Doors open.. whenever / A cunning plan

typed for your pleasure on 13 November 2005, at 2.28 pm

Sdtrk: ‘Pretty girls make graves’ by the Smiths

So I was musing to myself a couple of days ago — what bands have I seen perform live? Hrrm.. *strokes chin in thought*

+ GLOD (four times — I miss them)
+ Batterie acid (twice — I miss them as well)
+ Silver apples (before Simeon and Danny Thomas got back in touch with each other, but a good show anyway)
+ Princess Dragon-mom (at least five times)
+ Mystic Moog Orchestra (twice)
+ Crash worship (a very Bacchanalian show)
+ Medicine (twice)
+ Lush (twice; the second time round, it was so hot at the concert venue that Miki’s hairdye began running down her face)
+ Mojave 3 (so boring, I actually fell asleep)
+ Shonen knife
+ Tasty bush (twice; a rather underrated band)
+ Laibach (unfortunately, it wasn’t during their heyday, it was when they toured for ‘Jesus christ Superstars’, their worst album ever)
+ Combustible Edison
+ Broadcast (three times)
+ Stereolab (five times I think, I can’t remember)
+ My bloody valentine (fucking ace show)
+ NON / Death in June / Scorpion wind / Strength through Joy (also, filed under ‘fucking ace show’)
+ Merzbow / Masonna (a pair of fantastic performances, only marred by the fact that Psywarfare opened for them)
+ Death from above 1979
+ Interpol
+ the faint
+ Adult. (three times)
+ Add N to (X) (twice)
+ Subliminal self (I know one of them!)
+ New order / The sugarcubes / PiL (the others weren’t bad, but I was there for New order)
+ Morrissey (the ‘Kill Uncle’ tour… largely meh, but nevertheless — it’s Morrissey)
+ The Dears (four times)
+ The Divine comedy (an ‘intimate evening’)
+ Destroy all monsters ‘reunion’ show (eh)
+ Social outcast (twice)
+ Bloc party (hooray for free tickets!)
+ Labradford (opened for Stereolab once)

I’ve actually restricted this list to the good, or at least memorable, performances; other bands I’ve seen would predominantly be hateful and/or boring opening acts for the shows mentioned above. Also, I’m sure I’m forgetting a couple; if I remember them, I will be sure to surreptitiously insert them into the list and pretend they were there in the first place, heh heh.

Unrelated! I may have a cunning plan as far as displaying Sidore-chan’s pics in the interim between now and ‘Kitten with a Whip!’ going back up. Details are, of course, forthcoming

Random similar posts, for more timewasting:

Daylight savings time has me all screwed up on April 3rd, 2005

Again with the Dears??! on June 7th, 2005


‘This is not your sawtooth wave’

typed for your pleasure on 7 November 2005, at 3.52 am

Sdtrk: ‘Microtronics 13’ by Broadcast

So yeah, as you may have suspected from the Subj.title and soundtrack choice, I decided I was well enough to go witness Broadcast on Sat eve. Was it worth it? Indeed it was!

Jeff, Tim and I left got to the Magic Stick round 8.30, as the doors were due to open at 9, and we didn’t want to have to wait in a potential queue that stretched round the block, like when the faint played there. Oddly enough, there wasn’t a line at all! Not that we were complaining, of course.
As I’d stated, the doors (meaning, the iron gate at the top of the steps that lead up to the venue) were supposed to open at 9, but they didn’t actually do so until almost 9.30, which was weird, as the Stick is usually spot on with their ‘door open’ time. That’s the sort of silly bollocks that we’d come to expect from seeing shows at St.Andrews in downtown Detroit, back when 90% of the good shows played there, which is something that hasn’t happened since the mid-to-late Nineties. But St.Andrews used to do that all the time — they’d say ‘Doors open at 8pm’, and they’d open like an hour later, sometimes longer. I tell you, waiting for whoever to get their shit together and open up when you’re physically waiting out in the weather was truly the Apex of Fun. But I digress.

So we get upstairs and grab a table off to the right. About ten minutes after that, the merchandise guy materialised, offering vinyl, T-shirts, and the coveted volume 2 of ‘Microtronics’. Broadcast has always been a band that have worn their influences proudly on their polyester sleeves, and the Microtronics series is no exception. Basically, it’s their collision of the heyday of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, the Manhattan Research Incorporated years of Raymond Scott, and music from science class 8mm filmstrips. Pretty much standard Broadcast fare, only each track is an instrumental averaging about two minutes in length. Plus, the art is done ‘in the library style’, meaning the 3inch Cds look as if they belong on the shelves of a broadcast (ho ho) studio’s library. All of these factors add up to Cds that are required purchases. Besides, they’re a snip at $8..

Round 10pm, the opening act Gravenhurst, from Wales, by their own admission, took the stage. Labelmates of Broadcast, they’re best described as ‘competent’, and ‘indie’, and unfortunately, ‘nothing to write home about’. They had a number of fans amidst the crowd, as signified by the number of ‘wooooo!!‘s between numbers, but you could also chalk that up to people getting their pints in. Unremarkable? Yeah, pretty much. Good try though, lads.

Broadcast went on round 11. Trish, James, and the two new/fill-in blokes played to a by-now full house, performing songs from ‘Tender buttons’, and a couple dating back to ‘The noise made by people’, and going on for about an hour. I had a couple of misgivings when ‘Tender buttons’ came out, as former guitarist Tim Fenton had left the group, bringing the number of original members to two. Not only that, but the recent release had more songs based around a drum machine. Don’t get me wrong, Odhinn knows I love my drum machines, but to me, it initially didn’t jibe with what i considered the ‘original Broadcast sound’, despite the fact that you can hear the change from ‘Work and non work’ up to now. So initially, I was like, I dunno.. Thankfully, they didn’t let me down at all live. Although it was weird to see everyone save the drummer using Roland PC-70s, instead of more traditional analogue keyboards..
Much like New order during the Eighties, Broadcast had to do the double duty thing with their instruments: Jam played synth as well as his bass, the New Guitar Guy played synth as well, and when Trish wasn’t playing her synth, she had this odd little guitar which boasted a large headstock and a shortish neck. (I wish I could remember what it was called, as the name was right there on the pickguard, but I do remember it said ‘London’ beneath the name.) The fill-in lads did a really good job as well; any drummer that can manage to get through their extended concert version of ‘Drums on fire’ and not literally burst into flames can definitely hold his own. And during the encore, they played a really ace version of ‘I found the F’. Nice!
Between their darkly psychedelic Motorik sound and their customary visual backdrop, which consisted of film stock from Sixties and Seventies-era science class filmstrips, it was an excellent show! But it’s Broadcast; you simply can’t go wrong by them..

The three of us stuck round after the performance, cos I wanted to get autographs, like I had done for the past two times Broadcast visited. There was a bit of a wait — Trish and Jam were set upon by four people apiece — but it was definitely worth it. I requisitioned Trish first, and as soon as she got a good look at me, she exclaimed, ‘I remember you! You’re the one with the ace name!’ She even managed to pull Jam’s attention away for a couple of seconds from his own signing frenzy to notice me.
‘It’s something-cat, right?’ she asked.
‘Yep.. Dave. Davecat,’ I replied. ‘I was rather happy to hear that you had a song on the new album called “Black cat”!’ Which is entirely true, as it’s one of my favourite songs on that release, and the title just makes it better.
While she was signing my copy of Microtronics v2, I asked her about that strange guitar of hers, and if she’d found it at a car boot sale. No, you can still find them in shops here and there in England. She mentioned it was just her size!
I got James to sign as well, and asked him, ‘Everytime you guys come to town, you’re missing a member, what’s going on with that?’
‘Well, Tim left cos he wanted to go and do stuff on his own.’
‘Was the split amicable?’
‘Not really.’
‘Ergh.’
He also mentioned that he wanted to do either two more volumes of Microtronics, or four more volumes of Microtronics. Sounds like a plan!

They’re fine people, Trish and Jam. Wouldn’t hear a word against ’em. Come back soon!

Random similar posts, for more timewasting:

Again with the Dears??! on June 7th, 2005

Boys keep swinging, ears keep ringing on April 17th, 2005


Again with the Dears??!

typed for your pleasure on 7 June 2005, at 4.23 am

Sdtrk: ‘Fallait pas écraser la queue du chat’ by Clothilde

Yup, Jeff & I caught the Dears at the Magic stick again this Sun past, and we successfully managed to drag along Mike as well (he’s even more of a shut-in than I am, if that’s even physically possible). It was a really ace show, and easily better than the last time we saw them..

Departing from Le Jeff’s digs in eighty degree heat (great, Summer’s fuckin’ here already), we reached the locale, and simply walked right upstairs, as there wasn’t really any sort of queue to speak of, which we chalked that up to the fact that it was a Sunday. Having paid for our tickets, we were greeted by a trio of lasses who draped these backstage-pass-like things round our necks, like we’d just set foot on Fantasy Island or something. ‘Welcome to the show!’ said the lasses. ‘Why, thank you!’ I replied. Turns out that the Dears have signed out with that crazy Dentyne ‘Live it Loud’ service, where you can purchase a Cd, recorded directly from the soundboard, of the very concert you just saw. Despite all the corporate trappings, it’s actually a pretty ace idea. See the show, wait 15min, leave the venue with a copy of the show on disk. The passes that we were awarded with were actually contest pieces, as this bloke in a Dentyne shirt checked them under a little UV light. If the pass said you were a winner, you won a free concert Cd (normally $15). None of us were winners, but the checker bloke said we would have another chance if we had any Dentyne on us. We failed in that regard as well. ALAS ALACK

I neglected to mention the doors opened at 8pm. So it was rather surprising that the first opening act, Marjorie fair, went on about 17min after 8. Quickest start-up ever?! None of us had ever heard of them before, and were happy to discover that they didn’t suck. They’re a bit like the Dears, but not nearly as intense.. quite pleasant in a gloomy sort of way. Not bad! Shame their set was so short — they couldn’t have played more than five songs..
The following act, the Shout out louds, weren’t bad either. Three blokes and a rather milkmaidy-looking lass from Sweden, that had a bit of a Nordic pop / Remington super 60 vibe to them. I’d also say some of their tunes sounded a wee bit like New order as well, but I think that was due to their Linn drum. The lead singer explained that their drummer was absent, as he was getting married, so they borrowed a drum machine. Honesty really is the best policy. Midway through their set, George, the drummer from the Dears, took over, and his crazy talents helped to thicken up their sound. But I liked the Linn drum..

I believe the Dears took the stage, to the strains of Yoko Ono’s ‘Let me count the ways’, around quarter to midnight. This marks the fourth time Jeff & I have seen them: once in Ann arbor, once in Windsor, and once before at the Magic stick. They can’t stop touring! In all likelihood, they’ll probably be bringing this leg of the tour to a close, as Natalia was noticeably a couple of months preggers with a bun in the oven. Or a baby, one or the other. The band were in fine form, playing a couple of their soon-to-be-released songs, a good portion of material from ‘No cities left’, and a few songs from ‘End of a Hollywood bedtime story’, which I think is my favourite album of theirs. Murray even had us all clapping in time to ‘Heartless romantic’ during the encore..

After the show was over, Jeff stood in line to get his pre-ordered post-concert Cd, and as I was relatively skint, I bought two Dears buttons instead. We’d noticed that the venue was half-empty, which, in a way, is kinda nice, as you’re not packed in like sardines, but hopefully the performers didn’t think it was just a crappy night. This is why you don’t play Sunday eves! But all in all, we’d agreed it was an excellent show, bringing our party’s total number of skyward-pointing thumbs to three.
Well done, the Dears! Now go home and get some sleep!

Random similar posts, for more timewasting:

Doors open.. whenever / A cunning plan on November 13th, 2005

Daylight savings time has me all screwed up on April 3rd, 2005


Boys keep swinging, ears keep ringing

typed for your pleasure on 17 April 2005, at 11.42 pm

Sdtrk: ‘Noise grinder’ by Speedranch ^ Jansky noise

SOME GUY: ‘JESSE!!’
JESSE (setting up his bass amp): ‘I don’t know your name, so I can’t yell back.’
SOME GUY: ‘It’s Steven!’
JESSE: ‘Hey, Steven!’ *waves*
As predicted, Jeff and I trekked out to the Lager House to see Death from above 1979, and I even managed to persuade Derek to come with, and enjoy his first live performance since the late 90s. None of us had ever been to the Lager House before; it’s this bar located within the shadow of the original Tiger Stadium, and it was rather small, to say the least. ‘An intimate venue’, as papers would probably describe it. Which isn’t bad at all, but we thought that since DFA’79 had played larger venues elsewhere, they’d be playing one here. Alas! Like I said, though, it wasn’t a bad bar — the performing area was roughly the length of a typical basement — but they kinda need to address their soundboard problems. I’ll get to that in a bit..

DFA’79 and their two opening acts were doing a two-shows-one-day thing; the doors opened for the all ages show at 5pm, and the 18+ show was at 9pm. We elected to go to the earlier one, so we could get back round to Jeff’s afterwards and catch the recent episode of Doctor Who, among other things.
After a 45min long soundcheck, and a premature start due to a problem with one of the guitarist’s amps, the first act up was Controller.controller, some band none of us had heard of, but they had their following, as quite a few of the emo kids were singing along. The musicians were pretty tight (despite the fact that the drummer wore a ski mask. If your drummer has a ‘gimmick’, your band is probably shite), and the vocalist lass, who reminded me a bit of Siouxsie Sioux, seemed to be enjoying herself, but her voice just didn’t seem all that polished as compared to the rest of the music. Maybe she sounds better on Cd. It’s a bit like Photoshopping supermodels; they look ace in print or on telly, but meet them in ‘real’ life, and you might be disappointed.. Overall, Controller.controller get a B for effort.

I’m gonna derail my narrative for a wee bit, and point out that I really have no idea what the fuck today’s hipster kids are supposed to be dressed as. It’s like they’re taking all the bad parts of the 70s and the 80s and squishing it together into some supposedly-ironic heap of crap. Girls with razor-cut hairdos and guys with those goddamned trucker hats. And every third person with either facial machinery, a white leather belt with pyramid studs on it, or both. And don’t even get me started on those fucking emo glasses. I don’t like emo, and I wish to set it on fire.

Anyway! Second act was Lee Marvin computer arm. I wish I could say something memorable about them, but I can’t. I can, however, note, that we couldn’t even hear the lead vocalist; either his mike wasn’t plugged in (a real American tragedy, to be sure), or he was screaming at a level that only dogs can hear. Hooray for the Lager house soundboard!

Around quarter to eight, DFA’79 finally went on, and about ten minutes after that, they started playing, having kinda sorta ironed out their own problems with the soundboard. It was a fast set, but it was pretty ace, and loud as hell (we were standing about eight feet away from one of the PAs). Sebastien’s vocals sounded a little blown out, though; I mean, even moreso than usual, but DFA’79 really proves that you really don’t need a guitarist to demolish your opponents musically. Is Jesse as good as the God of All Bassists, Peter Hook? No, but he’s damn close..
Towards the end of the set, DFA’79’s new best friend Steven (see above) kept requesting they play ‘Little girl’. He’d requested it about five or six times.
STEVEN: ‘LITTLE GIRL!!’
SEBASTIEN: ‘Fuck you.’
*audience laughs*
JESSE: ‘We don’t tell you how to suck dick when you’re out on the street corner.’
AUDIENCE: ‘OOoooooohh!!’
Then they launched into ‘Little girl’, ‘by request’, Sebastien added. 🙂

I’d say we all enjoyed ourselves. Good show!
Now it’s Sunday eve, and I’ve got like 95% of my hearing back! Woo hoo!

Random similar posts, for more timewasting:

Stuff from Canada, music from Omaha on October 11th, 2004

Doors open.. whenever / A cunning plan on November 13th, 2005


Daylight savings time has me all screwed up

typed for your pleasure on 3 April 2005, at 9.13 pm

Sdtrk: ‘Variation one’ by Stereolab

Okay, so the Pope is finally dead. I understand that he was engaged in a bitter struggle with Moriarty (aka, the ‘Napoleon of Crime’), and both plummeted to their deaths over Reichenbach Falls, Switzerland. Well, when you die, you should make it memorable, at the very least..

So! Friday’s Performance By A Couple Of Indie Bands wasn’t too bad. Tim, Mike, Jason and I got to the Magic stick in plenty of time, and unlike our experience with the faint, we didn’t have to wait in some interminable line stretching two miles in length. However, it was a good job that Tim picked up our tickets ahead of time, as a couple of signs hastily taped onto the entrance doors indicated that the show was sold out. We got inside, flashed our ID and tickets, went upstairs to the concert hall, and kinda stood around for a couple of minutes. The hipster kids must love their Bloc party, cos there was a pretty lengthy queue for the merchandise corner, which is something I’ve never seen for any group before. A small cluster round the table, yes, but never a line. Tim wanted to buy a shirt, but wasn’t too impressed with the designs on offer, and didn’t want to wait in line besides, so we stood round for a couple more minutes until we collectivey decided to go downstairs for some food, as we were all really hungry.

After waiting about 20min to both order and get our pizza — a large pepperoni, in case you’re curious — the first act, The Ponys, went on, so we shoveled the piping hot slices into our mouths (bad idea), and made our way upstairs. Despite missing the first two songs, we liked what we heard overall. They struck me as a cross between My bloody valentine circa ‘Ecstasy and wine’, and British sea power, minus the lyrics about peregrine falcons and WWI-era writers. Not a bad band, but nothing I’d really pursue further.

We were towards the back of the crowd when The Ponys were playing, and I’d noticed that at that point that the venue was 3/4ths filled. So as you suspect, it was proper packed when Bloc party went on about a half an hour later. Indie kids love their Bloc party. Jason had played a couple of tracks from their full-length Cd before we left Mike’s place, and they sounded alright; the operative term being ‘alright’. I mean, I wasn’t fully concentrating on the music, but I’d heard nothing that made me shout ‘BLOC PARTY FUCK YEAH!!1!’ or anything. Seeing them live, however, was pretty damn entertaining. I’ll give you this, the lads can play. The drummer was banging the skins like crazy, the guitarist looked like Vini Reilly, Kele (guitarist and vocalist) not only has a pretty good voice, but his playing skills were pretty remarkable, and the bassist really impressed me when, during the last encore song, he played with his back to the audience, whilst standing atop the bass drum. Very nice! SNAP COMPARISON: a less glossy, more politically-motivated (lots of rather cool time changes) and slightly more angular Franz Ferdinand. Not bad!

On the flipside, it was really great to see that Bloc party had apparently brought a couple of chavs with them on the tour, cos there were three or four really tall blokes directly in front of us, undoubtedly hopped up on goofballs, and attempting to form a mini-mosh pit. There wasn’t much room to back up, either, cos like I’d mentioned, the Magic stick was as full as t could be at that point. Heh. I love concerts, but I hate crowds. And I miss shows at St.Andrews, where there’s, y’know, a balcony for sitting. Still and all, a pretty good show..

And the highlight of getting round to Jeff’s Saturday eve? Watching ‘Knowing me, Knowing you with Alan Partridge‘. Ah haaah!

Finally, I’m shifting my godforsaken detritus selling articles on the Bay of e. Why not have a look?
Sweet baby James, I’ve had some of this stuff since the first Bush administration, and I’m bloody sick of looking at it

Random similar posts, for more timewasting:

Again with the Dears??! on June 7th, 2005

Boys keep swinging, ears keep ringing on April 17th, 2005


MY BUNNY HOLIDAY: a Play in Seven Acts

typed for your pleasure on 28 March 2005, at 8.47 pm

Sdtrk: ‘Bloody Jack’ by Serge Gainsbourg

First of all, I’ve noticed that HaloScan seems to be eating, or otherwise deleting, some of the older comments that readers have made. I was scrolling through some of the previous months, and I spotted a couple of posts that I knew had had comments, that had a count of zero. I’ve no idea what the hell is causing this, and as you suspect, I’m not too happy about it.

Did everyone have a good Bunny Holiday? Mine wasn’t too shabby.. On Sunday, Jeff and I saw The Dears in concert at the Magic stick, making this our third Dears show attended. It was the Dears, so it’s guaranteed Good Music, but it wasn’t as.. explosive.. of a show as the first two times we’d seen them, apart from the fact that Natalia seemed to be having trouble with her keyboard’s effects rack. Jeff reasoned that they might very well have been tired, as they spent the majority of last year on a tour, and as we all know, tours can take a lot out of you.. Nevertheless, it was still a pretty ace show. Now when’s that new album??

The Dears actually weren’t the opening or the headlining act; the opening group was some group we’d never heard of before called American minor. They were shite, pure and simple. You know how the current trend for ‘indie’ kids is to wear trucker ballcaps, in a failed attempt to be ironic? Well, I would suppose due to bands like American minor, they’re also listening to Southern Rock in a failed attempt to be ironic as well. I thought I was at a goddamned Lynrd Skynrd (or however the fuck you spell it) show. Five guys, all with long curly shoulder-length hair parted down the middle, as well as a guitarist with a John Holmesian moustache, playing Seventies-style rock ‘n’ roll. Fucking shite. Before their last song, the porn-‘stache guitarist mentioned to the crowd ‘We had to smoke all of our weed before crossing the border to Canada, so if anyone has any hook-ups, just meet us backstage.’ I shit you not. I should’ve whipped a fucking beer bottle at his head. When will that style of music die??

And the headlining act, The Soundtrack of our Lives was.. dull. Jeff had heard more of them than I had (two tracks to my zero), and I had read a blurb somewhere that they were somewhat Sixties psych-rock, crossed with the Beatles, from Sweden. Or Scandinavia. One of those Nordic countries, at any rate. They weren’t absolute shite, but nothing that we could get into. A lot of the band members sported thick, bushy beards, which I suppose makes sense if you’re from a Nordic country — you gotta keep your face warm. But the lead singer was wearing this black robe with a grey vertical stripe and the band’s logo on the arm, and yet, none of the other members were dressed as he was. You’d think he’d state that they all needed to don robes, for some sense of uniformity, but perhaps his idea was vetoed. Jeff and I split towards the end of their first song..

Now the thing I don’t understand was — what the hell were the Dears doing sandwiched in between two bands that don’t sound anything like them? The Dears, in case you’re unfortunate enough to have never heard them, sound rather like The Smiths, with a bit of Sonic youth-style guitar freak-outery every so often. On the other hand, TSOOL was psych-rock-sounding, and American bullshit sounded like Grand funk railroad (or, at least, how I imagine Grand funk railroad to sound). It was a rather incongruous lineup, is what I’m saying. It was like when we saw Broadcast the last time they rolled through Detroit, and the opening act was Iron and wine. Huh? Stereolab and Hall & Oates? Pulp and Tom Jones?? The Human league and GWAR???!

So since we took off early, we decided to get back round to his, and watch ‘Final episode’, the last fillum in the Yakuza papers series, directed by Kinji ‘Battle royale’ Fukusaku. Eventually, I’m probably gonna end up buying that boxset, as the films are pretty ace. Yakuza members form families and alliances! Duplicity and backstabbing occur! Characters are introduced at the start of a film, and odds are they won’t live to see the end! Shooterings! Stabbenings! It’s got it all!

Monday — that is to say, today — Derek and I went gallivanting around our old ‘alma mater’ of sorts, Wayne state University. He wanted to obtain his past academic records, as he’s looking into some classes, and we decided to wander around campus for a couple of hours. Every third building was new! Well, new to us, anyway. Rather strange.. Good day for it, though, as it was in the low 50s. Despite the fact that neither of us saw any robins, the official herald of Springtime; however, I did spot a couple of lasses wearing sandals. Yum!

And this past Saturday aft, a certain package showed up on my doorstep:

My only nitpick, if you can call it that, is that it’s made out to ‘David’, which is what my PayPal account is under — I guess Tristan missed my Email asking for an autograph made out to Davecat. O well. At some point, I’ll just have to purchase another figure! Yay for Tristan!

Random similar posts, for more timewasting:

Again with the Dears??! on June 7th, 2005

Boys keep swinging, ears keep ringing on April 17th, 2005


WILL YOU KIDS TURN DOWN THAT CRAZY BROODING AND INTENSE POST-PUNK STYLE ROCK AND ROLL ALREADY

typed for your pleasure on 27 October 2004, at 3.13 am

Me and my wacky, roundabout posting. Here, I will describe the Interpol concert that Le Jeff & I attended on the 15th ov this month. I’d like to say I’ve been busy, but I’m just lazy and procrastinative. But hey, it’s my Blog, and it’s not like you can demand a refund, so bollocks to ya. 😉

We reached the State theatre after grabbing some fine sandwiches at a Quizno’s, and parked in a Secret Location a couple ov blocks away from the building. It’s a secret cos you don’t have to pay anything for parking, which is a rarity, especially in that whole CoPa/Ford Field/Theatre district part ov downtown.
Now, remember how I’d said that there was a long queue for the faint? Well, this one was maybe half a block longer when we arrived. As bouncers went up & down the line, shouting out a list ov prohibited items (no cameras, no weapons, etc), one ov them mentioned that I had to remove the chain from my leather jacket and leave it in the car. Ergh. Jeff passed me his Swiss Army knife to drop off as well, and I made my way back to the car. Upon returning minutes later, I’d noticed that the back half ov the line was standing in the street next to the sidewalk, instead ov on the sidewalk proper. Jeff informed me that someone had pitched a couple ov Faygo bottles filled with some mystery liquid from one ov the upper floors in the building the line was next to. Huh. Welcome to Downtown Detriot..

So, after a thirty minute wait, and a frisking, we managed to make it inside. Neither one ov us had been to the State before, and were kinda impressed. Although the amount ov security was a bit off-putting. I guess if you’re playing the State, you’re playing a real venue, which would require the presence ov said bouncers and etc. I don’t think I’ve seen as many security heavies at any show since I saw New order & PiL back in 1989, so it was a little odd.
We wandered down the front ov the stage, decided it was gonna be too crowded, then attempted to get seats up in the mezzanine, where we were told that the area was for people with ‘mezzanine seating only’, which wasn’t a ticket-purchasing option we were aware ov. So, by the time we got back downstairs (and after I bought some Interpol buttons & stickers), most ov the seats by the bar with a decent view ov the stage were already taken. Ergh. O well, we’d be standing when Interpol was playing, anyway..

First act was.. well, I can’t remember. Before the tour hit Detriot, I’d read that the opening acts were to be On! Air! Library! and The Secret Machines, but apparently, it wasn’t On! Air! Library! at all. Jeff, you’re gonna have to help me out, here.. Whoever they were, they were almost entirely unmemorable. It didn’t help that we were about eight miles away from the stage, but this band was like a really watered-down Wire, and that’s going from what little I remember ov them. They were humans on stage, playing instruments; this much I am sure. Well, I think they were human; I did say we were quite a ways from the stage..

Next up was The Secret Machines. I’d read that they were supposed to be kinda like Joy-division-meets-Led-zeppelin, so I had no idea what to expect. My assessment? They were boring, and they went on too long. Jeff & I ended up wandering around the theatre during their set. We visited the little concession area, where he purchased some onion rings, and I bought an overpriced bottled water. And The Secret Machines effectively became nothing more than loud background noise. I have to admit, they would every so often veer towards shoegazerdom, but not enough to grab my attention. Better than the previous act, but not as good as, say, eating onion rings and drinking bottled water in silence. Sorry lads, try again next time! Actually, upon reflection, don’t.

Then, after a suitable lengthy soundcheck, Interpol hit the stage. Let me go on record here as saying that I love ‘Turn on the bright lights’ as if it was the bastard lovechild ov Joy division and the Cure, but ‘Antics’ just doesn’t do it for me — it’s a less ominous and introverted release, and those are the qualities I enjoy the most from their first Cd. Even though this tour was the ‘Antics’ tour, I’d have been a fool not to see them. So obviously the majority ov the set was material from ‘Antics’, with about four songs from ‘Turn on..’ played as well. I have to say that I liked how they really don’t stand still, for the most part. Look, Daniel’s wandered over to Carlos’ side ov the stage! Now Carlos can be found over there, behind Paul! Paul’s.. pretty much stuck where he is, as he’s playing guitar, and therefore can’t grab his microphone and move about. You stay there, Paul. A very enjoyable show from a very good band, no question.
A couple ov weeks before the show, I’d seen an article in Spin, stating that apparently bassist/Goth/party animal Carlos D’s New Thing is to wear a holster, and sure enough, he was up there, all beholstered and stuff. It took me almost the entire show to realise that he was indeed wearing one, as it was black against his black shirt, and the band’s idea ov lighting, like Jeff mentioned, was to place the lights behind them, directed at the audience. Clever clever. :-\ But like I said, it was a pretty ace show, played to a really packed house — we even saw Nicola and Adam from Adult. on our way out, which makes sense, cos they live in Detriot, anyway..

So yeah, not bad! What have we learned here? Ties are ace, a tie with a holster is even more ace, and The Secret Machines aren’t secret enough

Random similar posts, for more timewasting:

Stuff from Canada, music from Omaha on October 11th, 2004

Past my bedtime? Why yes! on August 7th, 2004


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