People Under the Stairs

Legends of Underground Hip-Hop anyone? The People Under the Stairs were in Portland on Friday and my buddy Adam and I decided we should probably check this out given what we have heard about these indie rap gurus, so we headed over to the Hawthorne Theatre an hour and a half after the show was scheduled to begin. We figured this would be ample time to miss the opening acts which we cared nothing about… we were wrong. The show was 5 hours long. We were standing for quite some time, and unfortunately for the acts, their turntables died and they were running the entire show off of iTunes from the back of the house. Each song had to be faded out rather than mixed into the next song. It was pretty interesting, allowing for a lot of weird silence and an overall loss of crowd energy. Luckily for the headliners there were using different gear and had no problems. Their set was exactly what they had promised, a high energy lyrically charged underground hip-hop event. They had the crowd’s attention and with it they set the place on fire. Double K and Thes One both spit some very hot fire, and Thes One was all over the freestyle throughout the night. However he couldn’t get away from calling Portland “Rip City”. While totally accurate, it got kind of old. Did I mention they are from L.A., because they sure did. As with much of the hip-hop culture, especially the underground crowd, where you are from means even more than what you saying, so every other song was often about where they were from. I am not from L.A. I am from Spokane, and I just so happened to run into a bunch of kids that I went to high school with. A few of them moved to Portland after graduating and a bunch of them were in town visiting. All of us meeting at the concert was a crazy coincidence. I am not from L.A.

People Under the Stairs from Aaron Nicholls on Vimeo.

Shiny Toy Guns

Berbati’s hosted the Shiny Toy Guns on Thursday to an All-Ages, sell-out crowd. My buddy Mike and I were in attendance and while their album made me think the show would be fun, I didn’t really have any. They had hung umbrellas upside down from the ceiling creating a neat effect with their laser lights, but I didn’t really care for their show. We arrived late, and left early.


Shiny Toy Guns from Aaron Nicholls on Vimeo.

August Burns Red

If you are into brutal, if you like metal, if you understand that heavy has nothing to do with lbs, it’s quite possible that you are, or were at one time a fan of August Burns Red. Was that enough commas for you? If not, read my previous posts as they are littered with commas, often used incorrectly. So, August Burns Red came back to town last night and boy what a show. Did I just use “boy” in describing a metal show? Opps. These guys are awesome. The show was at The Hawthorne Theatre. I had a great time, and got a lot of great footage, you can check some of it out below. I arrived just before the band Sky Eats Airplane was scheduled to start, and they were pretty good as well. I had never heard of them but their live performance caught my attention and I downloaded their album upon arriving home. August Burns Red is a group of very talented musicians, and if you don’t like metal I’m sure you disagree, but I’m telling you they are outstanding. I got a pick from guitarist JB which I was pretty excited about. Overall the show was pretty brutal, check out the video and you’ll see what I’m talking about.


August Burns Red from Aaron Nicholls on Vimeo.

Maroon 5 & Counting Crows

I know a lot of people that don’t really care for Maroon 5 and to you I say… “That’s cool.” Personally I enjoy Maroon 5 very much, and there is nothing like throwing on my baby blue apron, busting out the Windex and vacuum cleaner and throwing on some (cough cough) umm, sorry about that I just don’t know what… This past weekend the Portland area was graced with Maroon 5 and Counting Crows' presence, but of course a line up like this couldn’t possibly be contained by a Portland Venue so the show was held 20 miles north of Portland in Ridgefield Washington at The Amphitheater at Clark County. When I found out that these two bands were coming to the area I began organizing a trip to see them. My brother was the one that tipped me off on the show and he was more than excited as The Counting Crows is his favorite band. I also called my good buddy Gates who, like my brother, lives in Pullman Washington attending Washington State University. They decided they would drive over together and stay with me over the weekend. I got a hold of my friends Aimee, Allison and her boyfriend Matt. In all we ended up having a gang of 5 anxious concert goers… MATT! Make that 4 anxious concert goers and one rather annoyed boyfriend. Sorry bro. We bought our tickets all in a row and anticipated their WORLD WIDE MEGA STAR arrival. This amphitheater was incredible. The reserved seating upfront was indoors but it had no back wall because behind the reserved seating was the giant lawn for general admission. Around the outside was something like 12 concession stands including the famous $13 beer, and $10 ballpark frank; nothing like event price hikes! My friend Aimee and I are big friends of the band Augustana, and they were the openers. We had seen them live once before in Portland, and they blew my mind. In this setting they were a little less impressive. Partly because the majority of the crowd hadn’t arrived yet so it was much like they were playing in an empty arena, and partly because we were so far away from the stage. They pretty much kick ass though. Maroon 5 played first and it was exactly what I expected. High energy, expensive sets, pyrotechnics, laser lights, giant T.V. screens, the works. The audio was great, it was a masterful presentation. I have a cool video of everyone with their cell phones raised upon Maroon 5’s request. Check out my Vimeo account at www.Vimeo.com/nichollsaaron, for that and other concert footage along with some shorts. Maroon 5 played a bunch of songs from their 2 platinum records, and at the end the lead singer threw his guitar in the air and let in smash to the ground. He then picked it up and handed it to someone in the front row. I was very upset. Counting Crows came next, and it was obvious that the majority of the crowd had come to see these rock superstars. They played great, vocals were spot on, similar theatrics but my one complaint was that some of the songs were remixes of the album track I was used to, and they didn’t live up to the originals. They were great though, and they played their encore with both of the other bands, a made a nice little “Save the World” statement at the end. I think all 5 of us had a great time and it was money well spent. Sorry Matt.


Maroon 5 from Aaron Nicholls on Vimeo.

The Raconteurs

My roommate often listens to me talk about upcoming shows and doesn’t have any idea who I am talking about. This certainly is not to say that he isn’t into music because he is, and actually thanks to Pandora, who isn’t. I think Pandora’s biggest benefit is allowing you to drop some obscure band name and then say “Oh, they are kinda like Underoath, you should check them out.” or whoever you have your station set to and you sound so informed. Thank you Pandora. So, when I told James that I was thinking about going to a band called The Raconteurs he was excited to say that he did actually know who they were. I had never heard of them, but he seemed to like them so I told him that we were going and he needed to empty that date on his calendar. I downloaded their album Consoler of the Lonely, and gave it a listen. I liked it a lot. The lead singer is Jack White of the White Stripes which was a large contributor to both of their back to back shows in Portland being sold out weeks prior to the date. The Raconteurs remind me of The Doors, and little bit of The Who, sometimes a dash of Styx but all in all it’s a great sound that we haven’t heard for quite some time in main stream music. I believe that along with White’s star power it’s a large part of their appeal. The show was great. We showed a little later than planned but still caught Jack White in all his Super Star glory. Even without White’s fame, I think the band was great, probably because I could care less about the White Stripes. They sounded pretty good live, certainly didn’t quite live up to the album, but they made up for it in stage presents. I got some video, but wasn’t in the mood to push my way through a capacity crowd at the Roseland so all of it is from a distance. In the end, thumbs up to The Raconteurs.


The Raconteurs from Aaron Nicholls on Vimeo.

Nightwish

I got an email 2 weeks ago from a good friend of mine from high school telling me that a favorite band of his was coming to Portland, and that he was making plans to come visit and go to the show. I told him that I could probably get us tickets, and that he was welcome at my place for as long as he wanted. Well, I was able to get us into the show, and it was a blast. It was a band called Nightwish, a Swedish power metal band that mixed amped metal chords with a melodic opera style vocal. I knew nothing about this band, but apparently in their genre they are a big deal. I realized this when we arrived to a giant crowd at the Roseland, something I wasn’t expecting at all. We caught the last 2 songs of the opener Sonata Arctica and then made our way through the crowd during the set break. We ran into a couple of kids in town from Forest Grove (a 2 hour bus ride from Portland) to see the Swedes. When Nightwish came out they did so in fashion; all the flashy 90’s laser lights and dramatic intro music that I had imagined when listening to their album the day before. I was able to shoot some good video of the group. The lead singer Annette came up to the edge of the stage and sang directly into my camera at one point, and then the keyboardist came to the edge of the stage and handed me his beer. I drank it in proper “crazy fan” style as if the fact that it had been his beer made it taste like Hawaiian Punch. I promptly threw the empty cup into the security pit only to receive a giant cheer from the fans immediately surrounding me. At the end of the show I was lucky enough to catch the bassists’ pick to give to my good friend Dan, and he was nothing but excited. Of course his mind was elsewhere as I came to the back of the house only to see him sucking face with the Forest Grove girl. HAHAHA.

Nightwish from Aaron Nicholls on Vimeo.

Music Fest Northwest 2008

Last night was the closing night of Portland's Music Fest Northwest event that is put together by the Willamette Week. The festival included 215 bands at 20 venues in 4 days. You can choose to buy a ticket to the shows you want to go to or you can buy a red MFNW wristband for $50 that gets you into all of the shows on a first come first serve basis. My internship at Mike Thrasher Presents scored me one of these wristbands. So I busted out my centerfold schedule of all the bands from the Willamette Week, and mapped out my week. I decided to hit Mogwai at the Roseland on Wednesday, The Cool Kids and Del the Funky Homosapien also at the Roseland on Thursday, the Sand People and Jedi Mind Tricks at the Hawthorne Theatre on Friday, and then Saturday would be Ratatat at the Wonder Ballroom and The Helio Sequence at the Crystal Ballroom.

Wednesday, the first night, I went to see the Scottish instrumental band Mogwai at The Roseland Theater. I showed up with my buddy Matt at 10:15, and they were scheduled to start at 10:30. We arrived at the Roseland surprised to see 200 people standing in line outside of the venue extending down the street and nearly around the corner. We were absolutely devastated, having been talking about this show for weeks. We decided to get in line even though we knew that the venue was at capacity, and their policy is 20 out - 20 in, so there was really no real way that we were going to get in. I had some handbills to pass out to the line so Matt stood in line and I headed to the front to start passing out the bills. I got about half way down the line and I see three kids come out of the emergency exit, and a few people decided to file in as they come out. I see this and run back to Matt at the rear of the line, and say "Dude, emergency exit, let’s go!" he and I run back to the exit and by this time tons of people are rushing in. we ran into the crowded venue and caught the whole show. It was extraordinary. The capacity +150 crowd stood in amazement and what caught me as I looked around, besides the fact that I never had, and will probably never again see the Roseland that packed, was the diversity that the crowd had to offer. Ages varied greatly, as did walks of life. The show was better than I could have expected. Much of it I got on film, you can see the footage on my youtube which is linked at the bottom of the page. The lead guitarist set his pick on the stage as they left, and I rushed the barrier as everyone exited. A member of the crew was nice enough to respond to my plea “BRO! PICK!” and he handed it to me.

Mogwai from Aaron Nicholls on Vimeo.
Thursday, the second night, I tried to plan ahead. Now I was getting familiar with the way that MFNW works, and I learned that MFNW is long lined, sellout crowd, underground, mainstream craziness. So I went to the Roseland at 9pm. The Cool Kids were scheduled to begin at 10 and Del at 11. I borrowed my friend Aimee's car and parked a few blocks from the venue. I walked to the venue expecting to see a line, but luckily I had beaten the crowd and entered the venue at 9 without a problem. A guy named Cool Nuts was on stage when I arrived and he was alright, but then The Cool Kids came out and killed it. Their set was pretty damn good. Then Del came out and while I liked it, I wasn’t all that impressed. As I left I realized that the line that I had expected must have formed shortly after my arrival because the Roseland seemed to be just under capacity. I got back to the car at around 12:30… or at least where I had left the car. I hadn’t realized it when I arrived, but I had parked in front of a fire hydrant, and now the car was gone. I walked home.

By A_Niks
On Friday, after shelling out $280 to get Aimee’s car out of the tow lot, we headed to the Hawthorne Theatre to catch Jedi Mind Tricks. Local Hip-Hop group “Sand People” were on stage when we got there, and I really enjoyed their show. They had something like 7 members, and were constantly handing off the 3 mics that they had been supplied. I think they had a great show. Jedi Mind Tricks came out and gave the underground savvy crowd of maybe 200 exactly what they had come to see, Raw, Anti-Corporate, Anti-Police underground rap. The venue, while not full was still very alive and the rap duo kept the place moving for upwards of an hour and a half. We left having received our monies worth, if I would have paid.

By A_Niks
Saturday was the final day of MFNW and this is a sad day. Knowing that MFNW was hours from ending, I headed to The Wonder Ballroom around 5:00 to see about getting in to see Ratatat at 5:30. I was foolish to expect anything other than what I arrived to see. The line of 400 kids spanned nearly 2 city blocks, and the venue was already at capacity. I had forgotten that this was one of Nike’s free events that simply required you to pick-up a ticket from one of two Jackpot Records locations. I did not see Ratatat live. After bailing on Ratatat I was invited to go see a segment of the Time Based Art festival at the Portland Art Museum which is right across the street from my apartment, so at 9 I headed over there and caught “Zidane, a 21st Century Portrait”. This film was of Zinedine Zidane the famous French soccer player playing for Real Madrid against Villareal in 2005. The concept was to follow only Zidane throughout the 90 min. game. They used 17 different cameras and much of the film was accompanied by Mogwai. I loved it but many people got up and left when they realized the film was exactly what it had promised. After the movie, I ran to the Crystal Ballroom to catch Helio Sequence. I arrived to find yet another signature Music Fest Northwest line that ran down the block and around the corner. I looked at my phone, it was 11:15 and Helio Sequence wasn’t scheduled to start until mid-night. I stood in line for a minute, and then decided I was tired and had homework to do, so I started home. I got across the street and thought to myself, “This is what MFNW is. This line is the essence of the entire festival. Tonight is the last night, now get back in line!” I quickly heeded my conscious’ advice and got back to the rear. It took just under a half hour to get in the door and I made my way up the stairs to the giant venue that is the Crystal Ballroom. Crystal’s capacity is 1500, and there was still a line around the corner. I caught the end of Menomena’s set and I was quite impressed. They had drawn an amazing crowd, and half of them left as the band tore down their equipment. The line outside gave new life to the Ballroom as those who left were simply replaced with eager Helio Sequence fans. I had not really listened to them much, but when the Beaverton natives hit the stage I became a fan. They played a great show, and as the venue emptied I heard many satisfied Portlanders talk about the sadness of MFNW being over until next summer.

My first Music Fest Northwest was a great one and I came away with a few stories to tell and some great video to show. I applaud the Willamette Week for their excellent work in bringing this great festival to Portland every year since 2001. I can’t wait to see the bands that come next year.