Beach Bum at a Bowling Alley

I saw Donavon Frankenreiter tonight at Brooklyn Bowl for the first time since February of 2005. I've been pretty disappointed with his last few albums, but a $10 ticket pressured me to go. I'm glad I went. Beach bum Donavon definitely looked the part with his trademark mustache, stubble, and wild surfer hair. From the neck down, he resembled a sort of professional wrestler: turquoise necklaces, tight pants bedecked with colorful symbols and female bodies, snakeskin boots. The band started off positively funky with the Stevie Wonder-esque "Move by Yourself" right into "The Way It Is." Bringing out the first of what would be many of his debut albums cuts, he mellowed it out a bit with "Bend in the Road." Switching out his upside-down electric for an acoustic, he then totally surprised me by playing "Lovely Day" off the Snakes on a Plane soundtrack. It was all golden from there, aside from a little-too-lazy cover of Tom Petty's "American Girl" and this one guy in the crowd singing the wrong lyrics when given the mic in "It Don't Matter."

Let me interrupt to say that the crowd was not my favorite. Even if you are sporting a fake mustache (available at the merch table for $1), it doesn't give you the right to talk the whole time and show your friend unrelated pictures on your phone. When the concert's at a bowling alley, and you're the most annoying noise, you're too fucking loud.

Donavon came back solo acoustic for an encore of "Call Me Papa," with the band joining in halfway through. The night came to a close with "Free," the Jack Johnson verse supplied by opener Seth Pettersen.

DONAVON FRANKENREITER – 07.18.11 – BROOKLYN BOWL (1 hour, 18 minutes)

SET –

Move by Yourself / The Way It Is / Bend in the Road / Lovely Day / Life, Love, & Laughter / Your Heart / Hold On / What’cha Know About / On My Mind / Glow / Too Much Water / Heading Home / Swing on Down / American Girl / It Don’t Matter / That’s Too Bad (Byron Jam)

ENCORE –

Call Me Papa / Free (feat. Seth Pettersen)

The Tyranny of Distance

Just got back from the Ted Leo & the Pharmacists show at South Street Seaport. The Screaming Females opened, and while there was only one female in the band, she definitely could scream. She also looked like she was 11.

TL/Rx took the stage a little after 7:30 and came sprinting out the gate with "Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone?" After a group of songs ending with one of my favorites, "Bottled in Cork," the band jumped into what would be a complete performance of their album The Tyranny of Distance. They even paused between "Stove by a Whale" and "The Great Communicator" in side A/side B fashion. (Their banter and band introductions in between was referred to as the album skit.) "You Could Die (or This Might End)" finished the set, but the boys came back for an energetic 3-song encore.

TED LEO & THE PHARMACISTS – 07.09.11 – SOUTH STREET SEAPORT (1 hour, 31 minutes)

SET –

Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone? / I’m a Ghost / Me & Mia / Little Dawn / Colleen / Mourning in America / Bottled in Cork / Biomusicology / Parallel or Together? / Under the Hedge / Dial Up / Timorous Me / Stove by a Whale / The Great Communicator / Squeaky Fingers / M¥ Vien iLin / The Gold Finch & the Red Oak Tree / St. John the Divine / You Could Die (or This Might End)

ENCORE –

The High Party / A Bottle of Buckie / Where Was My Brain?