New Pornographers / Okkervil River Show

Today, I don't have an album review for you. Would you like a concert review instead? Too bad.

On Monday night, I visited Madison, WI, home of some college and a ton of bars. My show was at the Orpheum, a theater near the capitol building. And while the day was fun, with me mostly walking around State St. (where all the mayhem happens), the concert was the high point of the trip.

The theater wasn't such a great place for a show, as it was smallish and packed, and security was eager though not imposing. Still, the acoustics were good, even if my seat wasn't so great. The crowd was okay; sometimes white guys at concerts really drive me crazy. Why the hell would you go to a show not to dance and jump around a little bit? The guy in front of me kept his hands on the seat in front of him through the entire show and didn't even tap his feet; there were a number of people like this. Why does this seem like such a sticking point? Because the bands were energetic and lively. It's not like this was a Cat Power show (who I love anyway), the music should have affected the crowd somewhat. Next time I go to one of these shows, I simply have to get down front where I can jump around a little.

But what about the bands, you ask? They were wonderful. The New Pornographers were missing two of their three principal players - Dan Bejar and Neko Case - but they put on a hell of a good show. A.C. Newman is a fine guitar player and singer, and Katherine Calder (of Immaculate Machine, also Newman's niece) filled in extremely well for Case. They didn't play exceptionally long - maybe 80 minutes - but covered a good deal of their material. Highlights of the show were bringing Will Sheff (from Okkervil River) out to do "Myriad Harbor" with the band, and covering Electric Light Orchestra's "Don't Bring Me Down" for an encore. When the band came out for their encore, Newman playfully ribbed the crowd, saying "I know what you're saying but what we're going to do is even better." A nice treat from a band that normally doesn't do cover songs. They played songs from all of their albums, though they understandably leaned towards the Newman-heavy songs (though they played "Bleeding Heart Show" and "Challengers", with Calder handling the high-end vocals.

And what of Okkervil River? Well, they were quite good, probably just as good as the New Pornographers. They did a fine job of keeping the crowd involved and played a good balance of upbeat songs versus ballads - even the ballads seemed to be well-received, "A Girl in Port" in particular. Their trumpet player was great, and their guest guitarist, Charles Missile of the Wrens, was fantastic. Sheff for his part was very rambunctious, dancing and jumping. More than once he jumped on the bass drum, and put his tie around the drummer's head. He came out first, and played "The President's Dead" as the rest of the band got situated. Great band, fantastic live. I don't know if I'd say they stole the NP's thunder, but they played just as long, and I think the show was better because of it. My only criticism is that Sheff has the worst hair of anyone I can think of at the moment, probably bad enough to get him into, say, Fall Out Boy or AFI if he wasn't so good.

All things considered, this was a marvelous show, completely worth the drive. Hope to see either of these bands again in the near future.

Next up: the ridiculous Omaha/Portland trip at the end of May. I must be insane.