Sleigh Bells at Heaven. February 14, 2011.
At my age, I have yet to spend valentines with anyone special let alone a simple date. Totally appalling but I'm caring less as each year passes by.
A few months back, I totally enjoyed running off for my birthday and flying off to Tenerife. During NYE, I avoided the typical boring parties by going to the Foals New Year's Eve party at The Forum which was an absolute blast.
In the tradition of perfecting loneliness, I decided to grab tickets to see Sleigh Bells on February 14 as soon as the gig was announced late last year.
Of course, there was a tiny flicker of hope in me counting on a complete swing of actually spending Valentines day with someone. Blame the hopeless romantic in me who simply won't die already.
Now, I've seen Sleigh Bells last year at XOYO and they were an absolute blast. As I mentioned previously, Sleigh Bells is one of the best new bands I've heard from last year.
To be honest, I didn't expect the Valentine show to live up to the XOYO show. In this case, I was so glad I was SO wrong and had low expectations.
By the time I casually arrived, the first support band was already on stage and the venue was quite a bit packed. MEN was up first and was tearing the place apart with their crazy disco house / punk music as described by their Myspace page.
Their music was quite dance worthy and their outfits real amusing. Aside from the fact that the vocals sound like a kid singing, I quite enjoyed their energetic performance and disco beats. Sure, there's a bit of electro but it's the good kind.
Certainly a fantastic band to see live and dance along to. A new discovery.
Familiar faces from last year's gig were the second support, Te3th. Still a joy to see them perform live as they were fairly decent last time. In fact, their performance this evening was leagues better than XOYO and this is always a good thing.
The wait for Sleigh Bells was quite long but let me tell you about something I noticed.
One of the most agonising things while waiting for bands to get on stage is seeing couples make out. This ranges from hugs, french kissing, lesbians, etc. Once, there was even a couple french kissing less than 10 inches from my face. Agonising is really an understatement especially for someone who's been alone. Forever.
The remarkable thing with this gig is that I didn't notice ANYONE making out in my immediate vicinity which is awfully peculiar considering it is Valentines Day. Looks like all the couples were all out making sweet love in other places. Good!
Enough drama and on to Sleigh Bells.
In typical fashion, a little intro played over the speakers and Alexis came up on stage with Derek following shortly after blasting off mad riffs on his guitar.
At this point in time, (almost two weeks since) it's real hazy as to which songs they played in which order and setlist.fm does not seem to be of any help.
I mentioned my qualms about this show being better than XOYO, but I was proven wrong from the very start. The venue was packed and as soon as Sleigh Bells came up on stage, craziness ensued and everyone was jumping and screaming along to Alexis.
They were relentless. It was one powerful song after another, blasting lovely noise from the guitars and incredible singing and screaming from Alexis.
Thanks to Heaven's very elevated stage, I got a better view of both Derek and most especially Alexis who was just as fun to watch as her energy levels just fueled everyone through each song.
She looked lovely in her hoodie and even after when she took it off and dawned a Madonna Time shirt. Definitely, one of my top female performers.
I came to Heaven with low expectations but was completely blown away yet again by Sleigh Bells and a performance which was leagues better than XOYO. I've seen them twice now and would gladly see them again just for the sheer rush their live performances injects one with.
Previous Valentine's Day hardly hold any significance to me (mostly from blacking out due to drinking too much as it's also my brother's birthday), but this day will forever be remembered as it has engraved itself in both my heart and mind.
This also marked the sweatiest Valentine's day I've ever had.
Whoever said single people cannot enjoy this day as well.
A few months back, I totally enjoyed running off for my birthday and flying off to Tenerife. During NYE, I avoided the typical boring parties by going to the Foals New Year's Eve party at The Forum which was an absolute blast.
In the tradition of perfecting loneliness, I decided to grab tickets to see Sleigh Bells on February 14 as soon as the gig was announced late last year.
Of course, there was a tiny flicker of hope in me counting on a complete swing of actually spending Valentines day with someone. Blame the hopeless romantic in me who simply won't die already.
Now, I've seen Sleigh Bells last year at XOYO and they were an absolute blast. As I mentioned previously, Sleigh Bells is one of the best new bands I've heard from last year.
To be honest, I didn't expect the Valentine show to live up to the XOYO show. In this case, I was so glad I was SO wrong and had low expectations.
By the time I casually arrived, the first support band was already on stage and the venue was quite a bit packed. MEN was up first and was tearing the place apart with their crazy disco house / punk music as described by their Myspace page.
Their music was quite dance worthy and their outfits real amusing. Aside from the fact that the vocals sound like a kid singing, I quite enjoyed their energetic performance and disco beats. Sure, there's a bit of electro but it's the good kind.
Certainly a fantastic band to see live and dance along to. A new discovery.
Familiar faces from last year's gig were the second support, Te3th. Still a joy to see them perform live as they were fairly decent last time. In fact, their performance this evening was leagues better than XOYO and this is always a good thing.
The wait for Sleigh Bells was quite long but let me tell you about something I noticed.
One of the most agonising things while waiting for bands to get on stage is seeing couples make out. This ranges from hugs, french kissing, lesbians, etc. Once, there was even a couple french kissing less than 10 inches from my face. Agonising is really an understatement especially for someone who's been alone. Forever.
The remarkable thing with this gig is that I didn't notice ANYONE making out in my immediate vicinity which is awfully peculiar considering it is Valentines Day. Looks like all the couples were all out making sweet love in other places. Good!
Enough drama and on to Sleigh Bells.
In typical fashion, a little intro played over the speakers and Alexis came up on stage with Derek following shortly after blasting off mad riffs on his guitar.
At this point in time, (almost two weeks since) it's real hazy as to which songs they played in which order and setlist.fm does not seem to be of any help.
I mentioned my qualms about this show being better than XOYO, but I was proven wrong from the very start. The venue was packed and as soon as Sleigh Bells came up on stage, craziness ensued and everyone was jumping and screaming along to Alexis.
They were relentless. It was one powerful song after another, blasting lovely noise from the guitars and incredible singing and screaming from Alexis.
Thanks to Heaven's very elevated stage, I got a better view of both Derek and most especially Alexis who was just as fun to watch as her energy levels just fueled everyone through each song.
She looked lovely in her hoodie and even after when she took it off and dawned a Madonna Time shirt. Definitely, one of my top female performers.
I came to Heaven with low expectations but was completely blown away yet again by Sleigh Bells and a performance which was leagues better than XOYO. I've seen them twice now and would gladly see them again just for the sheer rush their live performances injects one with.
Previous Valentine's Day hardly hold any significance to me (mostly from blacking out due to drinking too much as it's also my brother's birthday), but this day will forever be remembered as it has engraved itself in both my heart and mind.
This also marked the sweatiest Valentine's day I've ever had.
Whoever said single people cannot enjoy this day as well.