*Note: Sorry, I lost this post and had to find it, better late than never!

Ahh yes, The Troubadour. The only remaining true venue on the west side of the Sunset Shit errrr I mean Strip… no I had it right the first time, the Sunset Shit. It truly is. It’s the largest piece of shit in LA please don’t be fooled into it’s bingenheimer ways. All you see is these teeny-bopping whores from Laguna Beach coming out of the Roxy with cameras and lights blaring, doing 14 takes just to get their walking right… jeesus please for the love of anything still holy go the F back to Laguna Beach, you too Dan Tana and your fucking love for that show, damn you all to an eternity of teenagehood. But alas, thankfully the Troub sits off of Sunset down on Santa Monica Blvd, just at the edge of the extremely angry, die hard punch you in the ass gay, and the president of Capitol Records house.

The Album Leaf

Ok enough of all of that. The Album Leaf played the Troubadour last night (October 8th) as the first night of their US tour for the new album “Into The Blue Again” and boy oh boy was it a fanfuckingtastic show.

The set was pretty full of new songs as expected, but I had to remain slightly hopeful that he would release his sweet juices of yesterdays past. The set was as follows:

Set:
The Light (Into The Blue Again)
Always For You (Into The Blue Again)
Shine (Into The Blue Again)
Writings On The Wall (Into The Blue Again)
Twenty Two Fourteen (In A Safe Place)
The Outer Banks (In A Safe Place)
Red Eye (Into The Blue Again)
See In You (Into The Blue Again)
Brennivin (Seal Beach EP)
On Your Way (In A Safe Place)
Into The Sea (Into The Blue Again)
Wherever I Go (Into The Blue Again)

Encore:
Thule (In A Safe Place)
Broken Arrow (Into The Blue Again)

Blasted! As I expected, I was robbed of yesteryears treasure trove of sonic orgasmic goodness ala “One Day I’ll Be On Time” quite possibly the best Album Leaf record. Jimmy had my hopes up during the encore when I heard him mutter the word “Vermillion?” - faster than Brittney split from JT, I had a half stalch!!!! Sadly he was overturned and we were left with the final track off of “Into The Blue Again” which was nice, but no “Vermillion” (you late comers might recognize it from a recent H2 commercial)

I might add as well, wtf! Yes wtf! 2 songs for the encore? My god what is this world coming too! First North Korea sets off a nuke, now we only get a 2 song encore?! I mean yes shit, it was midnight on a Sunday (JEW?) but all the more reason to leave the fans with a little more than expected.

Anywho. The sound was just spectacular! The Troub has been known to have bad sound while riding the edge of the stage hoping for some semen splash to come yonder, but it was simply amazing this time around. Every song was so huge and full and Jimmy’s array of Moogs pretty much put the subs to their limits, amazing. The Leaf setup alone is daunting to say the least: 3 vintage Moogs, a vintage Yamaha, 2 guitars, 3 external synths, 1 laptop, 1 rhodes, 4 amps and countless pre-recorded stuff going on, the albums don’t do it justice.

I’ve seen The Album Leaf countless times and this easily takes the #2 spot. His set has been worked over so much and they’ve got it down to a science, making sure that each show is just as powerful as the albums, or in this case, easily surpassing them. (The #1 Album Leaf show would have to be when the played Spaceland shortly after the “Seal Beach EP” came out, oh lord what a night)

Stage Plot:

Stage Plot