"Hey, I was wondering how old you guys are?"
"13". "14!" piped one of them.
"Wow, you guys are young to be into such good music. I certainly wasn't listening to this kind of stuff when I was your age (cue 'I saw the sign' by Ace of Base). How did you get into them?"
"Oh, I've been into them for ages." the leader tells me. "I've been getting NME since I was 11 and my mom is really cool."
"Awesome, thanks. Enjoy the show."
Only in NYC, where Grups abound, would an 11 year old subscribe to NME (not Spin, not Rolling Stone) and be taken, with all of his friends, to a sold out Arctic Monkeys concert. What a strange and wonderful city this is.
The opening act was New York's favourite sons, and The Music Slut's, We Are Scientists. Every WAS show I've seen, the audience has been really into the music- singing all the words and dancing. Not at Roseland however. I'm not even sure if anybody there knew who WAS were, but perhaps that was just my section. I chalk it up to all the kids and bridge and tunnel people present.
Also, who knew that Roseland was such a bridge and tunnel magnet? Perhaps it's the proximity to the midtown tunnel and path train. It left me yearning for my downtown venues and after the show, my crew and I quickly fled for the quieter streets of SoHo. The odd crowd also made for some uncomfortable confrontations. On my left, a rather large, biker type gentleman screamed "YEAH MOTHERFUCKER!" and "NEW JERSEY!" over and over inbetween sidling up to the NME boys in front of me and making rude jokes in their ear. Whilst on my left, the couple my friend and I were with got into an argument with two teenage girls who insisted on elbowing their way into our already maxed out space. Somewhere in there, I also found myself with arms open, trying to protect the NME boys from some old drunken fools who were winding their way through our section to the middle. It was all very distracting.
In any case, WAS put on a great set. Towards the end, Monkey Alex and Monkey Matt came on to show their tour mates some support and got a huge reaction from the crowd. Apparently from the back, the site of Matt and Scientist Michael dual drumming was a really cool sight.
Despite all the huge, and often sickening, hype around the Arctic Monkeys, they do put on a great show. That being said, however, their set Wednesday didn't start off very strong. During a pause in the middle, my friend whispered in my ear that he hoped that the second act would be better than the first. And then like make magic, it suddenly was. I don't have their setlist, but here's the Phoenix one. From what I recall, it was pretty similar:
- Riot Van
- The View From the Afternoon
- Still Take You Home
- You Probably Couldn't See the Lights But You Were Looking Straight at Me
- Cigarette Smoker Fiona
- Perhaps Vampires is a But Strong But ...
- Dancing Shoes
- Who the F--- are Arctic Monkeys
- Bet You look Good on the Dancefloor
- Red Light Indicates the Doors are Secure
- From the Ritz to the Rubble
- Leave Before the Lights Come On
- Mardy Bum
- When the Sun Goes Down
- Fake Tails of San Francisco
- Certain Romance
So what have we learned today?
1. Avoid Roseland at all costs, unless you get to be in the photography pit or the VIP balcony.
2. Screaming "NEW JERSEY!" at boys from Britain will get you nowhere.
3. 13 year olds are a lot cooler than they were in my day...laddy.
4. If you get all up in my grill at a concert, I will fuck you up.
Watch We Are Scientists as they video diary their tour here.
Also, according to the Arctic Monkey's site (via TheModernAge), bassist Andy is now permanently out of the group and relief bassist, Nick, is in for the rest of the tour. I approve. Nick is cute. I was asked during the show, why I thought Andy wasn't there. I said fatigue my ass, he's probably fighting with the rest of the group. A Modern Age commenter though makes the accusation that he has a crack problem. But since when did that get you kicked out of a rock group?
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