Tag Archive for ‘Gig’ at Tryphoon’s Lair

Tag Archive for 'Gig'

Another Camp Freddy gig, this time with the whole family

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on October 10, 2008

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Last Saturday, checking my emails and Facebook page, I realized that “Camp Freddy” (see post for full background) were playing another one of their acoustic sets, this time in Malibu. We already attended one of these, a couple of months ago and Thia loved it, so I thought “Why not?” and after a great lunch in “Little Tokyo”, we headed towards the ocean to enjoy a bit of live music.

Arrived at the Cross Creek shops in Malibu, The first thing that was great at that gig was the huge playground located right in the middle of all the shops. And what shops! Apparently some of the best sushi in the State, Chrome Hearts leather everything, sneakers that only exist in the Tokyo underground stores.
The occasion for the event was that John Varvatos was opening a new store there and had invited Camp Freddy to play.

Once we had played enough in the playground, meeting again with Donovan Leitch’s daughter, we made our way to the pit, or to be more precise, the green space right in front of the stage, covered with rugs and pillows where mums and kids were enjoying the concert…

Thia once again enjoyed the music and decided that it was fashionable to wear a deflated balloon as a hat while dancing her feet off in front of the band. As per the Camp Freddy tradition, several guests joined the usual lineup for a couple of songs including this time Steve Stevens (Billy Idol) , Corey Taylor (Slipknot) and Perry Farrell (Jane’s Addiction). Unusual event in Los Angeles: The rain came and disturbed the concert, forcing us to migrate to the feet of the stage while most of the local were fleeing that weird cold thing falling from the sky!

All in all, a great day and a fab almost private acoustic gig.
Per the usual set of habits, more pictures are available in the “PrettyPics” section.

Nine Inch Nails at the Forum…

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Tryphoon

on October 6, 2008

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It all started last month by a twitt‘ from me fellow colleague @jaybushman:

jaybushman: I’ve got an extra ticket to see NIN, Saturday at the Forum. msg me if interested. Especially if you’ve got a Nick Cave ticket to trade

I have been extremely keen on NIN for a while but never got the opportunity to attend one of their gigs. Sarah and Thia are in Europe, so there is no need for heavy planning. I am a free agent. I will attend…

Jay describes it then as:

jaybushman: @tryphoon just ran across the floor to make sure he was the first person to claim my extra NIN ticket. now, to find a Nick Cave ticket!

The set day is there and I am on my way to the forum. Not a minute too early as Jay has assured me we have seated tickets. I finally win fight over the 405 traffic and the long single road towards the forum and enter the place when I receive a text message from Jay, letting me know that he is about to leave home. No worries, I’ll have a hot dog and a couple of beers while waiting for both buddy and band.

Once inside, I realize (matching to my old memories of the place) that there is no such thing as a seated area at pit level! We are with the animals!!! Not that I fear a bit of jumping but NIN’s music can generate some interesting crowd moves…

Very shortly after having found out about our location for the gig, the lights went down and the show started. Very softly at first, with the song 999,999 from their latest album. Then 1,000,000 and the crowd went nuts…

For those of you into these things, the complete set list was the made of 999,999, 1,000,000, Letting You, March of the Pigs, Head Down, The Frail, Closer (The Only Time), Gave Up, The Warning, Vessel, 5 Ghosts I, 17 Ghosts II, 19 Ghosts III, Ghosts Piggy, The Greater Good, Pinion, Wish, Terrible Lie, Survivalism, The Big Comedown, 31 Ghosts IV, Only, The Hand That Feeds, Head Like A Hole

The Encore was Echoplex, Reptile, God Given, Hurt, In This Twilight.

I sadly left at the beginning of the encore, not keen on spending 2 hours stuck in my car, trying to exit the local car park!

The show itself was awesome, alternating pure energy loaded songs with extremely quiet ones (From the Ghosts albums), during which I pushed myself closer and closer to the stage, finally ending up around the 3rd row, squished to death but happy!

Trent Reznor was in perfect form, throwing his microphone stand, hammering his guitar, dressed in dark burgundy shirt. The show visuals were insane, both at the front and the back of the stage and the morphing of Bush’s face into McCain’s during “The Hand That Feeds” was in itself worth a million dollars!

Another band member and real pleasure to finally see live, Robert Fink is back on board after several years spent trying to release the (maybe released later this year) Chinese Democracy with Axl Rose and The Robots, also known as the new Guns’ n Roses…

All in all, an excellent gig… Thanks again to @jaybushman for letting me be part of it!

As usual, more pictures available in the PrettyPics section

In which Camp Freddy enjoy a month of residency at the Roxy

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on August 13, 2008

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Time flies… It has now been a couple of month since Camp Freddy took residency at the Roxy Theater for a full month. As memories tend to fade and it would have been to much to detail each gig, I thought I should give you a little video mashup of that month.

For those of you who don’t know Camp Freddy, who never heard of Camp Freddy or simply have a doubt, the band is made of several of the best rock musicians available these days. The current line up is made of:

Dave Navarro - Guitar (Jane’s Addiction, The Panic Channel and Red Hot Chili Peppers)
Billy Morrison - Guitar (Circus Diablo, The Cult and Doheny)
Matt Sorum - Drums (Velvet Revolver, Guns N’ Roses and The Cult)
Donovan Leitch, Jr. - Vocals (Nancy Boy)
Chris Chaney - Bass (Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders, Jane’s Addiction and The Panic Channel)

Just this to me justifies to attend any of their gig anywhere in LA.

We used to listen to their radio show when we used to live in London (not in real time though) and I must admit that some of the life described during these weekly shows might have been one of the selling points when it came to move to California! And you have to agree that Sunset Boulevard and The Roxy, being two of the major landmarks of rock history, were the perfect place for these guys to enjoy a full month of residency.

What makes this band so special? Apart from the fact that they are possibly the best in their individual fields and sound terrific? They have tons of friends and the trademark of Camp Freddy is to have them perform randomly at each gig!

The list is too long to detail but the main acts I can remember during this month of gigs are Nuno Bettancourt (Extreme), Billy Duffy (The Cult), Billy Idol, Brett Scallions (Tools), Chad Smith (RHCP), Chester Bennington (Linkin Park), Corey Taylor (Slipknot), Cypress Hill, Tommy Lee (Mötley Crüe),Duff McKagan (Guns’N'Roses, Velvet Revolver), Jerry Cantrell (Alice in Chains), Juliette Lewis, Lemmy (Motorhead), Mark McGrath (Sugar Ray), Robbie Krieger (The Doors… Yes, The Doors), Slash (Guns’N'Roses), Warren DeMartini (RATT), Wayne Static, Vivian Campbell (Def Leppard), MacQueen. Basically, 90% of my dream team when it comes to playing or listening to music!

I should have blogged on a weekly basis as so many things happened there but the highlights of this month to me were:

bumping into Lemmy on day one and being given “the look” as I was still dressed in “Corporate America” style (including a pink shirt)
a monstrous rendition of “Paradise City” by Slash, Duff and Matt Sorum (60% of the Old GnR), sung by Chester from Linkin Park. I went berserk!
a masterpiece version of “All Right Now” sung by Corey Taylor (Slipknot)
Tommy Lee breaking a drum kit (or so we were told, as Matt Sorum though he was too drunk to play another song)
having a couple of beers with Chad Smith (RHCP) and some of his friends (Sarah went nuts)

Most of the pictures for these gigs are to be found under the “PrettyPics” section, sorted by gig; Week 1, Week 2, Week 3 and Week 5.

And even more interesting, here are links to a couple of videos I shot and YouTubed of Jerry Cantrell and Billy Duffy playing Thin Lizzy’s “Jailbreak” and Juliette Lewis singing AC/DC’s “Dirty Deeds (Done Dirt Cheap)”.

It is definitely good to live here when it comes to rock music!

In which I meet with Def Leppard

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on August 1, 2008

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Still catching up with overdue posts: Jef is gone but made sure he got me back on the “live music” path before he left…

Back in April, talking to one of my colleague at the office (one of the few Brits working there), I was describing in great length our impromptu gig on the streets of LA and my love for good old rock ‘n’ roll… During that chat, this colleague of mine, who will remain anonymous to avoid people to harass him, asked me if I would be interested in going and see some old heavy metal band, I name Def Leppard, who were playing at some weird location in the middle of an Indian reserve, 1 1/2 hours east of LA…

Def Leppard? Was he joking? I used to be a major fan of the band, back in… ouch… 1988-1990… Well, good music always remains good music and I would have been silly to refuse such an offer. He started to explain to me that he knew some guy who was in some way related to the band and had been friends of theirs for years and as a result, every now and then, he got the opportunity to go and see them performing. OK, fine, I don’t care much (at that point) as long as I can be there and enjoy the gig!

On the day of the gig, I wish good night to the little monster and her mummy and jump on the pimp mobile and start my trek into uncharted territories. As planned, 1 1/2 later, I reach the Soboba casino, in the middle of the freaking desert: the latest place on earth I would have expected to see a band of international caliber playing! Once again, my first thought is: Who cares as long as the band plays!

I meet with my anonymous colleague in front of the venue and am handed my ticket and… backstage pass! Oh oh!! Now we’re talking! We look for our seats and I realize that we are, well, simply in front of the stage! One step closer and we are with the band! Fan-freaking-tastic! Not only will I get to see a band I love but I am as well going to see them from extremely close and even maybe meet with them after the gig if my colleague’s relation is around and manages to get us introduced.

The gig is fab, the band still amazingly fresh and the audience is… well… as good as you would expect it in such venue! Half way through the gig, my colleagues bends towards me and explains that “the guy I have to thank for the ticket is the dude with the white jacket”. I look at the stage, I look at him and answer: “Do you mean Rick Savage, the bass player? He is the only one with a white jacket that I can see from here!?!?”. He smiles and silently confirms that his real connection with the band his their bass player aka Sav… I check my backstage pass and realize that it is initialed RS… Holly smokes!! I guess that y friend’s friend is a friend of Sav…

Once the gig ended, we started our walk towards the backstage area (less than a minute away in this place) and ended up chatting (very briefly) to the band’s long lasting Tour Manager (remove him and the show stops) and waiting for some form of after party to begin. Sadly, as this concert was the band’s last on on the US leg of their World tour, band members were busy moving their stuff from their tour busses to their various cars, vans, driving back to LA that night!

So no big party ahead. I’m a bit disappointed for a couple of minutes (despite the long drive home requiring soberness) and as we are about to leave the place, Sav himself summons my buddy for a quick chat at the back of one of their buses. The guy explains to us that he usually dislikes crowds and seems to prefer hiding from them…

As I had been warned about but would have never expected, I found Sav to be one of the nicest guy I’ve met in a long time. Down to Earth, big time and not passionate about himself (like so many “Almost made it to stardom” kind of guys). No, his passions seem to be genuine and simple. Music. Pleasing crowds, a quick drink and last but absolutely not least Footie aka Soccer (especially if not only the Sheffield Wednesday club).

The result of this meeting is something quite out of the ordinary:

We’re in the middle of an Indian (native Americans) reserve (let’s face it, in the middle of freaking nowhere)
Chatting with the Bass player of one of the bands I have been revering for years
No bullshit is involved…
Coz’ we’re talking about the English Football League…

If only we would have had more time or a pub around, I am sure this evening would have been even more interesting!!!

PS: As per usual, more interesting pics in the appropriate section

In which Jef comes to LA, Thia is happy and I rediscover the joy of live music

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on July 24, 2008

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After a year of hesitation, my “little bro” Jef finally came to LA a couple of month ago and stayed with us for a couple of weeks (catching up on blog posts). I offered him to finance his flight (thanks to my remaining air miles) as a birthday present, removing the burden of having to choose between changing his boiler in his London apartment and visiting us.

After a difficult start seeing his inbound flight delayed then canceled, Jef finally made it to LAX, only delayed by a couple of hours, visiting on his way here the SFO airport. No need to say that Thia was ecstatic to see him (he his her Godfather as well as her silly “uncle”) and the first night of his stay was punctuated with laughter and a little one going to bed way passed her bed time!

It would take too long to describe in great details all the things that we did during his stay with us, but for the both of us, one of the highlight of his visit was some impromptu gig witnessed on the streets of LA.

For those who know Jef, you are aware that one of his passion is music, which is one of the reason we clicked so well as soon as he moved in with me in our London house several years ago. So, young Jef, always eager to find another chance to enjoy some privileged gig (he is the king of ending up backstage with acts) found out that Ben Harper, one of his favorite singer, was playing a couple of songs at the recording of the Late Night Show at NBC, only 2 streets away from where we live. Jef then conviced Sarah to join him and while I was working my socks off at the office, the 2 enjoyed a semi private gig on a TV set!

The story would be boring if it ended there but during the taping of the show, Jef heard that the band was playing that night an almost secret gig at a place called the Hotel Cafe, somewhere in Hollywood. So straight after the first gig, I picked Jef up and off we went to the cafe/club/bar. Once on site, we realized that the main act wasn’t Ben Harper but (even better) Tom Morello playing one of his nightwatchman gigs. Our sole problem at that point: The queue! The gig was meant to start at 8:00PM and here we were, at 8:10, still queuing on the street, doubting we would ever make it in. After almost an hour of queuing, we thought that all hope was definitely lost, despite being within the first 10 people not making it in, when the door dude kindly explained to us that the place was full, no one else would get in but “Tom almost always come outside and plays for the people who didn’t make it”… To good to be true! And so after a little while, Tom Morello appears in front of us and starts to play in the backstreet an acoustic gig for 20 to 30 privileged and overjoyed fans!

This sadly didn’t last long and after a couple of songs, Mr. Morello explained that he had to get back in and play on the main stage but that we shouldn’t leave as would make sure that we wouls always have some act coming out and do a little something. So we stayed and waited a little bit more. The wait was more than worth it and acts started coming out to perform in this back alley shortly after, including some Nine Inch Nails member (we were told and I am still dubious about this one), singer Perry Farrell, Incubus’ guitarist Mike Einziger and last but not least, Ben Harper and band! And so it went for over 2 hours, one act, one jam, one slice of fun after the other!

Tom Morello obviously came out every now and then, either between acts or jamming with them until finally his gig, inside the Hotel Cafe ended and everybody decided to go home or carry on partying somewhere else… We went home…

And so was one of the highlight of Jef’s stay in Los Angeles… More pictures available in the Pics section

As previously said, there would be too many good things to write about, Jef’s birthday, my birthday (for once not celebrated in Las Vegas during NAB), Thia’s morning visits to a sleepy Jef and tons of smiles and laughters, our evenings at our local pub (Timmy Nolans), Jef’s visit to Tijuana in a brand new rental sports car, without any insurance, rented under my name (we freaked) and simply having Jef here, with us, the same way it used to be in London.

Sadly, every good thing has to end at some point and Jef returned to London, leaving a very sad Thia behind and a very empty house where none of us really wanted to acknowledge that he was gone for a couple of days…

See you soon little bro, you know the door is always open for you!

Tryphoon’s Lair