Garbage Returns to NYC with Terminal 5 Show

It took more than a decade and a half, but I finally saw Garbage live on Friday night at Terminal 5. Not my favorite venue, but Shirley Manson and the band put on a great show that included plenty of tunes from their catalog of albums spanning 17 years.


Garbage performing "Only Happy When It Rains" at Terminal 5. This and following video via Hellspawn3000.

The band kicked things off with "Push It" and rocked hard during most of the show, which ran close to two hours. (See set list below.) Things slowed down a bit only for a couple of more mellow tunes, such as "The Trick is to Keep Breathing" and "Cup of Coffee" (which Manson called the most depressing song in the Garbage catalog).

Manson looks great, and mentioned several times how glad they were to be back in New York, playing at the beginning of the last leg of their North American tour to support their latest album, last year's "Not Your Kind of People." (They opened this stint at Montclair's Wellmont Theatre on Wednesday night.)

No doubt she and the other band members appreciated that, in a world where there's a hot new band becoming the next "it" thing practically every week, Garbage was able to get fans out to see them on tour despite the band being on hiatus for seven years—an eternity in the modern pop music landscape.

There were a couple of false starts on songs, which Manson blamed on technical problems, but other than that Garbage performed like a well-oiled machine. Manson didn't hit the higher notes like she does on their records, which may be a result of age and vocal wear and tear, or maybe she never hit those notes live anyway. Nevertheless, it didn't detract from what was a fine show.



As with the Wellmont show, Garbage was joined onstage by Marissa Paternoster of Screaming Females for a cover of "Because the Night," which the two bands recorded as a single for next month's Record Store Day. Paternoster's voice was a good contrast, but not an unwelcome one, to Manson's, and Manson let Paternoster bask in the limelight by performing several blazing guitar solos, even walking to the back of the stage while Marissa played her licks.

The show ended with guitarist Duke Erickson performing a solo rendition of "Thank You Honey Bun," an old-timey sounding tune that I'm not familiar with (and which was definitely a contrast with Garbage's set).

The stage for opening act IO Echo featured Japanese shoji screens and a paper fan in front of the bass drum, but the sound was more goth than Asian. The band's Facebook page uses the term "Pastel Doom," which seems to fit.

Singer Ioanna Gika spun around the stage in kimono for most of the set, and though I didn't hear any Asian influence in the music, the aforementioned Facebook page describes their music as "Made with both organic and synthesized instruments from the far east. Japanese koto harps, one passed down to me from my grandmother + Chinese Violins + Pastel Romance."

I didn't hear any harps or violins but I liked their sound. After playing a number of shows at the recent SXSW, IO Echo seems to have a gained lot of new fans. Although their first full-length album doesn't come out for a couple of weeks (their set Friday night was only 25 minutes), their EP sold out at Terminal 5.

Setlist: Garbage at Terminal 5, March 22nd (via Setlist.fm)
Push It
Queer
Automatic Systematic Habit
Hammering in My Head
Blood for Poppies
Special
Why Do You Love Me
#1 Crush
I Think I'm Paranoid
The One
The Trick Is to Keep Breathing
Cherry Lips
Cup of Coffee
Stupid Girl
Only Happy When It Rains
Vow
Beloved Freak
   
Encore:
Because the Night (cover of Bruce Springsteen/Patti Smith tune), with Marissa Paternoster of Screaming Females
When I Grow Up
You Look So Fine
Thank You Honey Bun (Duke Erikson solo performance)

Concert Notes: Tickets for Garbage, Iron & Wine, Son Volt, & More on Sale Friday

There are plenty of good shows going on sale Friday, including Garbage booking a second appearance in the NYC area at Monclair's Wellmont Theatre, Robyn Hitchock playing Webster Hall (with R.E.M.'s Peter Buck opening), Iron & Wine performing at the Beacon, and Son Volt returning for two shows, one at Bowery Ballroom and one in Williamsburg.

Garbage returns to the NYC area with a show at the Wellmont.

And one of the first outdoor concerts of the summer appears, with tickets for July's Celebrate Brooklyn show with Belle & Sebastian and Yo La Tengo going on sale tomorrow.

* Garbage at the Wellmont Theatre (Montclair, NJ), Wed., March 20th. On sale Friday at 12 Noon

* Marnie Stern at Music Hall of Williamsburg, Thurs., April 11th. On sale Friday at 12 Noon

* Born Ruffians at Bowery Ballroom, Tues., April 16th (on sale Friday at 12 Noon) and at Maxwell's, Thurs., April 18th (on sale now).

* Aimee Mann at Union County Performing Arts Center (Rahway, NJ), Tues., April 23rd. On sale Friday at 11 a.m.

* Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 at Webster Hall, Fri., April 26th, with Peter Buck opening. On sale Friday at 12 Noon
Tedeschi Trucks Band at New Jersey Performing Arts Center (Newark), Sat., April 27th. On sale Friday at 10 a.m.

* Volbeat at the Wellmont Theatre, Thurs., May 2nd, with All That Remains and Eye Empire. On sale Friday at 12 Noon

* Iron and Wine at the Beacon Theatre, with the Secret Sisters, Tues., May 14th. On sale Friday at 11 a.m.

* Son Volt at Bowery Ballroom, Fri., June 14th, and at Music Hall of Williamsburg, Sat., June 15th. On sale Friday at 12 Noon

* Belle & Sebastian with Yo La Tengo at Celebrate Brooklyn, Thurs., July 11th. On sale Friday at 12 Noon

Concert Notes: Tickets for Garbage, Final Allman Bros. Show, The Killers, & More on Sale Friday

There are a couple of good second chances coming up for bands you may have missed before. The Allman Brothers Band has added one final show to its annual Beacon Theatre run, on St. Patrick's Day, and Shirley Manson and Garbage are returning to New York nine months after their sold-out show at Hammerstein Ballroom.

Garbage returns to New York on March 22nd.

Also, Jim James goes on tour to promote his first solo album,  The Killers are at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, and She & Him (M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel) play Central Park SummerStage in July.

All shows go on sale this Friday, Feb. 1st, at the times indicated.

* Allman Brothers Band at the Beacon Theatre, Sun., March 17th. On sale Friday at 9 a.m.

* Garbage at Terminal 5, Fri., March 22nd. On sale at 12 Noon.

* Los Amigos Invisibles at Webster Hall, Sat., April 6th. On sale at 12 Noon.

* Jim James at Webster Hall, Mon., April 29th. On sale at 12 Noon.

* Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes at the Wellmont Theatre (Montclair, NJ), Fri., May 10th. On sale at 12 Noon.

* Paramore and Kitten at Hammerstein Ballroom, Thurs., May 16th. On sale at 10 a.m.

* The Killers at the Barclays Center, Sat., May 18th. On sale at 10 a.m.

* Marina and the Diamonds and Charli XCX at Rumsey Playfield, Wed., May 29. On sale at 12 Noon.

* The B-52s at the Capitol Theatre (Port Chester, NY), Thurs., June 6th. On sale at 12 Noon.

* Fleetwood Mac at Nikon at Jones Beach Theater, Sat., June 22nd. On sale at 10 a.m.

* She & Him and Camera Obscura at Central Park SummerStage, Sat., July 6th. On sale at 12 Noon.

Garbage Plays on Jimmy Fallon (Video); Will Webcast NYC Show Tues.

Garbage appeared on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" Thursday night (video below) ahead of the release of its new album on May 22nd. You can see the band performing "Automatic Systematic Habit," which is a free download from iTunes this week (U.S. only).

Shirley Manson and the band will be playing New York's Webster Hall the day that "Not Your Kind of People" comes out, and while the show sold out the day tickets went on sale, it will be webcast live on MTVhive starting at 9 p.m. Eastern time. [Update, May 30: Videos from the Garbage Atlantic City show have been posted here.]



And while Garbage's NYC show is sold out (with tickets going for $95 and more on StubHub), there are still tickets available for the band's Friday night show at the House of Blues in Atlantic City. Not only are the tickets cheaper than the Webster Hall show, since the show is not yet sold out there are tickets selling on StubHub for below face value (as low as $15.00 as of today).

With round-trip bus tickets from NYC to Atlantic City going for $35 or less (often including casino vouchers), you can actually see Garbage in AC for less than in NYC, even including the transportation to and from the show. Hey, who knows, you might even win a few buck at the slot machines. There are much worse ways to kick off Memorial Day weekend.

Free Album Streaming: New CDs from Willie Nelson, Kimbra, Santana, Meiko, & More

From the 79-year-old Willie Nelson to the 21-year-old Kimbra (who's become an internationally known for being the female vocalist on Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know"), there are plenty of interesting new albums for you to stream online this week.


Above: Willie Nelson singing with two of his sons. 

"Heroes," Willie Nelson's latest, features classic country tunes as well as new songs from the Red-Headed Stranger. (One of the non-country selections is Nelson's version of Pearl Jam's "Just Breathe.") The album features new songs as well as country classics, and includes guest vocalists such as Merle Haggard, Kris Kristofferson, Billy Joe Shaver, Sheryl Crow, Jamey Johnson, and Snoop Dogg (yes, you read that correctly), and two of Willie's sons, Lukas and Micah.

(Update: See Willie Nelson & band perform "Just Breathe" on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.)

Most people who've heard Gotye's ubiquitous, infectious hit have been wondering: Who is Kimbra, the female singer on the track, and what else can she do? You can find out by listening to her debut album "Vows" at NPR Music below. Stephen Thompson of NPR Music calls the collection "a huge, brash showcase for Kimbra's voice, which soars, squeals and coos over whiz-bang arrangements that fuse modern pop, old-school soul and slick R&B." But he adds that the native New Zealander "hasn't yet perfected the art of nuance, which can make "Vows' exhausting in large doses."

Kimbra will be playing three shows in New York in the coming weeks, all on a bill with Foster the People, all in Central Park, and all sold out (May 29th and 30th, and June 11th).

Also this week: the new albums by Santana, Meiko, Cornershop, and Tenacious D, as well as second chances to preview the well-reviewed new releases from Best Coast, Garbage, and Beach House, which were streaming elsewhere last week.

NPR First Listen:
"Vows" by Kimbra
"Clear Moon" by Mount Eerie

Spinner.com's Listening Party:
"Heroes" by Willie Nelson
"The Only Place" by Best Coast
"Bloom" by Beach House
"Not Your Kind of People" by Garbage
"Rize of the Fenix" by Tenacious D
"The Bright Side" by Meiko
"Night and Day" by Andre Williams and the Sadies
"Urban Turban" by Cornershop

AOL Music Listening Party: 
"Shape Shifter" by Santana
"Perlas" by Josephine Foster & the Victor Herrero Band
"Pins and Narwhals" by Little, Big
"Jail House Bound: John Lomax's First Southern Prison Recordings, 1933" by Various Artists

Free Album Streaming: Listen to the New Garbage Album

You can now stream Garbage's new album, "Not Your Kind of People," at Spin.com. The album comes out on exclusively on iTunes first ("expected" on May 15th) and on May 22nd elsewhere. [Update May 14th: "Not Your Kind of People" is streaming at Spinner.com today through May 20th.]

The band has been releasing a number of short videos in conjunction with the new CD; below you can see live rehearsal footage for "Battle in Me." You can see this and the other videos on the Garbage YouTube page.



At the Spin preview page for "Not Your Kind of People" you can also find an interview the magazine did with Garbage singer Shirley Manson, and her recollections of recording each of the band's albums.

Update: Garbage announced on Twitter today that you can get a free download of its song "Automatic Systematic Habit" at iTunes this week (U.S. only).

Garbage began its tour on May 5th in Los Angeles and continues throughout the spring and summer, playing headlining gigs (many of them already sold out) and festivals in the U.S. and abroad. (Find all Garbage tour dates here.)

Stream New Screaming Females Album, "Ugly"; Watch New Garbage Video & Chat

The Screaming Females are back and screaming with their new album "Ugly," and you can stream it in its entirety at Spin.com. The album drops today, and the New Brunswick, New Jersey band is heading out on tour to support "Ugly."


Video for "It All Means Nothing," the first song on "Ugly."

It all starts with a record release show this Thursday at Maxwell's in Hoboken, a venue the band is quite familiar with. Tickets for the show are still available and are only $10 in advance/$12 day of show. Marvin Berry and The New Sound and Lost Weekend open the show. They play Bell House in Brooklyn the next night.

Garbage Releases "Blood for Poppies;" Chats with Fans: Shirley Manson and company put out the video for their first U.S. single today, and had a web chat with fans on Ustream. You can find both below.

"Not Your Kind of People," the first Garbage album in five years, will be released on May 15th.





Video streaming by Ustream

New Tunes: Dum Dum Girls "Coming Down" Video; Songs from Garbage, Japandroids, & More

Some great new tunes have come out this week, from bands including Dum Dum Girls, Garbage, Japandroids, and Silversun Pickups. First off is the video of "Coming Down" by the Dum Dum Girls, directed by the band's own bass player, Malia James (who is also a photographer/videographer/writer/who knows what else).

The video uses a shortened, four-minute version of the song, which ran six-and-a-half minutes on DDG's "Only in Dreams" album from late last year. (Related: see photos from the February Dum Dum Girls show at Maxwell's.)

Here's all the new stuff:

* Dum Dum Girls, "Coming Down" video:



* Garbage's "Battle in Me" video (U.K. single). (Via Consequence of Sound, which also features the track listing.):



* Japandroids have a new single, "The House That Heaven Built." You can listen to it at their website. Also: the band is playing Bowery Ballroom on June 27th; get tickets here this Friday at 12 Noon.

* Stereogum as posted a new song download by Screaming Females, "Expire." At the link you can also find their live dates; they're kicking off their tour with an album release show at Maxwell's on April 5th.

* Silversun Pickups are out with a new song, "Bloody Mary (Nerve Endings)," which you can listen to at the link or listen to below (for some reason, SoundCloud embeds aren't working for me).



* Crocodiles, the band fronted by Brandon Welchez (husband of Dum Dum Girls frontwoman Dee Dee), is preparing a new album and has a new video of its own: an album teaser that sends up those old Time-Life Records collections of the past. (Via NME.)

Concert Notes: Fiona Apple at SXSW (Video), SXSW Podcasts, The Shins & More On Sale

Fiona Apple performs "Anything We Want" last night in this fan-filmed video. 

There's lots of current concert news, and not all of it's related to South by Southwest. In fact, there are a number of interesting concerts coming up in the New York area that are going on sale tomorrow. Here's what's up:

* If you missed last night's late concerts from Stubb's at SXSW on NPR Music, they're up now for streaming or podcast download. See these links for sets Sharon Van Etten, Dan Deacon, Alabama Shakes, and Andrew Bird.

* Fiona Apple's return to the stage had people talking, and you can see videos of two new songs by her ("Every Single Night" and "Anything We Want") at the Village Voice's wrap-up of Day 1 at SXSW.

As for those NYC-area concerts (all of which go on sale tomorrow, March 16th, at 12 Noon, except for the first show):

* Chip Taylor, writer of "Wild Thing" and "Angel of the Morning," is having a record-release show March 22nd at Hill Country for his new album, "F*ck All the Perfect People." Tickets are on sale now.

* Fresh off their appearance on "Saturday Night Live," The Shins are on the road and will play three nights at New York's Terminal 5, April 29th and 30th, and May 1st.

* Like The Shins, Garbage is making a return from a number of years off with a new album and tour. Garbage plays Webster Hall on May 22nd.

* Another returning act, That Dog, has added a second show at Music Hall of Williamsburg on May 25th. The original show on the 24th is sold out.

* Beach House plays a SummerStage benefit concert on June 23rd.

* Bonnie Raitt plays the Wellmont Theatre in Montclair, NJ (with Mavis Staples) on June 19th.

* Jonathan Richman plays two shows at Bowery Ballroom, June 12th and 13th.