The road to fame

So we spent last weekend in Virginia Beach, VA. We went specifically to see Death Cab for Cutie in the nearby city of Norfolk.

It was the longest (and most ambitious) road trip I’ve embarked on to see a band; a foreign state in a foreign country. And despite Virginia Beach being fairly disappointing, suffering from unforgiving and zealous developers, the weekend was fantastic and worth the trip.

The Death Cab show was a world away from The Corner in Melbourne 2003 where the venue was divided in half by a curtain and they struggled to fill even that. This gig was packed (sold out) and the stage had a backdrop reflecting their current album cover. The one constant was the quality of the gig. Over 2 hrs they touched on all albums, although dipping heavily into Transatlanticism and Plans. No “Title Track”, but at least they played “Photobooth” and “Company Calls” for me. The duelling drums of Ben and Jason on “We looked like giants” was amazing to watch and set the crowd off.

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists supported. They rocked – and if you like The Clash or The Jam, I’d look them up.

The venue was a beautiful old theatre in Norfolk – a city with the largest naval base outside of Russia. The venue was a little more polished than you would expect from your average rock gig, but the weirdest thing was that the bands kept starting bang on time.

My only complaint – that all the OC kids kept singing along – loudly. Even during a quiet Ben-only acoustic number. I didn’t pay for bad karaoke. But, hey, 10 out of 10 for knowing the words kids.

Other weekend highlights:

kebab substitute after DCFC – italian sub sandwich from Chichos pizza

the 2 days of freaking awesome fall weather

gorgeous fall colours on the trees on the way up

the dunes, pipers and Atlantic ocean on the un-destroyed Back bay wildlife refuge

going to find dinner and instead drinking for 5 hours with a local artist, a social worker, a homeless guy called “Grey Wolf”, a bouncer, 3 naval pilots on F-18 training and a girl who controls the aircraft carriers

seeing the dismal swamp canal on the way home despite the torrential rain

Fraggle Rock

I know it’s been a while, but I’ve had a case of blog block.

So after a dozen years of waiting, I finally saw Built to Spill perform. They have never toured Australia (although they probably will while we are over here) so i jumped at the opportunity to see them.

I was really looking forward to it and in the weeks leading up to the gig, I’d put together my own BTS retrospective on the iPod.

However, the day got off to a bad start. Both Mrs Antman and myself had been doing field work all day and were pretty stuffed by the evening. But, at the club we were feeling much more alive and ready to rock. The downfall was two support acts. I’m all for the concept of support bands; the up-and-comers get a go and we get exposed to some new tunes. But on a week night, when I’m tired, I really just want to hear the band I came to see (geez, i’m an old man!).

The first act were, to put it plainly……shit. The next act was great, but in my opinion took great liberties in playing for 1.5 hours. They actually played longer than BTS who didn’t come on until midnight.

When Doug Martsch from Built to Spill came on, the crowd fairly beserk. If you didn’t know better, you would have to wonder why such a figure would garner so much attention – he had long, unruley hair encircling a bald patch that was compensated for by a beard that wouldn’t look out of place on the Man from Snowy River. Throughout the gig, he would run a towel over his sweaty head, causing his wispy hair to float around in the stage lights making him look like a crazed Fraggle. His vocals seemed out of place emerging from such a figure.

Great gig – with close attention paid to covering their moderately long career and not just the new album.

One problem – and I’m going to sound old saying this – but it was too loud. Probably not surprising given the 5 piece set up, including 3 guitars.  However, it was difficult to make out the melody at times. The solution came in the form of moving back, through an archway, with the stage still in sight, but standing near the toilets.

Obviously not prime position, but it allowed the BTS songs and Doug’s voice to sound as good as we know they are.

Catching the Cab up north…

This post could very nearly have been a rant.  After whinging about Death Cab finally heading back to Melbs while we’re over here, they have since announced their US and Canadian dates for a Fall tour.  Awesome, except that there is apparently an invisible force field around NC as they are only playing in the surrounding states.  Bugger.

Determined not to be held back by an arbitrary boundary, we’re heading across state lines to see them.  We chose Norfolk, Virginia.  Thanks to some handywork by Mrs Antman, we got tickets (which sold out in 9 minutes).

Close to Virginia Beach, this has all the makings of a great long weekend.  Three words: Road. Trip. Sweet.

The home game advantage

10 years after seeing them play The Corner in Melbourne, I got to see Superchunk play their home town of Chapel Hill, NC. Melbourne Bitter was replaced my a Carolina amber ale. It was a reunion show of sorts as this particular arm of their musical careers has been slow of late. But what they lack in current releases, they certainly made up for in enthusiasm and proved that home town support can help crank it up a notch. It was evident that they knew a good portion of the audience and simply put……they rocked.

Hold tight

The long-awaited 3rd album by The Shins is just around the corner

Lets hope the product deserves the anticipation