ROAD ROCK INTERNATIONAL

There's no reason we can't experience the show of our dreams overseas. My suggestion to fellow Road Rockers would be to book a trip to Europe last minute in the winter. You can take trips for around $700 as one of my friends did to see the Black Keys in Amsterdam. The airfare goes down to $500 and you only need a few hundred for tickets and food if you find a good couch to crash on. January-March are the premeir times to head to Europe. For now, I'm taking babysteps with my international rocking and will head to Toronto or London in Ontario.

A note on Dip it

I'm considering changing my gradings system or at least taking "dip it" out of the equation. Whenever I grade a show "dip it" I often feel like I'm filling out the "Sometimes" bubble in a behavioral study survey. "Dip it" also means to actually see the full show, yet its implication is negative since people use the term "dipping" as a polite way to say they are leaving a party after being there only a brief period of time. To grade a show "dip it" it means that you should still see them but not feel as compelled, or go through as much effort to go as a "trip it" show. I want to know what you think. Should I stick to my puny grading system and let my audience hear the catchy three levels: "trip it, dip it, or skip it", or should  I drop "dip it" and avoid risking further confusion, while reducing my grading to what is a basically a pass fail system?

Please vote.

Black Keys + Arctic Monkeys = Trip it

Soon the electricity that this very site was set up to hunt for will be basqued in. The Black Keys are a band whose energy keeps building by the tour and with a full band backing them on an arena tour will show great promise. With the Arctic Monkeys joining them, and finally getting some of the arena attention they've long waited for in the states but managed to get in Europe is fanally here. When I saw the Arctic Monkeys two years ago I was apprehensive about the Lollapalooza set they played. My conclusion about them is that Alex Turner is lacking in personality on stage sometimes and will drunkenly hide his face under his hair. The meshing of those sounds on that night wil fill the air with a great electricity and I fully intend on feeding on it. Pack up the car and hire a babysitter, this show is going to be an overall "Trip It"

Radiohead Revised

Here are some reasons why I might consider this show a "Dip It". Radiohead announced that on their tour they will be focusing the set on their newer material. The King of limbs is only eight songs but the record deserves to be drawn out. I'm still probably going to try and make it down there crossing my fingers that the song "There There" will be kept on the bill. If it doesn't show up on the set lists of the first few shows in the south I may just skip it.

Vote

To all of my Chicago Friends here are a list of venues, please grade appopriatley-

Trip It, Dip It or Skip It.


Venue:
Aragon

Abby Pub

Bottom Lounge

Cubby Bear

Congress

Double Door

Empty Bottle

Hide Out

Lincoln Hall

Metro

Park West

Riviera

Subterranian

Vic

Couch Surfing

Couch Surfing is the premier way have a place to stay when road triping.You make great friends and its always a good way to find a plus one for a show incase your hometown roadwarriors are too lame to get off their own couch. Make friends in likely cities and for each city we make a post about a venue, be sure to link a few likley couchsurfing profiles. I saw Lupe Fiasco last spring thanks to my CS friend Miranda, and she has yet to stay with me in Chicago.

Radiohead

The St. Louis Radiohead show still has tickets available. There is a God.

Whiskey Blanket

It's not every day indi-rap legends Whiskey Blanket make it out to the Midwest but yet again here they are. This band's album Credible Forces puts them in the "Trip It" catagory. They will be playing Winona, Minnisota January 28th at the Frozen River Film Festival. I know right, not Chicago, not Minneapolis, but Winona I once went there with my brothers via amtrak, the results of availabe contacts on Couchsurfing look promising.

Grading Bands, Venues, and Festivals

Trip, Skip, or Dip. 

If you are considering traveling a great distance for a show than these grades might determine if it is worth it. 

Skip it pretty obvious, this band or venue isn't worth going around the corner for. 

If a band or venue receives the grade Dip it, than they are not worth traveling a great distance for, but are worth checking out if they are in or around your town. 

Trip it is the highest grade and means that the venue or performer will provide a great show and traveling to see them adds to the adventure. Most bands that are extensively blogged about will receive this grade. 

Baby Steps to Milwaukee

Chicagoans know that if they were to ever miss a show that comes to town Milwaukee will always be a viable option, very often the following or previous night. It is only an hour away, depending on traffic, so you can make it back to the windy city that night. My road trips will get more exstensive over time so this town will be my first baby-step to the road tripping world.

First Post

Greetings fellow travelers/concert goers. I am a lover of live music to the point where studio-recorded material is often less pleasurable to hear. If a band I am unfamiliar with releases a live album, that will often be the first, if not only album I will purchase from them, there is something pretty and exciting about the "imperfection" of live performance. While I live in Chicago, which is a premier city to see live music, the most fun I've ever had going to a show was seeing one in another town. It makes the whole event feel like an adventure, rather than something that fills your friday night. If an artist skips Chicago on their tour schedule, I'm excited knowing I have no choice but to escape the city to see them. This blog is about those concerts in particular. The ones where you have to hit the road to see the show and since people don't often get to do this, they will get a sense of what it was like from seeing my blog. Bands and venues will be graded on how far you should be willing to travel to see their live show.