Seattle’s all-ages concert guide You don’t need fake ID to have fun.

Aiden braved the heat in the mall parking lot as they headlined their fourth date on this year’s Zumiez Couch Tour. The Element Skate Team and Aiden labelmates Bayside also performed. There was supposed to be a local band contest winner opening the day but none ever materialized. I’m not sure what happened. Bayside finally went on late after I’d been there a few hours looking at the boring booths. Here were the options: Free soda! Buy water! Buy shirts! Look for free stuff! Drink syrup for free stuff! Wrap yourself in Zumiez caution tape! Play Nintendo games! None of it was my deal so I sat by the stage and talked to the other people there.

When Bayside finally started playing there was some reception and a few people singing along. There was also some kind of unexperienced mosh pit thing going on behind me. I’m not...

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It was a fantastic Free for All in the sunshine today at the Seattle Center, put on by one of everyone’s favorite venues, the Vera Project. There was an amazing diversity of performances, from a fashion show to dance routines to local music, which provided for a great day in the sunshine.

As Alec-Rene and I arrived we were surprised to hear the familiar sounds of Mon Frere echoing down the walls of the Center House. Not that we didn’t know they were playing, but we were surprised that they were playing very first, right at four o’clock. They were certainly one of the larger pulling performers for the show, probably second highest, right behind Aqueduct, yet they were placed very first! Perhaps they were trying to get people to come and stay the whole afternoon, but we were a little confused by it all. Anyways, Mon Frere put on an energetic show as always, and there were of course,...

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Our buttons are here. 600 buttons in one bag is quite an exciting sight! Alec-Rene and I will be at the Free for All this weekend with about a zillion of them, so track us down for your very own. We’ll be the ones… well, with flyers and buttons. Or, if you can’t make it, email your mailing address to moi (stinie@gmail.com). Anyways, we’ve put a little gallery together to appreciate those sporting our logo around town: Mercurial Sound Friends. Anyone can be on it. All you hafta do is send in a picture of you wearing the button (keep it clean and legal, of course).

I have been a fan of Spoon for a long time now and have many times thought their album Girls Can Tell may have been the album that pulled me into the “indie music scene”. This opportunity to see them live was long awaited and dreamed about.

It was nice getting there only an hour before the show and still having a spot right in front of the stage. The pre-show music was quite the change-of-pace. I expected an eclectic mix of indie oddities with some Bowie thrown in every few tracks but was delighted to hear an interesting soundtrack of ambient sounds that provided a great background to our pre-concert coversations. I had also noticed that although it was an all-ages show the younger audience seemed much more mature than normal and it was a very pleasent concert atmosphere.

Opening up the night was The Clientelle whom I had not previously been exposed to. They had been described to me as mellow...

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Poor Futureheads! For their first all-ages Seattle show (their last two visits were 21+), I give the Futureheads an A on performance, and the audience a C+ on response. Alec-Rene says I should give the audience an even lower score. I was almost appalled at the apathy of the listeners. The Futureheads put on a fantastic show, and I, in the front row, wasn’t jostled a bit. Maybe all the wild kids were at another show? Maybe it was a Thursday night and nobody could muster the energy? I have no idea, but listen, Seattle, the Futureheads deserved better than that.

Opening was LA band High Speed Scene. They failed to hook me, but I feel like I owe them a second chance. As stated above, the audience was rather apathetic, and it’s hard to enjoy a show when nobody around seems to be paying attention. Second, they were scrunched to the front of the stage by the Futureheads’ gear...

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Last night’s concert with Rilo Kiley could not be described as anything short of amazing. I’m not just trying to be catchy in my lead, or trying to use cliche words because nothing else comes to mind: the concert was amazing. Good flowing bands on the bill, all talented, all interesting and unique, all having good sets.

The show started off a bit annoying when doors opened 20 minutes late. This was remedied by The Brunettes coming on stage quickly.

They started with a fun, audience-grasping song called “BABY” where they spelled out the letters B.A.B.Y. with their hands when they sang it during the chorus. Their stage presence was fun and it got you dancing: interesting instruments, fun clapping patterns for audience-interaction to bring you into the music, and catchy songs.

This wasn’t the first time I had seen The Brunettes. I saw them open...

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Remember this plea a few months back? Not the ranting about Bloc Party (who, by the way, I missed at Sasquatch, adding their total of dissing me up to three, and sadly, I still cannot give up my depression at missing them). There was an update, where I sent out a request to get my hands on the amazing song I heard on Audioasis.

Lucky, lucky me! James Whetzel himself saw my request and sent me a copy of the mp3! For those of you who didn’t catch my initial request, the song is called “Washington State”, and the lyrics consist mostly of city names from our beautiful state. And it’s catchy, too: I found myself singing “Walla Walla! Walla Walla!” for weeks aftwerwards.

And lucky, lucky readers! James has given us permission to share his mp3, the first shared on our site ever, with all of our readers. This is a limited-time-only offer guys, so snag it while it’s...

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I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I went to listen to the Gorillaz Endsession. It turned out rather good. Before I get too far into it, though, let me clarify something: it was an online concert. Personally, I think the idea is awesome and more radio websites should stream their concerts. As a matter of fact, all radio stations should. You hear me, radio? Go to the internet!!

Anyways, the Gorillaz played a new version of Clint Eastwood (what is this, like their fourth remix?) with all new lyrics for the rap verse. The whole set, even though it was short, sounded a lot better than the album versions.

They played several of my favorites for this in studio set, including DARE, Clint Eastwood, and the single from their newest album Demon Days: Feel Good Inc. These versions of their most popular songs were definitely better sounding than the album, more unique, and much...

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Okay, so we recognize that we don’t quite hit every show. But in order to get aweful close, here are some outside reviews that we think are pretty great.

Endfest 14 by Tom Reuter
“Ok, so first, I gotta say that the “What’s Next” stage was awesome, and the Main Stage and “Seattle Stage” were both good, but not as intense. So RazRez was the first band to play. We listened to them for a while, they were good, but I didn’t care about them very much. Plus, I was trying to figure out my schedule. One cool thing is that their bass guitarist looks like the scientist from Jurassic Park that gets his leg broken. By the way, I must have walked miles going from stage to stage.” (Read More)

John Van Deusen “Yossarian”...

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Hey guys! We’ve got so many things going on that we keep postponing the monthly announcement (rather ironic since all of these projects need to be announced in the announcement!) Here are some of the things we’re excited for!

We have a MySpace! Make sure to befriend us and let your friends know! We’re not sure entirely what we’re going to do with it, besides befriend all our awesome friends, but be on the lookout for special projects there.

Also, we’ve finally ordered our buttons! We basically ordered them because we think having buttons would be damn cool for ourselves. However, we did order 500 so we’ll be passing them out at shows and the like, and we’ll even mail them to you for free! Send an email to stinie@gmail.com with your address, and we will send some your way… on one condition. When you get the button, you have to send us a photo of you wearing the button. We’ll...

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