Following Rabbits Blog — hear it

if you squint you can make out Mike Grubbs at the piano...

A friend of mine who was out at sea on Navy deployment told me about Wakey!Wakey!. Shortly after, I went to see W!W! perform at Maxwell's in Hoboken, and have been listening to their music on repeat ever since. My friend got home safe and sound, and I got us tickets to see them at le Poisson Rouge. I hadn't seen him in 3 years, so we had some catching up to do. We had dinner at Bread, then went down to the Whiskey Tavern where I was pressured into trying a spicy back (ew!). We went to Poisson Rouge, where I was delighted to find a photo booth (then promptly demanded we take photos, since even though we've known each other our whole lives, we had no photos of us together). 

During the show my friend noticed that they woman standing next to us looked a lot like Sadie from Across the Universe. He finally got up the nerve to talk to her, and it was indeed Dana Fuchs. She was very nice, and ended up inviting him to her show in April that's sold out. The show was amazing, as expected, and Mike Grubbs even signed some stuff for us. Fun night!!

A friend recently turned me on to Wakey!Wakey!, so when I saw they were playing at Maxwell's in Hoboken, I was amped. When we got there we had to wait outside since the early show ran later than expected... the doorman really had no idea what was going on. That aside, the rest of the evening kicked ass! 

Jenny Owen Youngs opened the show. I was only vaguely familiar with her, because she and Wakey!Wakey! had covered one of each other's tracks to promote the tour. Jenny covered W!W!'s Dance So Good, and W!W! covered Jenny's Led to the Sea. Jenny's set was fantastic (made even better by the fact that she's hilarious...). Standouts of her performance: Last Person, Clean Break, and Fuck Was I. She's definitely on my list of musicians to watch- I'll be psyched for new music and future shows of hers. 

Wakey!Wakey! brought down the house- major singing along and shouting for them to play fave tunes. Everyone kept shouting "Brooklyn!" which was the song I was waiting for, when finally W!W! frontman Mike Grubbs assured the crowd "you know we're gonna do Brooklyn!" Before going to the show I only had 6 or 7 of their songs, and loved them all. They played my favorites- Twenty Two, 1876- The Brooklyn Theatre Fire, Car Crash and Almost Everything. They even covered Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Was a great night! Both Jenny and W!W! make really  beautiful music- if you haven't heard them, I encourage you to check them out!

There are some really great photos of the show by Colin Rieser here.

I bought my ticket to see Sara Bareilles ages ago and have been counting down the days. I'm a huge Sara B fan, and have fallen in love with her new album, Kaleidoscope Heart. The show was at Webster Hall, and has been sold out for months- I got there 20 minutes before the doors opened and was still a ways from the stage. Sara came out to personally introduce her openers, Holly Conlan and Cary Brothers. They're friends from the LA music scene and were thrilled to be on tour together. Holly opened the show with a few songs, including You Are Goodbye. I discovered Holly on Pandora a couple years ago, and was pumped she was on the tour. Coincidently, You Are Goodbye and Sara's Gravity and Basket Case were all seriously played out on my iPod after a sad breakup this year. Was tough holding it together hearing them all performed live! Check out Holly's new single Stay.

I had never heard Cary Brothers before, and was really impressed (I downloaded three of his albums after the show!). He's got a homegrown sound and a boyishly charming stage presence. When he performed Honestly he announced he had "taken it back" from the girl he wrote it for because she was "bat shit crazy". Sara even joined him on stage for If You Were Here. Check out Belong and Ride.

Holly and Cary were both fabulous, but I was still psyched for Sara. She had such a down to earth personality and rapport with the audience. She performed her biggest hits (Love Song, Many the Miles) and my favorites from her new album. I was amped to hear Hold My Heart, Machine Gun, Let The Rain, and Gonna Get Over You. One of my favorite interview questions to ask people is: "Sort your iTunes library by playcount. What's your most played song?" My most played song is Gravity, so I was so happy she sang it (even though I admittedly got a little teary). She even covered Cee Lo Green's F**k You, which was hilarious. She's got an incredible voice, and was absolutely amazing live. 

Throughout the entire evening everyone was sharing the stage and backing each other up. Sara expressed her excitement at being able to bring her friends on tour. They have a very playful friendship between the three of them; it's evident they're having a blast on tour together.

For the finale, Sara invited everyone back out on stage and she climbed atop her piano. Really amazing show!!

I had a pretty amazing, eventful weekend! After seeing Guster and Jukebox the Ghost on Friday night, and going apple picking Saturday afternoon, I went to see Civil Twilight, Crash Kings and Anberlin at Irving Plaza. This was my 4th time seeing Civil Twilight- I absolutely love them! They put on an incredible show, as always, and hung out with fans afterwards.

I got a photo with the whole band to replace the one I had with just Steven and Rich, and they signed a poster for me that I'll definitely be framing. Crash Kings had a super energetic performance as well, and managed to play a cover of War Pigs without a guitar. Their frontman has a whammy bar on his keyboard- I've never seen anything like it! 

Anberlin was great- another band I was unfamiliar with, but I enjoyed their show. Saturday was a super full day, and I was completely exhausted come Sunday morning. I spent Halloween being pretty lazy (the best way to spend a Sunday, in my opinion) and met up with a friend for a couple beers at Studio Square. Before heading out to meet him, I caught this out my window:

Hope everyone had an equally fabulous Halloween weekend!

I saw Guster and Jukebox the Ghost at Beacon Theatre! It was my first time seeing a show there- it's gorgeous! We got a couple beers and headed up to our front row balcony seats. 

I managed to trip going down the stairs and we determined that if I had fallen, I probably would have gone right over the balcony railing, beer and all. "That would have just ruined the whole weekend." Guess it's a good thing I didn't fall.

I wasn't familiar with Jukebox the Ghost, and I was really impressed! They had a bit of an indie-rock/The Bravery vibe, with catchy riffs and a blazing keyboard. I came home and downloaded their 2 albums- loving 'em!

Check out Schizophrenia, Summer Sun, So Let Us Create, The Popular Thing, Hold It In, Lighting Myself on Fire, and Where Are All the Scientists Now? (no, I couldn't  narrow it down more than that). They closed with Donna Lewis' hit I Love You Always Forever, and got the crowd singing. Can't wait to see them again!

I saw Guster back when I was a student at UMass and they paid our campus a visit to do an acoustic show. I've been a fan of theirs for years, and have several of their albums. And yet I definitely didn't realize that there are so many band members! We counted 7 guys, who were all pretty interchangeable among the instruments they had on stage. Between every song they would rotate around the stage, some would leave and others would join those on stage. Despite the unusual formula (or perhaps because of it), they put on an incredible live show. It was a perfect mix of old favorites and new hits, and we danced and sang along to all of it. I've been listening to their new album, Easy Wonderful, for days on end, but was amped when they played oldies like Barrel of a Gun, The Beginning of the End, Hang On (mashed up with Billy Joel's My Life!), Satellite, Diane, Happier and Demons. Such an amazing show!! They closed with an acoustic rendition of Jesus on the Radio and the whole plays shushed enough to hear them without amps or mics. If you get a chance to catch these guys live, go! Was such a fantastic night.