alkaline trio CONCERT review!

wow.

so alright, i've never tried to really REVIEW a concert, so be patient with me. i'm just gonna go with it... so, uh... yeah... by the way, sorry for the infrequency of posts - kara & i just finished moving to a different city, so getting my brain squared away will take a while (as per usual).

and wheeeeeeee.

alkaline trio, w/ guests mike park and colossal.
the place: jiliian's in louisville, ky
the date: april 28, 2005

kara & i were moving into our new apartment on the 28th, so we had to book ass to make the 2 hour drive to the venue. we go there in time to see the last half of colossal's set.

first off, let me talk a little about venue. i don't care who you see - which artist, what kind of music, what kind of crowd the band/musician will drawl... all of these things determine how a show IS, but none can make or break a show like where the fuck the band is playing. if you didn't know, jillian's is one of these uber-huge adult playgrounds that are basically "a hang out place for white suburban middle aged middle class types," or at least, it's how jillian's comes off to me. i didn't even know that jillian's housed a venue for live-artists, especially a venue apropo for a punk show. i figure artists like 3 doors down or some other stupid shitty mediocre band would play there before they got big. anyway, kara & i made our way through the casino, the bar, the resturant, the lounge, the gameroom, and the torture chamber (just kidding) before we made our way down a flight of stairs that opened into the venue. i wasn't really impressed. the venue was one where you can get really close to the band, which was a definite plus, but sadly, it was longer than it was deep. the way the crowd was placed and where the amps/speakers were stacked - it just didn't allow for the majority of punk kds to really get a good view of the bands. i would give the venue 2 out of 5 punks too short to see over your big fat head.

alrght the bands. i've never heard of colossal. i don't know if they have albums avalible at fine retail chains or what. i've never been interested enough to check out their website, if they even have one. i have to say though, i was fairly impressed they have the usual set up - vocalist/guitarist, lead guitar, bass, and drums. the songs were alright - a live performance is sometimes a hard way to objectively hear a song for the first time, but i dug what i heard. the most awesome part of this band is that the lead guitarist would sometimes play the trumpet while the vocalist played guitar. this was no weak attempt at ska, however... the trumpet played very jazz stuff and mixed unexpectedly well with the music. i may have to check them out afterall...

mike park hit the stage next. here's a little about mike park. mike is an activist who runs the plea for peace foundation - see sidebar for link - which is basically an anti-hate organization (anti-racism, anti-discrimination, anti-war) which does a lot of good work. mike is also a former (i think former - i've not heard anything new lately) member of the ska/punk outfit skankin' pickle. well, between running plea for peace and asian man records (his record label), mike made a solo cd. and wow - it's a good one. mike plays every instrument on the album - kind of a korean trent reznor. he hit the stage alone (he actually set up his equipment alone) with only an acoustic guitar and a projection screen which showed a short film about his heros, favorite albums, and his heros - along with a lot of info on plea for peace. the film had no sound, so mike played a few songs seamless connected as audio. i REALLY enjoyed his set, and felt bad for him too... the crowd was young, with more interest in fucking around and being disrespectful than wanting to hear an acoustic set by an artist who is political without being preachy. i dug the set very much - singing along when i knew the songs and basically trying to ignore the mickey mouse bullshit provided by the highschoolers around me.

alkaline trio hit the stage last. wow. this is my favorite band (tied with the misfits) and they did not dissapoint me. matt skiba's vocals are known to be throaty and, admittedly, a little flat. matt knocked me on my ass by sounding better than i've ever heard him sound (even when he forgot the lyrics - two or three times, actually). the band was tight - dan's bass lines were as tight as ever and his vocals (always the smoothest of the two vocalists - dan & matt) were outstanding. derek's drumming frenzy was also... well, fuck it - the band is as tight as it's ever been. they played a lot of songs from the new album, crimson (review coming soon), and they were badass. they played a few songs that were to be expected ("radio" and "this could be love" to name a few) and a few songs that were very surprising to hear - "jaked on green beers," which is only avalible on the first atticus comp, "warbrain," which is found on the first rock against bush comp, and "sorry about that," the closing song on their first album goddammit as the shows closing encore - an acoustic song as an encore for a big loud punk show - rad... fucking rad.

all in all, the show was very fun. the younger memebers of the crowd were pretty annoying - i'm a HUGE advocate of concert courtesy, and yes, even at shows were you mosh and rock the fuck out of each other, it CAN be done, but really, when alkaline trio hit the stage, all of my gripes disappreared and i was rocking out with my cock out, just like everyone else. (please note, rocking out with my cock out is a figurative express - do not, i repeat, do not take your cock out in the middle of a concert - unless it's a john mayer concert... you've gotta to have at least ONE thing interesting at the concert.) :o)

colossal - 2 out of 5 (minutes that i saw them)
mike park - 4.5 out of a possible 5 acoustic ass-kickin' asians
alkaline trio - 5 out of 5 forgotten alkaline trio lyrics' (sorry matt - you STILL rock!)

the whole concert experience? -- 4.5 out of 5 cock rockin' points