Metric, Team Ingrid Conclude Summer Concert Series 2010 with a Bang

Well, what I had earlier declared to be the "best summer for concerts ever" sure has been filled with highlights and lowlights, but overall the good always outweighs the bad.

Over the course of 3 months I went to 8 concerts and conquered 4 new venues! Not too shabby.

This week, I officially concluded my 2010 Summer Concert Series with two amazing shows: Metric and Ingrid Michaelson.

I

've decided to just put both posts together into a two-part super post because both bands are just that awesome.

Part 1: "Summer 2010; the summer where everything is sponsored by something." -Emily Haines

On Thursday, I made the trek to Brooklyn to see Metric for FREE as part of Prospect Park's Celebrate Brooklyn Festival.

After kicking off with their

"new" (new

like Parachute is for Ingrid)

song , Black Sheep,

they did the hits off their most recent album, Fantasies, peppered with a few throwbacks like the always

amazing Empty and Dead Disco.

I've heard Emily Haines say she wants to be remembered as a sound as opposed to an image, but in reality, I think she might have a tough time with that. Their stage image & their music have to be witnessed together to get the full Metric experience. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I've never seen anyone perform quite like she does.

The highlight of the show for me was definitely the encore. The band came back on stage, minus Emily Haines, who stayed backstage with her mic talking about how "war will never go out of style" only to come running out as they broke into the rocking Monster Hospital from their 2007 release, Live It Out, followed by my all-time fav, an acoustic version of Combat Baby. It almost isn't even worth mentioning there were two opening acts, because everyone floated out of that venue on a huge Metric high.

Set List:

Black Sheep
Satellite Mind
Help I'm Alive
Empty (fight for your right cover interlude)
Gold Guns Girls
Gimme Sympathy (hey hey, my my cover intro)

Sick Muse
Dead Disco

Stadium Love

Encore:

Monster Hospital
Combat Baby (acoustic)

Part 2: "We have been The Ingrid Michaelson Experience, thank you and goodnight!" -Ingrid Michaelson

I wasn't originally planning on going to see Team Ingrid last night, because they were just opening for Keane. Howevs, at the last minuted I figured I would take the money I would have used on the Metric tickets and grab some "cheap" seats (darn you service fees!). Great logic, right? Having money is so 2008.

Since they were opening, they did a truncated version of the show they've been doing for a while now, and I was relatively surprised Ingrid opted to do The Chain and cut out Everybody and Far Away as closer options. Not that I don't love The Chain, because I totally do. It's so pretty you guys, it just puts me in a trance. Look how pretty the band looks!

I can honestly say I'll never get tired of seeing The Hat live though, there's something about that song. Also, you really haven't lived until you've seen the choreography for Toxic. It never gets old, ever, and it always gets a big round of applause. I'm hoping for the Fall tour she'll break out some obscure songs or some new material. I'm dying to see Tour Song again and I would love to know what happened to songs like Walk Away.

Also, I'm really sorry Ingrid, but my inner monologue will forever be, "If you were falling (what would you do)" I can't un-hear it.

Set List:

Soldier (poker face bridge)
Die Alone
Parachute
The Hat

Locked Up

Maybe
The Way I Am

The Chain

Toxic (cover)

After their set I walked around the backstage-ish area to see what I could see and was able to score photos/autographs and chat time Chris Kuffner, Bess Rogers and Elliot Jacobson! Amazing right? I seriously really love them you guys. This was my first time meeting Elliot who was super sweet, and the couple times I've been lucky enough to meet Bess and Chris in the past, they were totally the coolest/nicest people ever and this time was no exception. Ok /gushing.

I even saw Saul and the tour dog! Ingrid herself came out briefly for (what I think was a swindled) meet and greet with some teenage girls and I got to snag a quick photo/autograph from her. The only person I missed all night was Allie Moss! She was the only signature I needed to complete the Ticket of Glory! But alas, she eluded me. Next time, Moss, next time. =)

Behold the Ticket of Glory:

So there it is kids, the conclusion to a summer of amazing concerts. The Fall Concert Series is up next and already looking AWESOME with Lady Gaga on the Monster Ball Tour and Bess Rogers, Lelia Broussard and Allison Weiss on the Quest For Glory 2 Tour in September. Also, there might possibly be another Ingrid show in the vicinity of October? Did I hear that right? I can hardly wait.

Lilith Fair 2010 Falling Apart/ An Open Letter to Kelly Clarkson

Alright. You may have been hearing that Lilith Fair is cancelling shows, which sucks, but this just got real. Kelly Clarkson has dropped out of Lilith Fair all together.

An official announcement was posted Thursday stating:

"With the news of the cancelled Lilith dates and my current progress in the studio, we've made the decision not to tour this summer. I am going to miss seeing ya'll, but I hope that when you hear what we've been working on, you'll be as excited as I am. I've been working with some amazing people and am stoked about this next album!"

Uh. What?

Ok, let me walk you through it.

(Disclaimer: Anyone who knows me, knows I am a huge Kelly Clarkson fan, so take the following as you will)

First of all, Kelly Clarkson was scheduled for 3 of the cancelled shows. She was scheduled for 11 other shows that haven't been cancelled. Are we all getting this? ELEVEN. That's nearly the rest of the entire tour. So unless she knows something I don't (re: more shows are going under) then this is a really bad move on her part.

Second, there is no apology anywhere in that announcement. Nothing for the fans who bought (rather expensive) tickets for shows mostly because she was going to be there. Also, I have a really hard time swallowing this excuse in general because its coming from an artist who has claimed many many times to love nothing more than touring. Plus, it's not like it was some dog and pony show festival down the street. This is Lilith Fair, this was supposed to be a big deal. Not only is she dropping out of a concert, but on a bigger scale, she is also dropping her support for women in music.

Additionally, I found out about this completely by accident. I didn't (and still haven't) received any notification from Lilith Fair or Kelly Clarkson. I'm really disappointed by this because by cancelling on Lilith in this way, in some cases mere WEEKS before shows she was supposed to be at, Kelly Clarkson has basically cancelled her summer tour and told all of her fans to suck it.

Finally, the people they got to replace her are, well, let's just say I've never heard of most of them. It would be one thing if they got other headliners to replace her. Let's say, oh I don't know, Metric or Ingrid Michaelson or Tegan and Sara. But no, who do we get to replace Kelly Clarkson? Joy Ike, Janelle Monae and Serena Ryder.

Bottom line, I need to see how quickly I can move to Denver, Kansas City or St. Louis.

Anyway, here's the complete list of cancelled shows for your viewing pleasure:

Cancelled Shows: (as of July 4)

Phoenix (7/8)

Salt Lake City (7/12)

Montreal (7/23)

Raleigh (8/4)

Charlotte (8/6)

Nashville (8/7)

Atlanta (8/8)
West Palm Beach (8/10)

Tampa (8/11)

Birmingham (8/12)

Austin (8/14)

Houston (8/15)

Dallas (8/16)

By completely slashing the bottom leg of the tour by cutting all shows from Raleigh on, the tour is now scheduled to conclude August 3 in Washington, D.C.

I have heard rumors of other artists dropping out as well, but cannot confirm or deny said rumors.

With 5 shows complete, only 18 of the original 36 dates remain to sink or swim. The tour continues in San Francisco tomorrow featuring The Bangles, Miranda Lambert, Colbie Caillat and A Fine Frenzy.

Metric & Silversun Pickups Deliver Big Time at Radio 104.5 Summer Show

Omg, it's so freaking hot outisde you guys. And no, I don't mean the Radio 104.5 Summer Show featuring The Henry Clay People, Metric, Against Me, and Silversun Pickups, because that show was HAWT.

Anyways, let's recap shall we?

Everyone who's anyone knows I have become a huge Metric fan since I saw them last November. My friend, Breeze, is a big Silversun Pickups fan and I have a slight crush on their bass player, Nikki Monninger, so when a concert was announced featuring BOTH bands, we basically said, this show was made for us.

The show was outside and very typically a radio show, meaning: raffles, give-aways, and DJ introductions of each band. A band called The Henry Clay People was up first and played for all of maybe 20 minutes, but it, uh, seemed longer. Sorry boys.

After a brief break, Metric came on around 6:45pm and they were really in top form. I think Help I'm Alive is a really weird opener, but they followed it up with Gold Guns Girls which really flew by, even with an extended outro/guitar solo craziness by Jimmy Shaw.

Dead Disco, the only song of the set not off the new record, had a lot of energy and actually may have been my favorite performance, but there's no denying that Sick Muse followed by Stadium Love to close out the show saw Emily Haines in her element and let her do what she does best: lose her freaking mind.

I swear, if Metric comes to your town, GO. It is a spectacle of awesome, not only music, but pure passion. I am hard pressed to find another lead singer that consistently throws herself into every performance like it's her last like Emily Haines.

Setlist:

Help I'm Alive
Gold Guns Girls
Gimme Sympathy (Hey Hey, My My cover intro)

Dead Disco
Sick Muse

Stadium Love

After Metric was done, Against Me went on and I went to try to sneak into the Metric VIP Meet & Greet. Long story short, I was thwarted this time, but as I was hanging around, I ran into Nikki Monninger from Silversun Pickups. Yes. THAT Nikki Monniger!

She was super nice and sweet and even posed for a photo with me! Long story short, I have a slightly bigger crush on her now than I did before.

I was a moderate Silversun Pickups fan before this, and it's not that I didn't expect them to be good, but they were like, REALLY good. Brian Aubert and Nikki Monninger are two really charismatic people to have leading the band. They both have a really incredible stage presence and relationship with their audience. Personally, I could listen to the bass lick on Panic Switch for the rest of my life, but Lazy Eye was definitely my favorite performance of the night.

They were the main act, and thus played the longest (which was still only like, 45 minutes tops) and I'd say they probs did about 10 songs. I did not memorize their setlist because I do not know all of their songs, but here are the songs they did that I recognized almost in order. I will converse with my sources in the near future and update to a full setlist asap.

UPDATED Setlist: (not in order)

Growing Old Is Getting Old

There's No Secrets This Year
Catch And Release

Well Thought Out Twinkles

Future Foe Scenarios

Common Reactor

Substitution

Little Lover's So Polite

The Royal We

Kissing Families

Panic Switch
Lazy Eye

I came to this show to see Metric and absolutely loved their performance, even though it was short, but I was also pleasantly surprised by the Silversun Pickups, who just gained themselves a new fan for sure.

UPDATE: Check out the official Really Papi Tumblr for exclusive photos taken by yours truly!

Team Ingrid Keeps Getting Better

Ok. I needed a full day to recuperate and process the Ingrid show. That's how amazing it was.

For future reference, it was at the Stone Pony which I would highly recommend for your concert viewing pleasure. Also, I did not take this fantastic photo of Team Ingrid, I wish I had. I got it from Bess Rogers' Tumblr.

Let me walk you through it.

First of all, Team Ingrid fans are legit. We all need to coordinate and have some food catered or something because every time I go to an Ingrid show I have to get there earlier and earlier. I was there about an hour and a half before the DOORS opened, and there were about 10 people in line already.

Matt Morris opened for Ingrid, and came on stage (surprisingly) a few minutes before 8:30, which was when the show was supposed to start. I have not heard of him, I don't know his music, but he was actually one of the better opening acts I've seen. He was really into it and some Matt Morris super-fans were actually standing behind me and screaming along to almost every song.

Team Ingrid took the stage around 9:30 and opened with Soldier, again. I say again, but honestly, I could listen to that extended intro ALL DAY. And, of course, I love that she's leaving the Poker Face excerpt in there at the end.

Other points of interest included Parachute, (the Cheryl Cole cover but not really because Ingrid actually wrote it for Cheryl Cole a while ago but is now playing it herself) Toxic (yes, the Britney Spears cover, but more so its choreography) and the revamped The Way I Am, which gave me flash backs to Kelly Clarkson's rock-n-roll redo of A Moment Like This from the Breakaway Tour in 2005. Anyone? No? Just me? Ok.

Also, there are certain Ingrid songs I will never get tired of seeing live, like Everybody and Maybe. I also really love the various intricate clapping/snapping/knee slapping patterns of songs like Be Ok. However, I must say, Starting Now and The Hat were especially good at this show. I felt like there was a lot of emotion in Ingrid's voice for those two and it just made them so much better.

Team Ingrid is continuing their headlining tour through July 9, with a pit stop at Bonaroo before continuing on to dates at Lilith Fair, the Basilica Block Party in Minneapolis and the Osheaga Festival Musique et Arts in Canada for the rest of the summer. They will also be opening for Keane July 20-August 11.

As long as Team Ingrid keeps touring, I will keep going. The combination of talent from the people in that band is purely astounding. It's only been two days and I already cannot wait for my next Ingrid show.

Set List:

Soldier (extended intro/poker face bridge)

Die Alone
Parchute
Starting Now

The Hat

You & I

Creep (solo cover)

Be Ok

Mountain & The Sea

Everybody

The Chain

Locked Up

The Way I Am

Maybe

Toxic (cover)

Encores:

Far Away

The Way I Am (punk remix)

Melody Gardot & Hot Jazz Kick Off Summer Concert Series

It has been so long, but now that the summer is in full swing, I'll be making a strong effort to resuscitate this, my blog, my first love.

And what better way to begin again than with a sturdy review of my first concert of the summer?

Yes ladies and gentlemen, what will now be referred to exclusively as my Summer Concert Series (SCS) began this past Saturday night with none other than the lovely Melody Gardot.

Some of you may remember Ms. Gardot from some of my earlier posts, mainly she was my very first New Music Tuesday! Aww. Memmmories.

Anyhoosale.

The show was at the Keswick, which, I had actually never been to. I wish more people would play there. It's small and it has seats. Not that I don't love standing for hours on end for GA shows, but it's a nice place because there's not really a bad seat in the house.

I actually wish she would have played the World Cafe again because I think the tables and chairs atmosphere would have lent themselves to her jazz club feel.

Her opening act was Phil Roy, who is also from Philadelphia, a sweet man who came out and played his guitar and had a lot of feelings. Then Melody Gardot came out in grand fashion, unveiled from huge curtains at the back of the stage.

She took a seat at the piano and had a few Lady Gaga moments as she and her band (comprised of an up-right bass, a drum set and a man who played clarinet, flute and saxophone) warmed up the crowd with a long instrumental intro into a song off her newest album. She did a nice variety of songs from both albums, as well as incorporating some covers. Her final song of the set, a cover of "Caravan" may have actually been my favorite part of the night.

It also didn't hurt that she looked absolutely fabulous and really lives up to her self-proclaimed "modern day dame" persona. She was very entertaining, both musically and with her interaction with the crowd. She told some stories and made some jokes, and at the end of the night made a very nice little speech about how honored she was to play a theater she had once so admired.

In short, if you like some fierce jazz and instrumental break downs, when Ms. Gardot comes to your town, go. Her songs really get some punching up in the live atmosphere and her charms are not to be missed.

Set List:

The Rain
Your Heart Is As Black As Night
Worrisome Heart (w/ You Really Got Me interlude)

Les Etoilles (sax intro)
Baby I'm A Fool (acoustic)

If The Stars Were Mine (flute outro)

Deep Within The Corners Of My Mind

Love Me Like A River Does (clarinet outro)

Who Will Comfort Me

Caravan (cover)

Encores:

Summertime (w/ Fever interlude-covers)

Melt (duet w/ Phil Roy)

New Music Tuesday: Elizabeth & the Catapult

I actually got an EP of Elizabeth & the Catapult last year at the Bust Spring Fling Craftacular (which, might I add, is coming up on May 23, *wink*)

I'll be honest, I liked the front cover, but didn't think much of it. I think it was one of those, I'll get around to listening to it eventually, and then lost it in my mass of CD's.

Anyways, my friend told me they were playing a free concert and asked if I wanted to go. I remembered them from the Craftacular and figured Bust would not steer me wrong, so I opted to go and I am so glad I did.

Wow, what a show. Front woman Elizabeth Ziman is really talented. She plays piano on most songs, and also the occasional tambourine, while accompanied by her band mates on guitar and drums. They played for a solid hour at least, and did a healthy mix of songs off of their first full-length album, Taller Children, which as released in June 2009, and brand new songs. I'm having a hard time picking a favorite song, so I'll post both of the "hits," Race You, and the title track.

I always love going to shows where you can tell the band is really have a good time on stage and they look genuinely happy to be there. They definitely have a Team Ingrid vibe, where, yeah, the album is good, but seeing them live is the real treat. Also, they were more than happy to stay and chat and sign autographs and what not after the show.

Additionally, not only did they play one of my fav venues, The Tin Angel in Philadelphia last year, but I've also heard that Elizabeth & the Catapult frequent some well-known venues for up-and-comers in NYC such as the Rockwood Music Hall, a fav of musicians like Bess Rogers.

Go see them live in NYC on May 20 or Baltimore on May 22. Be sure to stay up to date on all things Elizabeth & the Catapult by following them on Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, and of course, their official site.

Everybody, Everybody Wants To Win

In case you haven't been keeping up on it, the Ingrid Michaelson "Everybody" video contest is going on right now.

As a superfan of all things Team Ingrid, I've been keeping a close eye on the competitors.

I've found that the majority of the entries fall into one of three categories:

1. Terrible attempts at covers

2. Artsy hipster videos

3. Legitimate musical talent

I've been watching a good bit of them (and trust me there are like a bajillion) but the rules are, the 10 videos with the most views by March 29 (this coming Monday) will move on to the voting round where fans will pick a winner.

UPDATE: Team Ingrid has since announced the deadline for submissions will be extended to March 31 at midnight. The voting will open on April 2 at 3 p.m. and close on April 8 at 3 p.m. The winner will be announced on April 9.

Some girl playing a xylophone technically won. However, my #4 choice, Abigail, won the Wild Card and will also be performing live with Ingrid. Where and when the winners will be performing with Ingrid is still undetermined. I'm still hoping it will be Lilith Fair. Juliana came in third. Full results here.

I checked out the top 10 vids that are leading the pack (all of which have 5,000+ views!) and am now officially putting my endorsement on the following 5 videos:

1. Julianaeveryday

Ok, everyone listen to me, this girl can SING. Ever since I saw this, I've been obsessed with watching the rest of her covers on her youtube channel, including songs like "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga and "Help, I'm Alive" by Metric. This video is my fav because it's simple without being boring because she is really talented. Love.

2. Tristinjamesonmusic

Although I love the Juliana video, I do think this one will end up winning. It's a really cute vid and I think this is exactly what Ingrid had in mind for this contest. Although Ingrid is not voting, I think the fans will be really receptive to the style of this one.

3. 4FloorsUp3

This video follows in the same vain as the previous one, but it's got a little more glitz and glam to it. I like this girl's voice and I like the asymmetry of the squares and stuff. It appeals to that side of me that wants to be a graphic designer. Everyone like special effects, look the hearts are glowing!

4. Abimigaialia

This video is really cute and the outdoorsy-ness makes me happy, as someone who enjoys staying in the house most of the time. It's a sunshine day!

5. Haleybop

Again, this video is not the most artsy or complicated, but there's no denying this girl has a really nice voice. I would like to see someone win this contest and then get a record deal.

I think the voting is going to be really interesting because it will come down to talent vs. visuals. I'm really excited to see who will win, especially if it's one of these five, and also to see what show they get to play at with Ingrid. Maybe it will be Lilith Fair! That would be cool.