Snapshots of Broods // March 2015

A few weeks ago I posted about one of my new music favorites: Broods. In March, we were lucky enough to catch one of their shows in KC for just $9.65 plus fees.

Mikky Ekko ('Stay' with Rhianna) opened for them, and I thought his music was pretty good and catchy. It was super fun when Georgia from Broods came out and sang Stay with him. :) I'm looking forward to checking out more of his music now.

Broods was great, as we had hoped! They don't have a ton of songs yet, so I think they played every single one! :) They had so much energy dancing around, they put on a great show. It was fun to hear them talk as well. They had a whole bit about New Zealanders being spazzy dancers. I always love to hear the artists talk at their shows. Plus, how cute is the NZ accent?!

I'm so glad that we got to go, and I can't wait to see what is next in store for them!

Here is one of their songs that has been stuck in my head lately, maybe because I put it on my Summer Mix? It's catchy and it's romantic. :) 

Been to any fun concerts lately?

If you could go to any concert, which one would you choose?

XO,

Alexandra

Vance Joy @ Afentra's Prom // May 2015

Well, with life slowing down on the career / crazy entrepreneur endeavors front... the first weekend off would be packed full of social plans. It was great, and a little tiring... but so worth it.

On Friday KC and I met a bunch of our friends in Kansas City for Afentra's Prom. 

Prom is a concert thrown by our alternative station every year, because one of the main DJs was not able to attend her high school prom. So every year, she throws her own prom. It's a free show, but you have to make it in the door before it's full, and you have to dress up.

This year Vance Joy was headlining.. and I have been swooning over his dreamy lyrics since July! (am I alone you guys?) And was a bit distressed after I found out he would be world touring with T-Swift for the rest of forever. I love T-Swift as much as the next person, but it will make his shows more difficult to see live for this album. Leave it to the Buzz, to book him right before he is unattainable for years! ;) As soon as it was announced, I knew we had to go!

Turns out several of our friends were also getting really into his music, and/or had recently bought great dresses ... and had no where to wear them.. :)

It was an extremely busy week still, so I grabbed my red dress I wore as Cruella DeVil (thrifted, $6) and my new Target necklace ($20) and dashed out of the house. We got dressed up, drove out to KC, managed to eat in line without spilling on ourselves, and made it inside despite the amazingly long line!

We found a decent spot in the middle and stood through the opening bands (Hembrey, Joywave, The Kooks). I don't have too much to say about them, other than they had good energy. I don't particularly like Joywave, I'm not familiar enough with Hembrey (but they did a great cover!), and The Kooks are a little hit or miss for me. They didn't earn points with me for going way past their time slot.... Then we had to sit. 5 hours of standing on concrete is rough on the feet! (no I didn't wear heels this time!)

We found some seats in the balcony, and waited for Vance Joy to go on. He was great. His songs sounded just the same as they do on the album, and he picked a few of them up in speed as well, which I think engaged the audience a little more, I wouldn't be surprised if many were unfamiliar with some of his album. He also played Emmylou, which is on his EP... which was just recently released on US iTunes. I love it, so that was a great surprise. Thank you 96.5 the Buzz for bringing him to KC.

I got a T-shirt that says Georgia on it, and threw it on over my dress. We walked back to the car, and I was so tired on the way home. It was a long night, but very worth it.

It had all the artists talking about their real proms. Most of them weren't great, and most of my friends didn't have the best proms either.... I went to four, and most of them were pretty fun! :)

So... here's what I'm wondering... how was your prom? 

XO,

Alexandra

Snapshots of Jack White // August 2014

KC is a really big Jack White fan. We go to so many concerts, but Jack White has been pretty elusive... up until this year. The Buzz (our local alternative station) hosted a Jack White show at the Midland in August. We were so excited, and amazingly managed to get tickets before they sold out!

Before this summer I would have called myself a Jack White fan... but with his Lazaretto album release I became a lot more intentional with my listening.. and became a much bigger fan. Which ended up being great timing, since we later got tickets for mid-August. I think a lot of this is because I tend to prefer the Raconteurs style, to the Dead Weather style which has been a little more prominent in the past five or so years.

The venue is an old ornate theater that has been turned into the perfect place to see live music. The inside is gorgeous, full of chandeliers, marble columns and draped curtains.

The tickets were nearly all GA so we were standing, and we were luckily able to find spots at the top of the first railing, which made for an amazing view of the stage!

It was also kind of fun to be in the crowd where everyone is getting really into the music.

We usually get seats and don't have that experience. (though there are good and bad things about that. :) )

The music was incredible. I suppose that's kind of a given. But I don't think it's possible to imagine how incredible it is without actually being there. Every song, even ones I didn't know, were just flawless. His energy and his band's energy was relentless, and every song was made that much better for it. The crowd knew what they were there for, they soaked up every second, I've never seen a more energetic audience.

It's clear that these people love what they are doing. Just the fact that White was frantically calling out song names as they played, and it didn't change the quality a bit was incredible, and that much more thrilling to the audience.

For those of you who have been hearing about any of White's social media exposure might have been hearing about his 'scowl' or 'Sad Jack White Face' (referring to the look of disdain frequently photographed on his resting face, especially at baseball games), you won't find that expression in the room when he plays. He's concentrated, he's passion filled and you can even catch him smile.

Another thing buzzing around social media was his hair cut. He has looked a lot like Johnny Depp for the past 15 years... but he recently got a Elvis Presley meets undercut type of 'do. Many people were criticizing it on social media (even from a picture where you can't fully see it), claiming that he looked just like every other hipster rock group front man. Oh you fools, Jack White is only ever Jack White. He debuted this look at the Kansas City show, and I can tell you that it didn't make a bit of difference to anyone.

Before White's set began it was announced that he wanted to discourage the over use of cell phones during the performance, and would make his professional live photos available for free download and use the next day on his website. I think that's really awesome. I did take a few of my own, just to have them, but it really helped me enjoy the show more! So the pictures you see here are from his official website, and were photographed by David James Swanson.

Set list: ( * denotes personal favorites ) - set list via The Pitch.
Fell in Love With a Girl (The White Stripes)* ( here )
Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground (The White Stripes)* ( here )
High Ball Stepper 
Temporary Ground* ( here ) 
Hotel Yorba (The White Stripes)* ( here ) 
Weep Themselves to Sleep* ( here ) 
Missing Pieces 
Top Yourself (The Raconteurs)
Cannon (The White Stripes)
Ball and Biscuit / How Many More Times / In The Mood (John Lee Hooker)
Blunderbuss 
We're Going to Be Friends (The White Stripes)
Love Interruption 
I'm Slowly Turning Into You (The White Stripes)
____
Icky Thump / Man On The Silver Mountain (The White Stripes)
Lazaretto* ( here )  
Astro (The White Stripes)
Sixteen Saltines 
Three Women* ( here ) 
Steady, As She Goes (The Raconteurs)
Hello Operator (The White Stripes)
Would You Fight for My Love? * ( here ) 
The Hardest Button to Button / That Black Bat Licorice* / Screwdriver (The White Stripes)  
( here )
Seven Nation Army (The White Stripes)

Others I love that were not played: 

Old Enough (The Raconteurs) 
Hands (The Raconteurs) 
Level (The Raconteurs) 
Together (The Raconteurs) 
Carolina Drama (The Raconteurs) 
Jolene (The White Stripes)
Portland Oregon - Duet with Loretta Lynn 
I'm Shakin' (Blunderbuss)
Love is Blindness (The Great Gatsby Soundtrack)
Rolling in on a Burning Tire (The Dead Weather, Eclipse Soundtrack)
Girl, You Have No Faith in Medicine (The White Stripes)

While the entire band is extremely talented, I now have the hugest girl crush on Lily Mae Rische, the vocalist, violinist and mandolin player of the group.

 Extreme talent.

Overall I would say that the show was incredible, definitely in my top four! - and that's including having beer spilled on me during the opening song, all the pot and watching someone pass out! :)

Have you seen Jack White live?

What is your favorite song?

All for Now,

Alexandra