The Hold Steady @ Magic Stick 5/15/07

By Art Michalski 

As the thunder rolled through downtown Detroit, the Brooklyn via Minneapolis band The Hold Steady provided a poignant and strong 85-minute set of straight ahead rock and provided relief from the nasty weather outside.

The much celebrated critical darlings lived up to their hype and bounced back and forth between jangly pop-rock and Bruce Springsteen-esque tales of the state of current affairs. Playing material from all three albums, including their latest Boys and Girls in America album, the group soaked in the love from the nearly sold out crowd at the Stick.

Lead by jovial lead singer Craig Finn, the group busted into newer songs such as the single “Chips Ahoy” and the very enjoyable roots rock sounding “Stuck Between Stations.” Along with pogoing keyboardist Franz Nicholy, Finn and the rest of the band displayed more of their chops on older tracks like “Charlemagne in Sweatpants” and “Stevie Nik.”

Finn approached the songs much like a storyteller would, and didn’t resort to screaming or trying to act cool, in order to win over the fans. His approach was more laid back and humorous. Ripping into everything from the current hardcore rock scene (which Finn was a member of many moons ago) to trendy people, it was a relief to see a singer connect with his fans.

On the track “Chicago Seemed a Little Tired Tonight,” he sarcastically dedicated it to the people who move to Chicago from other cities in the Midwest and wouldn’t shut up about their town (believe me, you and I all have at least one friend who cant stop talking about how great Chicago is). It was ironic that as the song was playing, the Bulls had wrapped up a win against the Pistons; but it was fitting at the time.

The band seems to draw comparisons to Bruce Springsteen, among others, for their narrative storytelling which seems to be one of their strengths. As far as honest-to-goodness rock music, you couldn’t get much better than the set The Hold Steady puts on.

The humorous titled Cincinnati band the Heartless Bastards opened the set with a 40-minute set, that rivaled the headliner in fan fervor and crowd response.

Detroit’s Summer Concert Preview

By Art Michalski

Here we are again! The 2007 summer concert season is almost upon us. Here at Detroit Buzz, we are still getting most of the information for the big summer tours in our hands. But be prepared, this summer will be no disappointment. With many major tours and many roaming festival tours as well.

The ticket prices are going to vary greater this summer than in the past, with OzzFest setting the bar high by having no charge for tickets. The other side of this curve will be The Police’s first reunion tour in almost 25 years being the high ticket water mark for the summer.

But it’s easier to just tell you by venue, what is going to be heading to Detroit this summer. Remember, dates of shows and lineups do change on occasion. So, if your favorite band I mentioned now doesn’t make the Warped Tour, don’t go on our blog and tell me how stupid and deceitful I am, even though you want to.

Here we go:

 

Indoor Shows:

State Theatre: If you heard the rumors, they are true and the State Theatre is changing its name to the Fillmore Detroit sometime this summer. The House of Blues chain has bought the venue, and the name change has been promised. But the quality of the shows will remain:

• The Deftones will be on tour with Japanese avant garde rockers Dir En Grey, hitting the State…er.. Fillmore on June 12^th.

• The Sounds of the Underground finds a new home this year, as it hits the venue on July 19^th. This year’s metal fest features Shadows Fall, Chimaira, Every Time I Die and the shlock master mainstays Gwar.

• If it smells like a High Times magazine on August 2^nd, don’t be surprised as the Kottonmouth Kings invade with Hed(Pe) and Authority Zero.

• Prepare to lash out at all the injustices in the world as Rise Against plays on August 23^rd.

 

Outdoor Shows:

Freedom Hill: After a failed stint as part of the Palace Sports & Entertainment conglomerate; Freedom Hill is once again an independent venue. After only a half dozen or so shows at the venue last year; Freedom Hill has announced a hearty schedule in 2007. Here are some of the highlights:

• Starting off the season and fresh from the Rock on the Range Tour, modern rock stars Three Days Grace and Breaking Benjamin head to Freedom Hill on May 20^th. Puddle of Mudd tags along on the bill as well and is officially back from the dead.

• At Rock on the Range, but later in the summer brings back ZZ Top, as they come on July 25^th. Maybe they’ll bring those old school cars like they had in their videos in the 80’s.

• Until Tommy Lee is done milking Rockstar: Supernova for all its worth (which isn’t much); Vince Neil needs a summer job. So, he’ll be coming to Freedom Hill on August 4^th. That’s right after he plays at the parking lot at Toledo Harley Davidson. Is playing a cruise liner not far behind? Oh wait…
• In case you need to take your girlfriend to some shows, you can always take her to see Snow Patrol on August 6^th or the Goo Goo Dolls on August 26^th. Bring extra earplugs for those shows; especially when “Chasing Cars” or “Iris” are played.

DTE Energy Music Theatre: The nine trillion pound gorilla of the Detroit summer concert scene is back. But with the rising gas prices, will the dominant venue suffer from lack of attendees who don’t want to drive all the way to Clarkston. Don’t bet on it…. Pine Knob (sorry energy corporate cronies, it will always be Pine Knob to me) is back for a full slate of shows. Here are the ones you might be interested in:

• Eddie Money plays on May 25^th. If you pay to see this show; you paid too much. End of story.

• The Honda Civic Tour hits May 27^th, in the midst of Memorial Day weekend. Pete Wentz (hopefully sans camera phone) and Fall Out Boy will headline, with the post-Blink 182 project +44, and the upstarts The Academy Is… backing them up.

• If you really want to score points with your Grey’s Anatomy loving significant other; The Fray will amaze you on June 16^th. Note the sarcasm.

• Maybe Ted Nugent can rant on how much the Rage Against The Machine tirade on his presidential buddy at Coachella pissed him off when he’s at Pine Knob on June 22^nd.

• Hair metal will be well represented this summer; with Def Leppard playing on July 24^th, and the double bill of Poison and Ratt on July 31^st. REUNION ALERT: Ratt is back with original lead singer Stephen Pearcy this summer; but no spandex will be worn. Thank god!

• Tool will come around once again this summer, hitting Detroit on July 3^rd, producing sonic fireworks that will rival the real ones the next night.

• After not one, but two cancelled shows at the State; Incubus is promising us a show on July 26^th. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me three times, shame on me.

• The Family Values tour will be back, and with promised low ticket prices once again this summer. This year’s bill features creators Korn, Trivium, Hellyeah and Atreyu. Oh yeah, Evanesance will be there too, if you like that sort of thing. It’s August 1^st.

• The oddest fan pairing of the summer will take place August 11^th, as the diehard aging metalheads take on diehard aging Goths as Slayer and Marilyn Manson tour together.

• The Projekt Revolution tour is reborn on August 22^nd, as creators Linkin Park team up with My Chemical Romance, Taking Back Sunday and possibly H.I.M..

• Dave Matthews hits the Knob on August 23^rd, but yes, it will probably be sold out. And no, you cant get tickets.

• Rush plays their first show in Detroit and god knows how long when they excite all the guitar and drum geeks on August 28^th.

• And of course, the free OzzFest. Except infinite corporate plugs and beer guts galore on August 26^th. After a year off, Ozzy Osbourne will be back with a solo set, plugging his new album Black Rain (surprisingly, it sounds all right). But with support from current metal kings Lamb of God and Hatebreed, the best probably wont be for last. You will want to watch Finnish Gwar-wannabes Lordi. The costumes are just as bad, but the songs aren’t. Best of all, OzzFest is on a weekend in Detroit for the first time since 1999.

 

Other Venues:

The Warped Tour will be back at Comerica Park this summer on July 27^th. This marks the first time Warped is Saturday or Sunday since probably 1999. This year’s bill features punk legends Bad Religion and Pennywise and metal from Killswitch Engage and emo from Circa Survive and Cute is What We Aim For. Prog rock is represented from Coheed & Cambria. Warped creator Kevin Lyman must have listened to his constitutes after last year’s somewhat underwhelming bill.

The Police’s first show in 25 years hits the Palace on July 17^th. If you’re expecting a joke and punchline, don’t. Beyond maybe having Rage Against the Machine play my birthday party (which aint happening, so don’t email me for an invite), this may be my most anticipated concert of the summer. I don’t care if they’re old as hell, at least I can say I saw this band once before they die.

 

Once again, we’ve got a big and busy mess on our hands this summer, when deciding what shows to pick. This isn’t even counting such bills as the the highly rumored Velvet Revolver and Alice in Chains tour, among others. Try fitting all those into your schedule and you just may run out of gas money. And who knows; there could be many more shows that happen between now and Labor Day. Bring your sunscreen, money, and favorite legal or not-so-legal libations.

Art’s Summer Festival Preview 2007

By Art Michalski

As spring looms, and winter finally looks to be outta Michigan for the year, we can looking forward to summer. As the concert venues start to get their fill of acts coming in during the warm months. But summer also brings major festivals of varying kinds of the fields and cities of America.

This year, we’ll be giving you a Survival Guide to help you maneuver through any of this summer’s big music festivals. This year brings a lot of old favorites, and a few new ones to pick from this summer. So, the braintrust at Detroit Buzz is giving you this look at the 2007 summer festivals, make sure you choose wisely:

 

Coachella Festival - Indio, CA (April 27^th through 29^th)

Year number eight at Coachella is as strong as ever as Coachella pulled off a major coup by scoring the first show in 7 years by Rage Against The Machine. That’s worth the 85 dollars for the day alone, just to see them. But you know you want to see other bands at Coachella, so the nights in the California desert shape up like this:

Friday, April 27^th: The always enigmatic Bjork headlines the first night, with Interpol and the Arctic Monkeys try to blast through the hype machine that’s in full overdrive for their next release.

Saturday, April 28^th: The Red Hot Chili Peppers headline, and may want to consider playing older material, versus the newer material that dominates the band’s set list. The diverse Arcade Fire supports them and Kings of Leon starts their tour that night at Coachella.

Sunday, April 29^th: Lily Allen is there; but we all know why people will stay for the final night. Rage, Rage, Rage. Does anything else matter?

Tickets: $249 for the 3 day pass, $85 dollars per day (Saturday and Sunday one day tickets are sold out). Tickets are available through Ticketmaster.

Artist Spotlight - Freer

By Art Michalski

Founded by brothers Jeff and Jeremy Freer, the namesake band is the latest Detroit band looking to make our hometown proud in the near and hopefully long term future. Formed in 2005, Freer has just recently released their debut record Secret Chorus and is playing numerous shows in the area in the near future.

The band plays off their punk and soul influences, ranging from the MC5 to Smokey Robinson. Freer creates a laid back and melodic vibe on songs such as the opening cut “Long Road Home”, and goes for 70s style vibes on “I Think You Know.” The band also takes the tempo down for introspective material such as “Dreams Disappear” and “The Ground is Too Close.” The listener can almost get a strong classic rock feel from the Doors-esque highlight track “Carnival Hardcore.” With their new album, the band delves into the issues of the day, such as war and natural disasters to help fuel the creativity from the band as well.

Freer just played a show with past Detroit Buzz artist spotlight featured group Tigercity at the Lager House. The group has a slew of dates, including a benefit for Mott Children’s Hospital this week. Freer will also play venues in Ann Arbor and Detroit throughout the late spring and summer.

So, if you’re planning on checking out one of the newest and already hardest working bands in Detroit, check out what Freer has to offer.

 

Freer will be playing the following dates in Detroit & Ann Arbor in upcoming months:

April 28^th- Northern Lights Lounge- Detroit

May 17^th- Blind Pig- Ann Arbor

June 1^st- Lager House- Detroit

July 27^th- Magic Stick- Detroit

Artist Spotlight - Saves the Day

By Art Michalski 

To say that Saves the Day has had its ups and downs in their ten year existence is an understatement. The California transplants from New Jersey have persevered through record label downsizing to come back with a strong release and more new material on the way later this year.

Formed in 1997, the band had a string of well received records and the major buzz started to gain momentum when the group signed to Vagrant Records in 2001. The major labels came calling a few years later and the group signed with Dreamworks Records. As the band was preparing to promote the album In Reverie, the band’s label was bought by Universal Music Group, and the group was left in limbo.

The band came back with a strong record from their once and current label, Vagrant, in 2006,titled Sound the Alarm . Lead by singer Chris Conley, the band sounds angry and in the mood for war with the cut “The End.” Guitarist David Soloway rips his way through tracks like “Head to the Hills” and “Say You’ll Never Leave.” The cuts from this record will set up the band for their next record quite nicely.

The band spent most of last summer on the Warped Tour, playing both an acoustic and electric during each show. As the band prepares to release their new album this fall, they are getting out on the road for a tour with Say Anything starting April 10^th.

But until their upcoming Under the Boards album is out, the band will probably be mixing in a few new cuts with the fan favorites when they invade Clutch Cargo’s tonight (April 27^th).

Saves the Day and Say Anything will be co-headlining at Clutch Cargo’s on Friday, April 27^th. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster.