Flight of The Conchords
The Heath at The McKittrick Hotel
June 1st

THEY BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Well, the never really went away – juss got all big and Hollywooded, but no matter how many riches and fames they’ve accumulated, they will always be good ole Bret and Jemaine, or good ole Jemaine and Bret (depending on how you like to order your favorite Kiwis) of Flight of the Conchords  

After a 3 year break from touring, the boys are about to embark on a big tour, and so they needed to fine tune their roadshow before showing the road, and set up a 5 night residency at the Heath.  For some reason I skipped out on their last tour, so it has been 7 years since I last saw them live, but now I got to see them in a venue that only served 200, and all 200 of us were well served

https://www.instagram.com/p/BGIri_2G3z2/

Sure, B & J sounded a little raw and undisciplined – starting and stopping and restarting tunes new and old, constantly being out of rhythm with one another, but luckily these two can fill dead air and stage hiccups with endless witty stage banter, like Jemaine asking the audience if they actually paid money to see this show [we all happily did].  But none of us cared how unvarnished the presentation was – cause we were all there to laugh with them, and at them (no one does self-deprecating humor like them), and so we did

They tried out 5 to 6 new/newish songs (see setlist below), and while these newbies don’t seem destined top anything they’ve created before, they were good enuff for everyone to sit thru AND thoroughly enjoy.  Most times you don’t want to hear any band play any new stuff, but most bands aren’t this one and that’s both a good thing AND a bad thing.  And the old stuff?  Still AWESOME, after all these years!  Even a song like ‘Bowie’, which was a once a creative lark, is now a song of soulful passion – a valentine to a man they and we love(d), who once fell to earth, but is now back in the stars, forever orbiting in greatness

Maybe one day someone will write a song about how great the Flight of the Conchords are.  That would be some mighty meta stuff there – meta world peace yo!

Setlist – Chips and Dips^ / The Seagull^ / Foux du Fafa / F**k on the Ceiling^ / The Ballad of Stana^ / Father and Son^ / Think About It / Business Time / Bowie / Shady Rachel^

Encore – The Most Beautiful Girl (in the Room)

^ not sure of the actual song title – as the songs were new or never released

https://www.instagram.com/p/BGIsEcuG30l/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BGIs-qzhf-_/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BGI2qVYwPD5/

Elton John’s 1975 Dodger Stadium Concerts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei36oTFke78

setlist for October 25th, 1975 and October 26th 

Pearl Jam
Madison Square Garden
May 2nd

https://www.instagram.com/p/BE7i-7_G315/

It’s never too late to right wrongs.  Never have regrets in life, and if you do, fix them, if they are fixable.

Pearl Jam’s Ten owned the ears of high schoolers everywhere from 1991 onwards.  When grunge was grunge, these guys were like the fringe of grunge – rocking rock that had an edge (but not droning like Soundgarden and Alice In Chains’ music did), and this rock was rock built for the ages.  I LIVED for Ten.  We all did.  It’s not only the perfect debut album, but a perfect album – up their in my mind with the likes of Paul Simon’s Graceland, Pink Floyd’s The Wall, Beasties Boys’ Paul’s Boutique, most albums by The Beatles, and so on and so forth and so onforth

At the height of their and my hysteria, I somehow neglected to see them in concert, which is odd, considering how I saw a LOT of shows as a teen, including the original Smashing Pumpkins line-up, Nine Inch Nails, Fugazi, Alice In Chains, the Beasties Boys 128238823 times, Ice-T, Public Enemy, Urge Overkill, The Soup Dragons, etc.  (My lucky brother saw Pearl Jam open for the Red Hot Chili Peppers AND Smashing Pumpkins in New Orleans, in 1991.  Red Hots are another band I meant to see, and still never have)

Time passed, and then Pearl Jam released their 2nd album – Vs – and while a lovely effort, it was no perfect Ten.  More like a 6?  Probably a 7.  But time has been good to it.  It’s probably an 8 now.  But back then?  A 6.  I was so pissed it wasn’t Ten-2 that by the time their 3rd album dropped – Vitalogy (still a terrible name) – I was done – and for me – Pearl Jam was over.  And while I was done with Pearl Jam, Pearl Jam wasn’t done at all – they were just getting going – releasing 7 albums in my absence, and keeping on keeping on rocking in the free world

Eons passed, beards grew, and then I saw that they were coming to MSG this year, and was like, you know what – I’ve never heard ‘Even Flow’, ‘Jeremy’ or ‘Alive’ (my holy Pearl Jam trinity) played live – not a once, and how could I let this wrong continue to be wrong?  Boom – done – wrong to be righted.  And spank the lord I did, for in 3 hours time, my face melted (like the Nazi in Raiders) with endless and effortless and awesomebest rock n roll, and I couldn’t have asked for a better first Pearl Jam show (OK, I was a little/lot pissed when they played Ten in its entirety two shows before the one I would attend)  

Look at that setlist below!!!  They played THREE songs with ‘man’ in the title, IN A ROW!!  They played BOTH songs from the Singles soundtrack, BACK 2 BACK!!!  They did a cover of Cheap Trick’s ‘Surrender’, WITH 2 DUDES FROM CHEAP TRICK!!  They did a Police cover WITH STING – AND IT DIDN’T PUT ME TO SLEEP (cause Sting is boring).  And after studying setlist after setlist from their 2016 tour, I nailed it when I said they’d do a cover of the Who’s ‘Baba O’Riley’ (which I’ve always wanted to hear them play ever since they played it on MTV in 1992).  The two dudes who came with me to the show (one being Shreddy FCUKING Mercury!!!) each had one request each, and Pearl Jam played both (‘State of Love and Trust’ AND ‘Yellow Ledbetter’).  And they played my holy trinity of ‘Even Flow’, ‘Jeremy’ and ‘Alive’.  Think I enjoyed that?????  See video above!!!!!!!!!

Moral of the story – Pearl Jam never stopped rocking / I was an idiot for years / you CAN go back again / the mid 90s will never die / I will see Pearl Jam ANYTIME they come back to NY / Sting is still boring, but less so when Pearl Jam is his backing band

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Setlist – Corduroy / Mind Your Manners / Once / Animal / Given to Fly / Surrender (Cheap Trick coverwith Rick Nielsen & Tom Petersson) [watch] / Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town / Nothingman / Leatherman / Better Man / Garden / Even Flow / Sirens / Deep / Jeremy / Leash / Do the Evolution

Encore - You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away (Beatles cover) / All or None / Pendulum / Present Tense / Breath / State of Love and Trust / Porch

Encore 2 - Last Kiss (Wayne Cochran cover) / Driven to Tears (Police cover with Sting) [watch] / Lightning Bolt / Sonic Reducer (Dead Boys cover) / Alive / Baba O’Riley (Who cover) / Yellow Ledbetter / The Star-Spangled Banner (John Stafford Smith cover)

I’m ashamed to admit it – but last night was the first time I had ever seen Purple Rain

https://www.instagram.com/p/BEsBq1qm33w/

and to my surprise – it was an incredible movie!!!

here’s why…

(and we don’t even need to list the music as a reason)

Apollonia’s treasure chest and ASSets

although she does look a bit like Tim Curry as Dr Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show

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the way Morris Day moves, and his eyes pop

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that motorcycle is mad RAD!!!

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and the movie has a sorta Batman feel to it!!

there’s a dark city, lots of smoke, good guys, bad guys and some of them wear capes!
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The MUSTaches

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a woman gets tossed in a dumpster!!

which ends up being the least harshest thing that happens to a woman in this movie

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the editing is amazing – and the cinematography too – and the make-up also also!!

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the guy who played the bouncer was also Prince’s real-life bodyguard!

Charles ‘Big Chick’ Huntsberry

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this guy and his nods of approval

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Prince being Prince

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thank you Prince

Peace The Forks Out
Goodnight Sweet

Prince

nothing compares 2 u, cause u got the look, u sexy MF.  u made us party like it was 1999, told us to go crazy, get all delirious, live up the pop life, do the batdance - all the sign o the times.  i would die 4 u, or give you diamonds and pearls or a little red corvette.  how about 7 raspberry berets? we’d kiss you if we could, but we longer can.  the cream off the peach is gone.  you were the most beautiful girl man in the world, even on alphabet street.  the thieves in the temple took your life, but we’ll have your music from our generation, to the new power generation, and for every generation 9ever.  this is what it sounds like when doves cry, and when humans do too :(

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perviously – when I saw him in 2004