Soundgarden X nine inch nails X Hollywood Bowl: August 25, 2014

Lumia 925 - Hollywood Bowl marquee

Got free parking at the Metro in North Hollywood.  Paid less than a dollar for in Metro fares to get to Hollywood and Highland.  Broke a bit of a sweat getting up to the Bowl.  Stopped halfway at a cowboy sports bar for an Adios.  Wait a second, why is there a cowboy sports bar in the middle of Hollywood?  Stopped again at a small park next to the Hollywood Bowl entrance to empty my backpack of alcohol. In hindsight, I probably could have left my single serve alcohol bottles in my bag.


Lumia 925 - Hollywood Bowl at sunset

It was about 7:20 when I got to the gates, so I missed the opener Cold Cave.
It was really crowded trying to get in.  Lines for everything and people just standing in the middle of a crowd made navigation difficult.


Nokia 808 - Soundgarden

I decided to buy a tour shirt and hope I'd be done before Soundgarden started up.  The credit card machines were malfunctioning but I got lucky when it was my turn to pay. 
I went to find my seats and found I was in a 4 seated box.  This was really cool.  The last two times I was at the Bowl, I was stuck on a bench.  I didn't find out until afterwards I had a table to use as well.  The Bowl has hi-def monitors on each side of the stage and a few more for people in the middle and nosebleed sections.  I think those were new since my last visit.  One more note about the Bowl, the men's bathroom is stacked with urinals.  The line may seem long but it moves fast.


Nokia 808 - Soundgarden - Spoonman

Soundgarden played a shorter set compared to when I saw them in Vegas.  They started about 10 minutes later than the set times I saw posted on twitter.  Chris Cornell said it had been a lifelong dream to play the Bowl since he saw it on the Brady Bunch.  He also talked about how nice it must be for the people who lived at the top of the hill to get to watch shows all the time.  He then complained about how the whole show needed to be finished by 11PM.


Nokia 808 - Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun

The band's show was a bit different from Vegas.  Aside from being shorter, they didn't have a curtain drop to kick off the show.  At the end of the show, the band left one by one.  Guitarist Kim Thayil walked to the left side of the stage, picked up a beer, raised it to the crowd and walked to the other side of the stage.  When he got to the other side, he poured it out on the stage.  That was strange.


Nokia 808 - nine inch nails - 1000000


Nokia 808 - nine inch nails

nine inch nails put on a great show as usual.  The setlist was almost the same as the last time I saw them.  Sanctified sounded a little different from recent past performances, but that's about it.  Although my distance from the stage was the same, it seemed smaller due to the band shells.  Unlike Vegas, the show went down without a hitch and finished with 1 minute to spare before the 11PM curfew.   


Nokia 808 - nine inch nails - Closer


Nokia 808 - nine inch nails

I was really surprised with how many bootleg t-shirt salesmen there were.  I think it was because of my path back to the Metro station that I ran into nearly everyone salesmen.  Other big shows I've been to probably had more that I never saw. 


Nokia 808 - nine inch nails - head like a hole


Nokia 808 - nine inch nails

Backblog: nine inch nails at Jimmy Kimmel Live 11/7/2014

This post has been sitting in draft as I have been attending my tumblr blog.  Since I am seeing nine inch nails tonight in Las Vegas, I thought it would be a good time to push this out.


Nokia 808 Pureview

It was November 7, 2014.  I got off the subway in Hollywood around 1:30PM and was 8th in line.  I was expecting cooler weather and wore black but it was very sunny and warm.  Spent the next few hours chatting with people in line while waiting for my friends to show up.  Learned a lot of info that would come in handy for tomorrow's show at Staples Center.


Nokia 808 Pureview

After they showed up, sound check started.  They played a small bit of 1000000.  They played All The Love In The World, which they had just debuted a couple of days ago.  I would have shot some video, but a trailer truck was in the way.  It sounded great with the back up singers.  They did Various Methods of Escape multiple times, which ended up being broadcasted.


Nokia 808 Pureview

By now wristbands were being given out and now there were 20-30 people in front of me.  After moving to the priority line, All Time Low was sound checked.  I recorded this, but there's so much talking going on I didn't bother to upload.


Nokia 808 Pureview

After being let in, everyone took a spot behind a yellow tape.  After the security guy gave the signal, he dropped the line and everyone moved to the front of the stage.  While my friend made it to the front and secured a spot on the rail for me, some girl ran across from my left to my right and got a spot as well.  The security guy yelled at my friend for getting in front of him.  Nothing made any sense and I was incredibly worried she was going to get thrown out.  She got off with just a warning.  Right before the show she scored a poster so everything balanced out for her.  The girl who cut me off decided to give up her spot and my other friend took her place.

For her troubles, my friend scored a nice poster for the night's show.  nine inch nails opened with Various Methods of Escape and followed with All Time Low.  I took a bunch of photos.  These songs used to be up on youtube, but they're private now. Then the cameras went away and I switched to video mode as they played Sanctified, Came Back Haunted and The Hand That Feeds.  Enjoy my videos from the show.


Nokia 808 Pureview


Nokia 808 Pureview


Nokia 808 Pureview

Machine Head at the Hollywood Palladium

Here's some photos from Machine Head at the Hollywood Palladium last night.








Machine Head opened with "This is the End". While the Palladium was incredibly loud, the sound recorded on my Nokia 808 Pureview is remarkably clear.

Metric on a rooftop

I scored tickets to see Metric on the rooftop of Hollywood Tower back on October 9.  Here's some photos from my Nokia 808 Pureview.


I had a hard time shooting around the photographers upfront.


Then I had to figure out what settings to use in this light situation.


This one turned out great.


Here's an acoustic version of Metric's song "Youth Without Youth"

December in Photos

N8 | Moon and Jupiter


N8 | Griffith Observatory at night


N8 | Sunrise over Los Angeles


N8 | Scott Pilgrim marquee at the New Beverly Cinema


N8 | deadmau5 at the Hollywood Palladium


N8 | Penn Ward with the Doorknockers


N8 | Los Angeles Sister Cities


N8 | Christmas Tree in Little Tokyo


N8 | Battle Royale Cosplay at the Silent Movie Theater

They Might Be Giants at Amoeba Records

I found out Monday night that They Might Be Giants would be playing a show at Amoeba Records in Hollywood. I got there about an hour early.  I found a great spot in the second row.  Underneath the record racks was a stool I sat on while I waited.


N8 | In store marquee


N8 | They Might Be Giants


N8 | You can see the drummer in this one

They played for about half an hour.  I was very pleased they played Istanbul.  They also played Alphabet of Nations.  Good times were had.

September in Photos

N8 | 9.9.11 - Ms Jen and Jeb at #tuttle


N8 | 9.11.11 - Clownvis at the Steve Allen Theater


N8 | 9.12.11 - Marquee for Raiders of the Lost Ark with guests Stephen Spielberg and Harrison Ford


N8 | 9.18.11 - Caterpillars invaded the tomato plants


N8 | 9.20.11 - The Smortini from the #nokiaconnects meetup during Social Media Week


N8 | 9.26.11 - Playing Betrayal at The Other Door


N8 | Pink Floyd take over the Capitol Records Tower

Triple H

Linda McMahon

Vince McMahon arrives in Hollywood

VAST at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood 2/1/2008 part 4

Click to Play

be with me
i'm too good
flames

VAST at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood 2/1/2008 part 3

Click to Play

Three Doors

Video Shot with the Nokia N95. Auto Mode, High Quality

VAST at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood 2/1/2008 part 2

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pretty when you cry
falling from the sky
touched

Video Shot with the Nokia N95. VGA high quality in auto mode

VAST at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood 2/1/2008 part 1

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temptation
free
thrown away

Video Shot with the Nokia N95. VGA medium quality in night mode