Brad Paisley (w/ Band Perry and Mad Magazine Boy), Mandalay Bay Events Center, 1/28/12
I’ve always felt a great concert shouldn’t have peaks and valleys, only a constant climb towards life-affirming, transcendent, awesome ass shit. I’ve never seen this concept executed more perfectly than Brad Paisley Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.
Brad Paisley is the only person who’s ever made me want to quit playing guitar. He plays at a hopelessly fantastic level. Every minute of last night was a bonafide highlight and it was actually the most high tech show I’ve ever seen. At one point the place went absolutely bonkers when it appeared Carrie Underwood was sashaying onstage for “Remind Me.” It was a 3-D holographic image of Carrie but it got the job done (read: SO HOT). No one could tell it was fake, she even started clapping on cue at the end of Brad’s solo.
If there’s one thing country music is about, it’s reality. It’s not about art or struggle or some deeper metaphor to excavate, country music is about reality. Brad said as much last night and it’s exemplified in his songs - plainspoken, self-deprecating, and simply, beautifully honest. I love that. He introduced his band by way of a star trek/wars -themed animation set in motion by a code red! interruption from William Shatner calling for warp speed. Brad breaks into Nervous Breakdown and the animation takes care of the whole “introducing the band” part. It’s just silly. It’s perfect. Brad signs autographs and gives away acoustic guitars after using them for the intro (This is Country Music). He walks out to a platform in the back and sings Letter to Me and Mud on the Tires for the cheap seats. He opens the show with a silhouette of himself beamed in purple lasers. It’s just silly and it’s perfect. DId I mention he took time out to hand his mic to a guy on the floor so dude could propose to his girlfriend? She said yes and Brad breaks into an epic version of She’s Everything with a 3 minute solo on his strat that would make Eric Johnson cream his pants. It’s just silly and it’s perfect. American Saturday Night was perfect for Vegas on a Saturday night and Welcome to the Future had a pretty incredible videoscape of america-humanity-pacman. I’m still in sensory overload 24 hours later. Incredible show by an incredible musician.
I love Brad Paisley.
Setlist 2/12/11
Jackie Greene live at the El Rey Theatre - Los Angeles, CA
Don’t Let the Devil Take Your Mind
I’m So Gone
Farewell So Long Goodbye
A Moment of Temporary Color
New Speedway Boogie
Shaky Ground
I Heard It Through the Grapevine > Another Brick in the Wall > Shakedown Street
Shaken
So Hard to Find My Way
Tell Me Mama, Tell Me Right
Medicine
Uphill Mountain
Hollywood > Tomorrow Never Knows > Taxman
Mexican Girl
Like a Ball and Chain
***
Sugaree
Sweet Somwhere Bound (solo acoustic)
My Friday night. Thanks for the great photo, iPhone4.
Jonny Lang at the House of Blues - June 19, 2010. Completely and utterly KILLED the entire night.
Radiohead pt. III - Virtuosity
So, it never stopped raining. From the second I took my first shoe-covering puddle step in the gravel lot, my entire body was drenched from top to bottom. Boms and I trudged through the wet passing idiot-crazy teenage girls walking barefoot and stoned-out baby boomers wearing tiedye shirts and khakis rolled up to the knees. Freezing.
We made our way to the pit after a $27 meal of pizza (hers), cheeseburger (his), fries and a soda. Endured the set from Liars - young, immature, new-Radiohead -influenced: hard to imagine what or where they’ll be in a few years, if anywhere at all. And then…
Rows of vertical lights come down like a neon jail cell cut-out and the band takes the stage to the fanfare of single, high-pitched, electronic notes played in sporadic succession. The tone of the first note to the set-opener is unmistakable.
Some specific comments:
Jigsaw - I was marveling at TY’s guitar playing. He reallys holds the song together (no wonder they had to soundcheck it 4x)
15 step - Nothing incites crazy white-people dancing quite like this one.
Nude - 6/8 time signature, orange lights, green video screen, endless rain. You do the math.
Weird Fishes - TY gets up from the piano after Pyramid Song, shakes his hands violently and says “well this next one should warm up the hands a bit, yea?”
Idioteque - First song off Kid A, I retract my previous statement about crazy, white-people dancing.
Videotape - Surprisingly loud. Loved it.
Paranoid Android - First real buckwild reaction from the entire audience. Kept it going with Just, great singalongs. (I hate people who sing along at concerts BTW)
Everything in it’s Right Place - OMG. Power.
Bangers - TY plays a tiny drum set in sync with Selway.
Karma Police - “So, Capitol Hill, huh? Those people have really fu*ked up haven’t they?” Cue the Am.
Believe it or not, I left early. Do I regret it? No. My extremeties were frozen numb and my feet were beginning to grow algae. Walked out to the sound of Fake Plastic Trees which was quite fitting.
Greatest show I’ve ever experienced. Worst concert experience of my life. I hate it here.
