The Other Big Show That Weekend
Left Alone/The Briefs/Horrorpops//Knitting Factory//4/23/06
Needless to say that I didn't get much accomplished on Sunday before heading down to the gig since doors were @ 7. It felt like I had no weekend at all. Eh, there'll be others. I decided not to bring my camera because I took enough pix @ the Horrorpops show last month, I have enough pix of the Briefs and tons to still develop, and how good could a band called Left Alone really be? Besides, I didn't want to have to worry about a camera all thru the Briefs' set.
Left Alone really isn't as bad as their band name. I liked the music better than I liked the band, or their singer and his empty bluster. "We're from Los Angeles and the traffic was bad, that's why we're late," he explained, even though the blackboard said 1st band @ 8 and they went on @ 7:40. He wore women's sunglasses thru the whole set and his motorcycle jacket has a big skull-n-crossbones spraypainted on the back, and under it, it said DIY. He had a similar logo tattooed on his neck and the band's logo spraypainted on the jacket a couple of times. They had a keyboard player where a horn player would go, updating Green Day/Rancid/LA punk tunes. The guitar player suggested that we all make a circle pit but the singer said to just get drunk like he does. About their upcoming August release--fuck it, just get drunk instead. (Hey, you heard the guy.) "I know there's another bigger show going on, but thanx for coming to see us." We all looked at each other and thought, What...other bigger show? (Besides Scissor Sisters: Eagles Of Death Metal, Avail {@ Maxwell's, so I don't know if that counts}, or the "Secret Show" @ Sin-e. I think that was one of those stupid Mysp things. Brand New. ????) He asked, "Ok, be honest here. We don't give a fuck. Who here didn't like us?" If you truly didn't give a fuck you wouldn't've asked in the 1st place, but nobody raised their hands. (I was under the assumption that it would lead to my being the butt of some joke, so I kept my opinions to myself.) "No one likes us, no one likes us. No one likes us, we don't care," he sang and then the refrain got faster. That actually was a pretty good song, complete with arms swaving overhead, although I had to wonder because no one said we didn't like them. I guess this is why they're Left Alone.
At least by starting early the Briefs would start earlier than their 9PM set time, but that meant they'd be over earlier than scheduled. Though I have to agree with Chuck Eddy on this one, that sadly their new album isn't as good as the others, I still felt bad that they came all this way to play a show--and then had to read that. "We're just gonna blast you," Chris Brief said by way of introduction--and warning. "We're gonna play through without stopping. Meaning--if we had a second for this to register: Hold on tight, kids! Once we start, it's gonna be a wild ride! Before they started, I had to make myself turn around and just look at everyone behind me; because even though when I stand up front and the band starts I feel like I'm the only person in the room, it's important to realize that I'm not. I know I said something like, Either you were there or you weren't about their gig in November. This one was pretty much the same, even surpassing that one in intensity. Maybe I found it more intense because @ The Continental, I was crowded on one of the stairs to the stage, so I had to worry about not getting pushed off and/or losing my balance. This time I was down in it, ducking every time there was a crowd surfer, because I didn't know if they were gonna hit the stage and then cannonball back in. My hips were getting bruised. For fuck's sake this is a punk show, not Lollapalooza (or Rancid, or Flogging Molly). Show some goddamned respeck. One guy jumped onstage, stole the setlist off the wall, and vaulted back into the crowd. Jesus Christ. Rudeness does not equal punk rock. Then some other guy got onstage, went right over to Chris, and since his list was sitting right on the drumkit I thought he was gonna steal it, gave him this look like, You dare me? but he just cannonballed offstage instead. Whatever happened to Pogo you fuckers? As soon as they ended, though, it was like everyone else came back into the room: What the hell is your problem, you hit me, you punched me, you were too close to me, you touched me. A major fucking downer, thanx.
I did like Horrorpops a little better on a higher stage. There was more a feeling of being in control, of playing the show and not the show playing them. "Hey, do me a favor," Patricia said a few songs in. "Look at the size of this tiny stage, and look at the size of your big butts flying overhead. If you come up here, we can't do anything. Run around, do a circle pit, but don't break the band. You can go around but you can't go up." Then: "Are we ready?" Crowd: "Wooo!" Hell Yeah! she reminded us.
Had the Briefs not taped a setlist down on the monitor in front of me, maybe I would've moved because there seemed to be just pogoing to the left of the girl next to me, but I assume they put that setlist there for me. "Don't you have enough of these?" Chris asked as he signed it. Only 1 other. "I'm gonna have to start asking you what to play and what we played last time." Er, uhm, well. I think for a sec and my mind goes blank on the list from The Continental, which I do not have. "Next time you're gonna tell me we always play that one and start playing different songs." So I point out that I never hear Come Dancing--aside from on Singles Only.
Of course there was no uptown 1. Had to go back down to Chambers. That's okay. I need the E, anyway. Oh, right, two different Chambers. Shows you how often I transfer at Chambers Street.
Needless to say that I didn't get much accomplished on Sunday before heading down to the gig since doors were @ 7. It felt like I had no weekend at all. Eh, there'll be others. I decided not to bring my camera because I took enough pix @ the Horrorpops show last month, I have enough pix of the Briefs and tons to still develop, and how good could a band called Left Alone really be? Besides, I didn't want to have to worry about a camera all thru the Briefs' set.
Left Alone really isn't as bad as their band name. I liked the music better than I liked the band, or their singer and his empty bluster. "We're from Los Angeles and the traffic was bad, that's why we're late," he explained, even though the blackboard said 1st band @ 8 and they went on @ 7:40. He wore women's sunglasses thru the whole set and his motorcycle jacket has a big skull-n-crossbones spraypainted on the back, and under it, it said DIY. He had a similar logo tattooed on his neck and the band's logo spraypainted on the jacket a couple of times. They had a keyboard player where a horn player would go, updating Green Day/Rancid/LA punk tunes. The guitar player suggested that we all make a circle pit but the singer said to just get drunk like he does. About their upcoming August release--fuck it, just get drunk instead. (Hey, you heard the guy.) "I know there's another bigger show going on, but thanx for coming to see us." We all looked at each other and thought, What...other bigger show? (Besides Scissor Sisters: Eagles Of Death Metal, Avail {@ Maxwell's, so I don't know if that counts}, or the "Secret Show" @ Sin-e. I think that was one of those stupid Mysp things. Brand New. ????) He asked, "Ok, be honest here. We don't give a fuck. Who here didn't like us?" If you truly didn't give a fuck you wouldn't've asked in the 1st place, but nobody raised their hands. (I was under the assumption that it would lead to my being the butt of some joke, so I kept my opinions to myself.) "No one likes us, no one likes us. No one likes us, we don't care," he sang and then the refrain got faster. That actually was a pretty good song, complete with arms swaving overhead, although I had to wonder because no one said we didn't like them. I guess this is why they're Left Alone.
At least by starting early the Briefs would start earlier than their 9PM set time, but that meant they'd be over earlier than scheduled. Though I have to agree with Chuck Eddy on this one, that sadly their new album isn't as good as the others, I still felt bad that they came all this way to play a show--and then had to read that. "We're just gonna blast you," Chris Brief said by way of introduction--and warning. "We're gonna play through without stopping. Meaning--if we had a second for this to register: Hold on tight, kids! Once we start, it's gonna be a wild ride! Before they started, I had to make myself turn around and just look at everyone behind me; because even though when I stand up front and the band starts I feel like I'm the only person in the room, it's important to realize that I'm not. I know I said something like, Either you were there or you weren't about their gig in November. This one was pretty much the same, even surpassing that one in intensity. Maybe I found it more intense because @ The Continental, I was crowded on one of the stairs to the stage, so I had to worry about not getting pushed off and/or losing my balance. This time I was down in it, ducking every time there was a crowd surfer, because I didn't know if they were gonna hit the stage and then cannonball back in. My hips were getting bruised. For fuck's sake this is a punk show, not Lollapalooza (or Rancid, or Flogging Molly). Show some goddamned respeck. One guy jumped onstage, stole the setlist off the wall, and vaulted back into the crowd. Jesus Christ. Rudeness does not equal punk rock. Then some other guy got onstage, went right over to Chris, and since his list was sitting right on the drumkit I thought he was gonna steal it, gave him this look like, You dare me? but he just cannonballed offstage instead. Whatever happened to Pogo you fuckers? As soon as they ended, though, it was like everyone else came back into the room: What the hell is your problem, you hit me, you punched me, you were too close to me, you touched me. A major fucking downer, thanx.
I did like Horrorpops a little better on a higher stage. There was more a feeling of being in control, of playing the show and not the show playing them. "Hey, do me a favor," Patricia said a few songs in. "Look at the size of this tiny stage, and look at the size of your big butts flying overhead. If you come up here, we can't do anything. Run around, do a circle pit, but don't break the band. You can go around but you can't go up." Then: "Are we ready?" Crowd: "Wooo!" Hell Yeah! she reminded us.
Had the Briefs not taped a setlist down on the monitor in front of me, maybe I would've moved because there seemed to be just pogoing to the left of the girl next to me, but I assume they put that setlist there for me. "Don't you have enough of these?" Chris asked as he signed it. Only 1 other. "I'm gonna have to start asking you what to play and what we played last time." Er, uhm, well. I think for a sec and my mind goes blank on the list from The Continental, which I do not have. "Next time you're gonna tell me we always play that one and start playing different songs." So I point out that I never hear Come Dancing--aside from on Singles Only.
Of course there was no uptown 1. Had to go back down to Chambers. That's okay. I need the E, anyway. Oh, right, two different Chambers. Shows you how often I transfer at Chambers Street.
posted by heather @ 5:45 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home