A friend of mine told me that the Manhattan Hy-Vee hasBacon Covered Long Johns … dear lord, I want to go to there.
She & Him – In The Sun
Tenacious D – Rock Your Socks
Tegan & Sara – Don’t Rush
St. Vincent – Now Now
Beastie Boys – Funky Boss
Beck & Nigel Goodrich – Death To All Hipsters (Sex Bob-Omb)
Juliana Hatfield – Universal Heartbeat
Camera Obscura – Swans
Camera Obscura – Knee Deep At The National Pop League
A Day To Remember – Since U Been Gone (cover that didn’t, I feel, really capture the awesomeness that isKelly Clarkson.)
Animal Collective – My Girls
Widespread Panic – Imitation Leather Shoes (request)
Ben Harper – Burn One Down
Ultimate Fakebook – Inside You, Inside Me
Kristie Stremel and the 159ers – Unstopable
The Dead Girls – Te Quiero
The Low End – Rise & Shine
Bad Religion – 21st Century Digital Boy
Soul Asylum – Misery
Hüsker Dü – Pink Turns Blue
Architecture in Helsinki – Wishbone
Passion Pit – Sleepyhead
Antennas Up – Break Me Down
Garbage – Stupid Girl
Vampire Weekend – Cousins
Hum – Stars
The Hold Steady – Chips Ahoy
School of Seven Bells – Windstorm
Less Than Jake – The Science of Selling Yourself Short
Midnight Oil – Beds Are Burning
Florence + the Machine – Dog Days Are Over
The New Pornographers – Crash Years
Animal Collective – Summertime Clothes
Tegan & Sara – Hell
The Low End – Willow Tree (local, playing at theThe Dusty Bookshelfwith eventide)
eventide – All I Need (local)
She & Him – In The Sun
Matt & Kim – Daylight
Band of Horses – No One’s Gonna Love You
Ben Folds – Landed
Camera Obscura – Swans
Regina Spektor – That Time
Bon Iver – Skinny Love
el ten eleven – I Like Van Halen Because My Sister Says They Are Cool
Vampire Weekend – Oxford Comma
The Shins – Caring is Creepy
Yo La Tengo – Tiny Birds
The 6ths – San Diego Zoo
El Perro Del Mar – God Knows (You Gotta Give To Get)
Broken Bells – The Ghost Inside
Death Cab For Cutie – Little Bribes
Guster – Satellite
St. Vincent – Marrow (forLoren)
Peter Bjorn and John – The Chills
Ten Bears – Braces
Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks
Minus the Bear – Hooray
( It’s a Bacon in the MorningBEARGASM!)
The Donnas – I Don’t Want To Know
The Black Keys – Tighten Up
El Perro del Mar – Change of Heart
Wire – French Film Blurred
White Stripes – Fell In Love With A Girl
Passion Pit – Little Secrets
Arcade Fire – Keep The Car Running
Antennas Up – 5P4C35H1P (local)
Fugazi – Full DIsclosure
Camera Obscura – Knee Deep at the National Pop League
The Budos Band – Unbroken Unshaven
Blur – Song 2
John Vanderslice – Pale Horse
Thao with the Get Down Stay Down
Asobi Seksu – Me & Mary
Jack Black – School of Rock
School of Seven Bells – Heart is Strange
Florence and the Machine – Dog Days Are Over (requested)
Arctic Monkeys – My Properller
The Xx – VCR (requested)
Bad Religion – Infected
Oxymoron – Crisis Identity (requested by Belge)
Minus The Bear – My Time
Of Montreal – Gronlandic Edit
The New Pornographers – Bleeding Heart Show
Tegan and Sara – Dancing in the Dark (Bruce Springsteen cover)
The Dead Weather – Blue Blood Blues
Camera Obscura – The Sweetest Thing
Belly – Gepetto
The Magnetic Fields – Papa Was A Rodeo
Animal Collective – My Girls
Sleater-Kinney – Entertain Canada Day Tribute
Fucked Up f/Annie-Claude (of Duchess Says) -Year of the Ox
Thao with the Get Down Stay Down – Bag of Hammers
Alanis Morissette – Thank You
Broken Bells – The Ghost Inside
Vampire Weekend – Horchata
Arcade Fire – Keep The Car Running
Florence and the Machine – Dog Days are Over
Matt & Kim – Daylight
Beastie Boys – Intergalactic
White Stripes – Fell In Love With A Girl
Title Tracks – Every Little Bit Hurts
Leonard Cohen -Everybody Knows
The Black Keys – Tighten Up
Stereolab – Three Women
The Killers – All These Things That I Have Done
Feist – 1,2,3,4
Johnny Cash – God’s Gonna Cut You Down
Tegan & Sara – Hell
Minus The Bear – Summer Angel
The Airborne Toxic Event – Sometime Around Midnight
The Temper Trap – Sweet Disposition
The Hold Steady – The Weekenders
The New Pornographers – The Crash Years
Jimmy Eat World – Pain
Architecture in Helsinki – Wishbone
OK Go – This Too Shall Pass
Death Cab for Cutie – Little Bribes
Garbage – Bleed Like Me
Vampire Weekend – Oxford Comma
Fleet Foxes – Blue Spotted Tail (Live)
Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks
Broken Bells – The Ghost Inside
Blitzen Trapper – God & Suicide
REM – Stand
Toots & The Maytals – Pomps and Pride
The Magnetic Fields – You Must Be Out Of Your Mind
Camera Obscura – Swans
Filter – Hey Man Nice Shot
LCD Soundsystem – Daft Punk is Playing at My House
Ruskabank – My Friends (local)
Ultimate Fakebook – Soaked in Cinnamon (local)
She & Him – In The Sun
White Stripes – Fell In Love With A Girl
The Hives – Hate To Say I Told You So
The Airborne Toxic Event – Sometime Around Midnight
The Killers – Mr. Brightside
Beck – Girl
Silversun Pickups – Lazy Eye (requested)
Camera Obscura – Lloyd, I’m Ready To Be Heartbroken
The Ruckus – Don’t Slit Your Wrists Just Yet (local)
Ruskabank – My Friends (local)
The New Pornographers – Crash Years
Flight of the Conchords – Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros
Bon Iver – Flume
Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks
Vampire Weekend – Cousins
Beirut – Scenic World (version)
Magnetic Fields – Papa Was A Rodeo
Death Cab for Cutie – I Will Follow You Into The Dark
New Order – Bizarre Love Triangle
Tegan and Sara – Hell
Ben Harper – Burn One Down
She & Him – In The Sun
R.E.M. – It’s The End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
The Pixies – Where Is My Mind?
Bacon in the Morning will be on over the summer semester, so please keep tuning in! Also, be sure to check out the show Twitter account at http://twitter.com/hogs919
MGMT – Kids
Beastie Boys – Root Down
Green Day – East Jesus Nowhere
Garbage – Only Happy When It Rains
Janes Addiction – Been Caught Stealing
Camera Obscura – Alaska
OK Go – This Too Shall Pass
Vampire Weekend – Cousins
Camera Obscura – The Sweetest Thing Interview with Lee Thomson
Cake – Never There
Cake – War Pigs (requested by Holly, double shot)
Tegan and Sara – Nineteen
Camera Obscura – Tougher Than The Rest (Bruce Springsteen cover)
Mastadon – Oblivion (requested)
Nirvana – Come As You Are
The Avett Brothers – Slight Figure of Speech
Passion Pit – Little Secrets
Antennas Up – Don’t Wait Up
Camera Obscura – I Don’t Do Crowds
Ultimate Fakebook – Inside Me, Inside You
The Ruckus – Never Stop
During tomorrow’s show I’ll be interviewing 23 year-old Norman, Oklahoma recording artistMaggie McClure,who plays piano-based pop. She’s been compared to artists such as Norah Jones and Sara Bareilles.
I sit in a booth at the back of the dimly litBottlenecklistening to the rain storm I drove through pepper the window with cold drops. I’m readingThe Believerand wondering if coming to Lawrence three hours before the doors are set to open will pay off. If not, I’ll leave without an interview, lugging my recording equipment back to my car before the show starts. That doesn’t really matter, though, since either way, I get to see Camera Obscura.
As I read, I witness several people come in and buy tickets for the show. “Why isn’t this show sold out?” I wonder to myself. If I remember correctly, the show in St. Louis was sold out two days in advance of the fabulous Scots’ arrival in the Show Me State.
After, perhaps, an hour or so, members of one of the most luminescent pop bands in the world begin to trickle inside from their tour bus to start soundchecking. Tracyanne Campbell stands center stage, shielding her eyes from a bright light, electric guitar at the ready. She begins to strum it gently before fully announcing her presence, hitting a pedal and allowing the distortion to move in waves around the nearly empty club. As the soundcheck continues and the levels are adjusted, she takes a quick step back from a floor monitor, which is feeding back at her like a striking snake.
To Campbell’s right, as always, Carey Lander stands behind her organ, red hair peeking out of a blue hoodie. One might almost mistake her for aKU fan, were it not for her Scottish accent. After Campbell’s sound check is complete, Lander begins hers and the Bottleneck is transformed, from a dingy rock club, into a shiny church of pop.
Lander’s keyboard fills the Bottleneck with a happy, almost holy sound. For the duration of her soundcheck I forget that it’s grey and cold and raining outside. The neon signs advertising cheap, domestic beer become stained glass windows, with sun streaming through them. The handful of patrons playing billiards are the congregation, though they seem not to notice the revival they’re unwittingly a part of. It is difficult not to smile.
When individual soundchecks are complete, the full band begins playing parts of French Navy, Razzle Dazzle Rose, Tears for Affairs and Come Back Margaret. The sounds of customers playing pool and video games are swallowed whole by the band playing The Sweetest Thing. They seem to have fun during the soundcheck, and the music they play has me completely forgetting I have to go back into the wet, metallic Kansas weather to eat dinner.
After a Guinness and pizza atRudy’s Pizzaria (and the requisite trips to theLove Garden andDusty Bookshelf) I return to the Bottleneck, a little before eight, and order a double Gin & tonic. They’re playing some band over the PA that is doing its best to rip off theFiery Furnacesand it’s kind of giving me a headache. (Well, that or the massive amount of caffeine I’ve ingested since waking up at five in the morning.) The aspirin I took earlier is having little to no effect. I take a seat on the bleachers, set up just opposite the stage, and I’m almost anonymous in the semi-darkness. I gently sip my drink and notice that the club is nearly as empty as it was when I left it earlier, before the sun had set.
Things pick up around eight-thirty, as a crowd of people with unkempt beards, ironic mustaches and vintage Adidas track jackets descend upon the Bottleneck. A very young kid next to me says “If they play Alaska, I’m going to go insane.” I know the likelihood of that happening is not good. Alaska is a B-side on the Merge Records CD single for If Looks Could Kill. I, however, understand where he’s coming from and think to myself, “Kid, if they play San Francisco Song, I’m going to go insane.” (San Francisco Song being a b-side on the Elephant Records CD single for Keep It Clean.)
Opening actPrincetonplay bouncing, jangly pop and sound a little like a mix between LunaandMiracle Legion, with Joy Division-esque keyboards. Kind of a happy-ish shoegaze, I guess. They played a song called Night Winds which, for some reason, reminded me of the theme toLove Boat. Tim, the trumpeter/auxiliary percussionist from Camera Obscura joined Princeton for their final two songs.
After Princeton’s set my role as journalist is done. I keep track of the songs played for asetlist post, but now I’m just enjoying the show. My headache is gone.
Camera Obscura’s set was amazing, of course, and I urge anyone in the cities left on this leg of their US tour to check them out. You will not be disappointed. The band hung around after the set to talk to fans and sign autographs, which is awesome, yet hardly surprising.
Someone took video of The Sweetest Thing at the Lawrence show. (Thanks!)
I was able to interview drummer Lee Thomson, and that interview will air Friday duringBacon in the Morning. (Why don’t drummers get interviewed more?) He introduced me to a term I’d never heard before,“twee”, which, it seems, is a kind of indie or indie pop. I think I probably didn’t know that because, one, until recently, most of the music I listened to was punk rock and, two, the sub genres of sub genres thing gets a little confusing after a while so, anymore, I usually just put music into two categories: “good” and “bad.” To quoteDetroit Rock City, “Good tunes is good tunes.”
