Under the Sun Tour

Soooo, remember a few years ago, that whole 90's decade thing that happened? Yeaaaaah, it kinda came back tuesday night. And HOW.

Story time: I use the wonderful, fabulous app Songkick (which is even more fabulous app if you scrobble from Last.fm, which... I do) and it had been tracking several bands from my ipod playlists. One of which, was Fastball. So I get a notification one day, guess who's coming in concert? Yup. Fastball. I follow the link to see how much tickets were just out of curiosity and see the rest of the line-up for what turns out to be a "has-been's of the 90's" tour AKA the "Under the Sun Tour" (which proved to be ironically named because we got RAINed out!). I ask my lovely wife if she wants to go, just as a joke, the next thing I know we're at the show... It all happened so fast, I'm still not sure exactly how that worked...

Here's a PLAYLIST of the setlist so you, too, can relive high school (in my case) for a night in case the tour doesn't stop near you (or if you're one of the many who just went home from the show I saw).

Fastball-- These guys actually stole the show, I think. They sounded great and were the most fun I think. If you get the chance, definitely go see them.

You're an Ocean
Love Comes in Waves (this is a new song so it's not on Grooveshark yet but here's a link to their myspace page)
Fire Escape
Sooner or Later
Out of My Head
The Way


Vertical Horizon-- They sounded awesome for the one song they played. I might see them if they came again.
You're a God
**Here's where the rain got too heavy to continue. We're talking politely-instructed-to-return-to-your-car-because-of-lightning-and-flash-floods-warning RAIN. Fear not, though! The show did, indeed, go on after it had let up a little. But V.H. (no, not Van Halen) didn't finish their set :(


Gin Blossoms-- These guys did alright. Hey Jealousy & Follow you down were the best. The rest of the time it was a little too slow to be at a "rock" show, in my opinion (but that's the nature of their music, I guess).

2 songs I didn't know and (from the looks on the crowd's faces) no one cared about
Allison Road
Found Out About You
Hey Jealousy
Hear it from You
Follow You Down

Sugar Ray

Sugar Ray-- This is the one I looked forward to the least. Mark McGrath is SO cocky & a little too in love with himself for a guy who can't write songs (he rhymes "over" with "over" 3 TIMES!! However, I must admit Every Morning was really fun and their cover of Blister in the Sun was an absolute BLAST.
Summertime's Comin'- new song in which he rhymes "la la" with "na na"... :S
Someday
When it's Over
Every Morning
Blister in the Sun
Fly

Smash Mouth-- Not gonna lie, these guys were really, pretty bad. Their setlist was pretty poorly planned (ie- ridiculously anti-climactic opening), ZERO stage presence/ interaction with the audience and the lead singer was not on key for ANY of the songs. The only good thing was that his mic was down super low (and we were about 5th row back) so you couldn't hear him really. The BAND sounded good. They were spot on but the singer was SO bad we walked out before he sang Allstar because we didn't want it tarnished in our memories. We heard it going on from the parking lot and it was pretty lame.
Can't Get Enough of You
Then the Morning Comes
C'mon C'mon
Diggin' Your Scene
Walkin' on the Sun
I'm a Believer
Allstar

There you go. Hope you like it. It was actually a really fun night despite the storm. Go see this show (just skip Smash Mouth & you'll be okay).

NEW KT TUNSTALL!!!

So, I wrote this over 3 weeks ago but that doesn't really matter because this is still new. In FACT, (patting myself on the back), this album hasn't even hit the states yet. It hits stores August 6th. So, technically you heard it hear first. How's THAT for new? :D On to the post!

Okay, I'm not gonna lie-- and KT, if by some miraculous turn of events you ever read this, I'm sorry-- but I didn't actually like her last album all that much. There were only 2 or 3 songs on there that I could really get behind. She still put on an amazing show but I was hoping for more of her previous albums' stuff. I'm okay with artists expanding their sound/ style and growing into other directions as long as their core/ essence stays relatively close to what made them unique & attractive as a musician in the first place and they don't make a complete departure from who they are/ why I liked them to start with. In that light, Tiger Suit was a little too "out there" for me. HOWEVER, that being said, THIS ALBUM IS AMAZING!!!

Here's the PLAYLIST - My favs from her album.

So, I'm not going to attempt a well-composed, overly flowery and verbose review here. I most definitely could but I'm too lazy to write something like unless I absolutely have to (I really think it detracts from the music/ the artists' offering when people dissect and deconstruct it to death)... Much better, in my opinion, if you offer some general observations and let the audience decide for themselves. At any rate, suffice it to say, BUY IT! It's fanTASTic. It's laid back and chill without being sleep-inducing, boring background music. Her slower songs on her previous albums (while I love them also) tended more towards that, I think. DIG her sound but not every song was a hit and some of them, although awesome, were sort of more background-ish. But this album, even though they're slower, they really STICK. Very well composed, and crafted. As always. Have a listen. They're great. The whole album can be found HERE.