Well, the epic tour of NP and B&S has just begun, and already I’ve seen the show. Boston gets all the indie band love you see. As PP correctly predicted, New Pornographers were easily the better of the two acts. They played an incredibly tight one hour set containing most of their best songs from Twin Cinema and Mass Romantic. Only one track from Electric Version, though. Sadly missing were any of the Bejar compositions. Neko’s voice was even bigger and better than normal, although her new hair cut confused the usual stirring in my loins at her sight.
The headliners tonight were Belle and Sebastian, and given the fact that the crowd was only at 80% occupancy for NP, it’s clear who the stars of the evening were. It was strange seeing B&S in a club show and with only nine musicians on stage. I mean there wasn’t even a harpist! [Blasphemy! -ed] This was the new rock and rolling B&S. One of the funniest moments of the night was Murdoch attempting to descend into the crowd, but kind of teetering for a while on the edge of the stage. Not bad for a guy that used to play entirely hidden from view. Even Stevie took a solo act.
Clearly, B&S are practicing to become rock stars, and they might get there one day. The best songs, however, were their slow and tender songs: “The State I am In”, “The Fox in the Snow”, and “Jonathan David.” Bonus points for pulling off “Your Cover’s Blown” and “Electronic Renaissance.”
The new songs haven’t really burrowed themselves into my consciousness, but I think they’re probably really good. PP has given me the code for a video for one of their new songs that I’m going to insert here. If it works, I’ll take full credit for competency. If it doesn’t, it’s PP’s fault. This is “Silly Little Frog”:
The real question at this point is did YOU party like a rock star after the concert?
I am a recent New Pornographers convert — Twin Cinema has been in heavy rotation on the iPod. I need to pick up the other discs (I did get the new Destroyer, which is growing on me).
I am jealous of your easy access to The Rock and Roll, UC –living at the Gateway to the Ass End of America(tm), we don’t get a lot of shows here, and I’m too lazy to drive into Chicago.
I bet he hooked up with mad, phat yotches.
Sorry, I meant: I bet he boned several crazy fat women.
Chuckles, shut it. Go back to Tom Cruise.
Brando, you gotta get the other two NP discs, but you need to remember you are starting with the most sophisticated. I think you’ll have a harder time with the first one, but you’ll definitely love Electric Version.
I hate people that don’t show up for awesome opening acts. God forbid you hear anything new. Those people don’t really like going to concerts. They are only going to the show to say they went to the show. Obviously this rule does not apply when you go to a million shows a year or already know you hate the opening band. I’m talking about people who make a habit of skipping the opener. Like if the opener for XTC was Dukes of Stratosphear, they would skip. Or if Destroyer were opening for New Pornographers they woudl skip. Or basically if Belle and Sebastian were opening for themselves, they would have skipped.
I agree with PP about people that skip good opening acts. We discovered Imperial Teen solely based on their opening for The Breeders. I understand skipping the local opneing act when there are already designated openers and you not wanting to stand around for 4 hours.
What do people think of the song and video? I don’t really think the song is all that great, but I totally love the video. It’s so silly and sweet.
I already knew Imperial Teen.
Ooh, PP, aren’t *you* speshul?
Anyway, UC, I’m very jealous you evil bubbler. I wouldn’t mind Murdoch falling into my manly he-arms.
Muroch was definitely all sexed up for this concert. He ignored several reqeust to remove his T-shirt, which he informed us was only suitable only for children age 10, and was donning a suspiciously matched hairdo to Chris Martin.
You wouldn’t want to be at a concert any longer than you had to if you were as tall as the height of everyone else’s armpit. I’m telling you people are STINKY! Also, I have a hard time breathing stale air that everyone else just exhaled. I wish I were taller, or a baller.
I wish I had a girl, cuz then I could caller.
Please note that I refrained from the obvious joke about GC sitting on PP’s shoulders.
Just then, I also avoided the extension of that joke about shoulder sitting and the facing of the sitter in regards to the sittee.
when i miss the opening band, it’s cos i’m getting hooched off of some cheap vodka in the car to save money.
But, Pop, you’ve BEEN the opening band? Do you miss yourself?
“Do you miss yourself?”
more often than you realise…
That’s my boy, Pop Star partying like a Rock Star.
Chuckles: THAT’S NO JOKE!!!
The marital circumstances of PP and GC are presonal, private informations.
…”informations,” it must be added, that are available for only $3.99 per month, billable to your credit card. And what’s more, your new ManCheck pass will afford you access to all sorts of other adult entertainments as well.
Jayzuz I think the last “concert” I went to was like in 1991 … and it might have been the Beach Boys after a Giants game. you will find none uncooler than me evar.
Oh no, with PP and UC, the Beach Boys are teh cool.
the last concert i went to was a rollickin hootinany of a mexican rodeo. check out grupo montez de durango if you wanna know what i mean. they didn’t allow cameras for fear that millions and MILLIONS of flashes going off would (further) enrage the (3)bulls, so no photos. i do have some cool photos of a bluegrass performace that i;ll put up at mi online casa which is also tu casa.
Correction on the Beach Boys: The Beach Boys used to be teh cool, but now they are teh lame. Brian Wilson is perennially cool. Mike Love is a cobag, chumpwad, and chundermuffin, all wrapped up in the undead.
But Keith Moon drunking up ‘Barbara Ann’ is still teh cool, right?
I wonder if the Beach Boys ever partied with the Valley Girls.
Well, they partied with the Manson Family. And probably with the Beneath the Valley of the Ultravixens girls.
Chuckles=unbelievably low bar
Do the limbo!
Also, DA get in touch if you want to break your concertless streak.
Electronic Renaissance is probably my least favorite song from that album.
The Chicago show sold out too quickly, and I’ve seen both multiple times at better venues. But I would have liked to go.
I’m actually a little more excited about Stereolab next week, and I’m MUCH MUCH MORE excited about Mazarin a week from today.
“Neko’s voice was even bigger and better than normal, although her new hair cut confused the usual stirring in my loins at her sight.”
That wasn’t Neko singing but Kathryn Calder. She’s the newest member on the NP’s. Her duties include keyboards and replacing Neko when she can’t make it. Kathryn also plays in her own super good band — Immaculate Machine. They opened for NP’s on their tour late last year.
UC isn’t so bad that he would mess that up, would he? I mean he saw them on the tour with Destroyer, so he saw Kathryn AND Neko. I will never forgive him if that is true.
“Jayzuz I think the last “concert” I went to was like in 1991″
d.a., yer on the list for the next hope chest gig. march 23rd in s.f.
No, Leslie must be right. That would make the most sense. She really didn’t look like Neko, but I was a million miles away (it being Avalon and all), and I couldn’t really be sure. Her voice was really great, though, and she had some funny stories, so I figured it must have been Neko, just looking incredibly differenlty and not so desirable.
I did hear Immaculate Machines on the tour with Destroyer. She opened the show at the Roxy and I was highly impressed. Thanks for reminding me about them.
PP, you may resume hating me and my utter inability to recognize faces (and apprently sounds as well).
Oh you are only gonna be dead to me for 5 minutes. Mostly for the fact that you said her voice was BETTER than Neko’s and while very good, totally different. I’m so disappointed.
And AG was dissing SMiLE over at Teh l4m3s.
Yeah, the awful truth is that I don’t really have a great discerning ability to tell great singing from merely good singing. I mean she did Letter From An Occupant and everything, and it sounded just as good to me as the recorded version. I should probably retract the ‘bigger’ part – I don’t think that was necessarily true. Avalon, Middle East, and Roxy have such different acoustics, who can really tell.
Don’t even get me started on AG dissing SMiLE. At least she likes Pet Sounds. Then again, she’s somewhat of a self-admitting music philistine, so her criticsm of Brian Wilson is akin to me critiquing Kate Spade.
Uh, there is nothing to get about Kate Spade. Patriarchy declares that there is money to be made by controlling ideas by bombarding women with images of expensive, stupid little blakc handbags. I do not blame the consumer, but I think that declaring there to be some legitimate world where Kate Spade can be appreciated as oh so much quality and have that be a mirror image of Brian Wilson and his musical genius…hmmmm, doesn’t really seem fair to me.
Avalon is not that big Uncannypants.
I’m just glad that fulsome is AWOL right now, he would have been pissed. He’s been very aggressive lately.
I saw that
There you are.
Your banner is flying high little buddy.