September 19, 2008 Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
This was my second time seeing BJM and dammit again, no Joel on tambourine. According to Anton he was in Hawaii getting married and something about the ATP gig. Frankie Teardrop established himself as the coolest member on stage and he and the other guitarist were awesome enough to remain on stage making noise long after Anton had left. Speaking of Anton leaving, he left the stage a few times for unknown reasons while the rest of the band played some apparently impromptu jams, which did kick ass but got boring after a while. Anton talked a lot about politics and economics and "i don't want a fucking mormon president" and "fuck you i'm fucking sick." Willie Caruthers, formerly of Spacemen 3, is the current bassist, although now he can only speak like a pirate. The drummer, who is also the quietest, was solid the whole night.
It was dissapointing that Joel didn't show up, but i was damn happy about the song selection and a two hour-plus set. They played a lot of early stuff and nothing from the new album (pretty sure), which i just don't see going over too well in a live setting cause it's a wierd psyched-out album. Songs of note that i could identify: Whoever You are, When Jokers Attack, Sailor, Who, That Girl Suicide, Servo, Evergreen, She Made Me. Songs they didn't play that i wanted to hear- Last Dandy on Earth, Wasting Away, Love.
The High Dials were much better than expected. i remember them being just another psych-garage band on Rainbow Quartz records but they were actually impressive and professional. The only real complaints for the night--aside from no Joel--are that BJM still doesn't have their own personalized stage lighting, though that is tough to do when things are only semi-planned. It would make a huge difference. Oh and sorry, but the crowd gave off bad vibes. Not to the band but in general. Lots of snobs. Except for that one kid with the Wolf Parade shirt. You know who you are!
High Dials \/
2 comments:
this is the second time I've seen the bjm, the other was about a year ago at the independent in san francisco. Joel was at that show and the tambourine adds so much to the sound, as does his stage presence of course. but anton was angrier that night, and i found him sort of friendly last night even though he acted out a little once he got enough of that ketel 1 down, with his little rants - calling both mccain and obama "weirdos" and trying to talk to the new yorkers about layoffs in the financial sector - out of his field, and he knew it. so he didn't get as ornery as last time and the music benefited. he seemed to go off stage to be sick or something; we were near him and he said it was nasty being sick stuff. hey - he "came all the way from fucking berlin, man, and I had to lay over at Heathrow for like five fucking hours, man, so you should be like happy I'm here, man. I don't even play in America anymroe" and he had a pretty funny greeting for brooklyn, saying last time he was there his equipment was all stolen. i think that might be in digg. anyway, I agree the drone segments go on too long, but his voice was fine, and the guitars were awesome. fine show.
that's all true. thanks for the input!
Post a Comment