Christ, $35 for the Paul Weller show, dont know about that
Paul Weller
That's as much as the Cyndi Looper show!
Superdrag is opening for Weller in Chicago. Hopefully, they'll be doing the whole tour with him.
That would be good news, but also bad news, I heard Superdrag would be touring agin in February and March but was hoping they would be headlining.
Review of the new album in today's Post…<BR> <A HREF="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57255-2003Jan14.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57255-2003Jan14.html</A>;
Looks like Superdrag will be opening for Paul Weller the 3 shows immediately preceding DC, but the 18th is their last show with him.
lets hope it's The Bigger Lovers, label mates of mr. weller and killer power pop band from philly
The opener is now listed as Fiction Plane, anyone know anything? They have a site at MCA Records and they are touring with Juliana Theory and Something Corporate, which does not bode well. Hopefully that tour is just a mismatch.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial, Veranda">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by jadetree:<BR><B>The opener is now listed as Fiction Plane, anyone know anything? They have a site at MCA Records and they are touring with Juliana Theory and Something Corporate, which does not bode well. Hopefully that tour is just a mismatch.</B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Judging by the fact that they are wearing scarves on their homepage picture and the downloadable video is titled "Everything Will Never Be OK" I'm saying there's a 99-44/100 chance they are Emo.
This should be a good show, I always liked the Style Council. Does anyone know if it's safe to take Metro since this concert is on Wednesday and they close at 12AM ?
From: <A HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/02/arts/music/02RAND.html?pagewanted=1" TARGET=_blank>The New York Times</A><P>Paul Weller: No Longer Competing With His Younger Self<BR>By MAC RANDALL<P>FOR more than 25 years, the British singer, songwriter and guitarist Paul Weller has served as a perfect example of the pop culture divide that yawns between America and Britain.<P>If you're American, and not an Anglophile, rock critic or cultural historian specializing in the punk movement of the 1970's, odds are that Mr. Weller's name is unfamiliar to you. If you're British, odds are that you consider him an icon. <BR> <BR>Between 1977 and 1982, as leader of a passionate and decidedly left-wing rock trio called the Jam, Mr. Weller captivated a generation of British youth with songs that set righteous fury and idealism to rough-hewn melodies and hopped-up beats. He and his bandmates, the bassist Bruce Foxton and the drummer Rick Buckler, became superstars in their homeland. Arguably, their distinctive blend of punk, power pop and 60's-style R & B has had a more lasting effect on the direction of music in Britain than the work of their contemporaries, the Sex Pistols and the Clash. <P>Two decades after the Jam's breakup, Mr. Weller â?? who will perform at the Hamerstein Ballroom in Manhattan on Feb. 21 â?? remains one of his country's favorite rock musicians. His latest album, "Illumination," entered the British charts at No. 1 last summer. (It has just been released in the United States, on the Yep Roc label.) Yet the vigor of the Jam continues to cast an imposing shadow over his more recent efforts. <P>Mr. Weller, now 44, has often projected the uncomfortable aura of an artist competing with his younger self and dissatisfied with the results. He would play the occasional Jam song in concert and discuss the band if asked but, given a choice, he preferred not to delve too deep into past history. <P>"Starting in the early 90's," he said by phone from London recently, "I wanted to make it again on my own terms, and not have to rely on old stuff." <P>His ambivalence toward his own legacy finally ended in 2001, when Mr. Weller embarked on a one-man tour of Europe and America. Without a backing band for the first time in his career, he leaned on older material and made a discovery. "Playing the old tunes back to back with the new ones broke some barriers for me," he said. "Stripping every song down to voice and guitar, I could see it was all one body of work."<P>His new CD suggests that reconnecting with his back catalog was also a boost to his creativity. Recorded in a series of three-day sessions, with Mr. Weller playing most of the instruments himself, "Illumination" is his most casual album. Whether enunciating his way through a thicket of acoustic guitars on "Leafy Mysteries," crooning the jazz-infused ballad "Who Brings Joy" or barking out lyrics with his trademark blue-eyed soul gusto on "Standing Out in the Universe," Mr. Weller sounds relaxed, confident and pleased to be in his own skin.<P>"It's much more enjoyable for me when the recording process is simple," he explained. "What I do is pretty basic, after all. You play a song, and at the end of it you know what you've got. You don't tart it up later."<P>Mr. Weller could never have been accused of "tarting it up" in his early work with the Jam, which included snarling anthems like "In the City" and "This Is the Modern World." In five years, the Jam recorded six albums and 18 singles, each topping the last in ferocity, sophistication and sales. Then, at the peak of its success, Mr. Weller dissolved the group, stating that he needed new musical challenges. His bandmates were stunned, and fans cried betrayal. "Some of them haven't forgiven me to this day," Mr. Weller said.<P>With the keyboardist Mick Talbot, Mr. Weller formed another band, the Style Council. Though still recognizably pop, it was more eclectic than the Jam, dabbling in jazz and lounge music. Its first efforts were well received, but over time, listeners found it increasingly hard to connect with Mr. Weller's preoccupations. The final Style Council album, "Modernism: A New Decade," from 1989, was rejected by its record label, Polydor, and the band slipped into oblivion.<P>Mr. Weller retreated from the music business for the next two years. When he re-emerged, it was as a solo artist. His sound had changed again; in place of the Style Council's slickness was a more organic mix of tough rock, pastoral folk and rootsy soul. Most notably, his voice, once strained and wayward in pitch, had matured into a warm, full-bodied instrument.<P>"When I listen back to the Jam and the Style Council, my singing sounds stilted," Mr. Weller said. "I was trying to attain something, but too much thought was going into it. On the first solo record, I dropped all that. I just opened my mouth and sang." <P>Mr. Weller's first three solo albums â?? "Paul Weller" (1992), "Wild Wood" (1994) and "Stanley Road" (1995) â?? brought him back into favor with critics and consumers (at least British consumers); subsequent releases have continued in the same vein. Some reviewers deride his current style as "Dadrock," music that shouldn't appeal to self-respecting teenagers. <P>All the same, his influence is stronger now than ever, and clearly audible in the songs of Oasis, Blur and other British pop acts. Still, the question lingers: Why has Mr. Weller yet to find fame in America? In the 80's, the answer seemed obvious. With both the Jam and the Style Council, Mr. Weller wrote songs steeped in British slang and British concerns: the class system, the fading of empire, the injustices of the Thatcher regime. But since 1992, his lyrics have become simpler, focusing on love, nature and the vicissitudes of human emotion. In theory, his new music has universal appeal; in reality, he continues to exist under the radar in this country.<P>"I don't know why, other than that it's difficult for any British band to break through in the States," he said. "But I don't lose sleep over it. A lot of the fans I have in America saw the Jam live when they were kids, over 20 years ago, and you can still see how much it mattered to them. Honestly, I'm just happy to be able to come and play for them."
Thanks for posting that GGW. I am really looking forward to this show.
Right, thought I would put my 2 cents in about Mr. Weller. I saw him about 5+ years back in the UK. AMAZING. I think he was touring a bit after his Stanley Road CD. Which is still one of my all time favorites. My mates across the pond often refer to him as the grandfather of Indie. Truely one of the greats. While on stage he was playing his guitar when one of the strings broke. He kept playing and replaced the string while still playing all along. Simply great. I think its worth more than $35 to see him. It will put so much of the Indie scene into perspective.
According to the Paul Weller site, the shows in Denver and Minneapolis have been cancelled. <P>According to the Superdrag site, the Paul Weller/Superdrag show in Detroit has also been cancelled.<P>Poor ticket sales apparently.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial, Veranda">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by ggw:<BR><B>According to the Paul Weller site, the shows in Denver and Minneapolis have been cancelled. <P>According to the Superdrag site, the Paul Weller/Superdrag show in Detroit has also been cancelled.<P>Poor ticket sales apparently.</B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>He better not cancel the DC night! I wonder how many tickets have been sold for 9.30?<P>By rights this concert should sell out in minutes, goddamn stupid Americans.<P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial, Veranda">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by markie:<BR><B> He better not cancel the DC night! I wonder how many tickets have been sold for 9.30?<P>By rights this concert should sell out in minutes, goddamn stupid Americans.<BR></B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Well the Detroit show was moved from the State Theatre to the Majestic and then cancelled by Clear Channel due to "soft ticket sales"<P>Denver was cancelled by House of Blues for the same reason. Not sure about Minneapolis.<P>Hopefully the 9:30 is small enough (and its not run by CC or HOB) that ticket sales won't be an issue. Plus there are probably a lot more British twats in DC than in Denver, Detroit and Minneapolis combined.
I was just looking at the site….<P>It does seem like a reasonable idea just to skip that boring bit in the middle of the country if sales are poor. I see a new date in Philadelphia at the end of the tour intead…….<P>
I don't know if it is still available, but a week or so ago I picked up the Super Deluxe Limited Pressing Collector's Bonus Special Edition of Illumination at Tower for $12.99.<P>It has Special Extra Bonus Unreleased tracks and comes with a DVD also.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial, Veranda">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by ggw:<BR><B>I don't know if it is still available, but a week or so ago I picked up the Super Deluxe Limited Pressing Collector's Bonus Special Edition of Illumination at Tower for $12.99.<P>It has Special Extra Bonus Unreleased tracks and comes with a DVD also.</B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>is it any good?
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial, Veranda">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by jadetree:<BR><B> is it any good?</B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>I think its quite good. I also have Stanley Road and Days of Thunder and would say Illumination is as good or better.