I was really looking forward to seeing Cults again. Very happy to be in town for their sold out show at the Belly Up last night. (I kept missing them on tour last year until I finally saw them at Lolla.) So set list first…

Cults
Belly Up Tavern
Solana Beach, CA
3/21/12

Abducted
The Curse
Never Heal Myself
Most Wanted
You Know What I Mean
Bumper
Never Saw the Point
Rave On
Everybody Knows (cover)
Walk at Night
Go Outside
Oh My God

I don’t know if it was just me but even though the show was officially sold out, it didn’t really seem like some of the sold out shows where you can barely walk around. Maybe I was just in a more jovial mood because of who I was with or all the beer I drank, who knows?

In any case, I hadn’t seen Cults as a headliner and that meant it was my first time seeing their visualizations that accompany their set. Very east coast art schoolish. But I happen to dig that, so game on. They were plagued by spotty sound during the set - there were times where Madeline’s vocals were lost. But that didn’t take away from the overall good vibe and I, for one, grooved my way through their set. And since their shows in SD are a bit of a homecoming for this SD bred but now NY based band, Madeline and Brian had some fun banter - giving shoutouts to their alma maters and their grandpa hanging out in the back. Good times.

Last night’s @GIRLSsf show was really fun. I was struggling to stay awake through the opener (no sleep the night before to get up at 0330 to fly CVG-ORD-SAN will do that to you.) But with some red bull (yuck!), I was able to power through and enjoy this awesome set…

GIRLS
North Park Theatre
San Diego, CA
3/2/12

Alex
Honey Bunny
Laura
Substance
My Ma
Carolina
Love Like A River
Heartbreaker
Vomit
Broken Dreams Club
Saying I Love You
Hellhole Rat Race
Die

Encore:
Jamie Marie
Lust for Life

So for those not familiar, GIRLS definitely has a retro pop sound to it. And yet, their songs sound thoroughly modern as well. Of course, since they are on tour supporting last year’s outstanding album Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, their set was studded with those songs. They threw in enough oldies for the enthusiastic fans - I know I especially loved “Laura” and “Hellhole Rat Race”. And lest you think this was a boring-sleepy-time indie rock band, they just about blew my eardrums out during “Die”. Feedback-tastic, let me tell you.

Anyways, a really good show, just what I needed after a loooooong work week.

Set list :)

Don’t Gotta Work It Out
Winds of Change
Breaking the Chains of Love
Wake Up
Picking Up The Pieces
Rich Girls
Dear Mr. President
L.O.V.
Tighter
(New song)
News for You
Sweet Dreams (Eurythmics cover)

Encore:
We Don’t Need No Love Songs
Saturday’s Child (Walker Brothers cover)
Moneygrabber