After the initial disappointment of not getting into the photo pit, I settled in as close as I could for Public Enemy for what would turn out to be an awesome show.

After a good, but a tad too long warm-up set from the Bomb Squad, Chuck D took the stage for a solo version of “Bring the Noise.” After Flav came out, he lovingly chastised his partner for missing the opening song (”How you gonna miss ‘Bring the Noise,’ Flav?”).

MP3: Public Enemy - Cold Lampin’ With Flavor

Shortly after that, people started yelling out “sirens!” which signal the opening of It Takes a Nation of Millions…. Chuck D laughed and said that if we wanted to hear them, we were going to have to do it ourselves. So that spawned a reasonable outpouring of some awkward sounding mouth sirens, leading into “Countdown to Armageddon.”

Other highlights included Flav getting angry after people booed his mention of his TV show (it did contrast well with their performance of “She Watch Channel Zero”), Flav’s drum solo and their closing hits that weren’t from the album: “Welcome To The Terrordome,” “Harder Than It Looks,” “911 Is a Joke” and, of course, “Fight the Power.”

More photos below the jump…

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I missed the Flaming Lips on VH1 last night, but luckily the internet has my back. Here’s the Flaming Lips covering the Who with a medley of Tommy songs. Thanks so much, internet.

It’s 3am in Louisville and I’ve just returned from seeing the Dark Knight at a midnight showing. As such, please excuse any ramblings, hyperbole or straight-up ridiculousness. In fact, I can save you some time now and summarize what I know ahead of time will be the subtext to anything I write about the movie I just saw: the Dark Knight makes every other movie in theaters today seem like a waste of my time.

Coming out of the theater after the Dark Knight, I was galvanized in a way that I haven’t been in a long time. I saw it with three friends who I’ll be driving to Chicago with tomorrow, and I know we’ll be talking about it for all of the five hour drive. And that’s actually not saying much about the film, considering that people will no doubt be discussing it decades from now. Everything you’ve read or heard about this movie is true: it’s the Godfather, it’s Heat and it’s something entirely new altogether. The people behind The Dark Knight created a masterpiece. They know it, I know it and millions of people are about to know it too.

MP3: The Jam - Batman Theme

When explaining the impact that Heath Ledger’s Joker has on screen, I’m going to start at an unlikely source: Gene Wilder’s Willy Wonka. Wilder said that he would take the job as Wonka under the condition that he got to enter the movie by pulling one over on the audience (his limp and cane). When asked why, he responded that “from that point on, no one will know when [he is] lying or telling the truth.” Similarly, the Joker’s first real scene firmly establishes him as an unpredictable madman. I won’t spoil the fun for you, but I will say that his “magic trick” was the first of three times my jaw dropped and a shot which elicited both laughter and chills from the audience I saw it with.

Heath Ledger absolutely, 100% without a doubt owns the screen for two hours. People are saying he should get a nomination for best supporting actor, but I left the movie convinced that he was clearly its star. I’m a big Christian Bale fan (”I have to return some video tapes”), but even he couldn’t match the intensity, the otherworldliness of Ledger’s creation. His scenes in prison and in the hospital are not only hallmark of a fantastic comic adaptation, but the markings of a classic film. At no point was I not focused on Ledger: during other people’s speeches, fight scenes he merely observed or when he was being driven down the street. If the Joker was on the screen, my eyes and thoughts were all on him.

Now, let me backtrack a little bit here. I believe that the most important part of deciding what kind of fan you are of the Batman mythology is seeing where you jumped into his world. For me it was the 1990s TV show Batman: The Animated Series. When I picture how Batman sounds, I hear Kevin Conroy, not Keaton or Clooney; and the Joker’s laugh always belonged to Mark Hamil, not Nicholson. But no matter where you jumped into Batman’s stream, The Dark Knight will be your roaring waterfall. It beats everything to come before it, and it sets an impossibly high standard for everything after it. Is it the best “superhero” movie? You bet. In fact, it just might be one of the greats.

To wrap it up (and I should wrap it up, I leave for Chicago in a few short hours), I’ll chop it all down for you. There is more humanity, art, beauty, adventure and shock in the Dark Knight’s two-plus hours than in anything you’ll see in the art house theaters this year, anything flowing forth from the major studios any time soon and certainly more than anything Michael Bay could do in his lifetime. Take it from me: I’m a few hours away from seeing some of the best bands on the planet perform and all I can think about is getting back home to Kentucky so I can see this movie again in the IMAX.

Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes! The trailer for Zach Synder’s adaptation of the Watchmen is now online. Stream it in fairly high quality at Apple.

Like /Film, I’m also impressed/surprised by what all is shown in the trailer. They pretty much hit all the big moments of the story. The Pumpkins’ song in the beginning is sort of lame, but whatever; I’m still wildly excited for this movie.

Elf Power’s show at Al’s Bar was a great kick-off to my fantastic long weekend. I was worried about attendance, given that Al’s is a relatively new bar and a bit out of the way, but we wound up selling out fairly early on. Good thing too, since I would’ve hated for our town to miss out on that great show.

MP3: Elf Power - Venus and Mercury

The setlist was a great mix of old and new stuff. My favorite track off the new album “Spiral Stairs” sounded absolutely great, as did the old songs. I did, however, make one fatal error of an Elf Power show: I went to sit in the back for the end of their set. They usually toss in at least one great cover (last time I saw them it was Eno) at the end of their set and this time was no different. They first played Wire’s “Reuters” and then closed with a rip roaring version of T Rex’s “20th Century Boy.” Even though I couldn’t see them tearing through it, I felt it. Oh, I felt it.

Anyone who’s read my site for some time might remember that I’ve been following the Lovely Feathers for a while. They’ve been quite a rollercoaster of emotion as of late: they’ve nearly broken up, almost scrapped their second record, etc etc etc. Luckily they’ve managed to put together the time and effort to finish LP2, Scherazadian. They’re currently streaming “Anne Lowiza” and “Ossified Horses”* over at their myspace. Hopefully tour dates will pop up soon.

The Lovely Feathers on Myspace

*the one we were calling the live version of “Rusty”

The day is finally here. Tonight Elf Power will be playing what is probably the most intimate show they’ve played in a little while. Making their long overdue return to Lexington, Elf Power will be playing a show at Al’s Bar (6th and Limestone) with Ham 1 and Andrew English (Scourge of the Sea). The door is 8:30, it’s all ages and $5. See you there.

MP3: Elf Power - Venus and Mercury

Dylan from the “now half-defunct” band Antarctica Takes It! emailed me today to let me know that he’s touring with a band called James Rabbit. Needless to say, that’s all it took to get me to check the band out. They’re kind of twee, but only in the sense that it sounds like they’re really having fun with it and are delightfully lo-fi.

MP3: James Rabbit - Girl Crazy!
I can’t believe that a song this simple can take so many twist and melodic turns without losing me along the way. The song largely sounds like Noah and the Whale, but often pulls up some first-record Architecture in Helsinki and even a couple vocal melodies that sound like Ted Leo. Basically, what I’m trying to convey to you is that this song is really awesome and I highly suggest it.

James Rabbit on Myspace

James Rabbit have a lot of free songs for download on their Myspace as well as some tour dates, so hit that up!