rock-n-roll weekend

this has been such a rock-n-roll weekend!

very atypical for me, i must say.

friday night i went to "the great cover-up" (one of three evenings chock-full of goofy cover bands), which has been written up by observers far more competent than i. suffice it to say, i enjoyed myself immensely... though the overabundance of cigarette smoke caused me to lose my mind after the talking heads' set. mary ran up to me to see how i liked it, and all i could say was, "i have to get out of here! I HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!!!"

what i wasn't able to communicate to her then was that i thought the talking heads cover band was pretty good. of course, whoever attempts to imitate david byrne has a difficult task ahead of them, but this dude did a nice job. they played "psycho killer", "stay hungry" (a lesser-known song that i really enjoyed hearing), "drugs", "crosseyed and painless" and "burning down the house" (a performance which caused everyone to hoot and holler).

as nice as it was to see a talking heads cover band, it also made me a little sad. i never had the good fortune to see the actual band in a live performance (though believe me, i've seen more than my fair share of documentaries, videos and rare footage of the group) so seeing an imitator forced me to consider once again how i'd never seen the real thing.

*sigh*

anyway, back to my rock-n-roll weekend:

on saturday night i saw the magnetic fields at the carolina theatre in durham. actually, this show had a decidedly non-rock-n-roll vibe, so it seems a little disingenuous to say it was a rock-n-roll weekend. this magnetic fields concert was more like a two-hour sedative than a rock show.

yet it was still entertaining. in a sleepy kind of way. i don't know why they chose to perform the most mellow of their songs, but the hammy choreographed routine near the end of the show (to "yeah! oh yeah!") was a welcome change of pace. it was an almost jarring burst of energy in a rather low-key concert.

but i liked the show! i really liked it! the songs were beautiful, and i could just listen to stephin merritt's voice forever. (though the incessant drone of it actually caused ray to flee the auditorium at one point.)

i think i've always had a thing for odd singing voices. david byrne, sure... weird and yelpy. stephin merritt's sad, quirky bass. tom waits' chain-smoking rasp. willie nelson's nasal crooning. and let's not forget about my newfound love of morrissey with his whiny-ass whiner-voice. heh.

maybe that's the hurdle i have to overcome with most bands i hear these days... not a lot of groups (at least in my perception) have outstanding, unique vocalists. it could be that i'm not paying close enough attention; i feel like only lately am i really starting to listen again.

oh god, i almost forgot the flaming lips' wayne coyne! what a weird warbler he is. and i love it!

anyway, where was i? oh yeah... my rock-n-roll weekend. the best thing about it was seeing lots and lots (and lots) of old friends. it seemed that at both of these shows there was a friendly face at every turn. that's such a wonderful feeling... a sense of belonging.

Posted by xta at December 5, 2004 02:00 AM | TrackBack