Aimee Mann Concert Thoughts

The one thing that struck me Tuesday night, as I stood against the edge of the barricade that separated us from the stage, was how Aimee's music was all about the little things. Nuance reigned supreme as keyboards effortlessly changed tones, and the drummer alternated between shaking a handful of bells, playing drums covered with towels (to deaden the sound, I figured. A bit unorthodox.) or ripping nice little fills when the music needed that extra kick. All held down by Aimee's voice and acoustic guitar. Seeing her and her band live really had me appreciate how much craft goes into her compositions. Seeing her live was a surprising treat. I kick myself for missing her up to now.

Squeeze was good, the crowd was into it for the most part, but I made the quick realization that I am not nearly as big a fan of them as I may have thought. Too many songs up front that were foreign to my ears for me to stick it out.

Side note: I was talking to one of the staff, asking if I could bring a drink down on the floor. He replied that it would be fine. The floor is usually saved for minors, but tonight there were only seven of them, so they had opened it up. Seven. Yes, I really am old skool.

Squeeze- Tempted

So I was looking around for some video to put up of Squeeze, in honor of their upcoming show tomorrow night at the Pageant. What should it be? "Pulling Mussels From The Shell"? "Cool for Cats"? OOOOH, there's "Black Coffee In Bed"! Excellent! I'll post... wait a minute... embedding disabled? who would do that? Ahhhh, the user who posted this video, along with others that have the embedding disabled, is none other than our friend, Universal Music Group! Well, that explains it!

Look, I understand that a label may not want me to post an MP3 of some popular Squeeze songs, thus taking away from the all-important revenue stream that pretty much goes directly to them with a pittance going to the actual artists themselves, but denying people the right to EMBED A VIDEO FROM !(*@ 1982??!!

Jeebers, these people have gone bonkers. Here's a video for "Tempted", not uploaded by Universal:


BTW, the lineup for this series of shows is Glenn Tillbrook, Chris Difford, and John Bentley (bass), all originals. They are joined by members of Tillbrook's touring band, the Fluffers: Stephen Large (keyboards) and Simon Hanson (drums).

Upcoming Squeeze Concert- Tuesday night- possible set list?

As previously blogged (look below this post. Go ahead, scroll down. It wasn't that long ago, just a few hours.), Squeeze and Aimee Mann will be playing the Pageant Tuesday night.

Big thanks to my friend Jeff, who uncovered the set list from last Monday night's show in Torrington Connecticut. Here it is, we'll see if they mix it up next week, or if they have a fairly consistent set list night to night:

Squeeze's set list
1. Strong in Reason
2. If I Didn't Love You
3. Revue
4. Up the Junction
5. Take Me, I'm Yours
6. I Think I'm Go Go
7. Separate Beds
8. Black Coffee In Bed
9. Piccadilly
10. Annie Get Your Gun
11. Goodbye Girl
12. Melody Motel
13. Tempted
14. Slaughtered, Gutted & Heartbroken
15. Is That Love
16. Cool for Cats
17. Another Nail for My Heart
18. Hour Glass
Encore
19. Some Fantastic Place
20. Slap and Tickle
21. Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)

And here's the link to the review of that Torrington show.

Aimee Mann "Freeway"

Aimee Mann is coming to the Pageant on Tuesday, opening for Squeeze. Should be a good double bill. I'm not sure what to expect from Aimee live, so I started poking around to see what I could find on her. Her new disc is called "@#%&*! Smilers" and is a solid offering. If you don't like her, or her voice, I don't think it's going to change your opinion of her, but it's all good with me.

Seems she had a contest for her fans to make their own video for the first single, "Freeway". The song is by far my favorite from the new one so far, and the submissions were interesting. Lots of girls with their acoustic guitars, and some that were too far out for me. Here is my favorite:


and the winner, not my personal fave:


Here's the original Aimee version, I'm looking forward to hearing it live on Tuesday:


And Aimee played the song live at Sonic Boom Records in Toronto. One thing's for certain, she doesn't hide behind studio wizardry when she records. Hearing this live is pretty damn close to the disc. Bodes well for the show:


More on Aimee and Squeeze in the coming posts this weekend. Have a good holiday, everyone.