Israel Venture Capital 2.0

Pearl Jam – Live in Berlin!

Wow. 16 months. 16 months since my last entry under the “Live! Rock Concerts” category. Funny enough, the last post was after Eddie Vedder’s live performance in Santa Cruz. I did see a few concerts since then (Bryan Adams, Chris Cornell, The Mind Church), but somehow, did not get to write about them.

We took a short trip to Berlin (Amazing city), with the real nugget – Pearl Jam live. I did see Pearl Jam before, but last time was almost 10 years ago (October 2000). A lot has changed since then (2 bubble bursts, Bush won the elections twice, and I wasn’t a VC at that time…).

But 10 years later, Pear Jam is still an amazing live band. Playing every show with the 100% dedication, the crowd went real crazy, and so did we. Beyond the usual highlights (Alive, Yellow Ledbetter, and Do the Evolution) I enjoyed their new song (The Fixer), but the best part was Rockin' in the free world. After all, a great song, and so relevant 20 years after the Berlin wall fell down. Again, this is not the first time I saw Pearl Jam play this song. It was great back in 1995, when they played with Neil Young in Jerusalem.

Below is the only full song I recorded in the Concert using my flip camera. The Artist: Pearl Jam. The song: Insignificance. The place: Wulheide, Berlin. The time: August 15th, 2009.

Eddie Vedder – Live in Santa Cruz!

A week ago, I went to see Eddie Vedder play live (w/o Pearl Jam), here in Santa Cruz. I wanted to post about it right after the concert, but the day-2-day hit me hard this week, and I got to it a week later. I guess I will never be a good reporter, as timing is the most important factor in making things interesting. At least Eddie Vedder is still on the road, so SEO will continue to work well in the next couple of weeks.

First of all, a word about "Into the Wild" – the album (not the movie). I spend a lot of time buying music and listening to old and new stuff. It's always in search for the great emotional uplift that you get from great songs. Unfortunately, it's getting harder and harder to find the right song for the right moment, let alone the right album for the right week. Eddie Vedder's Into the Wild made that happen. I have owned it for the past few months, but only started to listen to it a few weeks before the concert. The timing was perfect. I have been constantly listening to "Society", "Guaranteed", "Hard Sun" and others, Enjoying every second of the album.

This gave a perfect setting for the Vedder concert. After an excellent (yet experimental) show by Liam Finn (Second time I have seen him play live, last time was with Crowded House), Eddie Vedder took the stage and played for 2 hours, dividing the music into 3 sections: Pearl Jam (Highlight being Porch from Ten), Into the Wild (Highlight being Society), and covers (Beatles, Cat Stevens, Bob Dylan). The real gem of the night was Eddie's special song for Santa Cruz "I can feel the lifting of my blues, pulling into Santa Cruz."

On that point, a small connection to Israel (really small). 7 years ago, Ehud Banai played in Santa Cruz, mumbling the words "Blues in Santa Cruz" between every 2 songs. I guess Eddie Vedder didn't invent that phrase...

Overall, I had a great time. Eddie Vedder is an excellent performer, and it seems he can do a great job with his band and without. I left the concert with a big appetite for more, but to be honest, I would still prefer to see the rock version. It's called Pearl Jam.

Image details: TIFF 2007 "Body of War" Premiere served by picapp.com. My Comment: This photo is served by Picapp, a service provided by an Israeli company that lets bloggers use official photos for free (With embedded ads). Very cool.

Foo Fighters – Live in Oakland!

Last Saturday (Feb. 2^nd), we went to see the Foo Fighters in Oakland. It took me a whole week to summarize that event, but I have some good excuses. After all, I had to recover from the super bowl (Check my previous post), and then the Israel Web Tour was here (Check my future post, coming up Monday or Tuesday).

It's been a while since I saw a band playing at its prime time. After all, my previous concerts were The Police (20 years post retirement) and Bruce Springsteen (Great new album, great concert, but his debut album came out when I was 4). Based on that, it was great to see a modern rock band giving a great show, full of excitement and energy. The flip side of this – the crowd was full of much younger fans, including some kids that came with their parents…

Regarding the actual show and music, I had a great time. The Foo fighters played songs from all 6 studio albums, including: All my life, This is a Call, and my all time favorite: Everlong. Clearly, the best part of the show came when the band moved from the main stage to a side stage, and played some acoustic songs such as Skin and Bones. That side stage part of the show ended with the highlight of the concert, an acoustic-to-rock performance of But, Honestly (See it on video here). Jim Harrington wrote a great piece on the Oakland show. He claims that Dave Grohl is one of the last real rock stars on this planet. I would have to agree with that.

Finally, a word about Nirvana. Although I spent a full summer in Seattle 1991, I never had a chance to see them live (They are part of a long list, including the Beatles, the Doors and the original Led Zeppelin). I was disappointed that the Foo fighters didn't play any of the Nirvana songs. I thought it would have been a great gesture, and a nice reminder of old times.

Led Zeppelin - Live in London! (Without me...)

First of all, I wasn't there. Again – I did not make it to the Led Zeppelin reunion. However, as I blog about many of the live shows I go to, I could not ignore this event. Claimed to be the biggest reunion in the past 20 years, it is said that the concert yesterday was excellent.

All I want to ask – Please turn this into a real tour. If it makes a difference, you have at least one more guaranteed ticket, at (almost) any price.

Oh, and one more thing. If you do decide to tour, I will be waiting in San Francisco. Still, would be nice if you stop in Tel-Aviv as well.

Update: Seems Led Zeppelin won't be going on a tour, as stated here and 3000 other places. This is a disappointment for me, although my good friend Aner thinks otherwise. In his post, Aner talked about the Led Zeppelin desire for more Cash. That may be true, but I just don't care. All I want is an opportunity to see Page & Plant live, performing Whole Lotta Love. I truly don't mind who makes money on the way, and what other deals are made in the background. Personally, I am sure it will elevate my soul...

Bruce Springsteen – Live in Oakland!

It has been one of those terrible weeks. I have been working too hard, spending too much time in meetings (some important, some not), and as such I had very little time to post. Suddenly, 2 weeks have passed since the Bruce Springsteen concert (Oct. 26th, Oracle Arena) and I am too late in writing about this. But it was such a great concert, that I can't let it just pass. So –

1. Bruce is almost 60, and makes everyone else look very old. The amount of energy he has is amazing!
2. This concert was about the present and future, and not about the past. More than 50% of the songs were from Magic (his new album), and he played very little of his past hits. That was a negative on one hand (not enough sing-alongs), but it was great to see him focusing on his current career, not relying on his past success.
3. The power of the E-Street band is amazing. 10+ musicians on one stage!
4. I have never been in a mainstream concert with so many clear (and blunt) political messages: Iraq, immigration, etc.

Finally, I just have to say – I had a great time (Check out the official video)

And one more thing – Unlike previous local concerts, I saw a wide range of people from the industry: A proud owner of a 747, the founder of a very large UGC video site, and the entire partnership of a Palo Alto based VC firm.

Crowded House – Live!

Last night I went to see Crowded House play live at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga. It was an excellent event, although I can't say it was a rock concert. Why? Next to us sat a lady that was knitting a sweater throughout the event. I think this is the worst humiliation possible for a rock band. I would say it's humiliating even if done in front of the TV, let alone when it is in a live concert.

Based on that, I decided to define Crowded House as "music event". And as such, it was quite a good one. Their songs are still very soft and enjoyable, and in combination with the great view at the winery, we had a great time. They didn't allow cameras at the event, but here are some sketches that were taken by Mad Guru.

Regarding the actual music, the band played all their good old songs (early 90's), including: Don't stop now, Weather with you, 4 seasons in one day, and Locked out. They also blended some songs from the new album, Time on Earth. In between the songs, they were truly having fun with a lot of talk about the full moon (including a cute cover of Van Morrison's Moondance). They even made fun of the Wiktionary site (Everything has to link to web 2.0 in some way…)

Chuck Harrell from KTVU called Crowded House the best show he's ever seen. He was referring the show in Oakland, so things may be different, but I think it's an extreme statement. I would agree it is one of the best music events I attended, but it was not a rock concert.

The Police – Live!

I have finally decided to add a new category to my blog: Live coverage of Rock concerts. My assumption is that most readers are not really interested in my music related posts (Album reviews and now – concert reviews), but that's what great about blogging – The perfect platform to fulfill childhood dreams – be a Rolling Stone reporter!

Talking about childhood dreams, my first move to the Bay Area was back 1982 when I was in 8^th grade. I lived in Palo Alto (Very close to Fuki Sushi), and went to Wilbur Junior-High (Now JLS Middle School). Just when we moved to the US, I bought the latest Police album (Ghost in the Machine) and that album became the soundtrack of my Palo Alto year. I think I played "Darkness" and "Demolition Man" more than 1000 times during that year. Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to see them live. I always thought that was will never be fixed. Lucky for me, Sting decided to do a reunion tour, so I finally saw the Police playing live in Oakland, only 50 miles and 25 years away from Palo Alto…

The concert itself was good, but not great. First of all, there is something too clean about the Police. Compare them to the Stones – no drugs… no smoking… it seems like the 3 band members got on stage after a Yoga session and a good meal at Whole Foods. In addition, many of the songs lacked the original rock 'n' roll energy and were too "Jazzy" for me. There were a few gems, mostly "Truth Hits Everybody", "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" and the unforgettable classic: "Every Breath you take". The lighting and background were great, especially during "Invisible Sun". I did expect them to show some old video footage from the past, but I guess that was too obvious (Saw that in a few other bands, including the Stones).

As an Israeli living in the US, the ability to see these concerts is a great treat. Based on that, I will continue writing about them. My next one is Crowded House in August. Looking forward…

Rita – Live in… San Francisco

On a great (sunny) Sunday afternoon, The Israeli community in the Bay Area celebrated a delayed Independence day. Great Israeli food, a lot of Isrealis, and a great concert by Rita.

This is an annual event, and the local "heavy-hitters" could easily compare Rita to Rami to Tipex and to Korine Allal, or just compare Rita's show in 2007 to the one in 2005 (or 04?). In any case, it was an excellent event, especially if you like Rita songs (I do). For someone that is used to seeing Israeli rock concerts, it was kind of weird to hear the English in-between the songs, but other than that, it was all very familiar. It was also surprising to see how many non-Israelis attended (Mostly from the local Jewish Community). Saying that, the majority of the crowd was happy to join in and sing "Not 16…" (A true statement for most people who know that song).

The surprise of the event was a guest performance by Meshi (Spelling?) Kleinstein, Rita's daughter. I guess the talent runs in the family. It was also amazing to hear her perfect American accent. Finally, check out this great photo (credit to Ronit). Publishing this photo was the main motivation for this post.

Rock Concert 2.0 (Switchfoot Live!)

A couple of days ago I went to see Switchfoot, an emerging rock band from San Diego, performing live here in San Francisco (They played at Slim's).

I like Switchfoot a lot, and the concert was really good, although it was a bit too crowded for me (I guess it's an age thing). Some of the better songs included: Meant to Live and Faust, Midas and Myself.

But this post is not about Switchfoot so much, and not about the fact I am approaching 40. Throughout the concert I was amazed to see the influence that technology & Internet has had on rock concerts. A few examples:

1. MySpace: Switchfoot, like every popular band these days, have a page on MySpace. But not only that, they use it to interact with their audience (How obvious). At some point in the show, they played "Learning to Breathe", a song that was chosen online by the crowd, as the most desired song for the San Francisco show.
2. Bootleg: Do you remember, way back when, how great it was to find bootlegs of lives shows? I remember I bought MudSlide by Led Zeppelin. I was so proud I owned that album. Well, Switchfoot took bootlegging a step further. They recorded the first 6 songs of the show and printed the CDs on the spot. In the future, these recordings will probably be available online.
3. Cameras: This is old news, but I think that I was the only one in the crowd not filming, recording or taking photos during the show. Not sure we will see sites like Musicfoto.com 20 years from now...
4. Ear Plugs: This was a big turn off for me. Many people in the crowd were with ear-plugs. Ear Plugs! In a rock concert! That's like wearing sunglassed in a movie theatre. Lennon, Cobain, Hendrix, Morrison and the gang are turning in their grave.

Album of the Month - Fortis Sakharov Al Hamishmeret

Every now and then, an album comes out that reminds me how much I love music, and especially - how much I love rock music. The new album from Fortisakharov  is exactly like that. At my current excitement level, I want to give it 5 stars. Really.

I should say that Fortis is one of my all time favorites. I started to like his music somewhere in the late 80's early 90's after his famous return to Israel with albums like "Stories from the box" and "1900?" (Growing up in Haifa, I missed the Minimal Compact days). At some point in the 90's Fortis and Sakharov split, and actually Fortis was left behind and Barry became one of the leading recording (and performing) artists in Israel.

Then suddenly, earlier this year, they declared that they are back together and last month they put out "On the guard" (in Hebrew), their new album. So, what is great about it?

1. It rocks!
2. It has elements of oriental music (done just right) and even a bit of rap (With the joint effort of Mook e.)
3. There is a good balance between Fortis and Sakharov. The best 2 songs on the album, songs 4 & 5, are Black Panther (Sakharov) and Waking Up (Fortis).
4. The guests are great: Mook e. (Already mentioned), Shlomi Shaban and even a song from Micha Shitrit.

I highly recommend this album, but even more than that - I recommend the CONCERT!! On sunday we went to see them live in Tel-Aviv. It was an excellent rock concert, with the highlight of the night was Fortis doing "Crucified" from his 1996 album: Fortis Brothers (See Dan Toren commenting about that period here in Hebrew). Some of the guests from the album were there (Mook e. was great), and overall it was worth all the effort of leaving the house (not easy these days, as my younger daughter tends to wake up at 1:00AM... But that's for a different post).

Here some (not so great) photos from the concert: