music

Aurora @ The Riviera feat SubUrban (2022.05.27)

It seems like my brief run (of 2) concerts where I was standing up front couldn’t last forever. I was close, but I was not right up front for the Aurora show. Not a massive deal, except I ended up behind this dude with poofy hair, so I couldn’t see half the stage half the time.

But I’m not really here to complain. I’m here to record things that I want to remember.

This would have been my 4th (proper) concert, but I opted to not go see Dodie back in February, due to COVID going nuts at the time. So far, there has been kind of an interesting progression. Each time I’ve gotten to the venue an hour or so before doors opened. For Sigrid and CHVRCHES in St Louis, I was maybe 15-20 people back from the front of the line. For Aurora I was around the block and behind the venue in a very long line. I’m not real sure Aurora is particularly more popular, especially than CHVRCHES, but more likely Chicago is just a different environment than St Louis.

It certain was different for parking too. Both venues in St Louis had parking lots available. For Chicago, I used an app called Spot Hero and had to walk a mile and a half or so to the venue. Plus, I got to park in the jankiest back alley spot under an El Train bridge. Fun times.

Anyway, the doors eventually open, everyone slowly files in, I end up maybe, 4 people back right up against the right side. I probably could have gone closer to the center but I kind of preferred the idea of having the side rail available because, less people around.

The opening act was Sub Urban. I don’t really know much about Sub Urban beyond, he did a single with Aurora called Paramour. Unlike the opening acts at the last two shows, I don’t see myself rushing out to listen to more Sub Urban. His music was interesting, and it wasn’t bad, but it just… wasn’t really my thing. I think the best way to describe it is sort of Emo Rock Rap, while Sub urban does this weird sort of spastic jerky dance. Like I said, it wasn’t bad, I just wasn’t personally super into it.

I was a bit disappointed that they did not perform Paramour live, or even at all. It was kind of the perfect opportunity. I figure the issue there amounts to a few factors. Either you get Aurora out early, which spoils things a bit. Or you have to drag out Paramour’s band gear out again, which isn’t feasible at all, because it’s a Paramour song.

Anyway, as usual, there was a short intermission while the stage is reset, and then the main show of Aurora starts.

The main thing I feel like mentioning, I enjoyed the show a lot more than expected. And I want to say this because I had doubts about the set list before the show. I enjoy the the newest album that the tour is promoting, The Gods We Can Touch, but it’s not my favorite. I was worried that would slightly sour my overall enjoyment, but it did not. I think part of it is that the songs are frankly, better live.

I also was a bit worried about the sound because recently Silja Sol, who has been doing backup vocals for Aurora for a long time, left the band for her own solo work. I was a bit worried that this may hurt the sound, because Silja and Aurora harmonize so well together.

This is a common thing I have found in general, across acts. Even for songs I really enjoy, the music is better live.

Anyway, the setlist.

  • The Forbidden Fruits of Eden (Recorded Intro) (TGWCT)
  • Heathens (TGWCT)
  • Runaway (All My Demons…)
  • Everything Matters (TGWCT)
  • Blood in the Wine (TGWCT)
  • Warrior (All My Demons…)
  • The Woman I Am (TGWCT)
  • A Temporary High (TGWCT)
  • A Dangerous Thing (TGWCT)
  • Infections of a Different Kind (Step 1)
  • The River (Step 2)
  • Cure for Me (TGWCT)
  • Queendom (Step 1)
  • The Seed (Step 2)
  • Running With the Wolves (All My Demons…)

Encore:

  • Giving In to the Love (TGWCT)
  • A Little Place Called the Moon (Recorded Outro) (TGWCT)

It’s a little thing, but I am really glad Exist for Love wasn’t on the list, because I kind of actively dislike that track in particular. Total tracks were 3 from All My Demons Greeted Me as a Friend, 2 each from Infections of a Different Kind and A Different Kind of Human and 8+2 from The Gods We Can Touch. Not a bad set list. I had been really hoping that somehow Gentle Earthquakes would make it to the set list as it’s my favorite track but it did not.

My personal highlights on this list are Heathens,, Warrior, The Woman I Am, Infections of a Different Kind, Cure For Me, Running With the Wolves, and Giving In to the Love. OK yeah, that’s like half the tracks, and I honestly love them all. I don’t think I’ve mentioned it yet, but Aurora is my top artist of all time, according to Last FM. And as my listening habits tend to be album based over singles, I’ve listened to all of her songs, a lot. I am not sure I could actually pick a favorite from the list, but it probably would be The Woman I Am or Infections of a Different Kind. The latter being particularly notable because it’s a song I don’t listen to a lot because it’s slower, I’m not always in the mood for the slower tracks, and it’s the last song on it’s album, so I don’t always get to it before I stop listening.

Anyway, I am super glad I got to have this experience. I’ve actually seen my top three most listened to (at least per Last-FM) Artists Live now, which is fun.

I’ve added a few photos to this post but a full gallery can be found here.

My Music Listening Habits for 2021

It’s time again for my new favorite annual tradition here (until it isn’t), my music listening habits for the year. Not a lot of new this year, I’ll admit that. Though I sometimes wonder if part of that is that some artists and albums get sort of lost int he sauce of over listening to some of my favorite artists. Anyway onto the break down, I’ll split up artists and albums even though they kind of parallel each other.

Artists

The biggest movers this year were Aurora and CHVRCHES in the number two and number one spot. CHVRCHES has a new album released this year and Aurora in general is just really great. We also have Dodie at number 4, which I predicted last year would be a riser in the charts. Also at number 6 is Orla Garland, who in addition to being Dodie’s Guitarist, also released a pretty good album this year (Woman on the Internet).

Another one, though probably more well known than most of the rest of my top ten, is Dua Lipa. For some reason I keep having to remind myself just how good her album Future Nostalgia is, because every track on that one is excellent and I enjoy listening to it every single time.

Also a few regulars that have been floating around these lists, BT, Daft Punk, Lady Gaga, Avril Lavigne, Alanis Morrisette, The Who. I’ve also been listening to Nirvana a lot lately for some reason. Slightly surprising is that Rafaella is still up there at number 19. She opened for Sigrid when I went in 2019.

Albums

My most listened to Albums for the year are pretty in sync with the artists list. The top ten are dominated by CHVRCHES and Aurora, with the rest of the list covering others in the higher end of the list of artists. I honestly didn’t listen to enough different albums to make a proper list of new albums, but Screen Violence, Woman on the Internet, Build a problem, Red, Taylor’s Version, are all albums I would recommend.

Changes in Habits

So, I wanted to throw in real quick some changes in my music habits. One, I wanted to go to more shows after seeing Sigrid live, and this was re-enforced after seeing CHVRCHES. I keep mentioning this and so I should probably STOP mentioning this. I do already have two shows lined up for 2022, Dodie and Aurora, which isn’t a lot, but it’s something. Here is hoping the world doesn’t collapse on itself again now that we’re sort of able to do this sort of thing again.

I’ve also been shifting to FLAC over MP3. I re-ripped a few of my more favored CDs to Lossless format. I’ve also started buying FLAC instead of MP3s when I can. Part of this also means I’ve been getting less from Amazon, where I previously bought a lot of my music. It’s also part of why the “new” factor took a nose dive this year. I don’t use any music streaming services, I prefer to actually buy and own my music. Amazon did include some streaming I occasionally used with Prime, but the app has become disgustingly aggressive about pushing their paid streaming service so I removed it. Basically I’m sick of it and I’m “voting with my wallet”.

Precictions

I also want to make some predictions a bit for 2022. CHVRCHES will still linger but will likely start to fall off. The new album hype is over, going to see them live hype is over, I still have them in rotation but I can tell I’ve been listening less lately.

I predict Sigrid will start to make a come back. She is still my number one artist scrobbled of all time, but she has had almost zero movement this year. She put out a couple of tracks but I prefer to wait for albums these days, though Burning Bridges and Mirror are both good. I predict the come back because of the new album. HOWEVER, I predict she will lose the top all time spot to Aurora. Aurora also has a new album coming out next year, right at the start, and (unless the world fall apart again), I’m going to see Aurora live in May. Aurora is also very close to over taking Sigrid already.

I also predict BT will start to rise fairly quickly. I’ve bee doing some catch up on some of his newer albums and I still really enjoy his music. I also feel like Dua Lipa is going to start rising in the list and Tessa Violet is going to fall. Tessa Violet hasn’t really put putting out anything that interesting lately, mostly remixed versions of tracks already released. It’s not bad, it’s just not keeping my interest.

Finally, two to keep an eye on will be Sofi Tukker and King Princess. Both have been sort of bubbling along in the background for a while and I feel like both are going to start getting more play in my rotations and album listening.

CHVRCHES @ The Pageant feat Donna Missal (12/06/2021)

Back in 2019 after going to see Sigrid live, I decided I really wanted to go to more concerts. I even started planning to maybe try to go to Lollapalooza at some point. Then well, the world fell apart, and there were no concerts really for a while. Things are still kind of falling apart but they are better for people making an effort to make them better (though that’s a subject for another post). I did manage to make it to another concert. I even have one, maybe more lined up for 2022 already. This time it was CHVRCHES. It’s just pronounced “Sheevurches” so don’t over think it. No wait, it’s just “Churches”.

Funny enough, Last.fm suggests I started really listening to CHVRCHES a bit after going to see Sigrid, though I also started really trying harder with tracking music on Last.fm around that time as well. I am pretty really sure I have listened to at least some of their music before 2019. I’ve been listening to them pretty heavily for the past few years, spoilers for my end of year music wrap up, but they were my number one most listened to artist this year. Though they are still number 4 over all.

CHVRCHES at The Pageant

This show was once again in St. Louis, this time at The Pageant, a nice music hall a little north of Forrest Park off of Delmar Blvd. The supporting act was Donna Missal, whom I had not heard before. Before the show I had a pretty tasty chicken sandwich down the block at Chicken Out. I forsake my “Ramen Junkie” moniker this round a bit because the chicken seemed faster and I just wasn’t in the mood for noodles, despite that there is a Ramen Noodle restaurant just next door to the Pageant. Maybe next time.

I got tot he venue around an hour and a half early, I really wanted to get down up front like I had with Sigrid, though the light show of CHVRCHES is probably pretty good even from a distance. I managed to end up on the bar next to the stage again, down on the right side.

The show itself was really great. I enjoyed Donna Missal quite a bit and was kind of disappointed that I could not find her merch stand, despite her mentioning it, I had kind of wanted to pick up a CD if they had any. I did go ahead and get a digital copy of her newer album later. She had some pretty amusing moments with her guitarist, who, in her words, is her “crush” though “sadly, she is married… to a man…” Her setlist was 10 songs line, 9 original and one cover.

  • How Does It Feel
  • Jupiter
  • Skin
  • Butterfly
  • Insecure
  • Sex is Good
  • (To Me) Your Face is Love
  • Fake Plastic Trees (Radiohead Cover)
  • Best Friend
  • Let You Let Me
  • Donna Missal
  • Donna Missal

After a brief break was the main event with CHVRCHES. What a great show. Tons of amazing lighting effects, a solid performance, despite Lauren apparently having a cold. Not quite as much back and forth banter between the three as I would have liked and have seen in some of the other concert videos, but still a bit of fun bits in between tracks. I almost wonder if some of those break moments where they would chat were sacrificed for Lauren’s many costume changes. She came out in one outfit, and shed the jacket she was wearing after the first track, changed later into a second outfit, then later into a third, which was modified for the encore songs. So essentially 5 different “outfits”, though she doesn’t leave the stage to shed her jacket.

The show was also really good from an acoustics perspective. The audio engineers definitely deserve some credit for good mixing and balancing on things. It wasn’t overpoweringly loud like the Sigrid show had been. Though I did have a set of concert ear plugs this time, something I’d recommend honestly. Proper concert ear plugs are designed to slightly dampen the sound without making if muffled or too quiet. I really did not notice anything missing.

Anyway, CHVRCHES setlist was 17 tracks long, with the majority of the tracks being off of Screen Violence, which isn’t surprising. I also managed to get much better photos and video than when I saw Sigrid.

  • He Said She Said
  • Forever
  • Leave a Trace
  • California
  • How Not to Drown
  • Violent Delights
  • Science/Visions
  • Good Girls
  • Bury It
  • Miracle
  • Night Sky
  • Final Girl
  • Recover
  • Never Say Die
  • Asking For a Friend (Encore)
  • The Mother We Share (Encore)
  • Clearest Blue (Encore)

I particularly enjoyed Violent Delights, which is relentlessly aggressive live, the chaotic build of Science/Visions, Night Sky which is always great, and the massive build up of Never Say Die. Then of course Clearest Blue was a perfect closer track. However all of the tracks were excellent.

The encore itself was particularly special. In keeping with the “Horror” surface level theme of Screen Violence, Lauren comes back on stage covered in fake blood for the final three songs, still wearing her “Final Girl” T-shirt from the last costume change.

  • CHVRCHES at The Pageant
  • CHVRCHES at The Pageant
  • CHVRCHES at The Pageant
  • CHVRCHES at The Pageant
  • CHVRCHES at The Pageant
  • CHVRCHES at The Pageant
  • CHVRCHES at The Pageant
  • CHVRCHES at The Pageant
  • CHVRCHES at The Pageant