Kings of Leon V.S Imagine Dragons

KINGS OF LEON vs. IMAGINE DRAGONS,

so i was lucky enough to of had the opportunity to see both of these incredible bands live one week after the other. So the first show I saw was the Kings of Leon Show down at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. I even have some photos I took at the show you can check out below. Now these boys were absolutely phenomenal. Everything from the sound to the live stage performance was amazing. Caleb's vocals were spot on and the harmonies between Caleb (Lead Singer/Guitar) and his brother Nathan (Drummer/Background Vocals) were very tight. They started the show with a song called Charmer from one of their earlier albums I believe it was "Because of the Times" released in 2007. This song really set the tone of the show as it was up beat and really got the crowd moving. They then continued to play past hits throughout the show such as Notion, Use Somebody, Radioactive, Back Down South, Pyro and Sex on Fire all of which are amazing tunes. Also they of course played songs off of their current album "Mechanical Bull" such as Supersoaker and Temple. All in all the show was amazing and is probably the second best rock show I have ever seen, next to the FOO FIGHTERS of course.

The following week I went and saw Imagine Dragons. Now this band was also amazing. Everything from the vocals, to the drums and overall stage performance was outstanding. Fronted by Dan Reynolds, this band is definitely one to keep an eye out for as they progress into their career and continue to create albums. His voice is so unique and really does work well for the style of music they play. They played songs such as On Top of the World, It's Time and my two favourites Radioactive and Demons. I will admit this band is not one of my "all-time favourites" I will admit they are really good and definitely recommend seeing them if you're into the alternative rock scene. 

At the end of it all i am going to have to say that Kings of Leon put on the better show, but this is because the Kings of Leon are one my favourite bands so yes this recommendation is biased haha 

check out the photos below 

Current Events and Stuff

So these are the current events that will be happening this week for me

1. Wednesday is Kings of Leon, which i've been waiting to go to since Christmas. I can't believe its only a day away. It will definitely be an awesome musical experience.

2. Its hard to believe that yesterday the entertainment word lost a comedic legend. Harold Ramis had died at age 69, however is legacy still lives on. The creative works he had done in the 80's with Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd were still awesome. The top movies include: the Ghostbusters, Caddyshack and Stripes. He had also earned writing credits for classics such as Meatballs, Animal House and Groundhog day as well as directed the National Lampoon's Vacation staring Chevy Chase. All in all this guy had an amazing career, its too bad he had to go.

3. Sochi Olympics are over, however the closing ceremonies were pretty wicked and Canada achieved gold in both men's and women's hockey. I find it kind of unfair how hockey over shadows pretty much every other olympic sport in the winter olympics. I mean for example women's hockey took gold, but so did the canadian women's curling team and they one 11 straight games in a row, yet the women's hockey team got more press. To me its kind of ridiculous. Along with this having professional athletes in the olympics should be banned. I'm talking specifically about the men's hockey team. The Olympics originally was about world class amateur talent that was up and coming rather than showcasing the stars who are already at the top. Hopefully they change this.

4. I can't believe that after this week I only have 7 week more weeks of class and then it's summer! man, time moves by so fast. I cannot wait until summer because aside from the fact I hate winter with a passion, I do a lot of outdoor activities such as cycling and cross training. Two of my favourite excersize activities and on top of that I love being outside during the summer I rarely stay inside. That is what winter is for.

Dean Brody Concert

So to start, yes I am very much into country music. It has really become another favourite genre of mine. Some of my favourite artists include: Keith Urban, Eric Church, Brad Paisley and of course Canada's own Dean Brody. It's kind of strange how I originally hated country music. I just could not stand it, but I guess after hanging out at country bars every weekend it started to grow on me to the point, where I would be buying country music off iTunes of artists I did not really know much about. The songs just really struck a chord with me and I found them to be so catchy and entertaining, which brings me to now, where more than half of my music library is country music lol. 

So last Sunday I managed to get a few tickets to a Dean Brody show in Hamilton. This guy has been one of my favourites since the start of my appreciation for country music. Some of favourite songs by him include: Dirt Road Scholar, People Know You By Your First Name, Undone, Canadian Girls, as well as Bounty, Crop Circles and Mountain Man off his latest album Crop Circles. So I found his show to be totally awesome. He got Cassadee Pope, the winner of the singing competition "The Voice." Cassadee was also pretty awesome. To be honest I did not think she was going to be as great as she was, but it turned out she was awesome and I actually ended up buying her album later that night. 

As for Dean Brody, well he was absolutely fantastic. Everything from the guitar playing, to his vocals,  to overall sound of the band. Everything was just spot on. I would definitely recommend him as an act country lovers must see. What is even more awesome is the fact that he is Canadian and kicking ass in the country scene.

Key Findings Through Experimentation of Interactive Tactics Pertaining to the Online Presence of My Musical Project

So recently I have been using the "interactive tactics" that we've discussed in class to help enhance the online presence of my music project that I have been working on for the past five years.  Things such as  website optimization and email marketing tactics have been really working for my band's online presence. I have found that, because I have been optimizing my main website www.mentalfriction2k.com  the visit count has gone up, actual interaction with the website itself has gone up and the overall time spent on the website has gone up. The fascinating part of website optimization is that through simple things such as making sure everything has been labelled properly, that the proper keywords, meta tags and descriptions, and that the website has a proper site map, the website itself can rise up in the search engine results pages and have a better chance at being discovered.

Recently, I had joined up with MailChimp. This program has really changed and makes mailing list management more convenient. It has everything from the ability to import email addresses, to the ability to help create effective and creative emails as well as tracking section. The tracking section allows you to see who has opened up the emails, the bounce rate, the click rate (if you posted a link or some form of call to action) and also gives you ranking of who on your mailing list interacts with the emails you send out. The email ranker basis its ranking on whether or not the recipient has opened the email and if they opened the mail and actually click on the links. It even gives you the option segment your mailing list into groups of the people who are more likely to interact with your emails. Overall this class has really been helping me out with online for personal projects and is definitely a field I wish to pursue in more detail and focus.

SuperBowl

So it turns out I was wrong, my favourite band the "Foo Fighters" did not end up being the main act for the Superbowl Half-Time Show. It turned out to be Bruno Mars and the Red Hot Chili Peppers who did the half-time show. Still both acts were really amazing. Although Bruno Mars isn't exactly my favourite artist, I have to admit he put on a pretty amazing show. As for the Chili Peppers, what can I say they were awesome as always. I especially loved Chad Smith's double bass drum set up, it was very big and loud. This year was definitely a good year for music at the Superbowl. I cannot wait until next year to see who they bring out to perform. 

The Grammys

So just yesterday, I watched the Grammys and they were awesome! some key highlights that I found very entertaining were when Pink did her song "Try" while doing acrobatic stunts. It was really cool.
Next was the Beatles salute, when Paul Mccartney and Ringo Starr performed together on stage, which was also very exciting to watch. There were definitely more acts that were very entertaining, but overall it was a good show.

Kings of Leon on February 26th

This should definitely be an awesome show, Kings of Leon are definitely another favourite band of mine. Their latest album "Mechanical Bull" is totally awesome. My top 3 favourite songs off the album have to be "Supersoaker", "Beautiful War" and "Last Mile Home". I cannot wait to see them live down at the Air Canada Centre.