so you go see a band you love and they play a lot of songs from their yet-to-be released cd. hmmmm. there used to be consequences to this sort of thing. i’m thinking of the neil young trans show at maple leaf gardens in ’81. my cousin has told me glorious stories with a smile on his face of the whole crowd booing neil. maybe i should have booed last night — at least i would have felt something and been moved to participate.
last night at the raveonettes show i was mostly confused, with intermittent phases of satisfaction. i was expecting and ready to drink in their sugary ramones-meets-jesus and mary chain surf rock libations, and instead got a whole lot of nervous, awkward goth. it was confusing, and the crowd was quiet — like we were at church or something. maybe this is what a sisters of mercy show is like, i don’t know, but i was not expecting to goth out — whatever that means.
maybe at some point we can have a discussion about what a band owes their audience, what a fan should expect, and what is the contract between artist and fan. these thoughts were going through my head at the show — so i guess it made me think. i’m not sure though how much i want to think about social contracts at a rock show.
apart from the muted atmosphere, the show did have some high points, including an effectively stark stage design — and light sabers!
they played a couple of hits, including attack of the ghost riders which was amazing, like a buzzing sonic wall banging into me. there was even a duelling sonic guitar fencing match between sune rose wagner and sharin foo that was fantastic both musically and as musical theatre.
final thought: sometimes you go see a band and they throw you a curve. this was one of those nights.
next up: looking forward to the pixies at massey hall
Let Them Eat Vinyl 
April 6th, 2011 at 2:55 pm
The Canadian ‘Art Rock’ band the Rheostatics were guilty of using the audience as a soundboard for musical experimentation on occasion … exciting for those who saw the band frequently but rather annoying to first timer – this used to annoy the heck out of my brother. deep subject, fun for the band to exercise their live skills and only pleasing to the ‘hard core’ fans – deep subject! Great Blog!
April 6th, 2011 at 3:14 pm
personally, i love awkward goths, so that wasn’t a problem for me. also, i’m liking sune rose wagner’s hair at the moment – he’s looking quite jim reid-esque (never a bad thing). but i agree with thinfinn, it would have been nice to have had some familiarity with the new songs. not sure why they didn’t tour after releasing the new album, but whatevs, it was still a good time, and the duelling guitars that thinfinn talks about at the end of the show were indeed awesome.