MUSIC 2010: This one’s optimistic, thanks to 2009 By Christopher Schobert Morrissey, with unidentified infant. Photo courtesy of Girlie Action Metric. Photo courtesy of Big Hassle Mark Eitzel (left) and Passion Pit. Mark Eitzel photo by Chris Buck and Passion Pit photo by Elizabeth Weinberg At the risk of breaking a streak of pessimism that dates back to about 1999, let me ever-so-slightly gush: I think 2009 was a great year for music in Western New York, and I think 2010 could be even better. Okay, I don’t mean to wave pom-poms or even make any predictions of exactly what’s to come. (How should I know?) But there are stirrings of good stuff to come, so to quote one of Ray Davies’s most blah-positive lyrics, here’s to what the future brings. So what was so great about 2009? Wacky pairings (Ben Folds and the BPO)! Iconic vegans (Morrissey)! Springsteen-influenced up-and-comers (the Gaslight Anthem)! Springsteen himself, performing debut album Greetings, From Asbury Park, N.J. in full with the E-Street Band! Wilco the band, fresh off of Wilco (The Album)! The arguably biggest rock band in music, Coldplay! Alex Chilton (somehow performing at the Seneca Niagara Casino with the reformed Box Tops)! Jamie Foxx! Metallica! The Decemberists! Li’l Wayne! AC/DC! If only !!! had visited! The above list is a nice mix of big-name acts and smaller tours, and this leads to a very cool trend: While many larger shows passed us by, this is good for smaller tours and local artists. A Monday evening in November at Town Ballroom was a perfect example, as Toronto’s fab Metric, with its glam-adorable lead singer Emily Haines and synth-y sound, performed to an absolutely packed house. The fact that rising U.K. trio Band of Skulls—whose debut, Baby Darling Doll Face Honey was one of the year’s best—opened the show with a stomping set was enough to make one feel that all is well in the Queen City’s live music scene. More signs that the-sky-is-falling mentality should be shelved, for now: House parties Perhaps the coolest trend is concerts in the home. Seriously! I’m not talking some-guy-wins-a-John-Mellencamp-show-from-VH1 scenarios, or some “Hey kids, let’s put on a show!” deal. I’m talking real bookings of real artists, such as American Music Club legend Mark Eitzel at Marty Boratin and Susan Tanner’s house in Eden. Spree’s Ron Ehmke was on the scene on July 24—run with it, Ronald: “Susan Tanner and Marty Boratin are clearly one of WNY music’s power couples—she’s with Righteous Babe, he’s a longtime concert promoter—and their semiregular house concerts provide one of the coolest ways around to experience both touring and local artists up close and personal. The first time I saw Eitzel (frequently tagged one of the best songwriters of his generation) perform, it was on the stage of San Francisco’s equivalent of Shea’s, fronting his band American Music Club and belting out numbers with the ferocity of Springsteen. Cut to last summer, and he’s sitting on the edge of Marty and Susan’s porch, sharing space with flowerpots and rocking chairs, trading quips with his keyboardist, and entrancing an audience of a hundred or so as they sat on the lawn drinking beer and munching on potluck salad. The fact that such an incredibly intimate show took place on the same night as the (ultimately postponed) Billy Joel/Elton John extravaganza at the HSBC Arena only called attention to how lucky we all felt, sitting under the stars, watching the neighbors light fireworks and swooning to Eitzel’s exquisitely crafted songs.” Well remembered. House concerts—the new, hyperintimate club shows?! Fewer free shows = better pay shows? The folks at Buffalo Place shook things up this year, and considering a tough economy, not to mention an abundance of local concerts (free and otherwise), I think they did an admirable job. There was some grumbling over a shorter Thursday at the Square schedule (it ended before August), but the concept of having more concerts at the Erie Canal Harbor, and charging just $10 a ticket, cannot be faulted, especially when these pay shows included the Black Crowes and the Wallflowers—frequent visitors, yes, but bands with solid live sets, for sure. I would make the argument that the condensed TATS line-up was solid—Gomez, the Avett Brothers; sadly, Neko Case and Jason Lytle were canceled due to the Square’s 2009 arch-enemy, Mother Nature. If this scheduling keeps up, I might actually need to attend one. Talk about the Passion The past few years have seen a few groups with WNY connections join the Ani/Goo train to mainstream success, but none has blown up as quickly and effectively as Passion Pit, an electro-hooky treat whose debut album Manners managed to hit 51 on the Billboard charts. Passion Pit actually formed in Cambridge, Massachusetts, but has an important local link, as lead singer Michael Angelakos is a Buffalo native. Spree graphic designer Jennifer Labella remembers Angelakos from his early, birthday-party-house-band days: “He was in a band called Cherry Bing that my little cousin was in. They played at my sixteenth birthday party, with their big hit being Boston’s ‘More Than a Feeling!’ I have a pic somewhere …” (Cherry Bing may have been WNY’s indie-rock Yardbirds; in addition to Angelakos’s Pit, Bing bandmates Shaant Hacikyan and Jeff Czum eventually formed emo-successes Cute Is What We Aim For. Internet buzz is that CIWWAF may have split up, and Hacikyan has gone solo.) Anyway, they may make Weezer look like Rammstein, but these guys are modest and talented; their June Mohawk Place show was said to be mega. Let’s hope more genuinely great electronic-influenced groups emerge from Buffalo in their wake. More reasons to be cheerful: • It was a bummer that no Rockin’ at the Knox took place in 2009. (Oddly, it was announced—on the band Cake’s website—as a tour date for the band. For a few days. But that quickly changed to “Cake at Town Ballroom.”) But the Albright-Knox’s website already specifically mentions Rockin’ 2010, which “promises to be the biggest and best yet!” I hope so, as this has become a wonderful late-summer, early-fall tradition. • Babeville continues to schedule interesting shows—the Andrew Bird and St. Vincent doublebill comes to mind—and is also making fine use of its Ninth Ward space, an intimate, acoustically pleasing locale for smaller concerts. • Mohawk Place has a new owner, local restaurateur Scott Leary, and this Orchard-Park-boy-makes-good seems intent on keeping it strong. • Town Ballroom’s smart and passionate managers, Artie Kwitchoff and Donny Kutzbach, bought the Town building on Main Street with some partners in June. Coupled with the Mohawk news and the seemingly steady situation at the Tralf, downtown Buffalo’s big three venues appear healthy. Yes, it’ll be hard to top a year in which Morrissey tossed his shirt multiple times into the crowd at UB’s Center for the Arts, mentioned that he fell asleep at the Buffalo Historical Society, ripped on Record Theatre, reportedly stopped by Founding Fathers, and performed in front of a giant backdrop of a shirtless, muscled, cigar-chomping dude in a sailor’s hat and the word REFUSAL. But for the first time in a long time, I’m hopeful. Pass me a cigar. Christopher Schobert is heading to Hamilton on January 24 to see Guns ’N Roses. This can’t go well. SUBSCRIBE NOW Back to the Table of Contents Back to Top