Re: Setlist from last night (08 July)

Last night's show included a couple blocks of bands I saw last weekend at Mosswood Meltdown in Oakland.

"Dirty Boots" - Sonic Youth
"Love & a Molotov Cocktail" - The Flys
"Needles in the Camel's Eye" - Brian Eno
"Musta Notta Gotta Lotta" - Joe Ely

"So It Goes" - Nick Lowe
"Twilite Zone" - The Visible Targets (by request)
"Atom City Queen" - Failure
"Mercury Mouth" - Failure

"I'm Toast" - Sparks
"The Man Without a Tan" - FFS
"Sound and Vision" - Franz Ferdinand
"I Predict" - Sparks

"Rebound City" - Bleached
"If I Had You Back" - The Rubinoos
"Growing Up" - The Linda Lindas
"Rebel Girl" - Bikini Kill

"Quarantine" - The Vaxxines
"Halfway to Nowhere" - Pansy Division
"Air BnB" - Kim Gordon
"I Can't Stop Thinking About It" - The Dirtbombs

"Sexx Laws" - Beck (for his birthday)
"High School" - MC5 (by request)
"Ain't You" - Kleenex
"Final Solution" - Pere Ubu

"Car Trouble" - Adam & the Ants
"Nobody Asked Me If I Was Okay" - Sky Ferreira (for Sky's birthday)
"I Live for Cars and Girls" - The Dictators (by request)

"Birth, School, Work, Death" - The Godfathers
"Holiday in Cambodia" - Dead Kennedys (by request)
"Gidget Goes to Hell" - Suburban Lawns
"Disappearer" - Sonic Youth

Brian Eno was there? (I kid). How were the performances? Did you see Flipper? How was John Waters as the host? I only know of the Dirtbombs because the Supersuckers rave about Mick Collins, is he worthy of the hype? No more questions.

The Mick Collins projects I know are the Gories, Blacktop and the Dirtbombs. The first is amateurish garage rock - the band supposedly didn't know how to play when they started, but I've never been completely convinced that's true. Anyway, they're rough going if you're not inclined towards sloppiness. Blacktop was a garage punk "supergroup" with Collins and members of the Dallas band Fireworks and a blues/R&B bent, but Collins was definitely in charge. Good stuff if you like that sort of thing, but unlikely to convince unbelievers.

The Dirtbombs are definitely Collins' best band. His songwriting and singing are fully matured (though at least a couple of his albums are covers only) and he's found the right balance of craft and unrestrained attack. I've never seen them play (they don't tour like they used to, so Delvin was very lucky), but I've heard nothing but good things about 'em. I'd like to see them for their unusual lineup (two drum kits, two basses, Collins on guitar and vox) alone. Anyway, I'd recommend their albums Ultraglide in Black (a set of R&B covers rocked into the ground) and Dangerous Magical Noise (probably his best set of original material). If anyone has heard their album Party Store, in which they apply their aggressive garage rock style to a set of Detroit techno classics, I'd love to hear your opinion.

Hell no, Eno didn't show his face there. He owes me money. (I kid.)

The bands I featured in those two blocks represent the best performances of the show, IMO. Bikini Kill blew the audience away; they sounded great, and Kathleen Hanna's voice still can pin the listener against the wall. I heard a lot of people complain that Kim Gordon didn't include any Sonic Youth classics in her set, but I really dug the stuff she was laying down. (And I included a couple Sonic Youth tracks in my show, just to placate those people.) The Rubinoos seemed a bit out of place there, but they're a local band with a deep history. And they sounded absolutely fantastic -- four-part harmonies and all.

The band that people seemed most amped up to see was The Linda Lindas. For those who might not know about this band, they're an all-girl quartet from L.A., ages ranging from 11 to 17. They still were a bit amateurish, with mis-starts on a few songs, but they clearly were into it. They sounded great, and their songs (plus a cover of The Go-Go's classic "Tonight") won over the crowd. They had merch on sale at their booth, but of course, I wanted to hear them first. About halfway through their set, I made a dash for the booth; the guy there pointed to a single t-shirt on the table and said, "That's all I have left. It's a triple-XL, and I bet someone will buy it." After their set, there was a long line of fans wanting autographs and photos with the band. This band may be riding on a bit of a novelty factor, for the time being, but I wouldn't be surprised if they stick around for a while.

I'd never heard of The Dirtbombs, but they absolutely rocked the house. Their set started out strong, and just kept moving from peak to peak, until by the end of the set, it seemed as if half the audience members were crowd-surfing on the other half! I checked out their material later, and the studio recordings sound good, but live, this band is a beast.

As for the bands I didn't include in my set, Shannon Shaw and Hunx & His Punx also went over big with the crowd, though they weren't all that much to my liking. The Carbonas and The Fevers were good; Brontez Purnell was just okay. Podium was thoroughly badass onstage. Forget about surfing over the mosh pit; the singer from that band jumped out into the crowd and started the mosh pit! My friends and I missed the set by Snooper. And I wouldn't cross the street to see Twompsax again if they were playing a free show. Hardcore songs less than a minute long, in between five-minute rants by the singer. When she wasn't talking about how shitty her family is, and how awful her childhood was, she was telling us all that we should boycott the set by Flipper, because their current singer is "a fuckin' rich kid from the O.C."

Yes, I saw Flipper. I was never a fan, but I did see them. I'm still not a fan, no matter where their singer comes from.

It was a great weekend. Weather was perfect for an outdoor concert. Everyone in the crowd was really cool, as far as I could tell. Even the high possibility that I brought home my current case of CoVid from that show hasn't spoiled it for me.

Had trouble getting my head around Party Store but Ultraglide in Black is killer. They came out here years ago and won many fans as support to You Am I.

This has nothing to do with the topic at hand, but I’m jealous that you get to see You Am I on a regular basis if you want to.