2 posts tagged “concerts”

Very excited about seeing the Magnetic Fields next month and Jens Lekman in April. If you aren't familiar with either of them, check them out!

I posted this to my Last.fm as well and rather than write something new I chose to be lazy...

Last night's Fountains of Wayne show at the Paradise here in Boston was absolutely great. We got there a bit early and scored balcony spots so we had a killer view. The show was sold out but being up high we weren't packed in with the masses which was nice--both Joe and I don't have any sort of height advantage so it was a very good thing to snag that spot.

They didn't play very long, unfortunately, because they got started late. They didn't have time for full setup before the show so they took 45 min after the opening band, Robbers on High Street, in order to do sound checks which was frustrating. Joe and I were shocked that ROHS said who they were--opening bands never tell you who they are and you end up leaving thinking--Oh, I would have checked them out but I never found out who it was. They were decent but their best song was the last song when the bassist suddenly turned into a horn player. They should go more that route--that was where they started to shine.

Back to the sound check--one of the most icky, horrible EXTREMELY GROSS things about the night was the way one of their roadies did sound checks--pretty much licking and pushing his entire mouth around the microphones. It was just plain nasty. Everyone around us was cringing and shuddering. Joe joked that if the entire band came down with "the hep" that we'll know why.

Unfortunately, they didn't play Red Dragon Tattoo, which is one of my all time favorite songs by any band and that made me sad. But other than that, it was a lot of fun. They sounded fantastic, just very well put-together. Someone to Love was one of the best songs of the night, as was It Must Be Summer. I was surprised though, that they didn't do Hotel Majestic--that's one of the better tracks on the new album, IMHO.

I love their music primarily because the songs go beyond just a snappy beat. They tell stories about people that are really like you and me, in situations and with feelings that the listener can easily relate to. And well, they ARE very snappy and singable and fun.

Oh and it was even more awesome that we scored Kojak-style parking. We drove up and lo! and behold! a spot RIGHT in front. Doesn't get better than that!