Alkaline Trio, Toad's Place, 6/21/08
Jun. 22nd, 2008 01:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rikibethWow. THAT was a show.
Two opening bands. The first one, The Fashion, I'd never heard of before. I kind of expected them to suck, because lately first openers have been awful -- like Lights Resolve who opened for the Used, who, well, they had a good logo... but they were actually pretty good, in a "the"-band-from-Denmark kind of neo-garage-rock way. I could have sworn their third song was a cover of "Lullaby" but the lyrics weren't right. Meant to pick up their CD afterwards, forgot.
We were on the edge of the crowd for them.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
emoshukuhai1438 and I were working on teaching alyveritya some crowd-fu, and how to take advantage of space as it opened without being rude and shoving inward, because I knew via text that ihadtimetokill was on the rail at the left, and ideally we wanted to get close. We got a few person-widths inward from the edge without being unpleasant.
Then Bayside came on. And it turned into a crush. I had suspected something like that might happen, and had told A, "staying on your feet is your most important priority, and if you see someone go down, help them up if you can. Try to stay with me, but if you can't, staying upright is more important than that, and if all else fails we'll meet up at the merch table after."
I had not thought I liked Bayside very much before. The studio tracks I'd heard had not impressed me, and I barely remembered their set from Bamboozle last year. But this time? Good stuff. Definitely worth listening to some more.
We did get slightly separated, although I kept an eye on the girls as much as I could. C did a good job of looking out for A, too. By the time Bayside's set was over, we were close enough to the front that I could tapihadtimetokill on the head, and nobody had fallen down. alyveritya had had enough of it, though, and went to sit on the staircase, which is a good vantage point for staying out of the crowd. I could see her from where I was.
Then it was Alkaline Trio's set. Matt said tight at the start that he felt awful and his voice was shot, so everyone had to help him sing. And did we ever. This was a show to reward the fans -- they OPENED with Private Eye. So of COURSE we sang. And it kept on like that. Matt laid back off the mike half the time that he wasn't just letting Dan do the vocals, and every word was still there. The crowd was even carrying the new tunes, from the album that's not OUT yet, from the pre-release iTunes-only EP. And I was right, they do sound more like classic Trio done live, even if they're lighter and more radio-friendly in the studio versions than the guitar-crunchy old school Trio or the lush-but-gloomy style of Crimson.
From where I was standing, it was just the usual close quarters, but I guess the middle got kind of rowdy. Matt had to ask them to chill out, and also very politely asked them not to crowd surf. Since A said she only saw four people get pulled out, that means most of them listened!
The Cure could learn a little something about encores from these guys, too. C had bailed onto the stairs late in the set, so I did during the last song before the encore, so I didn't quite see what happened after a VERY short interval of "one more song," but I think a tech came out, and must have encouraged the crowd to start the song BEFORE the Trio started playing again, because there was a crowd a cappella version of "Radio" before the band's. I heard Matt say, "See? You don't even need us!" But then they played it anyway, and it was great.
Other details: Matt had a Japanese headband on, very Karate Kid. And his wedding ring on a chain around his neck, awww. And I think that was Monica I saw standing at the back of the stage and singing along during "Crawl."
I also liked the stripy terry wristband he was using to secure a monitor to his guitar strap.
I love this band. They've finally been signed to a major label, and I wish them all the success they want, but if someday they're playing Madison Square Garden, I'm going to have a few moments of nostalgia for the way it was to see them at Toad's Place.
Two opening bands. The first one, The Fashion, I'd never heard of before. I kind of expected them to suck, because lately first openers have been awful -- like Lights Resolve who opened for the Used, who, well, they had a good logo... but they were actually pretty good, in a "the"-band-from-Denmark kind of neo-garage-rock way. I could have sworn their third song was a cover of "Lullaby" but the lyrics weren't right. Meant to pick up their CD afterwards, forgot.
We were on the edge of the crowd for them.
emoshukuhai1438 and I were working on teaching alyveritya some crowd-fu, and how to take advantage of space as it opened without being rude and shoving inward, because I knew via text that ihadtimetokill was on the rail at the left, and ideally we wanted to get close. We got a few person-widths inward from the edge without being unpleasant.Then Bayside came on. And it turned into a crush. I had suspected something like that might happen, and had told A, "staying on your feet is your most important priority, and if you see someone go down, help them up if you can. Try to stay with me, but if you can't, staying upright is more important than that, and if all else fails we'll meet up at the merch table after."
I had not thought I liked Bayside very much before. The studio tracks I'd heard had not impressed me, and I barely remembered their set from Bamboozle last year. But this time? Good stuff. Definitely worth listening to some more.
We did get slightly separated, although I kept an eye on the girls as much as I could. C did a good job of looking out for A, too. By the time Bayside's set was over, we were close enough to the front that I could tap
ihadtimetokill on the head, and nobody had fallen down. alyveritya had had enough of it, though, and went to sit on the staircase, which is a good vantage point for staying out of the crowd. I could see her from where I was.Then it was Alkaline Trio's set. Matt said tight at the start that he felt awful and his voice was shot, so everyone had to help him sing. And did we ever. This was a show to reward the fans -- they OPENED with Private Eye. So of COURSE we sang. And it kept on like that. Matt laid back off the mike half the time that he wasn't just letting Dan do the vocals, and every word was still there. The crowd was even carrying the new tunes, from the album that's not OUT yet, from the pre-release iTunes-only EP. And I was right, they do sound more like classic Trio done live, even if they're lighter and more radio-friendly in the studio versions than the guitar-crunchy old school Trio or the lush-but-gloomy style of Crimson.
From where I was standing, it was just the usual close quarters, but I guess the middle got kind of rowdy. Matt had to ask them to chill out, and also very politely asked them not to crowd surf. Since A said she only saw four people get pulled out, that means most of them listened!
The Cure could learn a little something about encores from these guys, too. C had bailed onto the stairs late in the set, so I did during the last song before the encore, so I didn't quite see what happened after a VERY short interval of "one more song," but I think a tech came out, and must have encouraged the crowd to start the song BEFORE the Trio started playing again, because there was a crowd a cappella version of "Radio" before the band's. I heard Matt say, "See? You don't even need us!" But then they played it anyway, and it was great.
Other details: Matt had a Japanese headband on, very Karate Kid. And his wedding ring on a chain around his neck, awww. And I think that was Monica I saw standing at the back of the stage and singing along during "Crawl."
I also liked the stripy terry wristband he was using to secure a monitor to his guitar strap.
I love this band. They've finally been signed to a major label, and I wish them all the success they want, but if someday they're playing Madison Square Garden, I'm going to have a few moments of nostalgia for the way it was to see them at Toad's Place.
