Sinéad O'Connor - Good Night, Thank You, You've Been A Lovely Audience: Live In Dublin. Review

This week begins a new series on Life On This Planet - Concert Film Of The Day. I will be watching 5 live concert videos and then featuring one every day this week. Keep up on my daily postings by clicking LIKE over at the Life On This Planet Blog Page on Facebook.

In 2002, Sinead O'Connor announced her retirement from music - today's Concert Film Of The Day was to be her farewell. Filmed live in Dublin, in front of her hometown audience, it's an intimate show and begins as such, with a dedication of the Irish song, Molly Malone, to her 'daddy' who is in the audience. Most of the tracks performed at this show are taken from her most recent effort at the time, Sean-Nos Nua, which exclusively  featured reworkings of traditional Irish songs.

O'Connor's vocals are amazing, and it shows on 'My Lagan Love,' and a spectacular version of the song that put her on the international map - Prince's 'Nothing Compares 2 U.' The band is amazing, with a wide range of instrumentation, including concertina, violins and cello. 'John, I Love You,' taken from her fourth album, 1994's Universal Mother, shines even brighter with this band.

A performance of the Bono / Gavin Friday composition, 'You Made Me The Thief Of Your Heart,' from the In The Name Of The Father soundtrack, is intense. Speaking of U2, Steve Wickham plays fiddle in O'Connor's band - you may have heard him play on a song called 'Sunday Bloody Sunday.'


The show ends with a dynamic version of 'The Last Day Of Our Acquaintance.' Thankfully, retirement didn't last long for O'Connor - she released a new album just a few years later.


The DVD has a documentary and six music videos as bonus content.


Track Listing:  Molly Malone / Oro Se do Bheathat Bhaile / The Singing Bird / My Lagan Love / I Am Stretched On Your Grave / Nothing Compares 2 U / John, I Love You / The Moorlough Shore / You Made Me The Thief Of Your Heart / Paddy's Lament / Thank You For Hearing Me / Fire On Babylon / The Last Day Of Our Acquaintance

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R.E.M. - Tourfilm. Review

This week begins a new series on Life On This Planet - Concert Film Of The Day. I will be watching 5 live concert videos and then featuring one every day this week. Keep up on my daily postings by clicking LIKE over at the Life On This Planet Blog Page on Facebook.

Feeling a bit nostalgic since the announcement of their breakup, I decided to check out an old R.E.M. concert video called Tourfilm. Shot over 5 shows on R.E.M.'s Green Tour, it was originally released on VHS back in 1990.

Tourfilm starts off a bit awkward, with a tepid version of Green's huge single, Stand, but luckily they recover with a superb take on The One I Love. It's a joy watching guitarist Peter Buck spin on his heels, holding that classic black and white Rickenbacker.

The set list is heavy on Green / Document era tracks, with only one song represented from 1983's Murmur, and nothing from Reckoning. A major highlight is the performance of You Are The Everything, complete with Mike Mills on accordion, Peter Buck on mandolin and drummer Bill Berry on bass. Not only is it one of my favorite R.E.M. tracks, but this song is the predecessor of the sound that the band would explore to great heights on their next couple of records - in particular, Losing My Religion.

Deep album cuts such as King of Birds and I Believe really stand out on this show, as well as Document's lead-off track, Finest Worksong. After the brilliant performance of Murmur's Perfect Circle, the band takes the stage for a fun, but sloppy version of the Velvet Underground's After Hours - filmed at the very end of the last show of the tour.

Overall, it was cool seeing this era of R.E.M.'s career performed live. There are some other killer live DVDs available, scroll down for links. :)

Track Listing:  Stand / The One I Love / These Days / Turn You Inside-Out / World Leader Pretend / Feeling Gravity's Pull / I Believe / I Remember California / Get Up / It's The End Of The World As We Know It / Pop Song 89 / Fall On Me / You Are The Everything / Begin The Begin / King Of Birds / Finest Worksong / Perfect Circle / After Hours

Check out my list of The 20 Best R.E.M. Songs

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The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Live at Revolver Records, Phoenix, AZ, April 14, 2011

Independent record stores have become a dying breed, but I gotta tell you that here in Phoenix we are fortunate to have some killer shops still standing. Zia, Stinkweeds, Hoodlums, Rockzone and the host of a rad free show today - Revolver Records.

On the way to Coachella, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart stopped in Phoenix to perform a free show on the patio of Revolver.  I have their self-titled debut and really didn't really give it a chance to grow on me.  But when I saw the announcement yesterday for the show at one of my favorite record stores, I couldn't pass it up to check them out live.

Promoting their freshly-released second album, Belong, NYC's The Pains of Being Pure at Heart really impressed me with their catchy, melodic tunes. They're a five-piece band with keyboards, a bright youthful energy and conjure up The Jesus And Mary Chain a little, although quite a bit more cheery. Be sure to check them out while they are still on the road.  Tour dates are posted here.

A huge thank you to Revolver for hosting tonight's show. Please enjoy some photos and a live video for their newest single 'Heart In Your Heartbreak.' The album Belong can be purchased online by clicking here. I grabbed a vinyl copy at the show tonight and I gotta tell you, I'm really digging it.

"Heart In Your Heartbreak" - Live at Revolver Records, April 14, 2011

(Sorry for the shaky cam!)

Images taken by yours truly, Bret Helm.

The official video for "Heart In Your Heartbreak"

Placebo at The Hollywood Palace - May 15, 2001

I have a friend named Gitane DeMone.  You may know her from the band Christian Death, her solo career, or maybe her new band The Crystelles.  Anyways, one night a group of us were at a Denny's after a show Audra (my band) performed with Gitane.  She told me about this new band that she liked called Placebo.  The next day I went out and bought their album and was pretty blown away.

In 2001, I was finally able to catch Placebo live in Hollywood at The Palace.  LA locals Tate opened the show, followed by the Scottish band Idlewild, then Placebo.

The show was memorable for two reasons.

1.  Placebo were just plain great.

2.  Morrissey was in the VIP box.  At one point in the show, I looked up towards one of the boxes in the theatre and one of the rotating lights happened to hit a very distinct-looking fellow standing in the back.  :)

3.  Placebo performed a couple of songs with the guy who fronted the opening band.  His name was Justin Warfield.  He already had made a guest appearance on Placebo's third album, Black Market Music, on the track Spite And Malice.  A few years later, Warfield found success with a band that Audra has played with called She Wants Revenge.

Placebo's Set List
1.  Dub Psychosis (intro)
2.  Haemoglobin
3.  Days Before You Came
4.  Allergic (To Thoughts Of Mother Earth)
5.  Scared Of Girls
6.  36 Degrees
7.  Passive Aggressive
8.  Leni
9.  Little Mo
10. Every You Every Me
11. Without You I'm Nothing
12. Feel Good Hit Of The Summer (Queens of the Stone Age cover)
13. Spite & Malice (with Justin Warfield)
14. Slave To The Wage
15. Special K
16. Taste In Men
Encore 1
17. My Sweet Prince
18. Commercial For Levi
19. Peeping Tom
Encore 2
20. Black-Eyed
21. Pure Morning (with Justin Warfield)

Unfortunately I couldn't find a video from this particular show, but here is one from the same year.  Please enjoy and thanks for reading.  - Bret

James live at The House of Blues, Anaheim, CA - October 12, 2010

I've seen hundreds of bands perform live.  This was as good as it can possibly get.  Phoenix was absent on their tour itinerary, so there wasn't even a second thought to make the 6-hour drive to the Disneyland House Of Blues in Anaheim.  Two years ago, they toured for their last album, Hey Ma - a great album and a great tour.  This time around it was to promote their double-album, The Morning After The Night Before (see my review here).

They opened the show with a couple of delicate tracks from 1993's Laid album, 'PS' and 'Five-O', with guitarist Larry Gott on electric dobro.  The Morning After's 'Tell Her I Said So', dedicated to singer Tim Booth's mom, was just amazing.  There was a great feeling of spontaneity as the band seemed to mix their set list up and play some real rarities - 'What's The World', which was the first song they wrote and one of the few cover songs that The Smiths performed live, 'Jam J' from the experimental Wah Wah album and a track from 1982 called 'Stutter.'  Tim jumped down into the crowd during 'Come Home' and sang from atop the bar.  Several tracks from Laid were prominent, including the brilliant 'Out To Get You' and 'Sometimes', which always ends in an a capella sing-along, 'Sometimes when I look in your eyes I can see your soul.'  One of the best parts of a James show is trumpet player Andy Diagram.  When not playing trumpet, he is often hitting a tambourine and singing along without a microphone.  During 'Sound', he walked off the stage and the next minute was up in the VIP balcony with us playing his trumpet.

Definite highlights:  Tell Her I Said So, Come Home, Sound, Johnny Yen, Seven, Ring The Bells, Sometimes.... actually, the entire show.  :)

Jim Glennie of James and me

Set List:
PS
Five-O
Tell Her I Said So
Dust Motes
Got The Shakes
Seven
She's A Star
Come Home
What's The World
Stutter
Out To Get You
Johnny Yen
It's Hot
Sit Down
Laid
Sound

Encore 1:
Say Something
Ring The Bells
Sometimes

Encore 2:
Jam J
Lullaby

The National live in Tempe, AZ - October 14th, 2010

I just returned home from Los Angeles where I saw one of my favorite bands, James.  Exhausted and hungry, I just couldn't pass up seeing The National at The Marquee in Tempe, AZ.

Owen Pallett opened the show - I believe it is the first band that I've seen where the singer plays violin at the same time.  Pretty cool stuff.

The National sounded great and were enhanced live by trumpet and trombone.  They performed a great deal of their new record, High Violet, which has been getting considerable play on my turntable since the day it was released.  I love it when bands do not save their 'hits' for the encore, so I was happy that 'Bloodbuzz Ohio' and 'Apartment Story' were performed early.  I also enjoyed singer Matt Berninger's random screams during a few songs.  :)

There are still a few U.S. dates left, be sure to catch them.

Set list:

Runaway

Anyone's Ghost

Brainy

Bloodbuzz Ohio

Slow Show

Squalor Victoria

Afraid Of Everyone

Baby, We'll Be Fine

Conversation 16

Apartment Story

Sorrow

Abel

Mistaken For Strangers

England

Fake Empire

Encore:

All The Wine

Mr. November

Terrible Love

Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks

I found this video up on the youtube from the show.  Please enjoy.