The Coctails celebrate Hanukkah
The Çoctails were good, but I'm upset that I missed the first couple of songs while we finished our meal at Maxwell's. I missed the saw, vibes, two saxophones section of the night! Damn unusually early start time!
It was a lot of fun to see a band that I never thought I would see again. But it is odd to see people on stage that I had not seen in ten years. Whereas they used to have a sort of foppish quality (at least John), they now all look like accountants. It made me nostalgic for the 15 Minutes Club (where I saw them the first time opening for Blast Off Country Style), booking shows in Harrisonburg (I booked them on a double bill with Nothing Painted Blue), and for college in general.
The Pixies celebrate a fat paycheck.
Despite a terrible mix, the Pixies sounded fantastic. I had a great time finally seeing them. It made me nostalgic in a different way than the Coctails show did. By the time I got into the Pixies, they had recently broken up. From the beginning of my fandom, they were a thing of the past. So their music does remind me of college, but not in the same visceral way that the Coctails' music does. They remind me of college almost in the same way that The White Album does.
It was simply a great band playing the songs I've loved for years in front of adoring fans. During the show, I thought about seeing Crosby, Stills, and Nash in the mid 80's with my parents and thinking that the band was hopelessly over the hill. But then I realized that a lot of the songs CSN sang that night were about the same age as the songs that the Pixies played on Monday. These were old songs played in the same way they were played fifteen or so years ago. The fun is that not many people actually got to see the Pixies back when they were a functioning band so now it is time to fill in the gaps. This is all fine and good, but there is something to be said about evolving as a band together as opposed to getting back together to rehash old songs.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the show immensely. But do I appreciate the band more seeing them in this context? Not really. Is some of the mystery gone? Definitely. I would have loved to have been able to see them in Boston in 1988. That might have been the kind of rock show that I'd remember for years. But I wasn't there for that. I was there for the Archers of Loaf kicking my ass at the Working Holiday show in 1994. The current 17 year old indie rock fan missed out on that one, but he/ she will have a chance to see all the new bands and be excited about them in a way that I think has passed me by.
I don't even know what the hell I'm saying. All I know is that maybe I'm ready to go see more of a variety of live performances to begin to get some of that old excitement that I used to get at rock shows back. Which is strange because rock is still easily my favorite kind of music to listen to, but I am enjoying the whole "going out to see a show" experience less and less.
I want to be able to sit and watch a performance these days. Two of the more memorable live music experiences for me in the past few years were William Parker and a performance of some assorted pieces including ones by Varese and Steve Reich. These completely blew me away because they were brand new experiences for me.
What exactly am I getting at in this post?
1. I still like finding new music.
2. Nostalgia is valid.
3. I'm a grump.
4. The Pixies were, of course, better than the Coctails both on record and live.
But were the Pixies giving out free popcorn all night?
Who's up for going to see Farewell I?
4 comments:
My high school band played at the 15 Minutes club a couple of times. Weird place--half of it was a converted cafeteria or something. I just remember there being a steam tray in the dressing room.
I have a feeling that the Pixies won't be playing the Augusta Civic Center anytime soon, so I suppose I should check when they are going to return in triumphant glory to Boston and make the trek, if only to erase the bad memories of seeing them in the early 90s at the Reading Festival.
I think it was less their performance and more the fact that I was unconciously burnt out on non-stop music/beer/smoking/sleeping in mud by the end of day three when they played. The same thing happened the next year when I saw Nirvana. For years I've been telling all comers that both the Pixies and Nirvana were terrible live but after reading your post I'm coming to the realization that I'm terrible live, if only after 72 hours at a show. Thank you for helping me along the path to enlightenment.
Oh, and I recommend Dave Egger's piece on seeing the Pixies again in the December Spin magazine (free subscription to sub standard music mag courtesy of on line survey about tacos).
it's interesting - i was watching Elvis Costello on Austin City Limits last night and he was talking about how he still loved music in all of its forms and how in his house growing up there was never one type of music that was his and another type that was his parents. therefore he has little nostalgia for any one specific style of music or one specific era. i thought that was just a great way to look at it - good music is good music. the challenge is satying with the new stuff that happening while remaining open to old things you haven't heard before.
jamie,
i just finished watching that elvis performance. yeah, he sums up things pretty well. but i wasn't saying that i don't like current rock music. it is just that the whole going out thing doesn't quite do it for me anymore.
Post a Comment