Thursday, October 20, 2005

Kanye West - UnCommonly Good

Kanye had the spotlight all to himself last night at the A-Hall, as his Touch The Sky Tour rolled through the 'paign. Unless you count Fantasia (who, for a pop singer, isn't too bad), Kanye had to be worth the $48 ticket all on his own after Common dropped out in the past week or so due to taking a role in a movie. Which torked this concert goer a little, especially since he wasn't replaced on the bill.

However, Kanye had the chops and the songs to make us all forget Common. Clocking in at around an hour-and-a-half, West piled up some hits at the begininng of the show (Touch The Sky, We Dont Care, Workout Plan, etc.) and then went on to play storyteller through song. He closed out with another string of faves, including Slow Jamz, Through The Wire, Gold Digger, Jesus Walks, and Diamonds Are Forever. He was an engaging presence throughout, and, yes, there were even costume changes.

Little wonder that today I sound like I've been taking speech lessons from Bruce Almighty (aka Coach Weber, aka BAM). Damn concerts and fall allergies...

Sunday, October 16, 2005

1st Annual Rockfest - Not Too Shabby

I will remember this gig not only for the performances, but for the sheer amount of people I ran into that I hadn't seen for years. It was truly ridiculous. So much so, that, by the end of the night, I was sitting in Merry Ann's downtown with a girl that I was friends with when I was eight who just moved back to town with her Danish break-beat-producing/kindergarten-teaching boyfriend. My voice is just starting to recover from the sheer amount of conversation. I also drank a "B to the E" last night on accident. And please, will someone... anyone... pull the plug on "The Rock?" Some douchebag from the Mancow morning show made an appearance and everyone was basically laughing at them.

So... HUM... they were HUM. I dug the Cowboy Monkey show from a few years ago more, but it was fun, for sure. American Minor pulled out a fucking incredible version of the Allman Brother's classic "Whipping Post" and seriously impressed the roadies for Shooter Jennings. It managed to top the story of how they totaled their tour van by driving into a school bus in Delaware. No one was injured, but what a story... they ended up buying a new van there to drive back here for the gig on little to no sleep.

Feel free to comment on your opinion of the show as well.

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