As published in Rukus Magazine:
http://www.rukusmag.com/2011/1011/concert_review_mc_lars.html
He studied English at Stanford. He loves Iggy Pop, A Confederacy of Dunces, as well as WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT. He shouts out exclamations like “reading is awesome!” Clearly, this 28-year-old Berkeley, California native is no ordinary hip-hop artist. Fiercely independent, MC Lars (aka Andrew Robert Neilsen) does things his own way. He releases music on his own label, sells his own merchandise, and he never holds back on speaking his mind. It’s this kind of raw expression, mixed with an intellectual bent, which wowed the rapturous packed audience at West Hollywood's Troubadour on September 27th.
Before the show even started, the chanting began…”MC LARS!” “MC LARS!” “MC LARS!” The crowd wasn’t just ready; they were ravenous for what was about to happen. Backed by a live drummer and bassist, MC Lars burst on to the Troubadour stage with a contagious amount of energy that spread throughout the historic club. Opening the concert with the title track of his new album LARS ATTACKS!, MC Lars performed an exhilarating 10-song set that had people singing, clapping and jumping up and down.
Using two video screens (on either side of the stage), MC Lars used images to complement his fast-paced, hip-hop rhetoric. For example, during the second song, “History’s Greatest Assholes,” pictures and videos were used to accentuate each of history’s assholes...i.e. Hitler, Stalin, Jack the Ripper, Pol Pot, and more. Better still; MC Lars got the entire Troubadour to shout out the “assholes!” part of the song’s chorus.
“Welcome to the independent hip-hop show!” announced the intellectual rapper before the evening’s third song. “I feel like we’re all here tonight because we support something different”…and different they got with “Generic Crunk Rap”…a parody of mainstream hip-hop found on his 2006 THE GRADUATE album. This time around, the master MC had the crowd shouting out “GET CRUNK!” after various lines in the song’s chorus, i.e. “Buy cars (GET CRUNK!), Take shots (GET CRUNK!), Have sex (GET CRUNK!).”
Before performing “Annabel Lee R.I.P” (the closing track on LARS ATTACKS!), MC Lars gave credit to the song’s inspiration, Edgar Allen Poe. “I want to give a shout out to an old school rapper…a master of iambic tetrameter.” During “White Kids Aren’t Hyphy” (from 2009’s THIS GIANT ROBOT KILLS), MC Lars had the crowd jumping high in the air. “Super Scope” (another track from LARS ATTACKS!) was introduced as a song about “how hip-hop saved my life.”
The emotional core of MC Lars dynamic set, was “Twenty-Three,” a song written about his friend Patrick Wood…who committed suicide in 2006. Lars confessed, “I never really recovered from that.” He went on to add that he works with the American Foundation For Suicide Prevention, and has raised (during his U.S. tour) over $1300 in donations for the non-profit organization.
Introducing “Ahab,” MC Lars proclaimed, “I’m kind of a literature rapper. I love to take the 16th century, 19th century poems, play, books…and turn them into songs. I created this genre called Lit-Hop.” Speaking of which, the next song,“Hey There Ophelia,” was inspired by Shakespeare’s Hamlet. It was dedicated to Misty Dawn, a beautiful redhead in attendance that night, who had appeared in the “Lars Attacks!” music video.
To close out the show, MC Lars belted out the Edgar Allen Poe-inspired “Mr. Raven”…an early gem from his 2004 release, THE LAPTOP EP. Once again, he encouraged the crowd to participate in the song. With MC Lars at the helm, everyone happily sung along to “Who's that (who's that) rapping? Who's that rapping at my chamber door? Mr. (mister) Raven! All up in my grill like, "Nevermore.”
After the concert, MC Lars told me he loved the Troubadour audience “…the crowd was crazy. I thought they were hungry for something different. There was a lot of love.” He added, “This niche has grown, y’know? The intellectual hip-hop world has grown…and it’s awesome.” Awesome is right.
Young,
raw, talented and blissfully uninhibited, she bullied the stage into
submission. Her voice was her instrument, yet her body was her most
complete means of expression. This is Chloe Chaidez, a 16-year-old
Wunderkind who fronts a new teenage band called Kitten. On Friday
evening at the Key Club in West Hollywood, Chaidez’s face was buried in
her hair as she danced, twisted, spun, ran, jumped around, moshed and
even did handstands while her more conservative bandmates held down the
fort and rocked out
Also
located inside the vendor section was a small second stage, officially
known as the “Monster Energy Stage.” Those who arrived early to the
concert, were treated to 40 to 50-minute sets by bands like P.O.D., Crossfade, Redlight King, Middle Class Rut and Asking Alexandra. Drive A were the very first act of the day, performing at 11:30am. Unlike other festivals, Epicenter
was planned so that one could possibly go see all six bands on the
“Monster Energy Stage,”...and then go over to the Main Stage inside the
amphitheater proper, to watch the nine other bands. Of course, things
happen, and as it played out...P.O.D’s set ran longer than expected,
which overlapped into the set of the very first band on the Main
Stage...Red.
“The
rest of the day”...was managed quite well. The organizers knew they
had to fit nine bands into seven hours, so they built a rotating
stage...so while one band performed in front, another band could set up
their equipment backstage. As a result, the downtime between each act
was only about 5-10 minutes...if everything ran smoothly. Of course,
the next performer could not help but rebel against such a tight
schedule.
Memphis Christian-rock band Skillet
came on next. Lead by husband and wife team John and Korey Cooper,
Skillet performed five songs, featuring key tracks from their 2009 album
AWAKE...”Hero,” Awake and Alive,” and “Monster.” Similar to Red, Skillet
worked extra-hard to engage the crowd...playing hard and loud, and
employing shooting smoke in the background in order to enhance their
stage presence. John Cooper took on the role of preacher at one point,
pontificating to the crowd about the “War for your souls.”
Lead by shirtless, tattooed-to-oblivion lead singer Josh Todd, SoCal rockers Buckcherry burst
onto the stage after 6:00pm with the ironically upbeat “Dead,” the
closing track of their 2010 album ALL NIGHT LONG. Josh Todd prowled the
stage like a middleweight boxer. His feet were fast, and he moved as
much as possible to the sounds of Keith Nelson and Stevie D. on guitars,
Jimmy Ashhurst on bass, and Xavier Muriel on drums. “Rescue Me” came
next, a fast-paced track off of 2009’s BLACK BUTTERFLY. Keeping up the
fast pace, Buckcherry then broke out “All Night
Long”...a party anthem that opens up their 2010 album of the same name.
“Recovery” is also off of the ALL NIGHT LONG album, and was performed
with a fierce intensity. “I used to go to high school around here” said
Josh Todd, who informed the crowd that his teachers used to scold him
for his dirty mind. Buckcherry then attacked ”Dirty Mind,” from their 1999 debut album BUCKCHERRY.
It felt as if no time had passed. After a few bars of Led Zeppelin’s
“In My Time of Dying” the band went straight into their cocaine tribute
“Lit Up”...the opening track off of their debut album. Before the song,
Josh Todd said “The first time I did cocaine, it was a Friday night.
Then I figured out I could drink more.” Fantastic. To close out the
set, the band played “Sorry,” their second biggest hit from their
breakthrough 2006 album 15, as well as Buckcherry’s
biggest hit from the same album...”Crazy Bitch.” Before performing the
latter song, Josh Todd told the crowd that “a crazy bitch can take down
an empire.” The band then played snippets of Prince’s “Irresistible
Bitch,” Aerosmith’s “Sweet Emotion” and KC and The Sunshine Band’s “Get
Down Tonight” before launching into the song proper. Buckcherry was clearly pleased to play at the Epicenter festival,
and was the only band on Saturday to give a shout out to KROQ, the
festival’s sponsor, and the station that first broke the band...
The gentleman seated to my right noticed my press notes, then gave me the devil finger sign and warned me that Five Finger Death Punch
was by far the heaviest band on the bill that day. He was not
kidding. In fact, I think underplayed the emphasis on the word
“heavy.” With a new album due next month, the 5-piece heavy metal band
blasted through seven of their best songs from 2007’s THE WAY OF THE
FIST and 2009’s WAR IS THE ANSWER, as well as performing a new single
called “Under and Over It.” With Zoltan Bathory and Jason Hook on
guitars, Chris Kael on bass, and Jeremy Spencer on drums, the band was
fast and furious through each and every song. Yet it was the presence
of Ivan Moody on vocals that stole the show. Moody is a formidable
commanding general, leading his troops in a take-no-prisoners attack on
the audience. This is a man not to be messed with. His vocals were
frightening, whether he sung straight, or in a demonic, devil-sounding
voice. One song after another...”Burn It Down” into
“Salvation”...”Under and Over It” into “Hard To See”... Five Finger Death Punch
beat the crap out of the audience. “No One Gets Left Behind” was
dedicated to the military, and after the song, Commander Moody told the
crowd that the band recently had gone to Iraq. “It changed my f*#king
life!” Moody continued, “Over there there they had a nickname for
us...,” and thus began Five Finger Death Punch’s heavy
cover of the 1974 classic by Bad Company...”Bad Company.” However,
Moody stopped the song midway, in order to call out the security people
for being too rough with fans. “You security guys need to relax!” he
shouted out. Moody in particular yelled at security for kicking out a
woman from the lower seating level. In protest, Moody refused to sing
another note until security guards let the women back in. Thankfully,
security gave in, much to the crowd’s delight. Moody was thankful, and
told the security guards that he understood that they had a job to do,
yet the fans paid hard-earned money for concert tickets, and deserved to
be treated better. Once that was taken care of, Moody and the band
resumed “Bad Company,” and closed their set with two standout tracks
from THE WAY OF THE FIST...”White Knuckles” and “The Bleeding.”
Staind
is no doubt an excellent band, having sold over 15 million records
worldwide. Aaron Lewis, the band’s frontman, is without doubt a
fantastic vocalist, probably the best singer on the entire Epicenter
bill. Yet as big as the band is, their performance style clashed with
the explosive energy exhibited on stage by the other bands who performed
that day. Staind is very akin to The Eagles, in that they have great
songs...have sold millions of records, yet cannot compare in performance
style with other bands of equal popularity. While Papa Roach,
Buckcherry, and Five Finger Death Punch owned the crowd, Staind instead
choose a much more low-key approach. Interaction with the crowd was
kept to a minimum, as the band preferred to just play. There’s nothing
wrong with that at all, except that most of the previous acts worked
extra-hard to engage the audience. The result of this contrast proved
unsatisfying for both the crowd, and the band. Feeling high off of Papa
Roach’s dynamic set, the audience had a hard time connecting with
Staind. Aaron Lewis voiced his displeasure at the crowd’s indifference a
number of times. After a weak attempt to get people to sing along to
song at one point, Aaron Lewis responded with “That’s all you got?”
Before Staind’s final number of the night, Lewis told that the crowd
that he hoped the next act (Limp Bizkit) would somehow
wake them up from their slumber....clearly a dig at the audience’s lack
of enthusiasm for the band’s set. Perhaps in a passive aggressive move
(or just simply...aggressive), Staind punished the crowd by not
performing their biggest hit...2001’s “It’s Been a While.”
Staying in CHOCOLATE STARFISH AND THE HOT DOG FLAVORED WATER mode, Limp Bizkit
next broke out “Livin’ It Up”, along with another CHOCOLATE STARFISH
gem.. “My Way.” Diving into classic material from their landmark 1999
album SIGNIFICANT OTHER, “Break Stuff” came next, which was performed
with the same ferocity as when the track was first recorded 12 years
ago. After a miscue, and some confusion as to which song to play next,
the band asked the crowd what song they would like to hear... and
finally settled on performing “Eat You Live,” from 2003’s RESULTS MAY
VARY. Then it was back to SIGNIFICANT OTHER-territory with a
double-shot of great numbers...”Re-Arranged” and the huge hit “Nookie.”
Before performing the song, Durst dedicated the entire show to “all you
troopers who have to work tomorrow.” Shifting gears, Durst next lead
the band through their 2003 acoustic version of The Who’s 1971
masterpiece...”Behind Blue Eyes.” Then Limp Bizkit broke out 2000’s “Take a Look Around”...which was featured prominently on the MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE II soundtrack.
Throughout Taylor Swift’s
four sold out shows at the 20,000 capacity Staples Center, Swift had
chosen to write song lyrics all down her left arm. No, these weren’t
meant to help her remember words, nor were the decorated lyrics ever
songs of her own. Instead, Swift choose to cover her arm with lyrics
that inspired her on a given night. No two nights are the same. One
evening she had lyrics from the Beach Boys’ “Don’t Worry Baby.” Another
evening she had words from Joni Mitchell’s “California.” Those of us
at Sunday evening’s Staples Center show bore witness to an arm which had
written on it: “I wish I could have this moment for life”…lyrics from
rapper Nicki Minaj’s “Moment 4 Life.” Little did the audience know that
the inspiration was two-fold, yet more on that later. 
Sunday night’s two-hour plus, 20-song set was by no means a simple concert by a pop star princess. No, Taylor Swift
aimed to deliver the goods to a wildly enthusiastic crowd that stunned
her with the sheer joy and love they have for her. In return, Swift
presented a grand spectacle…a highly theatric stage show that made great
use of the gigantic size of the Staples Center.
In
a move I’ve never seen before, Swift climbed up by herself on a mini
stage with a lit up tree on it, and performed 4 ½ songs to the BACK of
the arena floor. Middle of the arena sure, yet I’ve never seen an act
play a set to the back section. It was terrific. Swift sat alone with a
guitar or ukulele and sang one song after another, with her band
backing her on the other side of the arena. In this setting, she played
the title track of her 2008 album FEARLESS, as well as SPEAK NOW’s
“Last Kiss.” Before the later song, Swift admitted she was a hopeless
romantic, and said that “love is my favorite thing to write about,
because I think that when we’re falling in love or losing it…that’s when
we turn to music, because we need help understanding what’s going on.”
Swift is certainly wise beyond her years.