7 posts tagged “concerts”

It's almost impossible to go to a bad National show.  Made up of classicaly trained musicians and seasoned veterans, The National have the live equation solved, bringing their raw emotion and vulnerable passion to the stage. Vocalist Matt Berninger has been known to garner a bit of stage fright and his anxious, aggresive reaction always brings an added excitement to the show -whether he has his head snapped back, drinking the microphone as he yelps "squalor Victoria, squalor Victoria!" or when he pulls an impromtu jump to the balcony of Bowery, hanging by his arm and keeping his vocal composure, as he did tonight. Biggest crowd-pleasers of the night were "Abel", "Secret Meeting" and the fresh "Fake Empire."  "Mr. November" proved to be the most entertaining number, raising the nervous energery an extra notch and consequantly, getting the crowd all riled up....which led to Matt's stage diving.  There was a 6th member to the team tonight -a violinist who stroked his strings with a Jimi Hendrix type ferocity. He was fun to watch -he must be at least 40 yrs. old but you wouldn't have known it. But in the end it's not the showmanship that assures a  great National show but the fact that each member is a master of his instrument(s).

So I'm a little late on blogging this...but for posterity purposes, I must get this down. 

James Murphy presents....James Murphy.  The ingenious, quasi-vain, mastermind behind LCD Soundsystem would have to try really hard to NOT put on a good show. Granted, it was the last show on the leg of the tour so some signs of exhaustion would seep in here and there. Everything still sounded solid at Webster, which has decent acoustics and is ideal for emcopassing the sounds of dance-beat-indie-rock of LCD. It was also the guitarist's last show so that added some treasure, if you will.  There were a bunch of bobble-heads around me -frats boys behind and yuppie record label lads in front. None of whom probably knew LCD S. back when he was releasing his tracks soley via Vinyl...ah, those were the days -especially at Insound when he would release one and we'd get a butt-load of orders, drowning in an office of label-less vinyl. But James has stayed true to himself through all this Capitol Records and commercial stuff so his succes is just fine by me. As he said in DIW, if you think he's made you look stupid for likeing him, well...he's not here to make you look smart.

The opener, Yacht, bless his heart, was horrible.

I had heard that you can't appreciate !!! - aka Chk Chk Chk - until you hear them live, and while I would disagree given their stellar new album, Myth Takes, I can see what they're talking about. It's not so much that the songs translate brilliantly to the stage, but the energy they exude that makes a !!! show so enjoyable. And it's the way they display this energy, most notably frontman, Nic Offer, who danced like Shirley Temple caught in a Saturday Night Fever time warp the entire time. The most racous numbers of the night were "Is this Thing on?" and "Must be the Moon", the former being the most well-received, which I guess is trivial since the "stiff New Yorkers" had their feet skipping around the entire time. At times it seemed things got messy but in actuality it only punctuated(no pun intended) their abilities as they improvised so well that you wouldn't know that the 10 min. song you just heard is actually only 5 minutes on the album.

                                                                                               

Recommended album: Myth Takes (Warp)

A couple years ago I went south to Philly to see Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and The National jam together -since tickets had sold out here.  It was a splendid night. The place was full...CYHSY played...1/3 of the people left...then the better band, The National played.  I read reviews about the show pointing this distinct fact out as well.  Alas, I'm not saying that The Arcade Fire should open for The National...I'm just saying they aren't the better band. The National played a tight, solid set.  It sounded good but at times it seemed they were preoccupied with how their new songs were sounding more than whether the crowd actually was

enjoying them. But it's understandable: they have a brand new album and they could afford to do that -they were the opening band and only 1/3rd of the place was full.  The Arcade Fire delivered a solid showing as well, though at times Win's pronunciation wasn't the finest but it was definitely audible and didn't take away from the overall greatness of the show. Show-stopper of the night was The National's uber-intensified finale, "About Today." The most comedic point of the night was when Butler thanked the crowd for coming and that he would see them tomorrow night for the 2nd show, citing their riches and involvement in the "what's-cool-now" group. He was half kidding but he was more than half right. Anyways, it was a swell night -I felt really blessed that I could see 2 bands like these in a grand place like the United Palace Theatre.

I saw Bjork 3 weeks ago but the experience is most definitely still framed in my mind. Seeing Bjork live was a hit-and-run. She came out- and I think it was because I was in so much awe that i was actually at a Bjork concert- that when she skipped out after the finale, "Declare Independence," it seemed as if only a half-hour or so had passed. She has always been an icon for me -someone who only existed figuratively- so just as it was when I saw Morrissey the first time in person, it was utterly surreal.

There has always been a lot of hype behind Bjork's live performances and justifiably so. The environment was eclectic: decked out with banners, flags, giant screens, and an ensemble that included a dozen or so merry Icelandic back-up singers dressed up like they were straight out of a set of "Wlliy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory". The United palace Theatre is an ideal atmosphere for Bjork, with its red felt seats and fresh golden interior, it is incredible and the best larger-size venue in New York City. We had a great view from the first row of the lower loge. She had some guests for a couple of the numbers, including Antony on one of the highlights of the night, "Dull Flame of Desire", a song from the recently released Volta.

The biggest crowd-pleaser seemed to be "Army of Me", and the biggest surprise -at least for me- was the finale of her first set, "Pluto". Personally, the even-better-than-the-real-thing version of "Bachelorette" was the most exciting point of the night. She started everything off strong with the dance-happy "Earth Intruders", the first single from Volta. I mentioned to my friend after the show that half the fun of seeing Bjork in concert is just being there with her, listening to her adorable voice as she introduces her guests, and watching her jump around the stage defying age. She's oh so cute.

Setlist: Cover Me/Earth Intruders/Hunter/Immature/Dull Flame Of Desire/Oceania/I See Who You Are/Pleasure Is All Mine/Pagan Poetry/Bachelorette/Army Of Me/Innocence/Wanderlust/Hyperballad/Pluto//Declare Independence

Recommended album: Homogenic (Elektra)

Sweet show at a perfect venue for The Album Leaf.  Maxwells is a very small, historic, iconic venue for the grassroots indie bands as well as the powerhouses, such as Sonic Youth and Bright Eyes who still book shows at the pseudo-arcane joint in Hoboken.  Alas, you would correctly assume that the sound quality is solid. The Album Leafs' sound can only be described -by me- as Sigur Ros meets Enno Morricone meets Kid A-era Radiohead.  Yeah that's right suckas, Enno Morricone. While they often favor back beats that would remind one of Hood or Kid A, the overall sound is much more atmospheric like Sigur Ros, but unlike these bands, the melodies are virtually classical in nature. Which isn't surprising since the mastermind behind the outfit, Jimmy Lavalle(1st picture below), is a classically trained multi-instrumentalist. The guy knows how to evoke emotion and he was definitely on form tonight.  In his spare time he runs around with other indie greats: The Locust, Tristeza, and The Black Heart Procession, as well as guest star stints with Sigur Ros.  Vague, sweeping images -along with more symmetrical styles- were projected in the background and captured the essence of the songs, thus making the concert experience even more effective. This is the third time I've been able to see these guys and every time the tracks from their records translate brilliantly live.

Live pictures of the boys: