Senses Fail and Hollywood Undead

I'd like to start this post with a quick shout out to my boy Tom Flynn, who went to this show with me and lost a shoe. haha. We attended this show for one reason only... Senses Fail. Hollywood Undead is a joke as far as I'm concerned, but I that didn't keep me from taking some pretty great video of them. Senses played pretty well, although I have seen them twice before and this was the least entertaining of the three. Hollywood Undead sold this place out, and had the entire crowd going nuts the whole time, so I guess a few people think they are alright. The Senses Fail video is just one straight video of three songs, and I almost drop my camera at one point. The Undead video is actually an edit of some of the footage I got. The show was a blast, go check the videos.


Senses Fail from Aaron Nicholls on Vimeo.


Hollywood Undead from Aaron Nicholls on Vimeo.

The Game

I was looking forward to this show because I always enjoy a megastar rapper live in concert. I'm not a huge fan of The Game, but from my experience, these guys bring the fire when they hit the stage. Well The Game broke the cycle. I have been simply awestruck by rappers in the past including Red and Meth, Ice Cube, W C, and even Wyclef came to rock the party, but The Game was a sheer disappointment. He performed 30% of the lyrics, the crowd had to fill in the rest. I'm not saying I disagree with allowing the crowd to prove to you how much we like you by shouting your lyrics at the top of our lungs... however I did come to hear YOU! The video I decided to post is of one of his mainstream hits "This Is How We Do". You can see his lack of energy and complete disregard for his own lyrics. Check it out.


The Game from Aaron Nicholls on Vimeo.

Cradle of Filth

I really just want to put this show behind me, so let’s make this quick. I showed up in between sets, just before Cradle of Filth was ready to start. I often plan to arrive right around this time for shows like this because the headliner is going to be bad enough; might as well save myself the pain and skip the openers. The Roseland was the setting for this blackened mob, all decked out in their Children of Bodom T-shirts and studded belts. My buddy Matt and I had been getting mentally prepared on our walk from my downtown apartment and going in, I was pretty pumped to get hit in the face by a Goth kid. Unfortunately upon rising up into the Roseland floor, I found myself standing in a nearly empty auditorium. The worst thing about a small turn out at a metal show is the direct effect it has on the pit. Naturally. Needless to say the pit sucked and the music was worse. That’s the short and sweet. Check the vid.


Cradle of Filth from Aaron Nicholls on Vimeo.

Chiodos

The first time I saw Chiodos they were opening for 30 Seconds to Mars. This was back when few knew who they were and Jared Leto was still cool. In fact, Craig Owens, Chiodos front man, walked out the front door of the Wonder Ballroom shortly after the show and not a single person knew who he was. My friend Aimee, who had been listening to Chiodos for a while and was actually at the show for them rather than 30 Seconds to Mars recognized him immediately and confronted him. He seemed taken aback that he was being recognized, what with being in the shadow of Jared Leto and his brother during this tour. We talked to him for a few minutes and he seemed pretty excited as he walked away. Now, Chiodos has become almost superstars. They aren’t playing sold out arenas but I couldn’t believe how many Chiodos shirts I saw at a show with Silverstein in the lineup. I figured that there would certainly be more of their fans present as opposed to Chiodos fans. Anyway, if you take a look at the video I have embedded below, you will see how big shot Chiodos thinks they have become, dramatic lighting and all. The show was great by the way; they played nearly every song they had. Silverstien killed it as well. I have only recently become a fan of their music, but they certainly had a large fan base in attendance. I had fun, and that’s all that matters.


Chiodos from Aaron Nicholls on Vimeo.

Devildriver

If you are unfamiliar with Devildriver, please go watch this video before reading on. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULgU7_lYA38 Now that you are familiar with these crazy assholes, you can understand why my buddy Matt and I decided to go see them last week, and still haven’t stopped talking about it. When we arrived at the Roseland, we were ushered to the Bar as opposed to heading up the stairs to the concert hall as we normally would. They had cleared the majority of the bar out, and were using the stage that was normally reserved for smaller bar shows. I heard someone giving a Roseland staff member some shit about it not being in the concert hall and the staff member said “This is the first time this has ever happened!” I didn’t realize it at the time, but what had occurred to me after leaving was that the Roseland had actually done all of us a favor. I imagine that because the pre-sales were so discouraging, they moved the concert to the bar because it was a smaller area, and had the show been upstairs there would have been no pit, and it would have turned out much like the Kataklysm show. I say Bravo Roseland Theater.But then again, I could have no idea what I'm talking about. When Matt and I arrived, Snot was playing. I had never heard of them, but I enjoyed it very much. There were 2 girls that also enjoyed it very much, and they got up on stage to show it. There is a video below of these two girls and I strongly suggest you check it out.
Snot from Aaron Nicholls on Vimeo.
Once Devildriver got on stage, the place erupted. Unlike the Kataklysm show, the majority of the crowd was pit ready. I think the lead singer of Devildriver put it best when he said “We want everyone to be safe, but we want extreme viciousness as well. It’s really weird how it works.” He told us this right after he stopped the show because a 350lb guy had gone down and wasn’t getting up. It took 5 Roseland security guards to literally drag him out of the middle of the pit, and I can almost guarantee you, his leg was broken. As soon as he was clear, they started back up and the “extreme viciousness” continued. Watch the video, it gives you a little taste of it. I think the show was great and I have the bruises to prove it.

Devildriver from Aaron Nicholls on Vimeo.

Flogging Molly

Flogging Molly sold out 2 weeks before they arrived at the Roseland Theater on October 11th in good ol’ Portland Oregon. Luckily enough I was able to get my buddy Scotty Burk and I in the door last minute. For some reason the capacity crowd of the Roseland always seems to impress me; I think it might be because of the energy that Portland seems to bring to live music as opposed to the sheer numbers that may seem weak to other venues around the country. I have never been a big fan of Flogging Molly’s records, but their live show certainly entertained me. I think I can speak for Scott and me both when I say that these Irish musicians gave the crowd their monies worth. They had a sizable pit, and the guys in the pit were sizable themselves. I don’t understand why their shirts had to come off but with the amount of 300lb guys that were running around with no shirts on sweating their asses off, I found myself in the middle of it for a very short period of time. There was a kid there wearing a kilt, and apparently he had been in attendance last time Flogging Molly graced the Pacific Northwest and Dave King, Flogging Molly’s front man, recognized him and invited him on stage for their final song. I have some video of Connor in all of his glory that will be up soon. The seven piece band drew a crowd and as they left I heard nothing but praises, overall I would say their show was great and I wouldn’t hesitate to see them again.

Flogging Molly from Aaron Nicholls on Vimeo.

Gogol Bordello

I work at a gym, and we open at 5:30am. On Wednesday s the Willamette Week is delivered and I often stop and talk with the guy that delivers them about upcoming shows and what not. A few weeks back he asked me if I was going to see Gogol Bordello, and I told him I had no idea who they were. He said “Dude! You have got to go check these guys out.” I followed his advice. My friend Sarah and I went in knowing very little about this band, we knew only their genre… Gypsy Rock?!?! Well, we figured out what that meant right away. These guys were crazy. They had the entire place, which was packed, moving to the sounds of violin, harmonica, accordion, and guitar. I enjoyed the music, which to be honest I didn’t expect, but their show was awesome. The guy on the violin had to be 90 years old. I would recommend checking Gogol Bordello out if you get the chance. I can almost guarantee you will have fun at their live show. Check out the video below and you might get a picture of what I am talking about.


Gogol Bordello 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.