I've been trying to compile a list of all the shows I've seen, before I start forgetting more than a couple. Also, it's a handy way to procrastinate, especially when I go all OCD about it (e.g. using university access of online newspaper archives to check the lineup of radio station festivals from seven years ago).
One of the better shows I have been to this year was the 9/25/05 Brooklyn Responds hurricane benefit show at Southpaw in Brooklyn. I got there late so I "only" got to see They Might Be Giants, The Wrens, Matt & Ira of Nada Surf (the band minus the bassist, really), and Sam Champion (see why I put only in quotes?).
TMBG were not particularly amazing but it was pretty sweet to see them live at least once. I'm not a huge fan but I think they've got some good records. I only wish they'd played "Ana Ng." "James K. Polk" was pretty sweet though.
The Wrens were fantastic. Thanks to this show I made my friend send me
The Meadowlands and I am going to buy it soon. Kevin Whelan told this great little story about seeing TMBG on MTV and wanting to start a band, and how great it was to play onstage after them, and then Charles Bissel made some great offhand comment about the perils of being older than your heroes.
Nada Surf were also great. I had been underwhelmed by what I'd heard of
Let Go, so even though I had found "Concrete Bed" catchy I didn't have high expectations for
The Weight Is a Gift. Like the Wrens, Nada Surf sold me on their album at this show. Matt was on acoustic guitar and vocals and Ira was just drumming with his hands on a miked hollow box that he was sitting on.
I think this is the point during the night when
Aziz Ansari did standup. He'd been scheduled to go on earlier but got held up on the way. He was hilarious as always.
After the three great acts and then the comedy interlude, Sam Champion were markedly underwhelming, in comparison both to the other bands and to the other time I'd seen Sam Champion, at the Bowery opening for The Hold Steady. So I took off only a few songs into their set. They're not a bad band by any means, but at that point I wasn't interested.
I was one of the last to leave actually; there was a mass exodus after TMBG, and a smaller echo after The Wrens; an acquaintance at the show (who works at the Knitting Factory and seems to know half the people who work at venues) said she was told that the two bands, the biggest on the bill, played halfway through instead of at the end because "they're old. [ed: relatively speaking of course] They want to go home to their families." For which I certainly don't blame them. It was just interesting to see the CYHSY/National effect in action at another show.
