Wiltern, LA

[creek]

Hey people,
just found the new location to the Blvd! Any of you going to the LA show tonight?
i thought it could be nice to meet up somewhere. i'm driving up from San Diego and will hopefully get up there with some time to relax before. i'll be planning on recording the show for us all too, so hopefully look for it by the wknd.

[Hermesacat]

Hey creek:
I've been intending to email you re. this forum, & about my recording of Monday's Seattle Mazzy show (details of which you may already have seen in the forum - I've upped the Seattle show to youtube & to a file hosting site ), & was wondering if you're doing any taping for this tour as you did in 2012. Good to see you found your way here on your own, & that you're taping the L.A. show. Excellent.

[ForceofNature]

I attended the show last night in LA. What a great show! I got into Mazzy Star when Into Dust was featured on a Gears of War commercial on TV and I fell in love with Hope's voice. Since then I have become familiar with the band's history and all of their past material and I feel that they are a very underrated entity

I recorded the whole show on my Android Galaxy S3 using the Easy Voice Recorder Pro app, the only problem is that the audio quality leaves a lot to be desired. The mic gets overloaded so whenever Hope sings the vocals crackle in the mic so that is a little annoying

If anyone wants it merely for archival purposes I would be happy to upload it, although the topic creator has alluded to recording the show so I bet that would be better quality.


Again the show was fantastic! The audience for the most part was respectful - although Hope chimed in before the first encore (California) where she told someone to stop with the ridiculous lights- maybe referring to a camera?

Edit: and by the way there were the occasional shouting like "play Fade Into You!" and whatnot but from where I was it was pretty chill

[Hermesacat]

Someone else who attended the Wiltern show said the show was ''plagued'' by some loudmouths who came to the show drunk.

btw, it's good, ForceofNature, you recorded the show, but I figure people who like recording live shows should maybe consider investing in recorders that yield quality recordings. Why not? And good quality recorders are pretty inexpensive nowadays. The Zoom H1 recorder I used at the Seattle show did a good job, & those retail for $100. And they fit in a shirt breast pocket. And one doesn't even need to buy one. I rented mine for the day from a camera supply place for $15 'cause I doubt I'll be wanting to record enough shows to justify buying one as I only have a very few ''very fave'' artists/bands I love enough that I'd want to both see & record them, & they unfortunately they don't seem to come to my neck of the woods too often (I wish they would!). To pay $15 to have a good quality recording of a Mazzy show I attended that I can enjoy listening to forever while recollecting being there is a bargain. Having a poor quality version not easy to listen to wouldn't be the same.

[ForceofNature]

For me I wasn't really planning on recording the show, I was just going through that app before the show and it occurred to me "hey let's try this thing out". So it is a decent memento of the show for me for better or worse quality - I just discovered this site today so I didn't know someone was planning on recording it. It was just a fun go at an app I have but haven't really used beyond recording ideas for songs with just myself and a guitar.

I have toyed with the idea of getting something to record shows with but I haven't really actually gone out and done it because usually I am at shows that are a little more "high octane" rock such as Soundgarden and Pearl Jam so it isn't like I would sit still during those to ensure a good recording anyway

[Hermesacat]

Fair enough!
-update: The entire Wiltern show (audio) was upped to YT by someone, here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k4KReqOBvg

[Hermesacat]

Forum member "creek" attended the L.A. Wiltern show Nov. 7 & shot 3 video clips from near the stage:
California, So Tonight That I Might See, & I've Been Let Down. Those were the last 3 songs the band performed at the gig & were done in two encores. The first two songs are complete, while I've Been Let Down gets cut-off early. Image-wise, I've Been Let Down is the standout as creek got some nice, clear images of Hope on that one. She's more ghostly in the other two. The sound quality's pretty good, & I have his permission to upload them to you tube, here:
http://youtu.be/US1ltbRAXss
Thank you creek.
For the youtube upload, the three clips have been put together into one video.

[GuntahKela]

I attended the concert at the Wilter, last week. It was my first MS concert, ever. For 17 years, I always said I'd book a plane ticket and go to were ever MS would play. So I did, since they have yet to come to my state. It's cool. I love visiting LA. Tons of cool friends, there.

Speaking of cool people, it was cool to make a line with people who HAVE HEARD of MS. Once, each 2 years, I'd run into someone who kinda new that one song, sang by that Mazzy Star girl. Yes, most people I spoke to knew them for that one song that made the band, and not much else.

On their defense, I also got to know the band because of Fade into you, when it made Mtv's the Buzz list, in 1994. I'd stay up past 1:00am for Mtv's Alternative nation to show MS music videos, Fade into you and Halah, which introduced me to the "She hangs up brightly" album.

Then, among my swam came about, and not much else. The world was moving on, and music was soon over-taken by Hip-Hop, Hip-Rock,Hip-Pop, boybands and girlbands...until I got on the internet, a few years later. I must have spent a fortune buying rare, exclusive, unreleased MS tracks off ebay.

When the warm inventions toured, I was in no financial position to travel to a concert. twice, the timing was bad. Ugh! I promised myself I'd go see them live. Although they are not Mazzy Star, I still loved their music just as much, and I just wanted to see Hope perform her songs.

Then, out of no where, Mazzy star comes back and releases 2 new songs. 2 songs that I heavily listen to. 1 year and a half, the full album is announced, plus the tour. Right after buying my concert ticket, a booked my plane ticket, and started planning November around it. I looked forward to the concert more than Halloween.

I bought my Floor/Pit ticket only hours before it sold out, and glad I did because the loudmouth talkers seemed to have been all in the back. We were all quiet, in the front. I didn't care much about checking-out the opening acts, but the Entrance band was pretty cool. Those guys played their asses off. I'm currently listening to more of the music.

MS walked onto stage, welcomed with applauses. It's David Roback, and Suki Ewers...and Keith Mitchell...and...and...Hope, who walked out, last.

People kept yelling, pointing out Hope's Ipad. If you stood on the left side of the pit, instead of seeing Hope's face, you saw a dark Ipad's silhouette blocking it. I was at the front, and got a clear view of everything.

After 2 encores, the lights were turn back on, and people rushed to the stage's floor, savagely tearing the set-list sheets off the roadies' hands. Things got intense, as some people almost got from physical to violent. One would think they wanted a life-vest in a sinking boat. I just wanted to get my ticket back as a souvenir, which I did.
I stayed for another hour, talking to people about the show, and hanging out. As I walked back to my hotel, I spotted a few people, behind the theater, with MS posters and Vinyl albums. I figured i'd go talk to these MS fans for a little bit. They were waiting for the band to come out. I figured it'd be freaking awesome to meet them, so I ran to my hotel, grabbed my travel book, and came back down.

We must have waited for 2 and 1/2 hours. Our group of 15+ started to shrink as people gave-up and left. Plus, the 55 dropping temperature wasn't helping. We keep spotting people coming out of the theater, but no MS. From where we stood from, we could only see dark silhouettes. We, finally, see a woman who could be Hope, walking with people. Then she started jumping up and down, in a playful pattern. People quickly dismissed her being hope with a "Nah, she is too happy to be Hope." We all laughed. Random MS humor.

Out of Nowhere, David Roback came to greet us. He was a gentle giant: tall, and friendly. He took the time to talk to each of us and signed a few things, although autographs are not his thing. Then, Suki came about and also greeted us.

It would be another hour, and only 7 of us were left. Hope was inside her bus, and came down to meet us. Maybe, we caught her in a very, very good mood, because she was nothing as interviews and articles describe her. I was expecting to meet a super-ultra-mega introverted woman, but she was very cool with us, shaking hands, talking about her Mexican background, checking out the collectables people brought, and she, even, spoke to me in Spanish. We had to be the coolest people who went to the concert, or, at least, we felt that way. Hope gave me her famous cat-doodle autograph, and David, pretty much, drew sketchy, squarish lines.
Dave: What's your name
Me: JC
Dave: ...For Jesus Christ?
Me: Maybe.
Dave: what's your name?
ME: Juan Carlos
Dave:...JUAN!!!
And gave me a bear hug.
Then, he got Silvia Gomez, composer of "Give you my lovin" to sign the book, too. She refused, but still wrote "my life."
Then, Dave passed the book to Keith Mitchell to sign it, too. We had the band all to ourselves for over 40 minutes. I was making up for all those concerts I had missed in the last 17 years.

Then, it was time for everyone to board the buses and head to Colorado. We waved the busses good bye and called it a night.
Some pictures of the night can be seen here:
http://instagram.com/oakley_ranger

[Hermesacat]

GuntahKela:
Thanks for posting your most interesting account, & about how you were fortunate to get to meet the band.
I've read other stories of Hope being gracious to fans too. Nice. It's good to know David was pleasant as well. A bear hug even!

In an interview, Hope said she stopped giving autographs for a long time 'cause she thought the idea of them was a bit silly, or something, although she was happy to meet & speak with fans sometimes. She said she later relented & resumed autographing stuff 'cause she could see too many people were so disappointed when she'd say no.

I don't think I've ever seen a photo of Hope's cat-doodle autograph. More proof she's a dedicated cat person. Cats of hers have been mentioned in several articles over the years, & cat images keep turning up on
Mazzy album covers & merch. (I can think of 5 examples), & she's been known to write letters on stationary with kitten pics on them, apparently. She mentions cats in one of her HS&TWI songs, & she even meows, cat-like, through the JAMC song ''Perfume'' she sings on! This very minor side-aspect of Hope interests me just 'cause I too am a cat person, & it appeals to me Hope (& maybe David) are too. In fact, in most of the Mazzy Star or Hope S &TWI slideshows I've upped to youtube there are one or more cat pics snuck in in recognition of this.
I'd love to see a scan or photo of Hope's cat-doodle autograph. Any chance you could upload a photo of yours somewhere & a post link for it? That would be great.
..........................................................................
[LATER EDIT, FEB. 2016: For those following GuntahKela's (Juan's) fascinating account of meeting the band in 2013, look for the "page 2" button, or the "Next" button as there are more posts found on page 2 of this thread not to be missed]

[GuntahKela]

Pics:

http://instagram.com/oakley_ranger