Saturday, January 12, 2008

1/11/08 - Chemistry Set, Calhoun (Club Dada)

rare outing for me on a friday (due to familial obligations, ya see). but i couldnt miss chemistry set's last show. no fuckin way. goddam crazy ass music bidness - calhoun and chem set swapped sets. chem set goin on second instead of first. !!!
oh shit i'm fucked. gonna get home at 230 now. fuck. this will not go over well.

new record: 6 and 1/2 rum and cokes without christening the bathroom
mighty impressive, i know. thankyou, thankyou.

told amanda WAAAAAY more than she wanted to know. 6.5 rum and cokes'll do that to ya.

thanks josh for introducin me to malibu and coke. jeesus that was good...

pretty damn good crowd there for the shew. my crew included tk, knuckles, batman, the piledriver, joe the boy toy, dan from work.
hey, they left early ('cept tk, my DD), but you know - not everyone's as indie music cool as i am.

saw Ghost of BL, debbie, solis, fred, bill , jason there. wish i'd said hi, but i'm a fuckwit, what can i say. did talk to dave of the felons - great guy, forgot what we talked about. and hey, dude, quit fuckin smokin - dont ruin that phenomenal voice of yours.

look at me with all those fuckin links. sheeee-ut

Calhoun was great as usual. see my other posts below for my gushing reviews - i'm too tired.

chemistry set was, of course, fantastic (again, see below for all of my previous reports). of all the fuckin bands to be breakin up/moving, it has to be my fuckn favorite. goddamit. you have no idea how much i'll miss them. well, shit - at least they went out with an incredible last show. played all the ones i wanted to hear: the usual set, plus house of OK, a day like this, into the light, and many many more. it was a magical set. my usual complaint, tho - why dont bands finish with some original material, especially when its so goddam strong?? sure, play a cover or two, but how can you think a beatles cover is better to finish with than 'into the light'?? i dont get it. anyways, talked to stephen afterwards and made him promise to keep making music, because he has a fuckin gift. he said somethin about having half an album already recorded, so thank gawd for that. cannot wait. hope to gawd they come back to town sometime.

sorry this is shite. the glorious complexities of post-modern life are distracting me at the moment. guess i need another rum and coke, eh?

goodbye

6 comments:

Anonymous said...
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Batman said...

Hey man, thanks for the recommendation on Calhoun. I loved them. I think I was too tired for the Chemistry Set. They put me right to sleep. They didn't approach the energy of Calhoun.

Anonymous said...

Must agree with batman. Liked Calhoun a lot; I want to check out their cd. Chemistry Set, not so much. - PD

Hello said...

Chem set went out in style with a great set and a great audience. It was awkward being sober, but not so awkward on the drive home...

Boy Toy said...

I'd have to mostly agree. Here's my take:

The first band we viewed tonight was Calhoun. it's hard to explain these guys: Indie Rock (the new term for alternative rock) with a little bit of pop and alt-country (huh?) thrown in. But in a weird way it works. They opened with your usual run-of-the-mill upbeat song. Things cranked up later on with "These are the Dead Days", their best song, IMO. I love the falsetto-sung lyrics "I'm all Right" in the middle of the song—catchy!! The quality of their material was extremely high and I'd say they were one of the better bands I've seen for quite a while. That was a very satisfying set to kick off the night.

The night closed with the incredible Chemistry Set. But I must say that I'm referring to their studio material, their 2 CDs titled "Chemistry Set" and "Blue Monsters". The production is impeccable, the performances are tight and clean and remind you of a little Pink Floyd, Beatles, Radiohead and retro post-punk. What more can you ask for? Duncan is a friggin' amazing talent, who sings, plays geeetar and writes all the songs. I'd have to say that their live show is quite different: they don't capture all the studio nuances live, but the strength of the superior songwriting carries them through quite well. I saw them at Hailey's back in September and the sound was so bad I couldn't tell if it was them or a group of imposters. I believe tonight was the real deal since it was their last show ever!! Here is the approximate set list:



A Day Like This
Abigail
Beautiful Tragedy
House of OK
Gypsies and Vagabonds
The Boy the Story Wrote
New Hope PA
World in Reverse
(new song, unknown title)
Pilot, Kiss my Karma
T-rex
Who Don't You
Heartbreak Hotel (not the elvis song)
Two Stars
Lee Minor 7
Permanent Guest
Into the Light
(unknown cover)
(simon and garfunkel cover)
Happiness is a Warm gun (Beatles cover)
(unknown cover)



What a set! They picked nearly every song from my "wish list"; New Hope PA & Beautiful Tragedy (2 of their very best), Into the Light, Permanent Guest, etc. I was a little disappointed in the plethora of cover songs to close the set. Why the heck did they do that when they have plenty of other top-notch original material? (She's the Alpha? Ring of a Bell?) Oh well. Now it's 1:30am and it's time for beddy-by. I really wish them well. Word is that the band has already stashed about a ½ albums worth of new material. Does that mean there is still hope they could release a new CD and tour again? One can only hope. Stay tuned!!

myspace.com/joecarl2

Anonymous said...

chemistry set sucked. thank god they broke up, so i wouldn't get drug out to see them again. ha, ha. calhoun was okay. boy toy, it's not a term paper. it's a comments section.