LA Music Blog » The Knitting Factory

Top Five: Los Angeles Concert Venues

Marina Mularz — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 16:20:53 +0000

With summer just around the bend, the sweet sound of sultry nights is also straight ahead. Is anything better than heading out to a show on a warm night with those who warm your heart the most? Let’s not forget the reunions you will find yourself recapturing: that weird guy who stands at the front of the line alone, the sausage and onion cart, the girls who are way too dressed up. Ah yes, the memories. Sounds almost tempting enough to stay outside and skip the show, huh? L.A. has some of the most equally engaging venues to house not only your favorite artists, but also the best enlightened nights of music in the city.

#5 House of Blues
While I know the HOB is a chain and often gets criticized for overcharging on ticket sales, the fact is that the LA HOB is one of the best venues in all fields: booking acts, location, and establishment charm. Wedged right into the Sunset Strip, The House of Blues is easily accessible and always reliable. You’ll never be stuck at an empty show with The HOB. It’s always packed, with its effervescent southern charm, looking to serve some of the best food and music. The HOB is The HOB for good reason!

#4 The Knitting Factory
While the venue is currently closed down for relocation, I am still proud to put those at The Knitting Factory on the list of must-haves. My older brother, a lifelong musician, played his first touring show at The Knitting Factory and that’s the true beauty of this venue; it supplies some of the best well-knowns and unknowns alike, slowly offering up a space for one and all to be heard. The Knitting Factory has always lived by the motto of offering the biggest bang for your buck and I, as many, am sad to see it go! Keep your eyes on www.la.knittingfactory.com for more info on its hopeful return to the venue scene.

#3 The Wiltern
The Wiltern is just an old mansion of memories and mesmerizing architecture. Working as a hybrid of old-school opera and new-age venue space, The Wiltern somehow makes a huge space feel like an old Globe Theater-esque forum for all walks of musical life. I saw Bon Iver play a show here in late 2009 and it is safe to say The Wiltern (coupled with the Wisoconsin-ites) simply made for an unforgettably breathtaking evening.

#2 El Rey
Maybe my favorite venue in Los Angeles, as well as the first venue I visited here for a Tragically Hip show back in 2007. El Rey has a certain old school charm about it; it reminds me of what a good, honest rock club looks like in my dreams and music videos alike. It’s intimate, endearing, and offers up some of the best tacos in the adjacent building. Who doesn’t love that? That’s right, no one.

#1 Hollywood Bowl
While it may be geared to an older, affluent audience of jazz lovers and classical aficionados, there is simply nothing like the Hollywood Bowl. It’s the best venue for summer lounging, offering up some of the biggest names in the business. I like to think of it as The Staples Center, but with a soul. A beautiful, beaming soul. Plus every now and then, a band like Death Cab or Kings of Leon will roll in and totally rock out, captivating even the furthest seat from the stage. The Hollywood Bowl is stunning, vivacious, and versatile—don’t miss the star-studded summer production of RENT this June! The Hollywood Bowl is maybe the only venue that truly is an attraction in itself. A great establishment in Hollywood history!

Am I forgetting the best venue in the West? Are you an undying Spaceland fan with a few words to say? Send ‘em in and comment away!

Hit the Lights, There for Tomorrow, Fireworks, Sparks the Rescue, I Rival @ The Knitting Factory

Kristin Houser — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 20:17:18 +0000

There are a few ways to tell the story of what’s happened to Lima, OH band Hit the Lights between the releases of their debut This is a Stick Up… Don’t Make it a Murder in 2006 and their new album Skip School, Start Fights, which comes out July 8th 2008. The tale could be recounted as an overly dramatic saga of four young lads who prevailed over the tragic loss of their former singer and came out swinging- and singing- with even greater ferocity and passion than before. Or it could be conveyed as a comedic lark, eschewing drama for a series of jokes about guitarists with afros and puns involving their band name. Or, maybe, it could even started with the words “Once upon a time…” But anyway you tell it, anyway it’s told, the journey of Hit the Lights over the past two years has been a necessary one, filled with blessings in disguise, and ending happily in every possible version.

Hit the Lights – Myspace

There for Tomorrow – Myspace

Fireworks – Myspace

Sparks the Rescue – Myspace

I Rival – Myspace

For more info check out: The Knitting Factory

Quietdrive, the Higher (co-headline), Cory Lamb @ The Knitting Factory

Kristin Houser — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 20:11:12 +0000

Minneapolis’ Quietdrive has a proud and organic streak that continues to captivate. Since 2005, the band has made more than 900 appearances in front of every imaginable type of audience. “We tour like maniacs, and we have never slowed down. We are on our fourth van already,” vocalist Kevin Truckenmiller notes. That hard work paid off. In the toughest sales climate to ever face the record business, Quietdrive’s debut release, When All That’s Left Is You, sold 64,000 in the US alone and put Quietdrive at the forefront of emerging artists. The band sold another 400,000 digital singles as well. Now the band is ready to launch their sophomore effort, Deliverance (The Militia Group), continuing to showcase their ability to deliver strong pop-rock gems one after another.

Quietdrive – Myspace

The Higher – Myspace

Cory Lamb – Myspace

For more info check out: The Knitting Factory

Bane, Trash Talk, Foundation @ The Knitting Factory

Kristin Houser — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 20:05:57 +0000

Founded on beliefs that are in short supply within the current underground music scene, Bane has established themselves as one of the most influential and relevant bands in hardcore today. Since their inception, they’ve become one of the scene’s hardest working bands touring the world over and releasing the full lengths, It All Comes Down To This and 2001’s critically acclaimed Give Blood, an album that breathed life into the then-stagnant hardcore scene. Returning with their first album in three years, Bane offer up The Note – an album that embodies the spirit, the community, and the love of traditional hardcore that Bane has become synonymous with.

Bane – Myspace

Trash Talk – Myspace

For more info check out: The Knitting Factory

Sole, Astronautalis, Furiouz Styles @ The Knitting Factory

Kristin Houser — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 19:49:29 +0000

Sole, whose musical arc might be described as a series of battle raps whose range of targets has gradually widened. His early work, beginning with his demo of 1992 (which included such hits as “Cops Ain’t Shit”) was deeply beholden to the New York rap of that era, Lord Finesse most especially. These influences are readily visible in his first alb, (released when he as 16 in ’94), Mad Skillz and Unpaid Billz. Though the plural “z’s” were dropped from future releases, the forceful language and aura of overconfidence vital to classic battle rap remained. His proper, post-adolescent albums, Bottle of Humans (2000), Selling Live Water (2003), and Live from Rome (2005) each mixed traditional rap aesthetics with a more original and highly poetic approach with growing sophistication.

Sole – Myspace

Astronautalis – Myspace

Furious Styles – Myspace

For more info check out: The Knitting Factory

Kylesa, Saviours, Bison BC, Black Math Horseman @ The Knitting Factory

Kristin Houser — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 19:32:04 +0000

From the Metal Minute: “Static Tensions is an appropriate title for a band that has been progressively sifting through their troubles and finessing their sludge-punk-doom art into a cohesive soundburst of rightful and harmonious distortion. Pouring every ounce of sun-baked humidity from their native Savannah territory, the core remnants of Kylesa, Phillip Cope and Laura Pleasants have triumphed yet again amidst the smoke of a hard-fought trench battle beginning with their radar-hailing sophomore album To Walk a Middle Course. At this point in their career on album number four, Kylesa have not only taken the next logical step from the careening vibrancy of their Time Will Fuse Its Worth album, they have demonstratively issued one of this year’s statement albums in the form of the booming and dexterous Static Tensions.”

Kylesa – Myspace

Saviours – Myspace

Bison BC – Myspace

Blackmath Horseman – Myspace

For more info check out: The Knitting Factory

Dillinger 4, Riverboat Gamblers, the Arrivals @ The Knitting Factory

Kristin Houser — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 19:24:39 +0000

Dillinger Four are from Minneapolis, Minnesota. They formed in 1994. Civil War is their fourth full-length record. In terms of importance, they are to the ‘90s and ‘00s what Black Flag was to the ‘80s (without the Grateful Dead worship). In the time between April 12, 1861 and April 9, 1865, starting at Fort Sumter and ending at Appomattox, 600,000 Americans died in the American Civil War. That took almost four full years. Substitute beer and distilled spirits and add the constant distraction called life, tack on two extra years, and that equals D4’s Civil War. Have you heard the new Scared Of Chaka record? No, you haven’t. They broke up. Dillinger Four didn’t. Celebrate that math.

Dillinger 4 – Myspace

Riverboat Gamblers – Myspace

The Arrivals – Myspace

For more info please check out: The Knitting Factory

Rise Records Tour starring Emarosa, Dance Gavin Dance, Of Mice and Men, Tides of Man, Of Machine @ The Knitting Factory

Kristin Houser — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 19:07:38 +0000

Thursday, September 24th

Hmm, two years ago Dance Gavin Dance lead singer Jonny Craig quit the band citing extreme tensions and personal conflicts and he has since joined up with Emarosa. Now together on one co-headlining bill, is this the Gathering of the Tribes or the Ultimate Smackdown. Will Jonny rejoin his ol’ buddies on stage or sneer at them from the wings. Can’t we all get along? Come and find out.

Rise Records Tour starring:

Emarosa – Myspace

Dance Gavin Dance – Myspace

Of Mice and Men – Myspace

Tides of Man – Myspace

Of Machine – Myspace

For more info please check out: The Knitting Factory