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Over the last couple of weeks, I was very lucky to get to see three of my favorite bands as they made their way through western Massachusetts.  Of these three, I’d already seen two play in the past, but they’re shows worth seeing.

Let’s start at the Green River Festival in Greenfield, where Cake headlined a weekend of varied musical acts.  You might (might) remember when I saw them play four years ago in Worcester, and I can remember leaving the Palladium that evening vowing to see them again.

It's the Gui-tar Man!

As always, the Sacramento-based quintet delivered a great set.  Many of the old favorites were played, including “Ruby Sees All,” “Comanche,” “Wheels,” “Frank Sinatra,” “Short Skirt/Long Jacket,” and of course, “The Distance.”  They also played a couple of new tracks, which sounded like they follow the great Cake tradition.  John MaCrea was a bit more perturbed than usual, which can’t hurt the proceedings.  He’s happy that the band have their own label now, as he says, “The music industry… it’s all corrupt, all of it.”  He’s excited to release the new, 100% solar powered album, although he’s still unsure as to when it’s due out.  No matter, I’m on the email list.  As before, I have to recommend seeing these guys live if you ever get the chance.

... spare me the suspense.

On Friday, I high-tailed it to Northampton in an effort to see Interpol for the second time.  The first time around was a couple of years ago at the Aggnis Arena at Boston University.  This time, it was the Pearl St. Nightclub.  These guys are fully capable of carrying an arena, but a small room such as Pearl St. is truly the place to see them.

After the opening act from Twin Tigers (which featured a lead singer who looked like a young Rich Hall and a cute girl with goofy glasses on bass), Paul Banks took to the microphone and gave us a cordial “Good evening.”  From there they made the gutsy move of opening with the as-of-yet-unheard “Success,” following the band policy of using the first track from the current album to open the show.  We were all impressed, and enjoyed a killer set that would also include “Summer Well” and “Lights,” which will be on the new album, as well. Turn on the Bright Lights and Antics would get plenty of attention, but strangely enough, only “Mammoth” represented Our Love to Admire.  I had wondered how the band would perform without original bassist Carlos D, and the answer was “Quite well.”  Journeyman Dave Pajo took over for Carlos at those duties, and fit right into the puzzle.  Also, Secret Machines’ Brandon Curtis was on keyboards.  Curtis is a great fit for the band and I hope that they continue to work with him.

My favorite moments of the evening include Dan Kessler standing four feet from me on the edge of the stage, Paul looking right at me during the chorus of “PDA” (I swear to God, he did), the smile on his face at the audience’s ferocious approval, and Sam Fogarino, liter of vodka in hand, thanking us at the end of the night.  Classy gents; Interpol forever.

The test begins... NOW

The next night, it was off to Holyoke for my long-awaited meeting with the Flaming Lips.  I’d been looking forward to seeing the Lips play in concert for YEARS.  Finally, it was time to see Oklahoma City’s favorite sons.

Now, I’m going to have to level with you… this show was spectacular.  Everything people say about Lips shows is true.  It’s over the top.  It’s a ton of fun.  There’s all sorts of freaks there, and it’s a big ol’ party.  But something tells me that I might have enjoyed this show more a few years ago.  Why?  To be completely honest, it’s because Embryonic hadn’t been recorded yet.  Now, don’t get me wrong: last year’s double album was an incredible effort that pushed the Lips in new directions of experimentation… and that’s saying something.  But the difference between Embryonic and the previous decade’s work is the fact that the newest offering is, for the most part, a downer.  What made albums like The Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots appealing was the fact that they were fun and optimistic.  Embryonic is a great album, sure, but only a scarce few of the songs aren’t spooky or depressing.  I mean, no “Race for the Prize?”

This does not hurt the fact that the band absolutely ROCK live.  You could remove all of the massive balloons, video screens, confetti cannons, giant laser-hands, and Wayne Coyne’s space bubble and still have a great time because these guys play loud and heavy all the time. No one is safe when Michael Ivins is cranking his bass and Kliph Scurlock is thrashing on the drums.  Steven Drozd, thankfully clean and sober these days, is loving life more than ever with this band, and Wayne gives us all plenty to be happy about.  In fact, during one of his conversations with us between songs, he got me a little teary eyed talking about loving one another and all that happy hippy shit.  I didn’t bother to stick around after the show to meet him, but my mission to someday give Wayne Coyne a hug is not off.

There are plenty of great memories from this show.  For one, I tried to send a voice mail to my sister when we all sang “Happy Birthday” (seeing as how it was the day before), but her phone rings something like 10 times before her “machine” kicks in, so we were done by the time it was over.  Also, when the set was over, Wayne informed us that a girl in the audience had “a bad reaction to the strobes” and asked us all to be “peaceful” while we waited for the encore.  And of course, seeing Darryl, Dani, Corey, Chris, Pete, Brit,  Tess, and the rest of the Fitchburg crew was well worth it.

So there you have it.  Now that my hearing is coming back, it’s time to look for some more shows to go see.  Hello, Cleveland!