My Favorite 10 Live Shows in 2006

This will be the first of three posts wrapping up 2006. Yes, I know I'm a couple weeks late, but there are a few albums I want to buy and listen to before compiling my lists of favorite albums and favorite songs. In the meantime, my list of shows was actually pretty easy to throw together. I was particularly pleased to discover that these shows are spread throughout the year and across the several venues that I frequent.

Quick note: I went to the first day of Coachella this year, and although I saw a couple good shows (My Morning Jacket, Franz Ferdinand, and the always-sublime Sigur Ros), the overall experience of Coachella wasn't pleasant. Too many damn people, bands too rushed in their set up, awful acoustics in the smaller tents. So no Coachella performances make it into this list (worth noting that both MMJ and Sigur Ros' 2005 shows would have made it onto this list, though!)

10. Califone - Bottom of the Hill, 10 October

I went into this not quite knowing what to expect, but hoped that the chaotic and layered nature of Califone-on-album would translate in the live setting. I was also at a disadvantage in knowing only one of their albums, Heron King Blues. It took the guys a couple songs to "warm up," but what unfolded was exactly: chaotic and layered and head-noddingly good. I'm always impressed when a band can sell me on songs I don't even know, which Califone did masterfully. Tim Rutili is an extremely talented guitarist, able to switch effortlessly between delicate finger plucking and blasts of feedback noise. The drummer was a force of nature. On many of the songs he provided the rhythmic base on which the other two musicians were free to wander, but these songs never locked into a groove - he was always changing the beat, adding in or subtracting new percussion instruments, etc. Yes, there was a laptop or two on stage, but the "organic" sounds always took front and center. I remember thinking repeatedly, "How can only three guys make this much NOISE?" It really was a beautiful show and I'd happily go see these guys again. Hell, I might even get around to buying the new album...

9. Saint Etienne - The Fillmore, 17 February

Probably the most pleasant live surprise of the year. This was all about an excuse to take my boyfriend to a show I thought he might actually enjoy (having subjected him to Deerhoof, Xiu Xiu, and Kristin Hersh - see #4 below - in recent months). I expected it to be the two guys twiddling knobs and playing keyboards while Sarah Cracknell breezed her way through the vocals. I certainly did NOT expect three or four "real" instrumentalists, or a reconfiguring of the songs so that very little of the music was actually played on keyboards, nor an overall truly "live" sound. Sure, they focused a lot on the new material, which sounds pretty much like all the old material. But they also more than did justice to the back catalog; "Spring" was an unexpected and lovely treat, and of course we got all the classic old singles. Cracknell seems most comfortable when singing; her between-song banter was repeitious and mostly consisted of asking us a question ("Do you like the new songs?") and then replying "We're so glad." Still, nothing really could stop them (har har) from delivering a buoyant and surprisingly muscular show that had me grinning ear to ear as we walked out. I will go see them again (as I think my now-ex boyfriend Brian would) every chance I get.

8. The Clientele - Cafe du Nord, 22 August

Brian and I had broken off our one-year relationship a couple weeks earlier. But we already had tickets to this, and he still wanted to go... and really, with who better to go see the Clientele but a recent ex-? On top of the nervousness I felt about this being the first time I'd seen him since the breakup, I also feared the worst as far as the show itself went. The sonics in Cafe du Nord are notoriously echo-ey. Great place to see a loud band like Pretty Girls Make Graves (but that was in 2005); potentially not so great to see a band whose music consists of a lot of detailed, finger-picked guitar lines. Sound quality is probably my most common complaint at shows - the drums are too loud, I can't hear the guitar lines, etc. The Clientele's music seemed particularly prone to falling into this trap. And, acoustics aside, I really wondered if Alisdair Maclean could pull off all those details - the singing AND the finger-picking.

Well, I almost feel bad that the "my fears" part of the review will probably be longer than the "they were pretty AMAZING" part of my review. But they were. Amazing. The solution to the dilemma of course is to not amp the shit out of all the instruments. In fact, there were often times when I could barely hear the DRUMS (how often have you had that experience?) And yes, Alisdair can pull those songs off and - more importantly - deliver them in a way that doesn't feel canned. Sure, he hits all the notes, but the tonality is different than the albums. I never thought I'd describe the Clientele as a muscular band, but damned if these songs didn't fall with power and grace - and at half the volume you'd experience at a typical rock show. Brian and I agreed it was a beautiful performance.

7. Mission of Burma - Great American Music Hall, 20 Sep

OK, before I tell you about how fucking LOUD and POWERFUL Mission of Burma were live, I have to make an embarrasing admission. You might have noticed that I haven't mentioned any opening acts as yet. The sad truth is, I'm a 9-to-5 schlep during the day. I can afford myself the luxury of staying out late on a work night to catch a show, but only if I take a nap before hand. So unless I know the openers, or have read good things about them at the least, I don't see them. Yes, I realize I lose hipster points for this - all my chances to hear/see the next "new best thing" being squandered in the name of sleep. I'm in my mid-30s, cut me some slack.

This all comes up with reference to THIS show, because the openers were 50 Foot Wave, and you might have noticed I'm a bit.... um, obsessed with Kristin Hersh. So of course I was there for the opening act, and frankly of the three times I saw 50FW this year, this show was the best. Raw power is never going to be lacking at their performances; what tips a 50FW show from "good" to "great" is how tight they are. It's easy to get caught up in the loudness of their songs and forget that there are a lot of "on a penny" shifts both rhythmically and vocally. Tonight, the band were like a well-oiled machine. I think it was the scariest performance I saw Kristin give this year, the vocals tending toward the huskier end of her spectrum. My ears were already ringing before MoB even took the stage.

And then... y'know, frankly the MoB show is a bit of a blur. These guys are tight, they're loud, they strike the perfect balance between recognizability and not sounding canned, and they pretty much tore the roof off. I really like both The Obliterati and OffONOff without feeling blown away by either of them, but live these songs are consistently great. Oh well, I didn't get to hear "Mica"... and my ears were still ringing two days later...

6. The Knife - Mezzanine, 3 Nov

I've already written about this show in detail in an earlier post. Huge points for being entertaining and not even pretending that they were "performing" the music. I am still haunted by those creepy glowing-orange ski masks. And "We Share Our Mother's Health" will forever be accompanied in my head by the image of Olaf merrily banging away with enormous glowing-orange plastic sticks, completely not in rhythm with the music.

5. Liars - Bottom of the Hill, 5 Jun

I'm about to admit something slightly heretical... I was pretty underwhelmed by Drum's Not Dead. Honestly, I found They Were Wrong So We Drowned a more engaging listen - and of course that's the album where nearly everyone ran screaming in the other direction about how "unlistenable" it is. Harumph. And I already knew better than to hope they'd play anything off the debut, which will forever be one of my all-time favorite albums. So... I mostly went out of curiosity. I'd read the live shows were intensely good, and I was willing to be "sold" on the new stuff.

Liars didn't quite pull that last feat off, but the slower moving stuff from Drum's Not Dead definitely had an intensity and energy lacking on the album. The dual drumming attack of Julian and Aaron put me in a trance, and then like a great DJ can do with a mind on Ecstasy, they took me places. Some of the places were tranquil, but of course this was Liars and those places never lasted. Angus is completely inscrutable as a vocalist - whether he was hanging back or in our faces at the front of the stage usually had little to do with what was coming out of his mouth. And you haven't felt fear until you get the full sonic assault of Liars banging the hell out of "Broken Witch" and Angus looming over the entire venue chanting "Blood.... Blood..... Blood....." In a word, WOW.

4. Kristin Hersh - Swedish American Hall, 14 Jan

OK yes, Kristin appears at three of the ten shows on this list. Clearly I'm the "fan" in "fanatic," right? Well, you go see her live in any of her incarnations, and walk out and tell me you weren't completely fucking moved. Even Brian (bless his soul), told me afterward he'd been kind of dreading it, but ended up thoroughly enjoying the performance.

This was Kristin solo acoustic, and yet it had been billed as "Plays the songs of Throwing Muses." And did she ever! Songs that I had no clue could even be played solo acoustic, like "Hook in Her Head" or "Hate My Way." Her voice was a bit on the gravelly end tonight, but that didn't stop her from performing a mind-blowing 26 songs. It was an amazing way to begin my year of live music, and then of course she went and closed my year on an even higher point. I'm in perpetual awe.

3. Sleater-Kinney - Great American Music Hall, 2 & 3 May

Yes, I went to both shows. Yes, I was butt-ass tired from having just gotten home from a long weekend at Coachella and then some overnight camping/hiking in Joshua Tree. Yes, I'd seen them last year for the first time ever after being such a huge fan for years, and although I enjoyed that show I felt vaguely disturbed by the way it seemed to be all about Carrie. Nope, I'm still not going to say that The Woods ranks in the upper half of my favorite albums by them. And y'know, for all that these shows weren't all about Carrie, and Corin seemed much more into it than she had last year... still, I wasn't surprised when they announced an "indefinite hiatus" not long after this tour.

All that said: Yes, I am very happy to remember them from these two shows. Don't get me wrong - I think Carrie is amazing. No fears of S-K music sounding canned; her guitar work is beautifully chaotic and sloppy yet never a mess. I could watch goddess Janet bang away on the skins all night long. And Corin seemed intensely present, she never checked out. Her vocals were soaring and beautiful; I'm always puzzled by people who say it's the voices that keep them from getting into Sleater-Kinney. Regardless of how I might feel about the album they chose to leave us with, the fact is these three were at the top of their live game this year. R.I.P, S-K... you've left behind a lot of happy/sad fans.

2. Radiohead - The Greek Theatre, 24 June

Dude, it was fucking Radiohead. Of course it's near the top of my list! The less said about Deerhoof's opening set the better... after watching them absolutely slay twice last year, both of their post-Chris Cohen performances I caught this year were frankly heartbreaking. Radiohead, on the other hand, were near-perfect. The Greek is a pretty amazing place to see a show, all the more so when the lighting is creative and interesting, and even more so when the fog starts blowing down over the top of the hill and blanketing everything with an eerieness wholly suited to the paranoia and dread at the core of so much of Radiohead's music. Honestly, I don't even remember the details. For nearly two hours, Brian and I were caught in the grip. I recall being bummed that I didn't hear a couple of the songs I most wanted to ("The National Anthem", for one), but really that's a small complaint to lodge about a show this good. Thom Yorke was amazingly interactive, and even cracked a couple jokes. The visuals were compelling without being distracting. I walked out feeling deeply satisfied. Granted these were the most expensive tickets I bought this year (on a per-band basis; Coachella hardly counts), but it was money well spent.

1. Throwing Muses - Great American Music Hall, 16 Dec

Discussed at length in an earlier post, and I won't bore anyone with it a second time.

Next up - my favorite 20 songs of 2006!