Last night's concert

Last night I saw Kasabian and Mew perform live at St. Andrew's Hall in Detroit. I was really looking forward to seeing both bands for the first time, and it turned out to be a great show.

Downtown Detroit was a flurry of activity, as there was also a Tigers game at 7:00 (they've clinched a playoff spot for the first time since 1987). After checking out the opening band's material online (they're called One Thousand Pictures) and being less than impressed, we decided to head over to one of our favourite downtown restaurants, Loco's for dinner instead. They have great Tex-Mex food that's really inexpensive. If you're ever in Greektown, you should definitely check it out.

Enough about the food though, and back to the music. We arrived back at the venue just as Mew was taking the stage. The hall was starting to fill up, and we made our way the front of the stage. Mew's set was an epic one, complete with backdrop videos, and their trademark brand of Danish "dream-rock". It was cut short however because, as guitarist Bo Madsen put it (in his Danish accent), "there's a big hip-hop fest here later tonight". So, they didn't have a chance to play the hits 'Why Are You Looking Grave?' or 'Special', but Kasabian was still to come, so we weren't entirely disappointed.

We decided to head up to the balcony to get a better view of Kasabian's set, which also turned out to be a great rock n' roll show. Frontman Tom Meighan was as charismatic on stage as any I've seen, and the band tore through an hour-long set of songs from both their debut album and their latest release, 'Empire'. He really got the crowd into it, and told us that "this is a real rock city, right". One of the funniest moments was when, near the end of the set, he dedicated a song to 'Robocop', which of course was set in Detroit.

The show ended fairly early to make room for the "big hip-hop fest", and we headed home by way of Port Huron. One final stop before crossing back into Canada though - for a 12-pack of Rolling Rock beer (of course). You can't get this great beer in Canada, and the border guards have always been cool about me bringing back 12 of them. It's probably too much paperwork for them to bother with.

As an aside to this blog entry, the last issue of Rolling Stone gave the new Kasabian album just 1 star (out of 5). Either they didn't actually listen to it, or they just didn't get it. I'll say it was probably the latter. The thing that takes away any credibility that the RS reviewers may have had left, is that right beside the Kasabian review, was a 2-star review of Everclear's new album. Ha!

This Friday

As I'll be away this Friday, and because it's homecoming weekend at UWO; the Pulp Friction show this week will be preempted by a special show, hosted by CHRW's Promotions Director.

I'll have lots of great rock n' roll for you when I return for next week's show (Friday, October 6th).

'Pulp Friction' playlist

Here's the playlist from today's show on 94.9 CHRW...

3:30-4:00

Spoon - Mountain To Sound
The Shins - Caring Is Creepy
M. Ward - To Go Home
Maximo Park - Apply Some Pressure
Boy Kill Boy - Civil Sin
Editors - Lights
Thom Yorke - Harrowdown Hill
Ratatat - Kennedy

4:00-5:00

Kasabian - Shoot The Runner
Mew - The Zookeepers Boy
The Flaming Lips - Haven’t Got A Clue
The Vertical Struts - Stab Stab Stab
The Vertical Struts - Girlfriend Boyfriend
Eagles Of Death Metal - I Like To Move In The Night
The Rapture - The Sound
LCD Soundsystem - Tribulations
Data Rock - Fa Fa Fa (Shake Remix)
Surplus Sons - City Nights
Evil Doers - Master This
Cities In Dust - Chop Chop You’re Dead
Graham Coxon - Don't Let Your Man Know

5:00-6:00

Sloan - Marcus Said
Sloan - People Of The Sky
Sloan - G Turns To D
Sloan - Sinking Ships
Sloan - Snowsuit Sound (live)
Controller.Controller - Poison Safe
You Say Party! We Say Die! - Stockholm Syndrome (Parts 1 & 2)
The Electrocult - Disappearing Act
Priestess - Lay Down
Nashville Pussy - Hate & Whiskey
Two-Minute Miracles - I'm Getting A Feel

If you missed it, you can download and/or listen to the show here...

Hour 1: http://chrwradio.com/podcasts/94-9CHRWFri1530.mp3
Hour 2: http://chrwradio.com/podcasts/94-9CHRWFri1600.mp3
Hour 3: http://chrwradio.com/podcasts/94-9CHRWFri1700.mp3

Audio archives

A few people have e-mailed me with regard to the audio archives from my show, so I thought I would just post a bit of information here...

The audio from past shows on CHRW are for the most recent show only. When the next show airs, it automatically records over the audio that was previously there. However, if you do see something on my playlists that you'd like me to play again on a future show, just e-mail me and let me know and I'll try to fit it in for you.

'Pulp Friction' playlist

Here's the playlist from today's show on 94.9 CHRW...

3:30-4:00

The Kooks - See The World
The Strokes - Vision Of Division
The Stance - Kiss Me Kiss Me
The Stills - Killer Bees
Constantines - Shine A Light
The Walkmen - All Hands And The Cook
The Dears - Whites Only Party
Destroyer - 3000 Flowers

4:00-5:00

Spoon - Get Out The State
The Decemberists - We Both Go Down Together
Sunny Day Sets Fire - Wilderness
The Rapture - Get Myself Into It
Hard Fi - Hard To Beat
Mew - Special
Tokyo Police Club - Citizens Of Tomorrow
Bloc Party - Positive Tension
Small Sins - Stay
Surplus Sons - City Nights
The Vertical Struts - The Chief Fox
Kings Of Leon - California Waiting
M. Ward - Poison Cup

5:00-6:00

R.E.M. - Begin The Begin
R.E.M. - Feeling Gravity's Pull
R.E.M. - Welcome To The Occupation
R.E.M. - Pretty Persuasion
Pavement - Unseen Power Of The Picket Fence
Holy Fuck - Tone Bank Jungle
Shout Out Out Out Out - Your Shitty Record Won't Mix Itself
Ron Leary - Turn
The Locusts Have No King - New Years Eve
Teitur - Louis, Louis
The Flints - Empire Hotel

If you missed it, you can download and/or listen to the show here...

Hour 1: http://chrwradio.com/podcasts/94-9CHRWFri1530.mp3
Hour 2: http://chrwradio.com/podcasts/94-9CHRWFri1600.mp3
Hour 3: http://chrwradio.com/podcasts/94-9CHRWFri1700.mp3

'Pulp Friction' playlist from last Friday

My September 8th show on CHRW featured an interview with a band from Dartmouth, NS, called 'The Grass'. I spoke to them prior to their show at The Last Drop and played a few songs from their latest album. Here's the full playlist from last Friday...

3:30-4:00

Tokyo Police Club - Cheer It On
Tokyo Police Club - Nature Of The Experiment
The Bicycles - Australia
The Airfields - Lonely Halls
Square Root Of Margaret - Circuitry Knee
Tin Bangs - Shake
The Marble Index - Same Schools
Duchess Says - Ccut Up
Debaser - Born In

4:00-5:00

Kasabian - Empire
Muse - Supermassive Black Hole
Mew - Why Are You Looking Grave?
Arctic Monkeys - Cigarette Smoker Fiona
The Kooks - See The World
French Kicks - Knee High
Sonic Youth - Incinerate
Be Your Own Pet - Bicycle Bicycle You Are My Bicycle
The Lovely Feathers - Frantic
The Dears - Bandwagoneers
Sunset Rubdown - Stadiums And Shrines
Small Sins - Threw It All Away
Grant-Lee Phillips - Age Of Consent

5:00-6:00

Tapes 'n Tapes - Cowbell
Grandaddy - Geez Louise
Oneida - Happy New Year
Thom Yorke - Black Swan
Four Tet - She Moves She
Ratatat - Lex
The Grass - Gator
The Grass - Phantom Operator
The Grass - In Tahoma
Dirty Pretty Things - Bang Bang You're Dead

If you missed it, you can download and/or listen to the show here...

Hour 1: http://chrwradio.com/podcasts/94-9CHRWFri1530.mp3
Hour 2: http://chrwradio.com/podcasts/94-9CHRWFri1600.mp3
Hour 3: http://chrwradio.com/podcasts/94-9CHRWFri1700.mp3

Last night

Well, you can tell that the college and university students are back in town, 'cause last night at the club was packed! By 10:30 there was a line to get in, and inside it was as busy as it normally is by 11:30.

There also seemed to be a lot of people there that were new to the night, as I received a bunch of ridiculous/hilarious requests. People were asking for everything from Metallica to Spirit Of The West to Aerosmith - even Ace Of Base! Fortunately I didn't have any of it (as I'm not a jukebox for kitchy songs).

Anyway, it was a really fun night, and it was nice to see the place even more packed than it was all summer. See you next week for more great rock n' roll (and economically priced alcoholic beverages). Just make sure you get there early.

Kasabian and Mew

Last Friday, I bought tickets to see Kasabian and Mew at St. Andrew's Hall in Detroit. The show is on September 29th, and it's going to be great!

The latest Mew album has been out in Europe for almost a year, but it was just released here. I've played them on my radio show a bunch of times, but if you haven't heard them, you can check them out here: www.mewsite.com or here: www.myspace.com/mew.

Kasabian's new album, 'Empire' will be released here next week, and I'm pretty excited about that too. You can stream the entire album here: www.kasabian.co.uk/Kleber_Empire_Player/k_player.php