Music | Kate's Queen City Notes

June 25, 2014
by allthenamesaretakensothisisreallyreallylong Leave a comment

Betty Who and Sidewalk Chalk

Cincinnati has a segregation problem. White people live in white neighborhoods, and black people live in black neighborhoods. White people go to certain bars, and black people go to certain bars. That’s just how it’s been. And it’s a problem.

Music in public places might be one way of breaking down those barriers. That was my thought while I was watching a black man twirl some soccer moms Friday night at Fountain Square. The crowd was better diversified there than any place that I’ve been in recent months.

I headed to Fountain Square to see Pluto Revolts, Captain Kidd, Vito Emanuel, and Betty Who. They were playing Midpoint Music’s sponsored indie rock night. I was happy to see Pluto Revolts as they are in the Bunbury line-up and conflict with another act that I want to see, unfortunately I only saw one of their songs. Captain Kidd was really fun. Betty Who brought lots of energy to the stage. I enjoyed her band. She had two very short women playing bass and keys. Betty Who is extremely tall, and when she would dance next to her band mates they looked like hobbits. It was a fun free show, and the Square had a good turn out.

Betty Who on Fountain Square. Betty Who attracted a varied audience, including drag queens, suburbanites, and junkies.

I’ve seen Sidewalk Chalk twice. I saw them at MPMF 2013, and I saw them at MOTR this winter. They had a Saturday night booking in the winter, and they packed the house. No offense to the band, but MOTR is typically packed on a Saturday. Mostly, I think this says more about Cincinnati’s work schedules than it does the bands booked on said nights.

They played Sunday at MOTR, and while there was nice turn-out, it wasn’t as crazy packed as it was this winter. I enjoyed the more low-key vibe. They sounded excellent. The performance of the brass players really popped. I could see them this time, so that might account for them drawing my attention.

This guy took a great solo.

Put your hands up.

I am pretty sure this is Sidewalk Chalk’s touring machine. I love it.

June 11, 2014
by allthenamesaretakensothisisreallyreallylong Leave a comment

Governor’s Ball in New York City: Music and Too Many People

I tried to get tickets to see Bastille at The 20th Century Theater here, in Cincinnati. That show sold out the day it went on sale. I missed out.

In the meantime, friends of ours suggested that we attend Friday of Governor’s Ball. Frontier was running a deal on a flight to Trenton, New Jersey. Once in Trenton, it’s a 90 minute train ride to Penn Station. The tickets were 150 bucks a seat, and the train ride was 30 bucks. Net, with a little extra time and hassle, you get to New York for under two hundred bucks. Since we had a place to crash, we only needed to find the cash to pony up for the Governor’s Ball ticket. In hindsight, leaving town after three days at home after eight days in Europe was a bit much. But off we went.

The bands that most interested me at Governor’s Ball were Phoenix and TV on the Radio. Both of which haven’t been to Cincinnati in recent memory. I’m pretty sure Phoenix has never been here. Bastille, Jenny Lewis, and Neko Case were just side benefits. I know I should have been exited about Outkast, but I’m not that passionate about their music. Sorry to everyone who feels indignant at that.

Here’s what I saw.
Haerts
Little Daylight
Jason Isbell
Kurt Vile and the Violators
The 1975
Bastille
Jenny Lewis
Neko Case
Phoenix
TV on the Radio
Outkast

What I liked: Jenny Lewis is a spectacular performer. She sounded great. She looked great. I will see her again, no question.

Check out Jenny Lewis' awesome threads.

I have an abusive relationship with Neko Case. She’s cantankerous. She’s grumpy, and her stage presence is a mess. But I really love her. I had every intention of leaving her show early to catch “Bulletproof” by La Roux. La Roux has one hit, and there’s no way she closes with anything other than that. Just as I was about to tear myself away from Neko, she started playing “Man” and there was no way I was leaving during that song. I love it. I heard “Bulletproof” from the far off stage and was still sucked into the inexplicable Neko Case vortex.

Neko Case wearing skeleton pants.

Little Daylight was a surprise find. I fully intended to walk by them, but got sucked into their fun sound. I will be listening to them.

Everything else: Here’s what you need to know about me. I don’t like experiencing music in enormous venues. Governor’s Ball had a reasonable crowd until sometime between Bastille and Phoenix. When I made my way to Phoenix, I realized that movement from stage to stage had become full on warfare. Lines to the bathroom went from ten people to 100. Food became inaccessible due to the lines. In short, shit got real. While Bastille, Phoenix, TV on the Radio and Outkast all sounded great, I was a little too distracted by the masses to fully engage with their performances. I really wanted to be into Phoenix and TV on the Radio. I’ve listened to those bands for years now. I just couldn’t get there. They did nothing wrong; I just had some barriers to my enjoyment.

Haerts and The 1975 were fine, but there was nothing in their performance to grab me. I’m pretty sure the singer for The 1975 was high. I was busy watching his sloppy movement on stage rather than listening to their music. They sounded fine, but his careening was distracting. Jason Isbell sounded good, but I’m not into country. I got to see Kurt Vile and the Violators up close at Midpoint Music Festival last year, so although he sounded good, I preferred my more intimate experience with that band.

Would I go to Governor’s Ball again? No, I wouldn’t make it a priority. Like I said, I like more intimate settings for music. Governor’s Ball just isn’t the place for that. If you dig rocking arenas then this event is for you. Governor’s Ball, like Lollapalooza attracts swarms of people. That’s cool, but it’s just not my thing.

June 10, 2014
by allthenamesaretakensothisisreallyreallylong Leave a comment

Polica and Reputante at The Southgate House Revival: A Palate Cleanser

I was at Governor’s Ball this weekend. I don’t enjoy music in large crowds. Seeing Polica and Reputante at The Southgate House Revival couldn’t have been a better palate cleanser. The sanctuary is small and quirky. Since it was a school night, and Monday at that, the front of the stage was approachable.

I had no experience with Reputante going into their show. Their stage presence was disaffected and sarcastic. I can’t tell if they were just genuinely over their tour and/or that location and crowd, or that’s part of their schtick. That attitude leaves me a little put out. Regardless, I enjoyed their sound, and will do some listening in the future. It seems like all the new bands that I hear coming out of New York all sound like 80’s throwbacks, not that I have any problem with that. I’m happy to hear melody and synths back in music.

One other thing of note is that they have a lady drummer playing to a click track. I always love lady drummers. It seems to me that playing to a click track is Olympic level drumming. There’s no wiggle room there; you’re either dead on the electronic effects or a total mess. So cheers to lady drummer and her Olympic level drumming.

I have listened to Polica a bit. I knew virtually nothing about them, but with tickets at 15 bucks, there wasn’t much to lose. The band consists of a producer, a bassist, two drummers, and a singer and mixer. I was suspect of the dueling drummer stage set-up.

But it was spectacular. The drummers worked off each other, and were perfectly in sync. They brought more drama to the intense parts of their songs. I thought that much noise would drown out the vocalist. I know you can’t turn waif-y into an adverb, but I’m doing it. If singing can sound waif-y, it was so. The fact that the vocalist and the drummers were balanced was probably due to the great sound guy at The Soughtgate House Revival, and the band’s careful set-up. For all the electronics that they had on the stage, everything felt really well balances on my side of the stage.

This show was so close. It was a really great experience. It was exactly the antidote that I needed to resolve my festival experience. Long live thriving local music in my mid-sized city.

Beautiful atmosphere for this music.

Polica at The Southgate House Revival.

The Southgate House Revival balanced the sound really well. Two drum kits didn’t overwhelm the delicate vocals.

October 2, 2013
by allthenamesaretakensothisisreallyreallylong 6 Comments

Midpoint Music Festival 2013 Review: Saturday

Welcome to my Midpoint Music Festival 2013 Review, the Saturday edition. If would like an overview of what MPMF is read this blog post and then come back to this one.

Here’s the agenda that I started out with.

12:30 The School of Rock MPMF Midway
2:00 The Cliftones MPMF Midway
3:00 Twin Peaks at Washington Park
4:15 Tweens at Washington Park
5:30 Wussy at Washington Park
7:00 The Breeders
8:00 METZ at Grammer’s
8:00 The Locals at Main Event
9:30 Black Rebel Motorcycle Club at Grammer’s…
10:30 Bad Veins at the Taft
10:45 Wild Cub at Motr
12:00 Daughter at the Taft
12:30 The Wiskey Gentry at Japp’s

Here’s what actually went down. Several weeks prior to MPMF weekend, I agreed to volunteer at the Redwood Center in Kentucky from 9am to 1pm. I couldn’t bail on that commitment, so I planted daffodil bulbs all morning. By the time I had cleaned-up and eaten, it was 3pm. I skipped Twin Peaks to see the FotoFocus photography exhibition at the Art Academy and inadvertently caught the end of The Ridges’ set. This was a happy accident. I like The Ridges; I saw them open for The Seedy Seeds sometime back. The environment was intimate and complementary of The Ridges’ sound. Plus, we saw some great photography from Cincinnati music events, many of which I attended.

My first show was Tweens at Washington Park. They sounded solid, but their live performance was unremarkable. I feel like a day show in the huge park was not the best environment for them. I want to see them play in a smaller, dark venue. I think the vibe would suit them considerably more.

Tweens at Washington Park

Wussy sounded great. As a bonus, they were hanging around the VIP area along with The Breeders and Tween. Although, I regularly run into Lisa from Wussy, so that isn’t terribly remarkable. Kim and Kelley Deal are regularly found in Cincinnati, so that too isn’t terribly remarkable. There was a bit of a surpise when my friend John spotted the drummer for The National. He was gracious and posed for a picture. Turns out he lives in Cincinnati and is also a Breeders fan.

In celebration of Last Spash’s 20th anniversary, The Breeders played the album cover to cover for this show. It was outstanding. They sounded crisp and sassy. I thought hearing them play “Divine Hammer” would be the highlight of my night. Little did I know my night would have lots more awesome in it.

Kim Deal of The Breeders at Washington Park

I headed to Grammer’s for Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. I managed to get really close to the front without too much effort. There is always at least one band at this fest that excels at melting my face-off with rock and roll. BRMC is the undisputed winner. It felt like the sonic blast from the stage could make paint blister. I found myself uncontrollably screaming at the end of every song. I left that show thinking THAT was going to be the pinnacle of my night. I was still wrong.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club at Grammer’s

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club… and that security guy who offered to let me into the press area in front of the stage. I didn’t take him up on it because I felt like a douche bag.

I headed to Motr for Wild Cub. Motr was a shitshow of humanity. The bar was so packed I couldn’t understand how people were breathing. I squirmed my way past the bar. All hope was lost for getting a drink. I made it to the patio. I suspect I had a conversation with Brian Baker, the guy who covers Cincinnati’s live music scene for City Beat; we didn’t exchange names. We had a pleasant conversation about the fest. Here’s his review of this night. We heard Wild Cub was starting so both my new friend and I shambled into the stage area. Staying in the building until after Wild Cub started proved to be a mistake. It took me 3 songs to make it to the door to get out. Wild Cub sounded good, but it was really too packed for me to enjoy them. I will be on the look out for them to return.

I headed to The Taft in hopes of catching the last of Bad Veins. Unfortunately, I just missed them. There were concerns that The Taft would be difficult to get into for Daughter, due to the single venue tickets selling out for The Taft that night. I had no problems getting in. Once inside I ran into the guy that was standing next to me at BRMC. We discussed how mind-blowing that show was and the Cincinnati music scene in general. It was fun.

Daughter was the show that I was most excited about that night. When they took the stage, I was surprised about a couple of things. First, Elena Tonra is so very retiring and self-effacing. She tentatively approached the microphone. When she opened her mouth the sound that came out was just as divine as can be found on the albums. Their live show was every bit as nuanced and gorgeous as their album. The audience was entranced. This was the only show of the weekend in which the crowd was nearly silent aside from their rounds of cheering. The Taft was packed by the time the show started. It quickly got uncomfortably hot. Elena remarked on it and said that she needed 10 showers. She immediately blushed and mumbled, “why do I talk”? I think her shyness endeared her to the audience even more than how spectacular they sounded. I left this show gobsmacked. So, this was the pinnacle of my night.

Elena of Daughter at The Taft

I had considered heading to Bare Mutants after the Daughter show, but I felt too exhausted by awesome. I didn’t even know that could happen. Instead I went to Madonna’s for a beer with a couple of my fellow fest-goers. We had all been at the Daughter show and needed to decompress. We all agreed that this fest had been the best in memory. I was thrilled to be headed to my bed for much-needed rest, but I was forlorn that the fest was over.

This fest was blessed with randoms. All of the people that I randomly met were pleasant and great conversations where had. It seems strangely fitting that when I returned to my apartment a group of 18 year-old girls were in the foyer when I walked up. There was an abundance of twittering, but they were contentious enough to hold the door for me to pass through with my bicycle. One of the girls gushed as I passed, “I’m not saying this just because I’m drunk, but I think you’re really beautiful”. The first part of that statement was obviously false, but I decided not to look for the dark cloud in that silver lining and just accepted the unusual scenario as someone sharing a sweet sentiment and simply said thank you.

This was such a great three days. I just feel so grateful for the experience.

One little add on for the Cincinnati natives… I frequent the local music events. I’ve seen Bad Veins at least 10 times now. I always feel like a bad native at MPMF, because I generally pick acts that I haven’t seen over ones that I’ve seen before, even when I love them. I skipped The Seedy Seeds at many MPMFs because I wanted to see something new. Am I alone in this feeling? I suspect that I’m not.

October 1, 2013
by allthenamesaretakensothisisreallyreallylong 5 Comments

Midpoint Music Festival 2013 in Review: Friday

Welcome to my Midpoint Music Festival 2013 Review, the Friday edition. If you missed my last blog regarding MPMF, and would like an overview of what MPMF is read this blog post and then come back to this one.

Here’s what my agenda was at the beginning of the night. I was particularly excited for Youth Lagoon, Murder By Death, and The Head And The Heart.

5:30 Izzy And The Catastrophics at MPMF Midway
6:00 American Royalty at Washington Park
7:00 Black Owls at Grammer’s
7:15 Youth Lagoon at Washington Park
8:45 The Head And The Heart at Washington Park
9:30 Warpaint at Grammer’s
10:00 Saturday Looks Good To Me at Know Theater
11:30 Kishi Bashi at CAC
12:00 Murder By Death at Taft
12:30 Sugar Baron at Main Event

I turned up to Izzy, but found that that show had been cancelled. They ended up playing at 6:15 at a different venue. They also filled in for The Whiskey Gentry at their 12:30am slot on Saturday at Japp’s Annex. I was bummed about The Whiskey Gentry cancelling. I didn’t end up seeing Izzy at either of those times. I’ve seen Izzy several times; they are good performers. But with so many options, I wanted to see something new, so I skipped them.

American Royalty sounded good, but their performance wasn’t anything worth discussing. I skipped the Black Owls in favor of Youth Lagoon. The Black Owls are excellent, but like Izzy I’ve seen them several times. Plus, they will be playing Northside Tavern in December, and I will see them there.

Youth Lagoon. Words fail me here. I really like their records. I found the vocalist unpleasant live. Both his appearance and singing weren’t what I was expecting. I know full well his appearance shouldn’t matter. The music is the only thing that should matter. But in a live setting what the band looks like is part of the experience. I’m disgusted with myself for feeling this strongly about about his appearance. Even if I set his appearance aside, his warbling was unpleasant, and I suppose this is a good enough reason to pass on any future concerts. I listed to the album again, and I think there were two problems with this show. First, I am certain that Trevor Powers’s voice has so much reverb on it on the albums it takes the shrill edge off his vocals. As an aside, I think I noticed the same problem with Baths’s singer on Thursday. Second, like MGMT at Bunbury, I’m pretty sure the audience really could have been absent and the show wouldn’t have varied in the least. I hate it when artists do this. (I had to look up grammar rules around possessives just now. Writing is hard.)

I saw The Head And The Heart open for The Decemberists. They were stellar then; they were stellar at this festival. They sound great. They are fun performers. According to my less-than-scientific observation, they packed Washington Park more so than any other act in the fest. Since I had seen them before, I had planned on leaving their show for Warpaint after they played “Down in the Valley”. It’s my favorite song on that album. I’m pretty sure the chord progression that’s most attractive to me is used in at least one other song that I know well, and this might explain my immediate attraction to this tune. I’ve been puzzling over where it’s from for weeks. As They wound up their final song, I thought I was out of luck. I was so pleased when they played it as the final song of their encore.

The Head And The Heart at Washington Park. They were very sweet. They said they were excited that it’s still summer in Cincinnati, because it’s apparently already winter in Seattle.

I’ve been seeing live shows for more than 20 years, and this typically gives me a spidey sense of what a band will do live after hearing their record. Some recordings smell like studio creations that don’t fare well live. I suspected as much of Warpaint. I’m please to say I couldn’t have been more wrong. These women sounded excellent. I would absolutely see them again.

Warpaint at Grammer’s Stage.

I literally only saw half a song of Saturday Looks Good To Me, as they finished their set just as I arrived. I was a bit mesmerized by Warpaint and couldn’t pull myself away. Since I was already at the Know Theater I went up stairs to check out San Fermin. It was PACKED. Just getting in the door and out of the stairway was difficult, let alone get a glimpse of the stage. What I saw and heard was great. I’m not sure how much 30 seconds of listening is worth. I headed to Kishi Bashi.

The Contemporary Arts Center is an appropriate venue for this fest, but the room that they put the bands in is tiny. I think this venue is a train wreck of humans for at least one show of this fest consistently from year to year. This year’s train wreck of humans happened at Kishi Bashi. There were lines to get in. The venue was full and on a 1 in 1 out policy. Since I am a veteran of this fest, I’ve come to expect this. To say that the line of people waiting to get in were impatient is being kind. Although, in their defense the people working the venue weren’t communicating with the crowd. And if I were a first-timer I probably would have been frustrated too. Murder By Death was on my must see list, so I left the line at the CAC for the Taft; my friends who remained in line, got in about 5 minutes. Not bad. They also reported that Kishi Bashi said he’s returning to Cincinnati this year. Great! I will see him then.

Turns out I made a great decision in leaving the CAC. Murder By Death started early! These guys are from Bloomington IN, so I have no idea why I have missed them until now. They play Cincinnati regularly. First, the sound at the Taft was outstanding all weekend, so Murder By Death was no exception. Second, Murder By Death sounded great and put on a great performance. My friend Amanda summarized their sound in this way: it’s like Soundgarden and Morphine had a hillbilly baby. That sums them up nicely. I’m looking forward to the next time they turn up in Cincinnati. In the meantime, here’s my favorite song of theirs, which they played at the show.

Murder By Death at The Taft

Finally, I headed to Sugar Baron at the Main Event. This is the only venue that was consistently poor in terms of sound quality. I think Sugar Baron would be great in a different setting. I only caught a few songs, but what I did hear had over-amplified drums and indistinguishable vocals. I would give them another try in a different setting.

I was excited to find my way home. I was exhausted and very happy with my music experience. It was dawning on me that this years line-up might be the best to date in terms of the quality of the bands booked.

October 1, 2013
by allthenamesaretakensothisisreallyreallylong 6 Comments

Midpoint Music Festival 2013 in Review: Thursday

If you are a regular reader, you know I live in Cincinnati, Ohio. You also know that music is a passion of mine. Midpoint Music Festival is a three-day event in Cincinnati that features ~200 indie rock bands at venues that are walkable in downtown. A three day pass to the event is only 69 dollars. Past artists have included Grizzly Bear and Andrew Bird. This fest is tons of new music for a really low price; it’s my Christmas.

I’ve been to this fest for at least the last 7 years. Before I get into the specifics on the artists that I saw, a word about the over-all experience. This year’s line-up was the deepest and most eclectic that I’ve seen to date. I saw about 30 bands, and not a single one of them were bad. This is a first. At fests like this I usually find hits and misses. I am stunned to say there wasn’t a single miss for me this year. So, the booking this year, really couldn’t have been better. In addition, the sound at the venues excellent, with the exception of Main Event. The sound there was just terrible. With fourteen of the fifteen venues nailing it, I can’t complain. Perfection is tough to achieve. I am crossing my fingers that they weed that venue out for future years. The stand out was The Taft Ballroom. That might be the best sound that I’ve ever heard at this fest.

In years past, the show times ranged between 6pm and 1230am Thursday through Saturday. This year they spread the show times out a bit with day shows at Findlay Market Friday through Sunday and shows starting as early as 1pm on Saturday. I love that they are spreading the music out a bit. Practically, I can see twice the bands with this new arrangement. I loved that, and I hope they keep it up next year. I suspect this move wasn’t intentional. The Cincinnati Symphony opened their season across the street from the Washington Park venue on Saturday night. I think they had to bump the show times up so that the fest noise wouldn’t disrupt the symphony. I hope this happens again next year.

Now then, on to the music. Here’s what my agenda was for Thursday.

5:00 Cincy Brass at Washington Park
5:30 Sidwalk Chalk at MPMF Midway
7:15 Cody ChesnuTT at Washington Park
8:45 Shuggie Otis at Washington Park
8:30 Sohio at Mainstay
9:30 Crystal Bright & the Silver hands at Japp’s
9:30 Fort Shame at Motr
9:30 Kurt Vile at Grammer’s
10:45 N…erves Junior at MOTR
11:15 Dead Gaze at Below Zero
11:30 Baths at Comtemporary Arts Center
12:00 The Thermals at Taft
12:15 Dent May at Below Zero

I basically managed all of that list except Dent May, Dead Gaze, and Nerves Junior. Dead Gaze was late starting, so I had to abandon them to see Baths. I missed Dent May because The Thermals were so excellent, that I couldn’t pull myself away. Nerves Junior had to cancel because they were stuck in a traffic SNAFU due to an animal fat spill on I-71. Yeah, you read that right.

Cincy Brass sounded great, but I haven’t heard them perform poorly yet, so no surprises there. The only unfortunate bit for them was their time slot. Five o’clock on a Thursday just isn’t the best time to get good attendance. Sidewalk Chalk’s music isn’t really my bag, but they sounded great. The bonus was the tap solos that the keyboardists would take at regular intervals. Cody ChesnuTT is an engaging performer fun to watch and great to hear. The only puzzling thing here was the backing vocals. The band was nailing it with their instruments, but their backing vocals were off-key. That took a bit away from the experience, but just a bit. Shuggie Otis and his band were consummate pros. These guys were so tight. The horns were killer. Like Sidewalk Chalk, Shuggie’s music isn’t my bag, but I love a tight performance. I was not disappointed. I only stopped into Sohio for a couple tunes, because I needed to go back uptown for Shuggie. Crystal Bright has an incredible set of pipes. In the age of auto-tuning, live performances have the potential to be disappointing. Crystal’s voice is all real. Fort Shame sounded good, but they didn’t really grab me. Kurt Vile sounded great. Although, something felt empty after hearing Shuggie’s bright horns.

Baths were weird. Weird enough that they get more than a couple sentences. It’s hard to make electronic music compelling to watch live. I can’t get excited about seeing a couple of guys fiddling with tech for an hour. On top of that, I found the singer’s voice off-putting in person. I don’t know what magic happens in the studio (reverb maybe), but it didn’t translate to a live experience. The singer came out looking like he was running a marathon. His shorts were Richard-Simmons short. Musically they nailed it. I loved their albums and will continue to purchase them. I probably won’t pay to see them live again though. If there was a disappointment of the weekend this was it. Of all the bands I listened to in prep for this fest, Baths was my favorite find. And it was the live performance that I liked the least.

The Thermals get a paragraph too. These were my surprise band of the night. I’ve seen so many punk shows. I’ve been to so many Warped Tours before it was Van’s Warped Tour. I’m a little jaded with the punk live show narrative. Moshing. Crowd surfing. Screaming. And often, but not always poor musicianship. The Thermals… They were super tight. There wasn’t a false note. And they were intense in this sweet, earnest way. I wanted to rock with them and give them a hug. I had intended to leave this show a bit early to catch the end of Dent May, but I couldn’t tear myself away. They seemed so genuinely happy that people in Cincinnati would turn up to see them. The drummer ended the show by diving into the crowd. It was sweet, raucous fun.

Friday Recap will come soon!

Kim Deal of the Breeders. Their show wasn’t until Saturday, so the review is pending. But I like the picture.

July 26, 2013
by allthenamesaretakensothisisreallyreallylong 2 Comments

A Break from Books: Bunbury Music Festival in Review

I’m taking a break from books for this post. Bunbury happened a little over a week ago. I went. I had the most rock and roll experience in recent memory. Here’s what happened.

I live within walking distance of the park in which Bunbury takes place. I have been to other music festivals, Lollapalooza and multiple Warped Tours. I jumped at the chance to attend a festival that wouldn’t require travel and lodging, even with a line-up that wasn’t wholly in line with my tastes.

Bunbury distinguished itself from other fests by supplying free water and misting stations as well as abundant beer booths-including craft beers, local food vendors, shady napping spots, porta johns, and cell charging stations. In addition, the organizers had the forethought to issue color coaded wrist bands that indicated both what type of pass you purchased, but also your over/under 21 status, allowing you to leave your id at home once you’ve picked up your wrist band.

Bunbury 2012 was so enjoyable that I purchased VIP tickets for Bunbury 2013 without a single band announced and zero information on the VIP amenities. The VIP three day pass was $295 as opposed to $90 for the standard three day pass, so it felt like a risky decision at the time. I was not disappointed.

Before I get into the specifics of the shows, the VIP tickets were well worth it. First, there was a generous area sectioned off in front of the main stage, enabling me to walk to the front of any of the headliner shows. In addition, there were intimate shows in the air-conditioned VIP tent, after which the band members chatted, took photos, and signed autographs. The drink specials in the VIP tent included dollar water and sodas, 2 dollar beers and malt beverages, and 3 dollar wine and mixed drinks as well as free Street Pops (yum!) and free food around dinner time. Considering beers outside the VIP tent were 6 or 7 dollars, I estimate that the VIP tix saved me 100 or 150 dollars in food and drink for the weekend. To top it all off, the musicans cycled in and out of the VIP area, Brent Dressner from The National for example. This is where I ran into one of the guys from CAKE, who complemented by tattoo. Oh, and Peeta from the Hunger Games movies was back there.

Now then, these are the bands that I saw, followed by my abbreviated highlights and, in some cases, lowlights.

Friday: The Features, American Authors, Delta Rae, Tegan and Sara, Sky Ferreira, Walk the Moon, DeVotchKa, fun.
My thoughts: stand out shows were Walk the Moon for being adorably proud to be playing to their home town and DeVotchKa for being one of the best performance bands ever. Random discovery: Tegan and Sara are tiny women. If there was such a thing as pocket lesbians, they would be it.

Seriously. They are tiny, tiny women.

Saturday: Margaret Darling, Vacationer, Bears of Blue River, Taylor Alexander, Chairlift, Twenty One Pilots, Black Owls, We Are Scientists, CAKE, Atlas Genius, MGMT
My thoughts: Atlas Genius sounded excellent. Their show sounded almost exactly like their record; not a single note was missed plus loads of energy. Without question I will be getting tickets to see them when they come back in the fall. The Black Owls and CAKE sounded incredible. The guys in those bands appeared to be in their 40’s or 50’s and have the confidence and skills of seasoned professionals. Bears of Blue River get the award for sounding awful. They were a sloppy, out-of-tune mess. MGMT gets the award for being insufferable pricks for refusing to play “Kids”. Only Radiohead can get away with that crap.

Sunday: A Silent Film, Camera Obscura, Belle and Sebastian, Yo La Tengo, The National
My thoughts: A Silent Film was a wonderful surprise. They were great to watch and sounded like a pleasing combination of U2, “Where The Streets Have No Name” era, and Coldplay divided by Keane. Belle and Sebastian had adorable banter with the crowd. Yo La Tengo redeemed themselves for the abysmal performance they delivered the last time I saw them. Finally, The National melted my face off with rock and roll. Matt Berninger jumped off the stage for “Mr. November” and wandered through the crowd, all the while people patiently passed the microphone cord between them to enable Matt’s wandering. He walked right past me on his way back up to the stage. I have never seen a crowd simultaneously keyed-up and controlled. I was able to solve a longstanding mystery. How can he perform in a vest and button down shirt without melting? The answer is he sweats though all his layers of clothing. They finished with “Terrible Love” Matt wandered back into the crowd to dole out set lists, his half-finished bottle of wine, and improbably his microphone stand. I am curious to know who made it out of the gates with that last item.

Over-all, Bunbury was great. I was truly sad when it was over. I can’t wait until next year.

Matt Berninger sweat on me. That could be a command or a statement of fact.

Kate's Queen City Notes

Blundering through Cincinnati, laughing all the way

Tag Archives: Music