The Philadelphia Orchestra - August 2013

It's summertime and the maid's been busy!! This time of year I always like to take advantage of the various events Saratoga has to offer. I love my little town and I'm so thankful to live in a hub that brings talented musicians and bands to the area each summer. SPAC hosts the New York City Ballet in July, for two weeks, and the Philadelphia Orchestra in August, for two weeks also. Last night I took my honey-pie to the Orchestra for what we thought would be a relaxing evening of classical music. I researched a bit and made sure to buy tickets for a night with a theme that would appeal to both of us. When I saw last night's docket stated The Songs of Elton John & More, I figured I couldn't go wrong.

To our surprise, and delight, not only was the Philly Orchestra there but a 5 person band including lead singer, Michael Cavanaugh, who is known for his lead role in Broadway's Movin' Out! Our night consisted of high energy, singing at the top of our lungs, classics by Sir Elton, the Eagles, Paul McCartney, and Lynyrd Skynyrd and more! The marriage between the orchestra and a rock and roll band was overwhelming and atypical. The performance really captured the similarities and differences between the two genres of music.

Now, not only was this night special because I was with my super-stud boyfriend, who is a really good singer, but also because the drummer in Cavanaugh's band was the drummer from my favorite movie Almost Famous....which made Elton's 1971 hit, "Tiny Dancer," come back to life and resurface 13 years ago! Johnny Fedevich played Ed Vallencout, the drummer of Stillwater!! Although, fictional, still super bad ass.

John, pictured all the way in the back.

"Why is this important?" Funny you should ask. "This Is The Maid Speaking," this blog ya'll are reading, was inspired from this movie! "This Is The Maid Speaking.," is a line from the movie and the quote at the top of this page is another line from the movie, as well.

As you know, I would love to be a traveling, yogi, band-following, gypsy, but since I haven't embarked on that journey yet, I made this amazing blog to review all the shows I attend. William, the main character in Almost Famous, had an unwavering passion for music and he made his dreams come true. This fictional character lead me to start spilling my musical adventures to the interweb and almost 2 years later, I'm still going!  I kind of love how it all came full circle last night, and not even to my knowledge beforehand! (mmm lack of research, another reason why I'm still only a blogger and not a profesh )

Regardless, last night was a perfect way to spend a beautiful summer night with my lovah. His smile was so big and I'm grateful to have found someone who shares a love for music as much as I do. We decided we're gonna start a band...I hope when we're famous you'll come to our show. JOHNNY!!!!!    \m/

BEYONCE - August 3rd, 2013.

This day will go down in history and live in my heart, FOREVER.

I will not review Beyonce, because she needs no review. My words of praise and excitement cannot be expressed to the degree to which I believe she should be praised. If anything, I would feel unsatisfied and discouraged because I cannot match words to the feelings I had that night. There are no words.

I just love her...


That is all.

SO UNBELIEVABLY THANKFUL!

Of A Revolution - July 2013

Although I'm a tad more removed from my college days than I'd like to be, I'll still jump on an opportunity to jam to the bands that got me through those gloomy winter days in upstate NY at SUNY Albany.  My roomie, well old roomie, had a spare ticket, which I'm so thankful for because they were FRONT ROW. Hot diggity! I had the best of both worlds, the music I loved from college, with the "adult" experience inside. Typically, when I saw them in the past I'd be 4-5 sheets to the wind in SPAC's Lawn. It was a perfect concert experience.

OAR did not let down their dedicated fan base for their Sounds of Summer tour. The two and a half hour set, ya heard me right 2.5 hours, was packed with classics that infused brass, keyboard and guitar into an up-beat tempo. The blues/reggae influences had us dancing throughout the night and let me tell you, when Ryen VanHall dances you KNOW it has been a good night.

Our night was all about 'paying it forward.' So while we didn't stay till the end, we left content knowing that 2 other fans we gave our tickets to, got to share in the excitement of the front row. This was my first show at SPAC where I was in the first row and now I feel spoiled. At one point, I waved to Marc Roberge and he waved right back! I instantly fell in love all over again, and it was hard to bring me back to reality. Hay Marc, hayyyy. Although, Marc doesn't have an outrageous stage presence, his warm heart and genuine love for his fans can heat up a crowd any night. Luckily, what Marc lacked in funk, his trumpet player, Jon Lampley, made up for with sweaty and seductive dance moves. (real sexy.) I digress...

Listening to the roar of a crowd, full of pre-collegiate/collegiate swooners, was proof that OAR is on the right track, despite how they seem to fly under the mainstream radar. I'll always have a special place in my heart for OAR, because the first time I heard, "Hey Girl," I was with one of my college crushes. #awww. They're a perfect summer show and I'm stoked that they consider Saratoga Performing Arts Center a necessary stop each year.

The Cold War Kids - July 2013

This review will be short and sweet, just like The Cold War Kid's performance in Albany on July 11th, 2013.

Three so called 'kids,' graced the capital region with their brilliant, musical talents for about 40 minutes, playing mostly songs from their newest album, Dear Miss Lonelyhearts. This set was softer than what you typically may hear from a show or on the radio, and not just because of the acoustic nature, but because of how chill their demeanor's were. I anticipated rocking my face off, but instead I was caught off guard by how entranced I was. Their engagement with the crowd wasn't even that worthy, but their presence was captivating.

I started listening to these kids back in the day when Robbers & Cowards was released and my favorite song to this day is still, "Hang Me Out to Dry." They didn't play it but I was still thankful to get the invite to this private showing. It was a blip on the band's radar but something EQX Land will always remember.

A little punk and a lotta soul is what keeps the fans happy. Nathan, Matt and Jonnie were in the zone and brought down The Hollow Bar and Kitchen on Pearl Street that evening.

Thanks EQX and Cold War Kids for visiting to ensure that our city stay cool as ice this summer. :)

The Black Keys, July 2013

It was 2010 when The Black Key's album Brother's rocked my world for the first time, and it was last night that I finally got to see them live! These talented, American Rock, musicians hail from Akron, Ohio and have grown tremendously throughout the years. Swiping 3 Grammy's for Brother's in 2010 and topping charts for El Camino in 2011. Despite not having dropped an album since, it's clear to see their loyal followers will party hard when their in town as shown Tuesday night in Hartford, CT.

The power of Auerbach's guitar work is probably the reason that everybody loves the Black Keys so much. When Auerbach plays, it's like lightning...or laser beams should be shooting out of the strings. "Little Black Submarines," from 2011's El Camino, was a highlight. Auerbach kicked it off playing some classical guitar. Everybody knows that a broken heart is blind, he sang. After a few minutes, the stage went dark and silent, and the crowd got rowdy jonesin' for the beat to drop. Then the lights went up, and Auerbach had plugged back into his electric guitar, and they blew out the rest of the song. AH! It was so flippin' good. Beginning the set with, "Howlin' For You," and closing with one of my favorites, "Everlasting Light."

They jammed for about an hour and a half, incorporating a lot of their old blues sounds with their more current rock/bad-assery. Personally, I would have loved a little more rapport between the crowd and TBK, but what they lacked in engagement they made up for in a modest, yet ferocious, performance. Patrick's gangly and almost awkward to watch, but the passion he possesses while wailing the drums is a force that's hard to put in words. During the middle of the show they broke free from their back up support and jammed as a duo. Their powerful set list was consistent and sounded WAY better live than the album versions.

To boot, The UK band, The Joy Formidable opened for TBK and warmed the crowd up real nice with their head nodding, kick ass beats. Ritzy's energy was unreal and despite their punky undertones this band's new album Wolf's Law, is super catchy and fun to rock out to this summer.

Lastly, this was all a surprise planned for me by one of the most generous people I've come to know. My new man-friend really knew the way to my heart with this one and pulled through after overhearing what I asked Santa for this past Christmas. We drove out to CT after work, had a nice picnic in what seemed to be a random parking lot and finally after catching view of the swag table inside The Comcast Theater I nearly peed my pants in excitement. I was supposed to meet up with him at Dave Matthews this past Memorial Day but I bailed because of the weather, I'm happy I did because this was our first concert together and I'll remember it forever. Thankful.  #majorpoints #hesakeeper

Portugal. The Man. May 2013.

LIGHT BULB: you guys. I finally figured out why I still only have a personal blog for reviews and Rolling Stone, Spin or NME haven't hired me yet, duh. Wanna know why? I get white girl wasted at most shows and forget important details, that would add leaps and bounds of descriptive verbiage to these posts. Last Thursday night, for instance, I met 3 members of Portugal. The Man, (PTM) and I can't remember their names. Seriously, Lindsay?? Thumbs down. Regardless, they were humble and down to party...a winning combo of personality traits.

PTM breezed through the CapReg last Thursday night to promote their latest effort, Evil Friends, which drops June 4. The Hollow Bar & Kitchen, formerly The Bayou,  closed off the back bar for a quick, acoustic set for about 100 lucky fans.  Not only did they play for the crowd, but in between songs they answered some burnin' questions that fans had. My homie, Rory, was able to inquire about PTM's tour. Rory has been a fan since 2009 when The Satanic Satanist was released and he was curious as to why PTM was playing for 100 people and not 100,000 people? It was a good question, and even the band seemed stumped. However, Amber and Jeff made it seem that they'd be back for a full show, even though I did prefer the intimacy the show we saw provided.

What these 5 dudes lacked in stature, they made up for in stage presence and energy.  The vibe was chill, but people were still rockin'. Albany wasn't even a location listed on their Tour Date page and you couldn't buy tickets anywhere, guests had to be invited by WEQX, talk about VIP, holla. I was offered these passes while in Colorado visiting my bestie, Sally, who was going to be in town for this show, so naturally she was my sidekick. PTM was coming from NYC, where they drove around the city all day, playing tunes on top of a double-decker bus, and en route to Boston for Memorial Day Weekend. PTM's ability to flex their tour like this, just goes to show they're pulling out all the stops to increase their fan base. These gracious moves are definitely not going unnoticed, and while they didn't play for that long on Thursday, I can safely assume everyone prefers quality over quantity, any day.

I first heard their name when they were opening for The Black Keys, but never really gave their full albums a chance. I was always content with the jams EQX played regularly, they were enough until last week. I can't wait to get my paws on Evil Friends, and also dig into some of their more 'vintage' stuff too. I don't know what genre to put them in, because their sound is insanely original, but each track has relaxing harmonies paired with harder geetarrrr riffs, to make this music love-child that everyone digs. Their stuff is edgy, but also has some pop undertones because of John Gourley's soprano vocals...who by the way is adorable, mustache and all.

Some tracks to listen to immediately include: Got It All, So American, All Your Light, People Say, The Sun, Purple Yellow Red and Blue and obviously, Evil Friends.  Also, to be noted, is the artwork of the band. You can follow their Instagram account: "portugaltheman" or check out their wesbite, it's another addition to their uniqueness. It seems the band had this ridiculous consistency of releasing an album every year since 2006, but tapered off since 2011, which makes this album drop pretty huge, especially for the enthusiastic and close following fans.

I'm still averaging one show per month and Metric is up next in June! My personal goal might be to stay about from the sauce.....hm, haha, nah. ;)

The Mowgli's - April 2, 2013

It's been so long, but I'm back. March was full of traveling and while I was able to sneak in lots of fun, I didn't get to see any live performances. Say WHAT? Don't fret, because I couldn't think of a better way to kick-off concert season with a FREE EQX Show right in the town where I reside, Saratoga Springs, NY.

Some babes and I traveled to Vapor last night, which is located inside the Racino, which is HILARIOUS. It was a Tuesday night and it was our first time there. Living in Saratoga since 2007 I am somewhat disappointed in myself for never having ventured to Vapor, but from local billboards and advertisements I always figured it was full of cougars drinking Cosmopolitans being chased by 20-something, Jersey Boys with the 'GTL' vernacular. Maybe that's a harsh generalization, but regardless I stayed away, until last night. The venue was a bit shady, but, it was still a great spot for a show. There was a big open dance floor, pretty decent sound bites, and despite the bar not serving Guinness, it was stacked none-the-less. The chicks behind the bar were donned just as I imagined, uniformed, black corsets with just the right amount of cleavage to make think "damn the man." Come on Saratoga Gaming and Raceway, class it up!





The Mowgli's from Los Angeles, California were making their East Side debut. I heard 'San Fransisco,' the first track to be released from their EP, about 2 weeks ago, and as expected EQX lived up to their reputation of the best-gat-damn, independent radio station in all the land by bringing them to the CapReg...for free.

As you may know I'm a sucker for sappy lyrics, so when I first heard this jam I was hooked. Then to boot, the title of their album, 'Love's Not Dead,' made this hopeful romantic fall hard.

I’ve been in love with love
And the idea of something binding us together
You know that love is strong enough

These lyrics paired with the light-hearted, fluffy beat made me even happier! Last night they played all of their 5 tracks from their, "Love's Not Dead," EP and a couple more that I can't name. I went in knowing one song and left a fan. They sounded joyful and upbeat, and made me wanna road trip to Big Sur and fall in love in the sunshine. They're a mix of folk, dance, and rock and roll and I'm stoked for the summer when the whole album is supposed to drop.

They played at SXSW, also appearing on late night shows and their 5 tracks can be found on Spotify, too. They are on the radar and not just because they share the same name as the main character from, The Jungle Book. (love). They are bunch of happy fools and you can definitely tell their outlook on life is "glass half full." At one point in the show they had the concert goers raise their arms up high and scream as loud as possible to get rid of all our 'bullshit.' It felt good. Real good.

The Lucky Jukebox Brigrade opened for The Mowgli's but I was too busy playing Penny Slots with some grandpas to pay attention, oops.