concerts

Do reggae and hip hop fans have way more discretionary income to spend on concert tickets than indie-rock fans, or are indie-rock fans just antisocial, home-dwelling, music-stealing cheapskates?

The inaugural Broadway Bloc Party goes down tonight. Here's the lineup:

Friday June 13, gates open at 5pm
DJ spinning 5pm-6:30pm (Andrew Mataus)
Pnuma Live P.A. 6:30pm-7:30pm
STS9 Live P.A. 8pm-9:30pm
Bassnectar 9:30pm-11pm

Saturday June 14, gates open at noon
Crayonsmith 12:30-1pm (free)
Despot 1:30-2pm (free)
SWEEP 2-3pm
Gates 3pm (start charging)
Ehren Ebbage on side stage 3:15-4pm
Islands 4-5:30
Bad Mitten Orchestre on side stage 5:30-6:15
The Devil Makes Three 6:15-7:45
Leo London (solo) on side stage 7:45-8:30
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah 8:30-10pm

Word on the streets (at least among my friends who range from 21 to 32 years old) is that tix are overpriced. Many point to Seattle's Capitol Hill Block Party, where an arguably better lineup can be had for $18 per day, as opposed to the Broadway Bloc Party's $30 per day ($50 two-day). Well, quit your whining Oregon college students and college grads! Odds are you just picked up a fat $600 check from the gov, plus this is, like, the perfect example of what we want happening in Eugene, plus it's a freakin' benefit for KWVA campus radio. So get your butts downtown, people.

For more info, click here:

So a few weeks ago I confided in the pages of the EW that I have a weakness for pop punk. Then, oddly, the show I was previewing was canceled. But no matter! A better, sleeker, poppier and, well, gothier show has risen to take its place in my heart:

Alkaline Trio at the Indigo District

I think it still confuses friends that I'm such a nerd for these silly boys in black suits who sing maudlin, sometimes macabre love songs about walls painted black, bitter breakups and washing one's bloody hands at the marina and, every so often, about, like, mushy stuff ("Every Thug Needs a Lady"). "Help Me," the new single (from Agony and Irony, due out July 1) that autoplays on their website, has a little too much mucking about with the vocals on the chorus, but I can take it. Their mastery of the pairing of pop hooks with crunchy guitars and power chords is unmatched; their glossiness just makes all the deathly imagery almost, um, sweet.

Last time I saw the Trio, I got my favorite sweatshirt ripped dancing with the kids. I hope I'm not way too old to do that again.

From a just-received press release:

DEVOTCHKA CONCERT MOVED TO JOHN HENRY’S TAVERN

All advance tickets purchased will be honored at John Henry’s Tavern.

Wait, how does this work for the under-21s?