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shake what God gave you
Sep. 7th, 2004 02:09 amWow. I can say with total certainty that today was worth every minute of preparation and penny of overpriced goods. Excellent all around.
It's funny, I knew tons of people that were going to be there, but found it unecessarily difficult to contact them beforehand to meet. Maybe I should've thought of that sooner. :-/ Either way, I didn't waste that much time. I spent over an hour in traffic, mostly on Denny Way, but so did everyone else on that street. I've never seen Seattle Center so busy, though I must say despite that the traffic flowed pretty well, it wasn't gridlock or anything. Got my wristband first thing, which was good because an hour later (2 p.m.) they were gone. Incredible. (as an aside, I met three of my friends at the mainstage later that had arrived at 2 but gotten their bracelets secondhand. Lucky them!) Caught some of Aveo (with bonus Jen Wood on rhythm guitar) at the EMP, which didn't suck. Met up with Graham and crew at 3. Encountered Mike and crew soon after, then split the crews again and went with Graham and crew to the art galleries because nothing else interesting was going on. The most interesting art installation was the "Girlie Fun Show", with porn in the viewmasters and $50 handmade tanktops that girls were shopping for.
Ben and Jerry's was had.
I then departed to catch Bebel Gilberto at McCaw Hall while the rest of the group went to the EMP for Harvey Danger. I spent probably an hour in line, as the house was full 10 minutes after I got there, but it was worth all that for just 40 minutes of Bebel, as she was fantastic. She's just this little thing, looks just under thirty, very unassuming but very talented, and had us "Seattleists" raving for more. I can't say that I would've invited any of my rocker friends but hell, chill brazilian pop + electronic sounds + hot South American female = optimum Jon music.
Unfortunately I had to leave her show early as I needed to meet the Danger kids at 6:15, and the EMP is completely across the Center from McCaw. So I ran to my car to drop off my backpack and ran up to the EMP on time, only to find Graham and Eva chilling outside having never made it into the show. I suppose this was somewhat of a blessing in disguise (depending on how much you like Harvey Danger), as it allowed some of the group to get in line for the mainstage show quite early and score an excellent spot on the floor. So the three of us went in to join them and sit on the turf for two hours. On the plus side, I knew a lot of people and we had a good spot, on the other we were sitting on the turf for two hours with nothing to do. Built to Spill's "let's play a whole song guys" sound check was the most exciting thing to happen, and even that turned out annoying because everyone felt compelled to stand up and move to the front, and then remain standing when BTS got back off the stage. This was probably an hour before the show was supposed to start.
So when BTS finally took the stage the whole crowd was dying for something to see, and indeed they fulfilled it... I don't think it was as good a show as the one I saw in Bellingham this spring, but I really can't see a BTS show failing, I mean they're just that good. If anything their set felt too short. When your songs are 10 minutes long, an hour ain't that much to work with. Also, no sweat circle on Doug Martsch's shirt this time. And they had a recording of a French-Canadian lady talking about terrorism between songs, which everyone hated.
Interestingly, when they left the stage instead of leaving like most crowds do when the music stops, everyone immediately crushed forward. Our group quickly found itself much closer to both the stage and each other than ever before. We also ended up next to a couple that was getting quite freaky indeed, which was as uncomfortable as it was entertaining. They left pretty quickly though, which was probably best for all involved.
Some dude, most likely a 107.7 radio personality, came onstage to do some product placement and nearly got booed off. I don't think he wanted to leave the stage until the crowd was actually happy to see the Pixies instead of angry that they weren't seeing them. He failed to see that this situation would best be resolved by getting his ass of the stage and letting the band get on. Eventually he was satisfied with our excitement and let us wait another five minutes before the band came on.
I must note here the odd sense of vertigo seeing the Pixies entailed for me. It's kind of cheating in a way, I didn't really start listening to this band until the last year or so, and now I get to see them live. There was no 10-year wait, no endless dreaming about how great it would've been to see this ubergroup at it's peak. Not sure where that puts me.
Maybe just someone who enjoyed the hell out of their show, though perhaps not as much as some in the audience. I read in a review of an unrelated band a couple years back the lament, "what will this generation have to listen to that's as great as the Pixies?" I didn't understand the question at the time, but seeing this show made it all so very clear. They're all over the map, sound like nothing before them and nothing quite since, and all their stuff succeeds on all the levels. It may not be music you can believe in or sing to yourself when you're feeling lonely, but it's still fucking great.
They were a little tired, Frank Black Francis didn't quite have that same fire in his voice he had 10 years ago, but that's a lot of screaming to burn through and he did fine. I did for a moment feel like one of those 40somethings seeing the Rolling Stones. But then I realized the average age of everyone around me was 23, and there can't be that many of them that listened to the Pixies when they were 13... can there? Also, instead of an encore (or maybe as an encore) they stood around on stage for a while, then played "Wave of Mutilation"... again. They had already played it in the middle of the set! I think they ran out of songs they knew. Besides, they'd already played all their closer songs.
Which brings to mind how excellent the setlist was, they have a lot of material and not all of it would work here, and they were very consistent and picked really solid stuff. Clearly this is a band that knows what's up, they've done this for a long time and have found their groove just fine.
Anyway I feel really bad at reviewing shows despite my frequent attempts to do so. I guess I'm just writing it for myself anyway. If I was paid to do it, that'd be different.
Jake was craving A Pizza Mart so we went up there for food, I ended up eating nearly a whole large and ended up feeling much better. I guess I needed it. Graham came by for a while but had no voice whatsoever and looked miserable so he left early to try and get some sleep before work tomorrow. I myself smell like pizza, am very tired, my back hurts and vision in my right eye is really blurry, but I'm not that deaf - the show wasn't terribly loud, it was kind of nice. I don't really feel like going to concerts for a while, as I've been partying solid for four days, two of which were filled with shows. Also, who could I see that would be as great as the Pixies?
It's funny, I knew tons of people that were going to be there, but found it unecessarily difficult to contact them beforehand to meet. Maybe I should've thought of that sooner. :-/ Either way, I didn't waste that much time. I spent over an hour in traffic, mostly on Denny Way, but so did everyone else on that street. I've never seen Seattle Center so busy, though I must say despite that the traffic flowed pretty well, it wasn't gridlock or anything. Got my wristband first thing, which was good because an hour later (2 p.m.) they were gone. Incredible. (as an aside, I met three of my friends at the mainstage later that had arrived at 2 but gotten their bracelets secondhand. Lucky them!) Caught some of Aveo (with bonus Jen Wood on rhythm guitar) at the EMP, which didn't suck. Met up with Graham and crew at 3. Encountered Mike and crew soon after, then split the crews again and went with Graham and crew to the art galleries because nothing else interesting was going on. The most interesting art installation was the "Girlie Fun Show", with porn in the viewmasters and $50 handmade tanktops that girls were shopping for.
Ben and Jerry's was had.
I then departed to catch Bebel Gilberto at McCaw Hall while the rest of the group went to the EMP for Harvey Danger. I spent probably an hour in line, as the house was full 10 minutes after I got there, but it was worth all that for just 40 minutes of Bebel, as she was fantastic. She's just this little thing, looks just under thirty, very unassuming but very talented, and had us "Seattleists" raving for more. I can't say that I would've invited any of my rocker friends but hell, chill brazilian pop + electronic sounds + hot South American female = optimum Jon music.
Unfortunately I had to leave her show early as I needed to meet the Danger kids at 6:15, and the EMP is completely across the Center from McCaw. So I ran to my car to drop off my backpack and ran up to the EMP on time, only to find Graham and Eva chilling outside having never made it into the show. I suppose this was somewhat of a blessing in disguise (depending on how much you like Harvey Danger), as it allowed some of the group to get in line for the mainstage show quite early and score an excellent spot on the floor. So the three of us went in to join them and sit on the turf for two hours. On the plus side, I knew a lot of people and we had a good spot, on the other we were sitting on the turf for two hours with nothing to do. Built to Spill's "let's play a whole song guys" sound check was the most exciting thing to happen, and even that turned out annoying because everyone felt compelled to stand up and move to the front, and then remain standing when BTS got back off the stage. This was probably an hour before the show was supposed to start.
So when BTS finally took the stage the whole crowd was dying for something to see, and indeed they fulfilled it... I don't think it was as good a show as the one I saw in Bellingham this spring, but I really can't see a BTS show failing, I mean they're just that good. If anything their set felt too short. When your songs are 10 minutes long, an hour ain't that much to work with. Also, no sweat circle on Doug Martsch's shirt this time. And they had a recording of a French-Canadian lady talking about terrorism between songs, which everyone hated.
Interestingly, when they left the stage instead of leaving like most crowds do when the music stops, everyone immediately crushed forward. Our group quickly found itself much closer to both the stage and each other than ever before. We also ended up next to a couple that was getting quite freaky indeed, which was as uncomfortable as it was entertaining. They left pretty quickly though, which was probably best for all involved.
Some dude, most likely a 107.7 radio personality, came onstage to do some product placement and nearly got booed off. I don't think he wanted to leave the stage until the crowd was actually happy to see the Pixies instead of angry that they weren't seeing them. He failed to see that this situation would best be resolved by getting his ass of the stage and letting the band get on. Eventually he was satisfied with our excitement and let us wait another five minutes before the band came on.
I must note here the odd sense of vertigo seeing the Pixies entailed for me. It's kind of cheating in a way, I didn't really start listening to this band until the last year or so, and now I get to see them live. There was no 10-year wait, no endless dreaming about how great it would've been to see this ubergroup at it's peak. Not sure where that puts me.
Maybe just someone who enjoyed the hell out of their show, though perhaps not as much as some in the audience. I read in a review of an unrelated band a couple years back the lament, "what will this generation have to listen to that's as great as the Pixies?" I didn't understand the question at the time, but seeing this show made it all so very clear. They're all over the map, sound like nothing before them and nothing quite since, and all their stuff succeeds on all the levels. It may not be music you can believe in or sing to yourself when you're feeling lonely, but it's still fucking great.
They were a little tired, Frank Black Francis didn't quite have that same fire in his voice he had 10 years ago, but that's a lot of screaming to burn through and he did fine. I did for a moment feel like one of those 40somethings seeing the Rolling Stones. But then I realized the average age of everyone around me was 23, and there can't be that many of them that listened to the Pixies when they were 13... can there? Also, instead of an encore (or maybe as an encore) they stood around on stage for a while, then played "Wave of Mutilation"... again. They had already played it in the middle of the set! I think they ran out of songs they knew. Besides, they'd already played all their closer songs.
Which brings to mind how excellent the setlist was, they have a lot of material and not all of it would work here, and they were very consistent and picked really solid stuff. Clearly this is a band that knows what's up, they've done this for a long time and have found their groove just fine.
Anyway I feel really bad at reviewing shows despite my frequent attempts to do so. I guess I'm just writing it for myself anyway. If I was paid to do it, that'd be different.
Jake was craving A Pizza Mart so we went up there for food, I ended up eating nearly a whole large and ended up feeling much better. I guess I needed it. Graham came by for a while but had no voice whatsoever and looked miserable so he left early to try and get some sleep before work tomorrow. I myself smell like pizza, am very tired, my back hurts and vision in my right eye is really blurry, but I'm not that deaf - the show wasn't terribly loud, it was kind of nice. I don't really feel like going to concerts for a while, as I've been partying solid for four days, two of which were filled with shows. Also, who could I see that would be as great as the Pixies?
