Tops of 2007: Part Three

(previously) Tops in Music and Television

Rachel’s Tops in Live Music for 2007.

The Most Serene Republic at Beat Kitchen, 12/8/07.
Okay, so this also happens to be the most recent show I went to, but I’m pretty sure it’s the best of the year regardless of the fact that it’s the freshest in my mind. I first heard of this band a couple of years ago in Atlanta when they opened for Metric at The Loft, but I thought they were extremely weird, and not in a good way. A couple of months ago Racho Relaxo sent me Underwater Cinematographer and Phages They are my favorite band right now. I don’t know why. Their songs aren’t realy singalongable or dancealongable (lyrics are abstract and not that well enunciated, and they have crazy meters like 7/4; in fact, some douchebag at the show shouted out ‘Make us dance!’ at one point, and the lead singer, without missing a beat, goes, ‘Impossible. None of our songs are in 4/4.’ I also love that even though they’re on tour promoting their latest album, they didn’t neglect to play their older stuff like many bands do. The set was perfect, as was their choice of songs and the sequence (although, they could have ended with ‘Present of Future End’ and not even done an encore; that song is epic, and it was amazing live).

Set list

• Humble Peasants
• You’re Not An Astronaut
• Anhoi Polloi
• The Men Who Live Upstairs
• Phages
• Sherry and Her Butterfly Net
• (Oh) God
• Threehead
• Why So Looking Back
• Career In Shaping Clay
• Compliance
• Content Was Always My Favourite Colour
• Present of Future End

• Shopping Cart People
• Proposition 61

Eisley at Schubas, 8/7/07.
This was an acoustic tour they did in small clubs to promote Combinations. They’re delightful. I’ve already splooged my pants about them and their greatness too many times on this blog so we’ll leave it at that.

Set list

• Come Clean
• Many Funerals
• Memories
• Go Away
• Just Like We Do
• Ten Cent Blues
• I Could Be There For You
• Telescope Eyes
• Golly Sandra
• Taking Control
• Marvelous Things
• Trolley Wood
• I Wasn’t Prepared
• Invasion
• If You’re Wondering

The disappointments:

Metric at Metro, 9/25/07.
They’re one of my favorite bands, but they come off as total snobsters live. Mostly Emily Haines. She’s hot and knows it. She also looks like she would be really smelly and have a few STDs. Also, they just seem like they’re going through the motions of playing live. I think they’re just one of those bands that is better on records than in their live shows. They did do a couple of new songs that I liked a lot, though. They ended with one called ‘Stadium Love’ that was a lot of fun.

The National at the Vic, 9/22/07.
Okay, so their performance itself was very good quality, but again, they exude a certain pretentiousness that rubs me the wrong way. I can’t really explain it. But, one good thing that came out of this show was that I learned about St Vincent, who I now think is really cool. I mean, anyone who comes up with a song called ‘Jesus Saves, I Spend’ is pretty brill.

Thursday at Metro, 11/7/07.
Again, the band was pretty good, but a show is about more than the band’s performance, and in this case, the audience ruined it for me. I mean, when I see a band I like play, I want everyone to have a good time. I’d rather be in the ass back of the room with people who are having fun than up front and center with a bunch of douchebags who spend the entire show staring at the band and trying to ‘connect’ with them and/or worrying about documenting the entire show on their cell phone or taking shitty pictures with their point-and-shoot digital cameras the WHOLE FUCKING TIME. Here’s a tip for taking photos at shows—spend five or ten minutes taking a bunch of really good shots, and then put your camera away. The band looks the same for the whole concert. You aren’t going to capture that magical moment when the lead singer looks straight into your lens and mouths your name lovingly to the camera. Give it up. P.S. The 500-watt flash actually makes your pictures look even shittier.

Honorable mentions:

(a.k.a. the shows that were very enjoyable but didn’t have that magical moment where you close your eyes and get that one feeling where the world falls away and all the shit you’re hung up on seems to not matter as much)

Brand New at Congress Theatre, 10/20/07
Mute Math with Eisley at House of Blues, 10/9/07
Tegan and Sara at Portage Theatre, 11/30/07 (though a lot of the Thursday comments apply to this concert as well… their fans are kind of annoying)

I’ve yet to attend a few more shows in 2007 (The Sounds this Tuesday and Pale Young Gentlemen on Thursday), so maybe this list is, like a teenage boy’s ejaculations, a bit premature, but that’s what I’ve got so far. BTW, the Pale Young Gents song I posted in the music section a few days ago is already one of the most oft-downloaded songs I’ve ever put up here. You should definitely check it out if you haven’t yet. I don’t really get why they aren’t huge yet. I haven’t been this excited about a band in a long time. Like, I want to buy a bunch of copies of their album and just give them to all of my friends, and random people on the street. I can’t believe they’re playing at a bar, for free. I feel like how people who saw Ludacris do those early shows before anyone knew he was must have felt. (Not that they sound anything like Ludacris… I was just trying to think of an artist who is very popular that I actually like. I was going to say Coldplay but then I remembered that I don’t actually like Coldplay. Sorry.)

For reference: Complete listing of shows attended in 2007

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Nexxxxxxt, top movies!