The Austin Texas born indie band – Spoon - has been exclusively touring all year after the release of their new album, “Transference” in January 2010. They actually had two shows in Toronto in the last 4 months; headlining in March and then opening for the Flaming Lips with Tokyo Police Club in July. I missed both of the Toronto shows due not only to conflicting schedules, but also the price of the ticket wasn’t something that I was going to pay to see the band. (touring with Flaming Lips is expensive) So Spoon was on my list to check out here at Lolla.
Luckily one other person in the group I was with was interested in seeing the band (thank you Jon!!) When their hit song, “Underdog” broke the silence of the park, we both ran to the stage to watch.
Spoon is not the band who wows crowds with their live presence on stage, despite over a decade of experience. Don’t get me wrong, they sounded great on the stage - but it didn’t exactly blow my mind. But their performance was definitely fun to watch. They started with “Underdog”, they played a number of their hit songs - including my favorites “I turn my camera on”, “Don’t you Evah” and “Don’t make me a Target”.
After their current U.S tour, they will head to Europe (wow, lots of artists are heading to Europe in September eh? Jealous!)
I found a video of the Lollapalooza’s show on YouTube.
Lollapalooza review No. 9 is.... da la da la da la (drum rolls are important!) - Minus the Bear!!!
Not only do they have such a wicked name - confession: my name is Kanae, and I am a bearholic - but also their performance on the stage was excellent! The Seattle indie band hit the stage on Sunday between 3p.m and 4p.m. It was very humid and everyone was sweaty. It was a very hard day to start after two days of continuous partying. It was about the time for me to realize that I am not 20 years old anymore - having a good night sleep does so much for me at the age of 25!
The heat/lack of sleep wasn’t even the difficult part of Sunday. Scheduling which bands to see on Sunday was the hardest of the 3 days – there were just too many good bands playing at the same time. Thus, some people are jumping from one stage to another; only checking out a few songs from each band - which I ended up doing too.
I only knew a few songs by the band; so I wasn't sure how much I would like it. I definitely like the songs that I know – they are catchy and on constant repeat in my head. I just wasn't sure how well they would translate live. Regardless of my pessimisms; the band gave my attitude an extreme makeover! They were so much fun to watch! They played not only from the newest album; OMNI, but also from their old albums. That's what I like about music festivals – bands play their most familiar songs from their catalogue.
This band is no.9 as they made Lollapalooza day 3 very easy to start for me and it was the very first time when 6 of us stayed watching the same band lol. I missed their show here in Toronto last month; I’m glad I saw them here! Now they are heading to Europe for some gigs. So if you are in Europe, check them out! It's worth it!
So let's get started with the Top 10 performance reviews of the Lollapalooza! The number 10 is (da la la la la,, (drum rolls..).... the Walkmen!
I have missed a couple of their last few shows here in Toronto - so I was pretty excited to see them, but I wasn't sure if my schedule will match with everyone else I was with. It was my biggest concern of this trip. Somehow it worked out very well!
My favorite solo artist/producer - Butch Walker - even said in his blog that; "The Walkmen are one of the most underrated indie bands out there." Despite the fact that not too many people know about this band, the last couple of shows in Toronto were sold out. I still think that Toronto is one of the best places to check out indie music. We have great taste in music :)
I expected the stage to be fairly empty. To my surprise, the stage was PACKED. They played on Friday between 1p.m to 2p.m. It is fairly early for lots of people to get started. On the same day, there were Lady Gaga and the Strokes on schedule from 8;30p.m... but then I realized that most of the people around the stage were to see Lady Gaga. Seriously guys. Seriously? I heard from our tax driver that some people had been lining up for Lady Gaga from 9 in the morning - the doors open from 11a.m.... and she starts at 8p.m! Seriously guys – seriously!?
Being surrounded by so many people made it hard to pay attention to the stage and I was very far from it, too. However, the tune from the stage made me very happy as I was finally able to "see" (I should say "listen to") the band. They sounded very solid and clear! I just loved how good the leader singer sounded. His voice is something very distinctive. It would have been nicer to see them closer and with more sophisticated crowd - so that is why the band is NO. 10!
Fortunately, The Walkman is coming back to Toronto on October 9th at the Phoenix. I am definitely going to check them out! You can check their show schedule from their My Space site (click here)
Here is my favorite song by the band, "We've been had"
Enjoy and stay tuned with the rest of the ranking!
