After being delayed by a return trip to my house to grab my wallet and ID, (this is what happens when you get home at 3 in the morning and both are tucked into your reeking-of-smoke sweatshirt as opposed to your purse where they should be,) I headed over to the Wonder Ballroom for the Willamette Week VIP/Press party and to catch Battles with openers No Age. The party started at 6; I got there at a quarter to 7 to find the VIP section nearly empty, and the line to get into the venue stretching around the block - press included! One of the perks of a press pass is that it grants immediate access, except for in cases such as this where something crazy happens and No Age manages to bring in a capacity-reaching crowd all on their own - way to go, guys! This also meant that the waiting at the bar was greatly reduced; truly, No Age is a great, great band. Also got to meet Connie, one of the directors for MFNW who did a fantastic job of playing hostess, managing press, drinking and regulating the event last night. We talked shop for a bit, including the My Morning Jacket show at Edgefield that I'll be covering later this month. Super stoked!
Realizing there was no way to get in, (and that the open beer was out of Heineken, yikes), the crew and I headed over to the Roseland in hopes of catching the last of the Cool Kids show before our "big ticket" of the evening, Del the Funky Homosapien. But alas - the Cool Kids had left the stage early, and replaced themselves with this douchetron:
Nothing against Bukue One's personal talent or skills, but there's nothing more annoying than a) an MC who's sent out to delay the headliner and b), a relatively unknown MC who won't shut up about how awesome he is. It should be noted that Bukue One did have a skateboard on stage, with which he procured many a trick while holding the mic. I've never really seen this before at a hip-hop show, and perchance in another setting would have been able to appreciate the novelty, but by that point all I wanted was to see was Del. Finally, nearly 30 minutes late (not a big deal usually, but remember that the majority of MFNW time slots are only an hour, sometimes less) Del came on stage with supporting MC A-Plus.
The show was alright, but Del was obviously very tired... or very, very high. He trudged his way through lyrics, even favorites like "At The Helm." There was a little of the banter that Del usually has with his audience (he did the "Cletus" character for a bit), but you could tell he just wasn't feeling it, and neither was the majority of the crowd. One bright spot was "Mr. Dobalina" - that finally got the place a little hyped and shook off the remnants of stagnation, but between the late start and the so-so energy, we just couldn't stick around.
Then it was off to the closing set of the night, Nada Surf at Berbati's Pan. Mixed feelings were experienced going in... everything else that night had been such a let-down, plus it was one of the few times that I (or anyone else for that matter), was going to see a non-traditional Nada line-up, featuring stand-in bassist Jose Galvez of Ozma temporarily replacing an injured Daniel Lorca. Nada hasn't canceled a date in YEARS let alone had a stand-in... I was curious to see how a structure as organic as a 3-piece, 15+ year old band would function with a newbie. And the answer is such: FUCKING RAD.
Completely wonderful. It seems as if Jose's presence caused Matthew Caws (vocalist, lead guitar) and Ira Eliot (drums) to re-examine their own songs... or play them in a way more conducive to Jose's power-pop background. Caws especially exhibited the effects of this new found energy... I've never seen him play "Hi-Speed Soul" with such an affinity for feedback, or tear through "Happy Kid" like it's the last day of school before summer. "Inside of Love" was transformed from the mopey-Starbucks-compilation-lovesong into a swaying 2-step with choreography led by the band. Caws said he wanted the audience to do something that looked "like Queen's video for 'Radio Ga-Ga,'" at which point I pretty much pissed myself from sheer pleasure from not only being in the same room as Matthew Caws, but also being in the same room as Matthew Caws while he's TALKING ABOUT QUEEN. If Christian Bale would have then walked into the room while someone simultaneously handed me a puppy, I'm pretty sure my head would have exploded - it was that awesome. Check out the video of the magic:
The guys were even generous enough to let Galvez showboat a little bit, letting him take the lead on "Do It Again" and turn it into a bass-driven sexyfest. For the record, Galvez looked like a kid on Christmas morning the whole time - he just kept looking around the venue and the stage with this huge, shit-eating grin on his face, and you could almost hear the internal monologue wafting from his brain: "I'm totally playing with Nada Surf right now! I am ON STAGE with Nada Surf! Holy shit!" It was an infectious feeling, to say the least.
After a few moments of screaming demands, Nada returned to the stage to encore with "Blond on Blond"(!), "Always Love," (which they dedicated to a drunk guy who had been demanding it in the front row for the majority of the concert), and "Blankest Year." And if you don't know by now, "Blankest Year" is the absolute best, most perfect way to end a show ever: with the audience screaming along to the refrain, "Fuck it / I'm gonna have a party!" Yeah, I want to have a party, Nada Surf... IN YOUR PANTS! The posse and I left the show incredibly grateful that our night was saved by this amazing performance, and affirmed in my personal belief that Nada surf is, hands down, one of the best live performing bands today.
Tonight's shows (dependant on scheduling):
Portugal the Man @ Berbati's, 10pm
TV on the Radio @ The Roseland, 11:30pm
The Builders and the Butchers @ Berbati's, 1am
Builders & Butchers after-party, TBA?
1 comments:
THanks raechel, gotta love it, gotta love it. Thanks for the compliments ;)
yours truly Bukue one
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