Cobra Starship @ Subterranean - Chicago, IL - 01.29.08

I was in Chicago earlier this week on business for the job that pays me and caught Cobra Starship on Tuesday night for a sold out show. The show was, in one unnecessarily hyphenated word, A-mazing.

The venue was small which was nice, maybe a couple hundred people. Most of which had the black X of forced sobriety. The crowd erupted into two handed cobra symbols when the band began to take the stage.

I'm not the guy that takes a sheet of paper to write down the set list so from what I can remember the songs played, but not necessarily in this order were (with notes when needed):

The City Is At War

Guilty Pleasure

One Day, Robots will Cry - This is a beautiful song and when it was performed live the whole vibe in the room changed. Good stuff.

Kiss My Sass - Round one of the hormonal riot with the lyrical declaration of "I can be a nasty guy."

Damn You Look Good And I'm Drunk - This song is hilarious. Period.

The World Has Its Shine

Smile for the Paparazzi - This was accompanied by a story about how they were going to sell it to Papa John's (a Louisville-based pizza company) with lyrics featuring Pep-pep-pepperoni instead.

Prostitution Is The Worlds Oldest Profession - This song is fairly forgettable on the album and live.

My Moves Are White (White Hot, That Is) - He selected to sing one round of "girl I'm gonna make you sweat" as "girl I'm gonna make you wet" which needless to say incited hormonal riot #2.

Being From Jersey...

Send My Love To The Dancefloor

Keep It Simple

Hollaback Boy

Bring It (Snakes On A Plane) - William Beckett from The Academy Is... made a special appearance to sing his part of the song. Sunshine, he's cut the Bay City Rollers hair. It's still Bay City, but not quite as Rollers.

Watch some videos from the show below. The quality ain't great but you get the idea. No, these are not mine - I yanked them from YouTube.

You down with PVD? Yeah, you know me.

PVD, as in, Paris Venerial Disease. Ew. This picture is gagalicious.

HOWEVER, I won't front. I like 30STM and I know his personal life should have nothing to do with the music but damn - Paris Hilton and Lindsey Lohan?

The imagery in the Beautiful Lie video is amazing.

Read some facts about the video shoot - here.

HIM releasing live DVD

HIM will release "Digital Versatile Doom: Live at the Orpheum Theatre" on March 11th. I hate to be that guy, but HIM are pretty hit or miss live and if you don't agree you're lying. I've seen them three times and the first two it kind of sucked. Anyway, I'm sure many of you will buy this and I trust that you will be honest in your critique because if I go buy it and it sucks I'll hunt you down and grind your bones to make my bread.

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HIM for Sweden's Hultsfred festival - here

HIM also slated for Rock am Ring and Rock im Park in Germany - here

God. He IS a sexy bitch, isn't he?

The Black Parade to be laid to rest April 21st

My Chemical Romance will release a live DVD of their Black Parade album on April 21st.

The track listing will include:

01 The End
02 Dead!

03 This Is How I Disappear

04 The Sharpest Lives

05 Welcome to the Black Parade

06 I Don't Love You

07 House of Wolves

08 Cancer

09 Mama

10 Sleep

11 Teenagers

12 Disenchanted

13 Famous Last Words

14 Blood

15 I'm Not Okay (I Promise)

16 Cemetery Drive

17 Thank You for the Venom

18 The Jetset Life is Gonna Kill You

19 The Ghost of You

20 It's Not a Fashion Statement, It's a Deathwish

21 Give 'Em Hell, Kid

22 You Know What They Do to Guys Like Us In Prison

23 Helena

Whether you saw it first hand or didn't make it to a show I suggest you pick this up.

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The Used to release extended EP.

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This weeks Kerrang! has a scary looking M. Shadows on the cover and an interview with Coheed, Fightstar and Madina Lake on the inside - not to be missed I'm sure.

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The random obsession Blur and Oasis share. This is just strange...

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Gwen and Gavin might be set to have another gorgeous child.

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Punk goes Crunk.

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Manson show gets reviewed.

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Man, does this song suck ass.

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and now for something that is intentionally funny - but has nothing to do with music.

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Want to feel old?

Then relish in the beauty of either remembering when MTV was like this or that fact that I was 1 year old in 1983.

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MCR not touring the UK after all.

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Crackhead McGee, Amy Winehouse is finally going to rehab. When they do her "Behind The Music" the irony (is it irony?) of her going to rehab and her song rehab will encompass at least 20 minutes.

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Avenged Sevenfold to open for Iron Maiden.

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Gene Simmons was on Ugly Betty last night. Gene Simmons is a tool but Amanda is hilarious.

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Sadness

Heath Ledger died today in his NY apartment at the age of 28. Tragic. His poor little girl...

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Picture source and slideshow - here

My Chem: A to Z

Rock Sound is doing an A to Z interview with My Chemical Romance. Read a few below and then click the link to see the first segment of the interview.

A is for…Acceptance

My Chemical Romance wouldn’t be here without it.

Frank Iero (guitar): “It’s what I felt about punk rock growing up. A show was a place where you could go and feel accepted for who you were. So when I started a band I wanted to create an environment where people could feel like there was somebody else out there who understood them and had their back no matter what.”

Gerard Way (vocals): “Acceptance is a huge part of this band. Punk rock accepted us as kids and in a sense saved our lives because of that. Punk shows gave us a place where we wouldn’t get shot or stabbed.”Frank: “It’s about encouraging self-worth and self-respect.”

B is for…Bullet-proof vests

An indispensable part of the band’s onstage attire.

Gerard: “The bullet-proof vest is a metaphor. It symbolises the fact that this band feels indestructible.”

Frank: “It’s really based on the way we feel onstage. You get into a certain mindset where nothing really matters – you can’t get hurt and nothing fazes you. Together we feel unstoppable.”Gerard: “It’s also about us relating to hip-hop artists. We come from the same world as a lot of them (Newark, New Jersey) and we relate to their drive and the way they don’t give a fuck about what anyone else thinks.”

C is for…Concept albums

Breakthrough album ‘Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge’ put a whole new spin on the concept record.

Mikey Way (bass): “The album started out as this fictional story but then kind of melded itself into our lives. It’s like a comic book story about a man who comes back from the dead to avenge himself. But on moving to LA we had so many experiences that without us knowing it the album became a fifty-fifty mix between the story and us."

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Bob is so much better than their old drummer. Look at him - lame.

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Marilyn Manson discusses growing up in South Florida. Tour dates annouced.

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Could there be a lot more selection for Rock Band downloads in the future?

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Amy Winehouse smoking what looks like crack. She also admits to taking 6 valium. I predict she'll be dead in 6 months. I hope not - but let's be realistic here.

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An eclectic lineup for Coachella.

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AFI starts working on new album.

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Lily Allen returning to work after miscarriage. So sad...

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Stone Temple Pilots reunion? I surely hope so.

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Link it like you mean it

Kill Hannah have signed to Roadrunner for UK distribution.

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Amy Winehouse might release a holiday album - here. And no, she and Mark Ronson are not sleeping together. Did people really think this was true?

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Fall Out Boy talks politics.

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Dolly Parton to play SXSW.

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Avenged Sevenfold B-sides.

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Gavin Rossdale to release solo album in April.

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Madina Lake on the cover of Rock Sound

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New Young Pony Club to play a series of shows with other artists.

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Trivium talks new album.

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Twiggy Ramirez has rejoined Marilyn Manson for new tour.

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Deftones talks new album.

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DAATH video interview.

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Radiohead talk tour.

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Amy Winehouse is a blonde.

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Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - "Dig, Lazarus, Dig"

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Puh-lease. Like you'd be wearing sweatpants...

People are giving Gwen a bunch of shit about how she wore 5 inch heels to the park to feed ducks with her son, but you know what? Big deal. At least she actually took her son to a park, right? At least he's with her in the majority of the pictures that have been taken of her since he was born. Besides, little kids love that kind of shit. (<---- this attitude is probably why I don't have any yet, ha!) Gwen and I may have our sordid history, but I think it's refreshing to see her and Kingston together all the time. Not to mention that fact that Gavin, who has a sordid history of his own appears to be very active also. Good for them. They look happy - who cares what kind of ridiculous shoes she has on.

p.s. If you knew that every time you went in public someone would be taking your picture - you'd probably dress hot too. Maybe not dominatrix heels - but hot none the less. Trust.

Go here for more pics

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Late March will bring Aiden and Kill Hannah together for a tour of the UK.

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The Black Crowes to tour for new album.

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Lacuna Coil talks new album.

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Gabe Saporta of Cobra Starship tells a funny story about Pete Wentz.

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and makes me laugh even harder with the lyrics to a song off their new album. Don't lie - you know girls like this at shows. Hell, you might even be one of them. Ha!

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New Cobra Starship video

The Cobra Starship video for their new single, The City Is At War is posted below. I guess it knocked Britney Spears out of the top ranking on MTV or something because all her little fan girls are up in arms about it. Of course, they think it sucks which they have let people know by typing incoherently and making it perfectly clear that they don't like it because they don't get it.

But let's not be fooled by just the Britney fans out there - there are many, MANY Cobra fans who are also judging people for being new fans. Didn't you know? New fans don't count. Heaven forbid Cobra Starship get on MTV and earn new fans, I'm sure they would much rather stay very small and less profitable, I mean, isn't that what every band wants?

Here's the deal - the Britney fans speak for themselves - they're morons. However, you Cobra fans who think that new fans are poseurs, first you should learn how to spell poseur (it's not poser) and second you should check yourself. When will you people learn that no one cares if you started listening to them in 2005 and if they get some new fans who just like one song that it's alright. Get over yourself.

As for the video - it rules. Very clever, very smart and super cheeky. I don't know if they realize it - probably they do - but the pie as weapons thing was done many-a-moon ago in a movie called Bugsy Malone which starred Scott Baio and Jodie Foster. Pure cheese. Also, Mr. Wentz makes a cameo as the cop. I posted the one from YouTube because the one on MTV.com has been thoroughly butched with editing.

Link it like you mean it

Madina Lake interview at Rock Sound.

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Amy Winehouse to appear in Norwegian court.

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Ville Valo Christmas interview.

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Over-production has made music sound like crap - which is why we go to shows.

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Speaking of shows - apparently some insiders think tickets for these shows aren't high enough. They can't possibly be serious...

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Sebastian Bach is retarted.

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Rolling Stone rates the top 25 album covers of 2007.

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The Black Parade is officially dead.

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New Panic at the Disco in their blog - check the last song in the playlist.

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