Basia Bulat is a Canadian pop singer/musician who has been supporting DeVotchKa on the “Mad and Faithful Telling” tour. Her music was interesting, I thought it sounded great live. I’m curious to hear how her albums are though. Her style is a mixture of pop, folk and indie rock and the crowd really liked her set. I’m not sure what songs she played but I prefer the more upbeat ones. The slow tracks were okay too but I’d rather hear faster songs.

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Fancy Trash hail from Massachusetts and were the opening band for DeVotchKa at Terminal 5 in New York City. I never heard of the band before but they played an Americana acoustic folk rock; think Neil Young meets Loudon Wainwright III. The music wasn’t bad but not sure it’s something I’d listen to a lot. I didn’t really care for the singer’s vocals at times. I did like a few songs though. There were only 2 people in the band so there was only so many photos you could have taken of the group.

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I only saw Mike Ness once, and that’s when Social Distortion played the Warped Tour back in 1997. I had the choice between seeing The Descendents or Social D but I couldn’t get over to other stage in time so I had to stick around for Social Distortion. I wasn’t really a fan at the time but now I am. I just didn’t listen to Mike Ness and Social Distortion back then but glad I finally listened to his albums. This time around, he was back to play songs from his solo albums and he did a few honky tonk versions of Social D songs like “Story of my Life.” That was just one of the many highlights of the evening, and I loved when he played “Don’t Think Twice,” “Ballad of the Lonely Man,” “Rest of Our Lives,” “Charmed Life,” and “Ring of Fire.”

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She and Him (Featuring Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward) canceled their first night at Hiro Ballroom April 21st due to “sickness” (Zooey lost her voice). Instead of move the first show to a later date, the promoters decided to just combine both shows and move it to Webster Hall. The club was a lot bigger than Hiro Ballroom so it made sense, considering how fast the tickets sold out. I couldn’t believe the tickets sold out in a matter of minutes. I just never go to shows like that; I usually can get tickets a few days before the show.

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Ola Podrida was the opening band at the She and Him show at Webster Hall. The band hails from Brooklyn and has a indie/folk rock sound. They were originally supposed to open for the 2^nd night for She and Him at Hiro Ballroom. Since the first show got canceled, they ended up playing the second night anyway. I think I would appreciate Ola Podrida’s music on album more than I do live. It was hard to hear the singing but that might have been the sound system at Webster Hall. Maybe he’s just a quiet talker? Musically, they were good; just not the most exciting band to see live.

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Rogue Wave played Irving Plaza last Saturday at Irving Plaza, NYC. I never saw the band before so I didn’t know what to expect. They played a great set, filled with new & old songs. I loved when they played “Publish My Love,” “Harmonium,” “Like I Needed,” “Chicago X 12,” and their newest hit “Lake Michigan.” I call it a hit because it’s been all over those Zune commercials, and after that song played; a lot of people left the show. I hate when people do that. The last song of the evening for me was “California,” and that was in the encore. Not sure if they performed any other songs after that.

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