You could have it so much better with Alex and Nick

So much has happened since the infamous Sounds (MySpace) picture I posted Saturday.

mp3: The Sounds - Song With A Mission

Some people (you know who you are) even emailed me and said "PLEASE update your site, I'm so sick of seing that picture every day". So ok, fine, time to move on...

I had a pretty nice weekend. Friday and Sunday were mainly filled by relaxing and catching up on my baseball viewing. This leaves last Saturday... You ever had one of those days where you thought you knew how it was going to turn out, but it turns out soooo different?! I'm sure you have. Here's the recap of that very day.

Saturday started nice and mellow. Slept in, did next to nothing. Posted The Sounds picture from Brody's review. Started thinking about the night's plans: Catch Ladytron (MySpace)/ The Presets (MySpace) @ First Avenue and then head over to watch Hockey Night (MySpace)/ The Plastic Constellations (MySpace) @ Triple Rock.

After a very healthy "crunchy fish-stixs" dinner I headed out and met some friends, including EngineerFred @ First Avenue. Surprisingly crowded, I thought. I arrived about half-way through Presets' set. In case you've never heard of the band, it's two guys. The lead singer on the keyboard / notebook pc and another one the drums. Honestly I was pretty underwhelmed... sounded like mediocre Killers mixed with the Faint.

Finally, it was time for Ladytron. I'm not really a huge Ladytron fan. I like their music, but don't really listen to it enough to be song-name-familiar with the band. Check out their official site, MySpace, and AllMusic for more info. They started out really well... liked it quite a bit. The band sounded and looked very cool. Unfortunately the stage lighting was extremely difficult to deal with (very weak red back lighting) so here's the only real good shot I got:



mp3: Ladytron - Destroy Everything You Touch (Video here)

It all sounded great for the first couple of tunes... however, then things went wrong. I guess a keyboard wasn't working and after numerous attempts by the roadies to fix the problem the band had to quit playing. They entertained the crowd with a couple of jokes for a few minutes; here's one: "A dyslexic guy walks into a bra". Funny enough, after that the band left the stage for about 20 minutes... This is when the real fun began.

Next thing I knew EngineerFred grabbed me really hard by the shirt and told me to explore the balcony for some band-members I may know. Turns out it was Alex and Nick from Franz Ferdinand! Here are a couple of pictures:





...And that concludes the Ladytron review (HowWasTheShow review here). Most of the rest of the show I hung out with Alex and Nick, which was an absolute blast! You may/may not know that they played here last Thursday with Death Cab for Cutie (MySpace) and The Cribs (MySpace) (HowWasTheShow review here). Would you like to know what they did while they were here? I'll tell you...

> They watched Spank Rock (MySpace) in the "little room" (7th Street Entry) after their gig on 4/20/06. AND it was "brilliant!".

mp3: Spank Rock - Put That Pussy On Me (Diplo Tonite Remix)

> They went biking along the Mississippi. See, all the real rock 'n' roll people are into biking! Not just me...

> They went to Nye's Polonaise Room to catch the hottest polka band in the midwest (and of course the piano karaoke).

There's some other stuff we discussed; unfortunately I can't disclose that info...

mp3: Franz Ferdinand - Shopping For Blood

I watched the end of Ladytron and left for Triple Rock Social Club... On a related note, remind me sometime to tell you the time I pretended to be a freelance reporter for The Star Tribune and hung out with Franz Ferdinad and Sons and Daughters for a couple of hours in the FineLine's basement... That's a good one too...

Unfortunately after the big Ladytron / Franz Ferdinad experience it seemed I'd be on my own as most people went home. Never-the-less, I headed over to Triple Rock to check out one of my favorite bands, Hockey Night. Luckily some of my favorite friends (Matt, Paul, Trent, Kent, Mike) were already there! Which, leads us to Hockey Night and The Plastic Constellations:

Hockey Night


The Plastic Constellations


All photos here. Slideshow here.

Let's just say I really like Hockey Night. One of the most dynamic live groups you can watch. You want more proof? Check out who also really likes them:



I didn't really see a whole lot of The Plastic Constellations, but from what I could tell, these Hopkins boys rocked out! Here's some mp3s for you:

mp3: Hockey Night - For Guys Eyes Only
mp3: Hockey Night - This Peaceful Year
mp3: Hockey Night - Cooperation

mp3: The Plastic Constellations - Iron City Jungles
mp3: The Plastic Constellations - Sancho Panza

Here's the Hockey Night's setlist:



... And I think this is where we'll stop as this post is getting way too long...

I'll leave you with the music video by DJ Benny Benassi "Who's Your Daddy?", which was highly recommended to me by DJ Adidas1. It rocks; careful though, it may be NSFW:



And here's the uncensored version, DEFINITELY NSFW.

- Steve

P.S. Sorry for the hastened/poor writing in this post... my home internet has been giving me some serious problems the last few days... and that's putting it nicely.

P.P.S. Amazing... I never thought I could combine The Sounds, Ladytron, Presets, Franz Ferdinand, Spank Rock, Hockey Night, and the Plastic Constellations all into one post....