We saw Elbow with Jesca Hoop at Webster Hall on April 26. Right before Jesca was due to come out Guy Garvey from Elbow came onstage to introduced her. He said that her voice was soft and beautiful, one of his favorites of all time, and he asked that people not talk since they were in for a special treat and he wanted us all to enjoy her music. That's asking a lot for a NY crowd, especially with the bar at the back of the venue. People were quiet at first but half way through her set more people arrived and soon a lot of people were chattering over her. She made a comment but to no avail. Her music was lovely and her voice is very unique in a soft whisper kind of way.
It was so great to finally see Elbow live after being fans since their first album came out in 2002. They started out with "Starlings" which has such a dramatic beginning, it set the mood for the rest of the night. We knew it was going to be great but they completely exceeded our expectations. They played most songs off the new album "The Seldom Seen Kid". Highlights were when they sang "Mirror ball" Guy requested that the huge mirror ball come down for the song. Between the song and the lovely glimmering mirror ball the set was so memorable.
At the final song when Guy asked everyone to sing along (something about this venue- it prompts sing-a-longs?) to "One Day Like This". He looked up at us in the balcony and said to the guy next to Katie "I see you up there in the green shirt, you'd better sing along or else I'll have to come up there for you". Then he said we'd have to sing something if we wanted them to come back for an encore. A guy in the crowd suggested "Killing Me Softly" so that's what we did-when Guy Garvey askes you to sing-you do it. It really was brilliant to hear it start quiet and then get louder and louder. Guy loved it! He said it gave him goose bumps. It was ace!
Next we went to see The Teenagers play at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on May 3. There were two opening bands and while The Blakes were okay it was really their drummer we liked the most. We dig a good drummer that's for sure. The hall wasn't very full yet so we had a great time watching people act like fools. You'd think they don't get out much by the way they act but we suspect they are like this all the time-sad.
The second opening band were HORRIBLE. It was really unbearable to stand through their set. The "music" wasn't much more than noise (we sound so old but really-when you hear great music all the time the bad stuff is just SO BAD) and they kept jumping off the stage and "singing" in the crowd. They totally reminded us of "dance bully" from SLC. (Dance bully is a guy Katie would have to endure in Salt Lake at shows who would bully people into dancing like him or just dancing in general and he is utterly annoying in every way and has developed quite a following of disgusted people-Katie would have none of his antics and proudly pushed past him at a Bloc Party gig to avoid his "dancing".) One of the guys in the band had his parents there and they were more fun to watch than the band. Even though their son's band is utter crap they are still there to support him. Ahhh
The Teenagers were fun but since they just have the one album their set wasn't very long. They were surprisingly better live than expected but not a group we need to go see every time they are in town. They still have a long way to go to become a truly great band (if they even want to be one) which we doubt as they seem more like a band that's just fun at the time but doesn't have the longevity to keep going for years and years. They also went into the audience to sing and make people dance during their set, then they invited a lot of trashy girls up on stage to dance with them. It will be interesting to see if they evolve or fizzle out.
May 8 was El Perro Del Mar with Lykke Li and Anna Ternheim at the Bowery Ballroom It was a Swedish extravaganza! Sweden is just churning out the great musicians lately.
Anna has a beautiful soft voice and she had great stage banter. She told a story about when she first moved to New York her neighbor had recently been mugged and when Anna met her for the first time she had knife in her hand. What a welcome! Anna looked a bit like Jodie Foster from Freaky Friday, a personal favorite so we automatically liked her.
She had beautiful songs and played the most wonderful cover of China Girl by Bowie so we had to buy her cd. It is definitely worth checking out.
Lykke Li was fantastic! She wore a cropped shirt and very wide legged, high waisted trousers that made her dancing the best entertainment of the night. Her jewelry was the cherry on top of her look, many heavy gold chains-how very early 80's of her. Hearing her songs live made us love them even more.
El Perro del Mar was lovely but her expressions made it seem she was in pain the entire time. She smiled a few times, mostly at the end when she was singing with Lykke. It was a fabulous girls only night of music.
1 comment:
you girls have been busy!!
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