Airborne Toxic Event at Hard Rock Hotel
KPRI hosted a free show with Airborne Toxic Event on the Hard Rock Hotel’s rooftop this evening. It was a stellar show. Set list first and then some details and observations.
Airborne Toxic Event
Hard Rock Hotel San Diego
8/6/09
Wishing Well
This Is Nowhere
Something New
Gasoline
Happiness Is Overrated
Does This Mean You’re Moving On?
Girls In Summer Dresses
Sometime Around Midnight
Goodbye Horses
Innocence
Encore:
Missy (with Ask and Panic teases)
So where shall I start? First the venue - on the rooftop of the Hard Rock - a beautiful ConVis day in SD so it was super nice to be outside. The band was limited to playing acoustic because of the sound issues but that actually turned out great. Mostly because Noah played the stand-up bass all night. Seriously awesome. At one point he told Mikel that it was harder than he thought it would be (yes I was that close.) But I am getting ahead of myself here. We got Mikel and Steven playing acoustic guitar which did bring a different vibe to the songs, but they still sounded great. The deviated from the set list that they had taped to the stage which was actually cool because they just seemed really loose and were having a good time. They really hit their stride on “Moving On” and the rest of the set just seemed to get better with their hit “Sometime Around Midnight” and then the incredible William Garvey cover “Goodbye Horses”. Mikel told us that he had been in touch with Mr. Garvey and they had exchanged emails prior to Mr. Garvey passing away this week. Apparently Mikel had been singing the lyrics incorrectly. Anyways, the song was great - if you’re having trouble placing it, think about that disturbing scene in Silence of the Lambs where the killer dresses up and puts on makeup and dances in the front of the mirror - it’s that song. The encore was a lot of fun as they teased a couple of Smiths songs - “Ask” and “Panic” which everyone was happy to sing along with them. A fine performance all around.
P.S. They are playing at the track tomorrow and then heading off to Lollapalooza. Rough life, no?
P.P.S. Mikel wrote a post about William Garvey here. Read the post and grab their cover of “Goodbye Horses” recorded live at the Fonda.
Airborne Toxic Event - Wishing Well
