okay. so sorry in advance for making this entry so terse. It's a necessity... I have many exams in the next few days and if I want to update at all I have to do it right now (I'm going to bed veryyy soon... 2 midterms tomorrow).
So. Marla and I got to the concert last night around 815,30 last night. It was preettty empty. cept the few diehard ambulance fans in the front. marla and I leaned around. I saw some people that I've seen at other concerts... I've learned that once you hit a scene (like a particular kind of music appreciation wave) you start to hang around the same crowd. seriously. even in new york.. it's the same people! Oh, and James Iha was there (again). I wonder if this is the beginning of a trend... I found out later that he was djing the afterparty, so it makes sense that he was at the show.
the crowd really wasn't very different than most indie crowds. lots of tote bags with buttons. lots of buttons in general. probably older average audience because it was a monday night. The show was definitely very timely though. Robbers at 9, Ambulance at 10, VHS at 1115.
Robbers took the stage pretty nonchalantly. They played some music, it sounded good. Not exactly a blazing show performance-wise, but it was still good. They just realeased their first album so most people didn't know the songs, but everyone was bopping their heads. the Bowery was half empty when they first started, but by the end it was pretty full.
Ambulance definitely attracted some major fans. Marla and I were pretty close to the front after pushing a little bit in between sets, but this guy that I un-fondly named "old dude" decided that it would be okay to sway around taking up twice the space he needed in the front even though he was at least 6'3". Tall people! stay to some kind of side! Don't take up the most space in the middle! come on! I need to write a book about concert going ediquette. anyway. it was pretty funny to see him sing along to "primitive." So. Ambulance came on and played. they had some technical difficulties in the beginning (all the bands did) but they delt with it well. Very little talk. Mostly just music. I think most of the people there were there to see ambulance. They sounded great.. just like the cd was playing in the background or something (it wasn't, i promise). Lead singer (marcus?) was really quiet. I can't remember him saying anything other than one "thank you." I thought maybe something was wrong. Maybe he's always that serious... they ended their set, old dude left (thank goodness), and for some reason I felt compelled to tell them that it was a good show. They looked depressed or something... I ended up talking to the guy that plays keyboard with them on tour (I don't believe he's actually in the band) he said thanks. He didn't seem sad... well, that ended, so we stood and got ready for VHS or Beta.
there were a bunch of "characters" that we met in between sets, but it would take too much about time to talk about them all. Entertaining old guy, nyu music business major, some kid with eyeliner, some spazy lady. you know, typical concert funniness and comeraderie.
so VHS comes on and they all basically look the same. except the bassist grew a mustache that according to marla (correctly) looked like a "creepy 70s porn mustache." But hey, he can still play the bass. They rocked. They sounded the same as always. The set up of the band (like where they were placed on stage) was different this time. But that's the only difference. They played about the same songs and some people danced. Not as many as in the fall though.
Marla hadn't heard a single song by any of the bands before the show. She liked them all. I think that's pretty good!
Overall it was a really different concert experience. After seeing bands like the arcade fire and the kaiser cheifs do their thing, it was really strange seeing a concert like this one. It was much more geared towards closing your eyes and enjoying the music. The concerts I saw earlier in the month were more feeling and showing that feeling through the performance.. it was more performance in 2 aspects - they played really well and they entertained really well (those really are 2 different things). I mean, I didn't even want to blink during the arcade fire because I was afraid I would miss something... but this concert though... it had feeling, but it was more of a personal feeling for the musicians. they played really well, but I think the main goal of all the bands was making the music good, not being really witty and cracking jokes, or jumping and running around. I think that the crowd might have had a big influence, too. I'm sure if there was a huge surging optimism before each set there would have been more energy. Don't get me wrong, there was energy.. just.. after the Kaiser Cheifs, normal energy seems like nothing.
okay- so that wasn't so terse, but what can I say, once I start...
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