kevins_concerts | Entries tagged with ava mendoza

The Femmes played the newish stage at the Summerfest grounds. It's good it has a roof, since it was raining, but it doesn't have walls, so we had a chilly breeze for a while, and a bit of water drifted through.

Ava Mendoza opened. She opened for the Femmes on last year's tour. Heavy guitar with occasional vocals.

I guess it was a co-headlining tour between the Femmes and Echo, but Echo only played an hour, maybe less. But then the Femmes only played an hour and fifteen minutes, so.

I wasn't expecting to enjoy Echo. I was never really into the 80's British alternative music. In fact, I remembered disliking the band at the time, but I'm probably misremembering that. So they started playing and they weren't bad. Their first few songs had kind of a punk sound. The singer had a raspy voice and he kinda pushed it. Reminded me a bit of early Iggy Pop. So that was kind of odd, since I expected more of a smooth, moody vocal sound. But I really didn't remember them at all, so I was like, whatever. But then the songs turned poppier. I could tell that the music was the kind of music that should have had the kind of voice I expected. I became less enthused. For their encore, they played "Lips Like Sugar," which I definitely recognized. Since 2005, the band has consisted only of founding members, singer Ian McCulloch and guitarist Will Sergeant. They brought another guitarist, a bassist, a keyboardist and a drummer. McCulloch stood in shadow and behind mirrored shades at the front of the stage. He and the band never really seemed to connect with the audience.

Then they cleared the stage and set up the Femmes equipment from scratch. It took over an hour, and the band went on around 10:30.

They opened as a trio, with "I'm Nothing." Gordon Gano on guitar, Brian Ritchie on acoustic bass, and John Sparrow on drums. It was interesting to hear them open with a song that isn't a big hit. They followed that up with "Memory", which opens their 2016 album, We Can Do Anything. I'm a little embarrassed to say I don't have that one, so I don't know that song. Not that it really matters - their songs are so catchy, you can't help but get into them. Then "Life is an Adventure", another song from a late-period album (Rock!!!!!, 1995) that only the hardcore fans have. At some point in the first few songs. Blaise Garza joined them on saxhophones. The fourth and fifth songs were big hits, "Blister in the Sun" and "Kiss Off". Then a couple new songs, "Good For/At Nothing" and "Love Love Love Love Love" from their 2015 EP, Happy New Year.

For "Country Death Song" Gordon played banjo, and Jeff Hamilton came out to play mandolin. Then "I Could Be Anything" followed by "Jesus Walking on the Water." Gordon played fiddle for that one, and Mendoza joined them on guitar. Mendoza, Hamilton, Gano and Ritchie each had a solo, so that was fun. Then the lighters came out for "Good Feeling." Then the electric bass came out for "Old Mother Reagan", "Gimme the Car" and "Freak Magnet". Then Ritchie handed it off and took over the xylophone for "Gone Daddy Gone". Then we experienced "Black Girls" and the noise jam. They had six or eight guys with horns, plus Mendoza on guitar and Garza with a melodica. I forget what Hamilton was doing. Sparrow had a nice drum solo. Then "I Held Her In My Arms" and they ended up with "American Music." After a short break, the encore was "Dance, Motherfucker, Dance" and the perennial closer, "Add It Up."

The set list comprised almost exactly the same songs as last year's tour, but in a different order. Possibly shorter. The review in the newspaper says they only played for 75 minutes. I've always been a little disappointed that they usually play only about an hour and a half.

The sound was... I'm not sure. I could usually hear all the instruments, but I can't say it was mixed well. The saxophone was usually too loud, as was Ritchie's voice during the second half. Garza usually stood behind his contrabass saxophone where I couldn't see him (I discovered this is a contrabass sax, not a subcontrabass as I previously thought). And Mendoza would stand directly behind him, from my line of vision. Sparrow has a lot of energy. He really goes to town on that little kit (snare, tom, two cymbals and a Weber grill). I noticed how the band's sound is very bottom-heavy. Ritchie's bass takes a prominent position in their music. Garza mostly played either his contrabass or baritone sax. Gano's guitar playing is not melodic. More percussive. Or just noise.

( Set list )

I learned the Violent Femmes were playing Chicago, so I decided to take the day off and head to the city. I shot some photos, met a friend and we went to the show.

I had never seen them outside of Milwaukee, and was curious of the difference. I figured they'd have a lot more people with them while playing in the hometown, and I was right. The band was Gano, Ritchie and Sparrow, with Garza and three others. No Hamilton. They had the two roadies in the Horns of Dilemma, playing horns for "Black Girls" and percussion for much of the rest of the show, plus the woman named Jamie playing Trumpet.

My friend Brenda and I were down front in the crowd. A couple of large people moved in on our turf just before the show started, so it became even more packed. In the last third or quarter of the show, a bunch of kids came down and started moshing. It was distracting and a little annoying to have to spend most of your energy trying to keep your feet. And I pushed hard on the body passees, to move them away from us (I'm tall enough to get some leverage on them). Brenda and I got separated, and she was given some sanctuary right at the front. Man, I'm out of shape. Just a little bit of moshing and I was exhausted.

Other than that, the shows were similar. They played two songs that I was excited to hear. "Breakin' Up" was one. I didn't enjoy it as much as on the album. Too rough in concert? After fifteen songs, Ritchie strapped on his electric bass. That's always a good sign. I guessed they'd play "Gimme the Car." But Ritchie said they'd play a song they don't play very often. For a moment I thought that meant "Color Me Once," but he then said it was from their second album. It wouldn't be "Hallowed Ground" because there was no keyboardist on stage, so that meant "Never Tell"! I've heard it in concert many (several?) times, but it's probably my favorite Femmes tune. I danced my ass off (as did a very few people around me).

It was a fun show. As always. It was hot, and I was drenched in sweat. The moshers were only a little annoying. Between moshing and dehydration, I was exhausted by the end. I'm sure glad I bought water before the show!

As for the setlist, in comparison to the Milwaukee show...
They started both shows with "Blister" and "Kiss Off". Here, they added "Confessions" and "You Move Me", before "Good for/at Nothing", "Love Love Love Love Love", "Country Death Song", "I Could Be Anything" and "Prove My Love". Then they added "Breakin' Up" and "Believing in Myself". Then "Jesus Walking", before the added "Good Feeling". "Issues" and "I Held Her in My Arms" were common to both shows, but in Milwaukee, they had played "Old Mother Reagan", "Freak Magnet" and "Gimme the Car" between them. Here, they left out "Color Me Once", but finished up with "Gone Daddy Gone", "Black Girls", "American Music", "Memory" and "Add It Up". They switched the order of "Gone Daddy Gone" and "Black Girls". Other than that, each song that was common to both shows was played in the same order. Ritchie calls the songs from the stage. I wonder how much of the show is decided beforehand. "American Music" was called as a request by a kid in the balcony, though they always play it.

Ava Mendoza opened the show. She's a solo guitarist. She has quite a full sound. She sang a few songs, but I wasn't as thrilled with her voice. She has a low, husky sound, which fits her somewhat dark style of music. She joined the Horns of Dilemma for "Add It Up", and did the guitar solo near the end.

7-13-16