These Adventures in Solitude Never Done
Posted on | November 6, 2007 at 8:07 am | 4 Comments
Last night was the New Pornographers show at the Gothic Theater, the last one of the Challengers tour. Don’t have time to say much about it, but I’ll relate what I can remember. Like when I saw them on the Twin Cinema tour, this was the full Neko Case / Dan Bejar version of the band. But what was different this time was that Dan actually performed on some songs that weren’t his, sitting down playing some kind of xylophone or something on a few songs, and he also did the electric guitar part on the song “Challengers”. But, as usual, he spent most of the time prowling the stage with beer in hand like some hobo that had walked in off the street.
The band was “on” but was obviously a bit worn down from the tour. They played for an hour and a half and pretty much hit all the high points of their now-considerable four album oeuvre, except they surprisingly skipped “Letter From An Occupant”, arguably their best known song. They must be tired of it. (There was one encore, consisting of “Jackie” and “Slow Descent”.) The pre-encore finale featured perhaps my two favorite NP songs back-to-back, “Sing Me Spanish Techno” and “The Bleeding Heart Show”, so that was an amazing way to end the set. I was in high heaven. They also did my favorite song from Challengers, “Adventures In Solitude”, which is just lovely and thrilling live. I still love the fact that the band has so many singers in it, and when they get those harmonies together, magic happens. The acoustics at the Gothic were pretty good, but could’ve been better. I sensed some weird harmonic overtones at times. I was in the balcony, and that might’ve had something to do with it also. The club was nearly full, though it probably wasn’t a sold-out show. One thing I noticed is that the live versions of most songs seem to be at a faster tempo than the studio versions, but I think that happens with a lot of bands. That way they can fit more in songs in, and it gets the audience pumping. There were no cover songs.
The always-delightful Immaculate Machine (which features Kathryn Calder from the NP’s on vocals & keyboards) opened with a brisk half hour set, hitting some of the better songs from their new album Fables, as well as some fine older stuff. They sung the last half of “Broken Ship” in French (the entire song is in French, along with a few others, on their Les Urs Mais Pas Les Autres EP). I wish they had played longer, as they are one of my favorite bands, but I liked what I got. “C’mon Sea Legs” was a highlight.
Emma Pollock (ex-Delagados) performed in the middle with her band, and did an enjoyable set. I wasn’t familiar with her music, though I have downloaded Watch The Fireworks from eMusic and haven’t listened to it yet. Nice pop-rock songs, with what sounds like folk influences. She is from Scotland and it was often hard to make out her between-song banter with her strong accent. (Although I couldn’t make out much of the NP’s banter either, but I think that’s mostly because they keep talking over each other.) She was surprised that there were no fireworks last night and that we weren’t celebrating Guy Fawkes Night. (Calder sat in on accordion on one Emma song, making her the hardest-working person of the night, since she played in all three bands.)
I wished I had brought my digital camera and taken some halfway decent pictures, instead of just the cell phone ones. But I feel strange doing that. Anyway, it was a good way to spend a Monday night, but the NP’s finished at 12:30, so I didn’t get to bed until after 1. And of course I have to work today. I’m too old for this. (Speaking of that, though there were a lot of young’uns there, there were many of us “oldsters” too. At least one guy looked like he was in his 60s, and a couple sitting near me looked like they were in their 50s.) And I wish I could’ve gone with someone, but Alan couldn’t make it and neither could N.
Jogged Today: Are you kidding? Slept in.
Today’s Weight: 161 lbs
Lunch Yesterday: Homemade ham sandwich with co-jack cheese.
Pet Peeve of the Day: Shows with three bands that start at 9pm on a work night! Although it did move along pretty quickly. The first band went on exactly at 9.
Comments
4 Responses to “These Adventures in Solitude Never Done”
November 6th, 2007 @ 9:09 pm
I was just listening to the new New Pornographers album. It will take a few more listens before I have an opinion. I think my favorite song of theirs is still “Twin Cinema”.
November 6th, 2007 @ 9:43 pm
“I sensed some weird harmonic overtones at times.” That was no “weird harmonic overtones” – that was a disturbance in the Force!
Yeah, I feel weird taking pictures at shows too. Although part of that is I haven’t figured out how to get my camera to act as if it has high-speed film (it defaults to keeping the shutter open until it thinks it has enough light…which means blurring at low light levels) – and I’m not going to use the flash, because if it isn’t actually forbidden (which it often is), it’s still really annoying to everyone.
November 6th, 2007 @ 11:31 pm
Yellojkt, be sure to give Challengers a few spins. It’s a grower. Heck, seeing them play it live even made me like (or at least tolerate) “Unguided”, which usually slows the album to a halt for me.
November 6th, 2007 @ 11:32 pm
2fs – yeah, the light thing is definitely a problem. That’s another reason I didn’t bring my camera in. I should learn better what to do in those low light situations.