I saw the Faint last weekend with the Rah Bras and Measles Mumps and Rubella. Insanity. Good show, but not at all what I was expecting. It was sooooo rough. Being right up front was a bad idea. I got more bruises than I did photos, but hopefully the photos will last longer and look better.
And from that excellent springboard, I'll now delve into my own show review of the MMR/Lesbians on Ecstasy/Le Tigre show from last Tuesday night at the world's famous Cat's Cradle in scenic Carrboro, NC:
What a great night. Unfortunatley, my "over 21"-sticker-stained hand is pretty much all cleaned up now and other than that I have no photographic momentos either.
So I get home from work, I try calling Rob, I leave a message on his voicemail. Annie and I go and get some grub, we decide to swing by the pad ('cause its on our way out of the town anyway) and I get the latest news that Rob left on my own voicemail: Kathleen Hanna of Le Tigre has lost her voice, but the show is still going on. I'm thinking to myself as I'm grabbing the phone to call Rob back, Wow...that just significantly decreased the number of riot grrls in attendance, when I suddenly change my mind and decide not to call him back. I gathered from the rest of the message that he knows we're on our way, I didn't see the point in calling him back, but the nanosecond the receiver hits its recharging home the freakin' phone rings and it's Rob!
Okay okay, cheesy sidebar story is now over. Annie and I trucked out to the show, feeling our way around the moonlit Chapel Hill region. Not well-traversed territory. Well...not traversed enough territory. Everytime I drive around there I'm reminded how much I'd like to be driving around there on a more permanent basis.
We get to the show, meet up with Mark 'n Rob in the parking lot. We all catch up a bit, typical shit shooting fare, and then we mosey on in. Cat's Cradle is now smokeless! Sweet! A rather young crowd is gathering as we walk into the back and say "Hello!" to Ryan and meet their new singer, Chuck. Apparently the bands get a free case of beer and water at the Cat's Cradle; I, of course, don't know if that's a standard deal everyone gets or what. But nonetheless it was cool to just hang out and shmooze. I need all the help in looking "cool" I can get. Rob's mom arrived with some of her friends it tow. It was nice to see her again, she's always been so nice to me. (I wonder if she remembers that I'm the goober who parked my car in her driveway and blocked her from getting out that one time so many, many years ago.) I looked for Zach's brother, Adam, but never saw him. (He called us that night but I have yet to get a report on what happened to him, if he even showed.)
The show was awesome, they played great. Half of the charge I get is just seeing them up on stage having a good time. I recognized songs, which is saying a lot 'cause I'm usually not very good at that when I've had such limited exposure. What I haven't done (and obviously need to do in future concert reviews) is recognized them to where I know the titles and whatnot. The newer songs didn't sound like old MMR stuff. Chuck was a good fit, the trumpet was a good touch during one song. I think, overall, the band has some seriously cool stuff to work up from and the guys are getting into their stage presence. Rob was all swinging around 'n Mark was getting it all crazy, dropping down on his knees and whatnot. To say nothing for their eccentric Tai Chi-n' singer. It truly, truly rocked. It was hard to gauge the crowd 'cause we were standing kinda in the back (which also reminds me that I'm looking forward to bringing a digital camera into a future show if only to maybe capture some crowd reax to include with the review), but I was plenty excited glad to see them play a longer set (due to Le Tigre dropping off the bill).
Lesbians on Ecstasy were totally unlike anything I'd ever seen before, which is more of a statement about how little I get out of the house than anything else. They don't really fit nice and neatly into any major genre headings or anything, 'cause they're up there mixing electronic dance-type stuff with pseudo-industrial instruments. For example, you got the one with the "monster bass" standing behind the synth-drummer. They set the mood right away with their opening song, waving raver-esque glow rods and light toys all over the place. Their energy was contagious and the crowd got a little bigger. Its not my personal cup of tea, but it was hard not to have a good time when they played.
So a big SiS shout-out goes to Mark 'n Rob for getting me and my wife out off our butts and out of the house on a downcast Tuesday night! Stay in touch and let us know when the tour's winding back this way again.
No comments:
Post a Comment