Brand New – Music Hall of Williamsburg – 7/11/09

I haven’t always been the most proud to say that Brand New is my favorite band of all time because, quite honestly, I didn’t feel like they deserved it. I started listening to the band in 2001, in the middle of seventh grade,  after a suggestion from my neighbor and then-best friend. He sent me “70×7″ and “Mix Tape” and proceeded to change the course of my entire life. Up until that point music had just been a commodity of sorts to me, something to put on in the car to avoid conversations with the parents and to make long drives go that much quicker. What I listened to was prepackaged and sold to me on top 40 stations, and I was okay with that because I didn’t think there was any alternative. But there was. There always was, I just didn’t know about it. I didn’t know how to know about it. Until Brand New.

Andrew Bird – “Noble Beast”

Hi, blog. I’ve neglected you quite a bit over the past semester, not really giving a shit and just posting setlists of shows I’ve been to and radio playlists. Well, I swear I’m going to start treating you right again. That and I think my friends are getting less and less receptive to me shoving records down their throats.

Anyway, the new Andrew Bird record is great. Really great. I remember hearing it for the first time when it came out at the end of January and knowing it was the first “big deal” record of 2009 that I would throw on my top 10 list and see how many publications did the same. From the opening violin swells of “Oh No,” the album’s got a very ethereal sound, one that’s simultaneously calculated and carefree.

Andrew Bird’s always been the kind of thing I have to be in a specific mood for, but in the last few weeks I’ve found myself coming back to this record more and more. With an empty house and a warm summer breeze rolling through the windows, I’ll put on Noble Beast and watch it fill every corner of the room. It seems a grave disservice to listen to it any other way.

Setlist: Kevin Devine – 6/5/09 – Webster Underground

For either my 9th or 10th time seeing the guy, I can’t remember which, a solid setlist. I felt like there was more off of “Put Your Ghost to Rest” than usual, but after looking over it again, the last few albums were pretty well covered. “Carnival” live is still insane.

Also picked up the Brian Bonz full-length, get your hands on that if you can!

Yr Damned Old Dad

Cotton Crush

Carnival

Time to Burn (Another Bag of Bones)

No Time Flat

You’re Trailing Yourself

Go Haunt Someone Else

Hand of God

Me and My Friends

The Longer That I’m Out Here

Buried By the Buzz

I Could Be With Anyone

Keep Ringing Your Bell

The Burning City Smoke

Lord, I Know We Don’t Talk

You Are the Daybreak

Just Stay

Brother’s Blood

Setlist: The Decemberists – 4/28/09 – Yale University

Great show. I managed to run into and make an ass of myself in front of Colin Meloy roughly 5 minutes before their set. I expected them to play way more off of Hazards of Love, but whatever, I’m probably gonna catch that tour anyway.

They were also way more fun than I expected, with unexpected surprises raging from chicken fights during “The Perfect Crime #2″ to guitar duels during “The Chimbley Sweep.” Maybe it’s just because they hated the crowd, but whatever, I enjoyed it.

The Crane Wife 1&2

The Crane Wife 3

July, July!

Sleepless

Sixteen Military Wives

The Legionnaire’s Lament

Days of Elaine

The Perfect Crime #2

Billy Liar

The Sporting Life

The Engine Driver

The Rake’s Song

O, Valencia!

The Chimbley Sweep

Superconnected – 4/30/09

Manchester Orchestra – “In My Teeth”

The Decemberists – “Won’t Want for Love (Margaret in the Taiga)”

Kevin Devine – “Time to Burn (Another Bag of Bones)”

Archers of Loaf – “Web in Front”

Los Campesinos! – “Documented Minor Emotional Breakdown #1″

The Decemberists – “The Engine Driver”

Death Cab for Cutie – “Underwater”

Other Girls – “Hey Fella! You Fell”

Ice Palace – “Phonebook Pillow”

Little Brazil – “Wasting Time”

Radiohead – “Karma Police”

Cake – “Shadow Stabbing”

Vetiver – “Sister”

Brian Bonz – “Superconnected”

Superconnected – 4/23/09

Metric – “Help, I’m Alive”

Other Girls – “Hey Fella! You Fell”

Harlem Shakes – “Sunlight”

Ice Palace – “Devils Tower”

Old 97s – “Rollerskate Skinny”

Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band – “Who’s Asking”

Radiohead – “Paranoid Android”

Hammer No More the Fingers – “Automobiles”

The Sound of Animals Fighting – “Act II: All is Ash or the Light Shining Through It”

An Horse – “Horizons”

Sonic Youth – “Sacred Trixter”

Dr. Manhattan – “Big Chomper, Big Chomper”

Manchester Orchestra – “Pride”

Radiohead – “Subterranean Homesick Alien”

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – “The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth”

Cursive – “Caveman”

Little Brazil – “Wasting Time”

The Peekers – “Canoe Trip”

Vetiver – “More of This”

Mirah – “Gone Are the Days”

1090 Club – “ITSON”

Harlem Shakes – “Niagara Falls”

Ice Palace – “Thoughts/Facts”

The Decemberists – “The Island”

Superconnected – 4/16/09

Ice Palace – “Phonebook Pillow”

Cursive – “I Couldn’t Love You”

Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band – “Who’s Asking?”

Mirah – “Generosity”

Obits – “Two-Headed Coin”

Mastodon – “Divinations”

Silversun Pickups – “Panic Switch”

Say Hi – “Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh”

Iron & Wine – “Boy With a Coin”

Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s – “Quiet as a Mouse”

Black Lips – “Short Fuse”

Maritime – “Someone Has to Die”

mewithoutYou – “Tie Me Up! Untie Me!”

1090 Club – “Off My Mind”

Metric – “Gimme Sympathy”

Hammer No More the Fingers – “Shutterbug”

As Tall As Lions – “Ghost of York”

An Horse – “Camp Out”

Peter Bjorn & John – “Nothing to Worry About”

Eulogies – “Bad Connection”

The Get Up Kids – “Red Letter Day”

The Decemberists – “The Tain”

Vetiver – “Everyday”

The Appleseed Cast – “The Summer Before”

The Boy Least Likely To – “I Keep Myself to Myself”

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Down Boy”

Ice Palace – “Thoughts/Facts”

Setlist: Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s – 4/8/09 – Toad’s Place

Given the release of the new album, this was probably as flawless a set as I could have hoped for. Seeing them again on Saturday in DC.

At the Carnival

A Children’s Crusade on Acid

Dress Me Like a Clown

German Motor Car

Mariel’s Brazen Overture

O’ What a Nightmare!

Hello Vagina

Broadripple is Burning

Talking in Code

Vampires in Blue Dresses

Skeleton Key

My Baby (Shoots Her Mouth Off)

As Tall as Cliffs

Encore:

New Song

Quiet as a Mouse

Setlist: Manchester Orchestra – 4/3/09 – Quinnipiac University

This show was awesome. Thanks to everyone for coming out and to Cut Off Your Hands for coming to party after.

100 Dollars

In My Teeth

I’ve Got Friends

Now That You’re Home

My Friend Marcus

Pride

Not on the new album

Shake it Out

Mean Everything to Nothing

Where Have You Been

The Party’s Over (Willie Nelson cover)

Encore:

A cover of No Doubt’s “Don’t Speak”

DON’T FORGET!

Manchester Orchestra show is TONIGHT at 7PM! There are still tickets available at the door for $5! QU students, just show your Q Card!