(no subject)
Sigur Ros
State Theater, May 11th
Having seen these dudes thrice previously, one of which was 4 rows away in September, I'd be lying if I said I was incredibly excited to see them again (not that I was unexcited, say, just not bouncing off the walls excited.) But there's a certain trust I have with this band -- I just know they'll deliver.
And, yeah, they did.
After the standard underwhelming opener of "Glosoli," the band whipped through versions of "Saeglopur", "Gong" and "Untitled #4 (Njonslaevin or something)" that were good but not incredibly cathartic or life-changing (as pretentious Sigur Ros fans have come to expect.)
But then dudes hit the afterburners (do they have afterburners in Iceland?) for "Hoppipolla --> Med Blodnasir" (#3 & #4 off Takk...) which incorporated the sweet light show you see in the picture to the right. Then came the behemoth, the gargantuan, the highlight-without-question, "Olsen Olsen." Jonsi ripped off some of the glacial-airplane-taking-off-right-next-to-you bowed-guitar junk during the outro, and it was just huge. Proved to be the best noise-rock moment of the week.
"Vidrar vel til Loftarasa" (#7 off Agaetis) was excellent. I guess the band was getting pissed at the crowd at this point, as I read on the Sigur Ros message board. In a move that I've always find stomach-churningly pretentious (hmmm... somewhat like Sigur Ros in general?), the band feels they have to stop the song in the middle and try to hold the theater in silence for a near minute... and if they can't have the audience silent for the whole minute, the crowd is bad and undeserving of "most favored audience status" (believe me, it's really a minute -- the Ann Arbor crowd in September succeeded, and I painfully sat through the whole thing). Well, Detroit didn't make it, making the bad just "oh so upset." Not to mention the band's idiot fans; peep this post on the MB:
"The Detroit crowd ruined a beautiful performance, and the Ann Arbor people were a million times better. The Ann Arbor crowd held the Vidrar silence for almost a full 60 seconds, and Detroit didn't even make it ONE SECOND."
Boo fricken' hoo. It's a concert, not the second coming. Whatever. If this band and it's fans get pissy over not being able to be ego-inflated wonks, I'm not going to feel bad. I guess, though, Jonsi got so upset with the crowd that he scratched "Untitled 7" from the setlist, which I didn't mind so much cause that song is as boring as piss.
Is piss boring?
Of course they nailed it with "Popp Song" to end the night, which was even more brutal thanks to the band a.) having tech problems and b.) being pissed off. The ending was still as punch-in-the-gut amazing as its ever been. If you doubt Sigur Ros, go sneak into the encore of one of their shows, I don't doubt it'll change your perspective. "Popp" is still one of, if not the, best thing you can see in concert on a consistent basis from any band anywhere.
Pretense aside, SR left me feeling like my $35 was very well spent, as they did all the other times (except for the time I saw them for $15).
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Mogwai
St. Andrew's Hall, May 18th
The night started off well enough, with a Miller Lite at Steve's Place next door. Steve is a great old man. He gave my brother a free peppermint shot. Steve's Place should be visited by all. St. Andrew's was its typical self, but for some retarted reason they let us in at 7:30 but then didn't start the opener till 8:45, pushing Mogwai back to 10. I didn't care so much but it sucks when you have to work the next day. The opener was called Torche, and it when it comes to awful sludge-metal, no one holds a candle to Torche (badum-ching!) What do you expect from a band from Miami whose website is titled "Big Amps... Big Drums... Big Songs... TORCHE!" Retarted.
Mogwai came on and for a second I thought we had accidentally gone to see Moby; Mogwai's frontman is small and bald and nerdy. I have always heard that Mogwai punishes its crowds with lots of noise. Could be true, but the show started off kinda quiet with the opener from Young Team, and then some Mr. Beast and Happy Songs stuff. But when stuff got loud, it got really loud.
There was a sign on the door that said: "Tonight's show will use strobe lights." More like, whenever it got louder than, say, "Tracy" (which they didn't play), it was like an epilectic's worst nightmare -- strobe light city. I'm not exaggerating. They went for the strobe at least once in every song last night, and it just got stupid, like a dumb gimmick. Way too much. The Van Halen show is not befitting the nice lads from Glasgow.
But they played amazingly well, and "Glasgow Mega-Snake" was an incredible closer. I was standing next to the Merch table at that point and got so riled up by the bone-crunching that I almost tore my shirt off and flipped the tables.
I'm glad I finally saw Mogwai but I'd be lying if I said it was one of the best concerts I've ever seen.
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Jesus's wife? Eh...
I'm reading the Da Vinci Code right now so I can have it finished for Sunday; my church is doing a two-week series on the book so I want to know what they're actually talking about. I've flown through it, and I've gotta say, after some early enthusiasm, I've really turned on the book. Not because of it's blasphemous message or anything, but just because it's really pretty much utter crap. Dialogue is garbage. Whole series of near-death situations are avoided, over and over, by fantastical, way-too-convenient escapes. As for the explanation of the real meaning of the Holy Grail, and the bastardization/fabrication of Christianity, the book reads like a bad X-Files conspiracy theory.
It's ridiculous. It's pulp, and yes, I know that; not to sound like a snob, but any book that is able to sell 45 million copies in a few years is not going to be Philip Roth-esque in it's literary brilliance.
But yeah, I find myself slowly abandoning the Da Vinci Code bandwagon.
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Building a 370-mile fence on the U.S. border? Brilliant. Way too go, Congress. Let's hope this dies, quick. I'm all for curbing illegal immigration, but damn.
America: you're all a bunch of retards.
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In D.C. I lived a-half-a-block away from a podiatrist named Dr. Korn. It always used to make me laugh. Apparently Slate found it funny too because they added it to their list of aptronyms (names that describe a person's occupation). Check out the list for some good laughs; my favorites included Jamie Lachia Cardinal Sin (former bishop of Manila) and Sue Yoo (lawyer).
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Way too cocky.
I guess we were all too cocky. I'm not saying the Pistons are done, although I think they are. But I find it so incredibly ironic that a team who bitched and moaned about getting no respect for years is now treating the Cavs with such disrepect, and just being all around arrogant and complacent.
Way to go.
So, the whole Detroit News joint Wings/Pistons special playoffs sports section entitled "2 Teams, 1 Goal" is looking pretty dumb now, eh? More like, "2 Teams, 1 Goal, 2 Chokes, Go Tigers!"