I'm hip, I'm cool
Despite Ben's shock, it's true that I went to a show this week, but he was right to be surprised that I knew who the band was (since I stopped discovering new music 2 years ago) - I didn't. As proof, I ran into one of AL's coworkers on the way, Dan, and I believe I said something to the effect of "I'm going to First Ave...some band called...On Georgia?"
So anyway, I went to see Of Montreal Wednesday night with Jess and her friend Erik. They were pretty good, very entertaining, but I quickly remembered how stir-crazy I get at stuff like that. Stir-crazy and cramped-feeling and also sleepy.
This guy, who reminded me of a dark haired Paal, decided it was his patriotic duty to dance like he would never be afforded the opportunity again. I was behind him, all clammy from the compressed body heat of the concert-goers. As I tried to stay out of his space, it became increasingly more and more difficult. Eventually I resigned myself to the fact that his butt was going to be bumping into my rib repeatedly and there was just nothing I could do about it but continue to sweat nervously and occasionally look over to see Jess' laughing face.
Great band though! I think. I'm not good at having first impressions.
One thing was for sure, it was an all ages show.
Want proof? Check out this youngster:
Immediately after the flash I muttered awkwardly "uh - sorry, I didn't mean to take a picture of you guys."
Uhhh...
More small children "after the jump":
The only other thing I can think of to discuss (besides how wonderful my company was!) is encores. I despise encores. Encores are like white oleanders sprinkled into the food that the very existence of music eats (did you know that white oleanders will kill you? If not, I guess you haven't been reading many hit novels). They should be ashamed of themselves - they're completely insincere and downright uncomfortable. Yep. Definitely on the top ten list of things to hate - somewhere between black licorice and winter.
Encore and teenage sweat aside, it was a great night and I can't wait until the Mae concert!!
posted by christinesfakeblog @ 9:21 PM
6 Comments:
I think I'm more surprised that a bunch of teenagers know about Of Montreal than I am that you do, even though you technically didn't until a few days ago.
Missy's friend Laura was there too.
I speculate that the kids in the second picture were around 9.
I love encores! It's the most exiting part of the show when you don't know if the band is going to come back out and then they do, and they usually play one of their best songs that they save just for that. I suppose it's not as great if you're not familiar with the band/songs, but still, I don't understand why you despise them so.
Ahh, thank you for the comment Jon Dordal!
So, I think encores probably started out as being exciting...and then something went terribly wrong.
At first it probably went a little something like this "the show is over, bummer. Guess we better go home, but I really wish the band would come out and play another song or two! Let's cheer really loudly for them to do so!"
And then they would cheer, and then the band WOULD come out again! AWESOME!
Except now encores are just a given. The band is considered rude to NOT do an encore...doesn't that defeat the purpose?
Everybody knows they're going to do an encore, the band knows, the crowd knows...it just ruins the fun, and it seems like we're just playing out a silly tradition.
Wouldn't it be more exciting if bands did it only occasionally and not at every single show? Then when they DO give one we'd know it's because we've been a deserving crowd and because people actually cheered loud enough for it (think ten straight minutes of a crowd chanting "ONE MORE SONG ONE MORE SONG").
As it is, I feel like if no one cheered or asked for an encore the band would STILL come out because, like you said, they save their best songs for it, and it's just become part of the show.
And that's why I hate encores.
i think i've checked your blog 7 times in the last 20 hours.
Actually it's only been 4!
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