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My Inland Invasion Recap

Post past and present concert & album reviews and interviews.

My Inland Invasion Recap

Postby Jason² » Sun Sep 19, 2004 6:33 am

Every now and again I get the urge to write... so excuse the verbosesness...

Wow, what a day!! KROQ manages to pull these once-in-a-lifetime type of festivals off every year. Here's a band-by-band (sort of) recap:

Side Stage:
11:30 -The Walkmen
Got there too late and didn't see them

12:25 -Missing Persons
See above - though I found out the only original member was Dale. Meh.

1:20 -Death Cab For Cutie
Got there as they went on stage. I am not a big fan of these guys but I do enjoy what I've heard. The sound on the side stage was dreadful - why KROQ didn't rent a better PA and sound system is beyond me - so even a great band would still sound crappy. Unfortunately DCFC is just a mellow low-key band and they didn't really connect. They're probably a lot better than this show would have indicated - but the crappy sound combined with the obscene heat didn't do much for them.

2:15 -A Flock of Seagulls
Single biggest disappointment of the day. I was really anticipating seeing them (considing Superfecta is reissuing their second album "Listen" next week - it stands to reason I was looking forward to this). This was one of the first performances of the original line-up of AFOS in nearly 20 years - all four original members. They had one of the best "Bands Reunited" episodes in the first season - Ahmer, the host of the show, was even standing near the soundboard watching - and there seems to be a big buzz on them right now. The original lineup is doing a small US tour right now and are hopfully doing a larger club tour early next year - and I just expected them to kick ass. But...uh... no. I can forgive the crappy sound and the heat, but I can't forgive the fact that they picked the worst possible setlist for this big opportunity. I can understand a band wanting to break out an obscurity or two to please the hardcore fans, but when the band can only play 10 songs and by the time the 8th song rolls around they've only played ONE single ("The More You Live The More You Love") and TWO b-sides ("Quicksand" and "Committed" - ironically - 2 of the bonus tracks on our "Listen" reissue) and 3/4 of the crowd has turned and walked away - you KNOW you've used poor judgement. Apparently they closed with "Space Age Love Song" and "I Ran" (I left after the 8th song because X was on and I knew X would kick ass) - but COME ON!! Why they expected the crowd to stand around waiting for the one song they wanted to hear is beyond me. Not only that - but Mike Score's voice was shot to hell - and they just didn't seem to have it together. I'm still angry over this one!

Main Stage:
2:00 -Muse
Missed them due to watching A Flock Of Seagulls

2:45 -X
Caught them during mid-set. X NEVER fails to impress - and they just gave it their all and kicked serious ass. They've been playing w/the original line-up for a while now and they just keep getting better. Billy Zoom even showed some signs of life and DJ Bonebrake was wearing a yellow "Johnny Ramone" shirt. Was a bit taken aback to see how much weight Exene has put on (a LOT) but that certainly didn't detract from their performance. Since I'm such a huge fan and I've seen them enough I wasn't upset that they didn't play many "hits" (They played "Los Angeles" early on so at least they played something the crowd wanted to hear right up front) - but it was cool to hear "Soul Kitchen", "The World's A Mess It's In My Kiss" and the always-slammin' "Devil Doll" - total highlight!

3:30 -The Killers
Seriously - these guys could have probably come out and played one note for 30 minutes and I'd still have been just as excited. I haven't been THIS excited about a band in a long long time - and they JUST-KICKED-ASS. Easily the band I was most excited to see and they just blew me away. They played nearly the complete "Hot Fuss" album (including "Mr Brightside", "Somebody Told Me" "Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine" and "All The Things That I've Done") and the b-side to "Somebody Told Me". I pogo'd like an 18 year old at his first concert and screamed the lyrics to each song. Absolute euphoria - I can't say enough about this band - just - wow - fucking WOW!

4:15 -Ian Brown of Stone Roses
I have to admit I'm not a big Stone Roses fan (I know four songs) and he just sounded horrible. He opened w/"I Wanna Be Adored" (which I never really liked) and he *DID* play "She Bangs The Drum" (which is one of the greatest songs of all time) but he just sounded like crap. He missed a lot of the notes, he sounded bored and it was obvious this wasn't his crowd. Second worst performance of the day. To add insult to injury he announced that Morrissey was not going to appear - of course - no one believed him - but it turned out to be true.

5:00 -Tears for Fears
They were great - but to be honest - it wasn't a highlight. I really haven't loved anything from them since "The Hurting" and they foolishly tried to play a hybrid of their original version of "Mad World" and Gary Jule's remake and the fact is Gary Jules has a better voice and Curt just couldn't pull it off the way Gary does. If Curt would have stuck to the original arrangement it would have been great - but as it was it just fell flat. I must say, they LOOK fantastic and they were extremely polished - almost a bit TOO polished. More than one person remarked that they just came across as really "easy listening". I remarked to my friend that they're our generation's Air Supply. I *DID* enjoy them and their new stuff sounded really good ("Call Me Mellow" is a GREAT tune) and they had the sense to play "Shout", "Sowing The Seeds Of Love", "Head Over Heels" and "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" but I just couldn't help wanting to hear "Watch Me Bleed", "Pale Shelter", "Change" and "The Hurting". I must say, however, that Roland Orzabel's voice is unbelievably amazing. He seems to have gotten BETTER with age - the quality of his singing was just beyond incredible.

5:55 -Devo
OH MY GOD WOW. Just... WOW! They screened Devo's General Boy De-Evolution video before hand and it was a great lead-in. You could audibly hear everyone gasp when the band took the stage (in the yellow lab coats and red flowerpot hats!) and saw just how fat and middle aged they all look ('cept for Bob Casale) and I think everyone was worried that they were just going to suck. BUT HOLY CRAP were they AMAZING!! They opened with "That's Good" and I can't remember everything they played but they rolled through "Whip It", "Mongoloid", "Blockhead", "Jocko Homo", "Smart Patrol/Mr DNA", "Uncontrollable Urge", "Girl U Want", "Satisfaction" and Mark Mothersbaugh announced that the last song was a special request for a friend of his who had just passed away - and they dedicated "Gates Of Steel" to Johnny Ramone. Midway through the set everyone tore off their yellow suits and revealed the black "devo" shirt they had on below, black shorts and black kneepads. They looked goofy as all hell - but - Devo kicked ass! It looked like it was 4 of the original 5 members (either that or the drummer has aged ridiculously well).

7:00 -Franz Ferdinand
Night falls and Franz Ferdinand emerge from the fog. Along with The Killers this is the other "new" band that I have fallen hopelessly in love with. And much like The Killers they were just amazing. They played two new songs which leave me salivating for the next album, but they played everything I was hoping to hear including "Take Me Out", "Michael", "Darts Of Pleasure" "Jacqueline", "The Dark Of The Matinee" and "This Fire". There were to this year's Inland Invasion what Interpol was to last years. Every song was just slammin' and they had more charisma and personality than you'd expect from such a young band. I seriously didn't think it could get any better after Devo but the quality of their performance just upped the ante another notch. Absolutely my second fave of the day - as I remarked to my friend while they were playing "Music is back". Thank god!!

7:55 -Billy Idol
Now THIS I was unprepared for. I have never been a big Billy Idol fan and I didn't really understand why he was playing so late in the day. However, after seeing what he did last nite - I get it. First and foremost he looks AMAZING. The man has not only aged well but he looks even BETTER. Not only that but he has even more energy than you can imagine. He played all the hits: "Dancin' w/Myself", "White Wedding", "Rebel Yell", "Flesh For Fantasy", "Blue Highway" (a personal fave), "Forgot To Be A Lover" (Rockabilly Idol style) and even encored with "Mony Mony" (and that goofy "hey motherfucker get drunk get fucked" interspersed in the song). I swear to god that BILL FUCKIN' IDOL is the new Elvis. The crowd went NUTS! Steve Stephens is also stuck in 1984 - the big hair, the rocker outfit, the guitar solos, the heavy metal poses... Billy still has his snarl and he's just as politically incorrect as ever "I'm gonna get FUCKED UP tonite" and the leering glares he gave every girl in the front row. Who knew that Billy Idol was the consumate showman. If I had the money I'd open up the Billy Idol theatre at the Hard Rock Hotel in Vegas and make a mint booking him into a 5-nights-a-week-2-shows-on-Saturday residency. He easily had the largest audience and the crowd just couldn't get enough of him. I'm probably no more a fan of his now as I was before, but I was sure as hell entertained... You feelin' allright????

8:55 -Siouxsie
Poor Siouxsie. First Morrissey cancels so she has to take over the headlining reigns and then Billy Idol exhausts everyone so at least 1/2 the crowd was heading for their cars by the time Siouxsie took the stage. It didn't help that she opened w/2 new Creatures songs that very few people knew. That said - she looks GREAT! I mean - she is as beautiful and as stylish as ever. She emerged in this beautiful Japanese kimono that Bjork would be jealous of. And she sounds equally as good. The show opened w/Budgie and a tribal looking drummer banging away together for about 3 minutes - it sounded great, but after Billy Idol it just wasn't what the crowd needed. The show picked up a bit at the 3rd song "Standing There" from The Creatures which, all things considered, is still pretty obscure. BUT - after the Creatures tracks she segued into "Happy House" and HERE is where it started to pick up. BAM "Christine" BAM "Spellbound" BAM "Dear Prudence" BAM "Kiss Them For Me" BAM "Cities In Dust" - all new arrangements but all sounding amazing. I couldn't help but muster up the last remaining amount of energy I had to start bouncing around to "Spellbound". A great way to end the day, but it shouldn't have ended that way. Siouxsie, though amazing, was cheated. We left during the first encore (I don't know if there was a second) - but we left happy, fulfilled and exhausted.

One funny chance-meeting... I was wearing my New Model Army shirt and a woman approached me and asked me where I got it because it was so hard to find NMA merch in the US. She asked if I'd seem them on their last tour and I (sheepishly) mentioned I had put their record out and she gasped and asked "Are you JASON???" to which I said I was. Turned out to be this woman who I had been corresponding with about New Model Army who is a big fan of both Superfecta and The Ideal Copy and had flown out from Detroit just to catch this show. That made me smile :)

Every year I tell myself that nothing can drag my old-ass back to godforesaken Devore to another festival, but every year KROQ pulls it off and I keep coming back for me.

One of the best festivals EVER!
Jason²
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Postby iposse » Sun Sep 19, 2004 7:42 am

You pretty much hit everything on the head. I won't repeat too much, but here are some short comments from myself:

The Walkmen - Solid effort. "The Rat" is one of my fave new songs of the year and sounded just as good live.

Missing Persons - Dale
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Postby WoodlandParkPunk » Mon Sep 20, 2004 12:52 am

Great reviews!! Wish I could've been there.
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Postby Sean » Mon Sep 20, 2004 4:18 am

Perfect review Jason. I agree with you on every single point. I'm going to do my own little review too here of my concert experience.

The Walkmen - Totally missed this band cause my friend forgot his ticket and we had to drive 45 miles back to his ho
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Postby Spaz » Sat Sep 25, 2004 12:32 pm

I really doubt that the Clash will play next year (or any other year) since Joe Strummer died almost 2 years ago. You simply can NOT replace Joe Strummer....

With that said, I think everyone has been a bit hard on A Flock Of Seagulls. I saw them many
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Postby Frau_Blucher » Sat Sep 25, 2004 11:26 pm

God I'm jealous. It really sounded like the very best of Then and Now. Did anybody see the Walkmen portion? They really do kick ass on the album and I'm wondering how they did live.

I can bag on KROQ for a TON of things, but they sure are dedicated ab
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Postby KYYX4ever » Sun Sep 26, 2004 7:21 am

Those reviews are amazing, guys ![:p] I really enjoy reading stuff like that--how our old favorites are still kickin' it, beltin' out the tunes, and having a swell time in the process. ( some of 'em, anyway) I am always curious as to how well they have ag
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