Friday, September 18, 2009
Fall Rocks
Posted by Noah Bonaparte Pais on Fri, Sep 18, 2009 at 10:28 PM
It’s a good time to be a New Orleanian. The bottom-right corner of the National Weather Center radar image is conspicuously spotless. Suddenly, counting all the topnotch, non-po-boy sandwich shops in town requires two hands. (If you consider the banh mi non-po-boy, then it's all your toes, too.) After three long, hot months, the mercury is about to recede, and starting next week, quality touring pop and rock bands are set to come at us in waves.
- Make that Wavves. For evidence of the fall 2009 concert calendar being the strongest the Crescent City has seen since the one wiped out by Hurricane Katrina, look no further than the recent additions of force-of-nature Neko Case (Nov. 21 at Republic) and fuzz-farmer Wavves (Oct. 8 at the Howlin’ Wolf) — either of whom would have been among the more noteworthy visitors during summer, neither of whom can now claim to be the surefire top draw of their particular week. In mid-November, that honor could easily belong to the coquettish Scot-pop darling Camera Obscura (video above), visiting Tipitina’s Nov. 18 with San Francisco’s Papercuts. And the beginning of October is a tossup between two Tip’s bookings featuring three amazing bands: cosmopolitan Frenchies Phoenix (Oct. 1), fiddler and UFO-whistler Andrew Bird, and girlish guitar-shredder St. Vincent (together on Oct. 3). The week continues a ridiculous marathon stretch, starting this Tuesday, in which there is at least one visiting show worth paying to see almost every night for nearly three weeks in a row. (Respites have been thoughtfully scheduled on Sept. 28 and Oct. 6.) Three times during that stretch, there are at least two per night. For the remedial mathletes, that’s a minimum of 20 shows crammed into 19 nights. Mercy.
- A roll call, for kicks: Horrors (Tuesday, One Eyed Jacks), Datarock (Wednesday, Republic), Peelander-Z (Thursday, OEJ), Butthole Surfers (Friday, House of Blues), Pains of Being Pure at Heart/Depreciation Guild/Cymbals Eat Guitars (Sat., Sept. 26, OEJ), Jolie Holland (Sat., Sept. 26, Parish at HOB), Monotonix (Sun., Sept. 27, OEJ), Minus 5 (Tue., Sept. 29, OEJ), Dr. Dog (Wed., Sept. 30, Howlin’ Wolf), Walkmen/Here We Go Magic (Wed., Sept. 30, OEJ), Phoenix/Chairlift (Thu., Oct. 1, Tip’s), Arctic Monkeys (Fri., Oct. 2, HOB), Andrew Bird/St. Vincent (Sat., Oct. 3, Tip’s), Dead Weather (Sat., Oct. 3, HOB), Blitzen Trapper/Wye Oak (Sun., Oct. 4, OEJ), Sounds (Mon., Oct. 5, OEJ), Dan Deacon (Wed., Oct. 7, Big Top), Wavves (Thu., Oct. 8, Wolf), A Place to Bury Strangers (Fri., Oct. 9, OEJ) and Rain Machine (Sat., Oct. 10, OEJ). (Sun., Oct. 11: Catch breath. Rent movie.)
- As usual, House of Blues and One Eyed Jacks are doing the majority of the heavy lifting. But the quality-over-quantity winner is a surprise: Tip’s, an easy call for the most can’t-miss gigs. Along with booking Andrew Bird/St. Vincent (which would have been plenty), Tip’s also lured Phoenix from Paris, Os Mutantes (!) from São Paulo, Brazil, and Camera Obscura from Glasgow. It’s like the United Nations as soundtracked by Amoeba Records. (A full listing of post-ridiculous-marathon-stretch fall calendar picks after the jump.)
- October:
Japandroids (16, OEJ)
Os Mutantes (17, Tip's)
Michelle Shocked (17, Blue Nile)
Junior Boys (21, OEJ)
Black Heart Procession (25, OEJ)
Voodoo (30-Nov. 1, City Park)
R. Kelly (31, Lakefront Arena)
Hot Chip (31, Republic)
- November:
Sage Francis (1, OEJ)
Thomas Function (3, Saturn Bar)
Peaches (4, HOB)
Gregory Alan Isakov (9, Circle Bar)
Elvis Perkins/AA Bondy (11, HOB)
Hidden Cameras/Gentleman Reg (12, Parish)
Wailers (14, HOB)
Camera Obscura/Papercuts (18, Tip's)
Dan Auerbach/Jessica Lea Mayfield (18, HOB)
Neko Case (21, Republic)
White Denim (22, OEJ)
Misfits (27, Wolf)
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