Inland Invasion III report

Stayed in shelter and drank beer until Fountains of Wayne came out--basic contemporary rock probabaly best in a bar. Marc Almond next. Boring set.
Interpol needs to mature--learn a few more chords but shows promise.
Psychedelic Furs--Butler not built to sing live in such a large arena but nice to see them. Would have better in a bar or club.
Violent Femmes got the crowd awake. American Music was a killer choice for their openner. Great performance.
Echo&The Bunnymen--should have played after Duran2--outstanding even if the sound guys had the sound fucked up for their first few tunes. Loved that cover they did (title escapes me now).
Hot Hot Shit--when doing a punk Blur sound lower volume please. Duran Duran. Simon not feeling well, coughing between songs and verses. As a hetrosexual male it pains me to say this but they sounded great and I'd probably see them again. Openning up with Friends was kewl. Nice to hear them play atleast three from their first album. Should have left out Reflex and Wild Boys (crowd pleasures though). What was up with everyone holding up lighters during Ordinary World?? The Cure. Opened with 1015 Saturday Night, then A Forest. Kepted it heavy with 100 Years and The Figure Head but popped out with Let's Go To Bed...A chronological pattern emerged, mostly heavy songs. The crowd was thining out though. Thankfully the fat cheerleader in front of me left. That long ass song about a dieing fire went on and on and on and is the reason I said Bloodflowers sucked ass. Even my friends said that that song should not have been played. They played til midnight, at least 2 hours. Several encores and finished with Boys Don't Cry. No new material but Bobby got noisy with the guitar. During Distintegretion I thought he was going to fall over while leaning on the mic. Very Loud.

the cure were amazing!!!!! ended up 3rd row center for the encores :) and it was the first time i saw the cure with lindsey (we met through the cure) after years of being at the same shows and never knowing each other, very special for us!!!!!

in order, the other bands that i enjoyed from best to worst:

1.violent femmes (they are always fun in concert and played "out the window"!) 2.psy.furs (played most my favorites) 3.interpol (did not know much by them but they were really good) 4.hot hot heat (very energetic but needed to go smoke and buy a drink, but they sounded great) 5.marc almond (awesome voice) 6.duran duran (just wanted them to get off stage, the cure anticipitation was driving me crazy) 7.echo and the bunnymen (suprisingly, they bored me :( ps---twist, they covered wild side by lou reed) 8.bow wow wow (i want candy.... nuff said)

i did'nt see berlin (really upset they went on so early) dramarama (did'nt care to see them) dasboard confessional (missed him/them... who cares) fountains of wayne (pee break, buy cure tshirt, smoke ciggs didnt care)

or any of the second stage bands...(never heard of them but wanted to give them a chance if we got there early enough)

kamar

Arrived in LA at 9 am Friday. Left at 850 am Sunday. Stayed at a friend's bachelor pad near Brentwood. Friday we cruised up PCH listening to Ther Velvet Underground, looking for a beach to chill at and drinking cheap Mexican beer. We enventually went back and hung around Venice Beach. Walked by the Morrison Hotel. Later had sushi and sakee. Not quite sure how we got the car home but I was told that he remembers us singing Femme Fatale.

Took the bus to Hollywood to meet another friend. Hit a shaker bar then another bar. By this ime I had been awake for 24 hours and asked to go home. While passed out on a couch, someone tried to break into the apartment. We found an open window and a moved screen. Nothing missing. I must have detered them.

Had a cheap Mexican breakfast and several gallons of water and diet coke to suppress hangover. Winston, my friend, had a worse hangover and was complaining of shortness of breath on the way to the concert. Ends up that he had the seat warmer on!! Once there, cheap Mexican beer killed the hangovers.

Went to sleep immediately upon return. By now it was 2 am and I needed to be at LAX by 8 am.

Noticed that the crowd was white, Latino and Asian. Only a handful of blacks.

The Cure's chronological set was a nice gimmick but they were a bit lazy about it. Did you notice the only albums represented by more than 1 song were those played at the Trilogy shows? I think they should have focused on more accessible material to keep the unconverted from walking out. Considering there were time constraints not present in one of their regular gigs, trotting out all those epics defied logic as well.

Ultimately, they did play quite a bit from Disintegration (my favourite of the "Trilogy") but I would have preferred more albums to be better represented.

I also thought the set was leading up to an unveiling of a new track at the end but it was not to be. No, Duran Duran's new, unreleased song was no consolation.

Considering the size of the Cure's back catalogue, you're bound to leave disappointed in some way I suppose.

I am glad they kepted it heavy. The unconverted were the Duran2 folks thinking they could get a jump on the traffic, they did not. And its their fault because Duran2 played for an extra half hour and did an encore.

I think the only album missed was Faith. Bloodflowers' 39 should have been left out as well as the one from Wild Mood Swings (the only song I did not recognize at all). But The Kiss was amazing.

my favorites were want, i froze for 1 minute, the whole setlist was great! they talked about doing something similar to this a while ago for their 25th anniversary. side notes on the show....

if interpol sounded tired or not with it, they played chicago friday night flew to LA and then played in the afternoon

anyone notice how duran had sound problems and simon lebon was pissed? well those bastards didnt do a sound check at all. The cure did their soundcheck the night before (lindsey and I were there listening to the whole thing right outside the artist entrance, almost me them, and snuck into the venue and caught a glimpse of roger)and they sounded fucking great, as a matter of fact, sal, the security guard at the artist entrance gate said the cure were the only ones to do a soundcheck. we were the only 2 fans there and it quite honestly felt like a private cure show, heard everything perfectly. a night ill never forget (friday) :)

kamar

Only the Cure did a sound check?? Morons. I thought Simon L was ill, coughing between verses and songs. I also noticed that someone climbed up a tower in the lawn right before Flock of Seaguls song came on. When E#cho started we could barely hear them until the middle of Over the Wall.

Originally posted by twist Only the Cure did a sound check?? Morons. I thought Simon L was ill, coughing between verses and songs. I also noticed that someone climbed up a tower in the lawn right before Flock of Seaguls song came on. When E#cho started we could barely hear them until the middle of Over the Wall.

I didn't notice the coughing. I did hear him bitching about the problems with his wireless mic. Didn't it completely cut out at one point and he ran to John's mic to continue?

Echo's set sounded great from where I was sitting.

echo did sound good, though they would be better fitted for a small club rather than an ampitheatre. i noticed a sound guy running out and giving simon a mic i think. i sat through most their set. aside from the cure and femmes, the only other biggest cheer i gave was when they showed clips of depeche mode 101 on the screens :)

kamar