Weather Systems
It rained here last night. Hard and long. I like my storms like I like my ... no, that one's too easy. I wouldn't feel like I'd earned it.
After standing in the middle of a closely packed crowd of people watching Andrew Bird and the Great Lake Swimmers last night at Cafe Montmartre, stepping out into the rain felt delicious. It was hot in there. Hot and sweaty. Andrew kept commenting that he was "sticking to things." I've been hotter and sweatier at shows in the past, but I think this wins the prize for shows at which I'm standing in one spot and barely moving.
Cafe Montmartre gets a mixed review from me as a place to see a show. The space itself is great, with a tiny, intimate stage like an oversized shop window. The food is utterly delectable, and the lighting was very neat. If I were the only person at a show at Cafe Montmartre (or maybe me and a few of my friends) I would love it to death. However. The service in the restaurant was horrible, a couple of the folks working doors were jerks, people talked all the way through Tony Dekker's set, and if you weren't in the very front of the crowd, it was hard to see.
That may have been more a function of the crowd size last night, though. I was really surprised, but then again, Cafe Montmartre is probably a little small for Andrew to be playing. I didn't enjoy Tony's opening set nearly as much as I should have, since A) everyone was talking, and B) I was standing four people back or so in the crowd, and directly behind a guy with poofy, lustrous black hair - which he kept playing with when he wasn't leaning over to make out with his girlfriend. I could see between them to the stage every five seconds or so, for about five seconds at a time.
Everyone shut up for Andrew's set, at least, and seemed to be really into it. The crowd shifted slightly, so that I was bobbing in between the heads of three tall people (but that was an improvement, since if I wove skillfully enough, I could see almost constantly.) Andrew was awesome. He had some speaker problems early on, but they got straightened out. I was really impressed with the way he built up all of the songs so they sounded big and lush, and I enjoyed his slight reinterpretations of the songs from Mysterious Production of Eggs. My favorite song of the night was probably "Fake Palindromes." Oh, and he gets major points for the striped socks he was wearing last night. He spent most of the performance shoeless.
After the show I bought the Great Lake Swimmers first album, and Weather Sytems. I haven't been this excited to buy an album since ... I don't even know when. Not even A Ghost Is Born, since I already knew those songs when I bought the album. All I know is that I adore Mysterious Production of Eggs, and loved Andrew's version of "Don't Be Scared" before I even knew it was Andrew singing it. (There's a kind of neat story about that, but not for today.)
I saw Kristina and Gina off in their awesome Subaru Outback rental car a few hours ago. Now, lunch.
After standing in the middle of a closely packed crowd of people watching Andrew Bird and the Great Lake Swimmers last night at Cafe Montmartre, stepping out into the rain felt delicious. It was hot in there. Hot and sweaty. Andrew kept commenting that he was "sticking to things." I've been hotter and sweatier at shows in the past, but I think this wins the prize for shows at which I'm standing in one spot and barely moving.
Cafe Montmartre gets a mixed review from me as a place to see a show. The space itself is great, with a tiny, intimate stage like an oversized shop window. The food is utterly delectable, and the lighting was very neat. If I were the only person at a show at Cafe Montmartre (or maybe me and a few of my friends) I would love it to death. However. The service in the restaurant was horrible, a couple of the folks working doors were jerks, people talked all the way through Tony Dekker's set, and if you weren't in the very front of the crowd, it was hard to see.
That may have been more a function of the crowd size last night, though. I was really surprised, but then again, Cafe Montmartre is probably a little small for Andrew to be playing. I didn't enjoy Tony's opening set nearly as much as I should have, since A) everyone was talking, and B) I was standing four people back or so in the crowd, and directly behind a guy with poofy, lustrous black hair - which he kept playing with when he wasn't leaning over to make out with his girlfriend. I could see between them to the stage every five seconds or so, for about five seconds at a time.
Everyone shut up for Andrew's set, at least, and seemed to be really into it. The crowd shifted slightly, so that I was bobbing in between the heads of three tall people (but that was an improvement, since if I wove skillfully enough, I could see almost constantly.) Andrew was awesome. He had some speaker problems early on, but they got straightened out. I was really impressed with the way he built up all of the songs so they sounded big and lush, and I enjoyed his slight reinterpretations of the songs from Mysterious Production of Eggs. My favorite song of the night was probably "Fake Palindromes." Oh, and he gets major points for the striped socks he was wearing last night. He spent most of the performance shoeless.
After the show I bought the Great Lake Swimmers first album, and Weather Sytems. I haven't been this excited to buy an album since ... I don't even know when. Not even A Ghost Is Born, since I already knew those songs when I bought the album. All I know is that I adore Mysterious Production of Eggs, and loved Andrew's version of "Don't Be Scared" before I even knew it was Andrew singing it. (There's a kind of neat story about that, but not for today.)
I saw Kristina and Gina off in their awesome Subaru Outback rental car a few hours ago. Now, lunch.
Labels: Andrew Bird, Cafe Montmartre, concerts, Great Lake Swimmers
posted by BeeKay at 12:56 PM
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