Jason DeBord's Rock Subculture Journal

The Rock Subculture Journal 2012 Year In Review (Jason DeBord’s Top 10 Live Music Concerts; Top 10 Studio Albums & Songs)

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2012 was an amazing year for both new music and live concert events, and although writing this “year in review” proved to be a monumental task, it was fun for me to do it to relive some special moments and appreciate the opportunities I had over the past 12 months to find new music and attend so many awesome live shows.  It’s funny because many concerts and tours are announced with little notice, so at the start of any given year, you don’t really know what to expect, and 2012 definitely held a lot of surprises.  When all was said and done, I ended up going to 58 concerts in 2012, each of which featured anywhere from one to seven artists, so that is a lot of live performances.

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The Black Keys at The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino | Las Vegas, Nevada | 12/30/2012 (Concert Review)

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The Black Keys played the first of two special New Year’s Eve show at The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino last night, and delivered the special mix of garage/blues/indie rock to what appeared to be a sold out crowd in the Las Vegas venue.  Having seen them earlier this year at Sleep Train Arena, which was a phenomenal show, I knew what to expect but was still blown away by the brilliance of this drums and guitar duo, who played through old and new material, including hits from one of 2011’s best albums, El Camino.  On a personal note, as my 58th concert of the year, I can’t imagine a better way to close out an incredible year of live music.  The Black Keys have no other purpose on stage other than to put on a rocking show and get their fans jumping with authentic rock and roll.

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The Killers at Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas in The Chelsea Ballroom | Las Vegas, Nevada | 12/29/2012 (Concert Review)

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“I would kind of skim through and look at the influences that they had, you know… if it was Megadeath, nothing against Megadeath, it just wasn’t gonna be the guy that I was gonna call…”  As per tradition, The Killers front man Brandon Flowers reminisces about the fortuitous twist of fate in his life which lead to his musical partnership with guitarist Dave Keuning in the City Life section of their local Las Vegas Weekly more than a decade ago, though I’m not really sure if it is a tradition for the benefit of the audience or his own grounding in life.  Regardless, the audience in the second and final night of the sold out show at the 4,000 capacity Chelsea Ballroom at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas were treated to an amazing show by the home town band that reimagined an 80s New Wave sound over a decade ago with great success.  Maybe his now traditional on stage retelling of the anecdote is more out of tribute to the happenstance from which this music and their careers were born rather than being insightful, as the crowd was heavy with hardcore, long-time fans of the band, who traveled for this show from all over the U.S., and even overseas to see what was for me, and some I talked with after the show, the best show that the band has put on… a really great night with a perfect mix of old and new material that pushed the show well into the next day on this special New Year’s Eve weekend.

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Journey at Neal S. Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu | Oahi, Hawaii | 12/14/2012 (Concert Review)

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I was fortunate enough to see the second gig on Journey’s 2012 concert tour, which was at Stateline, Nevada in South Lake Tahoe (see prior review).  As mentioned at the time, it was an unforgettable evening, and one of the best concerts of the year for me, and if I had the opportunity, that I’d like to see them again before year end.  I was able to make that dream come true Friday night, this time seeing the second to the last show of 2012, and the second of three special concerts at the Neal S. Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii, on the island of Oahu.  It was a much different show (more on that later), and just as enjoyable as the first, as the legendary band played pop and rock music standards that have stood the test of time for decades.  Definitely a great send off to an amazing year for concerts.

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“Not So Silent Night” by Live 105 (Night 2, #NSSN) at Oracle Arena | Oakland, California | 12/8/2012 (Concert Review)

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As noted yesterday, Not So Silent Night (NSSN) is Live 105’s “Annual Holiday Rock Show”, with 2012 being the first year it spans two consecutive nights.  This second night featured headliner The Killers, along with M83, Passion Pit, Tegan and Sara, GROUPLOVE, and Imagine Dragons.  Again, I was very, very impressed at how extremely well managed this multi-artist event was on both nights.  Oracle Arena again served as host to six amazing acts in about seven hours time, with very brief breaks in-between.  I found the two night show to be such a great event to attend, to have an opportunity to see so many great bands back to back, with a stellar closing set by The Killers.

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“Not So Silent Night” by Live 105 (Night 1, #NSSN) at Oracle Arena | Oakland, California | 12/7/2012 (Concert Review)

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Not So Silent Night (NSSN) is Live 105’s “Annual Holiday Rock Show”, with 2012 being the first year it spans two consecutive nights.  This first night featured headliner Jack White, along with The Shins, Metric, Of Monsters and Men, The Gaslight Anthem, Two Door Cinema Club, and Our Vinyl Vows.  I’ve never been a fan of traditional, outdoor festivals (for a variety of reasons), but this was an extremely well organized multi-artist event that can serve as a model for how to do them right, and comprised an excellent line-up of artists.  The packed Oracle Arena was treated to seven great acts in under seven hours.  It was a really fantastic evening celebrating the work of some really great bands, with Jack White closing things out with a really amazing performance.

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No Doubt at Gibson Amphitheatre (Night 6, #NDnight6) | Universal City, California | 12/04/2012 (Concert Review)

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“You’re singing the words to the new songs…  I can’t express… how happy I am that it touched you and connected to you… thank you for that… it’s the greatest feeling ever.”  Gwen Stefani taking a moment (one of many) to chat with her fans at the sold out show at the 6,200 capacity Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City – the sixth of their “Seven Night Stand” special residency shows running late November through tomorrow.  Having recently released their first new album in 11 years, Push and Shove, the audience of mostly dedicated fans flocked from all over the U.S. and beyond to see this amazing band perform live truly better than ever.  In addition to putting on a phenomenal show, front woman Stefani took many moments to reach out to fans – sometimes literally – and all the members of the Anaheim band (Tony Kanal, Tom Dumont, Adrian Young, Stephen Bradley, and Gabriel McNair) seemed to be having the time of their lives on stage.  Hopefully this will serve as a prelude to a full tour next year, given the reception of these shows and the strength of the new album, which is fantastic.  Truly an epic night that will not be forgotten by those lucky enough to have attended this show or one of the others.

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Juice Newton Acoustic Trio at Yoshi’s San Francisco | San Francisco, California | 11/13/2012 (Concert Review)

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“We’d like for you guys to participate in this, because otherwise it just sits on its ass”.  Music legend Juice Newton’s typically blunt and modest preface to the tremendous 80s country/pop crossover hits “Queen of Hearts” mixed with “Love’s Been a Little Bit Hard on Me”, as performed flawlessly (with audience providing the “clap-clap, clap” beat) at Yoshi’s in San Francisco in probably the most intimate show I’ve been to all year.  The Juice Newton Trio, which was all acoustic strings with Jay Cawley and Danny Dugan both on guitars and providing backing vocals, Juice Newton stressed that this was a different sort of challenge and endeavor for her… a live concert sans the full band, which required the selection from of incredible songs from her catalog to be rearranged for a completely different result.  And that result – simply amazing songs with the most artful delivery by one of the best vocalists in the business – was very moving and definitely sets the bar for soulful live music performances in small, intimate venues.

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Billy Idol at Hult Center for the Performing Arts | Eugene, Oregon | 10/28/2012 (Concert Review)

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“Thank you, Eugene, Oregon, for making my life so fucking great!”  That’s Billy Idol for you.  Billy Idol connects with people, and appreciates his fans.  He connects with people via his music, of course, but in a live performance, he does more than that…  and just as his language is uncensored, so are his connections with people.  As soon as he comes out onto the stage, his eyes dart about the audience, and you see him make these connections.  He seems to have an innate ability to connect with fans, and give them something back that suits them – a grin, a smile, a point with his finger and nod, a wry look, wide open eyes, the famous lip curl…  [Read more…]

Billy Idol at Showbox SoDo | Seattle, Washington | 10/26/2012 (“Play My Birthday Billy Idol dot com” Concert) (Concert Review)

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The world needs Billy Idol.  The world needs cool, and it needs a bit of a rebel yell.  But it also needs dreamers.  And, sometimes, a crazy, impossible, outlandish dream can lead to great things.  And all of this was proven on an epic night in Seattle, as a young man with hope, ambition, persistence, and ingenuity leveraged the Internet in a way that lead to rock music legend and icon Billy Idol playing his 26th birthday party at the Showbox SoDo in Seattle last night.  I’ve seen Billy Idol many, many times over the years, but I can say without a doubt that last night’s special show featured the best audience I’ve ever been a part of at one of his concerts.  And in these challenging times we live in, it felt like everyone left their struggles and frustrations and all other negativity at the door, and embraced the awesome music and amazing live performance of Billy Idol and his band, as the put on a scorching show.  As just the second (by my count) U.S. date this year (with a third in Eugene tomorrow night), I believe it serves as evidence of the significant demand for fans to see Billy Idol play live.  He is one of my all-time favorite artist, has such a fantastic catalog of songs, and is one of the best live acts performing today accompanied by a peerless band and the incomparable Steve Stevens on lead guitar.  Cheers to Michael Henrichsen for having a dream and putting such effort into something that brings joy not just to himself, but everyone who loves Billy Idol who came to take part in it.  Michael certainly knows how to party, and he brought it to Seattle last night, in the form of the legendary Billy Idol.

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