Empires! and Forgive Durden (and the Forgive Durdens)
Oh, hai! Not dead, just gafiated to otherfandom. :D
So, this weekend we drove eight hours roundtrip to see Empires and Forgive Durden (and the Forgive Durdens) play at a tiny little youth center in Madison WI. Seriously, this place was MINISCULE. I was disturbingly close to Tom Conrad's slippered feet. o.O The crowd was small, and varied between flailing enthusiasm and hipper-than-thou apathy. (Dear Madison-area scenester kids: I'm sorry, you're in MADISON. You are, by definition, not as cool as you think you are.) We took an informal poll, and the internet comprised approximately 3/4 of the 20 people lined up in front of the stage for Empires' set. Heh.
Opening acts: Single-Serving Friends had potential, the second opener was really not our thing, and Good News First was a lot of fun, despite some mike-related technical difficulties.
Empires was fantastic. Much better performance than at the Triple Rock three weeks ago -- though part of the problem at the Triple Rock was the sound, which renders the vocalists unintelligible if you are within ten feet of the stage. The youth center had its very own (special!) sound problems, but at least we could always hear Sean van Sleet's vocals clearly.
I can't recall the full set list, but I'm almost certain that they played pretty much all of the record. They also played a new song, which was a lot of fun (after they worked out a few bugs with the intro). No idea what the name of the new song was. They were very tight, very on. Sean van Sleet's voice was a little scratchy, but he sounded great for most of the set. The drummer has an insane amount of energy (and my god, he is tiny in person). I kept on getting distracted by watching the bassist play, of course. I sort of play the bass, so I always end up watching the bassist's hands for a good portion of the set. Hopefully not in a creepy, stalker-esque way. (hi! not stalking you, just trying to figure out how you do that slide on "I Want Blood".) My perspective on the show: vocalist! bassist! drums! oh, yeah, and I guess there's a couple of guitarists up there too. No, I kid. :D It was a fantastic show, and they all sounded great.
I have somewhat mixed feelings about the Forgive Durden (and the Forgive Durdens) set. A big part of the problem was that the sound system was fucked, and the soundguy apparently had no idea how to fix the problem permanently. The female vocalist's mike was completely off at the beginning of the set, and even after they fixed that, it just was not on high enough. Razia's Shadow is a tough album to play live -- there are a few awesome songs, but there are also songs that only work in the context of the story of the "musical". They decided to change the order of the songs around, which I think worked a lot better than playing it straight through like they did at the Triple Rock show. The funny thing about Forgive Durden (and the Forgive Durdens) is that the secondary male vocalist has more energy and stage presence than Thomas, who is actually the lead singer and the only permanent member of Forgive Durden. So... hmmm. Also, though I love the female vocalist's voice, she is pretty much a black hole of stage presence. She really needs to step up and at least sing more dynamically, even if she can't quite bring herself to look at the crowd directly yet.
The hilarity of the night, however, was provided by the two dudebros who were right at the front of the stage for the Forgive Durden set. Seriously, I think this was pretty much the best night of this one dude's life -- you could practically see the glowing ♥ ♥ ♥ over his head when the secondary male vocalist leaned over and sang one verse directly at him. And hilarity ensued, at least over on our side of the pit.
Was it worth driving eight hours roundtrip to see Empires play? Yes, absolutely. Plus, we got to see the Madison-area fangirls, which is always a good time. :D
So, this weekend we drove eight hours roundtrip to see Empires and Forgive Durden (and the Forgive Durdens) play at a tiny little youth center in Madison WI. Seriously, this place was MINISCULE. I was disturbingly close to Tom Conrad's slippered feet. o.O The crowd was small, and varied between flailing enthusiasm and hipper-than-thou apathy. (Dear Madison-area scenester kids: I'm sorry, you're in MADISON. You are, by definition, not as cool as you think you are.) We took an informal poll, and the internet comprised approximately 3/4 of the 20 people lined up in front of the stage for Empires' set. Heh.
Opening acts: Single-Serving Friends had potential, the second opener was really not our thing, and Good News First was a lot of fun, despite some mike-related technical difficulties.
Empires was fantastic. Much better performance than at the Triple Rock three weeks ago -- though part of the problem at the Triple Rock was the sound, which renders the vocalists unintelligible if you are within ten feet of the stage. The youth center had its very own (special!) sound problems, but at least we could always hear Sean van Sleet's vocals clearly.
I can't recall the full set list, but I'm almost certain that they played pretty much all of the record. They also played a new song, which was a lot of fun (after they worked out a few bugs with the intro). No idea what the name of the new song was. They were very tight, very on. Sean van Sleet's voice was a little scratchy, but he sounded great for most of the set. The drummer has an insane amount of energy (and my god, he is tiny in person). I kept on getting distracted by watching the bassist play, of course. I sort of play the bass, so I always end up watching the bassist's hands for a good portion of the set. Hopefully not in a creepy, stalker-esque way. (hi! not stalking you, just trying to figure out how you do that slide on "I Want Blood".) My perspective on the show: vocalist! bassist! drums! oh, yeah, and I guess there's a couple of guitarists up there too. No, I kid. :D It was a fantastic show, and they all sounded great.
I have somewhat mixed feelings about the Forgive Durden (and the Forgive Durdens) set. A big part of the problem was that the sound system was fucked, and the soundguy apparently had no idea how to fix the problem permanently. The female vocalist's mike was completely off at the beginning of the set, and even after they fixed that, it just was not on high enough. Razia's Shadow is a tough album to play live -- there are a few awesome songs, but there are also songs that only work in the context of the story of the "musical". They decided to change the order of the songs around, which I think worked a lot better than playing it straight through like they did at the Triple Rock show. The funny thing about Forgive Durden (and the Forgive Durdens) is that the secondary male vocalist has more energy and stage presence than Thomas, who is actually the lead singer and the only permanent member of Forgive Durden. So... hmmm. Also, though I love the female vocalist's voice, she is pretty much a black hole of stage presence. She really needs to step up and at least sing more dynamically, even if she can't quite bring herself to look at the crowd directly yet.
The hilarity of the night, however, was provided by the two dudebros who were right at the front of the stage for the Forgive Durden set. Seriously, I think this was pretty much the best night of this one dude's life -- you could practically see the glowing ♥ ♥ ♥ over his head when the secondary male vocalist leaned over and sang one verse directly at him. And hilarity ensued, at least over on our side of the pit.
Was it worth driving eight hours roundtrip to see Empires play? Yes, absolutely. Plus, we got to see the Madison-area fangirls, which is always a good time. :D