Soi Disantra: Birds of Virginia: Silver Jews in Charlottesville

March 17, 2006

Birds of Virginia: Silver Jews in Charlottesville

Hit a $10,000 superfecta
Kick Thom Yorke in the balls
See the Pirates have another winning season
~~See the Silver Jews in concert~~

Cross it off the list. It's done. I'm probably too tired right now to go into great detail, but I can certainly say that I saw the Silver Jews in concert. Very fun time. Was it cathartic? No. Would I have been thrown off if it was cathartic? Yeah, I think so. Did it have its not so great moments? Sure. Did it have its "this is everything I was hoping it would be" moments? Oh yeah. Will I continue this horribly annoying question/answer device? Just for a little bit longer? Am I excited to see four more shows over the next week? Oh you betcha.

Real quick, here's the setlist:
Black and Brown Blues
Animal Shapes
Buckingham Rabbit
Trains Across the Sea
Dallas
I'm Getting Back Into Getting Back Into You
New Orleans
How Can I Love You (If You Won't Lie Down)
Horseleg Swastikas
Random Rules
Smith and Jones Forever
How to Rent a Room
Slow Education
The Poor the Fair and the Good
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Punks in the Beerlight
Inside the Golden Days of Missing You
There Is a Place

Some quick thoughts. The two highlights of the set for me were somewhat odd, in that they were songs that aren't anywhere near my favorites and are ones that other people always like more than me, those being "Dallas" and "Smith and Jones Forever." I like "Dallas" but -- like most songs from Natural Bridge -- found it to be too flat on record. Not tonight. Rocked with a purpose. Same with "Smith and Jones." During the chorus the drummer through in this Franz Ferdindand-y drumbeat that gave it some extra giddy-up and I know it sounds awful, but by god it worked. The encore was outstanding. "Punks" was the monster I was hoping it would be. I took a camera video of it, but like the idiot I am, I had the camera vertical, so it didn't really work. Also, I missed the last 10 seconds. Fucking technology. "There Is a Place" wasn't quite the twirl-inducer that I was hoping, but there are more chances. And it was very nice to see Bobby N. channel a little "Conduit for Sale" on that one with his shouts of "I saw God's shadow on this world!"

Show started a bit rough. DCB stopped "Black and Brown" right after it started, claiming that he messed up, but he didn't as far as I could tell. "Animal Shapes" and "Buckingham Rabbit" were neither overwhelming nor underwhelming, just whelming. Cassie's a lot more comfortable up there than David. When she sings, she's straight on with the audience, projecting clearly. David's hiding behind his sweet Fender Mustang which he plays about half the time, and also a music stand complete with lamp. Before each song he's like, "Ok..." before he starts into a story. Very endearing. Bobby came out for "Trains Across the Sea" which had a nice, slow groove. "Dallas" came next and got things really going. "Getting Back" I don't really remember. "New Orleans" was a complete bomb. DCB didn't even try the second verse, just told the band to go straight into the ending. Disastrous.

Things eventually picked back up with "Random Rules," which is just one of the better songs of the past decade or so. "Smith and Jones" was discussed. "How to Rent a Room" and "Slow Education" closed out the extremely strong "first song of the record" portion of the set. Interesting set closer with "The Poor the Fair and the Good," on which DCB lovingly just stood by Cassie, who took center stage with guitar. He fixed her tanktop strap which had fallen off her shoulder and didn't even sing his parts into the mic, was just singing into her ear. Then he gave her a kiss and walked off. How sweet.

So yeah, good times. Steve West was in the house, somewhat predictably, as were Dust Congress, Johnny Metro and wonderful travel companions PC and Y. I'll somehow muster the energy for New York the next two days, although everything I'm hearing about this Webster Hall place makes it sound like hell. We'll see. And hey, my bracket isn't even completely ruined yet. Had Pacific not choked in OT and Nevada not come up like chumps, I'd be looking very nice right about now. Oh well.

Doubt there will be any updates over the weekend, probably Sunday night. I'm trying for a different experience at each show. Will remember not to stand on stage left, so as not to have DCB mostly blocked by his apparatuses (apparati?). Although getting a clear view of Cassie ain't bad. ("The bass player's hot!" one person shouted.) One of the two shows in New York will hopefully find me ridiculously wasted, although rumors of $8 Buds might make that tough. Should've taken advantage of the $2 PBRs. Damn.

--DM--

March 17, 2006 | Permalink

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83454be4069e200d8347bff6653ef

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Birds of Virginia: Silver Jews in Charlottesville:

Verify your Comment

Previewing your Comment

Posted by: |

This is only a preview. Your comment has not yet been posted.

Your comment could not be posted. Error type:

Your comment has been posted. Post another comment

The letters and numbers you entered did not match the image. Please try again.

As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.

Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.

Soi Disantra

Whatever the fuck that means.

March 17, 2006

Birds of Virginia: Silver Jews in Charlottesville

TrackBack

Comments

Verify your Comment

Previewing your Comment

Post a comment

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Links for Our Own Convenience

Some People We Know Actually Do Things

Archives

We're Running Out of Time!: 24 Power Rankings

Other Power Rankings

Soi Disantra's Finest Moments