There were several local bands opening the show, including The Last Remark, Anticitizen and Stone Cold Fever.  The openers were great, keeping the crowd entertained for a few hours before The Misfits hit the stage at around 9:30.  Then a cloud of smoke crept over the stage as the band entered, each band member with their own monstrous look.  First they played a couple newer songs from last year’s release The Devil’s Rain, but once they got into the older songs like “Attitude”, “Some Kind of Hate”, “Static Age” and “Twenty Eyes” and the crowd wiped into a frenzy and didn’t let up till the end of the show.  It was a fairly young crowd for the most part so even the 90′s Michale Graves era songs like “Scream”, “Dig Up Her Bones” and “American Psycho” went over really well.  All and all it was entertaining, nostalgic, and just fun.

The line to get into the show was out the door, through the bar, outside, and around the corner. By the time we got in the first musician Wino, who is Scott Weinrich of Saint Vitus, had already started playing.  When he performs solo it’s just Wino and his acoustic guitar belting out tunes from the three solo albums he has released since 2009.  The second band to play was Saviours, a metal band from Oakland, CA.  The band looks like time travelers from the early 80′s, but they combine both old metal sounds with new creating a unique combination of stoner, doom, and old school thrash metal.

The next band was Mondo Generator.  Nick Oliveri of Kyuss, Dwarves, and Queens of the Stone Age leads the band, singing and playing bass.  The current lineup also includes Ian Taylor and Mike Pygmie on guitars and Hoss Wright on Drums.  They started off with an old favorite of mine, Queens of the Stone Age’s “Ode to Clarissa” and continued to play crowd pleasers such as “F.Y.I’m Free”, “Shawnette”, and” You Think I Ain’t Worth a Dollar But I Feel Like a Millionaire”.  In true punk style they ripped though the set and before you knew it they were ending with “13th Floor”, leaving the crowd wanting more.

After a short wait for the roadies to set up and tune, Clutch entered the stage and burst into “Mob Goes Wild” which naturally got the crowd going again.  The band played a lengthy set which included classic Clutch songs like “A Shogun Named Marcus” and “Escape from the Prison Planet”.  They also played a few new songs from their fourth coming album Earth Rocker, due to be released in March.  Neil Fallon introduced one of the new songs saying “This is a new song, it’s in the key of awesome” and it was. The show ended with “Animal Farm” and “Pure Rock Fury” as the encore.

This whole show was an incredible combination of bands. I’m glad we had the opportunity to see it.  Clutch will be back around on their Earth Rocker World Tour starting March 8th in Cincinnati with Orange Goblin, Lionize and Kyng.

The first two things I noticed about the Sonic’s were the comfort and the bass. I’m still on the fence as to whether the bass is too heavy. I’ve done side by side comparisons with spotify tracks on my computer and on iphone and they both seem to produce the same bass-heavy response on Alicia Keys “No One.” From low volume to extremely high the sound has been true and clear. I’m listening to a 320 kbps MP3 of “Property Lines” by Dusted on itunes now at high volume and the Sonic’s provide a more full and clean sound than the other, smaller headphones. I love being able to experience quality isolated stereo sound of songs I’m used to hearing in the ice cream truck or through my Audioengine computer speakers.

Overall – I’m quite a big fan of these headphones, especially at the price. They’re currently on sale on Incase’s site for $99, I found some on Amazon for as low as $60 which is definitely worth it. One other thing I like about the Sonics is that the cord is only on left side and not both. There is also a volume control and mic on the cord which some folks should find helpful. Hope you enjoy

The Satellite is a nice venue with a second room that has its own bar and pool table. The main room features the stage with a dance floor. To the side there is a bar.

Colleen Green ended the evening appearing on stage wearing sunglasses and a t-shirt. She played with a guitar and was accompanied by a syncopated drum machine. Unfortunately, I didn’t pay too much attention to her set because I had come to watch Sisu, but having listened to her later, I regret not watching more intently. Green has gained popularity by covering old punk tunes from the likes of the Descendant and the Ramones. Her set has great, but she had minor difficulties with her drum machine. She played a couple of her signature covers including the Corey Hart tune “Sunglasses at night” to end the set which was very fitting of course since she was donning shades. Overall, it was fine evening. I was able to meet Vu and thank her for a great set, and I made it home safely.

The crowd was a nice mix of 30 to 40 something hipsterbilly (I just made that up).  Most everyone was an obvious fan and presumably, like me, had seen JSBX before.  That might explain why the crowd seemed somewhat catatonic at the beginning of the show – they had forgotten the amazingness of JSBX. Jon Spencer eventually got them out of their trance. It’s hard to stand still watching this trio since they simply exude energy, especially Mr. Spencer who, as Jeremiah noted, has “the energy of a thousand men.”

JSBX played quite a bit of material off their new album, but also sprinkled in some old favorites like “2Kindsa Love.” The whole show was just a whirlwind for me and when it was done, I thought it seemed short, but then realized JSBX blazed through an hour plus set with no breaks, just song after song and then followed it with an encore!

For all the rocking I did, still my favorite thing about the show was getting a JSBX apron at the merch booth, complete with a blood spattered JSBX logo on it of course!

One I was loaded down with swag, I made my way to the floor to enjoy the show. She only kept us waiting a completely reasonable extra 30 minutes past the expected start time of 10pm. The set design was stunning from both a technology and from a sheet beauty point of view. Madonna had three giant LED screen that stretched from floor to ceiling and all the way across the large Pavilion. They projected detailed scenes for the dozens of songs she performed that night. In addition, the floor of the stage was made out of several dozen hydraulically-lifted square stage segments that themselves were wrapped in led screens from base to top. They were dynamically lifted and lowered to make stairs, walls, even the illusion of moving trains throughout the 2 hour show. All of this was but a mere backdrop to the star of the night, Madonna.

Madonna’s voice, athleticism, and creativity were as strong as ever. She and 30-odd dancers of various genders and races were in constant synchronized motion. The costume, hair and set changes were non-stop. She took full advantage of her talented dance crew to entertain for short numbers in-between costume changes so that the flow was seamless. I completely understand why she held the photographers at bay until songs 7 and 8, so that the guns and violence from her first 5 numbers were not the primary way that the media would see her for this MDNA tour. I am a bit puzzled why she chose to have us shoot her in two songs featuring a Madonna as a cheerleader. There were a lot of quick strenuous moves that weren’t particularly flattering when caught mid-move. No matter – the queen of pop provided several quintessential winks, nods, and salutes that made for great eye candy.

My only real complaint about the show was that it was completely seated. I think the great energy of all her enthusiastic fans would have been better amplified if the floor had been standing. It gives people more room to dance and generally interact with each other. But Madonna’s energy wasn’t diluted by this small irritation.

My favorite moment was half way through the show, when Madonna announced that the night was particularly special to her. It was 30 years to-the-day since her first single, EVERYBODY, was released. She and her posse then treated us to a classic and true-to-form rendition of her first single.

For the rest of the audience, it was clear that the highlight of the evening was “Like a Prayer.” Madonna had everyone singing along and dancing like an old-time revival for this classic song. I remember the controversy this song engendered when it was first released in March of 1989, almost 25 years ago. It was so refreshing to see how time has turned the song from controversial to classic. I doubt Madonna would want me to say the same about her, and I really can’t. She has become a classic, but hasn’t lost any of the controversy along the way. And that’s the way we all like it.

From the Pop Up show in the woods with Jack White & Tom Morello to eating Fried Frickles at Beer Lands to singing “I Just Called To Say I Love You” into the voicemail of Ice Cream Man with the Outside Lands 2012 ICM crew during Stevie Wonder… I can truly say I felt endless amounts of happiness. A+ all around to all those that made Outside Lands possible, to Jakprints for always ruling, and to Ben & Jerry’s for all the frozen treats to fill up our pushcarts!

Ian was on his maiden voyage with Bessie and thanks to Ben & Jerry’s and Jakprints he was able to give away a couple thousand free treats backstage. We promise to snap more cream pics next time, which will likely be Doheny Days this weekend.

Highlights
- Reasonably priced tickets ($89 total for both days)
- Not-too crowded beer garden between Main Stage and Hill St. Stage that allowed walking back and forth over the hill with beer/cocktail in-hand to easily view both stages
- More free schwag than I could imagine (seriously, I should’ve bought a lottery ticket this weekend)
- Dude with crutches crowd surfing at Gold Panda
- The Hundreds carnival games
- FYF bubble suds letters floating away in the sky
- Cheap Blood Is The New Black t-shirts
- Meeting the amazing Touch Vinyl guys (look into them, there are doing great things)
- Interviewing Future Islands just before their amazing performance (coming soon)
- Bands on Hill St. Stage going on early and adding 5-10 minutes to their sets (props to Future Islands, Father John Misty and Atlas Sound)
- Clean and line-free Porta Potties

Lowlights
- High potential for sprained ankles due to footing/gopher holes
- Coachella parking lot levels of dust
- James Blake’s amazing performance being drowned out by sound bleed from Tanlines (who were also great)
- Scarcity of food (vendors running out of food around 9 p.m. on Saturday night)
- I <3 Spicy Pie changing their logo (booooooo!  keep it classic!)

Favorite Performances (in no particular order)
- King Khan & The Shrines (complete with 3 crowd-surfing tambourine players)
- M83
- Gold Panda
- Future Islands
- James Blake (when Tanlines weren’t drowning him out)
- Tanlines (when I wasn’t trying to listen to James Blake)
- Dinosaur Jr.’s “Feel The Pain”
- Chromatics’ cover of Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill”
- Yeasayer (and they’re amazing Creator’s Project stage set up)

Great Things Overheard
- Tanlines, “…we’re playing the comedy rave tent!”
- Bradford Cox (Atlas Sound) sound checking after Aesop Rock, “Can I get a lot less ‘bra’ in the side fills.”
- Jeremiah being asked by our new friends (we met at a shared picnic table) after photographing Health, “Did you capture the magic of the hair whips? They’re beautiful.”
- Q: “Is Gold Panda down tempo?” A: “Nope, he’s folktronica.”

Best Things Eaten
- My fill of Spicy Pie (4 slices, yikes!)
- Deano’s Deli turkey sandwich (that garlic-mayo spread is amazing)
- Babycakes’ vegan cookie sandwich (I can’t believe there’s no dairy in it)

Trends
- Film cameras
- Aztec patterns (still)
- Free sunglasses
- Fancy fishnets
- Boots
- Ear stretching (haven’t seen this many since 1990′s era Lollapalooza)

Bushmills was celebrating the release of “Sounds of Since Way Back”: a limited-edition box set of 7″ vinyl pressings, curated by the actor, Elijah Wood. The box set includes 10 tracks ranging from out-of-print Nashville country and  Texas blues, to Wood’s favorite garage rock classics from The Remains and The Sonics.  You can enter to win one over on the Bushmills Facebook Page.

The swanky party full of the hip and the beautiful was held at the Marrakesh house, which rests high atop a hill overlooking the gorgeous city lights of Culver City.  Upon arrival, we were greeted at the door with a tray of cocktails, four in all to chose from. It was a very nice thought and a foreshadowing of what was in store for the evening.  The drinks ranged from straight Bushmills Black Bush on ice, to more complicated artisanal creations like the “Honey, I’m Home” (Bushmills Irish Honey, Lemon and Ginger Beer).  I, predictably, favored the Bushmills Old Fashioned, a lovely take on my classic go-to.

As people settled in to their drinks, Wooden Wisdom (which includes Elijah Wood) spun an all 45″ vinyl set that got the intimate courtyard moving, drinks in hand.  With the party in full swing and having sampled one (or more) of each of the Bushmills cocktails, we were working up a bit of a sweat and ready for a cool reprise that came in the form of CoolHaus ice cream sandwiches.

A sincere thanks to Bushmills for supporting good music and helping me to further appreciate a delicious Irish spirit!