Vienna Teng: Live at Le Poisson Rouge!
So yeah. I went to see Vienna Teng again in the city this weekend. One of the things that was frustrating me about the lead-up to this show is that the venue, Le Poisson Rouge on BLeecker Street, had a really snazzy website with jack shit for information. It is a really great example of how a site can get so overwhelmed with cool little Flash displays that it fails to convey necessary information.
Anyhow, the doors opened at 6:30. I got there about 6:32, and went right in. It seemed that the state was on one side, and there were tables all around. There weren't many seats left by this point, but we got seats. Awesome. I was toward the entrance, close to the stage, and things seemed good.
But things were NOT FUCKING GOOD, my friends, not at all.
As the minutes ticked by, people filed in. Hordes of people. They were standing all around, behind me, in front of me, completely obscuring any view I might have of the stage. Pressing against me. Making me nervous.
The Paper Raincoat opened. They were adorable and talented, what little of them I could see. Ben Sollee followed, and man, this guy oozed talent. He did stuff with a cello I had never previously considered. Vienna Teng hit the stage, and really, she only performed songs from her new album. The thing that struck me was that she prefaced the song "White Light" with the caveat that she thought the song was great but that she lacked the pipes for it. She basically set us up to hate the song. We hated the song.
I see where Vienna was going with her new album, but I'm just not feeling a lot of it. What's good is VERY good. There just feels like there is a lot of filler. I was also sad that she only performed a handful of songs due to time constraints. Truthfully, I couldn't have given a rat's ass about The Paper Raincoat or Ben Sollee. Anyway, it was not as good as the last show, but as always, she is still worthwhile. I'm telling you -- Grandmother Song makes me laugh every damn time I see her do it.
That's all. It's the rush up to finals. Whee.
Anyhow, the doors opened at 6:30. I got there about 6:32, and went right in. It seemed that the state was on one side, and there were tables all around. There weren't many seats left by this point, but we got seats. Awesome. I was toward the entrance, close to the stage, and things seemed good.
But things were NOT FUCKING GOOD, my friends, not at all.
As the minutes ticked by, people filed in. Hordes of people. They were standing all around, behind me, in front of me, completely obscuring any view I might have of the stage. Pressing against me. Making me nervous.
The Paper Raincoat opened. They were adorable and talented, what little of them I could see. Ben Sollee followed, and man, this guy oozed talent. He did stuff with a cello I had never previously considered. Vienna Teng hit the stage, and really, she only performed songs from her new album. The thing that struck me was that she prefaced the song "White Light" with the caveat that she thought the song was great but that she lacked the pipes for it. She basically set us up to hate the song. We hated the song.
I see where Vienna was going with her new album, but I'm just not feeling a lot of it. What's good is VERY good. There just feels like there is a lot of filler. I was also sad that she only performed a handful of songs due to time constraints. Truthfully, I couldn't have given a rat's ass about The Paper Raincoat or Ben Sollee. Anyway, it was not as good as the last show, but as always, she is still worthwhile. I'm telling you -- Grandmother Song makes me laugh every damn time I see her do it.
That's all. It's the rush up to finals. Whee.