The Decemberists and Best Coast to Play Downtown Raleigh Amphitheater

WILLNCSU
03/08 12:57 PM

Her band Pocahaunted was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than best coast.

c'mon
03/08 01:11 PM

no one thinks pocahuanted was bethany’s band. and if you are going to name drop, la vampires is the best thing to come out of any of the p-haunt people.

WILLNCSU
03/08 02:01 PM

Fine, she was IN pocahaunted.  You are correct about LA Vampires though.  LA Vampires meet Zola Jesus is sick.  I just like droney noisey stuff better than pop stuff so I am not a huge fan of Best Coast.

Brian
03/12 08:45 PM

Can we all just agree that the Decemberists are terrible and leave it at that?

WILLNCSU
03/13 08:36 PM

I can definitely agree to that.  Not a fan.  Cant wait to see who they get to play the amphitheater this summer though.  It was shockingly decent last year.  This is a good start regardless of what I think of the Decemberists.  They are a good band to play there.  How good would someone like pavement/sonic youth/pixies be?  Old school still draws a crowd and could pack it out(dating myself).  Very few good new bands could fill it due to the size.  Maybe grizzly bear or deer hunter?  Maybe some sort of small scale indie festival like the old lollapalooza?

M
03/14 01:26 PM

WILLNCSU makes a great point. I would love to see a small scale festival a la Lollapalooza/Pickathon/Sasquatch. Though there is Hopscotch, I think having something during the summer would be a smart move since May-July are basically “music festival season.”

c'mon
03/15 11:49 AM

Why would you want to see bands like Deerhunter at the amphitheater when they play every 4 months or so at Cats? Why would you want a return to the mid-90s alt-fests instead of hopscotch?

WILLNCSU
03/15 12:10 PM

Because I hate driving over to the Cats Cradle then having to get Zingo back after having a couple beers.  They are probably too small for a 5k person amphitheater anyway.  Kings and the Lincoln Theater are both better venues than the cats cradle but they struggle to pull national indie bands away from chapel hill.  I have never understood why, there are far more college students and young professionals here than in Chapel Hill/Carrboro. 

Why not have both types of festivals?  Who said to get rid of hopscotch?  Both would be great.

c'mon
03/15 05:12 PM

Cause outdoor shows are awful? No Age at hopscotch should be proof of that. Awesome club band, put them in the open air and it sounds like a radio going bad.

Lincoln Theater is worse than the old Ziggy’s in W-S and that’s saying something - awful sound, weird layout and the lineup they pull speaks for itself.

King’s is great, but there is far more indie youth culture in Carrboro (and i guess Chapel Hill) than Raleigh. Plus it is smaller than Cats. They should be pulling Local 506 bands - but I doubt they want to start fighting for bands. I’d rather have a larger indie venue that could have replaced the need for the Ritz - and could place larger indie bands like the National or Neko Case in indoor non seated venues. That seems to be need rather than a bunch of mid-size and small veneus like the new crop of Casbah, MotorCo and the new King’s.

percy
03/20 12:59 PM

The whole music venue/relationship-to-bands/relationship-to-fans scene here is a fragile house of cards. It’s all the same people playing in the bands, working at the venues & bars and attending the shows. I’m not seeing any breakout to the wider population at large, just a constant round-robin of half-full venues and nepotistic buddy-system booking and hiring policies. It’s insulating and comforting to those enjoying a scene they see as “theirs” - but it could snap under pressures social or economic. Let’s at least acknowledge some of those pressures, please.

FREE SHOWS
03/20 02:29 PM

Where is Budlight Downtown Live and Alive after 5?  These bands would be perfect for the free shows.  Did the DRA and City Council blow those deals completely? 

New Raleigh, give us an update on the free events that we have two perfect venues for - City Plaza and Moore Square.

The days of Alive After 5 on Thursdays in the summer need to be brought back, since we paid to have that nice plaza built!

percy
03/27 03:41 PM

Wow, FREE SHOWS, that’s mighty demanding of you. Why, one might think that New Raleigh.com was responsible for the things that upset you.

“We” didn’t pay to have it built. “They” took your money and spent it however they liked. They’ll do it again whenever they want. You didn’t get to vote on it then, and you have no say now either.

Downtown Live was replaced by the new Amphitheater.

Oh, and no updates for you. Ask your government for that, New Raleigh doesn’t owe anybody a damn thing.

Payme
03/27 04:56 PM

Percy, you must not have interpreted Free Shows comment the same way I do or have a very sensitive relatinship with NR.  It sounds like they want New Raleigh, the blog that writes articles on events and happenings in downtown, to find out about the free shows that Raleigh has had for years, but stopped when the Council and DRA decided to chase off the big sponsor in favor of an amphitheatre that could not be named after such sponsor.  It does not sound like they are blaming anyone at New Raleigh, just want some news on these events, which would be nice.  The current Amphitheatre brings in SOME good shows, but a majority of the acts are what we used to be able to see for free at venues the tax payers have already paid for and were a good time for all downtowner residents and people that worked downtown.  Not sure if you just moved to Raleigh, but I would love to see Alive After 5 back in the City Plaza any day of the week now that we spent all the money on fixing it up with all the extras.