It was by pure coincidence that I found myself arriving in Los Angeles on the same day that Dave Grohl’s Sound City Players shut down part of Hollywood Blvd – a privilege normally reserved for a film shoot or the Oscars – to put on a massive, free concert for competition winners and those lucky enough to grab a ticket on the website 1iota. I was in the latter category and the night was something of a mixed blessing. The music was incredible, sure – you definitely don’t get to see musicians of this calibre play together like this very often! – but the context of it all – as well as my location miles away from the stage – may have perhaps spoiled some of the charm of the anticipated performance at SXSW, which I’ll hopefully catch next week.
The set, which ran for about 80 minutes, was filmed for the US TV talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live. He’s always had the luxury of putting on outdoor events, and in the past I’ve had the pleasure of witnessing bands like The Decemberists on his more intimate – but still grandiose – parking lot stage. For this mammoth Sound City event, ultimately promoting the imminent release of the Sound City: Real to Reel record and the film’s official physical release on March 12th, the stage moved onto Hollywood Blvd and saw a reported 10,000 people brave the cooler temperatures for the unique chance to see so many legends in action.
Asked to arrive at 5pm, by that point so many had already been lining up that I was unfortunately relegated to the event’s back section. The Blvd was split into three groups, with huge spaces in between each, meaning not only that you were further away from the action that you may have otherwise been, but also that there was never going to me much unity from the crowd; nor a real sense of excitement or atmosphere. Which was a pity given the calibre of the performance. Indeed, in amongst the two hour lead up to the set, Jimmy’s warm up guy struggled to do the job Dave Grohl manages in his stride – getting people to ignore the fact that they’re on TV and just enjoy the concert (the past Foo Fighters Channel [V] events being a great example of this). Until the “scream really loud – you’re on TV!” bullshit was over, following Rick Springfield, it was an incredibly difficult show to get into.
The night was divided into four parts, kicking off with the legend from Creedence Clearwater Revival, the one and only Mr. John Fogerty. As the show would take shape for each of the four featured Players, the set featured the song that was made for the Sound City album and film, as well as plenty of the artist’s own, classic material, using the Foo Fighters and guests as their backing band. An interesting concept to say the least but one that has worked well for the artists so far, tonight being no exception.
Fogerty kicked things off with Creedence’s “Travelin’ Band”, before hitting his own “Centrefield” and then back on to the best of Creedence: “Keep on Chooglin'”, “Proud Mary” and “Fortunate Son” closing things off. Dave couldn’t keep the smirk off his face. This is definitely a man living the dream. He touched on that at the close of the show, saying “Never in my life would I have dreamed I would have achieved something as cool as this…”, not only talking about the film, and the series of concerts, but the fact that he was able to literally shut down a major Hollywood street in the process.
And he wasn’t the only one having fun on the stage. For the featured players, this series of shows has given their music a new sort of life. How many times would Rick Springfield have played “Jessie’s Girl” by now? And it seems like he’s honestly enjoying playing it with the Foo Fighters as his backing hand. Also in Springfield’s set was “Love is Alright Tonight”, a seemingly improptu cover of Sammy Hagar’s “I’ve Done Everything For You” and the song recorded for the Sound City album “The Man That Never Was” – which was pretty rockin’! But as they had to perform it twice for TV, it sort of took the magic away a bit…
Lee Ving of Fear, who Grohl cites as a major influence, was next, with special guest Alain Johannes on backing guitar. The infamous voice of 80’s punk went through a few of the band’s most well known tracks, recorded at Sound City: “I Love Livin’ In The City” (a true singalong if there ever was one…), “I Don’t Care About You” and “Foreign Policy”. They opened with their track for the soundtrack, “Your Wife Is Calling”, which was pretty bad arse.
Closing things off was Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick, with very special guest Krist Novaselic, the legendary bass guitarist of Nirvana. With Dave moving onto the drums for “Hello There”, “Stiff Competition” and “I Want You To Want Me”, Taylor Hawkins took on lead vocals. Add in the image of Krist and Pat Smear by his sid and it was about as close to seeing Nirvana live as you could possibly get; Hawkin’s golden hair reminiscent of Cobain’s… but this surreal moment didn’t get in the way of the fact that it was just fucking cool to hear Cheap Trick songs played live in this fashion. The night ended as it did in the UK, with the phenomenal “Surrender”, seeing Dave move back onto the guitar and lead vocals.
The music was saw tonight was epic, and in spite of the nature of the show, the band had a great time with it all, and for the most part, so did the crowd. It was just an odd setup, and the nature of TV doesn’t lend itself to something like this; a once in a lifetime opportunity for many. For myself, however, knowing the longer, less TV focused events in Austin and hopefully Sydney, too, are just around the corner, featuring many of the same artists, I couldn’t help but feel a bit miffed I’d soiled the experience somewhat. But if tonight’s show in LA ends up being the only Sound City Players experience I do have, then I’m damn glad I didn’t miss it. Irrespective of repeat opportunities, each live endeavour is very much a one time deal. I just can’t wait ’til the next one…
Header photo taken at New Orleans Jazz Fest, 2012, by Pip Cowley.
You’ll note I didn’t go into why these concerts have been taking place… I think it’s been covered and mentioned enough by this point. If you don’t know what Sound City is, you can learn a bit more HERE.
