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ferrumaeternumSunday night was the free Yeah Yeah Yeahs show at The Rave from the contest I won on Twitter. I know it’s nearly been a week, but alas, I’ve been busy working. Just like the last time I saw them in 2006, Catherine decided to come along. We got there about an hour early to get a good spot and I was pleasantly surprised they played a bunch of rockabilly songs while the bands were setting up with Joan Jett’s “Cherry Bomb” thrown in.
I was very confused when I expected Grand Ole Party to go on first and some guy with an acoustic guitar showed up and said he was going to play a few Misfits covers. I totally forgot that he also helps the Yeah Yeah Yeahs out with their live shows. I was pretty excited about this, since I’ve been a Misfits fan since my early teens, but his mike and amp were turned down so low he could barely even be heard over the soft conversations in the crowd. If I’m right in front of him in the third row and couldn’t even recognize which songs he played, the rest of the crowd probably didn’t hear much if anything at all. He had a nice melodic voice and I liked the concept of slowing down some punk rock staples and translating them into acoustic folk rock, but it was in vain.
Grand Ole Party completely blew me away. I’d heard of them but didn’t actually bother listening to them before Sunday. They were like nothing I’ve ever heard. Kristin’s clear, vibrato-filled, sultry jazz vocals as she stood pounding away on the drums coupled with the guitarist and bassist’s psychedelic and surf rock riffs that resonated from their vintage Fender strat and telecaster had me captivated for their entire set. Everyone looked the part, too. Kristin was wearing a large-sequined black dress with red lipstick and the guys had button-down shirts and corduroy pants in various shades of brown and tan with shaggy ‘60s haircuts to top it off. Kristin also handled various other percussion instruments and some songs had a dark, gritty rockabilly feel. No two songs sounded the same, although they were all thoughtfully composed. I definitely wouldn’t mind seeing these guys again.
Seconds after the Yeah Yeah Yeahs began to play, a bunch of drunk guys in the crowd decided they were going to push their way to the front and center where I unfortunately was standing. This followed by a push pit of epic proportions and simultaneous pogo-ing eventually forced me to give up my spot, which has never happened at that venue before or for any alternative band I’ve seen live. (I later found out this was due to free concert tickets given out after the Decemberists concert, which led to much more people being there than originally intended.) When I saw them at The Riverside, the audience was really well behaved, so I assumed it would be the same this time around. I felt really bad because Catherine’s never been in that kind of situation before. After I got my footing, I realized she was nowhere in sight and I decided to stick it out for the rest of the show and look for her then instead of trying to figure out where she was or if she had even left the pit. The crowd was acting really obnoxious before the show even started, so I should have figured something was up. I spent most of the first half of the show trying to fight off the horde of aforementioned drunk fratboys who were intentionally trying to hurt me to get my spot, so I didn’t get to see as much of them as I would’ve liked. Believe it or not, there was even a circle pit, which I found utterly ridiculous for the style of music being performed. In hindsight, I should have taken Karen O’s advice in “Zero” to “get your leather on” as I had taken off my jacket that has saved my skin more than once at metal shows. At one point, she even asked the audience what was going on and told them several times to stop fighting over a towel she threw and to listen to their next song.
Since I’m too lazy to hotlink all these pictures to LJ, you can view the rest of them here.
Although the audience sucked, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs put on a great show. I absolutely adore their new album and the electronic influence they added to their music. I loved the black and blue glittery backdrop with the giant inflated eyeball and Karen O’s outfit. I especially liked the acoustic version they did of “Maps”. Like last time, she was full of energy, constantly moving around stage and dancing. Toward the end, she held the microphone in her mouth as she tilted her head back and screamed, spewed whiskey into the air, and threw a bottle of water on the crowd. She even gave the mike to the crowd a few times during “Cheated Hearts”. I couldn’t see much of their drummer or the Misfits covers guy. Nick was shoegazing most of the time, and I was lusting over all the different kinds of pedals he had to create their new sound live. My favorite part was at the end where all this shiny red y-shaped confetti rained down and I grabbed three for Catherine and myself. All in all, I’d say it was an okay show, even though it wasn’t quite as good as the first time I saw them. They played for about half the time they did three years ago, but the performance was still fresh and exciting.
Set List that is probably slightly out of order as usual:
Sealings / Honeybear / Hysterical / Skeletons / Down Boy / Gold Lion / Pin / Heads Will Roll / Turn Into / Maps / Y Control / Cheated Hearts / Zero
There was also a song or two in there from their pre-Fever to Tell days that I didn’t recognize.
I was very confused when I expected Grand Ole Party to go on first and some guy with an acoustic guitar showed up and said he was going to play a few Misfits covers. I totally forgot that he also helps the Yeah Yeah Yeahs out with their live shows. I was pretty excited about this, since I’ve been a Misfits fan since my early teens, but his mike and amp were turned down so low he could barely even be heard over the soft conversations in the crowd. If I’m right in front of him in the third row and couldn’t even recognize which songs he played, the rest of the crowd probably didn’t hear much if anything at all. He had a nice melodic voice and I liked the concept of slowing down some punk rock staples and translating them into acoustic folk rock, but it was in vain.
Grand Ole Party completely blew me away. I’d heard of them but didn’t actually bother listening to them before Sunday. They were like nothing I’ve ever heard. Kristin’s clear, vibrato-filled, sultry jazz vocals as she stood pounding away on the drums coupled with the guitarist and bassist’s psychedelic and surf rock riffs that resonated from their vintage Fender strat and telecaster had me captivated for their entire set. Everyone looked the part, too. Kristin was wearing a large-sequined black dress with red lipstick and the guys had button-down shirts and corduroy pants in various shades of brown and tan with shaggy ‘60s haircuts to top it off. Kristin also handled various other percussion instruments and some songs had a dark, gritty rockabilly feel. No two songs sounded the same, although they were all thoughtfully composed. I definitely wouldn’t mind seeing these guys again.
Seconds after the Yeah Yeah Yeahs began to play, a bunch of drunk guys in the crowd decided they were going to push their way to the front and center where I unfortunately was standing. This followed by a push pit of epic proportions and simultaneous pogo-ing eventually forced me to give up my spot, which has never happened at that venue before or for any alternative band I’ve seen live. (I later found out this was due to free concert tickets given out after the Decemberists concert, which led to much more people being there than originally intended.) When I saw them at The Riverside, the audience was really well behaved, so I assumed it would be the same this time around. I felt really bad because Catherine’s never been in that kind of situation before. After I got my footing, I realized she was nowhere in sight and I decided to stick it out for the rest of the show and look for her then instead of trying to figure out where she was or if she had even left the pit. The crowd was acting really obnoxious before the show even started, so I should have figured something was up. I spent most of the first half of the show trying to fight off the horde of aforementioned drunk fratboys who were intentionally trying to hurt me to get my spot, so I didn’t get to see as much of them as I would’ve liked. Believe it or not, there was even a circle pit, which I found utterly ridiculous for the style of music being performed. In hindsight, I should have taken Karen O’s advice in “Zero” to “get your leather on” as I had taken off my jacket that has saved my skin more than once at metal shows. At one point, she even asked the audience what was going on and told them several times to stop fighting over a towel she threw and to listen to their next song.
Since I’m too lazy to hotlink all these pictures to LJ, you can view the rest of them here.
Although the audience sucked, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs put on a great show. I absolutely adore their new album and the electronic influence they added to their music. I loved the black and blue glittery backdrop with the giant inflated eyeball and Karen O’s outfit. I especially liked the acoustic version they did of “Maps”. Like last time, she was full of energy, constantly moving around stage and dancing. Toward the end, she held the microphone in her mouth as she tilted her head back and screamed, spewed whiskey into the air, and threw a bottle of water on the crowd. She even gave the mike to the crowd a few times during “Cheated Hearts”. I couldn’t see much of their drummer or the Misfits covers guy. Nick was shoegazing most of the time, and I was lusting over all the different kinds of pedals he had to create their new sound live. My favorite part was at the end where all this shiny red y-shaped confetti rained down and I grabbed three for Catherine and myself. All in all, I’d say it was an okay show, even though it wasn’t quite as good as the first time I saw them. They played for about half the time they did three years ago, but the performance was still fresh and exciting.
Set List that is probably slightly out of order as usual:
Sealings / Honeybear / Hysterical / Skeletons / Down Boy / Gold Lion / Pin / Heads Will Roll / Turn Into / Maps / Y Control / Cheated Hearts / Zero
There was also a song or two in there from their pre-Fever to Tell days that I didn’t recognize.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-06 06:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-07 07:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-08 02:53 am (UTC)i would not have reacted well. LOL.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-08 07:30 am (UTC)