TrickyBuddha Studios

(today’s post: 247 words)

Candice and I went into the city tonight to catch Ours. This is the second time I’ve seen them this year and the fourth time overall.

The band played more older songs tonight and I’m not as familiar with them, but I’ve gotten into the band enough that I looked at it more as an opportunity to broaden my horizon. They also dragged a couple songs out to epic length in jazzy, jam-like fashion. I dug it. But I dig Ours. And I love watching Jimmy and Static.

At one point, they invited this guy Quincy up to play drums on a song. It was obvious that Quincy and the band knew one another but I don’t know their connection beyond that. What I do know is that he played the hell out of the drums. He was fast and in control and loud; I was impressed.

Half-way through the song, likely because of just how loud he was, a chunk of the ceiling dropped down on a couple girls. Awesome! Quincy tore the house down! After the show, speaking of Quincy, he caught us checking out his bright-red shoes and came over to chat with us for a few minutes; he even high-fived Candice. I’m hoping he joins the band.

Candice’s ex Brian was also there for the show and the three of us hung out for about an hour at the club talking and watching the two bands (Ours, Plain Jane Automobile) walking around and mingling.

Tonight we went to Grand Rapids, Michigan to catch the Nine Inch Nails show. Here’s a write-up of the night.

Ken and Mychelle picked us up on their way to the show from Chicago. We got there a bit early so we hung out at a TGI Friday’s for a bit and munched some food. Maybe 20 minutes before the 8pm start time, we walked over to the Van Andel Arena – wandering past a few “you’re going to Hell” protesters along the way.

We found our seats and at 7:58pm, amazingly, the show started. I don’t know that I’ve ever been to a concert that started on-time.

The opening act was a Japanese band called Boris. They were pretty decent and I got more into them the longer they played. Or maybe they just played better songs near the end of their set? Either way, they weren’t too bad for an opener.

Right about 9:30pm, NIN started up their set. I don’t remember the specifics of their playlist but it was a decent blend of their full catalogue and lasted about two hours.

Aside from the almost-perfect renditions of their tunes (Candice said it was like listening to the CDs), the stage was the big treat and, in fact, the reason we road-tripped the two-plus hours to Grand Rapids instead of seeing them at Lollapalooza in Chicago.

NIN uses three high-tech, see-through net or curtains (except at Lollapalooza) that display images like a monitor. At the start of the show the one at the back of the stage showed ambient imagery. Then the curtain in front dropped down so that the band could interact with it. For example, Robin Finck came out and pressed large empty squares on the curtain. Each time he touched a square it filled in and created a drum beat for one of the songs. At another point, the screen displayed static and obscured the band, but each time Trent Reznor sang it created a small opening so that we could see through.

Here’s a YouTube video showing off each of the effects in a five-minute clip. You have to see it.

All in all a good night but I think we’re going to check in early so we can head back out to Chicago tomorrow to see Joey again before he leaves.

[Update: Yay! This article is actually getting posted. I'll provide a link when it goes live on Monday-ish.]

Another “for fun” exercise, this time for the Kills. I wanted to see if I could write a decent review for a band I wasn’t as into as a band like Ghostland. By the way, there may be another concert review post coming Tuesday, for Clinic (who I’ll see Monday night).

PS The awesome A/V club quote comes courtesy of Candice.

Having never before seen the Kills, and having only heard their albums a few times, I went in to the show cautiously optimistic. When you’re first introduced to a band, a concert can serve as a great way to propel your excitement in a band; it can also kill the spark of interest before it ignites to flame.

But before we talk about the Kills, who played Friday night at the Metro, let’s take a moment to discuss the opening act, Telepathe – a band who describes their sound as “the future”.

What a… curious quartet. “Awkward” comes to mind as a way to describe them. Their dancing was awkward, their bad-’80s fashion sense was awkward, and their music was even awkward – all seemingly driven from the perspective of highlighting their passion for the music, but still awkward. That the band consisted of attractive types (even though they desperately tried to obscure that) helped. But was it enough? We were a respectful crowd, but I didn’t get the sense that the band made any lasting connections. In fact, one person described their performance as like a group of “A/V club members messing around in the gymnasium, kind of like the Star Wars Kid.”

The Kills, on the other hand, completely connected with intensity and attitude.

In front of a canvas displaying black-and-white videos often featuring acts from punk-rock history (the Ramones, the Patti Smith Group, Blondie, etc.), Sexy Alison “VV” Mosshart drew the crowd in tight while circling the largely vacant stage with measured strides, lulling the crowd, only to lunge to the edge, staring intently out into the audience before playfully retreating to share a steamy mic exchange with guitarist Jamie “Hotel” Hince – or perhaps just to laugh over the sudden appearance of a bra thrown out from the crowd.

The duo played their own brand of post-punk interpretation to great applause, with a set list consisting mostly of songs from their latest release, Midnight Boom – including Alphabet Pony, U.R.A. Fever, What New York Used To Be, and Tape Song – but also including a few of their older hits – such as Fried My Little Brains and No Wow.

Moving quickly between songs, the Kills got through their set in only fifty or so minutes – but that was followed up by one of the loudest, most-sustained curtain calls I’ve heard in a while. The audience wanted the Kills back, and the band was happy to oblige to the order of another twenty minutes, including another one of their hits in Love Is A Deserter.

About that spark I referenced in the opener? I think it’s time to go find a stash of Kills songs to do some catching up on this band.