All they needed was a dancing bear...

[triadruid]

So we went to the Cake concert last night, courtesy of our good friends saffronhare and agrnmn (who gave us the tickets atop a cake, amusingly enough). Both of my other thirds are big fans and I'd never heard more than their most popular songs, but it was a good show overall. Thanks guys!

However the highlight of the evening in MY world was the hysterically manic "Gypsy Punk" opening act they had, Gogol Bordello. I'm not sure I can describe it properly, as they're one of those quintessentially live acts, but they had washboards, a violin, a minor-key accordion, buckets and drumsticks, a pogoing Charlie-Brown-dressed rapper, and a lead singer with the weirdest blend of broken Ukrainian and English I've ever heard. It was a trip; all they needed was a dancing bear to complete the ensemble, but I asked him about it afterward and he straight-faced "I'm an animal rights activist, I would never do that". This from a man with a five-of-diamonds safety-pinned to his hat, and a handlebar mustache. Surreal, but very, very good. I bought an album of theirs during the second opening act (Tegan and Sarah, which we were all disappointed in, sorry reeling), and upon opening it what do I find in the liner art?

Yellow bunnies with halberds, shields, and spears. I'll see if we can get a scan up later, because the center image is crying out to be a new icon for Saff. It's actually quite good line art, supposedly from a traditional Ukrainian children's book, but who knows with this group?

Oh, and Cake was alright too. But go-go dancers with washboards and a bass drum!!

Comments

[saffronhare.livejournal.com]

Yay! So glad you had a great time. At several points last night, agrnmn and I turned to each other, saying hey, the opening act must be on now...hey, wonder if the show is over yet...hope the enjoyed it.

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

We had all kinds of fun! Thank you again for the opportunity. :)
Also, seriously. Extra bonus unexpected Gypsy cabaret punk. You have to love that.

Icons!

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

or

Re: Icons!

[saffronhare.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow. Yeah, I can see why those would make an impression. (saving both of them now)

[reeling.livejournal.com]

How come you guys were disappointed in Tegan and Sara, if you don't mind me asking?

[brandy22kc.livejournal.com]

I saw them last year live, and all their songs sound the same at least live they do

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

They came across live as "whiny girl with guitar", except of course there were two of them. Their last song was pretty good ("Walking with a ghost, possibly?), but unfortunately they were all utterly unmemorable.

It might have been better had they been the "opener", because between them and the mediocre comedian who came on stage between bits, they killed a lot of the energy raised by Gogol Bordello among the crowd. Obviously the T&S fans were happy, and there were a lot of them there, but...ehh.

Also, thanks for the spelling correction.

My Two Cents

[kittenpants.livejournal.com]

For me at least, vocals make or break a band. I will put up with awful lyrics if they're sung in a beautiful way. On the other hand, there are certain musicians that I despise, like AC/DC, Bob Dylan, the Cranberries, that I am shocked to discover that I like their songs *when someone else covers them*.

Tegan & Sara, I suspect, are like that. The instrumentation and rhythm are good, but their voices drive me batshit. They are very very nasal, and they have sort of a squeaky little-girl sound, and they sing in dissonant harmonics. The synergy of those three factors just killed it for me.