WE SCENE IT >>>

Tacoma's Goldfinch is working on a new album, and it is going to be very, very good. One of my fine Volcano colleagues will pop up one of these days and tell you all about the band's Spaceworks Tacoma residency at 1310 MLK, and the process behind their new work in progress, so I'll leave that to the experts, and just say that between the Seattle Folk Festival and Saturday night's gig at the aforementioned space, I've been fortunate enough to hear a healthy dose of their new material, as performed in stripped-down fashion by Aaron Stevens and cellist/harmonizer Emily Ann Peterson, and I have already decided that it will be one of my favorite records of the year.

Saturday's festivities were not all about Goldfinch, of course. Not content to deal in one art form at a time, Spaceworks, Goldfinch and the Warehouse engineered an evening of improv comedy, storytelling from KUOW producer Megan Sukys - amusing anecdotes from the life of her South Carolinan family - and live painting in the corner by Britton Sukys, crafting a colorful piece that no-one failed to be impressed by as they passed.

Headliners OK Sweetheart got the house bouncing with their energetic brand of pop, and an oddly entertaining short film about a man and his exercise ball rolled briefly on the wall. But like every other show I've seen them open in recent months, Stevens and whatever brethren he brings along on any given night continually own the show from front to back.

So hurry up and make that record, guys. I want to listen to it. Over. And over. And over.

LINK: Goldfinch and Spaceworks Tacoma

WE SCENE IT >>>

The Big Wheel Stunt Show, the Tacoma rock band Weekly Volcano Editor Matt Driscoll interviewed in this week's issue, rocked a medium-sized crowd last night at Hell's Kitchen. If you have seen the band perform before, you no doubt had to elbow your way to the front. The weather came into play at the all-ages show that included my new favorite garage/surf band, Dungeon Science. The only elbow I had to dodge came from the booze monitor in front of the bathroom.

Thankfully the crowd size didn't affect Big Wheel's enthusiasm. While some of us stood, some of us sat, some of us took pictures with a crappy camera and some of us pumped our fists, the band rocked it.

The Big Wheel Stunt show guitarist and frontman Evan Nagle

The Big Wheel Stunt Show drummer Justin Gimse

The Big Wheel Stunt Show bassist Jake Melius

Nagle rocks DJ Darren Selector.

Dungeon Science

ONLINE CHATTER >>>

Today's comment of the day doesn't come from the folks still giving their two cents on our Cup Check story "The truth about Craig James and those hookers," but rather from David who gives props to Ernest Jasmin's review of Monday night's Prince concert at the Tacoma Dome.

David writes,

Spot on review and yes, the after party was epic. Prince and the NPG came on just after 2AM and played until 4AM.

A NIGHT OF HITS >>>

His name is Prince, and he's still funky.

Sure, His Purpleness has a bionic hip these days. (Hey, you try doing splits in high heels for three decades.) But the spritely, 53-year-old rocker still looked svelte, suave and more like 35 Monday night as he and his backing band, the New Power Generation, wound down their yearlong Welcome 2 tour at the Tacoma Dome.

It was the Royal Rocker's first local stop since a two-night stand in Seattle in 2004. Boa and lace-clad Gen-Xers thought it was worth the wait as they, and some of their kids, grooved to some of the most iconic pop of the Reagan Era. And the nostalgic dance party got started with a cut that helped make Prince a household name back in 1984.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today, to get to this thing called life," went the dramatic, organ-drenched intro to "Let's Go Crazy," one of five cuts that made an appearance from Prince's watershed soundtrack, Purple Rain.

The theater-in-the-round configuration was a major plus. A stage, shaped like that unpronounceable glyph that used to be Prince's stage name, took up a healthy chunk of the arena floor, ensuring there wasn't a bad seat as Prince ran through the hits.

The latest incarnation of the NPG includes four backup singers - notably Shelby J, who joined Prince for a powerful duet on "Nothing Compares 2 U" - and support from legendary saxophonist Maceo Parker (James Brown, Parliament-Funkadelic.)

Prince and co' delivered epic, jazzy arrangements of familiar songs. Early on, "Let's Go Crazy" morphed into a down-tempo version of "Delirious" then back again. Among early set highlights was a killer mash-up of Michael Jackson's "Don't Stop Till You Get Enough" and "Cool," a hit for Prince's Minneapolis funk peers, the Time.

But missing were the deep album cuts and surprise covers from previous tours. Toward the end of the set, along those lines, fans were teased with the lead-in to one of Tipper Gore's favorite Prince cut, "Darling Nikki." Prince's Jehovah's Witness faith has kept his raunchiest lyrics and all the piano humping in check over the last decade, making that a surprising choice.

But it was just another tease. "I don't want to play that," Prince said, opting to take a bow with cleaner hit, "Kiss."

Prince had copped to making some musical mistakes earlier in the show. Surely not "Nikki." (Nah, he must have meant that hideous song he wrote for the Minnesota Vikings.)

There was also a sense that the show had been cut unnecessarily short. There was no opening act, in contrast to tour stops where the likes of Shiela E, Anthony Hamilton and Janelle Monae have made appearances. And two encores consisted of just one song each, the first bluesy, signature ballad "Purple Rain," the second a smoothed out version of "Controversy."

After being manipulated with a few false starts and the lights coming up between encores, thousands of fans lingered, wondering, "Was that it?"

That said, Prince is nearly AARP-eligibility. And maybe he was just saving his energy for one of those epic after parties he's known for. Last night's was, reportedly, held at Republiq in Seattle. But lacking that hot ticket, I'll have to wait for the inevitable bootleg like everyone else.

Prince & the New Power Generation set list

Dec. 19, 2011
Tacoma Dome

Let's Go Crazy
Delirious
Little Red Corvette
Take Me With U
Raspberry Beret (abbreviated)
Cream ("I wrote that song while I was lookin' in the mirror.")
Don't Stop Till You Get Enough/Cool (Michael Jackson/The Time mashup)
Nothing Compares 2 U
Solo medley feat. elements of When Doves Cry, Nasty Girl (Vanity 6),
Most Beautiful Girl in the World, Forever In My Life, Alphabet Street,
I Would Die 4 U
Hot Thing
Darling Nikki (snippet, "I don't wanna play that song")
Kiss

Encores:
Purple Rain
Controversy

LINK: Live review of Jay Z & Kanye West The Throne Tour at the Tacoma Dome

Tacoma doesn't get many victories. So, when something big comes to the Tacoma Dome and Seattle and the rest of the state has to come here, it's a win for us. There is no more Kingdome, so "The Dome" finally does refer to our house. We've seen Lady Gaga, Brittany Spears, and now  -- last night - the Watch the Throne Tour with Jay-Z and Kanye West. 

For argument's sake I'll say Jay-Z and Kanye West are considered by many to be the biggest rappers alive. So what kind of tour and show could these two put together? Is it worth $20? $100? Absolutely nothing? Well, here's what I experienced.

The city was celebrating the arrival of the two behemoths. On my way to the show -- I shit you not - I heard people bumping Jay-Z with their windows down. Mind you it was dark, 6:30 p.m., and I was still on S 9^th and M.L.K.

I arrived upon a sort of modern-day hip-hop side-show carnival. There were street-preachers, B-Boys, signature gatherers, the Save Our Sonics Guy, voter-registration booths and scalpers galore.

The ticket said the show started at 7:30 p.m. It did not. It started at 9:15 p.m. Who was the opening act, you ask? THERE WAS NONE. So I just drank $7 beers and walked around playing "Spot the Local-Rapper."

At long last the lights flashed and the show began. There were two stages and parts of the stages raised and lowered - at times the two rappers were a couple stories in the air. Behind the stage on big walls and on the platforms there were different projected images throughout the night. In the air, above the crowd, were lasers and smoke. Pyrotechnics shot big-ass fire balls from the stage up into the air and from the ceiling down toward the crowd. I could feel the heat from the flames reach my seat. A huge American Flag came down from the ceiling when "Otis" dropped.

Jay and Kanye went back and forth for two hours and 45 minutes. They never took a break. They barely took a breather. The two mixed their hits interchangeably throughout the set, and both stayed up there together often. In the end I felt truly entertained. The two showmen did deliver.

GOING BIG >>

It's not unusual, of course, for an artist to try to make the audience feel special. And I'm sure some in the half-filled Puyallup Fair Grandstand thought it was a little presumptuous of The Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne to declare his show to be the greatest Puyallup Fair concert of all time.  Far greater, he remarked, than anything Kenny Chesney has ever accomplished at the Fair. But, that's how 50-something Coyne approaches his shows. He and his crew - musicians, prop people, 25 young Dorothy Gales cheerleaders dressed in modern-day lederhosen - go big, real big, spaceball crowd-surfing big.

The Oklahoma art rockers went REAL BIG last night at the Fair. And, for the most part, the Puyallup Fair staff let them. The fans crowded the stage before the show - a big no, no during Fair concerts. After Coyne pleaded with head of security Tony, the Fair staff agreed to let the crowd flood the aisles for the first three songs. By the fifth song, the aisles were cleared.

Entering the stage from an LED vagina on an arched HD screen backdrop, The Flaming Lips delivered nearly two hours of trippy, ambitious, marvelous music with stunning visuals, giant balloons bursting with confetti, ginormous fake mitts and lasers. Every party store in the state must be out of stock now.

"Tonight feels like the perfect night," claimed Coyne. I agreed.

The band opened with a wild version of Black Sabbath's "Sweet Leaf," which also permeated the air. As the night progressed, and the Grandstand filled with giant toys and confetti, The Flaming Lips treated the crowd to "Pompeii Am Gotterdamming," "The Yeah Yeah Song," "She Don't Use Jelly," "Is David Bowie Dying" (off the new EP Flaming Lips 2011: The Flaming Lips with Neon Indian), "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robot, Part 1," "See The leaves" and "What Is The Light?" and a few instrumentals.

A camera mounted on Coyne's microphone caught close-up angles of both he and drummer Kliph Scurlock (wearing a Red Fang T-shirt), while Coyne strapped on giant mitts for "Laser Hands."

The crowd roared when the band launched into Pink Floyd's "Brain Damage," complete with air raid sirens and cannon sticks shooting confetti into the crowd.

The night ended with "Do You Realize??" in a Technicolor explosion with all the toys, confetti and props unleashed. In the end, The Lips thanks the crowd and head of security Tony for being so cool.

It was a special night.

LINK: More photos from the show

ONLINE CHATTER >>>

Today's comment comes from Rock Oldenburg who after seeing the band Chicago perform with the Tacoma Symphony at the Puyallup Fair, searched our event listing for the show and posted a review.

Oldenburg writes,

Great Concert - the Symphony shone prior to Chicago taking the stage. Symphony helped fill out the melodic hits of the group but was less noticeable in the full-on rock hits which were blasted from the stage. The group was superb; the Symphony was superb - the concert was a wonderful stroll through the 70's and 80's. Chicago has not lost its touch for either music and harmony or showmanship. Total thumbs up experience - and we can be incredibly proud of our Tacoma Symphony, they shine at every concert! Their local season begins in October. If you haven’t attended a Symphony concert in a while I can highly recommend the experience. We are extremely lucky to have a full, professional Symphony Orchestra that calls Tacoma its home!

LIVING LARGE ON THE WAY TO TAYLOR SWIFT >>>

THING: One rad limo

Full of: Eight rad chicks

Headed to: Taylor Swift at Tacoma Dome

Driven by: Jeff Call

Owned by: Jeff Call

Associated with: Stonegate Pizza & Rum Bar

Where: We gorged before the show

Bartender Dave: Made me do a Three Drink Minimum

I did not: Fight him or resist

You're not: Surprised at all, I'm sure

I rented a limousine recently, so I know what the going rate is for a regular stretch limo, a Lincoln stretch limo, a stretch Hummer and a party bus. 

Which is why I'm also familiar with the going rate for a "hoopty limo."

To read about the awesome limo I picked, click here.

WHEN TWEENS GO WILD >>>

I've seen countless performances of the old-school Country and Western genre, such as George Strait (four times), Tanya Tucker, Brooks & Dunn, The Judds and Reba McEntire - just to name a few.  These experiences occurred mainly during past Houston Livestock Show and Rodeos, plus a few various Texas bars back in college. 

When I think back of my first real concert, never do any of the aforementioned shows come to mind.  If you were to ask about my first concert, I'd talk to you about the first time I saw The Cure.

Why do I not mention any of the Country and Western performers?  To me, they were simply part of my childhood.

My daughter, however, will remember last night's Taylor Swift performance for the rest of her life, as her first real concert - and it was country.

With a fanbase primarily of young girls and boys between the ages of 5-19, Taylor Swift has swept the Country and Western landscape with three platinum-selling albums and two sold-out headlining, cross-country and international tours. 

On the heels of her phenomenally popular self-titled debut album (Taylor Swift), and a second album that included her first headlining tour (Fearless) - Swift hesitated only briefly to create yet another catchy, tween-mesmerizing album that feels as though she's singing directly from her recently-old-enough-to-drink-and-possibly-have-sex diary.

Speak Now, Swift's third album and second headlining tour, recently received five nominations for the 2011 Country Music Association Awards.  Rightfully deserved, this purebred Pennsylvania girl holds her ground with strong, theatrical performances and smart, relatable lyrics.

Last night singer Josh Kelley was the pre-opening act, there as simple background music for sweaty fans to listen to while they dog-piled in front of the merch stands, hoping to score overpriced t-shirts for their kids. (Guilty.)

This was unfortunate, seeing as how Kelley's recent album, Georgia Clay, is legitimately good.  I was happy to hear him live.

Some time after 7 p.m., county-rock band Need to Breathe graced the stage.  These are some down-home, plain ol' "good guys" who make you want to pull up a tree stump around the campfire and listen to them play.  I sorta started to crush on them, but only briefly, as my daughter and her friend began chanting, "We want Taylor!  We want Taylor!" repeatedly to the tune of their own, offbeat music.

I had to agree with them.  It was a school night, getting late, and our seats in the very top rows of the Tacoma Dome would make for a great hot yoga location.  I pressed my $5 water bottle against the back of my neck for relief and tried to recall if I had put on deodorant that evening.

Finally at around 8:30 p.m. Taylor Swift made her grand entrance.  The look in my daughter's wide eyes, the gaping-wide grin, and the bounce in her wild dance moves made every effort of that evening valid.  Screw school.  This moment was what it was all about.

The crowd went nuts, and Swift, in all her innocence, sat back and watched in awe.  She might just be acting, but the look on her face let you know that she was not above appreciating what she has become to all those fans.  Moments went by as the stands went wild and Swift absorbed it all.

Hits such as "Our Song," "Mine," "Mean," "Fifteen," "Fearless," "Back to December," "You Belong to Me" and "Sparks Fly" were front-and-center during the show, with grand stage displays as though we were watching a musical with actors and a live band. Swift's facial expressions fed into the "musical" feeling, not to mention entertaining those ‘tweens.

While performing the title track of her latest record, "Speak Now," a wedding ceremony was enacted on stage as Swift swept through the crowd and shook hands with elated fans.  Landing on a small, circular stage somewhere amongst the floor seats, Swift played a ukulele to the tune of her song "Fearless," while mixing in bits of Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours."

Continuing on that circular stage, concert goers heard a rendition of Dave Matthews' "You and Me," plus a newer Swift song, "Last Kiss."  I, of course, pirated "You and Me" onto my iPhone memo recorder and sent it to a few friends, which in turn led to hilarious text auto-corrects about Taylor Swift playing Dave Matthews' dong.

As the clock struck 11 p.m. and my ass was turning into a flat, squishy pumpkin, Swift closed down the show with the ever-popular "Love Story" and my favorite, "Haunted."

The best part of leaving was ... leaving.  We hired Stonegate Pizza's limo to take us to the concert and drop us off, so passing up that long line of cars and no parking issues was da bomb.  Check out next Thursday's Person, Place or Thing for the skinny of what actually went down in the limo.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT WHILE LIVING IN A TENT >>>

Labor Day typically marks the end of summer. Sad, we know. Actually, screw that, we're ready for football season.

The Weekly Volcano had a staycation this past weekend. Here's what we posted:

Beer drinkers wearing funny hats;

Vintage shots of a modern day Tacoma Craft Beer Fest;

Bumbershoot reviews and previews;

Tacoman on national television;

Breakfast in Tacoma;

Tacoma Rainiers coverage as drunk as you were;

Tacoma Film Festival 2011 schedule of films;

And last week in Tacoma rocked us like a hurricane.

LINK: This work week is already too long. Happy hours!