Saturday, October 08, 2005
Franz Ferdinand/TV on the Radio/Cut Cop @ Greek Theatre 10/07/05
In Bullet Point Form:
- "Apparently, everyone has forgotten the rule about concert t-shirts," I said to my brother and sister as we took our seats. "Yeah," John, the brother, agreed. "That Guy is everywhere." John pointed out the That Guy Girls in front of us, three blonde girls of about sixteen with matching Franz Ferdinand t-shirts and lime green and hot pink striped belts to match the type on said t-shirts.
- There was a high number of fans from the Too Young Too Drive age group accompanied by parents. I saw their slouched shoulders and faces covered in embarrassment and thought of when I was part of the Too Young Too Drive group and my mom took my sister and I to see both Morrissey and the Cure (and my mom will say that the Cure show was the best concert she ever attended, better than anything she saw as a teen). I was mortified that some older kid I knew might spot me with my mom and crack jokes. It never happened. To those young people at the show, I would like to say, it's not that bad. Really, it isn't. Years from now, you will be in your twenties and bragging that you actually got to see Franz Ferdinand when others your age were stuck at home because their parents had crappy taste in music and refused to drive all the way out to Los Feliz.
- Australian trio Cut! Copy were a treat. The vocals are a bit weak in that Bernard Sumner sort of way, but the music is all intense house, some of which seems to be more of the acid variety. They are playing on the evening of 10/10/05 at the Echo. If you have time, I recommend catching this show. Apparently, Alex and the gang were in the audience dancing to the set.
- In between opening bands, I chatted up the guy at the KROQ booth hoping to get some good dirt on a KROQ/Indie feud. All I really found out is that there are some issues regarding who gets to sticker which show and who gets credit for breaking which band. I hope neither is trying to take credit for that "Gangsters and Thugs" song. It sounds like a bunch of my former high school classmates (the ones with Sublime scrawled on the binders) decided to form a drum'n'bass project while cruising in their Chevelles down Rinaldi Blvd. Tragic. Let's sweep that song back under a rug. Oh, and the guy reminded me that KROQ broke such bands as Sublime and No Doubt. Um, I was thinking more along the lines of them playing Depeche Mode, the Smiths, the Cure, New Order, Oingo Boingo, Red Hot Chili Peppers and so many more before everyone else.
- TV on the Radio is much more of a stoner band live than recorded. It seemed as though none of the songs cut off before the six-minute mark with long stretches of fuzzy guitar work and drums that seem to catch the beat of an intoxicated mind (which, unfortunately, mine was not that night). Tunde Adebimpe's voice is large and perfect for a mid-size, outdoor venue. It was a very enjoyable set.
- The bulk of Franz Ferdinand's set came from the new disc, You Could Have it so Much Better. Fortunately, I bought the album when it was released last Tuesday and my brother and sister and I were lame enough to listen to it lapse twice while heading to the Greek. It seemed likely that most of the others in the audience did the same thing as everyone in our vicinity was quite capable of singing along to the band's entire set.
- When I first heard "Do You Want To," I thought of a specific Beatles' song (whose name escapes me at the moment, but will probably come back after I post this), all cut up and pieced back together. Oddly enough, Alex Kapranos spent most of "Do You Want To" bobbing his head back and forth as if he were one of the Beatles performing on Ed Sullivan.
- Kapranos reminds me more of David Bowie than John or Paul or George or Ringo, though. Maybe it's his style of dress or the huskiness of his voice. Maybe it's that "Michael" reminds me of "John, I'm Only Dancing." Whatever it is, I want more of it.
- There is something of Jarvis Cocker in the lyrical content of the band's new work. "Walk Away" is the song that is and will continue to be endlessly quoted. For those who haven't heard it, the line, which everyone in my area screamed, is "I love the sound of you walking away." It's the sort of brutal remark we all wish we had said at some time or other, something so harsh I would have expected to hear it on a decade-old Pulp album. Combine this with an intro strongly reminiscent of Kraftwerk's "The Model" and you have the raise-your-lighter-in-the-air ballad of 2005.
- The guy sitting next to me had deep psychic powers. During the encore, the crowd was roaring with please for "This Fire." Dude next to me hollered, "The last song on the new album." Despite the fact that we were pretty far back and that band's probably can't hear what the audience is saying anyhow, Franz Ferdinand bust into the house beat of "Outsiders," which is my favorite track on the album. Is this what people mean by serendipity?
- Franz Ferdinand closed with "This Fire." I can't for the life of me understand why "This Fire" is the second big hit from the last album. "Michael" is much better and "Matinee" is the bee's knees.
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