I got Covid, and it was nice this summer, so I was able to go see some shows in that short period of immunity without fear of long-term illness or sweating my ass off.
- The National – First Two Pages of Frankenstein, The Greek. All the hits plus some tracks off their banger upcoming Laugh Tracks. Not the mind-blowing experience that my first exposure to The National was c. 2015 at the HB, but what is? We are all a decade older now, as my orthopedic surgeon keeps reminding me.
- Soccer Mommy – Opened for TN
- Haim – anniversary of first album at the Bellwether in front of a crowd of friends and family, it seemed. They had a good time, which made it pretty fun. Good venue
- Son Volt – Trace anniversary, at the Lodge. Jay and company just played the album. Not a lot of talk
- The Mountain Goats – Jenny from Thebes, at the Belasco. Fourth or fifth time seeing TMG in one incarnation or another. I don’t think the Belasco is such a great place to see the show.
- 2001 at the Hollywood Bowl with The LA Phil and Gay Mens Chorus
- Herbie Hancock – 50th anniversary of Headhunters at the HB.
- The National at the Hollywood Bowl, opening by Lucius and The War on Drugs. TWoD was great, good sound/light, rocking beats. Would totally go see again. TN has been disappointing the last three times I’ve seen them. Really, they were only good the first time I saw them – amazing, really, that time. Since then it seems like the lead singer is super depressed about breaking up with his wife. Or so I imagine from the lyrics and his demeanor on stage. The sound, which had been great for the first two bands, was super muddy and hard to listen to for TN. The drummer and horns were basically mud. Not fun.
- Hamilton – Pantages. Does that count as a concert? There was a lot of singing. Sadly, the Simpsons have ruined musical theatre for me, between Oh, Streetcar! (my favorite Simpsons ep ever) and Stop the Planet of the Apes, I Want to Get Off. When they started singing “Hamilton (hamilton, hamilton)” all I could think of was Dr. Zaius. Sorry, L-MM