I had the pleasure of going to San Diego this weekend to see my good friend Sandra and hit up a five-year anniversary concert for 94.9 FM–an awesome independent station down there. VHS or Beta, Feist and The Hives were playing. Notwithstanding the poor football performances by UCLA and Cal, we had the best day watching football and hopping around to different bars and meeting up with friends. And that was before the concert even started.

I saw UNKLE a couple weeks ago, but was so disappointedly underwhelmed by the show that I didn’t feel compelled to write about it (maximum respect for James Lavelle though). This show, on the other hand, was great. We caught the first half of VHS or Beta, and I really liked their sound. Indie but it still very much rocked. I have been reading about them all over the blogs and hearing all good things.

Feist was also a good show. We were right up front for her, and she had a great stage presence. Very cute and Canadian. She played the only guitar in the band, and I liked her minimalist sound. Hadn’t heard much other than 1234 (of course), and I’ve been wondering lately about seeing a show where I’m not bouncing around the whole time (ie. not hard rock or banging dance music); if I would still enjoy it for being good music, albeit more on the mellow tip. I sure did, and it was cool to just see a good live performance given how much electronic music I listen to.

We went up to the balcony area for The Hives, and it was great to be able to take in the whole stage for them. All the matching suits and the staple neon sign behind them. They were so awesome! Their guitar riffs are so catchy, and I loved how quirky and Euro the singer is–his perfectly on-beat jump kicks made me smile each time. All in all, a very fun show. Worthy of missing Stanton Warriors back here in LA the same night. A big thanks to San for making it happen.