The French electronica duo Air comes to town to play Terminal 5 on Friday. The show has been sold out for a while, but you can still get tickets because The House List is giving away two of them. Want to Grow a Pair? It’s easy. Just fill out the form below, listing your name, e-mail address, which show you’re trying to win tickets to (Air, 3/19) and a brief message explaining your best bet to have fun on St. Patrick’s Day while avoiding puke and the Pogues. Eddie Bruiser, allergic to both, will notify the winner on Friday.
After a two-year absence from playing in New York City, Editors returned to Terminal 5 on Friday night with a great set and a ton of passion. Following two stellar opening performances by the Dig and the Antlers, lead singer Tom Smith warmed the crowd with a sharp, nearly totally instrumental opening song. When moving to the second song, “Lights,” he laughed off how out of tune his guitar was, grabbing another from his tech. And as they jaunted through their set, it was easy to tell just how focused they were on pleasing the crowd, something that went over well with the packed house.
Their music, familiar to most New Yorkers, thanks to the presence of hometown rockers like Interpol, had the crowd’s attention for the entire hour-and-a-half set. Drummer Ed Lay mixed in heavy doses of a drum machine with his actual drumming, strengthening the band’s modern take on the ’80s Brit-rock sound that borrowed heavily from bands like Joy Division and the Cure. Smith never stayed static, even while at his piano, switching microphones and never giving the crowd the same look twice from song to song. Still doing all they could to please by the end, Editors finished their set with the hit “Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors,” and then taking their encore past the posted 11:00 p.m. curfew. —Sean O’Kane
The post-punk UK band Editors—singer-guitarist Tom Smith, guitarist Chris Urbanowicz, bassist Russell Leetch and drummer Ed Lay—released their first album, The Back Room, in 2005. The buzz from that earned them appearances at Coachella and Lollapalooza the following year. The band’s second disc, An End Has a Start, released in 2007, went platinum in the UK the very day it was released. Not wanting to rest on their laurels, the guys in Editors (above, playing “Papillon” on Later…with Jools Holland) opted to take their sound in a different direction in choosing to use synthesizers on 2009’s In This Light and on This Evening rather than sticking with the dark guitar rock they’d employed on their previous two albums. But you can judge which style you like best when Editors (with the Antlers and the Dig) play Terminal 5 tomorrow night.
Want to go but don’t have tickets? Then try to win two from The House List. Just fill out the form below, listing your name, e-mail address, which show you’re to win tickets to (Editors, 2/19) and a brief message explaining which Winter Olympic sport is your favorite and why. Eddie Bruiser, who does not care for figure skating, will notify the winner tomorrow. Good luck.
Toward the beginning of the second set of Trey Anastasio’s marathon show at Terminal 5 last night, someone tossed the Phish guitarist a Brian Leetch USA hockey jersey, which he displayed on his amp the rest of the night and then wore during the encore. It was appropriate because Anastasio was playing like an Olympian. From the get-go, it was pure joy, as the mind-probing lights seemed to be induced purely by his smile and energy. Hopping around the stage like a moguls skier, he eased his band into the evening with strong versions of “Push On ’Til the Day,”“Mozambique” and “Gotta Jibboo.”
The Classic TAB, with a horn section and a bass-drums-keys rhythm section backing Anastasio, acted more like a jazz ensemble than a jam band. While it would have been easy for everything to devolve into filler between axe solos, Anastasio has fleshed out this side project with its own fully functioning repertoire. This got mixed up a bit at the end of the first set with an extended solo acoustic sing-along featuring the typically rocking Phish songs “Sample in a Jar,”“Chalkdust Torture” and “Wilson” that was pure joy for musician and audience alike. The second set featured counterintuitively horn-heavy covers of classic-rock staples “Black Dog” (mightily sung by Jennifer the trumpet player) and “Sultans of Swing.”
Still the highlights of the night were when the band relaxed into a groove and Anastasio just shredded. The band reduced to a quartet on songs like “Jibboo” and “Sand”—the bass and drums transforming into gates in a slalom downhill, and Anastasio barreling downhill, gaining momentum and dangerous speeds, with just fractions of a second the difference between gold and crashing and burning. And at the critical moment, the horns would return for a tremendous climax, and there was no question about who would be taking the podium. —A. Stein
Hot Chip has a new album—One Life Stand—out, and they’re celebrating by playing Music Hall of Williamsburg this Saturday. Turns out, lots of people wanted to join the celebration, so the show sold out quickly. (Although tickets are available to see them on 4/23 at Terminal 5.) But you’re in luck because The House List is giving away two tickets. Want to Grow a Pair to this show? Then just fill out the form below, listing your name, e-mail address, which show you’re trying to win tickets to (Hot Chip, 2/6) and a brief message telling us your pick to win the Super Bowl and why. Eddie Bruiser, a NOLA lover, will notify the winner on Friday.
On one of the coldest nights the city has seen this winter, the California rockers Cold War Kids rewarded the sold-out Terminal 5 crowd for braving the weather with a stunning set. Bathed in dark purple light, the band crawled through a moody intro while four projectors flashed on square screens behind them. Simple and beautifully melodic, their music started out punchy and brimming with blue notes, which set the tone for the rest of the show. The laid-back “Audience” awoke the fans from their winter coma, while the following “Red Wine, Success!” set the groove.
Jonnie Russell’s raw guitar sound expanded all the way to the top floor of the venue, ringing out clear with nothing more than the most basic distortion. And he belted out awesome harmonies that complemented lead singer Nathan Willet’s unique voice. All the while bassist Matt Maust stumbled around the stage, leaning into his bandmates and kicking at the piano stool when Willet manned the keys. By the time they played “Hang Me Up to Dry”—the biggest single off their first album, Robbers & Cowards—the crowd was screaming with excitement, which carried through to the end of the hour-plus set.
The rest of the show featured much more percussive and fast-paced songs, like a rowdy version of “Something Is Not Right with Me,” highlighted by a horns section erratically stomping around the stage, blaring into any available microphone. Willet and his band then treated the crowd twice more: First, they finished their encore with an explosive version of crowd-favorite “We Used to Vacation.” And second, as the fans trekked back out into the cold, they were met with flyers for a free download of the entire concert they had just experienced. —Sean O’Kane
Cold War Kids come to town this week for two shows in two boroughs. The bad news: There are no tickets available for either date. The Good news: The House List is giving away two of them to Friday’s show at Terminal 5. So try to Grow a Pair. Just fill out the form below, listing your name, e-mail address, which show you’re trying to win tickets for (Cold War Kids, 1/29) and a brief message explaining which past war is your favorite. Eddie Bruiser, who’s partial to the “Low Rider”-writing War, will notify the winner by noon on Friday. Good luck.
Julian Casablancas - Terminal 5 - January 14, 2010
Everyone was calling Julian Casablancas by just his first name. Near the ticket window it was “Julian” and upstairs in VIP it was a more familiar “Jules.” Opener Tanlines even referred to him as the vaguely messianic “JC.” Apparently New York City assumed it was on a first name basis with the guy who allegedly saved rock and roll from the Lower East Side in 2001. As if winking at 3,000 people at once, Casablancas opened with “Ludlow St.,” an overly sentimental ode to the street he helped make famous. Of course it was also to say that if we thought we knew him, he most assuredly knew us better.
Casablancas, dressed almost head to foot in black leather came to the stage last, a subtle tip to the significance of his return to the city that bore him. After “Ludlow St.,” he directed the band in the wailing and enormous “River of Brakelights,” a song that few outside the first 20 rows grasped or reacted to appropriately. Following quickly with “11th Dimension,” Casablancas turned Terminal 5 into a sea of jumping heads and bobbing angular haircuts. And during “Out of the Blue,” he whipped around the microphone by its cord before ripping through the last chorus. It was the kind of maneuver that said, “I’ve still got it” and “I never really left.”
Of course this return couldn’t be complete without an unscripted ending. After closing his first encore with “4 Chords of the Apocalypse,” Casablancas slammed the microphone to the stage and reached into the crowd with all the magnanimous effect of a messiah. The crowd pushed toward its hero and he seemed visibly affected by this display. Terminal 5 turned on the music and the crowd was supposed to leave. But no one moved. So Casablancas returned, rather sheepishly, saying, “We really were done.” He then played “Tourist,” as if to indicate that even the messiah feels a little weird when everyone tries to know his name. And the crowd, unabashedly, sang along with their Julian. —Geoff Nelson
Backed by gigantic LED screens, Passion Pit took the stage to entrance music pounding through the speakers, an evolutionary gesture. The crowd—a mix of hardened hipsters with battle stories and tweens with tickets bought on parental credit cards—lost its collective mind in that cocktail of excitement and uncertain celebrity usually associated with midlevel professional athletes and reality-TV stars. In this pose, the Boston kids in Passion Pit proved to be as magnanimous as they were confident, saying something unspoken like: “Dear 3,000 people, thanks for buying tickets to see us. Appreciate it. Now we’re going to light this place up, OK?”
For a band little more than 18 months removed from a now-famed residency at Pianos, filling the joint at Terminal 5 on a Friday night must have been surreal. As if paying homage to its humble beginnings, Passion Pit opened with “I’ve Got Your Number,” the lead-track from the EP Chunk of Change. The crowd appeared clued in on the band’s catalog, words memorized and movement ready. And the band proceeded to make good on that unspoken promise, playing “Make Light” as the room turned into a cascading series of flashing white LEDs.
The show lagged slightly in the middle but found its legs in the homestretch. Passion Pit closed the main set with “Little Secrets,” turning the crowd into little bubbles of boiling water, popping up to the surface as if driven by some elemental. The band then returned with “Eyes Like Candles” and an explosive cover of the Cranberries’ “Dreams”—the night’s most unexpectedly pleasant moment—before closing with “Sleepyhead.” The floor turned into an undulating mass of clapping, stomping and jumping, and Michael Angelakos stormed around the front of the stage, much unlike those days at Pianos. —Geoff Nelson
Levon Helm is a national treasure. As the backbone and one of the main voices of the Band, he’s played an integral part in American music for more than 40 years. Despite a bout with throat cancer, he’s persevered and has even begun recording music again—releasing two new albums since 2007—and hosting Midnight Rambles at his home studio in Woodstock. (And unless you’re getting married or having a child that day, there’s no better way to spend a Saturday night.) He had a minor setback, needing throat surgery in August, and hasn’t been allowed to sing much since then. But while his distinctive lion’s growl of a voice has been temporarily quieted, Levon Helm can still play the drums like a motherfucker.
Last night, before a captive Terminal 5 audience, Helm, backed by 11 remarkably talented musicians—including special guest Donald Fagen—started off hot with the Band’s ode to Richard Manuel, “The Shape I’m In.” After dabbling in some sweet NOLA music (“Let’s go to New Orleans for a little bit,” said Larry Campbell, frontman of this band and long-time sideman for Bob Dylan), Teresa Williams, Campbell’s wife, and Amy Helm, Levon’s daughter, dueted on an elegant take on “Long Black Veil.” Levon then stepped from behind the kit to take a stool at center stage and played the mandolin on a terrific, horns-backed “Deep Elem Blues,” which drew loud applause from the crowd.
But what really got the audience excited was when Levon sang the Grateful Dead’s “Tennessee Jed,” his voice sounding much stronger than anyone had expected. Following a full-band take on “Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning” and Steely Dan’s “Black Friday,” led by Fagen’s soulful voice, the Levon Helm Band turned to the Band: “King Harvest (Has Surely Come),” “It Makes No Difference” (the greatest break-up song ever), hauntingly sung by Williams and Amy Helm, and then “Chest Fever,” with Campbell playing Garth Hudson’s long organ intro on his Strat. They closed with “The Weight,” with Levon boisterously singing “Well, Luke my friend” to rousing applause. The show could’ve ended right there, but the band came back out for one more, “I Shall Be Released,” and they killed it. Levon, bowing and blowing kisses to the crowd, then waved a white towel and headed offstage. And we stepped out into the night, smiling all the way. —R. Zizmor
Levon Helm is a member of rock royalty. He grew up in Arkansas but headed to Canada after high school to join rockabilly-star Ronnie Hawkins’ backing band, the Hawks. Eventually he played alongside Rick Danko, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel and Robbie Robertson before those five struck out on their own. By the mid-’60s, Bob Dylan was looking to go electric and he decided the Hawks were the perfect musicians to accompany him. While Dylan’s plugged-in takes on his folk classics would eventually gain widespread acclaim, it certainly didn’t happen overnight. As the audience’s booing and catcalls intensified, Helm decided to leave the band rather than face that negativity night after night.
In the meantime, Dylan and the Hawks headed to Europe and then to Woodstock after Dylan had a disastrous motorcycle accident there. While they were in upstate New York, they recorded a slew of material—eventually released as The Basement Tapes—at Danko, Hudson and Manuel’s house, affectionately known as Big Pink, in West Saugerties, N.Y. With things going so well musically, Danko invited Helm (playing “The Weight,” above, on PBS) to rejoin them and write their own music, and somewhere along the way the band became the Band. They toured and released seven studio albums—including their spectacular debut, Music from Big Pink, and their fantastic sophomore effort, The Band—and one of the greatest live albums ever, Rock of Ages.
With their supreme musicianship, vivid storytelling and three of the finest voices (Danko’s, Helm’s and Manuel’s) in the history of recorded music, the Band went on to influence countless musicians and songwriters, and their songs, including “The Weight,” “Ophelia,”“The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” and “Up on Cripple Creek,” are an enduring part of the rock canon. But, alas, all good things must come to an end. And so the Band closed up shop at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco on Thanksgiving Day 1976. It was, quite literally, The Last Waltz.
Following the Band’s breakup, Helm toured and recorded music and dabbled in acting, appearing in Coal Miner’s Daughter, The Right Stuff and The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada among others. And after a successful but costly bout with throat cancer, he began to stage monthly Midnight Rambles at his home studio in Woodstock. Helm sings, entertains and plays the drums and mandolin, accompanied by an all-world backing band of his own, led by sideman extraordinaire Larry Campbell and Helm’s daughter, Amy. And if that weren’t enough, Helm has even put out two new albums, the Grammy-winning Dirt Farmer and Electric Dirt, since 2007. But here’s the best part: Levon Helm is bringing his Ramble on the road—with special guest Donald Fagen of Steely Dan—to Terminal 5 this Thursday. Do your best to make it there. But be warned that your face will hurt on Friday from smiling so much the night before. —R. Zizmor
While they haven’t been around for all that long, Passion Pit’s legion of fans continues to grow by leaps and bounds. So when we announced these three shows at Terminal 5 for later this week, they all sold out very quickly. But we’d still like to give you a shot to see them live. So The House List is giving away two tickets to Sunday’s show. Want to Grow a Pair of free tickets? Then fill out the form below, listing your name, e-mail address, which show you’re trying to win tickets for (Passion Pit, 1/10) and a brief message explaining why Sunday is the best night of the week to go out. Eddie Bruiser, a firm believer in Sunday Fun Day, will notify the winner by noon on Friday. Good luck.
On the heels of releasing their third studio disc, Humbug, Arctic Monkeys embarked on a recently finished European tour. On Sunday, the English quartet touched down on U.S. soil for a quick trip across the country, which finds them playing Terminal 5 on Thursday and Friday. Tickets for both dates sold out, but you can try to Grow a Pair to Friday’s show because The House List is giving away two tickets. Just fill out the form below. List your name, e-mail address, which show you’re trying to win tickets to (Arctic Monkeys, 12/11) and a brief message explaining what your favorite animal is to see at the zoo. Eddie Bruiser, a snake lover, will notify the winner by noon on Friday, December 11th. Good luck.
Ghostland Observatory - Terminal 5 - December 5, 2009
Ghostland Observatory, stars of the Austin, Texas, music scene, brought their dance-rock show to Terminal 5 on Saturday night, filling the room with smoke, lasers and the wild voice of frontman Aaron Behrens. Donning a cape, drummer and synth player Thomas Ross Turner stoically provided most of the music throughout the set, while Behrens tramped around through the light show emanating from the stage.
Straddling the line between Daft Punk-esque electronica and White Stripes-ian rock, the duo’s impressively powerful spirit and vigor had all three levels of Terminal 5 dancing. Highlights included “Robotique Majestique,” the title track of Ghostland Observatory’s most recent album, and “Sad Sad City,” all performed with just a faintly visible outline of Behrens in the constant fog and light. The bandmates matched each other’s energy (Turner banging the drums in a cape is a sight to see) and turned what could have easily been repetitive and boring into a vivid, exciting performance. —Sean O’Kane
