Concerts – Page 43 – One Percent Productions

Don’t Kid Me – A Comedy Night for Reproductive Rights

Back for a second round of laughs and liberation, Don’t Kid Me is NEAR’s annual comedy night where the jokes are fresh, the vibes are pro-abortion, and the cause couldn’t be more vital. Hosted by the unstoppable Melissa Nicole and featuring a stacked lineup of local female and nonbinary comics—Carmela Andersen, Erin Clough, Ocho de la Rosa, Cole Sichta, Mel Mackey, Breanna Kalthorn, Ben Miles, and Lauren Vana. This is a general admission seated show.

Franz Ferdinand

Ever since their beginnings, throwing illegal parties in condemned Glasgow buildings, Franz Ferdinand have been defined by a fresh, unfading, forward-facing outlook. A transgressive art-school perspective, but with a love of a big song. A big riff. A big idea. Somewhat contrary. Unafraid to dance. Unafraid to think. Unafraid to fear. Their sixth studio album, The Human Fear, courses with an energy that makes you feel very much alive. Fear makes you feel alive. Awake. A life without fear is a life asleep. Fear is what shows us our humanity. It’s why we search for it in horror films or extreme physical activities. The most life-defining moments are shaped by fear: acknowledging, accepting, or overcoming it. All the good stuff is inseparable from fear. Commencing a relationship. The necessary vulnerability. Ending a relationship. Leaving an institution. Getting on that stage. To overcome fear, whether it’s fear of commitment, leaving an institution, or of isolation… What a buzz. What a reward. While writing these new songs — many of which, beneath the immediacy of their choruses and melodies, allude to some fairly deep-set human fears — Franz Ferdinand released Hits To The Head, a retrospective of the previous 18 years. It sharpened the band’s perspective, allowing them to understand the essence of what made them work, while liberating them from the past. When you know who you are and are comfortable with it, you are free to go somewhere new. At this point in their career, Franz Ferdinand definitely know who they are, and are relishing the vigour that comes with accepting that. There was a lot of writing before any recording. Then editing and arranging. For a swan to glide serenely, the feet have to kick like a motherfucker below the surface. The idea was to have a songbook before anything was recorded. No jamming. Texture, sonics and studio innovation are fine and thrilling, but superficial indulgence without good, solid songs. Then the execution as rapidly as possible at AYR Studios, fuelled by the same agility that defined the songs on Hits To The Head. Few takes. The band in the room, playing together. That indescribable thing that happens when they do. The thrill of recording “The Birds” — one of the first songs they recorded — or thrashing out “The Doctor”’s deliriously energetic riff in about six minutes flat. Many of the vocals are the live takes, and those that aren’t were recorded under piles of coats, pillows and blankets in various bedrooms and cupboards across Paris, London, and Glasgow. At the heart of Franz Ferdinand is the relationship between Alex Kapranos and bassist Bob Hardy. They formed the band while working in a kitchen together, initially as an idea, then dredging Glasgow for accomplices. It is still the ideas which excite them before any of the music is made. Julian Corrie’s presence as a collaborator is also strong on this record. Fingers faster than an arpeggiator. Then there’s the dirt and attitude of Dino Bardot’s guitar and the sharp freshness of Audrey Tait’s beat, both of whom are on a full Franz Ferdinand album for the first time. Maybe this is a set of songs about fear. But maybe all that chat about Human Fear is superfluous. Maybe this is just a set of bangers from an era-defining band continuing their unquestionably living legacy. Is that something to be afraid of? Living a life awake. There is nothing that makes you feel more awake than The Human Fear.

Scowl

Twas The Night Before 420

Long Bus Short Thoughts Anniversary Show

Tyler Bryant & the Shakedown

Tyler Bryant & the Shakedown would label themselves a rock and roll band, however, there’s a little more to it than that. Some might hear a bluesy influence while some might call it classic or southern rock. The pure energy and volume that could follow a heartfelt ballad proves that this band is hard to fit into a single box. Hailing from Nashville, Tennessee, the group are true music appreciators who pride themselves on their live shows. Night after night they leave it all on the stage and like to refer to those nights as celebrations of “life, sound, and community.” The band consists of Tyler Bryant on lead vocals and guitar, Caleb Crosby on drums, and Graham Whitford on guitar. They have played hundreds of shows with countless venerable icons, such as AC/DC, Guns N’ Roses, ZZ Top, Clutch, and Jeff Beck, just to name a few. In 2022, the group decided to take their career into their own hands by starting Rattle Shake Records – an independent label that allows them a direct line of communication with their fans. The group released Electrified in 2024 — an album that represents the band’s mantra of letting loose and making music that sounds just as good on the stage as it does on a record. “I think this is potentially our most “authentically us” sounding album,” says Tyler. For Crosby, the album “feels like the culmination of where we’ve been and where we want to be.” “There are a lot of things to overthink in life,” Bryant says. “Rock and roll is not one of those things.”

Built To Spill

Built to Spill was formed in 1993 by Doug Martsch and over the years they have toured extensively and made several albums with a rotating cast of musicians, currently featuring Teresa Esguerra (Prism Bitch) on drums, and Melanie Radford (Blood Lemon) on bass.

Elephant Rifle

Elephant Rifle is a band from Reno, Nevada. They have been toiling in relative obscurity since 2010. Their music draws from ’90s noise rock, ’80s hardcore punk, and ’70s classic rock, with some metal, jazz, and psychedelia, among other things, thrown in as well. Gaytheist – gay / hardcore / noise rock / punk from Portland, OR