Notes from a Padded Cell 1.28.08: 2007 In the Rear View Mirror Pt. 3 - Concerts

Posted by Jesse Coy on 01.28.2008

From the Police to Skinny Puppy, Type O Negative to Rush, the Beastie Boys to Megadeth, Peeping Tom to Cherry Poppin' Daddies... it's been a busy year for the music junkie.

Year in Review
Concerts of '07… What I Saw All in One


Here's my last column in review of '07, and I'll also be taking a month off… another trip, folks. If anyone's down in Central America, don't hesitate to look me up. I may be in El Salvador or I may be in Panama… Belize or Honduras… Costa Rica or Nicaragua. Well, I'll be visiting all six countries, actually. I've already been to Guatemala and Honduras, back in '98.

But this column is about music, and in particular, here's a run-down of the great range and amount of live shows I saw this year, which by the way, since I first started seeing live shows way back in '89… '07 takes the record for most amount of live shows I've seen in a single year, let alone the fact that I've never seen four music festivals in one year.


LIVE SHOWS ROLL CALL


1. Ludichrist and Scatterbrain… B.B. King's, New York City/ February 2007

What can I say except that this was an awesome show for those of us who remember these two acts, an ahead-of-its-time NYC hardcore band and a quirky metal funk band. I was quite surprised when I heard about the reunion show, where I got not just one band, but two defunct acts who I thought I'd never see live. Excellent fun!


2. Type O Negative… the Palladium, Worcester/ March 2007

I'd seen Type O once way back in the mid-90's. It'd been some time since I'd seen them, so this was a nice update. I wouldn't say I was blown away, but I was by no means disappointed. This was the first show I'd see in Massachusetts, by the way. It was a very green show, by the way.




3. Peeping Tom, Miho Hatori… Paradise Rock Club, Boston/ April 2007

Mike Patton's newest (or maybe he has a new one by now) musical entity, I'd totally missed hearing this album in 2006. When I heard they were coming around to perform live, the label was even kind enough to send me a promo copy of the release. Hands down, to me Mike is one of the most interesting, talented musicians out there. Whenever I hear he's releasing new material, it always gets top priority with me. Peeping Tom had a most interesting stage setup. I was not disappointed. With only one release, they played nearly all of the album, with a couple surprises thrown into the mix.




4. Chris Cornell… the Avalon, Boston/ April 2007

I nearly wanted to give this one a bad review, because his label, or the PR department there, were so smarmy. I guess it's an LA thing. I don't know. Part of me was happy when his solo release got less than glowing reviews. Despite that, I couldn't give the show a bad review. It was really good. As far as I'm concerned, despite being labeled Chris Cornell… I got a Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog, and Audioslave show all rolled into one. I'm a stickler for musicians who write all the words and music to tunes from other acts not only being allowed to perform them with whomever they want, but I also consider it just as good as seeing the "official" act live. Where else are you ever going to hear Audioslave songs live again, to say nothing for Temple of the Dog? Plus, I hadn't seen Soundgarden since Lollapalooza II. So this one was very good in my book.




5. Heaven and Hell… the Tsongas Center, Lowell/ May 2007

Never saw Ronnie Dio live, so this was a treat for me. Yes, I still have Ronnie on my list to see as a solo artist. Seeing him in Heaven and Hell was pretty damn cool, though. I have no standard of comparison of how he sounded live before, or of whether or not age is catching up to him. I will say that my original opinion holds with me based off this performance. Ronnie's not human. He is an alien… purely sonic in nature. The rest of the band was none too shabby, too. Tony and Geezer are formidable.




6. Skinny Puppy… the Avalon, Boston/ June 2007

You may not need more than a photo like the one below to get a handle on what I saw. While Ogre wasn't dressed in that get-up, he was dressed in something equally… challenging. It was an incredible show, and of the sixteen shows I saw, this may have been the best. Always wanted to see these guys, and never thought I would. I'd been unaware of them reforming (they'd reformed a few years back). I thought the stage show was great, and the music set a total mood.




7. Rush… Tweeter Center, Mansfield/ June 2007

I will admit to the fact that Rush is not a favorite band. I do have nearly all of their albums (all but the last two). Sometimes I get in the mood for them. I'd never seen them live, and I kind of felt that it was something I was obligated to do. True, they are tight and impressive. It was a quite good show. But now that I've seen them once, I'm pretty satisfied. It might be quite some time before I go out of my way to see them again (that's how I am with many bands).




8. Cherry Poppin' Daddies… Twin Rivers Casino, Lincoln/ June 2007

So this one took me by surprise. It was a free show at a casino in Rhode Island. The band focused mostly on their swing material. They sounded great, and it looked like they were having quite a good time. This was as surreal as it can get, the band playing in the middle of the casino, in a bar or club area just below floor level. It marks number one of four free shows I'd see.


9. New York Dolls… Coney Island, New York City/ July 2007

Here's free show number two, compliments of Coney Island's Siren Music Festival, and this has also got to be one of the other best shows that I saw this past year. I won't comment on the fact that I got to see one of America's punk forefathers for free in a setting very natural to them (the NYC skyline beyond the beach a perfect backdrop). Simply, they were actually great live. To cap it all off, apparently guitarist Sylvain saw my glowing review of their performance and sent me a thank you email. That was beyond cool, and this show was awesome.




10. Cat Empire… Copley Square, Boston/ July 2007

Here was the third free show (yep, they ran in a row). This band's 2007 release (which wasn't really an '07 release, but rather an '07 American release, having been released abroad already) blew me away. To say I was quite pleased to see them not only coming to Beantown, but also playing a show for free in front of Trinity Church is an understatement. Just like the two shows before this, the unique setting so enhanced an already awesome performance. What better way to spend a summer afternoon and early evening in Boston?




11. the Police, Smashing Pumpkins, Beastie Boys, Bad Brains, Yeah Yeah Yeahs,
Velvet Revolver… Pimlico Racecourse, Baltimore/ August 2007

I already wrote enough about this one in my comparison of music festivals. I bit the bullet and bought a ticket to the festival. For me, the Beastie Boys (who I'd never seen before) and the Bad Brains (saw them twice, but never with HR) blew away the Police and the Smashing Pumpkins. The Police sounded flawless, but Sting lacked passion. The Smashing Pumpkins… I'm just not a huge fan. They were good. I was also happy to check out the Yeah Yeah Yeahs live, whose debut (yes, I'm behind on the times) has become one of my favorite albums that I got in '07.




12. Ozzy Osbourne, Static X, Lamb of God… Tweeter Center, Mansfield/ August 2007

Glad I saw him doing solo stuff at a free show (yes, I did pay for Black Rain), so I can now rest easy. I wish he wouldn't have done those "obligatory" Black Sabbath songs. I already saw him perform them live with the original band. I'd have rather heard "No More Tears." Is Ozzy ragged around the edges? You bet. But he looked like he was sincerely having a good time. That counts for quite a bit.




13. Megadeth… Hampton Beach Casino, Hampton Beach/ September 2007

I saw Megadeth twice before, LONG ago. We're talking the early 90's. I wasn't sure what to expect. I was very pleasantly surprised. This show was solid, with Dave and company in top form. I liked what I heard so much that I reinvested in Megadeth, grabbing a post-Risk release. Sometimes some of his comments don't please me. But for a live performance? Rock on, Dave.




14. Tori Amos… the Orpheum, Boston/ 2007

Long story short, as I wrote in my live review originally, Tori is not my thing. I bought a pair of tickets for my now ex-wife. She couldn't make it, and I just couldn't bear to see the tickets go to waste. So I went alone… the only straight guy in attendance solo, I'd wager. It was interesting.




15. Rage Against the Machine/ MIA/ Kings of Leon/ Lez Zeppelin… City Park, New Orleans/ October 2007

Once more, here was an act whose reunion initially caused great excitement… but for me, and I've since seen this in a few other live reviews, there was just something missing. Maybe the hype was too much. On top of that, this music festival in the Big Easy really stinks. You don't rough up your guests when your press policy changes in moments of great confusion. I wasn't the only member of the press rudely treated in this manner.




16. The Cult… Hampton Beach Casino, Hampton Beach/ November 2007

My last show of the year… the music was solid, though as I wrote in my review, Ian made a few blunders when it came to between-song banter. No, New Hampshire is not Boston. Still, I never saw them before, and was happy to hear "Fire Woman" live. So there…




Shows I'm sorry I missed? The Stooges came to Boston, and I got the dates wrong on that, missing it (never saw Iggy before). Debbie Harry played at the… what was the name of that gay music festival? Eh, whatever… I didn't get a press pass on that one, and my budget was running too low to pay out of pocket. Same goes for Van Halen (low budget, I mean) (I didn't even try the press route on that one). I'd already seen Dave solo doing all old Van Halen stuff, so it wasn't a priority. I would've liked to see Danzig, but an injury caused him to cancel his MA show. Missed out on Brian Setzer, too… but that was an X-Mas show. I'd rather see him doing his non-X-Mas stuff. Cake and Ween both came to Boston, but I saw both of them at the same music festival (and Diamond Dave, too)... Seattle's Bumbershoot.


AND THAT'S ALL, FOLKS!


The monkey of the week is Marie. I've been writing to her for the past couple months, and shall meet her in the jungles of Costa Rica. If all goes well, I'll review our date for you. At least she's intelligent (you know... like she's reading a newspaper).