About Last Weekend

Animal Collective @ the Seaport. I fall into the amazing category. Kudos to the band for sticking to their usual game plan and not being intimidated by the pressure of kicking off the River To River festival in front of a enormous home town crowd. I enjoyed this show much more than the previous time I saw them @ Webster Hall, and I think it had a lot to do with the newer, stripped down format. The new songs were interesting and fun. I see another very well received, critically acclaimed album in their future. Thanx again to Steven for allowing us such a wonder vantage point from which to experience this show. A review and some nice pics over at Stereogum, including this one:



Upon arriving at Bowery Ballroom on Saturday night, the game plan was immediately thrown off when we were informed that all of the set times were pushed back a half hour, and that Aeroplane Pageant would now be on at 9. This meant that going over to The Delancey to catch The Antlers would be impossible. Bummer. However, this situation was immediately forgotten when Aeroplane Pageant got on stage. Talk about stepping up your game. The band looked, sounded, and performed like pros. Better than their set I saw at Pianos during their residency and just about as good as the recent set at Beery's. The defining moment of the set was during "How Distant" when the song starts going into overdrive and Chris starts jumping around. The crowd (largest I have ever seen at Bowery Ballroom that early on a Saturday night) seemed to be completely won over at that point. I have a feeling that they will be back at the Ballroom very soon. Plenty of chances to see them coming up:

Sat Jun 16 Union Hall w / Great Lakes Myth Society, Bad Veins, Christy & Emily Tix $8
Fri Aug 31 Crashin' In Presents @ Galapagos w/ Champollion (!!!!), Boy Crisis, Ana Managuchi
Fri Sep 28 Stephen Talkhouse w/ Dr. Dog and The Subjects

Was busy mingling during The Dansettes, so didn't really get to hear that much of their set. I did get upstairs just in time to catch Vampire Weekend get on stage. Holy crap. Those guys have a HUGE, very enthusiastic fan base. The place was just about as packed as I have ever seen it. Even though they were a bit derivative, and sounded almost a little too much like Tapes & Tapes and Talking Heads, I thought that they were great and had a fun time dancing around. BTW - does this band have a song longer than 2 minutes? It felt like they had already played about 100 songs 25 minutes into their set. They are Glasslands next Saturday and then they are going on tour in July. Dates at their Myspace.


White Rabbits put the finishing touches on an exceptional night of music and were just as special as I was expecting them to be. Such a full, powerful sound. So much energy. They played everything I wanted to hear, including two of my favorite songs of the year, "Kid On My Shoulder" and "The Plot". I think that these guys might be my "Birdmonster" of 2007. Need to see them again very soon. They are out on tour, check their Myspace to see if they are playing near you.

BTW - Did you see their "recommended" review over at Pitchfork yesterday? They also got my vote for band of the month over at Deli. Just like last month, they've got some stiff competition.

Before heading into the city on Saturday, I got to see Knocked Up. Apatow and crew have done it again. It is unlikely that you will see a funnier movie this year. Favorite part -> the scene when Jay comes into the room in the towel when Heigl is visiting for the first time. Hysterical. Uncontrollable laughter. Looking forward to Superbad later this summer.

Didn't get to see Nada Surf on Sunday. Didn't get to see Jukebox the Ghost on Saturday or Sunday or go to the zoo with them. Instead I stayed home and watched the Yankees beat the sox Sunday night. A Rod is slowly winning me over. Is the "never hits in big situations" thing over yet? I know it still remains to be seen if he can perform in the playoffs, but so far so good.

Finally - it's about time that we got a good episode of the Sopranos. Favorite part -> the train scene. That was one of the best scenes on the show ever. I am rarely on the edge of my seat when I watch tv, other than when I'm watching Lost, but that train scene was as tense as the Jacob scene. Good shit. Bring on the finale.