Maybe you had the good fortune to walk by a flyer for the show. Maybe you happened to drive by the show?s venue and saw the band?s name on the marquee. Or just maybe you heard about the show from the kid in your Chem class who heard about it from his ex-girlfriend?s new lesbian life partner.
Either way, you got lucky, because for all of the shows that the Triangle hosts, the vast majority of them skip out of town before the average Dukie even realizes they came in the first place. That?s why we compiled this list of concerts that will grace the heart of North Carolina in the coming months. We hope this guide will help you unearth all the indie secrets you would have otherwise glanced over and catch the mainstream acts actually worth your cashish.
Also?we admit it?this list includes the Bruce Springsteen show in Greensboro?which for all you geography majors out there?is not in the Triangle. But how could you leave off the Boss and go to sleep at night in good conscience?
Bruce Springsteen & The E-Street Band?The Greensboro Coliseum: Nov. 16 at 7:30 p.m. $75
No flames, no fireworks, no giant retractable lemons. And an opening act? Not a chance for the best arena rockers in the land.
Once onstage, in their natural environment, Bruce Springsteen & The E-Street Band eschew the frills, favoring instead the simple approach of playing to the converted and offering redemption to the lonely-hearted.
The biggest gimmick the Boss and his Merrymen pulled on their last tour merely involved turning on the houselights during the roaring climax of ?Born to Run,? a first-class rock anthem that continues to combat the saddened soul of complacency nearly 30 years after its release.
This time around, they have coupled the classics with striking new material begging for the grandeur of the arena??The Rising? and ?Mary?s Place? seem trapped on disc but will find their true home in front of 20,000 people every night. Even slower-tempoed, put-your-head-on-the-table-and-sob tracks like ?Into the Fire? and ?My City of Ruins? will spring with added vibrancy on stage.
Promising one part rock show and one part baptism, Bruce, far closer to Social Security than we care to think, still does live better than anybody else.
Super Furry Animals?Cat?s Cradle: Sept. 27 at 8:30 p.m. $10
Despite the Triangle?s fairly respectable music scene, there is one complaint that freshmen new to the area repeatedly gripe about after taking the time to explore what?s out there. This complaint is, of course, ?I can?t find a club that showcases any good bands that sing the way songs were meant to be sung?in my native tongue of Welsh.?
Well, the problem will most definitely be solved when Super Furry Animals, a musical menagerie like no other, make their way to Cat?s Cradle on Sept. 27. Trippy and experimental, the band?s sound combines elements of pop-rock, psychedelia and electronica into an amalgamation of light-hearted, inventive quirkiness. Translation: They?re weird as hell, but that?ll probably make for an entertaining show. Plus, if you get bored you can pretend like you?re some long-traveled Welsh roadie and all the unrecognizable words are making perfect sense?it?s a good way to meet girls.
And fear not, monolingual music lovers, Super Furry Animals are also fans of the English language and deliver the goods that way, too (almost exclusively, so leave the pocket translator at home). Embarking on their second U.S. tour of the year and still basking in the glow of Rings Around the World, their well-received fifth studio effort, the Super Furry show promises to be one to remember.
Spoon?Cat?s Cradle: Sept. 25 at 8:30 p.m. $7
In his review of 2001?s Girls Can Tell, esteemed former Recess Editor Jonas Blank dismissed Spoon as ?indie rock for the Banana Republic set.? It?s an understandable slight?while Spoon never copped straight from any of their standard canon influences (Wire, the Pixies, Pavement), they also never tried too hard to stand in front of the pack. The quintessential underdog: dumped by their label, ignored by the press and cherished all the more by the few who saw some utterly top-notch songwriting behind their nondescript indie rock.
No more: This isn?t indie; indie don?t dance. The songs retain the same Elvis Costello-style punky pop formula as before, only now, they sound at first like the mixing is just half-finished. But wrapped tight within deceptively simple rhythms are prairie-doggin? hooks worthy of Revolver. ?Stay Don?t Go? is nothing but human beatbox, loose guitar rhythm, and uncanny falsetto, knees bent begging for a dance floor. ?Jonathan Fisk? introduces Bruce Springsteen meets Gang of Four, and Daniels hails ?atom bombs and blunt razors? as the band kicks lean and mean. George Foreman would endorse Spoon. Strip any other band down to a Speedo and there?s flab and gross hair everywhere?Spoon surprises with sinewy ripples and a tan to boot.
Who knows what they?ll wear to the show, but whether its sleek pop minimalism or trusty old chops, it?s the hottest indie ticket of the fall.
Sleater-Kinney?Cat?s Cradle: Oct. 22 at 8:00 p.m. $12
The girls of Sleater-Kinney fared pretty well in last week?s edition of Recess. Their new album One Beat garnered rave reviews from Senior Editor Greg Bloom, who has been dancing around the office in his skivvies ever since. Now it?s your turn to study S-K?s moves (not to mention some badass music), as the reigning queens of rock set up shop at Cat?s Cradle in Chapel Hill on Oct.22. If you?ve never heard Corin Tucker belt it out, you?re in for a swift boot to the backside?and we know you like that. It?s everything you need in a concert: a fiery and energetic band coming dangerously close to tearing the roof off one of the most intimate music venues in the Triangle with their driving balls-out stylings. Longtime fans have been anxiously awaiting this one, but even if you aren?t up to speed, there?s still plenty of time to buy a copy of the new album and bandwagon with the best of them. (Poser.)
With the growing success of One Beat fueling their feminine fires, S-K isn?t likely to disappoint. Also, V for Vendetta, a math-rock duo from Providence opens, along with The Quails, an indie-rock trio from San Francisco, so grab some tickets because this triple-bill is likely to sell out quickly.
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