News: Plain White T's better in your headphones than in person
So, I recently came to the realization that hey, Chicago has a music scene and wow, I like music, maybe I should do something about that!
Consequently, I am making effort to go and see live music shows when I find performances by bands I might like.
I've been reading a lot of bandslash lately and friending people who might care, but on the other hand, most of my flist right now is from media based fandoms who probably don't give a shit, so my rambling shall be cut for your convenience.
On Sunday I went to go see the Plain White T's play in Grant Park at the Taste of Chicago. The show was free, and I expected a big crowd, but the weather was a little rainy so I was hoping that would keep some people away. I showed up about half an hour early and managed to find a pretty decent place to stand. There was a seating area near the band shell, but I heard that the line for that got going two and a half hours before the opening act, and honestly, I am just not that big a fan. So, I was about as close to the stage as you could get without standing in line, approximately 300? feet from the stage.
Josh Kelley was the opening act, and for what it was, it was nice, but I just don't like his kind of music that much. His stuff is a little smoother and more pop-y than I really like. He plays with a support band, but they don't have a name and get very little recognition, which I think is shitty; all of those guys do just as much for performing his music as he does, a band is a collective entity, not a solo project. Anyway, he does have some interesting funk influences and I got to hear some of his new songs, one of which was written for the closing ceremony of the Olympics for this year I believe.
JK had longish set, 45min-1hr, and then we waited another 30 min for the band everyone was actually there to see, Plain White T's. In the meantime, it started raining again; it let up by the time they started the show, but came back off and on for the rest of the performance.
As for the actual performance, I have to say that I was not that impressed. Their sound quality live is just as good as it is on their recordings, which is good, a lot of times live acts leave something to be desired if their recordings have been overly produced. It was an outdoor venue as well, so the wind kind of played havoc with how much of the sound you actually got from the speakers, but overall, they sounded very good.
However, they sounded exactly like their albums. Exactly. I haven't been to a million live shows, granted, but I have listened to live recordings for a lot of bands that I like, and one thing that makes the live recordings interesting and worth listening to as opposed to the studio recordings are the little differences that creep in. The different arrangement, or the acoustic versions, or the improvisations that musicians throw in live, just for the hell of it and because they are having a good time. None of those things were present at this show. What you hear on the albums is what you got. The lead singer, Tom Higgenson, is very energetic on stage, running around and jumping and punching the air, and I'm sure it was a good time closer up, but from the back, it was kind of boring. Plus, the audience standing in back was largely made up of pubescent girls and their parents, which was kind of awkward, as I can (finally) say that I am no longer a teenager.
The set list was a good mix of songs from all three of their albums, trending heavily towards the ones that were either singles or the more successful/catchy off the records. Of course they played "Hey there, Delilah", as their next to last song, and of course the crowd loved it (and hightailed it as soon as it was done, it was pouring by then, no wonder they saved it 'til last, lol). This was the first show they've done in months, they've been in the studio recording for a while, and have a new album set to drop in September apparently. A few of their new songs were also played (it started raining at every one, no good omens there, ha ha), though the only one I can remember the title of was "Natural Disaster". Basically, the new songs were more of what we've heard from PWT's before. They know where their niche is and they are sticking with it.
The band stuck around to sign autographs afterward, but the line for that was a good block long by the time I got there, so I just left after that. My sister wanted a t-shirt, but sadly I couldn't find the merch tent, so she had to go without.
Overall, a little disappointing, especially for a hometown band. Plain White T's are actually from the town I grew up in, not the city of Chicago, and I sort of wish they had been better, as I don't think I'll ever make the effort to see them again, and I definitely wouldn't pay much if anything for it.
The Frantic are an itty bitty baby band from Chicago. Really, two of the four of them just graduated high school this year, and the other two are only a year older. Their myspace says they are a rock/pop punk/punk band, which sounds about right (go listen, they are pretty good!). They are signed to a smallish label and are doing the tour thing this summer, with a couple of dates on the Midwestern leg of the Warped tour, so they are doing pretty well for themselves all things considered.
This show was also at the Taste of Chicago (free music, good food, who can resist?). It was on a Tuesday at 4.30 in the afternoon though, which doesn't make for a very accessible time slot. About the only people who can show up at that time of day are high school kids (mostly girls) on summer vacation and the parents/friends of the band members, which is pretty much what the audience looked like to me. I think I was standing in front of two sets of parents of the band for the first ten minutes I was there. It was kind of funny, they were trying to be cool, but it was hard for them to blend in with the squealing teenies. *g* They probably have a broader fan base if they are playing Warped in August, but there was a clear demographic slant there yesterday.
Because I have a job I got there about 15 min after the show started, which is really too bad because these kids were really good. Their music is fast-paced, just catchy enough without being annoying or repetitive most of the time, and their stage presence is strong. Their biggest song off their album is "Audio and Murder" and is the only one of their songs that I think might have a repetitiveness problem, but it is also catchy, which is probably why it is their biggest song so far. My personal favorite song was the punk rock cover of 'Build Me Up Buttercup', originally by The Foundations in the late 1960's. The rest of the audience wasn't as into it, but it may just be that there is too much of a generation gap there for the high school girls to have known the original much. Not that I'm that much older than them, I'm just a music whore in general, and for the music of the late '60's especially.
In this case, I think The Frantic is a group that comes across in person even better than they do via recording. The lead singer, Kyle Dee, has more energy and charisma than he does exceptional talent, but his voice is strong and has enough of a unique quality that I could probably pick him out of an auditory line-up. The bass-guitarist, Chris Farnesi, really likes to rock it out and get close to the edge of the stage and the audience. Ian Farnesi, the lead guitarist, is Chris' younger brother it looks like, and he is definitely the shy one. He hung farther back on stage, rarely coming up to the edge, but his playing was very good. Their drummer, Brett Hartwell, seems to like to hide behind his hair a lot on stage, but was the friendliest with the fans after the show.
The set was short, only 45 min total, and no encore, even though a lot of people called for one. The next performers needed to set up their kit though, so The Frantic had to leave the stage quickly. They sold copies of their album nearby afterwards, and the $5 price tag was a nice surprise from the advertised $12 on their website. I also hung around a bit and talked to all the band members and complimented them on the show after wards. (I also got them all to sign my album cover, I'm banking on you all making it big now guys, don't let me down!)
Of all the band members, as I said above, Brett Hartwell was the friendliest. Every time a fan(girl) asked him for an autograph or a picture, he'd say "Of course!" like he was shocked you thought he might actually say no. He was also the first out on the line, and actually attempted to make extended conversation when I told him I enjoyed the show, and especially the Buttercup cover, talked about why they picked that song to cover, etc. Kyle Dee was also pretty friendly and said more than just a cursory, "cool, thanks for coming", which is basically what I got out of both the Farnesi's. All four of them seemed really surprised when I told them how much I enjoyed the show, though, which made me realize that all those stupid little high school girls were coming up to them and asking for pictures and autographs and hugs, and none of them were actually saying a thing about the music! This leads me to conclude that high school girls are dumb and shallow, and were probably only there because of the rock star patina the whole thing had going. Kids these days, I don't even know.
One little funny anecdote, as I was talking to Brett, some older guy came up and started asking Brett if he was Diane's kid, saying that he was her co-worker and she'd told him to go to the show and take pictures. Poor Brett is totally bewildered, and says his mother's name is Amanda, and no one else in the band has a mom named Diane. The older guy thinks Brett is messing with him, and won't believe it at first, and the poor kid is just like, no, really, I have no idea what you're talking about, maybe one of the stage techs' mom is named Diane...? It just made me laugh, because it totally proved my theory on who it was making up the audience. Also, older dude is apparently a total kissass to Diane, I'm just saying. That's not even subtle, man.
Pee Ess: Bigbangers, I will totally be emailing you tonight or tomorrow morning with updates on your stuff, depending on when I have time. I swears it!
Pee Ess Squared: Hey, creepy dude who calls for my boss and says hello with, "How are you doing this morning, sweetpea?", that is not cool. Cut that shit out!
Consequently, I am making effort to go and see live music shows when I find performances by bands I might like.
I've been reading a lot of bandslash lately and friending people who might care, but on the other hand, most of my flist right now is from media based fandoms who probably don't give a shit, so my rambling shall be cut for your convenience.
On Sunday I went to go see the Plain White T's play in Grant Park at the Taste of Chicago. The show was free, and I expected a big crowd, but the weather was a little rainy so I was hoping that would keep some people away. I showed up about half an hour early and managed to find a pretty decent place to stand. There was a seating area near the band shell, but I heard that the line for that got going two and a half hours before the opening act, and honestly, I am just not that big a fan. So, I was about as close to the stage as you could get without standing in line, approximately 300? feet from the stage.
Josh Kelley was the opening act, and for what it was, it was nice, but I just don't like his kind of music that much. His stuff is a little smoother and more pop-y than I really like. He plays with a support band, but they don't have a name and get very little recognition, which I think is shitty; all of those guys do just as much for performing his music as he does, a band is a collective entity, not a solo project. Anyway, he does have some interesting funk influences and I got to hear some of his new songs, one of which was written for the closing ceremony of the Olympics for this year I believe.
JK had longish set, 45min-1hr, and then we waited another 30 min for the band everyone was actually there to see, Plain White T's. In the meantime, it started raining again; it let up by the time they started the show, but came back off and on for the rest of the performance.
As for the actual performance, I have to say that I was not that impressed. Their sound quality live is just as good as it is on their recordings, which is good, a lot of times live acts leave something to be desired if their recordings have been overly produced. It was an outdoor venue as well, so the wind kind of played havoc with how much of the sound you actually got from the speakers, but overall, they sounded very good.
However, they sounded exactly like their albums. Exactly. I haven't been to a million live shows, granted, but I have listened to live recordings for a lot of bands that I like, and one thing that makes the live recordings interesting and worth listening to as opposed to the studio recordings are the little differences that creep in. The different arrangement, or the acoustic versions, or the improvisations that musicians throw in live, just for the hell of it and because they are having a good time. None of those things were present at this show. What you hear on the albums is what you got. The lead singer, Tom Higgenson, is very energetic on stage, running around and jumping and punching the air, and I'm sure it was a good time closer up, but from the back, it was kind of boring. Plus, the audience standing in back was largely made up of pubescent girls and their parents, which was kind of awkward, as I can (finally) say that I am no longer a teenager.
The set list was a good mix of songs from all three of their albums, trending heavily towards the ones that were either singles or the more successful/catchy off the records. Of course they played "Hey there, Delilah", as their next to last song, and of course the crowd loved it (and hightailed it as soon as it was done, it was pouring by then, no wonder they saved it 'til last, lol). This was the first show they've done in months, they've been in the studio recording for a while, and have a new album set to drop in September apparently. A few of their new songs were also played (it started raining at every one, no good omens there, ha ha), though the only one I can remember the title of was "Natural Disaster". Basically, the new songs were more of what we've heard from PWT's before. They know where their niche is and they are sticking with it.
The band stuck around to sign autographs afterward, but the line for that was a good block long by the time I got there, so I just left after that. My sister wanted a t-shirt, but sadly I couldn't find the merch tent, so she had to go without.
Overall, a little disappointing, especially for a hometown band. Plain White T's are actually from the town I grew up in, not the city of Chicago, and I sort of wish they had been better, as I don't think I'll ever make the effort to see them again, and I definitely wouldn't pay much if anything for it.
The Frantic are an itty bitty baby band from Chicago. Really, two of the four of them just graduated high school this year, and the other two are only a year older. Their myspace says they are a rock/pop punk/punk band, which sounds about right (go listen, they are pretty good!). They are signed to a smallish label and are doing the tour thing this summer, with a couple of dates on the Midwestern leg of the Warped tour, so they are doing pretty well for themselves all things considered.
This show was also at the Taste of Chicago (free music, good food, who can resist?). It was on a Tuesday at 4.30 in the afternoon though, which doesn't make for a very accessible time slot. About the only people who can show up at that time of day are high school kids (mostly girls) on summer vacation and the parents/friends of the band members, which is pretty much what the audience looked like to me. I think I was standing in front of two sets of parents of the band for the first ten minutes I was there. It was kind of funny, they were trying to be cool, but it was hard for them to blend in with the squealing teenies. *g* They probably have a broader fan base if they are playing Warped in August, but there was a clear demographic slant there yesterday.
Because I have a job I got there about 15 min after the show started, which is really too bad because these kids were really good. Their music is fast-paced, just catchy enough without being annoying or repetitive most of the time, and their stage presence is strong. Their biggest song off their album is "Audio and Murder" and is the only one of their songs that I think might have a repetitiveness problem, but it is also catchy, which is probably why it is their biggest song so far. My personal favorite song was the punk rock cover of 'Build Me Up Buttercup', originally by The Foundations in the late 1960's. The rest of the audience wasn't as into it, but it may just be that there is too much of a generation gap there for the high school girls to have known the original much. Not that I'm that much older than them, I'm just a music whore in general, and for the music of the late '60's especially.
In this case, I think The Frantic is a group that comes across in person even better than they do via recording. The lead singer, Kyle Dee, has more energy and charisma than he does exceptional talent, but his voice is strong and has enough of a unique quality that I could probably pick him out of an auditory line-up. The bass-guitarist, Chris Farnesi, really likes to rock it out and get close to the edge of the stage and the audience. Ian Farnesi, the lead guitarist, is Chris' younger brother it looks like, and he is definitely the shy one. He hung farther back on stage, rarely coming up to the edge, but his playing was very good. Their drummer, Brett Hartwell, seems to like to hide behind his hair a lot on stage, but was the friendliest with the fans after the show.
The set was short, only 45 min total, and no encore, even though a lot of people called for one. The next performers needed to set up their kit though, so The Frantic had to leave the stage quickly. They sold copies of their album nearby afterwards, and the $5 price tag was a nice surprise from the advertised $12 on their website. I also hung around a bit and talked to all the band members and complimented them on the show after wards. (I also got them all to sign my album cover, I'm banking on you all making it big now guys, don't let me down!)
Of all the band members, as I said above, Brett Hartwell was the friendliest. Every time a fan(girl) asked him for an autograph or a picture, he'd say "Of course!" like he was shocked you thought he might actually say no. He was also the first out on the line, and actually attempted to make extended conversation when I told him I enjoyed the show, and especially the Buttercup cover, talked about why they picked that song to cover, etc. Kyle Dee was also pretty friendly and said more than just a cursory, "cool, thanks for coming", which is basically what I got out of both the Farnesi's. All four of them seemed really surprised when I told them how much I enjoyed the show, though, which made me realize that all those stupid little high school girls were coming up to them and asking for pictures and autographs and hugs, and none of them were actually saying a thing about the music! This leads me to conclude that high school girls are dumb and shallow, and were probably only there because of the rock star patina the whole thing had going. Kids these days, I don't even know.
One little funny anecdote, as I was talking to Brett, some older guy came up and started asking Brett if he was Diane's kid, saying that he was her co-worker and she'd told him to go to the show and take pictures. Poor Brett is totally bewildered, and says his mother's name is Amanda, and no one else in the band has a mom named Diane. The older guy thinks Brett is messing with him, and won't believe it at first, and the poor kid is just like, no, really, I have no idea what you're talking about, maybe one of the stage techs' mom is named Diane...? It just made me laugh, because it totally proved my theory on who it was making up the audience. Also, older dude is apparently a total kissass to Diane, I'm just saying. That's not even subtle, man.
Pee Ess: Bigbangers, I will totally be emailing you tonight or tomorrow morning with updates on your stuff, depending on when I have time. I swears it!
Pee Ess Squared: Hey, creepy dude who calls for my boss and says hello with, "How are you doing this morning, sweetpea?", that is not cool. Cut that shit out!