Concert Reviews: Polyphonic Spree, Frank Black,

[Guest Derek Bailey]

This is the long-awaited sequel to the immensely popular "Bright Eyes, GUU 05/08/02, + Radiohead, Eels!," and thus the product of having nothing to do.

 

The Polyphonic Spree, August 24th (Edinburgh Corn Exchange)

 

While The Polyphonic Spree don't come close to approaching what I'd consider to be great, and their incessant positivity (I like my music to come from tortured geniuses, thank you very much) can be cloying, I had heard a lot of good things about their live show and I enjoy the arrangements of their songs, even if they do result in the songs being little more than one idea repeated for four minutes. So while my expectations weren't soaring, I was expecting an entertaining show.

 

The little I had heard of support band I Am Kloot didn't impress me, so I wasn't in any rush to get there and thus arrived while they were playing. Lots of good ol' incredibly generic Brit Indie, but with the added bonus of a drummer who had no sense of restraint. One hilarious audience member requested Taxman, because, OMG LOL, having a strong accent from any area of England obviously makes you like The Beatles! Unless I wasn't paying enough attention and they were actually Beatles rip-offs. Mr. I Am Kloot then endeared himself to the crowd by describing The Polyphonic Spree as 'shite', rounding off what was amazingly the most entertaining support I had seen up to this point.

 

Then came The Polyphonic Spree, at which point I realised that the entire audience consisted of those single really annoying people you get at every concert. In my general vicinity were: Guy who repeatedly kicks my calves and the back of my knees as he jumps, guy who repeatedly jumps on my feet, guy who elbows my face and neck, guy who I have to watch constantly to avoid having his cigarette find its way into my eye and, possibly best of all, guy who does the latter three of these AND talks on his mobile phone during songs. Fun was had.

 

After a considerable time of not being able to concentrate on onstage action, my girlfriend dragged me away from the main audience, where the show was infinitely more entertaining. The band were very together, with the only disappointment soundwise being the small choir, which meant that the vocal harmonies weren't quite as good as recorded versions. Then a few creepy middle-aged men began playing with my girlfriend's hair, so we walked to another area where the stage was barely visible. The final song was David Bowie's Five Years Later, which was an incredibly inappropriate closer given the tone of their own songs. And that was that. 4.0/10!!!!!!!!!

 

 

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

 

I'll get over the terribly shameful part first: as much as I love Frank Black's solo work (and to a lesser extent that with The Catholics), I was hoping for Pixies songs.

 

Support band Serafin were hilarious in a "Busted, but a little heavier" way. Their guitarist/keyboardist served little purpose other than spastically flailing around (knocking over a few guitars at one point) and peppering songs with superfluous Sonic Youth-lite noise. But the blinding strobe light that impaired my vision for several seconds after flashing was a nice touch to their stage lighting.

 

As no one cared about Serafin, I had managed to get to one person back from the barrier (which was about a foot from the stage), but this was quickly lost upon the entrance of Frank Black and The Catholics, as the moment that they started playing Cactus many of those around me thought that this would be a fine opportunity to leap into people. After almost falling to the ground several times, I decided that my 120lb frame wasn't going to survive in a mosh pit, so my girlfriend and I stepped back and let the people have their fun. At this point I noticed that it was actually only three people who were being violent; two Kurt Cobain clones and one guy in a Vines t-shirt. Their idiocy and apparent lack of wanting to watch the band and hear the music was proven by their decision to continue their pointless leaping around/into people during the intro and first verse of Caribou. I still have a footprint on my shoe.

 

From this point on the show was excellent, with highlights being playing the few Show Me Your Tears songs that I liked at the time (and increasing my appreciation of the others), Headache and, going back to the shamefulness, Velouria, which bizarrely played for several bars before the majority of the audience recognised it. Guitarist Rich Gilbert's hilariously OTT "rock star" posturing was another highlight. While interacting with the crowd can be a good thing, I liked that the show was made up by what was almost a solid 1.5 hour block of music. Yes. 8.8/10!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Four Tet/Animal Collective, October 15th (Glasgow Renfew Ferry)

 

The venue is called "Ferry" because it's a ferry, so this was the first and likely the last time that I'll ever see musical performances on a nautical passenger transporter. Four Tet is one of few electronica artists who I'd consider myself to be a fan of (more for a lack of seeking stuff out than anything else), and as such I expected this to be quite different from any shows I had attended in the past.

 

The first support was someone who I had originally thought was a roadie, but then he went on to play mildly interesting but unspectacular electronic music for half an hour, then left the stage without saying anything for his entire set. I had downloaded a few Animal Collective songs prior to the show, and even after repeated listenings I didn't know what to make of them; they were, and are, completely unlike anything I've ever heard before in ways I can't even describe. In the run up to their appearance the venue was filling up more and our place seated at the back was no longer conducive to being able to see, so we moved to about 20' from the stage where we sat (on the floor) for the rest of the night. If only rock fans would stay seated I'd have less difficulty walking for hours after gigs. Cunts. So, Animal Collective were two guys with acoustic guitars and a single snare drum, and their music consisted of them playing seemingly conflicting but strangely complementary guitar parts, with one of them mumbling and the other shrieking/growling/making other unusual noises. Their last song had the mumbling + shrieking/growling/making other unusual noises minus the guitars, but plus both of them playing the snare and jumping up and down until the stage looked to be on the verge of breaking. Amazingly this made for an enthralling set, and I still can't determine exactly why.

 

After this the complicated stage setup of two laptops, some kind of effects box and a fibre-optic lamp on a table was put together and Four Tet went on to make beautiful, mostly semi-improvised (I believe) music with this. Other than the lamp, which he didn't do anything with. There isn't much to say about watching someone use computers, but it did increase my appreciation of his musical talent over my previous belief that his primary talent was in making cool sounds. The set ended with a 30 minute rendition of My Angel Rocks Back and Forth (I think), the final 10 minutes of which built brilliantly to a crescendo of white noise. 8.5/10!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Upcoming concerts:

 

Hot Hot Heat: November 4th, Glasgow QMU

The Flaming Lips: November 8th, Glasgow Carling Academy

The Flaming Lips: November 9th, Edinburgh Usher Hall

Radiohead: November 30th, Glasgow SECC

Radiohead: December 1st, Aberdeen AECC

 

 

Fascinating.

Edited November 2, 2003 by R2DFooster McSockman

[Jack_Bauer 0]

Next Saturday, Flaming Lips, Ill be there

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

Nice. I was gonna try and go see Four Tet and Frank Black when they were down here, but a lack of cash meant my dole money went on Tesco Value beans...

[PLAGIARISM! 0]

Whilst I enjoyed Frank Black this time round as well, his gig to promote 'Dog In The Sand' two years back is still my favourite concert of all time, and in a completely different league. The setlist seemed absolutely HUGE, God knows how he managed to cram in so much solo and pixies material.

[Anorak 0]

These live reviews are a good read, keep 'em coming. I got Four Tet's 'Rounds' album the other day and i'm liking it a lot. I agree with your views on Eels in your previous post (I read it the first time honest!), 'Electro-Shock Blues' was a brilliant album.

[Guest Derek Bailey]

Thanks. I remember you making reference to my Eels comments in another thread (essential albums, perhaps?), so I don't even have to take your word for it.

 

In short form, Hot Hot Heat were very good and The Flaming Lips were great, even with both of their shows being identical. What did you think, Haraga? Where were you standing?

[Jack_Bauer 0]

I was sitting.

 

It was fucking ROASTING in there !

 

Had to walk up loads of stairs just to get a drink

 

As for the gig, very amazing, as I expected. Better than their show at T in the Park. I didn't think the 'Yoshimi ....' song was too great though. 'Race For The Prize' was the definate highlight for me and 'Do You Realise?' was awesome as well.