The Downward Spiral at 25

Trent Reznor's Nine Inch Nails, which is really just him and whoever he is working with at any given time, was well-known in the underground rock and industrial music world long before the spring of '94, but the release of the project's second full-length LP 25 years ago introduced a massive number of generations X and Y to passionate but heavy rock music that thoughtfully challenged religious institutions, society, and dealing with various forms of mental and emotional anguish. Sure, the music is dark, loud, and mostly comes across sounding depressing, but what is the point and purpose of using those tones and moods in any artistic creation? Attempting to represent or reflect the saddest, rawest, and most personal of all hurt feelings and injustices in the world would probably result in some pretty dark and depressing stories, paintings, or poems as well.

What sets Nine Inch Nails, and this LP, specifically, apart from something more along the lines of death metal, black metal, or even heavier goth-industrial acts like Skinny Puppy or Reznor's friends, Ministry, is the desire to present this type of gothic-industrial rock music as though it is prog-rock instead, which ends up coming across as something different than both of those sub-genres. What if Bauhaus had tried to make a Genesis album? Guest appearances from King Crimson's Adrian Belew, super-producer, Flood, and even a bit of programming assistance from Motley Crue's Tommy Lee show both the range of Reznor's influences and the large musical reach to attract fans of various styles of rock music, and everyone from Marilyn Manson to the emo to screamo bands owes quite a bit to what Reznor accomplished on this album.

"Mr. Self-Destruct" sets the tone for the album, which is a loose concept record about the descent of a character into suicidal madness triggered by a variety of emotional burdens and heavy thoughts, which itself is a nod to at least two of Pink Floyd's classic LPs. The aggressive assault of the song cuts into a collage of guitar flurry which then dynamically changes to one of the album's quietest and creepiest songs, "Piggy." Along with the lead single, the seriously-rocking mosh pit anthem, "March of the Pigs," it is worth noting that much of this album was recorded in Trent's residence of that era, which happened to be the former home of Charles Manson Family murder victim, Sharon Tate. Reznor has since discussed how he chose to move out of the house shortly after a personal conversation with Tate's sister, but this was after the recording had finished, which lends another layer of genuine fear-factor to the album. This was all in a time where rumor traveled by word-of-mouth and verification was difficult prior to wide-scale internet access, though that was just around the corner.

"Heresy" is at least up-front about its lyrical subject matter, mostly paraphrasing some of Nietzsche's quotes and thoughts that are certain to rile up suburban parents a lot more than philosophy students. The biggest hit from the album, and arguably of the entire Nine Inch Nails catalog, is "Closer," a pulsing, electronic, sexual confession that is bent and twisted by guitar loops and noise samples that cross-fade from one speaker to the other and then out of the mix completely throughout the song. This track was undoubtedly popularized also by its savage, nightmare-inducing music video, a collaboration between Reznor and director Mark Pellington, which was a gnarly view, even in its edited-for-broadcast MTV version. (If you've not seen the director's cut, take a moment and hop over to youtube. I'll wait for you.)

Crazy, right? For this sort of music to have any sort of pop success in the mid-‘90s, or any era, is hard to believe, and yet, it led to the even greater pop success of Reznor’s protégé, Marilyn Manson, who would take the concept of shock rock to amazing new extremes only two years after The Downward Spiral, among other copy-cat acts and one hit wonders that dabbled in industrial and electronic elements in the mid and late ‘90s.

The album's second half focuses more on the rising action and climax of the story line through the hypnotic "The Becoming" and progressing with "The Eraser," "Reptile," and concludes with another of Reznor's most recognizable songs, the mournful ballad, "Hurt," later introduced to entirely different audiences by Johnny Cash's unforgettable 2003 cover version. After a successful world-tour that lasted nearly two years and included an infamous, mud-caked appearance at the Woodstock '94 festival, Nine Inch Nails had essentially become a house-hold name compared to the project's previous years when they were only known in indie or alternative music circles. Like any culturally-influential artist or figure, Reznor's style has been imitated and parodied many times over since The Downward Spiral's release and success, but it all really started, at least on a grand scale, with this album. While there have been many other great NIN songs and albums in the succeeding years, including their most recent releases, (the NIN EP trilogy), most would agree this collection of songs is their best work.

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OTHER ALBUMS Celebrating 25 Years:
Failure-Magnified
Green Jelly-333
Kyuss-Welcome to Sky Valley
L7-Hungry for Stink
Pantera-Far Beyond Driven

Jar of Flies at 25

For those who listen to and follow a certain type of music and culture, it is hard to think of a specific year that gave us more than 1994.  It has now been 25 years since the seemingly endless parade of excellent music, film, television, and even video games brought along so many legends and classics, and over the next several months, JAMBlog will take some time to look back and appreciate some of the very best of the very best from that amazing year of content.  First up, Alice in Chains, who celebrated 25 years of their EP, Jar of Flies, just last weekend!

Jar of Flies continued Alice In Chains' pattern of alternating between heavier material and more acoustic-based songs from one major release to the next. Their full-length LPs are a heavy grunge with elements of metal and other styles, but the shorter EPs released between the full-length albums were quieter and primarily acoustic. Much like 1991’s Sap, Jar of Flies allowed the band the chance to work with different textures and tones and to show they could write just as well in multiple styles. While there are plenty of notable electric guitar moments from Jerry Cantrell throughout the 7 songs included, the mood is dark and introspective rather than angry and loud. Hits like "I Stay Away," "No Excuses," and "Don't Follow" connect the equally strong non-singles and bridge the gap between 1992's Dirt and 1995's self-titled album. Vocalist Layne Staley infuses these songs with pain and heavy emotion, and bassist Mike Inez makes his debut taking over for the departed Mike Starr. The production is solid throughout and further developed a sound in modern rock music that held strong for a few more years before the genre began to bend toward Nu-Metal.

The opening track, “Rotten Apple” sums up the rest of the EP right away by featuring a blend of quiet but dark elements mixed with flourishes of distorted-talk box guitar, a connection to the band’s first big hit from a few years before, “Man in the Box”, but updated and matured. The incomparable multi-tracked vocals of the legendary Layne Staley come across as a grunge-era twist on Ozzy Osbourne’s signature vocal productions, both with slight effects added and perfectly harmonizing with himself. After Staley’s passing in 2002, the band went on hiatus and eventually recruited singer William DuVall, which allowed them to move forward with new material and touring, but Staley was irreplaceable as a lead vocalist and lyricist, and Jar of Flies reminds us of that on almost every track.

Since the tone of the EP is quieter and more acoustic than the band’s much louder, heavier LPs, it would have been obvious for them to feature almost anything from it when they appeared on MTV’s Unplugged two years after its release, but “Nutshell”, the opening number from that performance, and the second track from Jar of Flies, is the most well-suited for such a concert. Introspection, disbelief, frustration, and even shame cut through the song’s two verses, and a wordless chorus perfectly captures a time in Staley’s life and, arguably, a certain period of life, in general, for many fans and listeners.

“I Stay Away”, with it’s unique and memorable music video, was a bigger MTV hit, but “No Excuses” was much bigger on radio, to the point where it broke into the pop top 40 and was one of the first of many modern rock singles to cross over and introduce the entire genre to countless young radio listeners. While Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Green Day, and The Offspring would each see pop chart success before the year’s end, “No Excuses”, along with The Smashing Pumpkins’ “Disarm”, really led the way. The follow-up single, “Don’t Follow”, didn’t receive quite as much radio play but fits in with the rest of the tracks perfectly, features guitarist Jerry Cantrell on lead vocals, and includes one of the best harmonica solos of the entire grunge era.

The haunting instrumental, “Whale & Wasp”, contains elements of despair and hope alike in its short few minutes, and the closing track, “Swing on This”, is the band’s chance to goof off a bit within the context of their grimness. It is on that track that drummer, Sean Kinney, and bassist, Mike Inez, really shows off their chops, seamlessly switching techniques from rock to swing and back throughout.

While many no longer remember some of the other unique elements of this particular release, such as the experimental enhanced CD portion released years later or the gimmicky plastic flies that appeared in randomly selected copies of the CD's clear spine, the music remains as strong and memorable as it did 25 years ago.

Listen to Jar of Flies on Youtube

Other albums celebrating 25 years:
Tori Amos-Under the Pink
Neil Young-Sleeps with Angels
Dinosaur Jr.-Without a Sound

The Top Five Albums of 2018

2018 brought with it a very wide selection of new music, perhaps the widest ever, which left listeners with a lot to sift through and absorb, and it is easy to get lost in the shuffle when there is so much competition between artists and for a listener’s ears. Many veteran and established acts released new material or re-released key albums in deluxe editions, most notably Metallica’s elaborate 30^th anniversary mega-box for …And Justice for All, which may still leave the poor bass mixing from 1987 uncorrected, from what I’ve read. Radiohead toured but did not release new music in 2018. However, singer Thom Yorke released a new solo album as the soundtrack to Suspiria, and guitarist Jonny Greenwood continued to perform with Shy Ben Tzur and the Rajasthan Express, with whom he collaborated on an album in 2015. Notable artists who would have generated a great deal of excitement for releasing new material in the past saw underwhelming receptions, including a new album by Gorillaz and a surprise-release EP by Kanye West, neither of which made a significant impact even within their own genres much less on the pop charts, though each certainly contained strong tracks and musical moments. A mostly-reunited Smashing Pumpkins did better touring last summer than their new album is fairing, but their latest is closer to their original style than fans have heard in many years.The current version of Alice in Chains had some rock radio support for their latest release, but their new album hasn’t garnered much attention otherwise, at least so far, and the latest LP from Paul McCartney seems to have done little more than allow him and his band to continue their phenomenal touring run of the past 15 years, much in the way that living legend, Bob Dylan, continues his “Never-Ending Tour”.

Many veteran artists have recently focused more on touring than recording and are selling out venues without having any new material to promote. The Rolling Stones have announced dates for another U.S. run this summer, but they haven’t released a new album of original songs since 2005. System of a Down and Tool appear at the top of various festival listings, already selling tickets for the summer ahead, but neither have issued new music in the past 13 years. Cult comedy-rock favorites, Tenacious D, even returned from a long break with Post-Apocalypto, doubling as the soundtrack to their “animated film” of the same name, both a bit underwhelming compared to the duo’s work from the past, though their release did allow the band another opportunity to tour. Michigan rockers, Greta Van Fleet, finally released their debut LP after months of industry buzz, but their Zeppelin-clone status seems to be wearing thin already with many. As new and up-and-coming artists continue to attempt to establish themselves within a musical landscape and version of the industry different from any previous era in the music business, a handful of notable new releases broke through the pack to stand out as the year’s very best.

NUMBER 1

Jack White-Boarding House Reach

The year’s best album was also one of its weirdest, and possibly the weirdest album Jack White has ever released (with any project). Beyond the quasi-hit singles, “Connected by Love” and “Over, and Over, and Over”, Boarding House Reach stretches out to include elements of hip hop, EDM, jazz fusion, and funk in addition to the blues, garage rock, and classic rock riffs and solos to which White’s fans are well accustomed.  Tracks like “Corporation”, “Ice Station Zebra”, and “Everything You’ve Ever Learned” are memorable for their hooks but more so for their adventurous styles, exploring modern rock music outside of the traditional song structures and arrangements. White’s supporting band, both on the album and on his year-long tour, contribute flourishes and elements that would not fit in on a White Stripes, Raconteurs, or Dead Weather record, but they add the perfect touches to each song, all of which vary in style, tone, and length, making for an album that is both focused and experimental within its variety throughout. Not all fans of White’s other projects will take to each song here, but there is something for nearly everyone among this LP’s 13 songs. Nothing else this year sounded anything like these tracks, and no other collection of songs was more engaging or entertaining.

NUMBER 2

MGMT-Little Dark Age

Electro-Psychedelic duo MGMT returned with their fourth LP, which was the year’s second-best. Continuing their mostly standard arrangement of a shorter runtime and fewer songs than most modern albums, each track stands out a bit more as there are fewer present to compare and contrast. Little Dark Age is certainly the band’s most approachable and accessible collection of songs to date, but they do not abandon their love of synth pop, big hooks, and blending modern and throwback production techniques that leave their new creations sounding as though they could be forgotten ‘80s hits, especially on tracks like the darkly comic, “She Works Out Too Much” and the touching, “Me and Michael”. Songs like the title track and the excellent, many-layered “When You Die” are simultaneously catchy and inviting while also weaving in haunting accents and changes within progressions and between sections. “TSLAMP” shares a theme with a track on the latest album from A Perfect Circle but looks at the issue from a different perspective (and a catchy one, at that). Little Dark Age is probably best enjoyed by fans of MGMT’s first album, but even for the uninitiated, most of these tracks can pass as “normal” and “acceptable” even to your friends (and other listeners) who don’t like most of the crazy, ridiculous music you do.

NUMBER THREE

They Might Be Giants-I Like Fun

New Wave stalwarts They Might Be Giants released their 20^th LP this year (!!!) and continue to write circles around their contemporaries and the many up-and-coming artists they’ve inspired. These 15 excellent songs have recently been joined by three discs worth of b-sides and extras, now available on the band’s website, all of which celebrate the insane challenge they placed upon themselves to release one new song and music video every week for a year (while touring the world to promote this new material). The ridiculously catchy hooks and lyrics of singer/keyboardist, John Linnell will draw you in, on tracks like “Let’s Get This Over With” and “I Left My Body”, and then vocalist/guitarist, John Flansburgh, adds the best elements of indie-rock, electronic experimentation, and mega-crisp mixing and production to the wide-ranging variety of the remaining tracks.  Aside from the awkwardly unforgettable title track, songs like, “Push Back the Hands”, “The Bright Side”, “McCafferty’s Bib”, and “Last Wave” each add to the album’s overall tone, one of a sense of accepted hopelessness within the modern world, while each song works with a sound or style the band has never worked with before, even after 35 years. If you’re not already a TMBG fan, this particular album may not be the one that wins you over, or the best one to start with for the completely uninitiated, but it does succeed in representing a certain set of thoughts and feelings about modern life that are sadly probably more broadly relatable than one would hope. At least it’s a sad modern life to which you can still tap your foot most of the time.

HONORABLE MENTION

Nine Inch Nails-Bad Witch (ep)

While not technically a full-length album, this excellent EP was easily one of the year’s best new releases and was the third and final installment of the NIN EP trilogy, released slowly over the last two years. Tones and textures that shifted from Trent Reznor’s traditional distorted anger to the dark atmosphere of later-era David Bowie (and beyond) made this particular collection of NIN music an engaging listen on its own and a perfect ending to the EP series. For a full review of the entire trilogy (and links to each portion), check out my article from earlier this year.

NUMBER FOUR

A Perfect Circle-Eat the Elephant

15 years after their last album of original material, the alt-rock super group returned with 12 new songs, equally full of introspection and dreaded doom. APC has always been a blend of elements and influences, including goth, electronic, punk, and glam in various combinations, and their latest album does not stray far from those areas, but these songs come across as more mature than the band’s previous efforts, whether for better or worse. For a rock band to, well, not really rock until a moment or so into the fourth track is a bit unusual, but within the context of the album, all of the songs work well tougher, and most also work well on their own.  Singles like “The Doomed”, “So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish”, and the excellent, “TalkTalk” are the standouts, but quieter, reflective pieces like “Disillusioned”, “Delicious”, and “Get the Lead Out” cut just as deep thematically and emotionally for listeners who are actively paying attention. Singer, Maynard James Keenan, and guitarist, Billy Howerdel, continue to drive their passion project into strange and interesting new corners of the musical structure they created together nearly 20 years ago. Fans of the band’s previous efforts should enjoy this one as well.

NUMBER FIVE

Eminem-Kamikaze

The surprise return of Eminem this year occurred with little warning or mainstream support but was arguably the best hip hop LP of 2018, in addition to one of the year’s best, overall. After the underwhelming release of his previous LP, 2017’s Revival, many counted Detroit’s famous MC out, including many younger artists who mentioned such in verses over the last few years, all of which inspired Eminem to produce a defensive blast of focused, tighter songs (a slimmer album, if you will) that left out ballads and pop hooks, coming in at half the time of the previous album while also being four or five times more entertaining. Kamikaze is Eminem’s best LP in nearly 10 years, reminding everyone that he can still more than hold his own against emerging artists and modern trends in hip hop production. The first half of the album, featuring songs like “The Ringer”, “Greatest”, and “Lucky You”, is stronger than the second side, but the mixing that connects most tracks in transition keeps things moving through the closer, “Venom”, also appearing on the recently-released Marvel film of the same name.

A Perfect Circle rock Detroit’s Masonic Temple

The cold, late-autumn night warmed up for a few hours Friday in Detroit’s historic Masonic Temple when alternative-goth rockers, A Perfect Circle, treated fans to a performance of their current show that has been traveling the country on and off since the late spring and the release of their latest LP, Eat the Elephant. The band has toured extensively since reconvening in 2010 following a 6-year hiatus, but they had not released an album of new material in 15 years (or an album at all in 14), so their desire to celebrate and perform their new songs is understandable after only previously cycling through tracks from 2000-2004, for the most part. Friday’s was the band’s third performance in Michigan within the last year, having also played in Detroit and Grand Rapids about a year ago, months ahead of the album’s release. Whether it was a concert-goer’s first APC show or one of many for a veteran fan, the band delighted and thoroughly entertained the Masonic Temple crowd in a focused and efficient fashion.

The night began with short opening sets from Night Club and Badflower, filling in for Tricky, who has been touring with A Perfect Circle over the past several weeks but was not present in Detroit. With concertgoers still trying to get into the venue as late as 90 minutes after doors opened, the opening acts certainly performed to a less-than-full house. The lights went down again at exactly 9:05pm for the headliners, and prior to the band taking the stage, one member at a time, to vocal and enthusiastic receptions, an audio recording warned those in attendance that photos and recordings of any kind would not be allowed and could result in ejection from the venue, recalling Pink Floyd’s quasi-satirical disclaimers during The Wall tour. A Perfect Circle’s vocalist/lyricist, Maynard James Keenan, infamously asked security to remove several rows of ticket-holders from a show last year for refusing to stop filming the concert after requests and warnings, and signs all around the halls of The Masonic Temple also warned camera and phone use would not be allowed during the show. In spite of this, it was also notable that APC did not hire Yondr, a phone security service used recently by Jack White, Chris Rock, and others, to lock phones up in patron’s pockets during the show. The stern warnings and light threats seemed to get the point across to most, leaving the venue particularly and almost eerily dark throughout the 100-minute concert.

Each member of the group held their own throughout the night, including Keenan, guitarist and co-founder, Billy Howerdel, and newer members like bassist Matt McJunkins and drummer Jeff Friedl, who especially stood out as having grown in proficiency and execution compared to his early years with the group. While guitarist/keyboardist James Iha is away working with Smashing Pumpkins again, his position was covered by Greg Edwards of Autolux and Failure, who performed just as well but did not stand out as much as the full-time members of the group on stage. The set-up has been consistent over the course of the past year, with three band members standing on elevated, lighted platforms that also doubled as video screens during some songs, and two band members performing in front of the platforms, along with the lighting and projections that have become associated with the group over their 18-year history. The song selection, on the other hand, has changed since the band’s shows a year ago, and they now feature twice as many songs from their latest album (8 in total), and they’ve rotated two non-singles out in favor of songs they have since released to promote the record. Many fan-favorites were also included, such as “Rose” and “Thomas” from 2000’s Mer de Noms, and the return of the hit “Judith”, also from that album. While APC chose to avoid playing that particular song for a number of years during recent tours, they continue to feature that album’s other big hit, “3 Libras” at almost every show, albeit in remixed form, making it sometimes unrecognizable to those in the audience. Also included were “Weak and Powerless”, and “The Noose”, from 2003’s Thirteenth Step, and a run through the always loud and violent, “Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums”, originally written to protest The George W. Bush administration, and U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, but continuing to sound sadly fitting in a different way. Fewer songs from that album, 2004’s Emotive, were included than have been in recent years, but considering that album contains mainly cover songs, focusing instead on original material, especially new, original material, only makes sense.

Keenan spoke to the audience a few times during the show, including a few jokes about seeing snow and remembering why he moved away from Michigan in his youth, but he also seemed genuinely impressed by the crowd’s enthusiastic responses over the course of the concert, mentioning more than once phrases such as “This is Michigan!” and “You guys are bananas!” to the delight of the fans in attendance. Despite his friendly interactions with the audience, Keenan stayed mostly in the dark throughout the concert, somewhat reminiscent to seeing Tool, one of his other projects, during their famous 2001-2002 tour, where the singer even added black clothing and body paint to further disappear into his dark corner of the stage while other band members were more traditionally lit. By time the show reached it’s end, with a somewhat out-of-place run through the lengthy, mostly-quiet deep cut, “The Package”, and one last new-album track, “Delicious”, Keenan relaxed the photo and film rule and invited the crowd to feel free to take out their phones for pictures during the last two minutes of the show, but by the time most were able to do so, Keenan was already walking off the stage, leaving most to shoot and film images of the other four band members finishing the final song. Overall, A Perfect Circle delivered a well-executed, well-rehearsed, and very professional show that avoided most rock concert clichés and kept true to the band’s style and tone throughout. While a few more songs could have better-covered the group’s catalog, the songs that were featured were delivered nearly-perfectly.

A Perfect Circle Set List (11/9/18):

Eat the Elephant

Disillusioned

The Hollow

Weak and Powerless

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

Rose

Thomas

(what’s so funny ‘bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding (Lowe)

Vanishing

The Noose

3 Libras (all main courses mix)

The Contrarian

TalkTalk

Hourglass

The Doomed

Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums

Judith

The Package

Delicious

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Ween Rock Royal Oak

The Royal Oak Music Theater rocked yet again on Tuesday night when everyone’s favorite alt-rock jesters, Ween, triumphantly returned to a welcoming audience of long-time fans, newcomers, and even a few children, who seemed both out of place and at times disinterested in the 2.5 hour, 27-song concert. Since Ween’s resurrection as a band two years ago, they have performed several times in various cities across the country, and even Tuesday’s performance was the band’s second in Royal Oak within the last 15 months. In spite of this, the nearly-sold-out crowd arrived early and ready to support the band and to worship at the altar of the Boognish!

The current incarnation of Ween, including Claude Coleman Jr. on drums, Dave Dreiwitz on bass, and Glenn McClelland on keyboards, has been supporting founders (and singer/guitarists) Dean and Gene Ween on the road for over 20 years, so they are all very familiar with the band’s extensive catalog and were ready to jump into any song at any moment. The bands vast list of songs is rivaled only by long-lasting acts like They Might Be Giants or even the legendary Bob Dylan, so many Ween fans are just as interested in hearing deep cuts and B-sides as they are in hearing “the hits”. While the balance between familiar and obscure made Tuesday night’s show flow very well, the band’s previous Royal Oak show focused more on rarities, making for a different vibe than concert-goers experienced this week. While rare tracks like, “Transitions”, “Someday”, and “I Got to Put the Hammer Down” delighted hard-core followers in the audience, Ween also included common crowd-pleasers like, “Spinal Meningitis”, “Take Me Away”, and “Your Party” among other highlights from their 21^st century releases and deep cuts from their 2^nd and 3^rd albums, in particular. At some point, familiarity with each song becomes secondary to the experience, much like seeing a jam band in concert, and also like a jam band, Ween attracts a loyal following of fans who are often willing to travel to see them, and some who even follow the band on tour for several shows in a row, knowing each performance is different and could include any combination of their many, many songs.

For the past 10 years or so, when the band has been active, they have toured without an opening act, instead offering the coveted, “An Evening with Ween”, that allows them to perform more songs in a longer set with shows often reaching between 2 hours and 20 minutes to 3 hours or more without a break or intermission. On Tuesday, Ween took the stage just about an hour after doors opened amid a sea of smoke from their reliable fog machine, slightly obscuring the famous visage of The Boognish, the band-created deity often represented in their songs and known by fans everywhere as the band’s logo. After discussing the opening number for nearly 3 minutes before beginning to play, the first notes of “Strap on That Jammypac”, from 1991’s, The Pod, were played, which was clearly a challenging song to feature as an opener due to its bizarre, repetitious structure.  Just after that song, Co-front man, Gene Ween, quickly commented on “Tate, Tate, Tate”, referring to the trading of NFL star, Golden Tate, from The Detroit Lions to The Philadelphia Eagles earlier that day, followed by a performance of the song “The Golden Eel” further pressing the issue. Guitarist/singer, Dean Ween, also wore a Super Bowl Champions Philadelphia Eagles t-shirt, adding insult to the frustration of local sports fans, but keeping very much with the band’s type of humor.

Two parts of Ween’s famous multi-song saga, “The Stallion” were included (parts 3 and 1, respectively), and after a particularly well-executed take on “Transdermal Celebration” from Quebec,  Gene wondered aloud what day it was, and when some in the audience yelled back, “It’s Tuesday”, other fans also reminded him it was “pizza day”, in reference to a lyric from the B-side, “Someday”, which the band added to the set on-the-spot to the delight of the hard core followers in the crowd. Not all song selections were necessarily as crowd-pleasing, such as only two songs from the band’s debut LP (and not the most-notable or memorable ones, at that), and a block of tracks around the halfway point of the show that settled firmly on songs from The Pod and 1992’s, Pure Guava, including “Captain Fantasy” and “Don’t Get 2 Close (2 my fantasy)”, back-to-back, and “Frank”, the less-inviting song that mentions some of the same meal components as the much catchier, “Pork Roll Egg and Cheese”, from later on the same LP. The most-challenging portion of the show included a lengthy, psychedelic jam at the end of “Reggaejunkiejew” that included portions of Jimi Hendrix’s “3^rd Stone from the Sun” and extended the song to nearly 12 minutes, followed by another jam, nearly as long, during the middle of “Pandy Fackler”, most famously from 2000’s White Pepper, with only one track between the long jams.

It was clear Ween saved a handful of crowd-pleasers for the end of the show, wrapping the main set with “Exactly Where I’m At” and running through a spirited encore of fan favorites like, “What Deaner Was Talkin’ About”, “Mister, Would You Please Help My Pony?” and finally closing the show with “Buckingham Green” from 1998’s, TheMollusk, while bathed in bright green light across the stage. While other favorites, such as, “Bananas and Blow”, “Roses are Free”, and even “Push Th’ Little Daisies”, may have made the concert a bit more engaging for the uninitiated among the crowd, Ween’s presentation of a variety of their original songs left most feeling more than satisfied and seems to become somehow progressively normal the longer they continue to tour and perform. While they haven’t released any new material in 10 years, perhaps Ween’s twisted, post-modern tunes have caught up with the insanity of everyday life in 2018.

Ween Setlist (10-30-18/Royal Oak, MI)

Strap on That Jammypac

The Golden Eel

Spinal Meningitis (got me down)

The Stallion (pt.3)

With My Own Bare Hands

Take Me Away

Transitions

Transdermal Celebration

Someday

Object

Old Queen Cole

Wayne’s Pet Youngin’

Even If You Don’t

Captain Fantasy

Don’t Get 2 Close (2 my fantasy)

Frank

Sorry Charlie

The Stallion (pt.1)

I Got to Put the Hammer Down

Reggaejunkiejew/3^rd Stone from the Sun (Hendrix)

Zoloft

Pandy Fackler

Your Party

Exactly Where I’m At

----------------------------------(encore break)--------------

What Deaner Was Talkin’ About

Mister, Would You Please Help My Pony?

Buckingham Green

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They Might Be Giants rock Ann Arbor

New Wave stalwarts, They Might Be Giants, graced the stage of the beautiful Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor Wednesday night with a double-length evening of hits, history, and a fair amount of songs both old and new. Now in their 36^th year, TMBG were very accustomed to performing in this particular venue, having done so many times over several decades.  This night, however, was easily the longest show they’d ever played there, and fans were delighted with an assortment of 33 songs over three hours, with a short, half-time intermission. While some spots may have come off as bumpy to the uninitiated, or as singer/guitarist, John Flansburgh, put it during the show, “The people who were dragged here by fans of ours are telling them, ‘It’s gonna get better later in the set.  These guys are great, I swear!’”, the band actually delivered a very professional, well-executed concert that reflected on both their many years of experience on the road and their focused sense of showmanship.

TMBG have been performing this year without an opening act all across the United States, Europe, and Canada, and in the much sought-after, “An Evening With”, performance style employed on these recent tours, the band has been able to stretch their legs and feature some deep cuts and fan favorites in addition to most of the standards for which they are known. As the group and its members have continued to age, the crowd has begun to vary from children to grandparents and everyone in between, though this year’s shows have been strictly advertised as “14+” to spare the youngsters from the occasional profanity or sometimes unsafe environments that one can find in a rock club or theater. That was not an issue in Ann Arbor, however, where Flansburgh also commented that the audience was probably the most-educated they were likely to encounter, at least compared to the “drunks” that usually attended the group’s concerts. Co-founder, John Linnell, electrified on the accordion, keyboards, and contra-alto clarinet, in addition to his signature vocal deliveries, and veteran backing band members, Dan Miller on guitar, Danny Weinkauf on bass, and Marty Beller on the drums, rocked through each song with passionate precision. Also joining the band on recent tours, the excellent multi-instrumentalist, Curt Ramm, entertained on brass throughout the night, mostly on  trumpet, where those pieces of the band’s songs can sometimes feel noticeably absent during performances with no horns present.

The night was divided into sections that were parts of two main sets.  They first began with spirited renditions of “Damn Good Times” and the recent single, “I Left My Body”, but it was clear that many in the audience expected this to be something through which they could or would be seated for the majority, and long-time fans were awkwardly either blocking the view or reluctantly sitting after everyone around them had already done so. Certainly, TMBG shows are normally in places with standing room areas, so Flansburgh noticeably encouraged the crowd to stand at various points throughout the first set, commenting at other points (possibly sarcastically) that it was a long show and people should sit down.  The song selection seemed to encourage the audience to stand back up, at least every few songs, and once the band made it to a section of newer material that preceded the intermission, the vibe and participation level had changed, and most in the crowd seemed to have acclimated to the band’s performance style and that of the show they are presenting while on this particular tour.  Flansburgh, dressed in a neon-yellow sweatshirt reminiscent of a road construction worker, commented he had recently injured his knee and was on CBD oil, receiving mixed applause, and then corrected himself saying it was “ICP” oil, which prompted laughter and further discourse about Faygo with Linnell between songs early in the show. Other highlights of the first set included hits like “Particle Man”, “Birdhouse in Your Soul”, and “Dr. Worm”, all of which had the crowd on their feet and singing along.

Following a 20-minute intermission and a screening of the band’s hilarious music video for the song, “Last Wave (alt.)”, which matches their music and vocals to the classic Run DMC/Aerosmith video for “Walk This Way”, Flansburgh, Linnell, Beller, and Ramm returned to the stage for what the band calls “The Quiet Storm” portion of the show, mainly quieter, mostly-acoustic performances that still confoundingly feature an electronic drum kit. The band rotates through a handful of songs during this part of the show each night, and they featured three classics and two newer numbers on Wednesday, including “Applause, Applause, Applause”, released only a month ago on the band’s Dial-a-song website. TMBG are often trying to balance the inclusion of some of their newest songs with tracks from 20 or 30 years ago that fans know and love dearly.  They closed the second set with another very recent song, and their current single, “The Communists Have the Music”, which capped the main portion of the show well, but they ran through “Istanbul”, “Why Does the Sun Shine?” and three songs in-a-row from their 1986, self-titled debut LP, before doing so.  Coming back to the stage for two different encores, each featuring two more songs, Flansburgh finally reverted to his traditional carnival-barker invitation for attendees to “flood the aisles” and come to the front of the venue for the last few songs, and the band treated them to old favorites such as “Twisting” and “New York City”.  They finally concluded with an obscure late- ‘80s b-side, “Hey Mr. DJ, I Thought You Said We Had a Deal”, one of the night’s most up-tempo numbers, to the delight of the long-time fans in attendance.

Overall, the performance Wednesday was a testament to They Might Be Giants’ longevity and dedication to their shared musical mission as well as their physical stamina to play a much longer show than has normally been the case in previous years. With a catalog as large as theirs, it’s easy for fans to wish a few more of their personal favorites had been included, but the band does a great job of doing a little bit of everything, and at changing which songs are included each time they return to a given city to play.  These, among so many other things, are the reasons people come back to see them over and over again and will hopefully continue to have the opportunity to do so for years to come.

They Might Be Giants set list (10/24/18):

(spotlight intro)

Damn Good Times

I Left My Body

Your Racist Friend

Particle Man

The Famous Polka

Birdhouse in Your Soul

The Guitar

Bangs

This Microphone

Let’s Get This Over With

Dr. Worm

All Time What

Mrs. Bluebeard

When Will You Die?

Spy

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(intermission + “Last Wave (alt.)” music video)

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Tippecanoe and Tyler Too (quiet)

James K. Polk (quiet)

I Like Fun (quiet)

Applause Applause Applause (quiet)

How Can I Sing Like a Girl? (quiet)

Istanbul

The Mesopotamians

Why Does the Sun Shine? (fast)

She’s an Angel

Number Three

Don’t Let’s Start

Whistling in the Dark

Let Me Tell You About My Operation

The Communists Have the Music

-------------------------(encore break)-------

Twisting

(band intros/solos)

The End of the Tour

---------------------------(encore break)------

New York City

Hey, Mr. DJ, I Thought You Said We Had a Deal

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MC50 Kicks out the Jams in Grand Rapids

MC50, the current touring tribute to legendary Detroit proto-punks, The MC5, played their first Michigan show Saturday night at Grand Rapids’ 20 Monroe Live. The all-star line up included original guitarist/vocalist, Wayne Kramer, now 70, playing alongside Kim Thayil of Soundgarden on guitar, Billy Gould of Faith No More on bass, Brendan Canty of Fugazi on drums, and Marcus Durant of Zen Guerilla standing in for late MC5 vocalist, Rob Tyner. While the show’s pace and intensity might have been a bit slower and lower than seeing the group at their peak in the late ‘60s, it was clearly the closest one could get to an MC5 concert in 2018, and the faithful fans and curious concert-goers alike were treated to a mostly focused, well-executed run through the band’s most notable numbers and most of their up-tempo deep cuts over the course of a fun, 80-minute performance.

The night began with a 30-minute opening set from garage/blues veterans, The Detroit Cobras.  Their creative arrangements of classics like, “Cha Cha Twist”, “Leave My Kitten Alone”, and “Cry On”, fit right in with the style The MC5 helped to make so famous and influential. While the band was musically tight, and mostly only sloppy at times by intention, singer, Rachel Nagy, sounded and appeared to be quite inebriated from the moment the group walked onstage. Luckily for the band, that mostly fits right in with their style as well.

After a short set change, the sounds of the original introduction from The MC5’s debut LP, Kick out the Jams, came over the speakers, and the all-star tribute group took the stage to a very warm and enthusiastic reception from the crowd. While the venue was far from filled, it was notable that many age groups were represented among the audience, far more so than an average rock show.  Kramer led the band through a faithful but slightly less-frantic rendition of that famous debut album from 1969, though a few songs were switched in the order of performance, and a few tunes, like the opener, “Ramblin’ Rose” suffered a bit from Kramer’s (forgivable) vocal limitations. Durant took over on the classic title song and evoked Rob Tyner in vocal style, performance, and appearance, in some ways recalling Ian Astbury’s work with The Doors as he filled in for Jim Morrison. The vocal delivery was mostly faithful to the original recordings and performances, but some could argue certain songs should be left with the memories and recordings of Tyner. 

Kramer hammed it up all night, cracking smiles from others on stage and clearly enjoying the opportunity to perform all those old songs again. Aside from the entirety of the first album, the group also performed half of their second album, one song from their third, and one cover tune, “I Can Only Give You Everything”, originally by Van Morrison’s ‘60s group, Them. While the performances themselves were generally engaging and up-tempo rockers, it was unclear whether the guitars were mixed or balanced improperly or whether Kramer’s guitar was simply meant to be at full volume compared to Thayil’s, which could barely be heard at times, though that issue seemed to improve later in the show. “Starship” was the psychedelic highlight of the show but lost a fair amount of the audience during the quiet part of the free-form section. Though political and social commentary was not present throughout the show, there were a few pointed moments, especially prior to the last song of the night, “Looking at You”, before which Kramer reminded the audience they had the power to “Vote them out” in November.

Overall, the show was a successful celebration of the legendary and influential band and a chance for fans from the early days and many who were born long after to gather and enjoy the music on stage, even if only once. MC50 will perform in Detroit, at Saint Andrew’s Hall and The Fillmore, in late October.

MC50 set list (Grand Rapids, MI 9/22/18)

(Brother J.C. Crawford intro)

Ramblin’ Rose

Kick out the Jams

Come Together

Motor City is Burning

Rocket Reducer No. 62

Borderline

I Want You Right Now

Starship

I Can Only Give You Everything (Them)

High School

Shakin’ Street

Future/Now

Tonight

Call Me Animal

----------------------------(encore break)------

Let Me Try

Looking at You