Green Day Uno! Album Review

Green Day has been one of my favorite bands for as long as I can remember. When I found out they were releasing an album trilogy, I got super excited. Unlike a lot of people, I do not care if the band changes their sound, as long as they make music. I am going to support them no matter what they sound like and I really wish more people were like that. The first album in the trilogy is called Uno. 

1. Nuclear Family – This song is a great album opener. This song strongly reminds me of Letterbomb from American Idiot. I love the lyric “Gonna ride the world like a merry-go-round.” It basically speaks to me and says that you just have to ride through life and do your best. I also love the countdown at the end. This song basically foreshadows how the whole album and I love it.

2. Stay The Night – Reminds me of Pop Rocks and Coke and Whatsername. “I wanna break your heart until it makes your stomach turn.” That is so brilliant and I love it. It is a big “screw you” to someone who might have broken your heart. Then it ends with a nice note and says “Stay the night. I don’t wanna say goodbye.”

3. Carpe Diem – This song reminds me of several different songs from Green Day’s past. Walking Contradiction, 21^st Century Breakdown, Jesus Of Suburbia, and Before The Lobotomy. I love the lyric that asks the question “Aren’t we all too young to die?”

4. Let Yourself Go – This song is the most punk rock song I have heard in a long time. I want to yell the lyrics to every close-minded person I have ever met in my life. “Small minds tend to think alike” is the truest statement about where I live and I love that I can relate to this song as much as I do. I also love the scream at the end.

5. Kill The DJ – I love the chorus. It is one of my favorite songs on this album. The tune to it is one of those that gets stuck in my head frequently and I just want to dance to it.

6. Fell For You – The first time I heard this song, I hated it. But the more I listened to it, the more I grew to love it. The lyrics are so sweet. “I had a dream that I kissed your lips and it felt so true. Then I woke up as a nervous wreck and I fell for you. I'll spend the night living in denial making paper planes just for a while. I'll crash into you, crash into you. Did you crash in my imagination too?” If someone sang that one part to me, I would melt.

7. Loss Of Control – When the song says, “We're all crazy, you're all crazy now.
Well we're so crazy, you've all gone insane” it reminds me of Letterbomb from American Idiot.

8. Troublemaker – For some odd reason this song reminds me of Last Of The American Girls from 21^st Century Breakdown. The song is so random and a little A.D.D. “ Wanna be a Troublemaker. Hey! I like your BMW.” That part makes me chuckle every time. I love when he says “I wouldn't say I'm straight 'cause I'm bent out of shape.” That is just a lyric of epic proportions.

9. Angel Blue – This is probably one of the most fun, but sad songs on this album. It sounds like a teenager wrote it because of the content of the lyrics. “You're just a fucking kid and no one ever gives you a break. You want a señorita
and now your heart is gonna break.” It could send a message to send kids away from falling in love because they will just get hurt. At least Billie-Joe has our best interest. ;)

10. Sweet 16 – The first time I heard this song, I almost cried because it is just so sweet (haha pun intended). “You will always be my sweet 16” is so heart warming.

11. Rusty James – This song sounds a lot like Nuclear Family. “And all the losers can't even win for losing.” That lyric is so great. The song sounds like it could be about new bands coming into the scene and how Green Day has been here longer than these new bands. It also reminds me of Letterbomb from American Idiot.

12. Oh Love – This song is probably my least favorite on this album. I heard before the album came out and I thought it was just ok. Luckily, the rest of the songs are not like this one. Even though I do not like this song, I love the Who reference. “Oh Love, won’t you reign on me tonight?” This is definitely influenced by the Who and that is what made this song cool.

Overall, I really like this album and I cannot wait to hear Dos and Tre!

Music Midtown 9/21-22/12

So it was finally time for Music Midtown. I would get to see my beloved Avett Brothers and my favorite Foo Fighter on Friday night and I would get to see the best band ever, Pearl Jam. If this is not a line-up of all line-ups, I do not know what is. I got there right in time for Avett. I can honestly say that they put on one of the best live shows I have ever seen and I have been to a lot of shows. They are just so damn cute. Their music can reach all audiences and there will not be one person standing still when they bust out their awesome banjo riffs and they always have a very big crowd response. They opened with The Fall and went straight into Will You Return. WYR is one of my all time favorite songs and it put a huge smile on my face and everyone around me was dancing along. After that they played:

February Seven

Paul Newman vs. The Demons (My Favorite on The Carpenter)

Laundry Room

Old Joe Clark 

January Wedding

At the Beach (they said "we are gonna go back to an album of ours called "Mignonette." The crowd cheered)

Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise (best crowd sing along of the night)

The Prettiest Thing ("We are going to play a song by a great man named David Childers)

Down with the Shine

Distraction #74

Paranoia in Bb Major

Live and Die

Go to Sleep

Winter in My Heart

Kick Drum Heart (Great crowd participation)

Encore:

Murder in the City

Talk on Indolence

After The Avett Brothers, everyone made their way to the other stage for Foo Fighters. I have listened to them "All My Life" (I'm sorry, I had to do it.) So needless to say, I was really excited about them. Dave Grohl graced the stage and screamed "WASSSSSSUUUUPPPPPP ATLANTA?!?!" and the band went straight into the song White Limo. They were loud and they were great. Then they played

All My Life

Rope

The Pretender

My Hero

Learn to Fly

Arlandria

These Days

Walk

Everybody Wants Some!! (Van Halen)

Cold Day in the Sun

Monkey Wrench

Hey, Johnny Park!

This is a Call

In the Flesh? (Pink Floyd)

Best of You

Times Like These

Dear Rosemary

Breakdown (Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers)

Bad Reputation (Joan Jett came out and played this song with them.) (I had a miniature freak-out)

And then they closed with Everlong. That song got the biggest crowd response of the night and it gave me chill bumps to hear every person singing because it was so beautiful. That ended the first night and it was back to the hotel for my family and me.

The second day of Music Midtown started a little bit later in the day for me. I did not walk over until the end of Neon Trees. I heard them play Animal and that was good enough for me. I walked in the venue right as Florence + The Machine started. I listened to Lungs and Ceremonials several times and thought it was pretty good but girl singers are just not my favorite. The crowd cheered in response. She played

Only If For A Night

What The Water Gave Me

Drumming Song

Cosmic Love

Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)

Spectrum

Heartlines

Lover To Lover

Shake It Out ("This is for all of your hangovers tomorrow!")

No Light, No Light

Dog Days Are Over

Closer to the end of her set, she said, "It was scary to start the show, but you made me feel so welcome!"

The crowd sang along for that last song and it was cool. Florence is a very graceful performer and, whether it is intentional or not, she dances very well. I love her accent too. After Florence was someone called Girl Talk. I had never heard of this person/group so I waited before I walked to the other stage. It was techno so I stayed on the side and waited for Pearl Jam, my favorite band. (After PJ20 last year, I had really high expectations.) I started out in the back and they came on stage and went straight into Why Go.

During this song, Molly (cousin/bff) and I could hear everyone around us singing and PJ was not loud at all. The night before, Foo was so loud I could hardly hear myself think. We looked at each other and decided we have to try our best to get in the front. So we ran as fast as we could and got into the crowd of people. The band went into Save You. We were singing our lungs out (very badly, of course). It seemed like we were the only ones that were even enjoying it. We finally made our way through the sea of people and found several die hards that were singing the not-so-popular songs. During the time of our adventure, they played

Animal

Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town

Corduroy and

Got Some.

Got Some is not really a popular song and we found this group of guys that were singing it with every ounce of energy they had. When it was over, they looked at us and said “You guys are some true fans, aren’t you?” We looked at them and said yes! Then we walked through more people and we finally made it to a spot about two rows from the front that was great. They then played

Amongst The Waves

Wishlist

Better Man

Do The Evolution

Even Flow

Know Your Rights (The Clash) (Eddie gave a short speech on exercising your right to vote. In my opinion, it was very inspiring)

Nothingman (AHHHHHH!!!) (This was definitely the best surprise of the night.) (We were in hopes of the “Man” trilogy, alas they did not play Leatherman.)

Supersonic

Jeremy

Porch

(Encore)

Crazy Mary

Given To Fly (AHHHHHHHHHH!!! One of my top five favorite songs by PJ and I got to hear it!)

The Fixer

Rearviewmirror

(Second Encore)

Unthought Known

Black
Alive
Rockin’ In The Free World (Neil Young) (Right before this song started, someone on the side told Eddie he had two minutes left. He responded and said “Well I guess we have to play this song fast. I wanna get this song in. Fuck It! I’ll pay the fine”) I laughed. This ended the festival and ironically, the closest I have ever been for Pearl Jam, was probably the less fan enthusiastic show I have ever been to. I am sorry, but it is just not possible to condense a PJ show into two hours. They played for the masses, but I am not complaining because I still got to be there. I am also glad that they were selling Pearl Jam merch on Friday night because they had the poster and I did not have to get to the show early the next day to get it. and that is a wrap. See y’all later!

The Fray, Kelly Clarkson, and Carolina Liar Tuscaloosa, AL 9/14/12

When I found out that Kelly Clarkson was coming to Tuscaloosa, I was speechless. Her season of American Idol was one of the few that I actually watched and I remember when she won like it was just last week. The Fray and Carolina Liar were also with her. I did not really like The Fray before this show, and I had seen Carolina Liar before so I was mainly there for Kelly. I got there a little early and I heard Kelly and Carolina Liar do their sound-checks. Kelly sound checked My Life Would Suck Without You. I have no idea what song Carolina Liar checked. Anyway, Carolina Liar was first. I did not know many of their songs but I did know Show Me What I’m Looking For. They also said ROLL TIDE like they were actually from Alabama and that was great. When they were done, I thought The Fray was next but it was actually Kelly, so I was a little caught off guard. But all was well and she braced the stage wearing some black skinny jeans and a wide strapped tank top. She ran out and she sounded out of breath. But once she got moving, she picked up her pace. She played:

My Life Would Suck Without You

Behind These Hazel Eyes (Could not hit the high notes)

I Forgive You

Dark Side (“This is one of those happy-sad songs”)

We Are Young (fun. Cover) (She ran out in the crowd and stood on the left side of the amphitheatre to sing it. Great crowd response)

Already Gone (She ran to the other side of the amphitheatre)

Don’t You Wanna Say (Got back on stage and then got pranked by The Fray. The original song features Jason Aldean and on this tour Isaac from The Fray would come out and sing the song with her. Well this time, when Kelly was running back around, a screen lowered on the stage and she was confused when she walked back around. Little did the crowd, or Kelly know that the night’s show was going to be prank night. So Isaac and the guitar player from his band appeared on the screen and were broadcasting live from backstage. They were in cowboy attire and they had a Kelly Clarkson stand up. It was all she could do to keep from laughing during the song.)

Ain’t No Way (Aretha Franklin Cover) (Kelly lets a fan pick a cover song for her to play every night. She said this song was from a girl named Caroline. A guy from Carolina Liar came out and played the piano. When the song was over she asked what Caroline’s last name was. The person that answered her said “A-Liar”. She said it out loud “Caroline A-Liar” It was then that she had the realization that it was Carolina Liar that requested the song. Then she apologized for being blonde) (Kelly went off for the encore and came back out wearing a black dress)

Breakaway

Since U Been Gone

Because Of You

Mr. Know It All

Miss Independent

Stronger

Then it was time for The Fray. I walked around for a little while before they came on and while I was walking I saw someone that looked like Dallas Taylor from Maylene and The Sons Of Disaster. I did not know if it was him so I did not talk to him. (I was mad when I later found out that it was him.) They played

All At Once

Turn Me On

You Found Me

Syndicate

Never Say Never

Happiness

Be Still

Here We Are

Look After You

How To Save A Life

Over My Head (after this was the encore)

Heartbeat

Surrender (Cheap Trick) (Isaac told the people in the back that they could come to the front and not to care if they get in trouble with the fire marshal or not.)

I Love Rock N Roll (Joan Jett)

At some point during the show, Kelly’s crew started pranking The Fray by hanging a person in front of the disco ball and having them move around. Then at the end ping-pong balls started falling out of the sky and all the bands started playing ping-pong on stage. This is only the second show I have been to where I have actually gotten to see a tour prank and I wish they would happen more often.

The Avett Brothers The Carpenter Album Review

1. The Once And Future Carpenter - This song has one of the best choruses I have ever heard. It is one of my favorites on the album. “And now I spend my days in search of a woman they call purpose and if I ever pass back through her town I'll stay.” That is freaking brilliant. The other lyric that really gets me is “If I live the life I’m given, I won’t be scared to die.” That touches me more than any lyric I have heard in a good while.

2. Live And Die - “Fear like a habit run like a rabbit out and away” is one just one of those lyrics that makes me think. “We bloom like roses lead like Moses out and away.” I do not really have a reason for liking this but I just do. It really speaks to me. Even though this is probably random, but the first time I heard the song, it reminded me of an episode of Big Bang Theory where Sheldon says “You and I, we’re the same!” I had a major AH-HA moment.

3. Winter In My Heart – I know that all lyrics are poetry, but this song could honestly be a poem. It really reminds me of a Dickinson poem. “It must be winter in my heart. There's nothing warm in there at all. I miss the summer and the spring, the floating, yellow leaves of fall.” How beautiful is that? I am serious.

4.  Pretty Girl From Michigan – Why am I not surprised that there is another song about a pretty girl? Ha! The piano in the beginning is beautiful and there is electric guitar!!!

5. I Never Knew You – It reminds me of Walking Contradiction by Green Day. The chorus is so in your face and I love it. “So I guess it's kinda funny how I loved you so way back when. You say I wouldn't know you now, Well I didn't even know you then.”

6. February Seven – It reminds me of The Once And Future Carpenter. The past few times I have seen Avett, they have played this song and I always get excited because I think it is going to be TOAFC.

7. Through My Prayers – This song really reminds me of The Ballad Of Love And Hate and Shame. This song is so sad. “Feels like no one understands And now my only chance to talk to you is through my prayers. I only wanted to tell you 
I care. Every night after and every day since I find myself crying when the memory hits. Sometimes it knocks me down, sometimes I can just put it away” That is so sad.

8. Down With The Shine – I love this song. I am not entirely sure what shine they are talking about but my guess is moonshine. “There’s nothing good cause nothing last and all that comes, it comes here to pass.” That lyric is just… brilliant. I cannot even explain why.

9. A Father’s First Spring – This song is really sweet. Whenever I hear it live, I just feel like crying because it is so sweet.

10. Geraldine – “I come from a place where every name and every face seem so familiar.” If that one lyric does not describe my life and where I am from, I do not know what does. This is a fun dance song.

11. Paul Newman Vs. The Demons – This song reminds me of America by Will Hoge, World Wide Suicide by Pearl Jam, and The Past by Sevendust. This is my favorite song on the album. I love the guitar because it is so different from what Avett normally does.

12. Life – This song strongly reminds me of Death Cab For Cutie, Jack White, and Needtobreathe all in one. This song is not my favorite but it is a great closing song.

This is such a great album and it is very different from their past albums. It is much slower and more elegant than their other albums. The album as a whole is an absolute lyrical genius.