{"id":19990,"date":"2014-01-15T13:44:31","date_gmt":"2014-01-15T21:44:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/?p=19990"},"modified":"2014-09-15T13:46:49","modified_gmt":"2014-09-15T21:46:49","slug":"the-best-concerts-of-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/2014-01\/the-best-concerts-of-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best Concerts of 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Best Concerts of 2013<\/h2>\n

As you’ll read below, it was another banner year for concerts.\u00a0 The one minor weakness, however, was in the local club\/bar scene. \u00a0Club Mercy<\/strong> and others did their best to bring in bands (though Club Mercy<\/strong> is clearly So-Cal focused these days while doing their best to bring shows to SB and Ventura), but it seems that many of the artists (and their booking agents\/labels) are skipping the “smaller market” venues (such as the clubs\/bars in Santa Barbara) in favor of the big cities and festivals. Here’s to hoping this short-sighted trend will quickly reverse itself. While the festivals may provide the artists a good and certain payday (we completely get the thrall thereof), because of shortened sets, off-peak slots and disinterested-crowds, neither bands (particularly nascent bands), nor fans nor newbies arguably benefit from the festivals. The best exposure for new bands remains more complete sets for fans and the curious in small venues at peak hours.\u00a0 Recognizing that the times they have a-changed, we can’t fault the artists or their assistants, but question the long-term success of this strategy. Coachella<\/strong> continues to corrupt the concert scene in and around Southern and Central California because of its blackout edict.\u00a0 May Coachella go the way of the Cabezon dinosaurs. Below were our favorite concerts of 2013, listed in order of preference.<\/p>\n

In contrast to prior years, we’ve decided to limit our list to the best three shows of the year.\u00a0 Check ’em out below.<\/p>\n

1. The National at Hollywood Forever Cemetery\/Greek Theater<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"MattCrowd\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In October we managed to piece together back-to-back concerts by The National<\/strong> at LA’s Greek Theater<\/strong> and the Hollywood Forever Cemetery<\/strong> the next night. As we had anticipated (given prior shows by the band), the latter proved to be the Concert of the Year<\/strong>, with the Greek Theater<\/strong> show a close second. The National<\/strong> are simply the best live band on the planet right now (we reserve judgment on the comparative status of the only other contender–Radiohead<\/strong>–until we catch them again). Singer Matt Berninger<\/strong> (with his omnipresent wine, baritone balladry and bent-yowl), the guitar-chiming Dessner Twins<\/strong>, and the Devendorf<\/strong> rhythm brothers (perfectly augmented by horns\/keys\/vocals\/utility players Ben Lanz<\/strong> and Kyle Resnick<\/strong>) co-mingled with and gathered energy from the crowds both nights, ultimately playing each night as if it might be their last.\u00a0 This felt especially the case on Sunday given the grave(yard) environs and the perfect audience. Rumors continue to swirl that The National<\/strong> might play our hallowed Santa Barbara Bowl<\/strong> in 2014.\u00a0 If this comes to fruition, it will without question be THE Best Concert of 2014<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

2. Atoms For Peace at Santa Barbara Bowl<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"8-atoms-for-peace-acl-2013-by-johnny-firecloud\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Speaking of Radiohead<\/strong>…having caught Atoms for Peace’s Best Concert of 2010<\/strong> at the Santa Barbara Bowl<\/strong>, our expectations for their October 2013 show at the Bowl<\/strong> were incredibly high, particularly in the wake of their scintillating debut album, Amok<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 The band (Thom Yorke, Flea, Nigel Godrich, Joey Warnonker<\/strong> and\u00a0\u00a0Mauro Refosco<\/strong>) again took the Bowl<\/strong> by storm in October with their non-stop kinetic energy and drive.\u00a0 Yorke\u2019s<\/strong> sinuous, ever-captivating vocals and Flea\u2019s<\/strong> percolating basslines, coupled with their kilt-aided dancing, were particular riveting, along with the 1-2 rhythm section of Waronker<\/strong> and Refosco<\/strong> (possibly the best percussion duo we have ever heard live) and the MVP-on-stage, Nigel Godrich<\/strong>.\u00a0 Between the light show and the sounds, it was a sonic phantasmagoria.\u00a0 In the end, though (as great as they were) AFP<\/strong> couldn’t match the intensity and emotional-impact of the The National<\/strong>.\u00a0 As much as we loved Amok<\/strong><\/em>, we hope that next time around AFP<\/strong> will be performing songs that grab hold of us more and better engage our hearts (in addition to our feet and eyes).<\/p>\n

3. Iron & Wine at First Unitarian Church<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Iron&WineChurchShow\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The great Sam Beam<\/strong> brought his Iron & Wine<\/strong><\/a> in all it\u2019s transformed, 13-member<\/strong> glory to Los Angeles to play an intimate show on Sunday at the First Unitarian Church<\/strong> in MacArthur Park and to perform last night on the Jimmy Kimmel Show<\/strong>, all in support of the band\u2019s superb new album, Ghost On Ghost<\/strong>.\u00a0 Suffice it to say that this incarnation of Iron & Wine<\/strong> is the best yet, and they gave one of the most soulful, rocking concerts we\u2019ve seen in recent memory.\u00a0 Iron & Wine<\/strong> has dramatically evolved from Beam\u2019s solo guitar origins<\/strong> into a species of a whole different order.\u00a0 While there are plenty who lament the more intimate side of Beam\u2019s confessional songs, at the Church Show<\/strong> there were hallelujahs all around.\u00a0 The First Unitarian Church<\/strong> was an ideal place to see Iron & Wine<\/strong> in all its manifold glory.\u00a0 Though the sound took some continuous dialing, the intimate venue was perfect for this band.\u00a0 The large band consisted of Beam and four threes (three backup singers, string trio, three strutting, scatting horn players, and a rhythm section consisting of bass, drums and keys).\u00a0 And great joy was had by Beam<\/strong> and the beaming crowd.\u00a0 The singers and horn players danced most of the night when they weren\u2019t getting serious, and Beam paid tribute to his father by explaining how his dad contributed mightily to the Motown-Stax sounds emanating from the stage.\u00a0 It\u2019s obviously no coincidence that most of the songs from the new album also reflect the band\u2019s large look and feel, with its big band sound and bountiful production.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Best Concerts of 2013 As you’ll read below, it was another banner year for concerts.\u00a0 The one minor weakness, however, was in the local club\/bar scene. \u00a0Club Mercy and others did their best to bring in bands (though Club Mercy is clearly So-Cal focused these days while doing their best to bring shows to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19990"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19990\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22274,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19990\/revisions\/22274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}