Where Have I Been All My Life? :: March 26th, 2002 ::
If you’ve been reading this site for a while, you’ll remember a time when it seemed I was turning into some sort of indie rock critic. (You’ll probably also remember a time in which I used to update more than twice a month, but that’s a different story entirely.) You might remember from that previous phase, such moments as my experience seeing Calvin Johnson at the YMCA (see I Didn’t Even Realize it Until I Left), or my short-lived quest to saturate the community of online readers with my mix tapes (see My Personal Online/Offline Dichotomy). But that was, what, sometime in late July? Maybe later? (Looking at those archived entries, I’m noticing that I didn’t include a date on those older entries — wow.) Since then, really made a concerted effort to maintain even a semblance rocking-ness, hipness, greasiness, or melancholy here. As far as you know, I have sold all my CD’s smashed my stereo. For all you know, I listen to C-SPAN all day, not the latest album by ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead. Yes, I still have a link to the Indieblogs Webring, does that really mean anything anymore? (Honestly, I feel guilty about it being there, still.)
Now. All of that said, I want to tell you that when the Death and Dismemberment Tour came to Milwaukee yesterday, I was in attendance. So Ha. There. I’m still hip.
We got there late, just around the time that Cex was finishing up and Death Cab for Cutie was coming in. I always feel weird when I go to Milwaukee shows. And it gets weirder the older I get. Maybe because when I go to these things, I see people there who I’ve been going to shows with since we were all in high school, yet none of us have ever said a word to each other (hasn’t twelve years been long enough? Apparently not...). Maybe it’s also because it seems like a lot of these shows are populated with kids I might have been babysitting when I was an angsty teenager like them. Maybe it’s because Milwaukee crowds are some of the most reserved people in the world. Maybe it was because during the set breaks I spent my time talking to Jeremy and my sister about Physics and the web. (Honestly, it was probably a combination of all these things.)
It’s really fun to watch the Death Cab for Cutie guys play. First off, after they’re on stage for a while, they start really getting into the songs, and they all start doing this chaotic, jerky dance. It’s invigorating! That’s the word I’ll use to describe their stage presence. The lead singer screams the last few lyrics of Why You’d Want to Live Here. They have this live rendition of Blacking out the Friction in which they stretch out the last verse and the lead singer sings the lyrics to (what I think is) Atmosphere (the Joy Division song). It was all very strange to see them live, and interesting, too. I’ve been listening to The Photo Album for a while now, and it was neat to see these energized, invigorating(!) renditions of what I thought were simply sad, majestic songs.
Plus, it was neat to hear them play Blacking out the Friction. When I was going up to Alaska last Christmas, I remember flying out to Seattle, having that song stuck in my head, specifically the "I don’t mind the weather/I have scarves and caps and sweaters/I have long johns under sweats for blustery days," which seemed more than fitting to be singing to myself, given where I was going.
Then Dismemberment Plan. I’d seen them last time they came through Milwaukee, when Ted Leo was touring with them and their hair was longer. I’m probably not at all the best critic when it comes to talking about Dismemberment Plan shows, because I can’t even fake a sense of objectivity. Actually, I have to restrain myself lest I become some obnoxious, blathering fan. But they’re fun, they let you dance on stage (sometimes), and that all happened last night. Except for that one stage diver who seemed to have mixed up this show with Slipknot (which I know wasn’t their fault), it was great to see their signature neurotic, driving, invigorating(!), dare-I-say-funky performing style.
So maybe I have lost a certain hipness, a certain amount of indie rock cred in the past six months. But who knows, maybe all that will be re-invigorated(!) in the near future. If stuff like this continues to happen, I can only imagine good things in that area.
In closing, I think we should all sing the second verse of Summer Babe, by Pavement. Just to be unpredictable:
My eyes stick to
All those shiny robes you wear
On the protein delta strip
I’ll wait there, I’ll
Be waiting forever...
