grouplove — Page 2

The Rock Subculture Journal 2012 Year In Review (Jason DeBord’s Top 10 Live Music Concerts; Top 10 Studio Albums & Songs)

January 2, 2013 by Jason DeBord 16 Comments

2012 was an amazing year for both new music and live concert events, and although writing this “year in review” proved to be a monumental task, it was fun for me to do it to relive some special moments and appreciate the opportunities I had over the past 12 months to find new music and attend so many awesome live shows. It’s funny because many concerts and tours are announced with little notice, so at the start of any given year, you don’t really know what to expect, and 2012 definitely held a lot of surprises. When all was said and done, I ended up going to 58 concerts in 2012, each of which featured anywhere from one to seven artists, so that is a lot of live performances.

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“Not So Silent Night” by Live 105 (Night 2, #NSSN) at Oracle Arena | Oakland, California | 12/8/2012 (Concert Review)

December 10, 2012 by Jason DeBord 9 Comments

As noted yesterday, Not So Silent Night (NSSN) is Live 105’s “Annual Holiday Rock Show”, with 2012 being the first year it spans two consecutive nights. This second night featured headliner The Killers, along with M83, Passion Pit, Tegan and Sara, GROUPLOVE, and Imagine Dragons. Again, I was very, very impressed at how extremely well managed this multi-artist event was on both nights. Oracle Arena again served as host to six amazing acts in about seven hours time, with very brief breaks in-between. I found the two night show to be such a great event to attend, to have an opportunity to see so many great bands back to back, with a stellar closing set by The Killers.

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No Doubt at Gibson Amphitheatre (Night 6, #NDnight6) | Universal City, California | 12/04/2012 (Concert Review)

December 5, 2012 by Jason DeBord 28 Comments

“You’re singing the words to the new songs… I can’t express… how happy I am that it touched you and connected to you… thank you for that… it’s the greatest feeling ever.” Gwen Stefani taking a moment (one of many) to chat with her fans at the sold out show at the 6,200 capacity Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City – the sixth of their “Seven Night Stand” special residency shows running late November through tomorrow. Having recently released their first new album in 11 years, Push and Shove, the audience of mostly dedicated fans flocked from all over the U.S. and beyond to see this amazing band perform live truly better than ever. In addition to putting on a phenomenal show, front woman Stefani took many moments to reach out to fans – sometimes literally – and all the members of the Anaheim band (Tony Kanal, Tom Dumont, Adrian Young, Stephen Bradley, and Gabriel McNair) seemed to be having the time of their lives on stage. Hopefully this will serve as a prelude to a full tour next year, given the reception of these shows and the strength of the new album, which is fantastic. Truly an epic night that will not be forgotten by those lucky enough to have attended this show or one of the others.

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GROUPLOVE at The Boulevard Pool at The Cosmopolitan | Las Vegas, Nevada | 10/4/2012 (Concert Review)

October 5, 2012 by Jason DeBord 6 Comments

GROUPLOVE is one of those bands that, I think, will take a bit of hindsight to figure out… maybe a decade from now, in that their talent, earnestness, and originality seems boundless. They are definitely doing their own thing, and in these somewhat darker times with people facing a lot of struggles and challenges, their unique and incredibly upbeat music is truly a breath of fresh, sweet air. While they appear quite Earthy and friendly in appearance, and those familiar with the hits they’ve generated that have gotten the most airplay and attention may expect them to be a bit more quiet and acoustic-driven, by the end of their hour and a half long set atop a rooftop along the Las Vegas strip, they were completely rocking The Boulevard Pool at The Cosmopolitan. Though only formed a couple of years ago, this band is going places, and it is definitely a journey on which their growing fans are happy to accompany them.

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