I saw two phenomenal concerts this weekend. Bloc Party on Friday
night and The Fiery Furnaces Saturday. I was a bit skeptical since the
reviews coming back from their shows earlier in the week where a bit dodgy, but
I wasn't gonna pass these two up.
I had heard Bloc Party failed to really get the crowd going on Thursday,
resorting to stage gimmicks such as playing popular song teases and whatnot to
get a reaction. Well, whatever the problem was (weekday perhaps?) it was
fixed for Friday night. I can't remember seeing a Bowery crowd more amped
and ready to go. The band was loud and tight and excited to be playing
and the kids were eating it up. It took about two songs for the band to acknowledge
that we were better than the night before. I suppose they may always say
that, but everyone I talked to who was there both nights agreed. It was
close to the level of excitement that Franz Ferdinand got at Volume last
Summer. Very good times.
I was even more surprised to hear all the negative buzz about the Fiery
Furnaces at Northsix Thursday night. Especially from One Louder, who
certainly know the band well enough as not to be scared off by their unique
live show. I was left jaw-dropped after previously seeing them at Bowery and
I consider EP to be one of my favorite albums of the year so far, so I had to
imagine a combination of those two things could not be a bad thing.
I don't know what went wrong in Williamsburg the other night, but they were ON POINT at Webster Hall Saturday. First
off, just like every time I go there, I remembered that Webster Hall IS NOT SO
BAD! Yea it's not as good as Bowery, but what is? The bouncers are
awful pricks and the beer isn't cheap, but the stage is big and the sound is
nice. As far as just watching a band play music for an hour, it's a good
space. You can do much much worse.
Anyway, they played an absolutely stunning set. Maybe I just know more
of the songs now, but it was better than Bowery last year. They blew
through their main set in about 45 minutes, going one song into the other with
no breaks straight through. Then the rest of the band left Matt and Eleanor
on stage alone to play a few new songs together. They were the same ones
they played at KEXP and I love them all. After that the band came back on to
play a few more before calling it a night.
There are a very small handful of groups out there that really make seeing
them live worth your while. Not that I don't have fun at most of the
shows I see, but there are some bands that, live, create a completely unique
experience that you could not even begin to touch on when listening to
a CD. The Arcade Fire are one of these bands. The Fiery Furnaces
are another. Even if you're not a big fan of their records, I think
everybody owes it to themselves to check them out live. They are as creative and unique and we have
in popular music today.
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