Bright Eyes, GUU 05/08/02

[Guest R2DFooster McSockman]

(Way to put the wrong year in the title, moron.)

 

I've had an uneventful Summer. On the 21st of May, I saw Radiohead. On the 3rd of July, I saw Eels. Last night, I saw Bright Eyes. That is quite literally all I have done. Other than those three events, I have been spending around 18 hours online every day. I'm quite pathetic. Now that I'm back to that, I am bored. As a result of this boredom, I am going to write some half-assed "reviews" of these gigs, to the interest of no one. I think I'll go for reverse chronological order.

 

Bright Eyes, August 5th (Glasgow University Union)

 

Before yesterday the only Bright Eyes album I owned was "Lifted or The Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground." While it seemed catchy and memorable titles weren't Connor Oberst's speciality, after a few listens the excellent arrangements, pretty instrumentation and general pretty darn good songwriting won me over. Even Oberst's quivering, seemingly always on the verge of weeping like the little emo boy that he is vocals grew on me. And that's why I decided to see Bright Eyes in concert.

 

The support band was scheduled to be The Postal Service. I like The Postal Service. The Postal Service pulled out at the last minute. Instead, we got Rosie Thomas, a singer-songwriter with the speaking voice of Minnie Mouse and a collection of songs so similar in their genericism that I wouldn't have noticed that she played more than one song if it hadn't been for her shrill voice both amusing me and causing great pain between then. It's possible that her voice was in some way related to her choice of clothing, which seemed to be maternity wear. Thankfully, she didn't hang around for long.

 

The Bright Eyes set was surprising rocking, with very little emoing. Even in the audience. I had hoped that I would be able to use the audience as a means of reinforcing my meagre masculinity, but unfortunately the end result is still me being a long-haired, 120lb girly boy. Damn. Conor's excessive saliva, which could be the BUTT of Triple H jokes if wrestling held any interest for me now, was definitely the highlight. Not that the rest was bad, but the saliva, in conjunction with a massive bulging vein in his neck, was too impressive to forget. More negatively, the sound engineer seemed to be asleep when changes to the mix were requested, resulting in lots of shitty drone (alongside the deliberate drone from the second guitarist, who I believe was a 12-year-old Thurston Moore). Conor's drunkenness was amusing at times, as were the sounds coming from the expensive looking keyboard which sounded like a children's toy. Since I've yet to comment on the music, I'll round up here and give this gig............7.2/10!!!!!

 

 

Eels, July 3rd (Glasgow Carling Academy)

 

What happened to Eels? I don't know how many here will share my opinion, but they used to be really fucking great. "Beautiful Freak" is, along with Weezer's blue album and The New Pornographers' "Mass Romantic", the best pure(ish) pop album I own. "Electro-Shock Blues" is, in my possibly horribly misguided view, a genuine classic. A perfect blend of harrowing angst and self-deprecating wit, backed up with musical prettiness 2 DA MAXX. Then came "Daisies of the Galaxy", which is, at best, okay. THEN came "Souljacker" and "Shootenanny", two steaming piles of poop infesting my record collection with their vile bland, generic radio rock. But about half of the songs they've ever released are good-great, so a gig couldn't be too bad. Could it?

 

HAAAAAAAAAAAA. Not content with his current output sounding like a TV movie approximation of a rock band, E has decided that all of his previous material should sound like this too. Particularly shocking was the rendition of My Beloved Monster, which was mauled from a delicate, precious piece into a two-power chord "punk" song with some of the ugliest drum fills I've ever heard. Similar travesties were commited upon Packing Blankets (if Daisies of the Galaxy had one really great thing about it, it was the production. And that was negated magnificently here), and P.S. You Rock My World, which I don't think guitarist "Golden Boy" had heard before and chose to fill it up with random guitar noodling. There was a saving grace, however, in the finale: Beautiful Freak, as performed by E solo on toy piano. But one song does not make a show. 3.8/10!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Radiohead, May 21st (Edinburgh Corn Exchange)

 

This was far too long ago for me to write a proper review for now, so instead I'll steal the one written by the girl I went with. Also, she's by far a better writer than I. But I capitalise better.

 

not that anybody would ever bother to read this all through, but if anyone reads portions, please note i am aware that my vocabulary and skills of expression SUCK ASS.

 

ok.

 

 

there there, in my opinion, sounded miles better live than it does on the cd version (assuming i have the mixed mp3). it sounded really, for lack of a more descriptive word, 'big'. that's the best way i can think to describe it; the sound sort of enveloped me. ooh i am such a GREAT reviewer. jonny clearly in my vision with the drum was really surreal, but that was probably as they'd just come onstage and i was still getting my head round things. the whole 'let's all play drums on this one, boys!' thing works out really well. they should do it more often. i never thought the song sounded flat from hearing the mp3 or indeed when i saw the video on tv, but i wouldn't have said it was really that big a hit with me, without being able to place my finger on why i didn't rate it so highly. yes, i like the whole album but if i'd have put it in an order of favourites, there there would not have been exceptionally highly placed. live, it was much better. so much more 3-dimensional sounding, and because i wasn't expecting it to sound that great, it seemed better still. that is more than enough about one song.

 

 

2+2=5. i hand signalled to my sister that it would be next, and lo and behold, it was. it's a very good track, people. i was surprised at how well thom's voice translated live, and particularly on this song (well, i wasn't going to keep getting surprised every 5 minutes). since first listening to it i've liked it immensely and it is most definitely my current favourite track from the album. since the vocals came across a lot more cleanly in a live setting, whereas i think they're quite muted on the album version (i don't care if that's deliberate production), i appreciated it even more. i think the start came across as even more delicate than it normally sounds. good dynamics, or something. also, i love it when i hear a lyric that i quote (see lj profile).

 

 

"this is our national anthem". how i love that intro. booming. which sounds like some sort of horrid scots slang, but it sounded that way. except, more tuneful and enjoyable than plain old booming; i just mean it was powerful (oh iain you are so wonderful for coming up with that word). anyway, i think i am spoiled by owning i might be wrong, and hence already having knowledge of how much more alive this song sounds out of the studio. it wasn't just the intro; the rhythm of the whole song comes across with a lot more impact. and there's a part of me that is always going to long for the distant days when guitars roamed the earth, so i prefer the unadulterated more pure vocal in the live version.

 

 

as for lucky... well, it never was my favourite track from ok computer (yeah, YOU try and compete with paranoid android), and so i wasn't the most excited person in the world when they started it up, but yes, it was enjoyable to experience. i thought the break in from the verse to the chorus worked well, and again the vocals were most impressive, as i thought thom managed to convey a lot more emotion with it than with recorded versions. which, i guess, you would expect from a live concert, but i really noticed it on this song... and i was a particular fan of the suggestive undertones he put into "we are standing on the edge".

 

 

i appreciated the melodies on backdrifts a great deal more than i had done previously, although i did get distracted from this by the odd, random guitar notes jonny insisted on dropping into the song. odd, in that they didn't fit in with the tune, or the rhythm, and didn't seem to have any real purpose. it was interesting, but in the puzzling 'what on earth is he doing?' manner rather than the 'wow, interesting noises!' way. i imagine thom gave him a sound beating backstage later.

 

 

sail to the moon was pretty and dreamlike, and i even felt briefly ashamed of myself for dismissing it as a wannabe pyramid song. listening to the mp3 now, that opinion has returned so i think it's safe to say that the atmosphere created live was a good one. i think i also tend to switch off when listening to the mp3, whereas when you're in thom's presence his voice is inescapable, so you're inclined to pay more attention. i also found it was a lot easier to listen to the song(s) work as a body consisting of the many different parts in this setting, as though i could concentrate on the one instrument while not losing the effects of the others. certainly true when it came to this song.

 

 

where i end and you begin featured a brief invasion of jonny's personal space, as thom gave the instruction "yeah, what you want to do is start at the same time..." (yes, it WAS this song). what i liked best about this was that it was easier to hear the underlying (bassy) tune that echoes the 'i will eat you alive' melody throughout much of the song. i hadn't really noticed this on the studio version, as it is quite subtle, but it definitely works very well.

 

 

my second favourite song from hail to the thief, i had already decided, is go to sleep. the beautifully sinister hint to the guitar right from the start was brilliant and gave me the same twisted pleasure as i get from walking down the street with just on full blast, smirk on face, full of contempt for the people i pass. in addition, it was an aspect i hadn't appreciated enough, so now i like the song more. furthermore, i thought the vocals were more powerful at the peak points which gave the song a bit more impact. i think that the reason i had originally identified this as one of the stand-out tracks on hail to the thief was simply the fact that it is guitar led, and i am nostalgic. live, though, i realised that the relationship between the lyrics and the guitar is superb. they fit together amazingly well, so there became a whole new wonderfulness associated with the song. "over my dead body" / dark guitar. yes.

 

 

on we suck young blood, a crowd clap-along was requested, for obvious rhythmical reasons. i think it was suggested that it was to be very slow, and to 'copy people at the front because they might know what they are doing'. correction: person at the front: colin greenwood. sadly a great number of people in the crowd seemed to be suffering from some sort of delay in nerve impulse, and as a result were horrendously out of time, although the claps worked fairly well with the song when led by colin. i tried to ignore the clapping for the most part though, seeing as i am aware of where the beats are supposed to be placed, and instead i could concentrate on the twisted vocals. this song seemed to be over very quickly, so i must have been paying more attention than i thought i was.

 

 

after this extensive hail to the thief period came no surprises. i was so incredibly delighted by this. i can't believe how brilliant the glockenspiel sounds. it is truly a stroke of genius; so very simple, yet so incredibly effective. i know this is not related to the way the song sounded, but i remembered while thinking about the song... when jonny was at the pause in the glockenspiel part, he went into staring mode, sort of looking toward thom and clutching the beaters against himself, immobile, sporting a deer-in-headlights expression which ceased only seconds before he had to start playing again. as for the song, it was beautiful. it always is, but actually having it performed right there in front of you is amazing. the audience sing-along was very loud, but thankfully did not manage to drown out thom. it just sounded so simple and so perfect and so... right? like it really meant something, and you understood. yeah.

 

 

sit down stand up worked well after no surprises, i felt. it's another of the songs i particularly like from the new album, and the dynamics came across spectacularly, with the build up in the middle seeming to last positively ages, hanging there teasingly, so much that you could just feel everyone waiting for it to burst into the climactic, faster part. this is a really brief description and i feel as though i am not doing the performance justice at all, but i can't explain it any more than that. it was super.

 

 

next came pyramid song. "we all went to heaven in a little row boat". i think that throwing in a slow song after the frantic closing to sit down stand up was clever, and of course pyramid song is eternally pretty. the prettiness was highlighted by the sparseness of the song. there's really nothing to it, which seems to be the secret. it's so simple you have to pay attention. you have to listen. during this song i felt strangely isolated and as though i was surrounded by quiet. i think the term is 'peaceful'.

 

 

and then in kicks the intro for paranoid android. oh yes. i think that at this point i entered a state of delirium as i cannot seem to assemble any sort of coherent thoughts / specific impressions of the song. it was fantastic. thom's vocals really stood out here, particularly when the crowd were attempting to sing along with the high parts. they sounded so bad, it just higlighted that he is actually really fucking impressive. so yes it's rather good. the crashing guitars, the bassline. i love the schizophrenia of the song, the build-ups and anticlimaxes; the way it sounds as though it's just all been thrown together but yet at the same time seems so amazingly well planned. and of course, for me the whole song was really just a build up to the guitar solo(s) which finally came in earth-shattering fashion. not only that, but i got to watch. oh yes. that is some guitar piece. and right there i could see him do it the whole time. fuck yes.

 

 

...straight into my iron lung. ah, how i remember my intense dalliance with this song. i still adore the crazy guitar piece in the middle that my mother abhors, insisting it ruins the song. that guitar plus the way thom sings 'my belisha beaco-on' is truly a winning combination. i watched jonny for the whole song and i think seeing the energy he can put into it helped me to remember why i liked the song. i had gone off the song somewhat, but in a live setting i was able to just listen to it instead of analysing it. and yes, i took it for what it is: straightforward, simple, no-fuss. and so in such a brief period our relationship was rekindled. and, of course, there was the mention of my yahoo username which inevitably caused me to grin like a maniac.

 

 

idioteque is rather good. i remember when it first came out, i liked it but i just thought it was too weird for me to handle. it is a million times better live, though again, i knew that previously, seeing as i own i might be wrong. thom sang with such conviction, and i felt that the freaky beats fit in really well with the rhythm of the vocals. also, the impact when it came to the first chants of 'ice age coming' was immense. i can't really figure out how, or why, or how it really differed from any other version, but i do know that i was awestruck. thom's dancing added to the sensation that he was actually feeling the song. also it has to be said that the ending to the song is truly great.

 

 

and then everything in its right place. i really like the music and the rhythms within this song, and i think that the repetition in the lyrics works really well. however, i do not appreciate the mixing of the vocals as i like to sing along and i do not have a mixing desk in my throat. i know, i know, i'm so technologically backward. this is really a minor complaint though as it was still very enjoyable.

 

 

aaand the encores. i was quite annoyed when thom announced the gloaming as i felt my chances of seeing just were becoming far too low. in addition, the gloaming was easily my least favourite track from hail to the thief, as it recalls the same computery horribleness as kid a and pulk/pull revolving doors. fortunately, it was a million times better live. it seemed much more vocal led, which to me is always a plus if it means getting away from unpleasant synthiness. so yes, i actually enjoyed it a lot.

 

 

a wolf at the door is definitely a grower. i really wasn't very impressed with it after hearing it initially, but now i like it a lot. this is undoubtedly assisted by the fact that thom swearing is sexy. i liked the vocals; whereas before i just heard monotone, now i heard snarling, bitterness. i like the lyrics, too; i hadn't really paid attention to them before. and the drums are fantastically odd. i liked the way the rhythm of the vocals was complemented by the drums, too.

 

 

and

 

then

 

they

 

played

 

just.

 

i can't possibly express myself here. i can't explain the overwhelming feeling of satisfaction i get when i hear those guitars kick in, and that's just when i am listening to a tape. i love it. i love the nasty, sneering vocals, i love the way it builds up and up and then has anticlimaxes, i love the bassline that holds it all together so well, i love the way the song soars, i love that one, long, perfect, sustained note, i love the way the song ends by growling into submission, and, by fuck, do i love the guitar solo. oh yes. YES. and to actually see it all right before me. yes.

 

 

 

and next, like spinning plates. it was during this that jonny had the frightening prolonged staring incident. but that's irrelevant. the piano stood out for me on this one, i imagine i hadn't paid that much attention to the tune before but it sounded super. like spinning plates was already one of my favouritest songs from kid a / amnesiac... maybe 6th or so, and yes. it was pretty. i don't really know what more to say.

 

 

 

encore 2, thom announced talk show host. this meant he would swear more. it was awesome. i could listen to that man say the word 'fucking' forever. yes. talk show host was extremely enjoyable; it translated fantastically live. i really, really liked it already, but it sounded a lot sharper and the vocals sounded more... tuneful is the only word i can think of to use. very very very very very good.

 

 

karma police worked excellently as a closer. that man can really carry a tune. well, except when heckled by audience members. . karma police is genius. it's so slow and plodding at first, with the drumbeats and bass, and then it's kind of like... 'fuck you'. yeah. hearing thom sing 'phew for a minute there i lost myself' was surreal. and beautiful. and that was that.

 

Not exactly my experience, as mine involved a rather rude rascal whistling very close to my ear with great volume during Pyramid Song, which resulted in me losing my hearing in that ear temporarily and feeling ill, which meant I had to leave my swank 7th row or so standing position to go to the bathroom, where I missed both Paranoid Android and My Iron Lung, then only getting to 15 rows or so from the front upon returning. Bah.

 

My Rating!!!!!!!!!!! 9.3/10!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Reading this over, my writing style seems very...feminine. And crap. And that was that.

 

Future gigs:

 

The Polyphonic Spree + I Am Kloot (I'm unfamiliar with I Am Kloot, and am having difficult finding anything by them to download. Anyone know them? Do they suck?): August 24th, Edinburgh Corn Exchange

 

Frank Black and The Catholics: September 26th, Edinburgh Liquid Room

 

The Flaming Lips: November 8th, Glasgow Carling Academy.

 

The Flaming Lips: November 9th, Edinburgh Usher Hall

 

Radiohead + Asian Dub Foundation (thanks for forcing me to see a band I hate if I don't want to be 10 miles from the stage, Radiohead!): November 30th, Glasgow SECC

 

 

Plus whatever crops up between now and then.

 

Now act interested.

Edited August 6, 2003 by R2DFooster McSockman

[rising up out of the back seat-nuh 0]

ADF are surprisingly good live. Or at least they were a few years back.