A Tale of Two Ci... Uh... Shows

Ah, what a weekend. Definitely one I'll never forget. Filled with fantastic music and fantastic friends (and a fantastic wife, of course). As my regular readers know, I hit the Arcade Fire show in Carrboro, NC on Friday night and the Keane show in Charleston, SC on Sunday night. Both absolutely wonderful shows, both absolutely different shows... The Arcade Fire / Final Fantasy Cat's Cradle, Carrboro NC January 29, 2005 So, as you probably know, I was hyped as hell for this show. The Arcade Fire's debut album was my favorite release of 2004 and one of my favorites of all time. I couldn't believe I was able to get tickets to this one as I just happened to notice they were coming to the Cradle one day and bought the tickets right away in what was apparently just a two or three day window before the show sold out. Friday night was a cold night and unfortunately there was something going on in the neighboring Carrboro Arts Center so we had to park very far away even though the line for the Arcade Fire had barely started to form. We had some pizza there next door at Amante's Pizza and watched as more and more people lined up and more and more people showed up with "Wanted: One Ticket" signs, desperately wanting to get into this show. When we finally gave in and decided to wait in the cold, there were probably 50 or so people in front of us. Only had to wait about 10 minutes out there before they let us in... and I was very surprised when we got in that we were still able to get a spot right in the front row. I know, not always the best place to stand for sound, but just wanted to experience this band up close. The show started with a single, thin guy with a violin who said "Hi, I am Owen and I am in the band Final Fantasy." So, of course we thought there were a few more people in the wings who were going to join him at some point. Quickly though, we realized this was not the case. Instead, this guy is a one man string quartet (sometimes quintet, sometimes octet, etc.) and vocalist. Amazingly, he uses a loop pedal to create loops of violin parts on the fly, using his foot to tell it when to start recording and when to loop, etc. Within a minute he has many intricate, swirling, intertwining string lines building while he then sings over top. Truly an astounding performance. The crowd was definitely amazed and definitely showed their enjoyment by totally getting into the show and giving him the praise he deserved. I bought his handmade disc and have only given it one listen so far, but I'll review it once I get to mull it over some more. Due to the lack of a necessity to change stage set up, the Arcade Fire came on fairly quickly after Final Fantasy finished. From the first note they played, I knew we were in for a great show. I've never seen anything like it. By my count, there were 6 members of the band onstage (with Owen of Final Fantasy also playing on many songs) and just the violinist played her single instrument throughout the night. The others all switched between all songs but one. While this does mean there is a bit of a break between songs as they trade instruments and places, it is totally worth it as each of them have a different way of playing the instruments. They have a musicality surpassed by few, and an energy unmatched by any show I've ever seen. To me, it's amazing that they put this much into their shows night after night after night. I don't know how they do it. The only negative point I have from the show is that the amp for the keyboards was up WAAAAAAY too loud. While I am sure at the soundboard things sounded good once they were routed through the large stage speakers and made it back to the back of the room, there was no reason the keyboard MusicMan amp had to be up so much louder than the rest of the amps on stage. On the songs where the keyboard played a major role, the other instruments were drowned out. Now, keep in mind that I was in the front row, but still... a good sound person will try to make the sound acceptable from all spots in the room. She (I am pretty sure it was a she) should have turned that keyboard amp down and then pushed it up in the overall mix for the large stage speakers.... simple as that. Anyway, I thought we might should move back, but I decided that for this show the experience of being 2 feet from the band was too awesome to pass up... So overall, in my opinion, the Arcade Fire has the potential to become one of the greats of our time. They certainly have the live show to back the incredible studio work which makes such a big difference to me. They played one new song, "Intervention" which was great and makes me look forward to their next studio stint. They played most, if not all, songs from Funeral and I believe just one song, "No cars go," from their self-released EP, which I bought at the show and will review soon (pictured above). If the Arcade Fire comes anywhere near your town, go see them. Do whatever it takes and go see them. Totally worth it. I don't think I've sweat that much in a long time which is always a good measure of a show! Keane / The Zutons / The Redwalls Center Stage at the Plex, Charleston SC January 30, 2005 Ok, so I had way too much fun in Charleston this weekend. Headed down on Saturday so we could take in the city and its nightlife a night before the show. Had a great time with good friends. So by the time I made it to the Keane show I was in great spirits and probably the perfect mood to take in this show. Well, we arrived at the show probably halfway through the Zutons show so I missed the Redwalls altogether. Don't really like any of their stuff though so I really didn't mind too much. Just not into those who sound more like a copy than influenced... But anyway, I have to say that I was very unimpressed with the Zutons. While they were very tight in their sound, they seemed to have an uncanny ability to lose the audience in an instance. One second the audience is dancing and enjoying the show and the next second it was as if we were in a club with a random house band as they dilly dallied through some uninteresting stuff. I am just not into their music, nor was I into their live vibe. Not engaging. Now Keane is a totally different story. Keep in mind that there are just 3 of them. The lead singer (who only played an instrument on one song ... another keyboard!), the pianist, and the drummer. The bass "guitar" is added by the pianist via a laptop and some sort of bizarre integration that I have yet to figure out. I whipped out my camera phone and snapped a few (bad quality) pics to show that they had a good light setup that added just the right theatrics to their beautiful music. The band itself was fairly calm on stage, the lead singer not resorting to much dancing or overt expression. As many of you know, I am a singer and I have to say that the lead singer is perhaps the most talented vocalist I have ever heard. I don't think he hit one wrong note all night... not even slightly off pitch. Truly amazing. When I first heard their album I thought for sure he had a "studio voice" that could never really sound like that live. Well, I was completely proven wrong. I stood there most of the show completely in awe of what I was hearing come out those pipes. The crowd was VERY into what they were doing and even really got into the new stuff they played. Just a fun, happy, inspiring, impressive show. It is great to see a band who is just that good, that talented, and just knows how to write and perform perfect pop songs.... you know? I recommend seeing them if you have the chance. Oh, and they are performing on SNL this weekend. You'll swear they're pulling an "Ashlee" but I can assure you he's really making that beautiful sound. I have tickets in hand to two more shows over the next month or so... So I'll keep the live reviews coming as I can. Thanks for reading!