Recent Shows
For the third time in quick succession, and I’m still nowhere near being bored of them. They always seem to put absolutely all of their energy into each show, and they’re so much fun to watch. The story of the band is kind of tragic: passed over by their record label when they were on the brink of making it big, and going on to juggle shows around their office jobs. The Meadowlands album (which was where most of the songs on the night came from) feels like a triumph of will against the entire soul-crushing universe. They’re the happiest sad songs ever written. It’s almost impossible not to sing along to every word while bouncing around at the front of the crowd.
I guess this is the third time they’ve seen these guys too (they’ve been supporting the Wren’s for a while) but I liked them a lot more this time around. They seem to have gotten rid of their second guitarist, and sounded much better as a three-piece. Everything was less cluttered and fizzy, and it was much easier to make out the singer this time. I’ll definitely be keeping an ear out for them in the future.
Robyn Hitchcock and The Minus 5
I haven’t listened to Robyn Hitchcock in quite a while, so I’d forgotten what a fantastic voice he has. He’s touring with The Minus 5 - which includes Peter Buck of R.E.M and Scott McCaughy (band leader and long-time R.E.M tour guitarist) - and the band really did well together. Even Hitchcock’s between-song rambling was pretty entertaining, which is a rarity at most of the shows I go to. The idea of “jangly folk rock” might make you break out in hives, but if it doesn’t then this is the best example of it you’ll hear these days. One of my favourite sounds on Earth comes out of a 12-sting Rickenbacker, so you can imagine that this set put a big smile on my face.
Ah, how could I pass up the chance to listen to arch-melodramatic-rock whilst laughing at the goth kids who’ve come along dressed up as their favourite Final Fantasy character? This was very much a “Drag the band out and play all of the old stuff” kind of night, but that’s ok. It might well have been my only chance to hear any of these songs played live, so the inevitability of them closing with “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” didn’t feel quite as stultifyingly clichéd as it might have done.
This was a weird mix of a show. The band are basically caricatures of every New York stereotype going, but they make some absolutely compelling music (mostly thanks to multi-instrumentalist Fast, who had the contents of a small music shop set up on his side of the stage.)
On record, their best stuff tends to be the slower, groove-based songs, but these didn’t come across as well during the show, and they also played some weaker stuff from their last few albums. The most enjoyable bits were the quicker rock songs which got the crowd more excited (including a great cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll” during the encore.) So, mixed bag: When it was good it was great, but it all meandered around too much between those moments.
More Oldies! 2-minute, 3-chord, frantic pop-punk. At the start of the show, the sound was terrible; all rhythm guitar and no vocals, but they eventually sorted things out (just in time for them getting to the songs I recognised.. *ahem*)
I think that the important thing with this type of show is just to not focus on the fact that you’re watching an older, fatter version of a band who are still playing the same old songs they made when they were driven youngsters. You just have to try to enjoy it for what it is: a bunch of fun, singalong songs to jump around to and help you forget all the horrors of the week.