Tag Archives: Music

Music Monday! Concert Review – The Rocket Summer “Returning West” Tour at Bottom of the Hill

Posted in Celebrities, Event Recap, Music, Music, Music Monday, YouTube by

Hello everyone!
This week’s Music Monday is kind of a mouthful! Click on the video below to watch a few clips from The Rocket Summer “Returning West” Tour at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco! Then continue reading to see the full review of the Concert. Please remember to Subscribe/Follow, Share, Comment, & Like both the YouTube channel & this blog! Thanks!

The Rocket Summer has been my favorite band for about 10 years now. Although, calling it a “band”, might not be the right word. While the name sounds like a group of musicians, The Rocket Summer is the solo project of musician Bryce Avary. He’ll occasionally feature musician friends, or his wife Tara, but for the most part Avary does everything from writing the music/lyrics, to singing all the parts, & playing ALL the instruments. He’s extremely talented & it’s really fun & interesting to watch him perform live. I try to make it to every show in my area & I think in the 10 years I’ve been a fan, I’ve only missed one tour because I was super sick. I almost missed his SF appearance due to work, but luckily I made it…keep reading to see what happened!

The Venue – I’d never been to Bottom of the Hill before, but I’d heard really good things. I was working nearby at the W Hotel at the time & wasn’t going to get off work until 2 AM. I was super upset I was going to miss the show but luckily, fate stepped in & I got off work early. I jumped in an Uber & raced over to try to catch at least some of the show. As I was so late, the guy at the door was nice enough to not charge me entry. Sometimes concert staff can be hit or miss in terms of “Hospitality”. One time a stranger passed out next to me at a show & I couldn’t get any of the staff or security to help us for a few solid minutes! I was grateful people were awesome right off the bat. BOTH is a smaller venue, a typical dive/hole in the wall. There were maybe 50 to 100 people there & it was squishy. However, this is the kind of show where you want to be right up front, so squishy-ness is expected. A random, but important note, I appreciated that there were several well placed wall outlets. It’s always nice to know you have a way to charge your phone where you won’t be creating a hazard for others/yourself.

The People – I have a love/hate relationship with TRS fans. The crowd is mostly young females often times in packs, sometimes with their parents or reluctant boyfriends. Their attitude can range from teeny bopper excitement with shrill cries of “I LOVE YOU BRYCE!!!!” ringing through the air (uhm he’s married, his wife works the merch table, calm down) to disgruntled punk/scene girls with wild colored hair, many facial piercings/tattoos to some genuinely cool people. I, of course, fall into that last category, haha! This crowd was pretty neutral, but I’ve been in crowds where girls were pushing each other to the point that it was distracting me from the show & I’ve also met people I really bonded with & am friends with on Social Media to this day, years later. I think it depends on your attitude as well. If you’re there looking to push people & be disrespectful to other concertgoers, you might run into some backlash. If you’re there to just chill & enjoy the music, you’ll have a good time.

The Performance – While his music style might not be for everyone, Bryce is super talented! As I mentioned before, he plays all the instruments on his albums. For a concert however, he’ll usually enlist the help of a “touring band”. One of my favorite parts of a TRS show is the “Solo Jam”. Bryce plays one instrument, records/loops the playback, plays another instrument, records/loops the playback, etc showing the process of how he usually plays everything & creates the songs on his own. I’ve always found this really fascinating & I enjoy that he chooses to share the process with the fans so we have a better understanding of how he does what he does. As the new album “Zoetic” had/has not been released, the “Returning West Tour” was like a warm up tour. Bryce played his greatest hits, and of course, “Same Air”, his newest single. I love TRS shows because I get so inspired seeing someone with passion for their craft & how they have used that craft to bring together people from all walks of life. Another really awesome aspect of TRS shows is that Bryce usually comes out after the show to meet the fans. In all the years I’ve been going to his concerts I’ve never met him! I was determined to make it happen this time, especially because I knew I’d be writing this post. I ended up waiting just about an hour after the show & it was well worth the wait. I completely embarrassed myself & acted like a total fangirl quoting his own song lyrics to him, haha, I’m a little bit ashamed. It’s all good though, he was super nice & I felt totally appreciated & welcome. I never felt at all rushed even though there were other fans waiting to talk to him. We took SEVERAL selfies trying to find the right lighting & he autographed a napkin – even making sure to spell my name correctly! All in all, it was a concert I’ll always remember.

The Final Verdict – Obviously, I had an amazing time. I’m sorry the video isn’t longer so you can get a better idea of what the show was like, but I was grateful to see as much as I did. I already have plans to see Bryce perform again in April for the “Zoetic” Tour & you can bet I will be doing a recap of that as well 🙂 If you’re interested in attending a TRS show click here to see if he’s playing near you!

I hope you enjoyed this Review & video. I wanted to leave you with an “official” piece of TRS music so please check out the video below, “200,000” – one of my favorite songs! This video gives you a good idea of how Bryce puts the songs together himself, plus his wife Tara is in it!
Please leave me a note in the Comment section & let me know…have you ever heard of The Rocket Summer? What kind of music do you like – what should I check out next? Thanks for reading!

Concert Review! Britney Spears “Piece of Me” Tour at Planet Hollywood Las Vegas

Posted in Celebrities, concert, concert review, Event Recap, Music, Music, Music Monday by

Hey everyone!
As I mentioned in my last post, I’m somewhat changing what will be showcased here & how/when. I’m working towards having content posted every day & with that being said…
Welcome to “Music Monday” – each Monday I will (try to) have some sort of music related post, wether it’s a Concert or Album Review, talking about music I like, or “performing” – if I can work up the nerve!

Anyway, this post has been a long time coming, sorry for the wait!
This is a recap of my experience at the Britney Spears “Piece of Me” Tour at AXIS in Planet Hollywood Las Vegas! Due to copyright issues I’m not sure how long this video will remain up on YouTube – so watch now before it potentially gets taken down!
A few months ago I was talking to my best friend about what to do for Halloween & the idea of going to Vegas came up. She said, “I’ll go – but only if we see Britney!”
At the time, I was not that enthusiastic because I had heard nothing but horrible things about Ms. Spears’ Vegas Tour. It was over priced, she can barely keep up with her back up dancers, & she doesn’t sing live. Being poor/just recently employed I was not looking forward to spending money on something like that. However, with my friend’s excitement coupled with the fact that it was Halloween – I was all set to at least get glammed up & see what Vegas had to offer. In a turn of events I didn’t anticipate – I was pleasantly surprised by my “Piece of Me” Tour experience! Click on the video below to watch some clips from the show & keep reading below to see my thoughts on the experience!

Be warned – this video will not load in certain countries or on mobile devices due to copyright issues!!

The Venue – AXIS is amazing! It’s a smaller venue, I’ve definitely walked by it several times during past Vegas visits & never even noticed it. Our seats were great & somewhat reasonable for how close we were. I would be willing to return to this venue & pay more to sit up closer, even just a few rows, because it’s definitely worth it. Before heading to the seating area, there was a museum like display of Britney’s famous costumes that you could take pictures with & learn little fun facts about. Of course, they were also selling a copious amount of merchandise & alcohol – these items are pricey! You don’t necessarily have to spend your money though…depending on how much pride you have. We stayed a bit after the concert ended to take pictures & noticed that several people had (drunkenly) left their souvenir cups behind. An Usher encouraged us to take them home & wash them, obviously, because they were just going to get thrown away. Woo hoo, free stuff!
One negative thing I will say is that we kept seeing ads for a “Britney Spears After Party” at Drai’s, but we couldn’t find any other information. Did it cost money? Did you have to be on a Guest List? What time did it start/end? etc, none of that was answered & we didn’t feel like going on an adventure that might not be successful, so we didn’t even attempt it.

The People – The other concert goers were SUPER friendly, like, invade your space/come up & talk to you loudly type of friendly. This is probably due to the fact that they were some combination of drunk/high/excited. 99.9% of people were in Britney related costumes & I’m not sure if that’s because, they were paying homage to Britney, it was Halloween, we were in Vegas, or again, a combination of all three. We were approached by several people & pulled into group pictures with strangers, but it was all good fun! The crowd was a melting pot of age/race/gender/sexual preference/couples/friends/Bachelorette Party/Girl’s Night Out/Mother-Daughters etc. Everyone we encountered was polite, but if you can’t handle lots of loud, rowdy people, this wouldn’t be a good fit for you – but if that’s the case, most likely any concert wouldn’t be a good fit for you.

The Performance – WOW! I was blown away. The props, setting, costumes, back up dancers, everything, was over the top & awesome. It was exactly what you would expect from Britney Spears & Las Vegas. To address my earlier concerns, does she sing live?…I really don’t think so. Did she have a hard time keeping up with her back up dancers?…Sometimes, occasionally she stopped dancing altogether & just did sexy poses & threw her hair around while they did the bulk of the work. Bottom line – I’ve seen her do better performances in her “youth”, but I’ve also seen her look like way more of a trainwreck. I was surprised by how inspired I was by watching this show. I went into this experience thinking about how I’d be watching this empty headed, sexed up, washed up Pop star attempt to relive her glory days, but it wasn’t like that. It was a well done tribute to a woman that has worked her ass off to make a name for herself in the Entertainment industry. Yes, she’s definitely had some bumps along the way, but that’s life, especially when you live in the public eye. Just thinking about the physical aspects of the show, that’s all her! She may seem like a robot in interviews, but those abs…that’s on her! That’s hard work! Somewhere in there, she still wants to work hard to be the Pop star she used to be – or is working towards becoming someone new. To me, that’s really inspiring, after everything she’s been through, she’s still getting up & working towards new goals.
I will warn you though, this is not really a concert – it’s a Vegas show. Some of her songs are mashed up/remixed/cut short – so don’t expect to hear the classics exactly as they were originally recorded.

The Final Verdict – Like I said, I’m not even a huge Britney fan, so I was pleasantly surprised by my experience & would gladly see another Britney Spears concert/show – if the venue/price were right! If you can, I would definitely recommend seeing her show in Vegas. I was under the impression “Piece of Me” ended in January to make way for Jennifer Lopez’s tour. However, if you go on Ticketmaster you can still buy “Piece of Me” tickets until February. So maybe there’s still a chance? If you’re at all a fan of Britney, dance music/big party scene, or 90’s pop culture icons, this is a show you won’t want to miss!

Let me know in the comments, have you ever seen Britney in concert? What other concerts would you recommend I go see? Do you have any thoughts about the video posted above? Thanks for reading 🙂

Concert Review! Luke Bryan “Kick the Dust Up Tour” at Levi’s Stadium

Posted in Adventure, Event Recap, Friends, Music, Review, Shenanigans, Special Events, YouTube by

Hey y’all! On Saturday, August 29th my Gemini spirit sister Katie & I went to see Luke Bryan’s “Kick the Dust Up” Tour at Levi’s Stadium. We had an amaziiiiinnnggg time – so much fun! Watch the video below for some clips of the concert & some commentary from me. We weren’t down in the pit so the video clips aren’t amazing, forgive the quality and distance, but it’ll give you some idea of what the stage looked like & all that jazz. Most of the clips aren’t long because they’re from my SnapChat (@missal_leigh). Sometimes it’s hard to run my social media, take pics/video for the blog, & also actually be in the moment, but those are the struggles of a blogger I guess. Also, please excuse my awful singing! I tried to cut out video where you can hear me but sometimes my voice got in there sooooo enjoy!!

I didn’t mention this in the video but if you’re going to an event at Levi’s Stadium – be warned! Parking is a complete and utter NIGHTMARE!!!!! We got dropped off thinking that would be the easiest way to move through all the traffic, getting in wasn’t too bad, but leaving – we had to walk a mile, which would’ve been fine except with my hip, I was suffering. The struggle was real.

Let me know in the comments below if you were also at this show and what you thought. I’m going to a Country Music Festival in Vegas that I’m SUPER excited about, what concert are you headed to next? Maybe I’ll see you there 🙂 Thanks for reading!

Movie Review! Pitch Perfect 2

Posted in Movies, Review by

As I’ve discussed here before, I grew up doing musical theater, acting, and cheerleading, among other performance based activities. Whenever a film comes along that touches on any of that, I’m usually super psyched to see it. Yes, “Bring It On” is one of my favorite movies – although I don’t care for any of the films that followed. That seems to be the trend. I love the first “Pitch Perfect”. I really connected with the plot and especially Anna Kendrick’s character, Beca. She has the perfect amount of sass and sarcasm, yet shows a lot of heart & dedication to the Barden Bellas, which I identify with in regards to my 10 years of cheerleading experience. I really wanted to love “Pitch Perfect 2”, but unfortunately, I just couldn’t. I’m sure my opinion will not be popular, but please read below for my list of Likes, Dislikes, Final Thoughts, and Rating! Don’t be shy – click the FOLLOW button on the top right of this page to be notified when my next post goes up 🙂

Likes:
– I empathized with Beca’s attitude towards the Bellas. She was appreciative for the experiences they’d had together, but felt it was time for her to move on. She felt torn between dedicating her time to the “last hurrah” and her future. I understand how she felt. During the end of my time cheerleading, I started to feel like the near constant injuries I was sustaining didn’t make sense to tolerate anymore. I knew I wasn’t going to be a cheerleader forever, or even in college, so why permanently injure myself over something that wouldn’t be permanent in my life? It’s hard to come to terms with those emotions, so I applaud PP2 for taking on that storyline.
– The scenes that took place at Beca’s Internship were the funniest parts of the film.

& that’s it. That’s literally it.

Dislikes: There are so many things I disliked about this film. SO MANY.
– The story seemed undeveloped. I loved the first Pitch Perfect because you really got to know all the characters and their quirks. You hardly see Jesse – Beca’s boyfriend. You hardly learn any new information about any of the characters.
– I was disappointed with Flo, who is basically a Guatemalan version of Lilly, a strange, awkward non-white character thrown in to up the count of non-white actors. However, does it really count as being inclusive, broadening your casting, & having a multi-racial cast if all the character does is reinforce negative stereotypes of their race?
– The “love story” between Bumper and Fat Amy. They could have turned that into a substantial storyline about how Fat Amy was afraid to get into a relationship because she didn’t want to lose her independence or because she wasn’t sure where her life was going after college, etc. Nope. They just created a cheesy, dramatic, excuse to throw in another 80’s throwback love song, like they did with “Don’t You Forget About Me”. However, the inclusion of “Don’t You…” was well executed because it made sense with the rest of Beca & Jesse’s story – and yes, it reminded me of “Bring It On” when Torrance includes the songs from Cliff’s Mix Tape into the Toro’s competition routine. You don’t often see “big girls” involved in love stories, so I was (again) disappointed that they chose to make Fat Amy’s love story sloppy and uncomfortable.
– I didn’t appreciate the substantial number of jokes aimed at women.  A few I remember off the top of my head were the classic, “Women belong in the kitchen”, “This is why we shouldn’t send women to college”, “I’ll do whoever it takes”, and one character’s plan to become “A music teacher in a 3rd world country, or an exotic dancer. Whatever pays more!” Really? In a movie marketed towards young woman, the target audience is being subjected to jokes that put us down. I’m so glad I paid money for this! Seriously, if I wanted to subject myself to BS like this I’d just look around the Internet for free.
– The classless jokes didn’t end there. This film covered the gamut of sensitive topics, poking fun at Thailand “Lady Boys” (their words, not mine!) and the Gay/Lesbian community, among others.
– A plot point I didn’t understand (SPOILERS!!!!): The Bellas lost the private Sing-Off because Emily sings an original song & everyone is yelling at her that “Acapella doesn’t do originals, we’re supposed to do covers” etc…but then they (SPOILER!!!!) win Worlds, by singing the same original song…?!? Wha!? There’s no consistency, unless, the story writer was trying to imply that the world of Acapella was old school & the judges appreciated them trying something new…? This could be, but was not explained in the film. I’ve never experienced anything like that. I understand cheerleading is a different beast altogether, but we usually were penalized for doing “new” things, because the judges were typically older people that had been involved in the community for a long time. They didn’t like twerking and Top 40 songs, they preferred “Oldies” and moves that focused on technique. I don’t understand how something that was criticized earlier in the film, helps them win in the end with no explanation. Maybe I missed something…?

Final Thoughts & Rating:
As much as I don’t want to admit it, I’m capable of laughing at plenty of stuff that offends other people, but this film pushed too hard and it didn’t seem genuine or in line with the previous film. I’m fine with films like the Jackass series, you know they’re going to be offensive, you expect it. I did NOT expect this type of material from PP2. It seems like they can’t decide who their audience is. Pitch Perfect 1 was a nice, happy, girl power, family film, but PP2 did a complete 180 and distanced themselves from that. They were trying to be “hard/edgy” & have a Borat like set up where they wanted to offend as many people as humanly possible just to be “funny”. Overall, I thought this film was full of crass jokes that took aim at people who are different for cheap laughs. I loved the first Pitch Perfect because it was inclusive. It was a film about a group that often gets made fun of and their hard work goes unappreciated. A group of misfits that banded together to create a family. PP2 ruined all of that and was just another run of the mill, over the top, teen “comedy”.
My Rating: D

What do you think? Am I being too harsh or taking things too seriously? Did you like Pitch Perfect 2? Hopefully my review gave you some food for thought. I’d love to know what y’all thought of the film and my review! Please shoot me an email, or write me a comment down below! Thanks for reading 🙂

LATE POST! CONCERT REVIEW! Maroon 5 & Kelly Clarkson concert @ the Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View 10/2/13

Posted in Music, Review by

I’m finallllly getting around to writing this post! Sorrry 😦 Since there’s been a million recaps around the internet at this point, I’ll try to keep my blabbing short and just put up my pictures and videos. Also please forgive the state of some of the videos. I usually film with a video camera, but this was the first night I had my iPhone, so I was really excited to use it. Unfortunately I wasn’t aware that the camera doesn’t rotate when you turn the phone, so some of the video is upside down/on its side. Sorry 😦

Opening Act: I arrived to the show late so I can’t comment on the opening act

Kelly Clarkson:
Since I was late I can’t comment on all of Kelly Clarkson’s part of the show. However, I’ve seen her in concert before when she was touring with Clay Aiken a million years ago, so I know I adore her live performances. She’s very talented and seems sweet and kind. I have delusions of being her best friend some day 🙂
Her performance was amazingly strong. She’s so upbeat, full of energy, and sounds amazing live – no lip synching here! She puts on an amazing show, videos playing behind her, great crowd interaction, great interaction with her band/back up singers, and a few costume changes.
On an unrelated note, my mom said that Kelly looked pregnant and as we now know, Kelly has announced that she is indeed pregnant…my mom is a smarty pants.

“Breakaway”

“People Like Us”
Sorry for the awkwardness of this video, I almost didn’t post it, but I thought the staging was SO well done, that it had to be seen.

“Since U Been Gone”
I died of happiness, this is my jam, this is everyone’s jam! Clearly…

Maroon 5
This was the night I fell in love with Adam Levine. I never understood why everyone was so obsessed with him, but now I see. He is SO talented! I fell in love with his obvious passion and dedication to his craft. No one is that present and awesome on stage without putting in hours and hours of hard work, heart, and soul. I crush on musicians way too easily because I find passion, dedication, and commitment really attractive.
Anyways, their entire performance was incredible, just like Kelly. I liked how some of their set pieces/videos tied into the theme of what Kelly did. I also thought they did a great job of incorporating songs that featured other artists like, “Payphone”, without having that artist actually appear at the concert. They were so high energy, everyone was dancing and singing along – and that’s the best part of a concert. There you are, singing your lungs out, near tears because this song means so much to you and you glance over and the people around you are doing the same thing. It helps remind me that we’re all on this crazy ride together. That’s why music has always been so important to me. If I ever have a bad day, I turn on certain songs and I know the songwriter/artist has felt this way too, and they got through it & so will I. I think that’s what music does, it just reminds us that we’re not alone. I just got super side tracked, but here’s some video!

“One More Night” – show opener

“Love Somebody” – one of my favorite songs!

“Stereo Hearts”

“Moves Like Jagger” – Adam Levine is the sassiest. Also, if you’re interested in seeing the opening act, she comes back for this song. I would’ve preferred Kelly, but oh well.

“Payphone”

Final notes
Amazing, amazing, amazing show. Best show of 2013. Out of Fall Out Boy, Yellowcard (recap coming soon), and this show – I would see Kelly Clarkson & Maroon 5 again in a heartbeat! Their performances really showed off how talented these performers are and they all did an amazing job at connecting with the audience. I appreciated that they seemed to really be enjoying themselves, their enthusiasm was pouring off the stage and everyone in that amphitheater was influenced by it. I left the show high on life, feeling inspired to find passion like theirs in my own life. Cheesy, but true. That’s real artistry.

Picture Slideshow of the entire event – about 40 pictures…

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

CONCERT REVIEW! Fall Out Boy @ America’s Cup Pavilion, S.F. 9/21/13

Posted in Music, Review by

When Fall Out Boy came onto the mainstream scene with their album From Under the Cork Tree & “Sugar We’re Going Down” became a huge hit, I bought their older albums/EP’s & became a huge fan. I was later disappointed by their follow up albums (Infinity on High was just okay, let’s not even get started on Folie a Deux – which I don’t even own) I was about 15 when I became a FOB fan and their perfect mix of dance-y music and angst-y lyrics filled a spot in my heart that was disappointingly starting to fade…but then…Save Rock and Roll was released earlier this year and luckily my roommate at the time was also a huge FOB fan so when she bought the CD the day it came out, I was able to get a listen of the new music, happily rediscover my passion for the band, even getting tickets (FRONT ROW) for The Conan Show when FOB was performing, then going to an autograph signing on Hollywood and Highland the next day! I was beyond happy when I heard FOB was touring again, having NEVER seen them in concert even though I’ve been dreaming of it since I was 15 – so this concert meant a lot to me, a bucket list item 8 YEARS in the making! The concert in SoCal sold out in minutes, so I had to make a trip to my hometown and see the boys in San Francisco. Here’s my recap…

“Pre-Opener”: 21 Pilots
Dear sweet baby Jesus, if I never hear another song from 21 Pilots…I’ll be good. The actual music itself was not bad, but the singer and his lyrics were SO SPASTIC!!!!! The songs were so long you couldn’t tell if it was still the same song or if he’d flowed into something different, one second he’s be singing, then screaming and flailing around, then he’d sound like he was just talking. My head was spinning. He performed this song called “Car Radio”…check out the YouTube video…this is a mild, watered down version of what he actually did… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92XVwY54h5k

“Opener”: Panic! At The Disco
I was 2% excited for PATD, simply because I’m only familiar with about a handful of their songs but having the chance to see them was a tiny side bonus. However, I was again pretty disappointed. I didn’t realize how much I DIDN’T know their music, so I was mostly waiting for them to finish so FOB could come on. Although, I am now obsessed with one of their newer songs, here’s the YouTube…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGE381tbQa8
*Please note musical similarities to FOB’s My Songs… & Alone Together. Iiiinteresting 🙂

***Also, the crowd at this point was getting really out of control. I was separated from my friend & pushed to the front…well, pushed to the front, back, down to ground, lifted back up, etc lol, I understand that’s part of going to shows, & I find that somewhat fun, but the crowd at this show was VERY rude. I don’t know if it was because a majority of the crowd seemed to be high school-ers, or if they were just inexperienced concert goers. People were yelling at each other and purposely attacking people that been pushed against them – hello! The crowd is pushing EVERYONE, I’m not trying to shove you or elbow you, it’s just happening, it’s the nature of the “mosh pit” beast – if you don’t like it -go sit in the bleachers!  It got so bad that when FOB came out they stopped after the first song & made people step back & help people up that had been trampled/passed out etc, & said for safety reasons we had to be more chill or they’d keep stopping the show. Yikes.

Main Event: FALL OUT BOY!
Seriously…good, but underwhelming. Maybe I had the event built up too high in my head, maybe I was just expecting more after seeing them live on Conan, maybe because I met them face to face I’d already experienced the main highlight of band worship…? All these things are definitely explanations I’m considering for my lack of supreme joy that I thought I was going to feel upon finally realizing a dream 8 years in the making. I seriously thought I was going to openly weep, but no. Not one tear, didn’t even feel emotional enough to cry, not even during my favorite songs, that usually make me feel so much I tear up singing along in my car. (Other people have that happen to them too, yes? …Dear God, what have I just revealed about myself?!) Anyways, it was just…good.
They had no real set pieces to speak of, they played video behind them on a big screen – woo hoo – they have all the money in the world, and those tickets were not cheap, they could’ve had some special effects! Maybe they were thinking special effects would distract from the experience, but they’re a really good live performance band, so fortunately/unfortunately when they perform live, they sound very similar, if not exactly the same, as the CD tracks. I felt like they needed something to spice things up and make me feel like I wasn’t just listening to the CD among sweaty, pushy, teenagers. That made me sound really old.
Another possibility I thought of was that maybe I’m just not a “scene kid” or whatever these kids consider themselves. I usually go to Rocket Summer shows, which are MUCH more underground and it’s a VERY different experience, one that I always enjoy to the highest degree. I’ve made friends at Rocket Summer shows that I still keep in contact with through FB on a semi-regular basis. It was disappointing to not have that kind of camaraderie among the fans at last nights show, but I guess it’s a different environment when you see a mainstream band.

Overall opinion: Commenting only on FOB, if you have the chance to see them sometime – go! It’s a good show, you’ll have fun, live music is pretty much always an awesome experience. For me, now that I’ve seen them once, I don’t know that I would go back to any of their future shows. It depends on how much the tickets are and how much of an effort I’d have to put out to get to it. Despite my lackluster review, it was a good experience that I’m glad I was able to FINALLY partake in. Here are some video clips of my favorite songs and select photos…

Opening song “The Phoenix”
“Alone Together”
“Sugar, We’re Going Down”
“Young Volcanoes”
“Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy”
“My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up)”
“Save Rock & Roll”

DSCN2463

Pete waving the white flag during “The Phoenix”

DSCN2464

Patrick Stump.

Patrick Stump.

DSCN2470

Joe Trohman

Joe Trohman

DSCN2494 DSCN2497

Updated playlist!

Posted in Music, Review by

Here’s a list of 20 new songs I downloaded off of Itunes last night. I’ve been feeling musically deprieved because usually I only buy songs that are .99 cents or cheaper & most of these songs were more expensive than that, but I couldn’t take it anymore!! All of these songs are available on Itunes varying from $0.69 to $1.29

1) Try a Little Tenderness by Otis Redding.
A classic! I heard this song for the first time in AGES when I had to watch “The Commitments” for my Rock ‘n’ Roll history class last semester. After hearing it again, I remembered why it’s SO good especially the part when the beat picks up.

2) S&M by Rihanna
I don’t generally like Rihanna’s music but this song JAMS!! It’s uber catchy, the perfect dance tune, and I love the video, it’s so vivid & full of metaphors.

3) Peace Come Over You
4) Say
5) How Many Times
6) Every If & Every Why
– all by The Rocket Summer
I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE x’s a million, The Rocket Summer aka Bryce Avary. I could write a whole post dedicated to Bryce, but I’ll try to keep this short. These four songs are from “Of Men & Angels: B-Sides”. These songs are SO amazing, as I always expect from Bryce. Peace Come Over You & How Many Times are more peaceful relaxing songs, whereas Every If & Every Why has more of a rock edge to it and Say is somewhere right in the middle. If you buy any of the songs on this list, DEFINITELY buy The Rocket Summer. Bryce is an amazing amazing artist that doesn’t get nearly enough credit for his talents.

7) Chit Chat by Christine Bibawi
I met Christine when we were both extras on the set of the Michael Jackson/Akon video “Hold My Hand”. She mentioned that she was a singer/songwriter & we got to talking about her music career. This is her first single & I totally love it. It’s really electronic sounding & fun to dance to. I also like the message – NO CHIT CHAT!!

8) American Honey by Lady Antebellum
This song just feels really relaxing and calm to me. When I hear it I feel like I should be in a field of flowers or at a park, just basking in the sunshine and chilling out.

9) King of Anything by Sara Bareilles
Love the message of this song, love the poppy, brightness of the tune & love her voice. This song is so fun to sing along to.

10) What The Hell by Avril Lavigne
It’s been awhile since I’ve liked any of Avril’s music, but this song is SO SO SO fun! I like the different dynamics of the song, loud/soft, long/short notes, etc. To me, this is totally a bad ass, bad girl anthem song.

11) Price Tag by Jessie J Ft. B.O.B
Just happened to discover this song on Youtube & I fell under it’s spell. Jessie J is so beautiful & she’s a cross between Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Fergie, & Nicki Minaj. This is a good song to dance to, not shake your butt type dancing, but just to like…rock out to. Like a lot of the songs on this list, I love the message in this song. I also think it sounds really unique…cha ching cha ching…bla bling bla bling! 🙂

12) Please Don’t Go by Mike Posner
A totally chill club song. I know that sounds like a contradiction but if you know this song you know what I mean! The beats of this song are sick, whenever I hear this song I think of my friend that creates his own music because it sounds like something he would’ve made.

13) Secrets by OneRepublic
Favorite line: “Thought you saw me wink – no! I’ve been on the brink though.” I like the beautiful violins in this song, it’s a very unique sound. This song has a very relaxed urban feel to it, I could see myself listening to this while walking through a big city on a chilly fall day. It’s kind of a melancholy song, but I still love it!

14) Don’t Rain on My Parade by Barbra Streisand
Classic! Yes, I originally heard this song on Glee, but no one can beat Streisand so I had to download her version. This song was also featured in one of my favorite movies “Life With Mikey”. This is such a great song to just belt out when people have been pushing you around and bringing you down. I love musical theatre!!

15) Hell on the Heart by Eric Church
This song is soo romantic!! I hope my boyfriend feels this way about me LOL. Catchy tune, makes you dance in your seat.

16) Stompin the Roses by David Archuleta
This song totally makes me wanna rock out! The best part of the song is that Bryce Avary (The Rocket Summer) wrote it! It DEFINITELY sounds like something he would write. I’m disappointed he didn’t record it himself, but it’s okay.

17) Moment 4 Life by Nicki Minaj & Drake
I don’t generally like rap or R&B but this song has a nice message. I don’t like the chorus all that much but I like Nicki’s rap sections.

18) Yeah 3X by Chris Brown
Okayyy, since I’m not sure exactly how I feel about Chris Brown given his violent tendencies, I tried not to download this song for as long as possible, because I don’t like to support celebrities who I feel are not nice people. However, I can’t get this song out of my head – it’s such a party song! This song seems to me like a new version of Forever, which I also loved & was obsessed with when it came out.

19) Better Life by Keith Urban
Just discovered this song & I really like it. The music itself is somewhat average & sounds very much like other Keith Urban songs, but I LOVE the lyrics. They really apply to my life right now, and my favorite lyrics are the kind that have meaning 🙂

20) Hell Yeah by Montgomery Gentry
Another somewhat melancholy song that ends with a really rocking chorus!

Thanks for reading my list. Do you like any of these songs? What are some other songs you think I’d like? Let me know in the comments!
Love,
Al-Leigh