A Fine Showing

Top ten shows of 2009:

10) Gogol Bordello @ 4th and B (San Diego, CA) - 10/17/09

You can take the kid out of New York, but you can't take New York out of the kid. The first (and only) concert I've ever seen on the West Coast was Gogol Bordello -- a band of immigrants from the the Lower East Side. Go figure. I heard great things about Gogol Bordello's live show, and they totally lived up to the hype. They've branded themselves as "gypsy punks", but this term doesn't even do them justice. You couldn't put a finger on the kind of music they play if you tried -- an nice attribute to the band's collective diversity.

9) Sufjan Stevens @ Music Hall of Willamsburg - 10/7/09

Sujfan Stevens is perhaps the most meticulous man in indie rock. I witnessed this firsthand this fall during his MHOW/Bowery Ballroom stint. Whether it's confessional solo piano / banjo ballads or all-out opuses, Mr. Stevens is one of the few artists who is not afraid to stop mid-song if all is not right. At one point, Sufjan had 16 musicians playing different instruments on the cramped Music Hall of Williamsburg stage -- each playing his or her part in creating the masterful sounds of 2005's masterpiece, Illinois.

8) Sonic Youth @ Music Hall of Willamsburg - 11/2/09

Same venue as #9, much different show. Sonic Youth has always been one of those Bucket List groups -- the kind of band you must witness before you die or they dissolve. I got my wish last month at the Hall, where they played a blistering set of songs from The Eternal (with some other gems tossed in). The band appears to be living up to its name -- the songs have matured; the band remains, well, youthful.

7) Jay-Z @ Madison Square Garden 9/11/09

Dubbed a 9/11 benefit show, this was really a party at the Garden to celebrate Jay-Z's highly anticipated return to form. Although he was listed officially as the only man on the bill, every song he played more or less featured a special guest. Backed by a full band, surprise artists popped in an out throughout the night to contribute. You never knew who was going to come out next -- kind of like the Royal Rumble. We got appearances from Kanye West (2 days before meltdown), Beyonce, Kid Cudi, Rihanna, John Mayer, Santigold, Puff Daddy (I refuse to refer to him by anything else), and Mary J. Blige among others.

6) The Hold Steady @ Bowery Ballroom 6/8/09

Arguably my favorite current band playing at arguably the best venue in New York City. It doesn't get much better than this. The last time I saw The Hold Steady, they shared a billing with Art Brut at Terrminal 5 and the sound simply sucked. The second time around was infinitely better, as the band brought along with it a kind helping of Stay Positive songs. I have never seen a performer seem to enjoy what he does for a living more than Craig Finn. All smiles, all the time.

5) Phoenix/Passion Pit @ Hammerstein Ballroom - 12/2/09

Seeing one breakout band is a special thing. Seeing the two breakout bands of 2009 perform at the same show is epic. Who says you need guitars to rock out? This was a holiday dance fest at the Hammerstein Ballroom. The synthesizers were in full force on an evening that featured all that is exciting about rock music these days. Understandably, this show sold out in like 10 minutes. I wouldn't be surprised if either of these bands play a much larger stage the next go around.

4) Yeah Yeah Yeahs @ Angel Orensanz Synagogue - 11/6/09

Last year I saw TV On The Radio at a masonic temple in Brooklyn. This year I saw the Yeah Yeah Yeahs play at a synagogue on the Lower East Side. There's something about playing at ironic locations that just adds to the element of seeing a hipster-friendly bands play live. I knew about this show literally the afternoon of the performance. Thanks to one of my favorite co-workers (thank you, Bianca), I was able to get in WITH special access to an open bar throughout the evening. Although the YYY's only played for an hour, I heard the best of the first three albums. Karen O. reigns superior as the sexiest woman in rock.

3) The Pixies @ Hammerstein Ballroom - 11/23/09

Branded the "Doolittle Tour," The Pixies reunited for the first time in five years to play a string of shows to "celebrate" the 20th anniversary of their alt-rock masterpiece. By "celebrate," I mean cash in, of course. After warming up with some b-sides that even Kim Deal was admittedly challenged by, the sold out crowd was treated to the familiar opening chords of "Debaser". The next 14 songs were expected sequencing bliss. I heard "La La Love You" and I la la loved it. The encore included "Where Is My Mind?". My answer: anywhere, just officially blown.

2) U2/Muse @ Giants Stadium - 9/24/09

You know a show is BIG when a band that sells out arenas is OPENING for the headliner. I was admittedly as excited to lose my Muse virginity as I was for U2, and would have been just as happy if the night ended when the "openers" left the stage. The production of this show left me in awe. 50% of the credit goes to the stage designers and 50% goes to the talent itself. U2 played a strategic mix of the old and the new, rendering the 85,000+ in attendance speechless -- suggesting that just maybe Bono can save the world some day after all.

1) Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band @ Giants Stadium - 10/8/09

No openers needed for the Boss. U2 might have taken the top spot, had it not been for some Springsteen circumstances:

1) The show was in New Jersey
2) The show was the 2nd to last show at Giants Stadium
3) Born To Run was played in sequence, in its entirety

I don't think anything else needs to be said.

Working On A Dream Come True

Last week, the Boss played Born To Run in its entirely during the E-Street Band's Chicago United Center performance. People have since been raving all over the interwebs about how epic it was to hear rarities "Meeting Across The River" and "Night" being peformed alongside such live staples as "Thunder Road" and the title-track/anthem of NJ. There's was no way he was going to do this in JUST in Illinois, right? Show some love, Boss!

Well, when people ask, Springsteen makes sure they receive! And as many hoped, the dream came true this afternoon. Looks like Springsteen is closing Giants Stadium out with a bigger bang than expected. Today it was confirmed that not only will Bruce be playing BTR, but he will be mixing in Darkness on the Edge of Town AND Born In The USA during the five night stand. Fortunately for fans, there is no guesswork involved.

Here's the schedule:

Sept. 30 – E. Rutherford, NJ @ Giants Stadium – Born to Run
Oct. 2 – E. Rutherford, NJ @ Giants Stadium – Darkness on the Edge of Town
Oct. 3 – E. Rutherford, NJ @ Giants Stadium – Born in the U.S.A.
Oct. 8 – E. Rutherford, NJ @ Giants Stadium – Born to Run
Oct. 9 – E. Rutherford, NJ @ Giants Stadium – Born in the U.S.A.

Eat your heart out, Bono.

A Dream Come True

It's official! The new Bruce Springsteen album will be coming out in January -- January 27th to be exact. This will surely coincide nicely with the little Super Bowl halftime gig everyone's been talking about. The record AND first single will be called Working On A Dream. According to Rolling Stone, the album was records relatively quickly and even used some first takes for some tunes. This WILL be an E-Street Band record, so everyone is back in full tow. Here is the confirmed tracklisting:

1. “Outlaw Pete”
2. “My Lucky Day”
3. “Working on a Dream”
4. “Queen of the Supermarket”
5. “What Love Can Do”
6. “This Life”
7. “Good Eye”
8. “Tomorrow Never Knows”
9. “Life Itself”
10. “Kingdom of Days”
11. “Surprise, Surprise”
12. “The Last Carnival”

*The album will also contain two bonus tracks: “The Wrestler” and “A Night with the Jersey Devil.”

Magic, Indeed

Um, how did this manage to slip under my radar? Apparently, Bruce Springsteen will be premiering a new song this Sunday during the Cowboys/Skins game. The song, "Workin' On A Dream" (I know, very Bruce-like), was debuted last month acoustically at a Cleveland Obama rally. But here's the better news. "Workin'" will likely be the leadoff single to Magic's follow-up, due out in JANUARY! Didn't even know the boss was in the studio, much less nearly complete with an album that's going to be in my hands in less than two months! The Boss never ceases to impress me.

The List (Part 4)

For 100-91 (Part 1), click HERE.
For 90-81 (Part 2), click HERE.
For 90-71 (Part 3), click HERE.

70) The Thrills - So Much For The City (2003)
For a band born and bred in Ireland, these guys sure have a thing for California. With song titles that include "Big Sur," "Santa Cruz," and "Don't Steal Our Sun," you'd think The Thrills stole a page out of Brian Wilson's songbook. Sure this band got their big break on The O.C., but this should not undermine the musical complexity of this quintet's debut disc. Beach Boy harmonizing mixed in with organs, mandolins, and even harmonicas a la Neil Young make So Much For The City the most Americana disc this side of Dublin. The band's follow-up discs (2004's Let's Bottle Bohemia and 2007's Teenager) went largely unnoticed, but do manage to recreate the formula from City.


69) Beck - Sea Change (2002)
2002 marked a new a milestone for Beck with the appropriately titled Sea Change. Known mostly for his largely experimental catalog and signature idiosyncratic lyrical flow, this album is a complete departure for Mr. Hansen -- one that highlighted his ability to get a little sentimental on us. A record that revolves heavily around the ending of a relationship, this one's a tearjerker, as evidenced by tunes such as "Guess I'm Doing Fine," Lonesome Tears," and "Lost Cause". The formula seemed to work for Beck, as this was his highest charting album to date -- hitting the coveted #8 spot on the Billboard 200. Oddly enough, one of the record's cuts, "The Golden Age," was used as World Series music.


68) Coldplay - Viva La Vida (2008)
Chris Martin (and the other three anonymous Coldplay band members) could have given us a second helping of the slop that was 2005's X&Y. But instead they opted to get their hands dirty and really bounce back from mediocrity on this year's Viva La Vida. Featuring everything from straight up iTunesy pop ("Viva La Vida") to 90's shoegaze ("Yes"), Coldplay really took advantage of Brian Eno's expertise on this new one. I'll spare the details on this one because I am sick of writing about this band. But if you're so inclined, much more of my take on this disc can be found HERE.


67) Art Brut - Bang Bang Rock & Roll (2005)
The debut from these South-Londoners ushered in a new genre of rock known as "art wave" in Great Britain -- a movement that included fellow countrymen Franz Ferdinand and Bloc Party. Calling a spade a spade, this music is as barebones as it gets: layered three-chord crunch backed by Eddie Argos' straight-to-the-point storytelling lyrical sense. Just listen to "Good Weekend" and you'll see that these art punks are as down to Earth as rockers get. They get my seal of approval based on their live show alone -- one that often includes a white screen with projected lyrics as they are spewed from Argos' mouth.


66) Johnny Cash - American V: A Hundred Highways (2006)
American V, the final sessions before the legend's passing, is a celebration of his life as much as it's a foreshadowing of Cash's death. The morbid crackle in his voice is an instrument all its own on the album -- one that is as crucial as any other on Highways. Cash was a trooper during these final sessions, even boldly recording the days following wife June Carter's death. This album is wonderful bookend to an illustrious career, and even debuted at number one -- his first since Live At San Quentin in 1969. The standout track is "Like The 309" -- Cash's heartbreaking last original and solid indicator that the Man In Black was finally at peace before leaving us.


65) The Postal Service - Give Up (2003)
Before UPS drove "Such Great Heights" into the ground with their incessant ad campaigns, Death Cab's Ben Gibbard and Dntel's Jimmy Taborello collaborated on a pretty sweet electric indie side project about five years ago -- one that got so big, it managed to (at the time) eclipse each member's respective main project. The album went gold before any Death Cab For Cutie album ever earned this status. Spawning several hit singles that were featured in countless movies, television shows, and commercials, this was really the album that put Gibbard on the map. But don't hold your breath for another Postal Service album anytime soon -- Gibbard's got his hands full with Death Cab right now, and in May, Ben was quoted as saying that he doesn't expect to release another PS album "before the end of the decade."


64) Bruce Springsteen - Magic (2007)
Again, I'm biased to musicians who hail from the Garden State. But even I'll admit it doesn't take a lot of convincing to throw a Springsteen album on this list. Although the man lost his touch in the 90's, he came roaring back this decade thanks to his 9/11-inspired opus The Rising and brought the E Street band with him. After a couple of side projects (Devils & Dust, and The Seeger Sessions) the band was back for good with 2007's Magic. And don't think age has softened Mr. Springsteen. Leadoff single "Radio Nowhere" is the most aggressive work he's given us to date. But there's something for everyone here that makes this effort, well, magical. Tunes like "Livin' In The Future" and "Girls In Their Summer Clothes" scream Springsteen from yesteryear, which is always music my ears.


63) Amy Winehouse - Back To Black (2007)
Girl's got some problems, but MAN can she sing! I didn't buy into the hype until I actually listened to this album a few times through. I will legitimately go on the record to say that if this walking disaster has the same good fortune as say a Scott Weiland (who is miraculously still alive), then she will be more than a one trick pony here. Bridging the (rather large0 gap between today's pop and classic 60's era Motown, this singer is also surprisingly a songwriter -- collaborating with Mark Ronson on most of the songs on her American debut disc. If she's ever sober enough to get her shit together and make a follow-up to last year's sensation, there's no doubt in my mind that we'll be hearing about this gal for years to come.


62) Kings of Leon - Youth & Young Manhood (2003)
This Tennessee-based Southern-rock/garage band consists of a trio of precocious brothers, and their cousin -- all of whom share the same last name (Followill). Youth and Young Manhood was a brilliant debut for a group who's members were mostly under the legal drinking age at the time of release. And whether you know it or not, you've definitely heard KOL before, if not on the TV commerical/video game soundtrack circuit. Before these guys struck it big in the States, they got huge in Europe where they opened for the likes of The Strokes and U2. Since the release of their debut, the band has put out two more phenomenal records and actually has another one on the way due this fall.


61) Bob Dylan - Modern Times (2006)
Sure, Dylan's voice is shot on this record. But then again, this man was never really known for his set of pipes. Modern Times is really a continuation of Love & Theft -- an album that departed from Dylan's stylistic folk rock and leaned towards pre-rock blues, rockabilly, and even jazz. Taking advantage of his exremely talented touring band, Dylan gives us lesson in how music used to be made before over-produced records became all the rage. At it's core, each cut on Modern Times sounds as if it was recorded in one take -- making this one anything but modern. Despite a few questionable lyrical references (Alicia Keys, really?!?!), Dylan's still got his edge as America's greatest living songwriter.