The DJ at the Paradise last Friday sure knew his crowd. He played Ted Leo, Sonic Youth and Britpop covered in muddied guitars -- you know all those songs you searched for when you bought music on CDs. People in the audience looked like self-assured professionals, not college students, with nice, if not elegant, clothes and a little paunch. I was even below the average age of the crowd! We were the ones searching those CD racks! With Eleanor Friedberger, who's most certainly a veteran now, on stage, followed by Wild Flag, a supergroup of former members of Sleater Kinney, Helium and the Minders, it felt like 2002 all over again, maybe even 1998.
The crowd clearly wanted Wild Flag's set to be a triumph, a confirmation of our youth perhaps, and it sure felt that way. Mary Timony didn't look particularly well, which probably wasn't surprising for someone who's made several solo albums influenced by medieval English psychedelia; Janet Weiss and Rebecca Cole looked particularly like moms; and Carrie Brownstein still looked like she could pull off anything you dared her to try. Yet the show worked because they all played so ferociously, vitally and expertly. At this stage in their lives, they have no reason to worry about their place in indie rock, so they produced a magnificent combination of raucous energy, confidence and precision. Each member kept the others from diving too deeply into the outer reaches of their musical digressions, which is exactly what you want in a band -- a unit that keeps drawing everyone back to the cohesive center.
Wild Flag's brilliance prompted me to think this week about my all-time favorite shows and last Friday's combination of music, crowd and overall atmosphere make it one of the top-five that I've seen. The others in this group, in no particular order, are:
* The Trail of Dead, Bowery Ballroom, March 2002: They were touring behind "Source Tags and Codes," one of the last decade's best records, and were still in their dangerous youth. The show ended with the crowd throwing beer and prescription-drug bottles on stage (the band had taunted everyone into doing so) and a monitor falling on the bassist as he writhed against it. And then the Bowery cut the sound and opened the house lights. Oh, and mid-set, Conrad Keely nearly killed Jason Reece when he flung his guitar at the drums.
* Pavement, Agganis Arena, September 2010: Aw, c'mon. No, you c'mon.
* Do Make Say Think, Middle East Downstairs, September 2007: One of the more revelatory artistic experiences I've ever had, with one beautifully structured song after another.
* Radiohead, Liberty State Park, August 2001: I remember it was a beautiful night and the New York skyline, on one of the last times it had the World Trade Center, was wonderful.
Above are two blurry photos from Wild Flag's and Friedberger's performances. Thanks for Friedberger for this post's title; it's a lyric in her solo record's first song.
3 comments:
Under the average what? assuredness??
Sorry, "under the average age." I've fixed it in the post. Was it Jake or Andrew who wrote this?
How do you know someone else doesn't read your blog?
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