Post by orzelc on Apr 12, 2014 6:43:10 GMT -5
Went to the show last night, and have the tinnitis to prove it. The hollow turns out to be a rather long, narrow performance space, with a pretty small stage up front by the windows. When we got in, I said "How the hell are they going to fit five guys up there?" but once Cheap Girls finished and cleared out a few amps, there was a bit more room. Still kind of a tight squeeze, though-- see crappy cell-phone picture for evidence. Probably not a whole lot more area than the Valentine's show I saw back in 2009, but a different aspect ratio.
We were off on the side, in front of Steve and Galen, by the wall where my wife found a stool to sit on. The room was pretty full, but not so much there was any pushing and shoving. There were maybe 5-6 rough rows of people in front of us.
I don't have a great wealth of material from which to judge (only my second show), but it lived up to my fairly high expectations. Lots of energy, and they were clearly enjoying themselves hugely (in contrast to Cheap Girls, who were perfectly fine musically, but mostly looked nervous). Opened with "I Hope This Whole Thing Didn't Frighten You" (during which I grabbed the photo below, then stowed my phone) like most of the setlists I've seen, and went through a good range of stuff. Might've been a little light on "Teeth Dreams" songs-- I was a little disappointed that they didn't play "The Only Thing," currently my favorite track-- but a solid set of songs. Closed with "Stay Positive" followed by "Slapped Actress;" I was expecting the former to be the last song, so it was a nice bonus.
My wife hadn't seen them before, and has always looked a little skeptical when I told her that Craig Finn is a great front man. On the way out to the car, I asked what she thought, and she said "That shouldn't work, but it does." Mostly because he looks like he still can't believe he gets paid to do this.
Miscellaneous notes:
-- Right after Cheap Girls finished, Bobby came out to adjust the drums, and Tad came out shortly after to do something with his gear. Nobody seemed to have any idea that they were in the band, rather than just random roadies. I got a kick out of that.
-- Craig changed microphones three or four times; not sure why (I couldn't hear anything obviously wrong, but it was really loud).
-- It was fun watching Galen and Bobby screwing around during "Almost Everything" (which doesn't feature a lot for them to do).
-- A brief shout-out to the hockey team from Union College, where I teach, who beat Boston College Thursday night, and will play Minnesota for the national championship tonight. Not Craig's favorite team right now.
All in all, a great time. It was kind of a shitty and frustrating week in a lot of ways, but this made up for most of that.
We were off on the side, in front of Steve and Galen, by the wall where my wife found a stool to sit on. The room was pretty full, but not so much there was any pushing and shoving. There were maybe 5-6 rough rows of people in front of us.
I don't have a great wealth of material from which to judge (only my second show), but it lived up to my fairly high expectations. Lots of energy, and they were clearly enjoying themselves hugely (in contrast to Cheap Girls, who were perfectly fine musically, but mostly looked nervous). Opened with "I Hope This Whole Thing Didn't Frighten You" (during which I grabbed the photo below, then stowed my phone) like most of the setlists I've seen, and went through a good range of stuff. Might've been a little light on "Teeth Dreams" songs-- I was a little disappointed that they didn't play "The Only Thing," currently my favorite track-- but a solid set of songs. Closed with "Stay Positive" followed by "Slapped Actress;" I was expecting the former to be the last song, so it was a nice bonus.
My wife hadn't seen them before, and has always looked a little skeptical when I told her that Craig Finn is a great front man. On the way out to the car, I asked what she thought, and she said "That shouldn't work, but it does." Mostly because he looks like he still can't believe he gets paid to do this.
Miscellaneous notes:
-- Right after Cheap Girls finished, Bobby came out to adjust the drums, and Tad came out shortly after to do something with his gear. Nobody seemed to have any idea that they were in the band, rather than just random roadies. I got a kick out of that.
-- Craig changed microphones three or four times; not sure why (I couldn't hear anything obviously wrong, but it was really loud).
-- It was fun watching Galen and Bobby screwing around during "Almost Everything" (which doesn't feature a lot for them to do).
-- A brief shout-out to the hockey team from Union College, where I teach, who beat Boston College Thursday night, and will play Minnesota for the national championship tonight. Not Craig's favorite team right now.
All in all, a great time. It was kind of a shitty and frustrating week in a lot of ways, but this made up for most of that.
