Mae Concert Review
Happy Saturday! I thought I'd write a concert review type entry today. I went to a Mae concert last weekend/Halloween weekend. It was a lot of fun and it was my first Mae concert, even though I've wanted to see them live for a while. I also get to see Deas Vail (a band I've been getting in to lately and recently released a new album) and Jenny Owen Youngs.
The concert I went to was in Akron, OH. I went to the Ohio date because I had a field trip at an art museum for my Art History and Painting class (they're separate classes, but we had the field trip at the same place) the same day as the concert. I had some transportation issues (especially coming home, which is another story) but I made it to the venue, Musica, really early.
Somehow I lost my digital camera while at a wedding so just to let you know, I used both a cheap Kodak disposable to get photos and my cell phone. None of them are good quality, but I at least wanted to get some photos from the show. I included photos I found online that other people took during the tour (the high quality ones) - sorry for not having credit to the photographers, I just sort of randomly saved these online. If it's your photo/you know who took it, let me know and I'll give them credit.
There were two opening bands, Maid Myriad and Variance, who were pretty good. The opening bands are never as fun because the crowd doesn't get in to them as much. The lead singer from Variance was the one who sent me my ticket for the show so it was kind of fun to see them.
I got this photo of Maid Myriad. It's actually one of the better photos I got with my disposable. It was the night before Halloween so some people in the audience got dressed up (I didn't have a costume, but I wore a mask I bought in Italy). I think they were the only band that was in costume. You can't really see him here, but one guy was a unicorn and used aluminum foil to make his costume which I loved.
Next up was Deas Vail, which I was really excited to see. I loved the way the stage was set up, which was made to look like the cover of their new album, Birds and Cages. All the band members had keys attached to their arms, which went along with the theme of the cover of their album, which is of a bird sitting on top of a cage. Here's a crappy photo of their set:
I don't remember all the songs they played and couldn't find a setlist online, but I know they opened up with "Undercover" and ended with "White Lights" (which was great to hear live). They played a song from their new album, "Cages", during the set and I know they played "Rewind" too. If you want to hear some songs by them, I have a link to their White Lights EP in this entry. I got this photo of Wes (the lead singer) when he was really close:
I didn't know a lot about Jenny Owen Youngs, but listened to some songs on her myspace before the concert. I especially loved hearing "Fuck Was I" live.
Mae stands for Multisensory Aesthetic Experience so their live shows try to include an experience for all your senses. They had a video screen in the background that played a lot of artsy film stuff (including a music video for "The Fisherman Song", I know Dave tweeted something about shooting a video for that song so I think that was it). They also had 3D glasses and some of the screen was in 3D. I was really excited to see that after hearing about it, but I ended up not really using the glasses after the first few songs. It was neat to see though.
I liked the way their set looked. Here's the artwork off their latest EP, (a)fternoon, next to a photo of their drum set:
During this tour, they wanted to include the sense "touch" which they hadn't done before. When they played the "The Fight Song" they brought out a fan and sprayed water to create mist for the audience. It was one of my favorite moments of their show. It also felt really good to get wet after being so hot/sweaty in the audience. I thought it was really creative.
Near the beginning of their set, they invited a guy from the audience onstage and he proposed to his girlfriend. After that, they played "Soundtrack for Our Movie". It was a really cute moment. Apparently, somebody had proposed at a Mae concert a couple days before too (I guess this happens a lot at Mae concerts? haha)
I've talked about this before in other entries, but Mae is doing this project where they're doing a lot for the community and trying to get more people involved in making a difference. You can read about it on their website. The lead singer, Dave, talks about it a little at their shows and what they're doing. He decided to rap about it at our show. It was pretty funny. Somebody got a video of it:
Find more videos like this on Mae
This photo I took when Zach, their guitar player, was saying somebody said he look like Abe Lincoln (they were talking about Halloween costumes). Dave is comparing him to a 5 dollar bill.
The setlist was:
Night/Day
Ready and Waiting to Fall
Someone Elses Arms
Summertime
Suspension
Soundtrack to Our Movie
The House that Fire Built
The Fight Song
The Everglow
Embers and Envelopes
In Pieces
Tisbury Lane
The Ocean
Anything
We're So Far Away
The Fisherman's Song
These aren't my videos, but I found these:
Find more videos like this on Mae
Find more videos like this on Mae
The concert I went to was in Akron, OH. I went to the Ohio date because I had a field trip at an art museum for my Art History and Painting class (they're separate classes, but we had the field trip at the same place) the same day as the concert. I had some transportation issues (especially coming home, which is another story) but I made it to the venue, Musica, really early.
Somehow I lost my digital camera while at a wedding so just to let you know, I used both a cheap Kodak disposable to get photos and my cell phone. None of them are good quality, but I at least wanted to get some photos from the show. I included photos I found online that other people took during the tour (the high quality ones) - sorry for not having credit to the photographers, I just sort of randomly saved these online. If it's your photo/you know who took it, let me know and I'll give them credit.
There were two opening bands, Maid Myriad and Variance, who were pretty good. The opening bands are never as fun because the crowd doesn't get in to them as much. The lead singer from Variance was the one who sent me my ticket for the show so it was kind of fun to see them.
I got this photo of Maid Myriad. It's actually one of the better photos I got with my disposable. It was the night before Halloween so some people in the audience got dressed up (I didn't have a costume, but I wore a mask I bought in Italy). I think they were the only band that was in costume. You can't really see him here, but one guy was a unicorn and used aluminum foil to make his costume which I loved.
Next up was Deas Vail, which I was really excited to see. I loved the way the stage was set up, which was made to look like the cover of their new album, Birds and Cages. All the band members had keys attached to their arms, which went along with the theme of the cover of their album, which is of a bird sitting on top of a cage. Here's a crappy photo of their set:
I don't remember all the songs they played and couldn't find a setlist online, but I know they opened up with "Undercover" and ended with "White Lights" (which was great to hear live). They played a song from their new album, "Cages", during the set and I know they played "Rewind" too. If you want to hear some songs by them, I have a link to their White Lights EP in this entry. I got this photo of Wes (the lead singer) when he was really close:
I didn't know a lot about Jenny Owen Youngs, but listened to some songs on her myspace before the concert. I especially loved hearing "Fuck Was I" live.
Mae stands for Multisensory Aesthetic Experience so their live shows try to include an experience for all your senses. They had a video screen in the background that played a lot of artsy film stuff (including a music video for "The Fisherman Song", I know Dave tweeted something about shooting a video for that song so I think that was it). They also had 3D glasses and some of the screen was in 3D. I was really excited to see that after hearing about it, but I ended up not really using the glasses after the first few songs. It was neat to see though.
I liked the way their set looked. Here's the artwork off their latest EP, (a)fternoon, next to a photo of their drum set:
During this tour, they wanted to include the sense "touch" which they hadn't done before. When they played the "The Fight Song" they brought out a fan and sprayed water to create mist for the audience. It was one of my favorite moments of their show. It also felt really good to get wet after being so hot/sweaty in the audience. I thought it was really creative.
Near the beginning of their set, they invited a guy from the audience onstage and he proposed to his girlfriend. After that, they played "Soundtrack for Our Movie". It was a really cute moment. Apparently, somebody had proposed at a Mae concert a couple days before too (I guess this happens a lot at Mae concerts? haha)
I've talked about this before in other entries, but Mae is doing this project where they're doing a lot for the community and trying to get more people involved in making a difference. You can read about it on their website. The lead singer, Dave, talks about it a little at their shows and what they're doing. He decided to rap about it at our show. It was pretty funny. Somebody got a video of it:
Find more videos like this on Mae
This photo I took when Zach, their guitar player, was saying somebody said he look like Abe Lincoln (they were talking about Halloween costumes). Dave is comparing him to a 5 dollar bill.
The setlist was:
Night/Day
Ready and Waiting to Fall
Someone Elses Arms
Summertime
Suspension
Soundtrack to Our Movie
The House that Fire Built
The Fight Song
The Everglow
Embers and Envelopes
In Pieces
Tisbury Lane
The Ocean
Anything
We're So Far Away
The Fisherman's Song
These aren't my videos, but I found these:
Find more videos like this on Mae
Find more videos like this on Mae