On the Scene: Governor's Ball, Day 2, (June 7, 2014) by Liz Maher

Liz Maher checks in enduring the suffering that must have been day #2 of Governor's Ball 2014 on Governor's Island, NYC. Take it away, Liz:

Anyone not properly drunk or medicated enough, and probably most of the staff working the show at Governor's Ball NYC on Saturday, can relate to legendary Fear's "Let’s Have a War". I know, my bad, so forgive me for any grumpiness that comes across.

Fitz & the Tantrums, playing at the Honda Stage, are a "fucking party band." Not a bad one, but

A fucking party band

do they really need to remind a crowd to "fucking get down and party" more than once, no less seven times? Dropkick Murphy’s been there and done that better, too. They do have a James Lovelock point about living a meaningful life in the face of ecological collapse and the well-deserved extinction event that is the past shelf-date death of humanity. So, "fucking get down and party!" That being said, the giddy crowd obediently waved their hands in the air and, like Miley advised prolifically on the eve of her Walmart collab, chorused back a dutiful "Yeah!" Noelle Scaggs was beyond super-human, dancing in the heat non-stop, self-flagging herself like a Penitente with a tambourine through F&T's full set. It was almost like she was at another band’s show instead of at frat-boy central. She said, "I was going to be all cute in black" but was also suffering in the heat despite being exactly what she intended. Future fest-goers should take hints from her flattering shorts,and pink sports bra, offering both coolness with a hint of color, all shrouded in airy and forgiving black mesh and fringe. Of course, "Out of My League" and Scaggs-sung songs reigned as successes for the adoring hoard. A cover of Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams" was pretty good, too. Scagg on!

Fashion note here, wearing only a bra works best if you are fit and flat chested. If you disregard this fashion hint, at least don't wear a dirty, flimsy nasty grey-colored bra. Back in the day, Courtney Love pulled it off only because at 6'2", with arms toned from Hole performances, she only wore quality vintage. Only young, firm flesh should be exposed and Lena Dunham’s sisters should stay on the wall at the Rijksmuseum in the Hague lying on couches and eating grapes in Rubens portraits. Consider what works best for you, not what starlets wear to past Coachellas. Plunging neckline tanks looked fresh on just about everyone. Have you noticed that humans (you mean Americans? - Ed.) are only allowed to enjoy the passing of time if it is commodified and sold as an event?

So, next up was Broken Bells, but we needed water, so spent enough time in the sun-battered water

Broken Bells

line to send us into delirium, which required crashing in the shade of the Gotham Stage. On the way we passed a long line at the Flower Crown concession. Another fashion note, flower crowns had a moment four years ago. They don't anymore. Especially so if said head piece is made of plastic in China. Gilded head combs are lighter, more flattering and in style, although I am not a head comb girl. Another fashion note: If you have long hair, please braid it as a courtesy to those unfortunate enough to be standing behind you. Also, do not dip your braids in chemicals.

The Strokes "look terrible but sounded great," remarked my astute buddy. "Still cool!" according to Julian Casablancas, who has come full circle from style icon to punch line to retro chic. Appropriately, he wore a Hawaiian bowling shirt. Didn’t I see him in a Gin advert or at a Walkmen reunion? And so the Strokes, in a set thankfully dominated by Room On Fire and Is This It? made me wish I had not passed on their pre-GovBall NYC show at The Capitol Theatre. Should we be worried about Fab Moretti? He's looking like Charlie Watts now does. Guess their 30's are the new 60's. Albert Hammond Jr. looked the healthiest, kind of like Tim Broun does these days although his business model is closer to Jarvis Crocker. No matter, the songs are solid as one would expect after so many years and 35-year old Casablancas's voice remains strong. (Probably all the spiru-protein veggie garlic smoothies.) Their VU repetitive chords remain unscathed and perfected with Strokian non-chalance. Drone rock this was not. "Barely Legal", "NYC Cops", "Take It Or Leave It" and "Reptilia" got the biggest applause. 

The Strokes by Dana (distortion) Yavin. See more at Brooklyn Vegan (They really DO look like crap! - Ed.)

Spoon was strategically ditched in order to score a better spot for Jack White, which was just as well as they sound dull as hell. Passing on that new album. Yeah, and the Guster record, too.

Festival Etiquette Lecture: Please men, do not use women as arm rests or recliners, especially when said male is over 200 lbs and said woman is 110 lbs. Please also refrain from smoking when fellow concert goers are squeezing the life's breathe out of each other.

About a half-hour before Jack White went on, I passed out and wound up in the medic tent, which is a strange experience. My only comfort was that I was too hot and dehydrated to evacuate, like poor still-dead Hunter Thompson after a gin binge (again, pretty sure that was Casablancas in the gin advert). Most of the staff was caring, winning praise for working under stressful conditions. Whoever was in charge that night should be nominated for a Grammy for humanitarian acts of kindness. My assigned doctor looked like an un-buff, episode 7-8 Matthew McConaughey in True Detective, but then I was semi-delirious. It's sort of interesting watching them play "Guess Which Drug(s) This Guy Took?" as they gather around and spit out various remedies. Naltrexone, anyone? Then White came on and it was time to end my accouchement. I caught the first few songs from the tent, and they rallied me to get back out there and cover this show. Remember dear reader, I suffer for you.

Jack White by Burak Cingi/Getty Images

A trim White looked amazing and sounded even better. His stage show was stunning: bathed in blue light with scaled up "Highball Stepper" and "Lazaretto" vid effects. The stage set made the entire White experience feel like we were all watching TV in a dark living room, reinforced by the blue and white wave display television from the video. Wearing a Liberty-like printed floral shirt and suspenders, White was in top form, covering new material with a few well-chosen early Stripes songs that fitted well with his current reflection on early-twenties Jack White and one Raconteurs' "Steady As She Goes". "The Rose With A Broken Neck" was even thrown in for those who missed the film. Honestly, "We're Going To Be Friends" never sounds as good as Jack Johnson's cover of the song for his Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies for Curious George soundtrack, although it was a pretty good effort on White's part. He was undisputedly the best dressed person at the show, even without a flower crown. "Lazaretto" is almost made for audience sing alongs - When I say nothing, I say everything. Guess the litigation as therapy is working out for him. White, more energized and less stressed than he was during his Blunderbuss tour, cut his pounding, physical performance with dramatic stops to build on his tone and atmosphere, outdoing any synthesizer or shoe-gazing act out there. His phrasing on the lower bridge of the neck was impeccable, as always, and it is that precision which allows him to stop, unlike many sloppy shredders whom I will not name. His new material is dazzling, making you scratch you head at how he achieves various effects and causes. Supporting him is a band retaining only Lillie Mae Rische from the Peacocks and most of the Buzzards. White's intimate performances with Rische were sweet, making every woman in the audience wish they had red hair. Unfortunately, the closeness of these two performers killed any chance of Allison Mosshart making a cameo.

Aside from White's slightly patronizing quips like "Is that too much for you, NY?" and "If you want to sing along, I won't get mad at you," he made the whole horrible festival experience and medical emergency drama worth it, but it wasn't worth missing handstand workshop the next day. We're eagerly awaiting the release of White's album tomorrow, and hopefully a full tour that includes NYC's smaller arenas.

Daisy's Letter From London: Best of 2012

 

1. 198 Gallery:  Blank Generation Punk Poster Exhibition - Daisy's friend from art school, Lucy Davies, now runs a great Community Gallery that hosted Gary Loveridge's punk poster collection…a good time was had by all!

2. Moonrise Kingdom by Wes Anderson

2A: To ward off homesickness:  I listen to Radio Free Song Club 

3. Dexy's new album, One Day I'm Going to Soar, played in full at Shepherd's Bush (not a dry eye in the house).

4.  Stone Roses reform and play 3 sold out gigs in their home town, Manchester.  This is Gary holding up my new hat in Heaton Park (left).

6.  There is actually a sunny day in the summer and we sit on a hill by Alexandra Palace and have a picnic.  

5.  We played Jack White's fantastic but creepy new solo album Blunderbuss in the car.  Meanwhile Jack White wears BLUE clothes!

6.  Gary visits San Francisco, goes to see Rise and Fall of The Clash and meets up and coming Spanish filmmaker, Danny Garcia - introduces Daisy via Facebook, and Daisy starts transcribing interviews for his new movie Looking For Johnny (Thunders) and the flashbacks begin!

7. Daisy goes to Paris with Alexandra.  While Alex goes to her 30th high school reunion, Daisy enjoys Noir Blanche.  We stay in the crepe district, visit Samuel Beckett, buy a new umbrella.

8. Rough Trade Record Shop events:  We particularly enjoyed Jarvis Cocker reading from Mother Brother Lover.

9. Living legend, Lee Black Childers' book launch at Soho's Society Club.

10.  Gary goes to all of the Memorial events for 10th Anniversary of Joe Strummer's death. Namely:  

- The Arms Aloft in Acton Town gig at the Tabernacle Notting Hill

- Joe Strummer Memorial Poster Pop Up Exhibition at Tabernacle

- Meeting Joe Strummer - a play by Paul Hodson at the Cockpit, NW8

- London's Burning (a particularly good performance by The Phobics) 

- 100 Club weekend of gigs, Remembering Joe: 10th Anniversary Memorial Weekend, which featured Spizz, The Duel, Ruts DC, The Latchicos, Glen Matlock, Eddie Tenpole, and TV Smith

 

On the scene: Jack White Sells Out Fans at Sold-Out Show at Radio City Music Hall, 9.29.12

Reviewed by Liz Maher exclusively for Stupefaction - thanks Liz!:


WTF? That was the reaction of the audience of  Jack White fans as they sat in disbelief when after 50 minutes, White left the stage and refused to come out for an encore.

The audience, who paid a steep price for tickets, either from White's Third Man site or Ticketmaster or even higher from Stubhub or other resale sites, clearly expected more than 50-minutes of White. After an explosive opening, White chided the audience for not applauding loud enough, comparing them to people at an NPR convention. Since the crowd was cheering loudly, this was a little odd.

White then played mostly tunes from Blunderbuss with a White Stripe, Dead Weather and Raconteurs song thrown in.

The show was going along pretty good, except when White would talk in a Bob Dylan voice and even sang the beginning of Top Yourself Dylan-esque. At one point, he mentioned he loved NYC and then sarcastically referred to "the 10% of the audience who were cheering so loud he couldn't hear himself think." Again, strange since mostly everyone was cheering, clapping and into it. After covering, Love Interruption, to the crowd's applause, White asked the crowd, with some annoyance in his voice, if he should do the rest of the show in  all acoustics. That would have been fine as with him playing, it's bound to be great. White went onto play I Guess I Should Go To Sleep and Hypocritical Kiss and Take Me With You When You Go on piano and guitar.  Follow-up by  Ball & Biscuit, after which White left the stage not to be seen again. Wide disbelief through the hall. Cheering and booing (certainly) didn't work. After 25 minutes the ushers came around and asked everyone to clear the arena.

At the concession stand, people were simultaneously returning and purchasing White merchandise.

So why did White cut the performance so short? Surely it couldn't have been the quality of the sound, since all those things get worked out ahead of time and White agreed and accepted compensation to perform a show there. And why then stiff a loyal fan base that had to endure a sound he himself wasn't pleased with but put up with out of love and respect for him? Was it the cell-phone people? He hates them but did not refer to them. Radio City staff did ask a women from the audience with a cell-phone to go with them. Was it the faux-redheaded band photographer who also rubbed the audience the wrong way? Hhhhmmm...

As a White fan, I feel puzzled and short-changed. Encores are part of the whole concert experience and actually create some superficial feeling of intimacy between fan and performer. I could live without encores, though, if the show itself was a respectable length. Robert Smith once reminisced that before he got big with the Banshees and Cure, he was a big Rolling Stones fan and was terribly disappointed after he saved up to pay Stones' high ticket price and traveled very far to see them perform, only for them to play a barely 30 minute show. He vowed never to do same to his fans.

Unless White suddenly became ill or had a family emergency, it was a diva stunt. Or ill-conceived marketing stunt? Or somehow S&M fan punishment, stemming from a repressive upbringing as a Catholic in bleak Detroit.

But, then again, he's a genius so we are supposed to accept these types of things. On the plus side, I hope this make his tickets easier to get and cheaper.

White will be back Sunday to disappoint and piss-off fans once again.

Before & After - I'm Shakin'

Before - Little Willie John (1960)


During - The Blasters (1981)


After - Jack White (2012)

On the scene: Jack White live at Roseland

Contribution from Liz Maher:

Roseland Ballroom - May 21, 2012 - Jack White is touring in support of his acclaimed debut solo album Blunderbuss. Tonight he has the all male band, Los Buzzardos, backing him up; the all female Peacocks will be up the following night. Roadies and guitar techs scurry around in uniform black suits with blue ties and suspenders making sure an army of stringed instruments are tuned in various keys and ready to go. A suspicious red haired photographer in a pale blue cotton dress snaps pictures throughout the show.

After years of sharing the spotlight with Meg White in The White Stripes, Allison Mosshart in The Dead Weather, and trying to blend in with lesser axe men, in the Raconteurs, Jack White is a solo act. Well, not exactly, this solo act comes with 2 bands for a total on-stage support team of around 14. Queasy thoughts of musical theatre come to mind. Having grown up the youngest of 10, White must feel right at home on a crowded stage. White is still keeping people confused and distracted, wondering which song is about x-Meg, xx-Karen Elson or y-Allison. Karen’s ever present backing vocals on tracks about women who abused White makes things even weirder in an MTV personalities trump music way. Blunderbuss is a bit of soap opera – the tracks Hypocritical Kiss and Love Interruption are angst-ridden telenovella episodes --but it’s a soap that mostly rocks in drop E tuning which surpasses the drama. It is clear White can play solo – as long as he is not alone. (Continued after the jump.)