Lessons from a concert
Saw the New Pornographers w/ Novillero tonight. A few notes:
- ‘the Venue’ – formerly the Garrick Theatre – is a pretty good spot to watch a show. When did it open?
- Novillero deserves more exposure than they get. I think I’ve heard their songs maybe 3 times on the Red River College station, but that’s it. They put on a kick ass live show and blow me away every time I see them.
- More bands need a guy to dance wildly with a tambourine, kick in the occasional backing vocal, and basically just act as the visual focal point for 90% of the songs. It really adds to the experience… you kinda have to see it to know what I mean.
- No matter where you stand, or how early you get there, at some point some guy who is so tall he could see the stage from anywhere on the floor will stand right in front of you.
- The New Pornographers live up to the hype. They are power pop gods.
- That said, they could be a bit more animated on stage. Except for Kurt Dahle (drums) He was a star in the background all show.
- John Collins needs to lose either the beard or the glasses. He looks WAY too much like the Canadian Tire Guy (I’ll try to track down some pictures that show this. It is eerie).
- Carl Newman is too big for his guitar, but pulls it off.
- Kathryn Calder is a good vocalist (and keyboardist too I think, though with two of them on stage it was hard at times to tell who was doing what). But there is only one Neko Case, would’ve been great to have her for the show.
- Handclaps are underrated. Novillero used some in a few of their songs, but the real stars were a group of three people in the crowd who had obviously practised a coordinated routine, used to great effect during the NP’s ‘Stacked Crooked’. I’ve never seen anything like it.
- If you are going to do gimmicky drumstick tosses, be prepared for failure. Dahle was 2-for-4 during the second song (‘Use It’), but had enough extras on hand that he hardly missed a beat. One of the more entertaining parts of the show was when he tried (and succeeded) to recover his lost drumsticks whilst drumming one-handed during a subsequent song.
- ‘The Bleeding Heart Show’ and ‘Testament to Youth in Verse’ have two of the greatest outtros ever.
- Going to concerts is pretty much always worth it. I have to do it more.
- ‘the Venue’ – formerly the Garrick Theatre – is a pretty good spot to watch a show. When did it open?
- Novillero deserves more exposure than they get. I think I’ve heard their songs maybe 3 times on the Red River College station, but that’s it. They put on a kick ass live show and blow me away every time I see them.
- More bands need a guy to dance wildly with a tambourine, kick in the occasional backing vocal, and basically just act as the visual focal point for 90% of the songs. It really adds to the experience… you kinda have to see it to know what I mean.
- No matter where you stand, or how early you get there, at some point some guy who is so tall he could see the stage from anywhere on the floor will stand right in front of you.
- The New Pornographers live up to the hype. They are power pop gods.
- That said, they could be a bit more animated on stage. Except for Kurt Dahle (drums) He was a star in the background all show.
- John Collins needs to lose either the beard or the glasses. He looks WAY too much like the Canadian Tire Guy (I’ll try to track down some pictures that show this. It is eerie).
- Carl Newman is too big for his guitar, but pulls it off.
- Kathryn Calder is a good vocalist (and keyboardist too I think, though with two of them on stage it was hard at times to tell who was doing what). But there is only one Neko Case, would’ve been great to have her for the show.
- Handclaps are underrated. Novillero used some in a few of their songs, but the real stars were a group of three people in the crowd who had obviously practised a coordinated routine, used to great effect during the NP’s ‘Stacked Crooked’. I’ve never seen anything like it.
- If you are going to do gimmicky drumstick tosses, be prepared for failure. Dahle was 2-for-4 during the second song (‘Use It’), but had enough extras on hand that he hardly missed a beat. One of the more entertaining parts of the show was when he tried (and succeeded) to recover his lost drumsticks whilst drumming one-handed during a subsequent song.
- ‘The Bleeding Heart Show’ and ‘Testament to Youth in Verse’ have two of the greatest outtros ever.
- Going to concerts is pretty much always worth it. I have to do it more.
posted by Druski at 11:27 p.m.
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