Last sunday (22 apr 2012), Ian and I went to see Lambchop play at the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland. We got to the venue with some time to kill before the show, so we went to check out the record/vintage clothing store in the basement of the place. There, we ran into Kurt Wagner himself, who was also shopping for used records. We were able to talk to him and tell him how excited we were to see him, and he was really kind and friendly and down-to-earth.
The setlist included nearly all the songs from Mr. M and every one of them sounded amazing. Overall, this was one of the quietest concerts I’ve ever experienced. We were standing at the very front of the stage and I could hear acoustic sound coming from the instruments themselves, which was a really unusual experience. All the musicians were amazing, especially the drummer. And they played “Soaky in the Pooper” as an encore! Ian and I had parked around the back of the building, and as we were leaving after the show, Kurt had just come outside to light a cigarette. He recognized us from earlier and thanked us for coming. It was all a really very nice experience.
From the concert archives: a few weeks ago (9 mar 2012), I went to see Buckwheat Zydeco play at the Athletic Club of Columbus with
Ian and my accordion teacher (who also happens to be Ian’s old piano teacher). It was fun to go to a show at the Athletic Club because it was really fancy and exclusive-feeling. I took this picture during the first song, after which the big open space became filled with people “dancing”. Most of the audience was white people over 50 who’d had too much booze. So, as you can imagine, the dancing was dreadful. It was fun nonetheless. I didn’t know most of the songs they played, but that was okay because it was more of a jam thing anyway. Songs lasted a very very long time.
As an accordion player, I found Buckwheat’s accordion totally amazing. In person, it looks gigantic—definitely larger than a normal full-size. He spent about half the time playing accordion and the other half playing Hammond B-3, which was equally cool and amazing.
I’ve already spoken about my knitting experience at last thursday night’s Craig Finn show, but I figure I should write about the actual show itself, because, boy howdy, it was a good one. Ian and I carpooled downtown at about 6:30pm, and because of awful hockey traffic, we ended up having to pay $10 to park in a garage across from the Ice Haus. Despite this, we managed to be the first people to the Basement. Coincidentally, some of my friends from school showed up soon after. At this point, it was nearly 8pm and we went inside.
The pre-show wait was pretty chill. The venue took a long time to fill up, and the people who came were generally pretty calm and nice. It seemed like a lot of men in their early-to-mid 30s, but there were other sorts of people too. By the time Mount Moriah went on around 8:30, the place had completely filled up. It was good to be in the front row.
The opening band, Mount Moriah, was great in every way. Though I’d listened to their debut album before the show, seeing them live prompted me to re-listen! and to go get this nyctaper bootleg. Good stuff!
Craig and his band were, of course, really cool. There were no Hold Steady songs and definitely no Lifter Puller songs played. Craig played stuff from his new solo album, plus a few unreleased songs. The tenor of the show, like his new album, was slightly sad. But it was a beautiful kind of sad. My favorite part of the show was when they played No Future, which hit me really hard. I also enjoyed Terrified Eyes, Apollo Bay, and everything Craig did on solo guitar. The last song of the night, if I recall correctly, was Not Much Left of Us, and no encore followed. That kinda sums up the vibe: cathartic and a little sad but totally beautiful.
By the time I got back to my car, with Ian and my three friends from school who I’d offered to drop off at campus, that far-away parking garage was pretty much empty. It was badly designed, and we had a ton of trouble figuring out how to leave. There must have been five different exits, and it took us a good ten minutes to find the only exit that was attended. It’s kinda spooky to think you’re locked in an empty parking garage at midnight. Nevertheless, we had a really fantastic time. I’m so thankful for the chance to be at this show, the fond memories of which I’ll keep with me for a long time!
Evidently, some people noticed that I was knitting at the Craig Finn show last night. If Elizabeth Zimmermann could knit while riding a motorcycle, it seems completely valid to keep a half-finished sock with me for those dull moments of waiting around at a rock show.
All I know is that I’ve got good memories of seeing Mount Moriah and Craig Finn in concert plus three inches’ worth of a sock. What about you?
Last saturday, Dempsey and I went to see Mates of State at the Newport Music Hall, which is like a ten-minute drive from my house. There was an OSU football game that afternoon, though, for which I did not properly account. The traffic was terrible, of course! Even though we left with a half-hour to spare, the drive took much longer than I’d planned. We got forced onto the highway heading downtown and it was a giant pain to drive anywhere. Once we got to the Newport’s vicinity, we couldn’t find anywhere to park, either, because the parking garages’ entrances were all barricaded.
At this point, we’d already spent over an hour in the car and we both really had to pee. The traffic was so bad, we planned to just keep driving and go back home. We turned off High Street heading towards (just to get away from it all!) and ran into the parking lot for Indianola Presbyterian Church, which was mostly empty. I spoke to one person just leaving the lot. He very kindly gave me his parking pass, since it was still valid until midnight. Huzzah! Dempsey and I ran to the Newport, which was by now like 5 blocks away.
When we got to the Newport around 7:40pm, there were probably only 50 people there. It was really odd. More people trickled in over the next hour, but even so the crowd was definitely very small. I am sure the football game had something to do with this.
The opening band was called Other Lives. They were a five-piece band. There was one woman who looked interesting, but the other four were cliché, androgynous, hipster men. Their music was technically complex and instrumentally varied: everyone but the drummer played at least three instruments. They had guitars, glockenspiels, sleigh bells, cellos, violins, and a bunch of other things. The only problem with their music was that all the songs sounded pretty much the same. The Newport’s muddy sound system did not help things.
Dempsey and I were standing in the very front row on the left side of the room, so when Mates of State came on, we were so close to Kori’s keyboard that literally all we could see of her was her bottom half. But it was ok because we were so close and because we had a fantastic view of Jason.
The best part of the show was when they played a songs from Team Boo, which is, I think, the band’s greatest record. But the whole show was stellar. Honestly, when I first planned to go to this concert, it was more just because Mates had been one of my favorite bands when I was younger and because I’d always wanted to see them. But their newest album, Mountaintops, is a seriously great collection of songs and really rekindled my love for the band. The show made me love and respect them even more.
The setlist was a good mix of songs from the band’s four most recent albums. They played a lot of songs from The Re-Arranger: lots more than I expected. But even those were great and enjoyable. It was just generally a fantastic time. Mates played for about 90 minutes but the show seemed really short. This is probably because I was having such a fantastic time. I hope they come back because I would love to see them again.
