Concert – Page 69 – Concert Katie

Locksley&Tinted Windows

Katie June 18, 2009 0 Comments

Last night I made the trip to New York City (yes, on a WORK night! gasp!) to see Taylor Hanson’s new side project, Tinted Windows. I almost had the chance to see them two other times, but it didn’t work out – so I was glad I would finally be getting the chance to be checking them out.

The band Tinted Windows is made up of former Smashing Pumpkin James Iha (whom I used to have a huge crush on back in elementary and middle school), Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger, Hanson’s Taylor Hanson and Cheap Trick’s “Bun E. Fucking Carlos” (in the words of Taylor, that is)

It was quite a change getting to the venue a little under an hour before doors and looking at the line and seeing that we actually might have had a chance for front row. I was pleased, I just got a 26x zoom camera that I was dying to try out. (Unfortunately it looks like its going straight back to the store as it had major issues focusing in low light without using the flash!)

I had read that the highline ballroom offered seating on a first come first serve basis, so my friends Joey, Natalie and I decided to try that out. And were seated like RIGHT next to the stage. (Unfortunately on the opposite side of Kai of Locksley and James Iha, but I survived) They were amazing seats and the fact that I could sit the whole show and still see was fantastic.

Locksley came on at 9 (doors were at 7 so we had plenty of time to enjoy our meals) and while they are not the same 4 that I saw opening for Hanson (Aaron has left the band and has been replaced with Jordan) they were still fantastic. They are playing Brooklyn tomorrow night, which I might be attending, if I’m feeling up to it.

Taylor was watching from the side of the stage, really getting into them. I might have spent more time watching him than the band during some of the songs. Maybe. (If Kai wasn’t blocked by a HUGE dude and a mic stand, it might have been a different story)

Tinted Windows came out shortly after. I’m now being told it was a sell out crowd – the floor and tables did fill in very nicely closer to Locksleys set time. (When we first got in there was like 3 rows of people and we were a bit concerned that the show didn’t sell well, but once the main act took the stage the place was packed!)

Now, let me preface this by saying by this point I had a splitting headache so I wasn’t really getting into everything as much as I probably would have if I was feeling 100%. But, I just got their CD on Tuesday and have been listening to it in the car on my commute for the past 2 days. I felt like every song sounded EXACTLY like the cd. Which, I guess is a good thing because they didn’t sound horrible live, but I was hoping for a little bit extra.

The extra I did get seemed like Taylor trying to be “cool” saying words like “fucking” and “shit”. It seemed so out of place for him. I mean, he is a grown man and I am sure he says these words, but he never really says them on stage at Hanson shows (though I do remember a few “cusses” from the rock boat, which again leads me to believe he is just saying these things so people think hes a true rock star or something) so they seemed a bit out of place to me.

One thing my camera did get was an amazing photo of the setlist, so the list under the cut is completely 100% accurate to what was taped on stage. (And good thing, because I am not all that familiar with the song titles. I might have even had a cheat sheet typed into my phone so I could have an accurate list. Mayyybe…)

Only the setlist under the cut for now – I’ll pick out a couple of the decent pics (theres not many!) and post them at some point in the near future. (I might have Locksley Friday, The Little Mermaid Saturday, Demi Sunday and the Mets game on Monday if all goes according to plan, as well as getting over some random sickness that I had last night / today, so bear with me!)

Take Me Back
Can’t Get A Read ON You
Nothing To Me
Dead Serious
Messing With My Head
New Cassette
Back With You
Cha CHa
We Got Something
The Dirt
Kind Of A Girl
Doncha Wanna
Let Me Out (-KNACK-)

Without Love
I Don’t Mind

American Idol Concert

I don’t know how that happened…

Katie June 13, 2009 0 Comments

Generally I am VERY up to date on what is going on with my favorite artists. But last night, when I was doing my random check to see who was coming to the local casinos – I noticed David Cook was listed! And tickets were already on sale! Turns out, they had gone on sale 9am yesterday. So I wasn’t *too* off with finding out, but all of the floor was already sold out 🙁

I got a ticket in the middle of the venue.. not too bad, but obviously I’d like to be closer. At least I’ll be there and it wasn’t entirely sold out though, right? So my 4th David Cook show will be at MGM / Foxwoods and with any luck I’ll play my new favorite game – Texas Tea – and win myself some $$ before the show? (Last time i played it I doubled my money)

In other news – I am considering upgrading my camera from 18x zoom to 26x zoom as an early birthday gift for myself. Im hoping to buy it after I get paid on Monday, hopefully itll come by next week and I can try it out with Demi Lovato and David Archuleta and see if it will be a good investment for concerts. If not, it’ll be going straight back to the store!

Concert Honor Society

Full Moon Crazy!

Katie June 3, 2009 0 Comments

On the way to NYC Wednesday night, Lauren and I were waiting for Honor Society’s “big announcement”

As I guessed, the announcement was the “Full Moon Crazy” tour, which is a tour within a tour. Shows are either the pre-party or after-party of the Jonas Brothers World Tour.

This morning the Boston show went on presale so I was able to purchase the first of 3 (possibly 4, depends on how crazy I want to get) sets of tickets.

We’re still waiting on info for the Farmingdale and New York City shows… Which will put me with 5 Honor Society shows in 6 days. Full Moon Crazy indeed.

American Idol Concert Kris Allen

The Today Show – Concert Series with Kris Allen and Adam Lambert

Katie May 29, 2009 0 Comments

Wednesday night Lauren and I ventured into NYC and met up with my friend Jaime who kindly let us crash at her apartment for the evening. (Thanks again, Jaime!) At about 11 we went to sleep – and at 3:45am our alarms were going off and it was time to wake up.

We left the apartment a little after 4am and ended up in line for the concert at 5am. There we maybe 50 people in front of us, which wasn’t bad at all!

Around 6am we were let in to the “pens” as they call them, right in front of the stage. Shortly after Kris came out to sound check. He sang Heartless twice and then No Boundaries. Adam was up next, and asked us if we were cold. (I had my jacket tied around my waist!) He said that he was from L.A and not used to this weather. (I really don’t think it was any colder than 65!) He sang Mad World twice. And he didn’t scream, which was awesome because it was way too early in the morning for that.

A little while later, they removed the tent that had been over the stage. It was time to sound check once again, Kris came back out and sang Heartless again and Adam did Mad World – this time with screeching. (And oddly enough, he screeched and the crowd screamed. I don’t understand how people like that? I did however enjoy his performances where all he did was sing, I’ll admit that)

Around 8:30, it was time for the real performances and Kris once again did Heartless. (I’m so done with that song now!) Adam did Mad World and a little bit later Kris did No Boundaries. He came down near our side to sign autographs and take pictures. He was maybe 3 people away when Adam joined him. I ended up squished into the barricade and a couple of photos from the press later, the two were gone. I’m blaming Adam for ruining my chances of meeting Kris, not that they had a schedule and somewhere else to be. It’s more fun that way. (To me, anyway)

American Idol Concert David Cook

David Cook 5/24/09 Toads Place New Haven, CT

Katie May 25, 2009 0 Comments

David Cook hit the stage about 10, but it seemed like they were running late. Since we were sitting by the sound booth, the set list went up a little early so I was able to send out a tweet with the songs and then follow along throughout the show.

Being off to the side was actually good because not too many people were being pushy. If the lady like 2-3 people in front of me brushed her hair down I would have been able to see him fine like 90% of the show LOL Before the encore the place cleared out a TON so I was able to see clearly for the encore.

I loved the “new” song souvenir (he said it was written for the album but didnt make the cut) and his cover of little lies were great too.

He was talking about how he didnt realize Yale was here and he walked around and wouldn’t you know they graduated today and he was all impressed and that It took him 5 yrs to get through school and look where the degree got him lol

And then he said how he was talking and he got hit in the leg with gum, and it happened the night before too and he wanted to know if it meant something and then smelled his breath and was like.. i dont know. It is a secret joke Im not in on? Does the gum represent something else? and then he was like.. and I realize now Im going to be pelted by gum for the next week.

Setlist and photos under the cut!

Heroes
we’re only honest
mr sensitive
souvenir
kiss on the neck
lie
barbasol
declaration (he didnt end up singing this!)
little lies
come back to me
—-
Light on,
a daily anthem

Concert Hanson

Tulsa, Hanson, Oklahoma City

Katie May 22, 2009 0 Comments

May 15th I made the trek from Hartford to St Louis to Oklahoma City. My first plane got delayed, my second plan took off half an hour early and I made it in to OKC 25 minutes early.

Before the members only event, we hit up a bunch of places in Tulsa, like Hanson’s childhood home and the center of the universe.

The center of the universe was by far the most fascinating thing. It took us a while to actually find it, but it was well worth the search. You follow a brick walkway up a hill of a bridge. It brings you to a circle. If you stand on the circle and talk – YOU hear it echo, but no one else does.

Our final stop was the Tulsa Little Theater where we waited for a few hours to get let in to the Members Only Event.

Hanson played 8 songs which will be on their new album / EP. The EP will be released this fall. Unfortunately I don’t remember much about any of the songs – except I *loved* the song Musical Ride. OF course, I can’t tell you any lyrics, but they were good. That’s all I remember.

We also got to sing along on a song called Waiting for This, we got to sing “SHOUT IT OUT!” and “YOU CAN’T DENY IT!” along with Isaac. And we clapped to create a “sample” which might end up on the album too. Pretty cool.

Since it was being recorded, we couldn’t clap/cheer directly after the song was over. We had to wait a couple of seconds and usually Taylor would bang on a few keys, or hit the drums (he played both, and was on the drum side of the stage more than the piano it seemed – which was fine with me – we were sitting on the piano side – where Zac spent just as much time as Taylor!) to let us know we could clap.

Taylor said they were trying to judge how we liked the songs, to which Zac said “It’s like American Idol, but your vote doesn’t matter!” and Taylor called him a “HUGE Ass!” for that comment.

There was also a little back and forth about Zac sleeping with Isaacs dog (?!) and Zac made up a song, on the spot, called “Tea Party with Frog Man” which was quite hilarious at the time, but of course I remember none of it now.

Sunday morning we went to the Oklahoma History Museum which had a display, Another Hot Oklahoma Night, with a bunch of memorabilia from bands from OK. I could have spent all day there taking pics of all the Hanson items, but I had a flight back home to catch!

Carry you There
These Walls
Kiss Me When You Come Home
Make It Through The Day
Use Me Up
Musical Ride
Make It Out Alive
Waiting For This
Never Let Go
Letters In The Mailbox
I Am
Down
Take Our Chances

Concert

Tony Lucca 5/14/09 – Fairfield, CT

Katie May 17, 2009 0 Comments

Tony Lucca took his tour to the Fairfield Theater with Joey DeGraw and Andrew Hoover on Thursday night.

Not wanting to endure another Andrew Hoover performance, we arrived a few songs in to Joey DeGraws set.

He and his guitarist were very funny and both great singers as well. There was an anecdote or joke after just about every song.

Tony came out around 9:30 to a crowd of about 20 people. Kind of sad – but he did not disappoint! He sang about his past:

“I was on the telly… dumped my high school sweetheard as soon as I realized I could – she became a movie star and I took to living in my car.. it takes the time it takes to get it right”

(from memory)

Other songs were about the current state of the nation.

After the show we thanked him for coming back to CT – it had been years since we’d last seen him – the NSYNC tour. “Oh my god! Thanks for sticking with me so long!” he said. “Since the Mickey Mouse Club!” I responded. “Oh my god! That was almost 20 years ago!” (And now we both felt old)

He thanked us for coming out in the rain – which he heard throughout his entire set and kept saying “Wow! Is that really rain?”

Hopefully it won’t be another ‘OMG!’ worthy number of years until we see him again!

Concert Hanson Random

Why I’m Going to Oklahoma

Katie May 14, 2009 0 Comments

For those of you who aren’t Hanson fans – this weekend is the Hanson Day celebration in Tulsa, OK. May 6, 1997 Middle of Nowhere was released and the mayor declared it “Hanson Day” in Tulsa. Since then, fans have been celebrating this day yearly.

2 years ago, the 10th anniversary of Middle of Nowhere (my how the time flies), Hanson decided to re-record the album acoustically. Rather than do this all by themselves in a studio, they invited Fan Club members to the recording which was not only recorded for a new cd – it was also recorded for a new DVD (which I have yet to watch, though I’ve had it since it came out. I’m such a bad fan)

I did not attend as at the time of the announcement of the event I did not have a job and didn’t want to blow all my savings (I ended up starting my job the day after the event, go figure)

The next night was a Hanson celebration concert of sorts (if i remember correctly) where Ingram Hill was playing along with a local singer named DAVID COOK. (who last year became the American Idol winner)

After missing out on all that fun (and a couple other members only events) I vowed that the next time it was in Oklahoma – I was going no matter what. (plus i had been wanting to visit Tulsa since i was 12, so I might as well get it out of my system)

Tomorrow I fly from Hartford to St Louis to Oklahoma City and meet up with my friend Keena. Saturday will be a day in Tulsa. Sunday afternoon I fly from Oklahoma City to Dallas and back to Hartford.

While I’m not sure how many blog posts there will be, once again be sure to follow my twitter (which I really need to add to the side bar here!) and you’ll be kept somewhat up to date. I’ll be keeping a journal so there will be posts once I get home, for sure.

Concert

Josh Gracin, Mohegan Sun Wolf’s Den

Katie May 10, 2009 0 Comments

What was supposed to be a mother’s day outing with my parents turned into me storming out of the house and going up to the casino by myself… but that’s a story for another time.

American Idol #4 runner up Josh Gracin, now a relatively successful country star, was playing the Wolf’s Den at Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, CT.

I decided to snag a seat inside the den about an hour before he was set to take the stage. I got placed with some “strangers” but they were talkative and fun so I didn’t really feel like I was there alone.

At 8pm, Josh and his band took the stage. I don’t have his most recent release, but luckily he did a decent amount of songs that were on his first cd, so I knew those. I had planned to purchase his new cd tonight (before hopefully getting a photo with him) but he had no merch for sale! Which was a bad sign.

Throughout the show, he was throwing out T-Shirts rolled up as well as drumsticks. At the end of the set, the drummer tossed him drumsticks and he signed them and threw them out into the crowd. Unfortunately I wasn’t on the “floor” so nothing really made it to me.

After he was out of drumsticks, he started signing things people had for him and giving out set lists (I wish i could have gotten my hands on one of those!) He signed hats, napkins, random pieces of paper, pictures of him, cds, etc.

Then we all got kicked out. I didn’t venture too far away, in case he came out for pictures (I was on a mission, after all) Some of the band came out and took pictures, but the small crowd that was still inside the Wolf’s Den was shooed away so there went my chances.

Serves me right though, last show I didn’t bring my camera (what?) and met him and could have gotten a photo with him. There’s always next time… but for now, beating my “streak” will all be up to David Cook in 2 weeks…

Set list (I did pretty good picking out song names for not knowing the covers / new songs!) and more photos under the cut.

I Want To Live
Endless Helpless Hoping
Livin’ It Up
Wheels
Telluride
I’ll Still Love You
I Keep Coming Back
Better Man Tonight (new song – title might be wrong)
Favorite State of Mind
Bad Case of Loving You
Hold On To The Night
Brass Bed
We Weren’t Crazy
Turn It Up
—
Ain’t Goin’ Down (Til The Sun Comes Up)
Nothin To Lose

Concert Honor Society

Honor Society May 2

Katie May 3, 2009 0 Comments

Yesterday Honor Society played their first show(s) in Pennsylvania at Hershey Park’s Ampitheater. I made the trip down there by myself as Lauren had a concert up here in CT to go to. The ride down Friday night was HORRIBLE, pouring rain on and off… but it wouldn’t be an Honor Society show if I wasn’t driving through the rain, would it? lol

I got to the park around noon and made my way over to the amphitheater with Kat and Lisa (of shine on media) and their friend. Shortly after I met up with my friend Amber who was completed rided out, so we just sat and chatted near the entrance where there was already a line forming.

We were able to hear sound check, and clips of “Full Moon Crazy”, “Why Didn’t I” and “Over You” were played. We could have gone up to the top of the amphitheater to peek inside, but figure with our luck, they’d be gone by the time we finally made it up there.

At 3pm, we were let inside. Amber and I ended up getting a spot in the 7th row, pretty dead center. The place was so tiny, that it really didn’t matter where you were, you still had a great view. Tons of merch was being sold, especially after word got out that buying a tshirt or poster got you a wristband to go to the meet and greet after the show.

I spotted the set list on the stage and took a picture to figure out what they’d be singing (which always ruins the surprise, but oh well)

Over You
Full Moon Crazy
Two Rebels
Why Didnt I
Goodnight My Love
My Own Way
Heartless
Nobody Has To Know
Don’t Close the Book
See U In The Dark

The first show seemed a bit off. Everyone was really into it, and if they hadn’t had a second show I probably wouldn’t have even noticed that the first one wasn’t full energy (they totally went all out for the second show)

In the first show, Alex dropped his drumstick after he twirled it, which I had NEVER seen him do before. But he kept on going with just the one stick until he had a chance to grab another one.

After the first show, they took a walk around the park with some fans (I sat that out) I did get a chance to talk to Andrew when they made their way back briefly though.

In the second show, they threw kisses into the crowd. One hit me in the hand. It was pretty painful and my hand was red for a good couple of songs! lol Who knew kisses could be so dangerous?

Once the show was over, we waited for the greet and meet, Amber and I each got our pics with the guys, I told them I (and Lauren!) would be seeing them at least once this summer (and me twice) and before we got in reallll trouble for talking too long, I left lol