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| The RockNRoll Hi-Fives at APYC |
Home and Away
This past weekend was a big one in terms of New Jersey shows. I'm only one person, so I always have to make choices. Ever since Rose Lamela started contributing here, though, I've had the opportunity to squeeze in coverage of a few things I would otherwise miss. On Thursday night, we were both in Jersey City. Rosi hit Monty Hall for Vacation, Daddies, and Resounding No; while I made it over to FM for the first of two homecoming shows for The RockNRoll Hi-Fives. That one also featured a solo performance from Lost Boy ?'s Davey Jones as well as NO ICE.
CoolDad Music hosted the second Hi-Fives show at Asbury Park Yacht Club on Saturday. We got help that night from a huge post-Gaslight Anthem crowd and the always amazing Vansaders.
But first, Thursday...
Here's Rosi.
Thursday Trio
Thursdays have been my Fridays for most of the summer as I get some nice perks at my day job. Last week was the end of that, and the feeling that summer is coming to an end was getting me down. There is nothing like a three-band line up at Monty Hall to cheer you up after a case of the end of the summer blues.
What could possibly cheer me up? Getting to see Daddies, Resounding No, and Vacation was all I needed to feel like I can take on the rest of the year.
Daddies gave us a little bit of their garage punk antics and even featured back up singers for a few tunes.
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| Daddies by Rose Lamela |
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| Daddies by Rose Lamela |
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| Daddies by Rose Lamela |
Resounding No brought me back to a more pensive place with their crunchy grunge sound.
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| Resounding No by Rose Lamela |
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| Resounding No by Rose Lamela |
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| Resounding No by Rose Lamela |
Vacation was the final push for me to get back to where I wanted to be. They absolutely rocked Monty Hall. There were times I was scared I might get hit in the head with a plastic Fireball bottle, but it wouldn't have taken me out of the refreshed mood I inhabited as I shared my last summer week with a gang of rock misfits. It's the little notes and beats in life that get us moving on to what is ahead even if it's the possibility of a cold dreary winter.
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| Vacation by Rose Lamela |
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| Vacation by Rose Lamela |
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| Vacation by Rose Lamela |
I absolutely feel what Rosi is saying there. For me, personally, there really are very few downer type emotions that a live show can't cure for at least a few hours. That's what it was like at FM in Jersey City on Thursday night.
Davey Jones of Lost Boy ? performed new songs from his upcoming Paranoid Fiction. He sang to tracks that he'd recorded, produced, and played every instrument on and did not lose a single step as a frontperson without a band.
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| Lost Boy ? |
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| Lost Boy ? |
It had been about two months since I'd seen The RockNRoll Hi-Fives as they'd been on a nationwide tourcation. Among friends, they played loose and relaxed, filling in the spaces between songs with stories from tour. I can't tell you how good it felt to see and rock with them again.
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| The RockNRoll Hi-Fives |
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| The RockNRoll Hi-Fives |
NO ICE closed out the evening. They are one of the most fun bands out of Brooklyn right now. They can write a damn rock song, and the people who stuck around late all sang along.
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| NO ICE |
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| NO ICE |
That whole show was love, friendship, and smiles all around -- a real escape from whatever could have been eating at you for the rest of the week.
I spent Friday with friends and family as we geared up for the show at Asbury Park Yacht Club on Saturday night.
With a sold-out Summer Stage show and Ted Leo and The Pharmacists over at The New Legendary Asbury Lanes, Asbury was hopping. We'd had a few storms, so the temperature was coming down to a comfortable level; but, once I finally found parking and made my way inside APYC, I realized that the heat and humidity from earlier in the day would be hovering in the bar for the entire night. This turned out to be the hottest show I've ever attended (with, maybe, the exception of Lost Boy ?'s Goose Wazoo release show at Shea a couple years back).
The RockNRoll Hi-Fives took the stage just as the place was starting to pack out following The Gaslight Anthem. They brought it, even in the face of crushing heat. Confetti flew everywhere; and I was right in the line of fire. My sweat dissolved the colored tissue paper into pink, purple, and blue tattoos on my skin.
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| The RockNRoll Hi-Fives |
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| The RockNRoll Hi-Fives |
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| The RockNRoll Hi-Fives |
I'd been trying to book the Hi-Fives on a bill with The Vansaders for a while, and the fact that it finally came together for Saturday's show was probably the best possible outcome. The Vansaders are a Damn. Good. Band. Great songs. Full of emotion. They deserve to be big.
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| The Vansaders |
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| The Vansaders |
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| The Vansaders |
When the music ended, the crowd was sopping wet. I had purple rectangles on my face, pink squares on my arms. We filed out onto the boards and took in the cool, beach air. Again, the music and community made us all forget the heat and any other negative energy for a little while.
This wasn't only a homecoming show for The RockNRoll Hi-Fives. It was also a going away party of sorts. The band have relocated their base of operations to North Carolina, and Saturday's was their last show as residents of New Jersey. It was a pretty emotional night in that way. If you've been a reader here for the last little while, then you know that the Centenos are family to us here, and we'll miss having them close by. They're Jersey through and through, though; so we'll get plenty of opportunities to see them when their need for real bagels and real pizza gets the best of them (like 9/8 at the 4th Annual Bond St. Block Party in Asbury or 9/30 at The Hoboken Arts & Music Festival).
If thoughts of the end of summer or back to work or back to school or maybe missing your friends start to get you down, head out to a show and feel happy. It really has a way of changing your perspective and putting a positive spin on the world.
All of the pics from the weekend by Rosi and me are up at our Flickr galleries.
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