Everyone who has ever spoken to me about anything ever knows that I constantly speak in superlatives. I have this need for everything to be ranked and rated and have a standing in my life. I do this with movies, books, people, and
especially music. I'm always creating top five lists, or exclaiming that that "this book is probably in my top 10, but most definitely in the Top 20," or that "this is probably my second favorite episode of
The Office." And yes, I understand that there are tons of people who do this, and have done so casually ever since Nick Hornby introduced us to Rob Fleming twelve years ago. However, I realize I borderline obsess with placing everything into a nice neat pecking order. But you know what? I rather enjoy the look of an ordered list.
There is a point to all of this, I swear.
One of my longest-lasting and still-ongoing lists is that of
"The Top 5 Best Live Bands I've Ever Seen." I have seen hundreds and hundreds of bands in my life. Some spectacular. Most mediocre or unremarkable. But there are live shows that have given me chills. Or made me sing out like a schoolgirl at an N'Sync concert. They are as follows, in hierarchical order: (And here's where I get to use the "ordered list"
tag!)
- RX Bandits
- Motion City Soundtrack
- Elvis Costello
- Wilco
- Story Of The Year
Now, keep in mind that these are not necessarily my top 5 favorite bands of all time. These are just the best live performances I have ever seen. Their musicianship, set list, stage/light show, and sound quality all gets taken in to account. These aren't just one-offs either. Out of these five bands, I've seen four on multiple occasions, so I'm taking multiple performances in to account here.
Oh, and I promise there's a point to this.
This weekend, I had the pleasure of seeing #1 and #2 on consecutive nights.
Saturday night was RX Bandits at the esteemed Living Room. The way that they command the stage is practically unmatchable. I'm not going to delve too far in to analyzing their set, as I had already delved too far into a string of Miller Lites and was thus not at the peak of my analytical game. I will say however that both "Decrescendo" and "...And The Battle Begun" were positively mind-blowing, especially during the drum break/bridge section of the latter. At that point in the song, Chris Tsgakis (who, by the way is the most explosive drummer I have ever seen live, and I've seen Rush, so suck it) launched in to the ostinato pattern as he does on the record. He was then joined by the trombone player and the drummer for Men, Women, and Children, who were tooling on a variety of toms, bongos, congas, and other sorts of assorted percussion. The three combined in a freestyle-drum circle for a few bars, then vaulted into an amazing call-and-response session before the rest of the band rejoined and finished the tune up. Such a fucking "wow" moment.
Then, last night, was the indomitable Motion City Soundtrack at the historic Palladium in Worcester. (Like "Historic Lambeau Field", or "Historic Downtown Pawtucket" [which, alas, actually exists]). We arrived just as Metro Station began performing. I had heard a little about these guys before, but never bothered to give them a listen - I really, really enjoyed their set. I may even purchase their record!
Afterwards came the always awesome Anberlin. (Alliterations FTW! [Side story: After RX Bandits on Saturday, I went home and played Pop Culture Trivial Pursuit with my roommates. It's DVD interactive, so the questions get posed to you from the TV, not from the traditional cards. Well, the six categories were on the main menu, and underneath those was an option entitled "FOR THE WIN." Now, I had spent the previous nine hours at Tortilla Flats/Union Station Brewery/The Living Room, so I was pretty well on my way to a horrendous hangover the next morning, so at that point in time, an option entitled "FOR THE WIN" was just about the single greatest thing I had ever seen in my life. And I let everyone in the room know it. Several times. To their annoyance.]) They killed it, as usual. Stephen Christian knows how to whip a crowd in to a frenzy - I've seen him do it on several occasions. The highlight was definitely "Dismantle, Repair" where he jumped on top of the barricade, allowing the crowed to support him, and solicited the crowed to scream "reeeee-pair!" with him. Astounding as always.
Next was Mae. I love Mae. Mae sucks live. Third time I've seen them. Third time I've said "I love Mae, but they suck live." Meh.
I liked their new stage plot a lot. Their lighting design was really, really good too - 6 intelligent lights, LEDs on the stage for highlighting washes, LEDs on the trusses, and then the three-color wash from the Par Cans on the rigging.
Tim and I started off on the stage, but the view sucked, so we moved down into the in front of the barrier right in front of stage right. The view was perfect. As "This Is For Real" kicked in, I started to feel myself flipping out. Then "Time Turned Fragile" (fave) was launched in to and I lost it. I was bouncing around and screaming, just like last time. Except this time I wasn't drunk. Man, they're so fucking good.
It's really hard to use a Sidekick as your primary photographic apparatus. The 1.3 megapixels afforded by it somehow don't seem to cut the mustard. I did get a few good shots though.
They finished up with "My Future Freaks Me Out" and had thousands of kids screaming about how much they needed Betty to call up on their cellular phones. The stage went dark and I realized just how exhausted I was from the goings on of the weekend. My bed was a most welcome sight at half past midnight. But I can't wait to do it all again.
It's my first iPod since my old original click-wheel G4 40-gig 24 lbs. black-and-white behemoth died on tour last summer. I've filled it up with all the new goodies, as well as some old stuff I've been revisiting the past few days: Face To Face, NOFX, Finch, etc. plus all the old bootleg Alkaline Trio I stole from Dr. J. I can't remember the last time I've desk-drummed along to "Don't Call Me White."
