nicksumner

Saw Spoon at Radio City Music Hall tonight. Not a big fan, but the tickets were free and I sat 5th row. Couldn't find a reason to complain. To top it off, I hung out with an old work friend of mine who I rarely get to see - result was a fun time.

Opening bands (and there were unexpectedly 2) were the "Strange Boys" - and they lived up to their name. Poor bastards had their van towed while they were ON STAGE though, so I felt bad for them there.

Next was Deerhunter. Apparently they thought it creative to take the name of an academy award winning film as their name. Holy crap, hipster trash.

Then Spoon. Fun stuff. Kinda quirky. It threw me, though, when the keyboardist, bassist and random percussion guy were all playing guitar with the lead singer - making a grand total of 4 guitars on the stage at once, along with drums. Weird.

All night I kept thinking that the performers were just barely able to be called musicians; a term I have gathered through a few years in label, studio, live sound and tech work as meaning people who can play an instrument with all the flourishes and virtuosity that it can possibly be played with. Personally, I am not one of those, either. But out of 3 bands, 12 people playing instruments, not one of them played anything resembling a solo. Not one show-offy thing - NOTHING but washy soundscapes that were designed to make you think of Pink Floyd (without the guitar solos!). A little bit of an anticlimax. But the sound there (as I have always experienced) was killer.

Anyway, I'm bored and overtired. I thought blabbing senselessly would make me more apt to try sleeping. Nope...