Tuesday, June 14, 2005
You're a Bone Machine
So last night I dragged the BF out to Merriweather to catch The Pixies. After our long, tiring weekend, I give him all the credit in the world for heading up to Columbia on a rainy night to see a band he's not very familiar with. He's the best.
We got there right about the time The Bellrays started. Never heard of them. The best way I can think of to describe them would be Janis Joplin fronting The Blues Brothers. From where we were standing they sounded terrific. If you missed them, you missed-out.
Since the BF was being such a good sport, I told him we didn't have to go down for Bloc Party. I didn't really care about seeing them as much as I just wanted to hear them. I could do that fine from the lawn. About that time the sky opened up and it started pouring down rain. Our instinct was to run into 9:32, but after a few seconds we realized that the rain actually felt pretty good, considering the heat and 200% humidity. We just stuck it out and got a little wet. We ended up running into a few friends during the BP set and hung out with them for a while near the back of the lawn. BP sounded good, but I think the early heat and the later rain kept the crowd's spirits down a bit.
Then there were The Pixies. I caught the DAR show a few months back. They were pretty good then, but I didn't really see what all the hype was about. I think I get it now. They were nothing short of amazing. I don't know if it was the fact that everyone was hot and sweaty as hell, the fact that they were awarded a gold record for Surfer Rosa after the second song (it only took 17 years) , or they were just damn glad to be playing, but they were f-cking on fire last night. Holy crap. One blistering song after another, and they looked like they were loving every sweaty second of it. Wow. I have seen the light. Bone Machine, Caribou, Wave of Mutilation, Monkey Gone To Heaven, Hey, Broken Face... Outstanding. Oh yeah - we even got the best parking spot ever. Once in the care, we were out of the parking lot in under 60 seconds. Really.
I know a lot of people hate it, but I love Merriweather. It's like a little jewel among a ton of really crappy amphitheaters. People don't realize how good they have it with MPP nearby. Wolf Trap is probably a little nicer, but that, too, is an exception. Most other big amphitheaters are almost exactly like Nissan. Big, ugly, concrete messes with absolutely no soul or personality. MPP is a great venue. Thanks to IMP for bringing it back up-to-snuff for us.
Thank God for bands like The Pixies.
We got there right about the time The Bellrays started. Never heard of them. The best way I can think of to describe them would be Janis Joplin fronting The Blues Brothers. From where we were standing they sounded terrific. If you missed them, you missed-out.
Since the BF was being such a good sport, I told him we didn't have to go down for Bloc Party. I didn't really care about seeing them as much as I just wanted to hear them. I could do that fine from the lawn. About that time the sky opened up and it started pouring down rain. Our instinct was to run into 9:32, but after a few seconds we realized that the rain actually felt pretty good, considering the heat and 200% humidity. We just stuck it out and got a little wet. We ended up running into a few friends during the BP set and hung out with them for a while near the back of the lawn. BP sounded good, but I think the early heat and the later rain kept the crowd's spirits down a bit.
Then there were The Pixies. I caught the DAR show a few months back. They were pretty good then, but I didn't really see what all the hype was about. I think I get it now. They were nothing short of amazing. I don't know if it was the fact that everyone was hot and sweaty as hell, the fact that they were awarded a gold record for Surfer Rosa after the second song (it only took 17 years) , or they were just damn glad to be playing, but they were f-cking on fire last night. Holy crap. One blistering song after another, and they looked like they were loving every sweaty second of it. Wow. I have seen the light. Bone Machine, Caribou, Wave of Mutilation, Monkey Gone To Heaven, Hey, Broken Face... Outstanding. Oh yeah - we even got the best parking spot ever. Once in the care, we were out of the parking lot in under 60 seconds. Really.
I know a lot of people hate it, but I love Merriweather. It's like a little jewel among a ton of really crappy amphitheaters. People don't realize how good they have it with MPP nearby. Wolf Trap is probably a little nicer, but that, too, is an exception. Most other big amphitheaters are almost exactly like Nissan. Big, ugly, concrete messes with absolutely no soul or personality. MPP is a great venue. Thanks to IMP for bringing it back up-to-snuff for us.
Thank God for bands like The Pixies.
