it’s been a long time since i headed to athens on a work night for a concert, but the reunion of godspeed you! black emperor was hard to pass up. i’m definitely glad i made the trek too, the show was epic! godspeed played for well over two hours and covered all of the hits i was hoping to hear. getting to see both songs from the slow riot for new zerø kanada ep was a huge highlight! that came out after i saw them play the last time, which was 1998, so i was thrilled to see the entire ep live. plus they sounded amazing at the 40 watt!!! my ears were ringing even with earplugs.

godspeed used a bunch of old film projectors during their show to play looping videos on a backdrop. the guy in charge kept various film strips thrown over his shoulder that he switched out on the projectors. the layered films went well with the music and added to the whole experience.

i’m glad i made the drive to athens for this amazing concert! i have great memories of seeing godspeed you! black emperor, but they definitely exceeded my high expectations.

– ryan

i was looking through photos recently and realized i never did a write-up on the lcd soundsystem concert at the tabernacle last october. my brother and i were pumped to see what a current lcd show was all about and gub came along since sleigh bells were opening up.

i have to say lcd soundsystem was quite impressive! they were great in the same way that broken social scene is great live. they tour with lots of musicians who are able to play all of the intricate parts of songs. plus that many live instruments, especially playing dance music, makes the experience so much better than an album can convey.

lcd opened up with dance yrself clean, which is the first song off their latest album. it was a fairly simple setup as the song built up until all of the lights and instruments came crashing in for the awesome upbeat ending. it was a great way to open a show and set the tone for a fun, dance-filled evening.

lcd soundsystem put on a great concert! they sounded amazing and had an awesome light show to go along, i’ll definitely go see them if they tour again.

sleigh bells opened up and were awesome as usual! there was lots of smoke, bright flashing lights, and extremely loud rock music! their live show was very fitting for a venue like the tabernacle. we were glad that we got to see them again.

– ryan

broken social scene was amazing at the buckhead theatre on thursday! after a recent dull evening seeing yo la tengo, i was ready for one of my favorite bands to rock it out, and they did. for over two hours broken social scene played a perfect mix of hits from forgiveness rocks (their most recent), you forgot it in people and their s/t. they even played a song from kevin drew’s solo effort sprit if! my highlights were kc accidental, anthem for a 17 year-old, and ibi dreams of pavement. here’s the setlist.

in case you haven’t seen them before, broken social scene is a band you should definitely check out in concert. i think they are better live than on album, and i love their albums. they tour with a large group of rotating musicians, including numerous people on guitars, percussion, drums, horns, keyboard and more. that many live instruments creates their unique anthem-rock sound that is quite amazing in concert, and hard to mimic on an album. it’s a similar experience to a live arcade fire show.

another note, even though the big-named female singers (see feist, emily haines/metric, amy millan/stars) don’t tour with broken social scene anymore, their shows are still totally fun and worth checking out! go see them if you can.

– ryan

the highs can be high, but the lows can also be low at a yo la tengo show. in case you haven’t been to a recent concert of theirs, they bring out a wheel featuring different options for them to play. an audience member spins the wheel and whatever it lands on is the bands first set. the options include: songs that start with s, the name game (songs with names in the title), freewheeling (their vh1 storytellers type setup), as well as sets from their alter ego bands and the score to the sounds of the sounds of science. after an intermission, they play a second set of their hits.

all sounds great on paper.

after first landing on spin again, the lucky atlanta contestant landed on spinner’s choice at the recent variety playhouse concert. i totally thought i was in for a classic yo la tengo show, i mean, how could this go wrong? well, this particular fan chose the second half of the sounds of the sounds of science and things got boring quickly. i couldn’t believe when given the option of hearing a set of classic yo la tengo songs, someone would pick the second half of a score to an underwater science documentary. don’t get me wrong, the score is great, but such drony instrumental music has its time and place.

after 45 minutes of the film score and another 40-minute intermission, i was not very pumped about the show anymore. although they did open up the second set with autumn sweater and let’s save tony orlando’s house, waiting that long to hear actual yo la tengo songs was definitely an evening spoiler.

i will think twice about going to another concert where a wheel determines my potential for fun.

– ryan

i know it’s a little late, but i put together my favorite lists of 2010 this week. i’ll start with my top 10 favorite concerts of 2010!

1. jónsi – sun, oct 31st – the tabernacle
2. sleigh bells – sat, jul 10th – vinyl
3. neon indian – wed, jun 9th – the earl
4. lcd soundsystem & sleigh bells – mon, oct 4th – the tabernacle
5. beach house & washed out – thur, apr 29th – the earl
6. pavement – sun, sep 26th – the tabernacle
7. ola podrida – wed, jul 21st – drunken unicorn
8. the tallest man on earth – wed, apr 28th – the earl
9.school of seven bells & active child – mon, oct 18th – the earl
10. best coast & cults – sun, oct 10th – drunken unicorn

honorable mention: guided by voices – sat, oct 23rd – the buckhead theatre

– ryan

atlanta has a lot of great upcoming concerts! there’s broken social scene at the buckhead theatre, washed out at the drunken unicorn, jonathan richman playing two nights at the highland inn ballroom, casiokids at the drunken unicorn and many many more. be sure to check our upcoming concerts section for a full list of great shows on the horizon. i put a few i’m looking forward to below.

– ryan

washed out – tue, jan 18th – drunken unicorn – $10 – 9:00pm – tickets

yo la tengo – fri, jan 28th – variety playhouse – $20 – 8:30pm – tickets

wild nothing & abe vigoda – tue, feb 8th – drunken unicorn – $10 – 9:00pm – tickets

broken social scene – thur, feb 10th- the buckhead theatre – $26 – 8:00pm – tickets

jonathan richman – fri, feb 18th- highland inn ballroom – $12 – 9:00pm – tickets

jonathan richman – sat, feb 19th- highland inn ballroom – $12 – 9:00pm – tickets

toro y moi – sat, mar 12th – drunken unicorn – $10 – 9:00pm – tickets

godspeed you! black emperor – tue, mar 22nd – 40 watt – $11 – 8pm – sold out

casiokids & strfkr – wed, mar 23rd – drunken unicorn – $10 – 9:00pm – tickets

the pains of being pure at heart & twin shadow – tue, apr 5th – the earl – $15 – 9:00pm – tickets

– ryan

ever wonder about the history of local venues? i often do. after a little research on the variety playhouse, i learned it was originally a world war II era movie theater called the euclid theater, open from 1940-1962. although faded, you can still see the movie theater sign on the side of the venue, which is in the picture above. after a long dormant period and a brief re-opening as a movie theater in the 1980s, the variety playhouse as we know it today opened in 1990.

– ryan

variety playhouse

1099 euclid avenue northeast
atlanta, ga 30307
404-524-7354

nasa ended up delaying the shuttle launch this week, so we were able to attend the jónsi concert on halloween after all. the sigur ros singer played at the tabernacle in support of his first solo album. the show was super amazing; we were excited that we could attend! the songs sounded beautiful in the tabernacle and the concert was quite the multimedia experience as well. similar to sigur ros shows, there were lots of changing backdrops to go along with each song. the visuals, sometimes static and sometimes animated, were timed perfectly to the songs, adding to the aural experience.

if you ever have the chance to see jónsi or sigur ros in concert, i would highly recommend attending!

– ryan

who would have thought that a two-piece band featuring a live harp and bass player would be one of the more impressive shows i’ve seen in a long time. on monday night i discovered a great new band called active child opening for school of seven bells. i first heard school of seven bells opening up for m83, so i had a feeling their opening band would be worth checking out as well. i was not let down!

active child is the project of “choirboy-turned-indie pop musician” pat grossi. they play music that sounds like old 80s movie soundtracks, riding the line between dancey and atmospheric. pat’s falsetto vocals were very compelling and at times reminiscent of bon iver or antony and the johnsons. other songs were more in line with old crowded house or joy division, like on their amazing cover of ceremony, a highlight of the night. you can get their debut ep from their website for super cheap or on 10″ white vinyl! it’s totally worth grabbing.

after reading more about active child, i realized i am not alone in thinking they are awesome. npr, pitchfork, and stereogum have already featured these guys.

school of seven bells were very impressive as well! i had talked up the twin sister singers to a friend before the show and was surprised to only find one up on stage. i didn’t realize until after the show that claudia, one of the sisters, had left the band a week before. besides a couple of songs though, you wouldn’t have even noticed. although i definitely would have preferred the dueling female vocals, they still rocked live and filled in the gaps quite well. they played all of the hits i wanted to hear from both of their albums and their encore sounded like a classic mogwai concert with the distortion levels cranked to deafening volumes.

– ryan

i had a ton of fun at the recent best coast & cults show at the drunken unicorn. the opening band cults only have a 7″ out, but it’s extremely catchy and they were great live. their song go outside was the highlight of my night.

best coast was also a blast! bethany, the singer/songwriter, was very natural on stage and created a fun vibe throughout the evening. their songs packed way more punch live then they do on the album.

you can download the digital version of cults s/t 7″ here. it’s awesome, so go and grab it!

– ryan