concert Hall
Accompanied by: KJ
Genre: Brazilian Bosa Nova, Jazz & Funk

Set List: unknown

New Years Eve plans are generally spent low key and at home. But this year, KJ decided that this show was something he wanted to do. And while this isn't necessarily my particular musical choice, I knew that I would enjoy it all the same. 

To be honest, the fact that Sheila E. was opening the show was what had me sold on looking forward to this show. I can only hope that when I'm 56 years old, I look that good. We've seen her perform a handful of times over the years, and she never ceases to amaze me. And she makes it look so easy.

As for Sergio Mendes. I can't tell you much. I recognized one song that was from the 80s and was super cheesy then. And is still super cheesy now. Overall, it was a fun show, and I'm glad that we were able to end the year doing something that we both could enjoy.

Camp Freddy Night #2

When: Friday, December 20, 2013

Where: The Roxy, Hollywood
Accompanied by: Gabrielle, John, Nicole, and Kathryn
Genre: Rock N Roll

Line Up: Billy Morrison, Matt Sorum, Donovan Leitch, Chris Chaney

Guests: Franky Perez, Gilby Clarke, Mark McGrath, Austin Winkler, Billy Ray Cyrus, Courtney Love, Billy Idol

Set List:

I'm reviewing this set list and hate to say that I don't remember a lot of it. I blame the awesomely hawt bartender lady who was pouring my vodka & red bull cocktails that night. Along with a little shared audience "puff, puff, give" and I have to admit I was not all right in the head. But hell, it's Camp Freddy after all, and the goal of these shows is to have a damn good time.  And that is exactly what we did!!

I'd love to be able to share memories of this evening, but it's all a blur. I do recall when seeing Billy Ray Cyrus on the stage, I questioned the sanity of Navarro and company, but hey, it's their party, they can do whatever the hell they want.  While I'm not a big Courtney Love fan, I have to say that seeing her perform Celebrity Skin was pretty fantastic. I know for a fact that I swooned a bit when Franky Perez took the stage. I just love his voice.  Can't say a damn thing about Austin Winkler because I didn't know who he was but I'm sure he was great. And of course Billy Idol taking the stage is still a huge thrill.

Considering I wasn't planning on Camping at all this year, I'm really glad that it worked out where I was able to catch at least one night.  Dinner, cocktails and rock N roll with the Baklayan duo was a treat. And getting to see Knox, Nic, Debbie & Company made the evening complete.  Long live Camp Freddy's annual residency at The Roxy. Let's see what sort of surprises they will have in store at the end of 2014...and from my lips to Navarro's ears, "please don't bring back Billy Ray."

Camp Freddy Night #2 - 12/20/13 (c) TaiDyed

91X Wrex The Halls 2013

When: Sunday, December 8, 2013
Where: Valley View Casino Center, San Diego, 91X Wrex The Halls
Accompanied by: Sarah, Maria, Steve & Katz
Genre: Mix of Alternative

Line Up: J. Roddy Walston & The Business, The Silent Comedy, Alt-J, Arctic Monkeys, Cage the Elephant, Vampire Weekend, Queens Of The Stone Age

Absolutely worth making the long ass drive out to San Diego for a 2nd night of Queens of the Stone Age.  Sure it meant having to sit through Vampire Weekend again, but whatever. These are sometimes the things that need to be done to fulfill the desires of the heart and soul. 

Arctic Monkeys were just as good as they were the night before at KROQ's AAX, as were Cage the Elephant.  The Silent Comedy are a band that my friend Steve absolutely loves and I have to admit, they have a really good sound. I'd totally go see them again and since they are local boys, chances are good that will happen.  Tolerating Vampire Weekend before Queens took the stage was a whole lot easier than having to endure them following QOTSA as was the case the night before. Seeing Queens headline this show was the highlight of my night. And coming home with a new hoodie was icing on the cake. Hot damn, I love this band. 

Not much else to say other than it was a good night. The drive home was brutal, but I managed to pull it off and still make it to work the next day. Such is the life of a rock star. 

102.2 x 2 = Totally Worth It

Set Lists:

J. Roddy Walston & The Business: not a clue. We were shopping for merch during this time.

The Silent Comedy: unable to locate a set list

Alt-J: Ripe & Ruin, Fitzpleasure, Matilda, Something Good, Tessellate, Taro, Breezeblocks

Arctic Monkeys: Do I Wanna Know?, Brianstorm, Dancing Shoes, Snap Out of It, Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?, I Bet You Look Good Dancing on the Dancefloor, Crying Lightening, One for the Road, Arabella, R U Mine?

Cage the Elephant: Spiderhead, In One Ear, It's Just Forever, Aberdeen, Take It or Leave It, Back Against the Wall, Teeth, Ain't No Rest for the Wicked, Come a Little Closer, Shake Me Down, Sabertooth Tiger

Vampire Weekend: Diane Young, White Sky, Unbelievers, Holiday, Step, Cousins, A-Punk, Ya Hey, Campus, Oxford Comma, Giving Up the Gun, Walcott

Queens Of The Stone Age: Feel Good Hit of the Summer, No One Knows, My God is the Sun, Smooth Sailing, If I Had a Tail, Sick Sick Sick, Little Sister, Make It Wit Chu, I Sat By the Ocean, Go With the Flow, A Song for the Dead

KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas Night #1

When: Saturday, December 7, 2013
Where: The Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles
Accompanied by: Tiffany
Genre: KROQ's hodge podge of alternative


Line Up: Foals, New Politics, GroupLove, Cage the Elephant, Arctic Monkeys, AFI, Queens of the Stone Age, Vampire Weekend, Kings of Leon


Big thanks to The World Famous KROQ for yet another free gig!!  Tiffany and I promised each other that we would both do whatever we could to win tickets for this event, because truth be told, there was no way in hell we could afford this show.  For weeks upon weeks, we messaged back and forth as to when it was time to call in to win tickets.  We were down to the final week, and KROQ was generously giving away tickets for BOTH nights to caller 20 every hour on the hour. 

The rock gods were smiling on us when I miraculously got through with the cell phone (which very rarely occurs) and heard those very important words "...have you won anything in the past 30 days...?"  Nope. Sure hadn't. At least not in the last 30 days. And that is all that mattered!!

Let's be honest...the ONE reason Tiffany and I wanted to go to this show on this night was for one reason. Queens of the mother effin' Stone Age. Don't get me wrong, the other bands were good. But I'd gladly have given them all up (except maybe Arctic Monkeys & AFI) for more time spent with our beautiful 6'5" ginger.  Regardless, the night was an absolute blast, the music was awesome (minus Vampire Weekend, yawn), the company was fabulous, the seats were magnificent, and to have this all for free made it pretty much perfect.

Set Lists:

Foals: My Number, Providence, Spanish Sahara, Red Socks, Pugie, Inhaler

New Politics: Give Me Hope, Fall Into These Arms, Just Like Me, Tonight You're Perfect, Harlem, Yeah Yeah Yeah

GroupLove: I'm With You, Itchin' On a Photograph, Shark Attack, Tongue Tied, Ways to Go, Colours

Cage The Elephant: Spiderhead, In One Ear, Back Against the Wall, Take It or Leave It, Ain't No Rest for the Weekend, Come A Little Closer, Teeth, Shake Me Down

Arctic Monkeys: Do I Wanna Know?, Brianstorm, Dancing Shoes, Snap Out of It, Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?, I Bet You Look Good On the Dancefloor, One for the Road, Arabella, R U Mine?

AFI: The Leaving Song Part II, 17 Crimes, Love Like Winter, Silver and Cold, The Days of the Phoenix, I Hope You Suffer, Girl's Not Grey, Miss Murder

Queens of the Stone Age: Feel Good Hit of the Summer, No One Knows, My God Is The Sun, Little Sister, I Sat By the Ocean, Go With the Flow, A Song for the Dead

Vampire Weekend: Diane Young, White Sky, Unvbelievers, Holiday, Step, Cousins, A-Punk, Ya Hey, Campus, Oxford Coma, Giving up the Gun, Walcott

Kings of Leon: Black Thumnail, Radioactive, The Bucket, Notion, Supersoaker, Closer, Temple, For Kicks, Wait for Me, Use Somebody, Sex on Fire

KROQ AAX #1 12/7/13

Pearl Jam Night #1

When: Saturday, November 23, 2013
Where: Los Angeles Sports Arena, Los Angeles
Accompanied by: Lisa, Dion, & Tiffany
Genre: Rock/Alternative

Set List: Pendulum, Release, Long Road, Corduroy, Lightening Bolt, Mind Your Manners, Why Go, Dissident, Getaway, Got Some, Garden, Do The Evolution, I Got Id, Sirens, State of Love and Trust, Jeremy, Leatherman, Eruption, Spin the Black Circle, Rearviewmirror, Yellow Moon, Footsteps, All or None, Come Back, I Believe in Miracles, Given to Fly, Once, Porch, Unthought Known, Black, Alive, Baba O'Riley, Indifference

The LA Sports Arena opened in 1959 and I don't think they've done much to upgrade it over the years, so why PJ chose this venue over Staples is beyond me. I'm guessing it had to do with timing of the tour and the Lakers and/or Clippers schedule, but regardless, they were here in LA and I wasn't going to miss an opportunity to catch at least one of their two nights.  Granted, I ended up with a stage left seat, ALL the way at the top, smack dab against the wall, but even with being so far away, I had no doubt that it was going to be an amazing night.

The evening started off with a somewhat ruffled Eddie.  It appeared that a fan down in the GA floor area was trying to get to the front by any means necessary and Eddie knows all too well that the fans at the rail had been lined up from before the crack of dawn. The culprit was called out and told to watch the show from somewhere else. Thanks, Ed. You're aces!!

Photo by Brian Michaels

Beyond that, the show went on with a 30+ song set list. Just when some people thought it was over, BAM, another song. No complaints here. Since I was only able to catch one of the two nights in LA, I have been happy with a dozen encores, but thrilled to get what I got. And what I got was a lot. A lot of love, happiness, and warm fuzzies. And while I may have been a million miles away from the stage, the music embraced me as if I was right there at the rail. That's what good music does. For that, I am thankful.

And yes, Eddie swung from the stage. 

Photo by Brian Michaels

NIN @ Staples Center

Sympathy Set List

When: Friday, November 8, 2013
Where: Staples Center, Los Angeles
Accompanied By: Anthony, Daylin, Will & Judith
Genre: Industrial Rock & Deliciousness

Where do I begin? What words could possibly describe this evenings events? Brilliant. Fantastic. Amazing. and as I stated before when describing the 9/3/13 show, life changing. If I thought I wouldn't end up being served divorce papers, I'd be on my way to Vegas later this week for more. But the reality is, I'm not sure I'll ever be able to top my first and only three NIN experiences. But I certainly would like to try. And I will. Again. Someday. Just not this week.

Thank you KROQ!!

To back it up a bit...I was lucky enough to win tickets to this show many months back, courtesy of KROQ. It wasn't until a few weeks ago, when the tickets were made available for pick up that I discovered they were GA floor tickets. I had assumed they would be seats, and I was prepared to saunter into the show shortly before starting time to get comfortable. But with GA floor, I thought, why not take advantage and get there early to be up close and personal. However, I discovered that those fans who had purchased tickets through the NIN presale would be allowed a priority line up, and that cancelled out my great plan. And then BAM, I was presented an opportunity. And everything was right as rain, thanks to my friend, Anthony. 

# 5, #6, #7, #8 & #9

So, Friday morning arrived and Anthony made his way to Staples early enough to claim spot #6. Being the nice guy that he is, he told me that it would be okay if I met up with him later that morning, which allowed me to sleep in a little and miss morning traffic. I got to Staples around 10:30 and prepared for the "hurry up and wait" routine. Over the course of the next few hours, I met Daylin #5 (New York), Will #8 (Toronto) & Judith #9 (UK).  As you can see, we were very excited about our wristbands.  One, because we had single digit numbers and two, because now it meant we could run over to The Yardhouse for cocktails and food.  It was on and we were good to go! 

I've never experienced a more organized event. The wrist bands actually meant something. By 5:45pm, everyone was lined up in order, according to number. We were escorted down to the floor area and instructed to slowly and safely make our way to the front. There was no running, bum rushing, pushing, shoving, etc. Center right rail was ours and we were happy. And then it was back to more waiting. And watching the droves of people fill the venue.  Highlight of the waiting game was Josh Eustis walking past us and obliging us with smiles and waves.

Explosions in the Sky opened with a 30-45 minute set. it wasn't bad. It just wasn't good. Completely instrumental, which is fine and well, but there wasn't any semblance of when one song ended and one began. Either way, I was happy when they exited the stage and would be happy to never see them open for anyone again. That's all I've got to say about that.

And then it was time. As the crowd surged forward, I knew it was going to be a wild ride and holding on tight was all I could do. Any space that existed from body to body to body became no longer, and the story that we were fed at Bridge School a few weekends back came to mind about rocks and pebbles and sand.  But there was something comforting with having that sacred rail to hold on to and that all those hours of waiting had paid off.

The next 2+ hours was hot, sweaty and magnificent. I can't say there was one particular favorite moment...however, having hundreds of people pushing forward while screaming the lyrics to Wish is definitely something I will never forget.  Every now and again, Anthony would ask if I was okay. I just looked up (way up, dude is 6'5"), smiled and nodded. I was beyond okay. I was in heaven. Although, when all was said and done I felt like I should be lighting a cigarette and getting the name of the guy behind me.

It turned out, the evening was set up to be filmed so hopefully somewhere down the line I'll be able to view this entire show over and over again from the comfort of my couch.

Random photos of filming (c) TaiDyed

As the encore approached, something happened that pretty much made this experience come full circle. From the hours upon hours of waiting in line, to securing a spot on the rail, and being in the pit of a Nine Inch Fucking Nails concert, the night became complete with a random foot hitting me squarely across my face and nose. Yup, not necessarily my idea of a good ending, but at the same time, once my eyes finished tearing up, I found the irony and humor. And the best part about this accidental randomness was that the head security guy, after making sure I wasn't hurt, came up to me later and placed a folded up set list into my hand. Which then made the tears start all over again, but in a good way.

So there we have it. My first and only three experiences with NIN. Two Vegas shows are right around the corner and I've tried to figure out a way to make it happen, knowing that it's absolutely impossible. But as is with any addiction, I'm obsessed with wanting more...

Robin Finck - Trent Reznor

NIN @ Staples 11/8/13

Tension 2013

NIN Treasures 2013

NIN @ Jimmy Kimmel Live

When: Thursday, November 7, 2013
Venue: Jimmy Kimmel, Hollywood CA
Accompanied by: Cassandra
Genre: Industrial Rock

Set List: Various Methods of Escape, All Time Low, Sanctified, Came Back Haunted, Hand That Feeds

Thanks to a very special NIN-obsessed friend, I was given a heads up about the announcement of their television debut on the Jimmy Kimmel show. Now, as is with all Kimmel shows, the tickets are free, but you have to request them through 1Iota. Easy enough, but realistically, knowing this show was going to "sell out" fast, I had to get on it quick. The downside is that I was in a car on I5 making my way back home from the Bay Area after a weekend of Bridge School Benefit (yeah, I know, #firstworldproblems, right?). Luck was on my side and two priority tickets were reserved in my name. Yeah!! Life is good.

Tai & Cass

So happy to have been able to share this event with my sweet friend, Cassandra. I've known her since she was 17 and now she is 22 (which makes me....never mind). One of the last times we hung out was for a Kimmel show to see Taylor Hawkins & The Coattail Riders, which seems like forever ago. It was a last minute "are you available" conversation, but it worked out just perfectly. 

Despite us being within the first 20 people in line (originally, we were much closer, but that's how it goes sometimes), getting to the rail was a bit of a clusterfuck. In the end it all worked out. Cass & I made it left rail, in front of Josh, which was a lovely place to be. A few other friends made it front center rail, which was all sorts of awesome, but when it became clear that we would be too many people back, we opted for the side. I honestly could not complain. I was happy.

NIN @ Kimmel
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nineinchnails/10809866155/

NIN on Kimmel 11/7/13 (c) TaiDyed

Was it worth standing around for nearly 7 hours to hear five songs? Absofreakinlutely. This was the appetizer before the Staples main course and I sure as fuck did not want to miss it. After having seen this band for the first time back in September at The (mother effin') Troubadour, the idea of being anywhere other than rail for future shows will forever haunt me.