this was a band that was on our radar during SXSW – we never ended up seeing them though which wasn’t a big deal since they’re local – this too was more of a chance sighting than anything else but I was still disappointed – I expected more psych metal and less screamo – the music was heavy and complicated (good) but the vocals were grating and annoying: too discordant to even be screamo -the lead singer was fascinating though with his spawn-from-the-river-like writhing – noise-rock meets no wave – possibly, possibly it was my own bad attitude and the fact that I should have been in bed.

A supposedly “joke” band, the Bozos were fronted by a straight shirtless guy. The music was more Top Gun than anything, it sounded good and looked good but it was obvious this wasn’t a real band. They headlined for the Burnt Fur on purpose, I heard.

Entertaining but who was left to care.

Burnt Fur were awesome. Why they were playing at Ramrod, a leather bar, I don’t know (on recommendation of a DJ that works there if the stories are true.) The band found a credible vibe between the Cure (which they credited as an influence) and Siouxsie and the Banshees.

The entire set was polished, high energy songs that walked the fine line between punk and new wave. Songs like Warm All Day were at one end of the spectrum while a track like Cats was at the vast other end. But it all worked.

The band traded off instruments and vocal duties and far surpassed expectations in the decidedly un-Ramrod crowd. A cover of The Glove’s Orgy sealed the deal. A magnificent performance.

Apparently the boy band of punk bands. I was pretty excited for this show for no good reason except I adore “Baby, Baby” and their general take on punk – popped up in the friendly hard rock way – melodified – complexified – hate the emo. When the frat boys’ girlfriends started yelling for “Baby, Baby” I was shamed and had to tame my clapping. But in truth, they were definitively solid and had a wide range of styles. I was surprised at first at how hard they were – but they do have a history of opening for a variety of 70s punk bands, such as Sex Pistols, etc., etc. Plus they’ve been a band for as long as I’ve been alive, just exactly, which is unimaginable: impressive, worrisome. So being a band for 32 years results in impeccable tightness, record-quality polish, and the problem of having to not look bored to death with playing the same songs you’ve played for 30 plus years. They did good. They were enthusiastic and obviously chose the right career path for themselves. The drummer was ignorant and sticking his tongue out at the crowd like a silly pervert – original member of the band. The lead guitarist was not an original member – he was technically good but had a suburban-man-mowing-the-lawn outfit on – fine fine. The lead singer/guitarist was the core of the band but when I realized he was a walking skeleton, I was torn between oh-this-is-real and oh-poor-man. He’s clearly a man easily persuaded by fads – he might as well have been Scott Weiland in his overwrought attempt to stay current and punk. They went from hardcore punk to Oi-ish punk to just hard rock. The crowd was insane but it was basically a pack of extremely drunk cotton-t-shirt boys. Oh, and they were thoroughly British which is always charming. Austin is undergoing the mini punk festival, Chaos in Tejas, and these classic fellows were not included, which made me wary of them, but I think I was lucky to see them, even if they don’t discriminate against melody. Highlights were “Baby, Baby” AND when they covered The Members’ “The Sound of the Suburbs.”

… have lost all hearing in the right ear, except that the sound of my air conditioning hurts – I thought my mind was zapping every time there was a screech because I was tired but it appears that my suspicion that the sound was off was correct. Must start wearing earplugs like the old rockers. Despite this, the band was fantastic. It was odd at first because the lead singer was my pizza man – I watched him vacantly shovel pizzas into the oven last night as a matter of fact. The man was transformed. He was a dynamo of punk passion. A solid column of fury and energy. This band had beers, shoes, etc. flying halfway through their set. They’re really good. Maybe I haven’t seen music in too long but they’re my favorite Austin punk band now. They’re hard but in no way boring or repetitive. Both guitarists were excellent – fingers flying – and the music was complex – touches of post-punk. But predominantly hardcore punk in attitude and overtone. Oh and to top it off the lead singer (my pizza man) and the lead guitarist obviously adored each other – and this would have been apparent even if they hadn’t kissed mid-set. I always enjoy a band that enjoys each other. Lastly, his coworkers, including my pizza-man-crush, were in attendance to support.

Austin\”s own Man Man. I came specifically to see this band, whom I\”d always remembered from a chance sighting at an Eastside art show years ago. And they\”ve grown from a ramshackle three-man band to an organized orchestrated eight-member-band (accordion, washboard, guitar, drums, upright bass, trumpet, clarinet, and violin). A motley crue in a good way. Definitive gypsy punk with some touches of Irish bar ballads. Irresistibly danceable. Their energy and showmanship is coupled with genuine musical talent – the music was accompanied by yells, yodels and jigs from the band members. The best moments were the clarinet player tooting an upswung clarinet with left hand while pumping his right hand, the washboard solo, covering a The Bike Band song when half of the members of The Bike Band were in this band, and the accordion player calling out some scientific word to describe them playing a new song they hadn\”t played before. They have the potential to be an Austin favorite for me if they don\”t disband because of other interests.

I was annoyed at first with their youthful self-important casual-hipster postering. They were basically gypsy-punk-lite with a folky-campfire bent. If they were being serious, they started the band when they were biking to Mexico and Canada together and “are still friends.” The vocalizing and music was intentionally messy but the 8-band-member choruses were engaging. I was especially charmed that their second song was “Daisy, daisy, give me your answer true.” Some of the band members were of questionable talent (spoon guy), but some had former band geek potential.

The B-52′s continue to put on a dance party despite being on the circuit since 1979. Sticking to a nice mix between their latest set Funplex and their classic material like Love Shack and Rock Lobster, they kept the audience dancing with every transcendent note. Their music translates well in the live setting and even the cavernous hall of the House of Blues couldn’t dull their energy. Fred Schneider introduced Strobe Light as a love song, “of the 7,000 written, this is the one we recorded.” He stumped for Obama before Channel Z “8 years of shit is enough” and generally kept up the wise cracking between songs.

The beginning of the set, Mesopotamia and the new track Ultraviolet, highlighted their vocal harmonies at their best. The night’s best was the rare party mix track Give Me Back My Man, with Cindy Wilson on vocals. Wilson constantly mixed it up with her vocal contributions, and used her sex appeal on stage to full effect. The B-52′s have definitely entered the realm of bands that take breaks in between songs more for their own benefit than for that of the audience, but they kept up the banter and did a good job of keeping their reputation as the preeminent party band intact.

The B-52′s setlist
Pump
Mesopotamia
Ultraviolet
Private Idaho
Give Me Back My Man
Funplex
Strobe Light
Quiche Lorraine
Juliet of the Spirits
Roam
Party Out of Bounds
Love in the Year 3000
Hot Corner
Channel Z
Love Shack
Encore
Planet Claire
Rock Lobster

Blue October has raised their game to stratospheric levels since they busted into the mainstream with Hate Me, and this show was stellar. Justin Furstenfeld has evolved into an endlessly sexy, entertaining frontman, howling his way through all twelve tracks (in order) from their new release, Approaching Normal. Furstenfeld acknowledged the birth of his daughter as inspiration for a happy song (Jump Rope) but her influence was clear enough on the track Blue Does and perhaps on the band’s overall vibe.

They manage to crank up both the volume and the energy to deafening levels at times, tearing through their recent hit Should Be Loved and the blistering break-up track The End. The crowd head-banged their way through X-Amount of Words and Drilled a Wire Through My Cheek which were the heaviest offerings. A softer side does exist, the ode to his daughter, Blue Does, which made for a better live song than a studio track. As does Congratulations , which is the closest the band comes to balladry.

The second half stuck to mostly tracks from their breakthrough release Foiled, excepting the rare appearance of the gorgeous Libby, I’m Listening which opened the encore and fan (and band) favorite Come in Closer. And stuck in between the two was Hate Me, a song which launched them into the mainstream, and has taken on almost iconic stature among fans.

Blue October setlist
Weight of the World
Say It
Dirt Room
Been Down
My Never
Should Be Loved
Kangaroo Cry
Picking Up the Pieces
Jump Rope
Blue Skies
Blue Does
The End
Congratulations
She’s My Ride Home
Into the Ocean (w/Steve Schiltz)
X-Amount of Words
Drilled a Wire Through My Cheek
You Make Me Smile
Encore
Libby, I’m Listening
Hate Me
Come in Closer

Longwave has been around for a decade, give or take, and took a supporting slot with Blue October at the House of Blues in Boston. They put on a polished performance which included a rare performance of I Know It’s Coming Someday with Justin Furstenfeld on vocals. They closed out their set with the atmospheric track Life is Wrong with Jeremy Furstenfeld on additional percussion.

Okay, when you’re slotted into Lecture Hall C in the Science Center at Harvard University, you know the acoustics and performance space are not going to be ideal. The ‘Cliffe Notes, an all female a cappella group, gamely took to “the stage” at the bottom of the auditorium to perform as part of Arts First Weekend at Harvard University. They launched into fairly rote versions of Love Song and Call Me. Despite the a cappella arrangements, there wasn’t anything particularly novel about their interpretations of the pop songs. Isn’t the point of performance to put your own stamp on it?

As if to prove exactly that, it was the last number, a medley of Abba songs, that not only showcased their vocal talents, but also provided a spark in their performance. Finally, the girls looked like they were loosening up and having a fun time and the arrangements were dynamic and creative. They ended on a high note, literally.

The ‘Cliffe Notes setlist
Love Song
Call Me
Son of a Preacher Man
Abba medley

The Noteables, a performance group focused on musical theater, were helped by neither the venue nor their songs choices during the showcase as part of Arts First Weekend at Harvard University. For starters, the acoustics in Lehman Hall were painfully stifled, half of the performers were mouthing the words but no one in the audience could hear the sound. A percussion performance in another building pounded its way through the room to compete with the piano accompaniment for the entire twenty minutes.

But even that would have been overcome had the performance itself not been pretty weak. Half the troupe seemed ill prepared for the opening number There’s No Business Like Show Business, as if they had never seen the choreography before. The song choices were particularly strange since half of the songs were tasteless, totally inappropriate for the crowd of parents and young kids like the lament from Chicago, Class, which is mostly a string of vulgar observations. Don’t Be the Bunny was enjoyable, if a little out of context. That left their signature song, Corner of the Sky, which at the least showcased the performers at their best as a group. But considering they were trying to pitch their upcoming full-length performance, this montage seemed really ill-considered.

The Harvard Pops Orchestra, led by conductor Allen Feinstein, performed a classical piece, the limbo and an original composition for the showcase as part of Arts First at Harvard University. Feinstein couched the performance as “how a garden hose can inspire classical music” before launching into a version of Limbo with the garden hose as the limbo stick and members of the orchestra performing the limbo. The final piece featured a soloist using the garden hose as a horn. It sounds indelicate, but the entire performance was polished, surprising and thoroughly enjoyable.

As part of the Arts First Weekend at Harvard University, the Opportunes put on an enthusiastic a cappella set that featured radio-friendly interpretations of well-known songs. The set started with a Michael Jackson medley that included Smooth Criminal and a wicked version of Man in the Mirror. Various players took turns with solos, and Daniel Oshima handled the beat box (apparently more appropriately titled “vocal percussion”) throughout the set. A gorgeous rendition of Heart of the Matter showed both the creativity and energy that the vocal group put into their arrangements, and their version of Forever even featured some dance choreography. They closed with Change in My Life before running out of time because a mariachi band was waiting in the wings for their turn.

The Harvard Opportunes setlist
Michael Jackson medley
Heart of the Matter
Everybody Knows
Forever
Last Name
Change in My Life