I never expected to see Patti Smith live, but was very pleased to be wrong about that… she put on a great, fiery show at FreeFest, and was one of the only artists I heard speak about politics and other weighty topics (which DID generate a few boos from some people in the audience). Her band was tight, she was full of energy, playful… great show. I’d love to see her again in a setting where she had time for a full set.
Natural Child are a pretty awesome band from Tennessee, I have seen them twice now (both times brought to Baltimore via Unregistered Nurse Booking), and both times they impressed me. Slowed down, very melodic garage-y punk rock, with funny lyrics and song concepts… good stuff. Check them out when they play your town.
Continuing in the trend of photos that I haven’t posted for months, here are shots from the Death Set’s matinee show at the Windup Space a few months back, during Death Fest weekend. Always fun to see these boys. Also included are some shots of Eyeball Skeleton and Adventure (with Mark Brown). And the lovable Russ & Gonz from the Windup Space.
2 cool shows at the Golden West, one photo post! Milo from the Descendents even made an appearance at the Scott Reynolds show and was nice enough to pose for a few photos!
Shot several shows in Hampden last week… 2 at the Golden West presented by Unregistered Nurse and another at Fraziers. Saw several new bands, including Denny Bowen (of Double Dagger)’s new band Roomrunner, and Ryan Kidwell (Cex) and Jeremy from Ponytail’s new one Sprayer. Great times all around.
Monday night’s Ice Age show with Give and Death Domain at the Golden West (brought to you by Unregistered Nurse Booking)was a lot of fun… cool to see such a buzzed about new band play Baltimore as their 3rd show of their first US tour! Give was also a band I’d heard alot about and really enjoyed… they seem to be part of this current movement of looking back to hardcore and punk’s earlier days, but I like that! They were fun to see. Ice Age (or is it iceage? I’m unsure.) were fun and somber and Danish and VERY YOUNG. They seemed a little awkward at first, but got into it after a few songs… and the crowd certainly responded, there was lots of slamming and dancing going on, at least at the front. Good times.
Dillinger Escape Plan played a not-quite-secret-but-unpromoted show at the Talking Head, a very small venue behind Sonar after their recent two days opening at Sonar for the Deftones. It was pretty crazy! Everyone that showed up was a devout fan and there was alot of diving, surfing, moshing and other shenanigans. By the end of the show, the ceiling air duct was destroyed and the guitarist’s face was covered in blood. Wild times.
MDF this year was a great success… so many amazing bands, so many good times. Pretty much every aspect was incredible and it went off with only a few small bumps, at least as far as I could tell. I am gonna be posting photos from it over the next few days, with a big megapost scheduled to go out on monday. Click on the link below to see more photos from the first day!
Last week, Cheap Time played at the Golden West along with new Baltimore band MURDER (members of Vincent Black Shadow, Triac, Fishnet Stalkers)… it was pretty awesome (as is the norm for Unregistered Nurse shows), though I was dead on my feet from a busy week, I still had a good time. Cheap Time is on tour, check em out. Also, I took some promo photos of MURDER, they will be up in a day or two…
First show back at the newly reopened (thank god!) Sonar, and, minus booze, it was still a great time. I will admit to being extremely skeptical of the idea of Steve Ignorant doing a “reunion” tour of Crass, but after seeing it and experiencing how genuine Steve seemed about the whole thing, my opinion softened. While I don’t think it was the same as actually seeing Crass play (how could it be), it was still a cool show, the band was extremely tight (perhaps too pro at times), and the crowd was extremely into it. My one issue was that it was weird that they even attempted to do the Eve Libertine and Joy De Vivre songs, since they were not on the tour. The singer who did them NAILED it, and was very good, but it was just odd to me (no reflection on her performance at all). I would have felt more “okay” about it had they just done Steve’s songs, since it’s ostensibly his tour.
That said, glad I went, and glad it managed to happen in Baltimore… and very glad Sonar is back!
This show was REALLY fun. Brought to you by Unregistered Nurse, this was a good time sunday rock and roll show upstairs at the Ottobar, a great venue for punk/rock shows… great bar staff, lots of room, good prices… I love the Ottobar. I imagine it must be a bitch to move all those amps and whatnot up the stairs though…
Anyway, good times, good tunes, friends. Deep Sleep and Hollywood are local Baltimore bands, Hollywood is more on the garage side of things, while Deep Sleep is a fast hardcore band, fronted by Tony from Celebrated Summer records. The White Wires are from Canada, which they kept referencing, and were also REALLY DRUNK. They kept talking about how many centiliters of whiskey they had drink, which was funny since no one in the crowd probably had any idea how many centiliters are in a normal shot… or maybe even what a centiliter is. They were great live though, and tore through a quick set of poppy rock songs.
The other week, I caught King Tuff at the Golden West in Hampden… fun show courtesy of Unregistered Nurse Booking.
I love the Ex. I am a late-term fan, I first saw them with the new line-up, so a lot people may think less of them now with their more guitar-oriented sound… but I think they are terrific, and they are always spectacular live… this was definitely one of the best shows of the 60 or so shows I have seen so far this year.
The best rock band in Baltimore. This show was great, their shows are always great. See them when they play near you.
The other day I was able to see Integrity, a band I have loved for years, play at Sonar with Haymaker, a Canadian band I’ve liked for years, and who apparently have never before played in the States, which seems crazy to me! I also caught the above photo of a gentleman crowdsurfing WHILE eating pizza. Amazing.
Promo shot I did for Baltimore band DEEP SLEEP, to promote their new record. Contact me if your band needs promo shots.
I wrote a little thing a couple of weeks ago about this show. Read that after the jump. Continue reading
I covered the Dismemberment Plan reunion tour kick-off at the Black Cat for SPIN, and it was a really fun show. Sold out, of course, and they played a stacked set, with a lot of attention to Emergency and I, their most revered album, as well as a lot of other tracks… They were totally together too, without any of the minor technical foibles at their secret preview show the previous week (more on that in a sec). Really cool band Bluebrain opened up, too…
I was also lucky enough to be able to shoot a secret, invitation only show at the Galaxy Hut in Arlington, VA a week before the tour officially started… this was a great experience, 60 or so people crammed into a little cafe area, a feeling similar to what I imagine D-Plan shows in DC were like in the late 90s.
Never saw this band before, but I remember people being blown away by their shows at the Black Cat back in the day… they put on a really good show, and the sold out crowd was seriously into it. Dunno if I would buy their records, but this was a fun show to shoot. Interestingly, they had us wait and shoot the middle of the set… maybe so they would get a little sweaty first?
Click here to see the whole Gogol Bordello photo set | Click here to read the Washington Post review
Awesome show, awesome band. Peter you will be missed. Anyone who missed this show, you missed out!
View All of the Sick Weapons last show photos here!!!