Thu 3/31: Tiger Saw / Golden Ghost / Nat Baldwin Apohadian

Sat 4/2: Jesse Pilgrim & The Bonfire / Butcher Boy / Panda Bandits/ Grant Street Orchestra (CD RELEASE SHOW FOR JESSE PILGRIM) SPACE Gallery

Wed 4/6: STRFKR / Champagne, Champagne / Foam Castles / Vistas SPACE Gallery

Mon 4/18: Iron & Wine State Theater

Tue 4/26: The Bad Plus One Longfellow Square

Tue 5/24: Brett Dennen / Dawes State Theater

Thu 6/2: Avett Brothers/ John Oats State Theater

Thu 7/28: Elvis Costello State Theater

Fri 7/29: Beirut State Theater

The five-piece band opened with “No Future Part Three: Escape from No Future,” introducing the band with a steady build that gets you pumped because they started playing and then gets you pumped because they started rocking. The show really seemed to start with the unified yell of “or ever again” from all fans in the audience marking the transition from the “aforementioned” playing to rocking.

Marking the one year anniversary of Titus’ sophomore album, The Monitor (vaguely Civil War themed…belated riling is so cool), and their second tour since its debut the set list had more flexibility than their 2010 post-release tour (“The Monitour”…I love it). They equally sampled songs from both The Airing of Grievances and The Monitor, allowing for enthusiasm with every introducing riff whether it be inspired by thoughts of “this was the first Titus song I heard in 2005!” or “they didn’t get worse on their second album!”

Guitarist Patrick Stickles admits that “Titus Andronicus has gotten old  because when [they] first started playing [they] wouldn’t play any slow songs live and then [they] would maybe play one but now [they're] on to two.” While understated because slow for Titus still makes you dance, this was so necessary. The seven minute epic “To Old Friends and New” allowed the audience to breathe and get water and introduce themselves to the people they had just been smashing up against for the past few songs before heading right back into it. This break was only the prelude to, as Stickles introduced it, “13 minutes of straight rocking.”

Those 13 minutes told you what Titus is all about. You didn’t know if they had started a new song. You didn’t know if they were just jamming. You didn’t know anything, except for the few brief gasps of recognition from included songs “My Time Outside the Womb,”  “Upon Viewing Brueghel’s ‘Landscape With The Fall of Icarus” and even a classic Clash “White Riot” cover.  It barely mattered if they were playing in tune (which they were); it barely mattered if they were playing in time (which they were);  it barely matter if they knew the lyrics (which they did). What mattered was the energy they generated from sharing with the audience the best night of their lives, just like every other night of their lives.

After a short breather, the band knocked out a few classics, including a short Ramones cover (are Ramones covers ever anything but short?). They concluded with The Monitor‘s opening track, “A More Perfect Union” and there was never a more perfect union than the yell of “give me a cruel New England winter” from Mainers sick of the cold and jacket-less Jerseyans unprepared for winter in March. At Space, however, no one was cold the entire night.

Titus was preceded by Portland’s own Brenda and Brooklyn based Dinowalrus, both of whom were thoroughly impressive.  Brenda is a three piece band who rocks even without a bass (that space filled, rather, by a keyboard). Formed in 2008, the band is pretty young and this became evident in the first few moments of each song, where they searched for a common ground. They locked into it quickly, however, and from there on out it was nothing but forward momentum interwoven with slight, single changes in a beat or a riff or an anything that wasn’t repeated immediately, leaving the audience with gripping attention to when the next surprise would come. Seriously, that was awesome. Similarly awesome was the drummer whose arms must be made of rubber with magnetite implants. It was as if they were free form from his body and just naturally attracted the kit at the right time and in the right place. Definitely a highlight.

Dinowalrus, another three piece band, was similarly skeptical about always having a bass (what’s up with this?) which proved itself somewhat disappointing, not because the synth wasn’t cool (which maybe it wasn’t always), but because when the synth/bassist Liam Andrew chose to play bass instead of synth he was mesmerizing. Seriously, this guy can move his fingers. He made climbing fifths actually interesting to listen to, if only because they were the “simple” part of the bass line, used to underscore a fleeting guitar (from former Titus guitarist Pete Feignebaum) or drum hype.

Both of the opening bands were able to leave an impressive mark and were still remembered even after the almighty Titus Andronicus. Well played by all. Well danced by all. Well done by all.

Update your planners and keep checking back to The Monkey Blog for more updates!

September 15: Woods – SPACE Gallery, Portland, ME.

September 23: The Books – University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH.

September 24: Mates of State – SPACE Gallery, Portland, ME.

September 24: Mastodon – Port City Music Hall, Portland, ME. (21+)

September 25: Dr. Dog – Library Quad, Bates College, Lewiston, ME.

September 27: Japanther & Screaming Females – SPACE Gallery, Portland, ME.

September 30: Murder By Death – SPACE Gallery, Portland, ME.

October 11: Deerhoof & Xiu Xiu – SPACE Gallery, Portland, ME.

October 12: Free Energy – SPACE Gallery, Portland, ME.

October 15: My Morning Jacket – State Theatre, Portland, ME.

October 16: moe. – State Theatre, Portland, ME.

October 18: Dark Dark Dark – SPACE Gallery, Portland, ME.

October 19: The Hold Steady – Port City Music Hall, Portland, ME. (21+)

October 20: OK GO – Port City Music Hall, Portland, ME. (21+)

October 21: High on Fire – Port City Music Hall, Portland, ME. (21+)

October 22: Yonder Mountain String Band – Port City Music Hall, Portland, ME. (21+)

October 22: Josh Ritter & The Low Anthem – State Theatre, Portland, ME.

October 27: Guster – State Theatre, Portland, ME.

October 29: Lady Lamb The Beekeeper – SPACE Gallery, Portland, ME.

November 2: Land of Talk & Suuns – SPACE Gallery, Portland, ME.

November 3: Matt & Kim – Port City Music Hall, Portland, ME. (21+)

November 6: Michael Franti & Spearhead – State Theatre, Portland, ME.

November 27: State Radio – State Theatre, Portland, ME.

November 28: Doomtree – SPACE Gallery, Portland, ME.

If you know of any fun or interesting concerts going on close to Bates, please email wrbcmonkey@gmail.com. We’ll add it to the list.

…
Dr. Dog’s latest album, “Shame, Shame,” has been wildly well-received. Pitchfork hailed the work “arguably the band’s finest moment,” and music critic Doug Wallen categorized their sound as “a little folk, blues, indie rock, soul, bluegrass—and a whole lot of down-home harmonizing. It conjures images of old friends sitting on a porch swapping instruments and just letting the tape recorder run.”
Mark your calenders and get psyched for an epic start to the year!
Listen to Dr. Dog: www.myspace.com/drdog
Listen to Delicate Steve: http://www.myspace.com/delicatesteve

This means the average WRBC performer has been played 2,618,989.32 times as of April 6, 2010.

The most popular musician on Last.fm presented by WRBC was Crystal Castles, with a total of 20,160,152 plays.

Note: This is a republishing of an article originally posted on January 17th. The significant change is that the band Toro Y Moi has been added to the line up of the March 5 Washed Out and Small Black show.

This Winter Semester is going to be a decidedly epic time for concerts at Bates College courtesy of your friends at WRBC. While a few more shows are in the works, the first week of March will be a crowded, but decidedly epic week of shows.

The first show, to be held on Wednesday, March 3rd, will feature the music of Cambridge, Massachusetts’ Hey Mama. This contemporary rock ‘n roll four-piece band, features Avi Salloway and Celia Woodsmith, formerly of the aptly named Avi and Celia. This show, like most of our shows, will be in the Benjamin Mays Center at Bates College.

The second show in this same week is an offering from chillwave acts Washed Out, Toro y Moi and Small Black This show will be on Friday, March 5th and also in the Benjamin Mays Center. These two super up-in-coming electronic artists have been known to present an awesome show, and, therefore, you should seriously consider attending.

Be sure to stay tuned as more concerts are likely to be added to our line-up soon. You can always keep track of our events here or all local concerts here.

-Doug Ray

Doug Ray is the co-host of Saltimbocca and Escargot, Sundays 8-10 PM on WRBC.

January 19: Freelance Whales – Great Scott, Boston, Ma.

January 20: The New Deal – Port City Music Hall, Portland, Me.

January 23: Suzanne Vega – Olin Arts Center at Bates College, Lewiston, Me.

January 28: Ani DiFranco – The Strand Theater, Rockland, Me.

January 30: Asobi Seksu – Club 939, Boston, Ma.

February 12: Dar Williams – One Longfellow Square, Portland, Me.

February 13: Tegan and Sara – Orpheum Theater, Boston, Ma.

February 19: El Perro del Mar & Anna Ternheim – Cambridge YMCA, Cambridge, Ma.

February 24: Wild Beasts – Great Scott, Boston, Ma.

March 4: Efterklang – T.T. and the Bear’s Place, Cambridge, Ma.

March 20: Air – Berklee Performance Center, Boston, Ma.

March 25: Keller Williams – Port City Music Hall, Portland, Me.

April 7: David Gray – Merrill Auditorium, Portland, Me.

April 10: Ted Leo and the Pharmacists – Paradise Rock Club, Boston, Ma.

May 3: Yeasayer – Paradise Rock Club, Boston, Ma.

If you know of any fun or interesting concerts going on close to Bates, please email wrbcmonkey@gmail.com. We will add it to this list.