Har!
Hey All,
As I was about to leave to see the Locust last night I was disturbed to discover that I could not find my ticket.
I usually store tickets in the envelope I bought them in, on the top shelf of my wardrobe.
And it was not there.
Nor was it anywhere else that I looked as I hastily turned my room upside down.
Only one thing to do: pell mell to Camden and hope that I could get a ticket at the door.
Thankfully, despite getting absorbed in an article in the Guardian and missing my connecting stop at King's Cross, I did make it in time to get in. Possibly by the skin of my teeth, because it was one of the well attended shows I have seen at the Underworld.
Chilling as the supports played, I ran into my friend Liz, a flyering music-tech student who I run into outside shows sometimes. Most recently I ran into outside the ULU Bar when I saw Queen Adreena.
I told her about my musical laptop excursions, and she gave me the URL for where I could download tools to make my own audio plug-ins. Neato.
Next, I braved a whole set by a sketchy support band so that I could wriggle into a decent place in the crowd for The Locust.
Finally the Locust set started. And it was one hell of a set. Performance-wise they weren't as crazy as the Dillinger Escape Plan, but the sheer power of the music, the intensity of their stage demeanor and the incredible level of musicianship all four members displayed was enough to sear their show into my list of favourites. The sound of their Moog Modular Synth is even more intense live than on record, as the sweeping frequencies swing low enough to mess with your intestines. Truth be told, I was tempted to yell out 'Play the Doctor Who Theme!', but I thought better of it.
I only really have two gripes about the show: first of all, the band collectively and individually came across a surly and not particularly interested in communicating with the audience. Though that may be related to my second gripe, which was that the audience, as so often happens at the Underworld, seemed to feature a high percentage of top-flight jerks. More specifically of an irritating selection of hipsters and thuggish hardcore kids who didn't seem to be able to enjoy the music without dancing violently and, in some cases, crowd surfing. The latter was made all the more stupid because Gabe Serbian (one of the best drummers I have seen in my life) had set up his kit on the front of the stage, stage left, and was in constant danger of his kit being knocked over by knuckleheads.
Such shenanigans also put the many photographers gear at risk, and tensions did turn into stoushes on a couple of occaisions. Maybe I'm a little overly idealistic, optimistic even, but a Locust show was the last place I expected to see fights breaking out.
Still, the ridiculous upheavals in the crowd meant that I managed to go from third row to front and centre. The bad news was that I nearly had my legs broken by the force of the crowd against the stage, I was nearly concussed by the crowd surfers and I sure that Gabe's snare didn't do my left ear any good. Though I did get to hear him ask a smoker to put his cigarette out. The last person I saw who had the chutzpah to do that successfully was Shiralee from something or other Classical Doom Metal band when I saw them at the Actress and the Bishop in Brisbane. Sexist as it sounds, I think some of her success had to do with her being phenomenally hot.
I digress. They were brilliant, but somehow I felt a sliver short of satisfied. Still, I think they are a band that everyone who likes to pretend that they care about music should see.
And the guitarist did crazy fingertapping stuff.
Other stuff:
Thanks for reminding me, I did promise I would upload and links some photos and logos and things.
I'm going to do that in the other windows, and if that doesn't work, I'll do it straight of my laptop when I go to the Macshop next.
(some time later)
As promised, here they are:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11091884@N00/
One of them didn't come out terribly well. Oh well, back to the drawing board.
Over and out.
J
As I was about to leave to see the Locust last night I was disturbed to discover that I could not find my ticket.
I usually store tickets in the envelope I bought them in, on the top shelf of my wardrobe.
And it was not there.
Nor was it anywhere else that I looked as I hastily turned my room upside down.
Only one thing to do: pell mell to Camden and hope that I could get a ticket at the door.
Thankfully, despite getting absorbed in an article in the Guardian and missing my connecting stop at King's Cross, I did make it in time to get in. Possibly by the skin of my teeth, because it was one of the well attended shows I have seen at the Underworld.
Chilling as the supports played, I ran into my friend Liz, a flyering music-tech student who I run into outside shows sometimes. Most recently I ran into outside the ULU Bar when I saw Queen Adreena.
I told her about my musical laptop excursions, and she gave me the URL for where I could download tools to make my own audio plug-ins. Neato.
Next, I braved a whole set by a sketchy support band so that I could wriggle into a decent place in the crowd for The Locust.
Finally the Locust set started. And it was one hell of a set. Performance-wise they weren't as crazy as the Dillinger Escape Plan, but the sheer power of the music, the intensity of their stage demeanor and the incredible level of musicianship all four members displayed was enough to sear their show into my list of favourites. The sound of their Moog Modular Synth is even more intense live than on record, as the sweeping frequencies swing low enough to mess with your intestines. Truth be told, I was tempted to yell out 'Play the Doctor Who Theme!', but I thought better of it.
I only really have two gripes about the show: first of all, the band collectively and individually came across a surly and not particularly interested in communicating with the audience. Though that may be related to my second gripe, which was that the audience, as so often happens at the Underworld, seemed to feature a high percentage of top-flight jerks. More specifically of an irritating selection of hipsters and thuggish hardcore kids who didn't seem to be able to enjoy the music without dancing violently and, in some cases, crowd surfing. The latter was made all the more stupid because Gabe Serbian (one of the best drummers I have seen in my life) had set up his kit on the front of the stage, stage left, and was in constant danger of his kit being knocked over by knuckleheads.
Such shenanigans also put the many photographers gear at risk, and tensions did turn into stoushes on a couple of occaisions. Maybe I'm a little overly idealistic, optimistic even, but a Locust show was the last place I expected to see fights breaking out.
Still, the ridiculous upheavals in the crowd meant that I managed to go from third row to front and centre. The bad news was that I nearly had my legs broken by the force of the crowd against the stage, I was nearly concussed by the crowd surfers and I sure that Gabe's snare didn't do my left ear any good. Though I did get to hear him ask a smoker to put his cigarette out. The last person I saw who had the chutzpah to do that successfully was Shiralee from something or other Classical Doom Metal band when I saw them at the Actress and the Bishop in Brisbane. Sexist as it sounds, I think some of her success had to do with her being phenomenally hot.
I digress. They were brilliant, but somehow I felt a sliver short of satisfied. Still, I think they are a band that everyone who likes to pretend that they care about music should see.
And the guitarist did crazy fingertapping stuff.
Other stuff:
Thanks for reminding me, I did promise I would upload and links some photos and logos and things.
I'm going to do that in the other windows, and if that doesn't work, I'll do it straight of my laptop when I go to the Macshop next.
(some time later)
As promised, here they are:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11091884@N00/
One of them didn't come out terribly well. Oh well, back to the drawing board.
Over and out.
J
posted by the.exile at 6:54 pm
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