///LIVE SHOWS///

ah......live shows, there's nothing like them
in the world. the sweaty, smokey, steamy, sometimes
rainy, packed, venues of the world- we love you. stay tuned here for my live show diary. it's gonna be good.
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U P  N E X T: JULY 6, 2012, ▲ BEACH HOUSE ▲ ASPEN, CO ▲



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▲ MAY 31, 2012, ▲ BON IVER + FEIST ▲ RED ROCKS, MORRISON, CO ▲

red rocks is the ultimate venue. it is famed for the majestic sandstone rocks that jut out from every side, cocooning it's guests into the venue. add to that a view of the city skyline in the distance, and amazing acoustics, and you have a recipe for a truly glorious experience. anyone who has been here has a story about it and typically it doesn't seem to matter who you are even seeing...it always seems a 'religious' experience. so when you get the opportunity to see two of your all time favorite artists on the same night, you take it! and many did, as this was a sold out show. 

running late after eating one of the best meals i've had in a very long time at root down, we ended up hiking up the long road to the venue amongst a crowd of twenty something's dripping in ray bans, stripes, and skinny jeans. feist's voice was reverberating off the sandstone as we raced to the top of the neverending staircase. my moon, my man our soundtrack. now i've seen both feist + bon iver before, but never at this magnitude, with this size crowd. both were at small venues in boulder and it was wonderful to feel so intimately tied into the show. this would be very different in such a good way. i was disappointed when feist closed out her set, especially since i missed the beginning. that is until the first notes from bon iver came up over the speakers. 

they started off strong with Perth and Minn., WI, then meandering in and out of material from the new and old albums. i just kept waiting for blood bank, a song that has been the soundtrack for many moments i hold dear. it came towards the end and was quickly followed by crowd favorites skinny love and re: stacks. vernon chose to do an acoustic version of re: stacks, just him under blue lights. the nearly full moon hung over the crowd and everyone was completely silent, awe struck by vernon's outpouring of emotion. it was a perfect night. bon iver at times sounded so different from themselves, entering loud and cacophonous moments and turning some tracks that seem quiet and subdued into plain rock and roll. double drums, saxophones, and horns; it would seem that this band has transformed into a grown-up version of itself. they closed out the show with an encore performance of for emma, followed by wolves (act I & II). vernon had the entire crowd singing "what might have been lost" repetitiously while building into a crescendo. it was pure beauty. there were so many moments throughout the show that i just let out a sigh. each song seemed more brilliant than the last.

at the risk of sounding like a total obsessive dork, i will just say it: this show was soul-restoring. i wish i could relive it again and again.

▼▼▼SET LISTS▼▼▼

Feist:
Comfort Me
A Commotion
How Come You Never Go There
Mushaboom
The Circle Married The Line
My Moon My Man
I Feel It All
Undiscovered First
Graveyard
The Limit to Your Love
Sealion
The Bad In Each Other

Bon Iver:
Perth
Minnesota, WI
Towers
Flume
Creature Fear
Hinnom, TX
Wash.
Holocene
Blood Bank
Skinny Love
re: Stacks
Calgary
Lisbon, OH
Beth/Rest

The Wolves (Act I and II)
For Emma

///video footage: from youtube/NOT MINE///photos: three + five/cedra sessions ///others tumblr///

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▲ MARCH 13, 2012: RADIOHEAD WITH OTHER LIVES ▲ BOULDER, CO ▲

i have been waiting for my chance to see radiohead live since i was an awkward teenager blasting 'kid A' in my friend amanda's basement. with tickets selling out within the first ten minutes of going on sale, it is a miracle that i even found myself staring up at the vibrant lights swallowing up thom yorke's small frame. i would say that i was lucky, but i just didn't see any other way that it could have played out. 
the venue seemed impersonal at first but as i sipped on my ten dollar pbr and the opening band struck their first notes, i knew i was in for an unforgettable experience. not many other people seemed to know what a stellar band was opening that night. the other lives had recently become a favorite of mine (see ///album reviews///). it didn't matter. i knew and i was marinating in every moment.
radiohead did not disappoint. each drumbeat, keystroke, and falsetto note was even better than memory served. the vibrations ran all the way up my body as i danced, grinning from ear to ear. i was taken over by the bliss of the experience. but the moments that impressed the most were not those that rocked the crowd with deep bass and sensational lighting and sound. no. it was the moment that thom yorke hushed a crowd of 5,000 screaming fans to complete silence. standing in the silence i was transfixed on the one man on stage. no one sang along. no one spoke to one another. it was just thom, his keyboard, and a sea of blue light.