Posts Tagged ‘Live at the Ace Hotel’

PATTI SMITH – ” Live at the Ace Hotel ” 29th January 2015

Posted: February 2, 2015 in MUSIC
Tags: , ,
0

pattiacehotel
Looking out from the stage of the beautiful, impressive Moorish palace that is downtown Los Angeles’ Theater at The Ace Hotel, Patti Smith told a sold-out crowd on Jan. 29th that the beautifully renovated room was built in 1927 with “belief, hope, and rebellious ambition.” She could have just as well been describing her own career.
In the nearly 40 years since the release of her landmark debut album, “Horses”, Patti Smith has been a punky hellion, a declamatory poet, rabble rousing rocker, master elegy deliverer and comic/philosopher. But the slow simmer of Thursday night’s performance showcased the now 68-year-old grandmother’s longest-lived role: fan.
She dedicated songs to Dr. Who’s David Tennant (the extra-terrestrial fantasy “Distant Fingers”), Johnny Depp (“Pissin In The River”), her new grandson Frederick (a lovingly sung cover of John Lennon’s “Beautiful Boy”), and covering Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,. When she brings out former Black Crowe Rich Robinson to perform Bob Dylan’s “Time Passes Slowly,” she sat cross-legged off to the side, smiling broadly and mouthing the words. Her fine four-piece band — including original Patti Smith Group members Lenny Kaye and Jay Dee Daugherty, long-time bassist Tony Shanahan and recent recruit Jack Petruzzelli — showed off their fandom, dedicating their covers of Love’s “My Little Red Book” and “7 & 7 Is” to the late Kim Fowley and Elektra Records founder Jac Holtzman.)

While this performance couldn’t match the headlong, incantatory intensity of that made Smith a jaw-dropping, life-changing performer, it managed to build to a powerful climax. The final third of the nearly two-hour-long show was given over to “Gandhi”  An encore of the single chord vamp of “Banga” was accompanied by a red-haired young woman Smith pulled from the pit, adding guitar. “People Have The Power” and “Gloria,” which ended with Smith standing on a monitor, leaning out into the crowd and leading them in the call-and-response, fist-pumping chorus: “Don’t be afraid, you are a free people.”

In other words: Smith delivered a fierce, life-affirming show, and a reminder that as long as she continues to write, record and perform, the idea of rock and roll as a transformative, communal art lives on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-LCmG2VxTg

Set List:
Dancing Barefoot
Redondo Beach
Pumping (My Heart)
Distant Fingers
Beautiful Boy (John Lennon cover)
Time Passes Slowly (Bob Dylan cover)
Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana cover)
My Little Red Book (written by Bacharach/David, as performed by Love)
7 & 7 Is (Love cover)
Ain’t It Strange
Because The Night
Pissing In The River
Gandhi
Encore:
Banga
People Got The Power
Gloria (In Excelcis Deo)

JAMES VINCENT McMORROW – ” Look Out “

Posted: January 30, 2015 in MUSIC
Tags: , , , ,
0

2014 was an incredible year, I’m so grateful to anyone who came to a show, bought/listened to “Post Tropical”, stopped me on the street to say hello and take a photo, or generally just made my life better.
We had some great people come down to my last show of the year, at the Theater at the Ace Hotel, Los Angeles. They recorded the entire show, it came out great, free to download for everyone who wants it. I’m incredibly proud of this show that we took all over the world for the last 12 months, and I want as many people to hear it as possible.

On a pecan farm half a mile from the Mexican border, ‘Post Tropical’ was born – a collection of sounds and ideas brought to life in rooms where the low frequencies of passing freight trains vibrated in the studio, briefly disturbing the birds in the rafters. And like most new ideas, ‘Post Tropical’ is hard to describe. It requires attention and engagement. It seduces you towards hidden depths.

McMorrow’s acclaimed debut album, ‘Early in the Morning’, reached number 1, went platinum and picked up a Choice Music Prize nomination upon its release in 2010. Along the way, there were shows everywhere from the Royal Festival Hall to Later…with Jools Holland, and a breakout hit in the charity cover of Steve Winwood’s ‘Higher Love’. McMorrow’s first record was the formative sounds of a songwriter who suddenly found people giving a damn. “I’m so proud of that album, but I never longed to be a guy with a guitar. You play these songs live as best you can, and suddenly you’re a Folk musician. But the texture of this record is completely different. This is the kind of stuff I actually listen to.”