Review retrospective: So many concerts!

I had doubts about fitting decent coverage of the first 100 reviews into a single post anyway. I remembered it as an exciting time with some great bands, where some of the later hundreds just aren't going to measure up. 

I had forgotten how awesome it was concert-wise.

Already covered, my first band reviewed was The All-American Rejects, and there were four other bands associated with that concert. (The concert was at the end of October 2012, but I started getting reviews up in December because I was still figuring things out.) They got two posts and two weeks of songs.

I have also indicated that the band for my next concert, the Gin Blossoms, will also get their own week. 

It may be worth mentioning that in early October I wrote about seeing The Fixx at Music Millennium, and in February 2014 I was going to see Reggie and the Full Effect at Branx. There were cool, important to me things about both of those shows, and I did blog about The Fixx though I did not consider it a review.

That makes an exciting, extended concert-going period, but still does not tell you that between Rejects and Reggie, between January and December 2013, I saw twelve different shows. 

It was not technically one show a month, though it was mostly spread out. Sometimes things got a little tight.

Surprisingly, it was only seven different venues, with four at the Roseland, three at the Crystal Ballroom (so seven on Burnside), plus one each at the Rose Garden, Spirit Mountain, the Schnitz, and Wonder Ballroom, plus one at The Haunt, which was a "haunted house", but a seasonal set up one, not a real one.

It involved 28 different bands.

It involved more healing. At some point after I got to see The Presidents and the Daddies, I received new wounds. I had tickets for Keane and that was canceled when Tom needed to go to rehab, and I was at a Jimmy Eat World show with Maria and she needed to leave early because she had work the next morning and it was going late. 

I got to see them both. I knew it was exciting at the time, and I blogged about it twice (with some wrong predictions), but eight years later I had forgotten how exciting it was.

I can't even link to all of the reviews; it would be overkill. They will all be in the spreadsheet I am working on, and a link to that will go up when it is finished.

I can't do a song for each band this week; that would take a month! I am sure some will come up later. I am taking notes. 

Of course, I did songs for all of them then, and sometimes multiple songs. I didn't end up at the concerts by accident. Some of these bands meant a lot to me.

I will give a summary of the concerts.

Gin Blossom: Spirit Mountain Casino, Ambrosia opened. Went with Jeana and Angela. Encountered everyone in the band and talked to two of them.

The Killers: The Rose Garden, M83 and Tegan and Sara opened. Went with Karen. With the openers, it was interesting to see that bands you can enjoy live can be totally not your thing recorded.

Keane: The Crystal Ballroom. Youngblood Hawke opened. Went alone. (first time, except for some Rose Festival shows)

The Gaslight Anthem: Wonder Ballroom. Matt Mays and Westchester United Football Club opened. Went alone. I had wanted to see them their previous time in town, but found out about it too late. Both opening bands were touching in different ways.

Mindless Self Indulgence: Roseland. The Red Paintings opened. Went alone. I briefly interacted with everyone in MSI Lynz and Kitty were especially wonderful -- and I met The Red Paintings singer, Trash. He explained to me why he doesn't hug people, and then he hugged me. I don't know if he decided I really needed it or that he wouldn't mind it.

Farewell My Love: The Haunt. Headliner was Snow White's Poison Bite. Also on the bill, Kissing Candace and Chomp Chomp Attack!, plus two local bands, Whispers of Wonder and We Rise the Tides. Went alone. This was my first time going to see a band because they had followed me and I was going to review them, as opposed to being previously invested.

Fall Out Boy: Roseland. New Politics opened. Went alone. Talked to David Boyd of New Politics for a bit and was really impressed with him.

Jimmy Eat World: Crystal Ballroom. X Ambassadors opened. Went alone. That guarantees not having to leave early.

Adam Ant: Roseland. Prima Donna opened. Went with Julie, Maria, and Bonnie. Talked to Kevin of Prima Donna for a bit. They were a find.

Pet Shop Boys: The Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. No opening act. Went with Julie, Maria, and Tripp. That show was a trip, but this band does what they want, in their own way, and I respect that. Shockingly, it was their first time playing in Portland.

AFI: Roseland. Touché Amoré opened. Went alone. It was Halloween and everyone in Touché Amoré was dressed as a breakfast item. While I like AFI better musically, I will always have a fondness for Touché Amoré from that night.

ETA: Looking back at the pictures, only two of them were breakfast. The other three were fast food. Still delightful.

Third Eye Blind: Crystal Ballroom. TEAM* opened. Went alone, but I had interacted with some of the musicians on Twitter, and seeing the way they each got their moment felt really good. Also interesting talking to the TEAM* singer there.

Songs for this week:

“All These Things That I've Done” by The Killers -- This was a really good moment in the concert, and it's a fun song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZTpLvsYYHw

“The Lovers Are Losing” by Keane -- I love a lot of songs by this band, but this is the one that comes to mind now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXH5yL8bDbU

“Great Expectations” by The Gaslight Anthem -- They are good overall, but it is really about two songs for me, this and "59 Sound", but this one came first.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2Leo9HSaGQ

“Goodbye, Copenhagen” by New Politics -- Also a really good band, but this is one that really stuck with me and never got an official release. They are from Copenhagen so it is kind of about leaving home to pursue their careers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVRJbv_p0Vk

“Feral Children” by Prima Donna -- I love this band and have done multiple songs by them, but I have avoided this one because it is a little too sexy. Be warned.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsAnnPuqhgU

“Deep Slow Panic” by AFI -- Many good songs here, but this is one that was new at the time and really spoke to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llVl-SKdMec

“Come To My House” by TEAM* -- I had forgotten about this one until I started going back over old reviews. It's good to go back sometimes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1H2xLXygBw

Related posts: 

https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-fixx-live-at-music-millennium.html

https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-year-of-magical-concert-going.html

https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2013/06/concert-going-music-writing-update.html

https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2017/10/one-story-of-one-band.html