I didn't know too much about them so I wasn't really expecting much - but they sounded fucking great and they put on a really good show (until one of them broke a hip during the last song. I keeed, I keeeed).
Then we went somewhere to see a show. I don't remember who this was or where. (But looking at the stage and the singer, if I had to venture a guess I'd say that this was Dennis Cahlo's new band, Saints & Lovers at Mercury Lounge?).
...a cover band! (Man, I wish there were more good cover bands that played in the background at bars in NYC). I made the mistake of going up and asking the singer if he'd let me sing a song with the band and he got all offended. He was like "What do you mean can you sing a song?" I was like "You know, it's sorta like karaoke, right? Like, can't I pick out a song and sing with the band?" And he got all serious and was like "Dude, I'm the singer of this band." I was like "Yeah, but it's a cover band - It's not like I don't know the tunes, right?" He got all serious and before turning away told me that I "obviously didn't get it."
Friday night I went to see Mike Patton perform in an experimental noise band. I could have saved the $15 I spent on a ticket by staying at home and have a friend alternate between playing static on the TV and intermittently poking me in the eardrum with a meat thermometer. (Mike, I love you - but can a playa just get a melody?)
Five hours later I got landed in SF and went straight from the airport to meet Alysha and Brian at the Interpol show at the Warfield. (Nothing like feeling sad about New York and going to see a band from New York sing sad songs about New York).
Anyway, Tarantula rocked my world like no other live band I'd seen in years. If you ever here that they're playing in your area, make sure you check them out. You won't be disappointed.
This was one of the first bands I'd seen made up of all hot girls that was decent. Usually if there are more than two girls in a band, the girls' collective hotness is inversely proportionate to their level of musicianship (and they usually have no idea that they suck because every guy that sees them tells them "Wow, you guys are amazing!" because he totally wants to get into one of their panties!.
On Tuesday afternoon Sarah invited me up to Spin's offices to watch a solo performance by Ted Leo. He played a full set off his new record and then actually took audience requests!
Always a lady, indeed. They stacked all these empty styrofoam coolers behind him and halfway through the show, he threw them into the crowd and they got ripped apart and everyone was spraying beer and throwing around pieces of foam.
Alright, I'll keep the band shots down to a minimum because it's hard to make snarky comments about these types of photos. Much better to show pics from crowd, that way I can tell funny stories about the people in them.
The show was really good, but Grant got in trouble for jumping around on stage too much (seriously) and so this was unfortunately his last show as rhythm guitarist in the band.
Even using the zoom on my lens, I couldn't believe that it was really Vince Neil. So when I got the pictures on my computer, I decided to load them into Photoshop and do a little investigative work...
We tried watching the show from the balcony, but it was really hard to see. We went down to the floor, but ended up staying in the back because we didn't feel like fighting our way up through the sweaty mob o' dudes.
If you're looking to capture the jump-shots, you gotta shoot with an itchy shutterfinger. I saw movement and snapped figuring Grant was getting ready to launch into another big kick and instead managed to capture this totally awkward (sideway?) leg kick. Hahaha.
...the craziest, highest rock n' roll jump kick I've ever seen in my life. If only DLR (who lives less than a block away, incidentally) could've been there to see it - he would've wept with joy knowing his heir apparent lives. (This is so wallpaper worth - click here for the hi-res version).
We got to the Chance, showed off our cameras and said that we were there to cover the show for "a major music magazine." We were wisked in with no further questions asked.
On Friday, I went to see Grant and Fatty in (the now defunct band) Fireworks Go Up play a show at Don Hill's. If you squint, you'll notice two parenthetical blurs in the middle of the stage - those were created by Grant's feet during a double-legged DLR kick that I managed to just barely capture.
A few free drinks later, Stellastarr went on and I went downstairs to the floor to watch them. (The balcony may make you feel like a "coolkid" but the show just doesn't sound the same from far away).
Mission accomplished I went back downstairs. Rather than show you more band photos, I'm instead going to tell you a story I forget to tell earlier about why I'm a jackass:
So when I was up in the balcony before the Stellastarr started playing, Mandy introduced me to her parents. A few minutes later when the band was playing, I was making my way across the balcony to head downstairs and I noticed that Mandy's parents were standing towards the back of the balcony . I felt bad that they were standing so when I noticed a table of kids near the front of the balcony that seemed to be talking amongst themselves and not really watching the show - I asked if they'd mind giving up their table for a Mandy's parents who'd driven in from the EnJay to watch their daughter bring the fucking rock. They said they wouldn't mind and I proudly went over to Mandy's folks and was like "Hey, why don't you guys sit at this table." It was only days later when I was talking to Mandy did I find out that her parents said they'd really enjoyed the show except for the fact that "some jackass friend of hers" had sat them at a table too close towards the front of the balcony where their view of the stage was obscured by a huge column. Doh.