Our Concert Could Be Your Life
May 25th, 2011 by chocko
Last Sunday’s show at Bowery Ballroom in New York City was a special one and it featured 14 bands paying tribute to the book by Michael Azerrad titled “Our Band Could Be Your Life” which chronicled the American punk and indie rock scene in the 1980’s. Every band on the bill covered a band written about in the book, each playing short sets. Eugene Mirman and Janeane Garofalo hosted the evening and provided the comedy while introducing the bands. The first band up was members of Dirty Projectors doing a set of Black Flag songs, surprisingly in the way they were meant to be heard…fast and furious. This was a total departure from Dirty Projectors’ reinterpretation of Black Flag songs in their tribute “Rise Above” which came out in 2007. It was definitely a good way to start the night. Delicate Steve played Minutemen songs with the help of Les Savy Fav’s lead singer Tim Harrington and Lee Renaldo of Sonic Youth. Citay performed Mission of Burma songs. Ted Leo covered Minor Threat in a set that featured him without a band and singing over backing tracks which played on a reel to reel tape machine. You would think that it would be wack, but Ted pulled it off well and his set was definitely a highlight. Grooms covered Husker Du. Titus Andronicus did an energetic Replacements set with Craig Finn playing the role of the police officer at the start of “Kids Don’t Follow.” Tune-Yards and Callers both played Sonic Youth songs. Things got really wacky when Dan Deacon performed Butthole Surfers songs with the all the lights off and a screen which projected images of demons and Woody Harrelson. The crowd got a bit rowdy and mosh pits were formed and noses were broken. Annie Clark a.k.a. St. Vincent covered Big Black songs which was the definitive highlight of the night. Doing her best Albini, Annie Clark shredded her guitar and rocked the f*ck out. Her versions of “Bad Penny” and “Kerosene” blew the roof off the place and got the loudest crowd reaction of the night. Wye Oak played a rocking Dinosaur Jr. set. Buke and Gass played an acoustic set of Fugazi songs. White Hills treated the crowd to a Mudhoney grunge fest and Yellow Ostrich ended the night with a Beat Happening set. The encore featured a speech by Michael Azzerad and a set of Nirvana songs performed by members of Wye Oak, Buke and Gass, Dirty Projectors, Titus Andronicus, Tune-Yards and Dan Deacon.
SET LIST
Members of DIRTY PROJECTORS (Nat Baldwin, David Longstreth and Brian McOmber) played “Police Story”, “Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie”, “Spray Paint”, “Thirsty and Miserable”, and “Rise Above” by BLACK FLAG
DELICATE STEVE played “Cohesion”, “This Ain’t No Picnic” (with Tim Harrrington) and “History Lesson Part II” and “Jesus and Tequila” (with Lee Renaldo) by MINUTEMEN
CITAY played “Term Two” and “Peking Spring” by MISSION OF BURMA
TED LEO played “”Minor Threat”, “Stand Up”, “Filler”, “Look Back And Laugh” and “Salad Days” by MINOR THREAT
GROOMS played “”Pink Turns To Blue”, “Diane” and “Something I Learned Today” by HUSKER DU
TITUS ANDRONICUS played “Kids Don’t Follow”, “Raised In The City” and “Treatment Bound” by THE REPLACEMENTS
TUNE-YARDS played “The Burning Spear” by SONIC YOUTH
CALLERS played “Shadow of a Doubt” and “The World Looks Red” by SONIC YOUTH
DAN DEACON played “Sweet Loaf”, “Human Cannonball”, and “The Shah Sleeps In Lee Harvey’s Grave” by BUTTHOLE SURFERS
ST. VINCENT played “Bad Penny” and “Kersene” by BIG BLACK
WYE OAK played “Sludgefest” and “Tarpit”by DINOSAUR JR.
BUKE AND GASS played “Long Division” and “Guilford Fall” by FUGAZI
WHITE HILLS played “In ‘N’ Out Of Grace” and “When Tomorrow Hits” by MUDHONEY
YELLOW OSTRICH played “Indian Summer” and “Left Behind” by BEAT HAPPENING
ENCORE “Negative Creep”, “Sliver” and “Lithium” by NIRVANA
Tags: bowery ballroom, buke and gass, callers, citay, concert, dan deacon, delicate steve, grooms, indie, mike azzerad, new york, new york city, nyc, punk, st. vincent dirty projectors, ted leo, this band could be your life, titus andronicus, white hills, wye oak, yellow ostrich
Posted in music | Comments (0)
