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Originally posted by Mickey

at the Uptown club. Any other dates popping up yet?

-Mickey

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quote:

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Originally posted by Mickey

at the Uptown club. Any other dates popping up yet?

-Mickey

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quote:

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Originally posted by Mickey

Well, since no one wrote up the Santa Cruz show and I didn't get a chance to yesterday I'll start with that one. They played at the Crepe Place, which is where Frank played last time he was in SC. It is pretty much exactly what it sounds like it is, a crepe restaurant. It's divided into three areas, a small bar when you walk in, a dining room and a largish back yard which is where bands normally play and where Frank played last time. This time they played in the bar.

It is TINY, I'd guess about fifty capacity and it is not at all conducive to having a rock band play. I couldn't find a very good picture of the place, so I drew up a slightly accurate diagram, though I know I made it seem much bigger than it actually is.

The opening act was Sparrow's Gate.
They are an alt-country band whose front man is the lead guitarist of Port O'brien (who recently opened for Black Francis). I thought they were very good, a lot of energy and pretty solid songs.

Then of course came the main event. I hate to sound like a negative nancy, but the show was just not good, though to no fault of the band. It just seems like it was a disaster from inception. The place is too small and there is no way a good chunk of the audience could have seen anything because they were around the corner. It was way too loud and the mix was pretty bad, the keyboards were overwhelming. There was this incredibly annoying buzzing (coming from Frank's amp?) that went on throughout most of the show and seemed to really bother the hell out of Violet. During the last song Violet's bass stopped working and they spent a short while trying to fix it before she just decided to do the song without it. The band did what they could, though they did seem to be aware that it was just not the best show.

They played the entire album, plus "A Strange Day" and "Ma Carrefours". Everything aside, I saw the potential for a great show so it made me really excited to see them the next night in a more suitable venue.

The last Black Francis tour came through the Uptown in Oakland, and I really like the place a lot. It's a pretty cool venue. This area of Oakland seems to really be coming up, with the Uptown, the newly reopened Fox theatre (who seem to be getting all the big indie bands touring through the Bay Area) and the Paramount all within two blocks. Doors were at nine, which seems pretty late for a Wednesday. I must be getting old in my young manhood.

The opening act was a cutesy, female fronted indie band called Make Me, who I will assume are from San Francisco because they seemed to talk about it a lot in their lyrics and the guitarist had on an "I <3 SF" shirt. I see a lot of potential in Make Me, but they aren't quite there yet. The front woman seemed incredibly uncomfortable, which I think was the biggest detractor. The audience for them seemed to be mostly their friends, but they seemed to be well received by the few people who were clearly Frank fans that chose to hang by the stage rather than the bar or the patio.

Grand Duchy came on at around 11:15, I believe, and this time there were none of the problems of the night before (that's not entirely true, Violet's bass went out during the last song again, but the problem was quickly fixed this time).

I want to take a moment out to recognize what an awesome drummer Jason Carter is. I do miss Scott still, but I can't imagine a better replacement than Jason. He fits the Frank Black Francis world like a glove and has been nothing less than completely awesome every time I've seen him play.

Frank was amazing as always, but most of us here have devoted an obscene amount of our lives to thinking about, talking about and just generally obsessing over the work of Charles Thompson, but he's not the star here so I won't linger on him.

Out of the 30+ times I have seen FB play, I think that these two shows are the only ones I've seen where no one shouted out a request for a Pixies song. There were no request for Frank Black or Black Francis songs either. I attribute this not to the strength of the Grand Duchy material (though it is quite good), but to Violet personally. She's engaging, charming, fun to watch and she's a monster on the bass. It's like she's arrived as a rock star fully formed, one would almost assume that she'd been on stage at his side for the last 25 years. Sometimes her singing isn't quite in tune, but whatever, she'll get better the more shows she plays (it's hard to believe that she's only played this small hand full of shows as a pro musician, she doesn't really have that awkward amateur feel at all) and she is always so sincere and passionate that it cancels it out.

The songs that I feel work best are "Ermesinde" and "Fort Wayne", the songs that have them trading vocals the most, and I hope that future Grand Duchy songs will include more of that. It works really well live, that dynamic is so fun to watch.

Go see them if you get the chance. Even if you don't like the material, as a Frank fan I am telling you right now you will end up kicking yourself if you miss your chance to hear "Fort Wayne" and "Black Suit" live. I can't imagine that this band will constantly tour, it's gotta be pretty tough to have five young kids on the road with you (though what an awesome experience it must be for the whole family). See this while you can.

-Mickey

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quote:

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Originally posted by Mickey

Well, since no one wrote up the Santa Cruz show and I didn't get a chance to yesterday I'll start with that one. They played at the Crepe Place, which is where Frank played last time he was in SC. It is pretty much exactly what it sounds like it is, a crepe restaurant. It's divided into three areas, a small bar when you walk in, a dining room and a largish back yard which is where bands normally play and where Frank played last time. This time they played in the bar.

It is TINY, I'd guess about fifty capacity and it is not at all conducive to having a rock band play. I couldn't find a very good picture of the place, so I drew up a slightly accurate diagram, though I know I made it seem much bigger than it actually is.

The opening act was Sparrow's Gate.
They are an alt-country band whose front man is the lead guitarist of Port O'brien (who recently opened for Black Francis). I thought they were very good, a lot of energy and pretty solid songs.

Then of course came the main event. I hate to sound like a negative nancy, but the show was just not good, though to no fault of the band. It just seems like it was a disaster from inception. The place is too small and there is no way a good chunk of the audience could have seen anything because they were around the corner. It was way too loud and the mix was pretty bad, the keyboards were overwhelming. There was this incredibly annoying buzzing (coming from Frank's amp?) that went on throughout most of the show and seemed to really bother the hell out of Violet. During the last song Violet's bass stopped working and they spent a short while trying to fix it before she just decided to do the song without it. The band did what they could, though they did seem to be aware that it was just not the best show.

They played the entire album, plus "A Strange Day" and "Ma Carrefours". Everything aside, I saw the potential for a great show so it made me really excited to see them the next night in a more suitable venue.

The last Black Francis tour came through the Uptown in Oakland, and I really like the place a lot. It's a pretty cool venue. This area of Oakland seems to really be coming up, with the Uptown, the newly reopened Fox theatre (who seem to be getting all the big indie bands touring through the Bay Area) and the Paramount all within two blocks. Doors were at nine, which seems pretty late for a Wednesday. I must be getting old in my young manhood.

The opening act was a cutesy, female fronted indie band called Make Me, who I will assume are from San Francisco because they seemed to talk about it a lot in their lyrics and the guitarist had on an "I <3 SF" shirt. I see a lot of potential in Make Me, but they aren't quite there yet. The front woman seemed incredibly uncomfortable, which I think was the biggest detractor. The audience for them seemed to be mostly their friends, but they seemed to be well received by the few people who were clearly Frank fans that chose to hang by the stage rather than the bar or the patio.

Grand Duchy came on at around 11:15, I believe, and this time there were none of the problems of the night before (that's not entirely true, Violet's bass went out during the last song again, but the problem was quickly fixed this time).

I want to take a moment out to recognize what an awesome drummer Jason Carter is. I do miss Scott still, but I can't imagine a better replacement than Jason. He fits the Frank Black Francis world like a glove and has been nothing less than completely awesome every time I've seen him play.

Frank was amazing as always, but most of us here have devoted an obscene amount of our lives to thinking about, talking about and just generally obsessing over the work of Charles Thompson, but he's not the star here so I won't linger on him.

Out of the 30+ times I have seen FB play, I think that these two shows are the only ones I've seen where no one shouted out a request for a Pixies song. There were no request for Frank Black or Black Francis songs either. I attribute this not to the strength of the Grand Duchy material (though it is quite good), but to Violet personally. She's engaging, charming, fun to watch and she's a monster on the bass. It's like she's arrived as a rock star fully formed, one would almost assume that she'd been on stage at his side for the last 25 years. Sometimes her singing isn't quite in tune, but whatever, she'll get better the more shows she plays (it's hard to believe that she's only played this small hand full of shows as a pro musician, she doesn't really have that awkward amateur feel at all) and she is always so sincere and passionate that it cancels it out.

The songs that I feel work best are "Ermesinde" and "Fort Wayne", the songs that have them trading vocals the most, and I hope that future Grand Duchy songs will include more of that. It works really well live, that dynamic is so fun to watch.

Go see them if you get the chance. Even if you don't like the material, as a Frank fan I am telling you right now you will end up kicking yourself if you miss your chance to hear "Fort Wayne" and "Black Suit" live. I can't imagine that this band will constantly tour, it's gotta be pretty tough to have five young kids on the road with you (though what an awesome experience it must be for the whole family). See this while you can.

-Mickey

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quote:

---

Originally posted by Mickey

I want to take a moment out to recognize what an awesome drummer Jason Carter is. I do miss Scott still, but I can't imagine a better replacement than Jason. He fits the Frank Black Francis world like a glove and has been nothing less than completely awesome every time I've seen him play.

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