Show notes, 2013 so far

These are the notes I recorded on my phone during the shows. In some cases, I added my tweets from that night.

The usual caveats apply: I am not a music critic, I don't pretend to be. I likes what I like. These are my opinions only, worth what you paid. If you are a thin-skinned band member, you should think twice before proceeding. You have been warned.
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1/25/13 trees
Home by Hovercraft. Absolute genius. Short set. It's so amazing, how happy of a place they take me to. So thankful

Low dark hills. Good, mellow shit. But boring, in the end. Wall of sound, but audience lost. Medium tempo strumming, never rock out

The orange. Kinda heavy rock. Audience lost, totally. Who the fuck booked this show???

Chambers, from Denton. Baruch the scribe as lead, plus violin. Dug it

Air Review.  Beautiful stuff. Two covers, tho, ugh. Third cover as encore, wtf? Had to look up lyrics on his phone, funny

2/8 trees
Glossary, from Nashville. High energy, but super-ordinary rock, lead with cabby hat, chick w tambourine

Quiet company. GodDAM! Love Quiet Company - so great, such energy. Been a fan since 2007. Still blow me away, every time. Touching tribute to his wife, dancing in front of her. Red trombone. Quit their full time jobs. Re-recorded shine honesty.

Telegraph canyon. Shrooms in the desert story. Lotsa oldies. Awesome set, as always

3/2 dada
Bethan. Violin. Strong voice. good

Gotta call it like I see it - not diggin Datahowler at all, don't get how it fits with HxH & Bethan. Not just me, either, crowd uninterested

Just when I thot Home by Hovercraft couldn't be any better - violin!!

3/7 Granada
No "special guest" opener, as advertised. Liars
Nicole Atkins opened at 8:15. Solo w hollow body electric. Fine, but boring

Eels. Meh. Too many new ones

3/8/13 35 Denton, Day 1
Sleep. Not my thing at all. Seemed like they played the same song for hour & a half.

Wrestling? wtf

Peopleodeon at the hive. Fucking awesome, cept we couldn't hear the vox. Is the sound guy deaf? Loved it, tho.

Mellow mushroom for king automatic. Started at 11. Blech, bluesy guitar rock

The hive, zorch. Way more electronic than I remembered.

Man Man. Longest sound check in history. Bad ass piano rock. Loved it.

3/8/13 35 Denton, Day 2
Rain delays.
The hive. Killer mike/ magic mike. Preachin Jesus & killing.

Sweetwater for hope trust.

Demigs. Then pageantry. Meh.

Back to dans for valleys

Akron/family. Uh, no. Crowd totally disengaged

3/28 prophet bar
Reinventing Jude. 3 guitars, violin, sax, drums. No one here. Funky, jazzy, poppy. Good

Paco Estrada. Oh no

Sorne. Second time to see. Some awesome, crazy-ass shit.

4/15 trees
Wintersleep. Good shit, Scott joined em for a song

Frightened rabbit. Orgasmic. No Nitrous Gas, tho :(

5/2 prophet bar
Old warhorse. Chris welch from pine box serenade. Yucky rootsy bluesy rock

Spooky Easy. Didn't really enjoy it as much as I'd hoped

Hacienda. Bass, keys, drums. Didn't dig it, left early

5/10 Granada
Goodnight Ned. Freakin awesome. 2 guitars, violin, keys, bass, drums. Multiple harmonies, gut-busting music. Fantastic.

Telegraph Canyon. Beautiful.

Sons of Fathers. Incredible set. Spine-tingling harmonies. And damn, can that dude rock the upright bass. Amazing

6/1 trees
Home x Hovercraft. Sound mix bad at first. Can't really hear cello.

Quiet Company. Awesome energy, as usual.

The Features, from Nashville. Awesome. Very catchy songs, slight country touch, very heartfelt. Loved it

6/8 dada
Birds of night. Denton. Don't like lead's voice. Dirty gritty rock.

Goodnight Ned. Good stuff.

Pretty sure every band here tonight has prepared for this show by not showering for several days.

Room sounds. Blech. Ordinary. Buncha longhairs, every song sounds like a pseudo-rootsy version of 'hey jealousy'.

Bravo Max! Now we're talkin', much better, not rootsy at all, great catchy songs. Dug it

6/16 dada
Listened to Radiolab on kera on way down. Fascinating.

Dada, big crowd already, daylight, very young.

Dark Rooms. Daniel hart. Violin. Tracking shit. Lotsa Falsetto. Can't hear backing vox. Standup drummer - Lisa Bonet? Ok, but wouldn't see again.

Savoir Adore. Lotsa electronic recorded shit, too much for my taste. Good, for that kinda thing.

No AC. Ridiculous.

Sea Wolf. Speaker problems 2 songs in, sound man on chair, tryin to fix things. First 2 songs kinda boring. Never got better. Vox never rose above the music.

6/26 dada
What the HELL is going on with the whole college-girls-wearing-poochy-grandma-jeans/shorts thing? It's wrong, just wrong.

The Chloes. All girls. Sleestak lead. Lotsa covers. Bubble machine. Awful.

Shannon & the clams. Ick. Complete copy of 60s rock, no unique take on it. Hated it. Josh & Jessica loved it. So curious - why are most of the folks into them under 5.5', (both male and female)? Sociologists, discuss

Mikal Cronin. Meh, not my thing

7/12 Granada 
Dark rooms. First 2 songs kicked ass, downhill all the way after that. Audience bored to tears. Needs to learn how to pace. Too much recorded shit for my taste. Couldn't hear Lisa bonet's backup vox (again).

Seryn. Glorious. Harmonies a bit repetitive, same intervals over & over, but still good.

Alpha rev. Great, but closed w Hallelujah cover. Lead w Travis-like mullet.

7/20 Granada
Nervous Curtains. Goddam, they never fail to blow me away. Loved the new stuff, loved how they made the "old" stuff fresh. Cool visuals, too

Blackstone rangers. Gal in shiny stretchy pants, dude a win-butler-wannabe in art smock. Not bad

Octopus project. Damn - an amazing melange of electronica, kick-ass guitar, and theremin. Always an incredible show.

8/7 prophet bar
Dovetail. All wearing stupid-ass hats. Long stringy hair. Backup singer axl rose wannabe. Harmonies horrible at times, painful. Pontificating about the future of our children. "It'll get u down!!" Awful rendition of I shall be released, led by key player. Horrible. Way more Americana than I remembered.

Luna arcade. Lead not playing anything, never a good sign, stupid headband. "Caught in a cross. fire. The flames of my de. sire". Awful 80s rock. Horrible.

Ours. Overly earnest. Everyone in black. Dear gawd, he takes himself so seriously. Muse-like. 10-minute stop-down for falsetto bullshit.

8/24 dada GOBL showcase
Empty at first.

Supposed to be Venetian sailors, but only one guy on acoustic showed. Lotsa covers. Boring

Family piano. Trey from Sorta, 2 keys, upright bass, no guitar, gal backup singer.  Piano pop. Very ordinary. Whistling.

John singer sgt. Shawn & Seth singing every song. Trombone. Not great. Most song intros: "Here's another song originally sung by someone else famous who isn't here (Will Johnson, Rhett miller), etc"