Diamond.Rings and Icona.Pop...(L!VE)

CYPT2.

Two.Year.Anniversary.2012

@the.EchoPlex (Los Angeles, CA)

Tuesday.November.6th

Okay...what the hell was that.  It feels like I am watching a variety show.  The first band reminded me of A.R.E. Weapons, but a fucked up version of them.  This is more  noise guitar, think of Sleigh Bells.  The lead singer came out with this black cloak with the hood up and his face painted like a skeleton ghost.  To top this off, he was wearing Adidas flip flops.   It was a fucked up outfit.  This guy would sometimes put his foot on the monitor's and almost trip over it.  Not just once but several times.  On the last song, he took off his black cloak and reveled his Lakers outfit.  GROOVY?!

The second artist was a little better, but not that great.  She looked very Jersey and had two back-up dancers.  Is this the new JLo?  It was very electro-pop.  NEXT! 

Diamond.Rings was up next (Thank God!).  What a step up from the last time I saw him (only him and a keyboard).  Today, he has a four piece  band and they where great.  Looking at John O'Regan (Diamond Rings), he reminded me of Bowie mets Grace Jones with some glam.  This is what we need right now, style with some substance.  When he took off his white Michael Jackson jacket, boy did he have a smell.  Jesus.   Someone hasn't touched water for about a week or two.  With his new album out, Free Dimensional (It has some good tunes), his set was short.  But for sure, I'll see him again. 

Icona.Pop...BLEW ME AWAY!!!  I thought it was gonna be just two girls dancing and singing to a backup track and that was not the case here.  They actually play instruments.  I couldn't stop watching them.  They reminded me of Simian Mobile Disco, playing with knobs and tweaking sounds.  For sure, I would see them again. 

I was not going to stick around for Andrew W.K. or the special guest, Skrillex.  It was getting late and besides, Diamond Rings and Icona Pop made my night and they...

\m/ - K!CKd A$$

Van.She.(L!VE)...

Van.She.2012

@1643.Cosmo.Street

Dim.Mak.Studios

Wednesday.October.17th

I arrived around 10pm and there was a HUGE line to get in to this iHeartcomix event.  Once inside, I had to go up these stairs that is tagged up (I LOVE IT!).  When I came up to the main room, I noticed that I was at CineSpace. Gotta keep it fresh for the kids.

The first band, Room 8 had some  problems after the 1st song.  The music they performed reminded me of those 80's B-movie bands with that cheesy instrumental sound that had a saxophone in the middle of the music.  Speaking of the devil, the Sax guy decided to play while they fix the problem.  Funny.  The techie guys are scrambling like roaches to fix the situation and once it was  fixed, Room 8 set was cut short.  They wanted to play more, but they sound people said, "NO"!  SUX.

DWNTWN was okay, but once again, they had some problems too. The keyboard was not working.  It feels like I am at TAIX's Champagne room, again.   Since the mic was getting a lot of feed back, the lead singer decided to jump off stage and sing with the crowd.  Sure enough, she got in trouble and was told to go back on stage.  Really?  Thats what rockstars do.

It's already 12:10 and VAN SHE is still not on stage.  FCVK!  I could of gone to see EXITMUSIC after all first.  DAM!  

it's 12:30and Van She didn't disappoint.  It was funny to hear people shout out for "Kelly" (which they played towards the end, but was not the encore song).  Of course, they too had problems.   What is going on here besides the crowd getting sloppy drunk around me.  The guys in front decided to place one of there trucker hats on the synth stand and I was surprised that Matt Van Schie (Lead Singer) didn't reach out and threw it back to them.  He was a good sport, but you can see him looking a them a couple of times.  Funny.  The set was hit after hit and it was GREAT to see them after how long, 7 years.  WOW.  I hope they don't take that long again. 

\m/ =. Rock On!!