One Last Vacation
This past weekend, Matt and I made a quick overnight trip up to Philadelphia. Our main purpose for going was to see Wilco in concert. Matt got us third row seats back in December before they announced they were coming to DC again (though this venue was probably better than the DC one since you had assigned seats, versus General Admission... I hate having to fight for a good spot). But it also gave us a chance to go away... just the two of us... one last time before the baby is here. Because who knows when we'll be able to do that again.
Anyway, I'm not really sure how much I've talked about how critical I can be when it comes to seeing bands live, so I'm going to do that now. I hold bands and musicians up to a very high standard when I go and see them perform. I have several expectations for any show, and when they aren't met, I am very disappointed and typically will decide not to see that band live again. So here are some of my requirements:
So my review of the Wilco concert. Well it definitely hit all three of those points. Plus some more... First of all I was really impressed by how well the whole band played together. I mean, Wilco's stuff is fairly complex, but they all knew exactly where all the breaks and changes were, who had to play out more and when, and who needed to back off and when. They were so in synch it was easy to take it all for granted. But they have some very high quality musicians in that band. Of course we all know by now that I think Jeff Tweety is a great songwriter, and even though he's not wild and crazy on stage, he still commands attention when he's singing. The lead guitarists, Nels Cline, is somewhat wild and crazy, but very talented. And he knows when to take the spotlight and when to give it up to other band members... which keeps him from being obnoxious for sure. The bass player provides excellent back up vocals in addition to the bass line, and the drummer never misses a thing. The other two add the textural complexity with a bunch of other instruments that gives the band part of it trademark sound. And they play a LOONG set. I think Matt looked it up when we got home and found that they played 25 songs. We think they would have gone longer, but there was a certain time they had to end by. I was thrilled when they started the show with Sunken Treasures... because they did the Jeff Tweety live version rather than the album version. One song I wish they had done but didn't was Theologians. Oh well though, maybe next time.
And did I mention that we had awesome third row seats?? We were so close that we could actually see Jeff Tweety's spit as he sang. Not that that's something you want to see, but the fact that we could see it just shows you how good the seats were.
The one complaint I have about just about any concert doesnt have anything to do with the band, musicians, or venue... it's the other people that go to the shows. It's inevitable that matt and I get stuck next to crazy drunk people who dance like morons and have no problem invading other people's personal space. We thought that by paying for better tickets we'd weed out these annoying people, but no such luck. I told matt that from now on we'll just have to buy all the tickets around us and fill them with our own personal bouncers. Oh well, I guess it's all part of the experience.
So there's my review. A great show from a great band! And in case you are interested, Wilco is going to be on Saturday Night Live this weekend.
Anyway, I'm not really sure how much I've talked about how critical I can be when it comes to seeing bands live, so I'm going to do that now. I hold bands and musicians up to a very high standard when I go and see them perform. I have several expectations for any show, and when they aren't met, I am very disappointed and typically will decide not to see that band live again. So here are some of my requirements:
- This probably comes from my classical background, but I expect all the music at a live show to be performed live. Which means that I dont want to hear instruments or voices that appear out of nowhere because they are on a tape or some kind of loop. We saw Aerosmith this summer and they performed Love in an Elevator, which on the recording has several layers of Steven Tyler's singing in order to create the harmonies. And when they performed this song live, suddenly it sounded as if there were 4 or 5 Steven Tylers singing. Except there's only one actually there. I dont know why they couldn't have gotten back up singers or structured the song differently so they could perform it all live for real. Anyway, I understand that they wanted to make the song sound like the recording, but one person just can't sing more than one note at a time. And so when I hear several parts being sung by one person, I get annoyed... even if it's on a recording because my first thought is... well there's no way they're going to be able to pull that off in concert without backing tapes. But at least someone like Aerosmith should be able to afford back up singers for such occasions. I realize that most people dont have a problem with this, but it's one of my pet peeves.
- Songs should sound as good as they do on the recording. This refers only to quality. The songs do not have to sound exactly the same as they do on the recording, in fact I almost prefer it when they get mixed up a little for a live performance. I'm sure the bands and musicians must get tired of playing a song after the millionth time and so changing up the arrangement makes it more interesting for them, and also for me. If I just wanted to hear exactly what I heard on the CD, well I could just listen to the CD and save myself the aggravation and expense of going to a live show. But I do not want a drop off in quality. Sometimes I think bands rely too much on recording techniques to fix their mistakes or cover up their weaknesses, or even to give them a different sound, but then when they have to recreate it live, it just falls dead. And I dont want to pay to hear something worse than what's on the CD, it makes me feel like I've been ripped off.
- I want to see a show. This doesn't mean that I need pyrotechniques and fancy screens with animations and crazy stunts. It means that I dont want to be bored, which happens more easily than I care to admit. I want the experience of a live show to take advantage of the fact that the band can interact with the audience and offer the audience more than an audio CD can. For some bands it may mean using props (I think Peter Gabriel does a great job with this, though I've only seen his DVDs, never a live show), for others it may mean having a front man with some charisma, and for others it may mean playing with a lot of energy. One thing I dont want is fireworks going off for the sake of fire... I'd like some kind of performance with intergrity if at all possible. One concert moment I remember was at the White Stripes this summer. In the middle of one of the songs, I think as the chorus kicked in, all the lights in the venue went off except some pointing at a huge disco ball which was placed in the center of the venue and the whole place went sparkly. I know we've all seen disco balls before, but for some reason, this was just amazing... maybe because of the song and timing, maybe because of the scale of everything, but it kinda stirred that feeling in me I'd get as a little kid when I saw someone perform magic.
So my review of the Wilco concert. Well it definitely hit all three of those points. Plus some more... First of all I was really impressed by how well the whole band played together. I mean, Wilco's stuff is fairly complex, but they all knew exactly where all the breaks and changes were, who had to play out more and when, and who needed to back off and when. They were so in synch it was easy to take it all for granted. But they have some very high quality musicians in that band. Of course we all know by now that I think Jeff Tweety is a great songwriter, and even though he's not wild and crazy on stage, he still commands attention when he's singing. The lead guitarists, Nels Cline, is somewhat wild and crazy, but very talented. And he knows when to take the spotlight and when to give it up to other band members... which keeps him from being obnoxious for sure. The bass player provides excellent back up vocals in addition to the bass line, and the drummer never misses a thing. The other two add the textural complexity with a bunch of other instruments that gives the band part of it trademark sound. And they play a LOONG set. I think Matt looked it up when we got home and found that they played 25 songs. We think they would have gone longer, but there was a certain time they had to end by. I was thrilled when they started the show with Sunken Treasures... because they did the Jeff Tweety live version rather than the album version. One song I wish they had done but didn't was Theologians. Oh well though, maybe next time.
And did I mention that we had awesome third row seats?? We were so close that we could actually see Jeff Tweety's spit as he sang. Not that that's something you want to see, but the fact that we could see it just shows you how good the seats were.
The one complaint I have about just about any concert doesnt have anything to do with the band, musicians, or venue... it's the other people that go to the shows. It's inevitable that matt and I get stuck next to crazy drunk people who dance like morons and have no problem invading other people's personal space. We thought that by paying for better tickets we'd weed out these annoying people, but no such luck. I told matt that from now on we'll just have to buy all the tickets around us and fill them with our own personal bouncers. Oh well, I guess it's all part of the experience.
So there's my review. A great show from a great band! And in case you are interested, Wilco is going to be on Saturday Night Live this weekend.
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