Chris Victorio

Roger Waters...woah, don't shoot!

Say this about Roger Waters: he isn't as irritable as he was 30 years ago. When the mic cut out during "The Thin Ice," only the second song of the evening, the technical foul-up caused the former Pink Floyd member to scrap the tune and start again from the top. The old Waters would have freaked out and been furious. However, last night at the Coliseum, a kinder, gentler version of the rock legend handled it gracefully.

Throughout the performance of Pink Floyd's landmark album The Wall, the audience was treated to a night of rock theatre performed with confidence and charisma; something that wasn't intended when Waters first wrote the album. In fact, the infamous Montreal show in 1977, where he spit on a fan out of disgust (the moment that inspired him to write The Wall )seemed to be a thought that had long passed.

Andrew Youssef

Generally, opening nights of tours are when the small kinks that audiences don't notice are worked out. It could be the sound is off or that the band is a bit rusty after having not been on-stage in a while. Flight To Mars had a built-in excuse on top of whatever opening problems could have occurred: this was their first ever performance outside of their native Seattle. As we highlighted in our feature last week, the Mike McCready-led band has been playing one-off shows in the Emerald City for the past nine years in order to raise money for the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation. In honor of their 10th year performing, the group decided to take the show on the road.

Naturally there were some spotty moments, but all in all, Flight To Mars kicked some serious ass. Throughout their 75-minute set of UFO covers, McCready treated the nearly- packed room to the same energetic and excitable solos that he's been known to do in much larger venues, providing a treat to the diehard Pearl Jam fans in attendance. I'm not sure if they noticed, but the solo in "Rock Bottom" felt eerily similar to the one in "Porch," which shows that if you dig deep enough into a rocker's roots, you could find hidden gems in unexpected places.

Windish Agency

Washed Out and Memoryhouse
The Observatory
May 6, 2012

A Sunday following a major drinking holiday isn't the best time to put on a show. The day is meant to be spent recovering, nursing whatever remnants of a hangover are left from the night before.

Apparently, someone forgot to mention this to the full house at The Observatory last night, as the main room was packed with hipsters and geeks swaying to the synthpop chillwave stylings of Georgia native Ernest Greene, better known as Washed Out, who was playing his first ever OC show.

Andrew Youssef

One-two-three-four! No signs of fatigue at night two of Bruce Springsteen's run at Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena; The Boss and the E Street Band turned in a three-hour, 25-song barnburner where everyone in the building knew all the words and loved every second of it.

The Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, the red-headed stepchild of Southern California sporting and concert facilities, was at rare capacity again Friday night. People were still filing in at 8:40 p.m., an hour after the listed start-time, when Springsteen and the E Street Band started into "No Surrender" with the house lights still on and pretzel vendors in the aisles.

All that didn't matter because Bruce was on.