ashes in downtown

Jan 30, 2010 00:05

so i just saw St. Vincent live for the first time. those were certainly 41 of the best dollars i've ever spent.

casey and i bundled up to survive the negative-five-degree wind chill (i had pants on under my jeans, two shirts, a sweater, a coat, a hat, a scarf wrapped around my face, two pairs of socks, my thickest shoes..and yet still looked FABULOUS (just kidding.)

after waiting on a bus that never arrived, we booked it to the light rail, took the path train all the way to 33rd, then the B train to Columbus Circle. we were confused on where exactly The Allen Room was supposed to be. It's technically part of The Lincoln Center, but when you look up the Lincoln Center, it's blocks away from where The Allen Room is supposed to be. But Casey had seen something in the Shops at Columbus Circle plaza-thing about the Lincoln Center, so since that was right were we exited the subway, we went inside... and we were almost immediately greeted by someone: "Are you here for the show? St. Vincent?" yay!

but don't get me wrong. the people that tend to the Allen Room are not paid to be nice. They are nazi-esque. but that's another story.

the point is. the St. Vincent show was amazing. I'm sure it helps that the venue is spectacular. The entire wall behind the stage is nothing but glass, so you can see (i think 59th St? That's what Casey thought it was) behind the band the entire time they play. They're aligned evenly with the street, so you see endless lines of traffic moving away and coming toward you from behind the band. i wasn't expecting anything like it, and i've never seen a venue that was so breathtaking.

St. Vincent's music is such an orgy of sound and style... a backdrop of a busy Manhattan street and buildings was perfect for the music, including a very nearby apartment building with windows facing us..so you could see into people's homes as they watched TV, had lamps on, talked to each other by windows, etc.

And the last song before the encore was "Your Lips Are Red"..and when she sang "This city's red.... this city's red from riding us into the ground" a FIRETRUCK came barreling down the street behind her. It was the most eerily perfect timing. And just as it turned and disappeared to the left, she sang, "This city's black from all the ashes in downtown. ASHES IN DOWNTOWN, ASHES IN DOWNTOWN" ..and then she and her band (which, at one point, added up to eleven people on stage) broke into a chaotic jam session which somehow pushed the melody of the song's instrumental chorus through an impossible, seemingly improvised, awesome MESS. There was so much going on, and it was like this for every song, it was like falling down the rabbit hole, if the rabbit hole was, yaknow, a rock concert.

and when she spazzes out on her guitar, which is basically bigger than her tiny body, it seems as though the guitar plays her instead, and she writhes and spasms in uncontrollable ecstasy, pumping her legs to the beat of the screeching chaos while her hands move as fast as hummingbird wings.

and on top of all of this, she had guests. Members of The National (heard of them but not really familiar), David Byrne of Talking Heads (who got a whole lotta applause) and Justin Vernon aka BON IVER, one of my other favorite artists. I had no idea Bon Iver would be there, and nearly freaked the fuck out. He performed on numerous songs, including "The Party" and one of my favorites "Laughing With A Mouth of Blood"...

I think my favorite moment was when he and Annie (St. Vincent = Annie Clark) performed the song "Roslyn" which I've never heard before.. apparently it's on the New Moon soundtrack, and St. Vincent made fun of it.
"It ..in a very random way... ended up on the soundtrack to a teen vampire movie. About abstinence. Or well, the subtext is..if you read the books, is that.. if you have sex, you die." *glances over to Justin as the audience snickers* ..it was cute. Justin looked embarrassed.
She also said that they did the song by way of the internet. "We skyped the song." .. i think she was kidding, but I loved the skype shoutout.
but so then they did the song and it was sooo beautiful :| When Justin reached the part where he shrieks his highest note I got chills, which i get from listening to Bon Iver all the time. :|

anyway, so yes. i can die now.

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