Phoenix rising...

French pop sensation Phoenix, still touring hard on the heels of 2009's 'Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix', brought their show to the Santa Barbara County Bowl on Sunday night. This came the night after, what August Brown in the LA Times termed, 'a career making performance' at the Hollywood Bowl. Their outdoor stage appearance at Coachella this year drew an overflow crowd that I couldn't penetrate, but left an impression, and on their own at 'our' Bowl, they did not disappoint.

They hit the stage to a rousing take of 'Wolfgang's' opener, "Lisztomania" (above), and never looked back.

The band did a great job of translating a particularly detailed album to the jet thrust umph that an arena level show demands, without sacrificing the danceability and deadening the sound, as seems to happen all too frequently.
No elaborate production for this unit, a standard light show, and the odd full sized curtain were simple and well deployed.







Below is mid set crowd burner "Girlfriend"...

As a present to fans as they wind down their U.S. tour, the band announced that they are giving away the multi.track masters free for all your remix needs!

Not to be forgotten were tonight's opener: Neon Indian, who overcame the sparse early arrivals, (this of course being Santa Barbara), and a spotty sound mix that never seemed to gel until near the end of their set, to win over the crowd.

Interestingly enough, this was my first trip to the County Bowl this season, and I would be remiss if I didn't note, for those who haven't had the pleasure, that this is one of the finest facilities of it's size in the country, and always takes on a special tinge of magic at sunset...

Ping: Let's say it's no Pong, (so far), or Ping Has Sprung!

So Apple finally makes its move on the social networking game with its newest wonder: Ping! The question is, how much should you care? Deeply? Apple trumpeted the fact that after the grand revelation, they racked up a million viewers in a very short time. Impressive by any measure, but the question is, how many will stick?

So far, the answer would be, not so much...The concept is simple, one creates a profile, follows other fans and artists, and has the ability to favor and start conversations based on record recommendations, reviews, and concerts attended. The potential there is pretty ginormous, and with an open platform, could easily be a place I spend a fair amount of time, and, quite frankly, it seems like it could be a nice middle ground between this space and Twitter.

In reality, though...it's a cold & barren place so far, devoid of a serious indie presence. The artist profiles have initially been extended, (by invitation), to heavy Itunes sellers and selected industry players...which for the most part leads to a heavy dose of yukkk. It did lead to some hilarious recommendations for whom I should follow.

My other point of miffed.off.ness would be all the time I spent, both before and after the 'Genius' function, of clicking on recommend buttons ad infinitum. This is the one company I not only let datamine me, but provided them a veritable landfill of information. Presumably, all this sits in a silo somewhere, virtual or otherwise. I pray that they find a way to somehow integrate this.

As the days have gone by, the 'featured artist' category has broadened as more folks have jumped onboard, including a disturbing number of dead rock stars. I maintain a presence and check it most days, half out of hope, and half morbid curiousity.