live shows: Rasputina/Tarantula AD at the Middle East (downstairs)

[supercheesegirl]

Last night Jorn and I went to see Mirrormask (it was pretty good!), then had a yummy dinner at Cinderella's pizza before heading over to the Rasputina show at the Middle East downstairs. Doors were supposed to open at 8pm, and we were there by 8:10-8:15, and the line to get in was already around the corner. Ugh. We stood outside for over half an hour and the line just kept getting longer and longer. When we finally got up close to the door and could see the schedule for the night, we saw that the opening band, Contramano, was set to go on at 8:45, but we figured with the delay at the doors they'd probably push their set back, right? Nope. Contramano was playing when we got inside, even though probably two-thirds of the concert ticket holders were still standing in line outside. We thought that really sucked for the band, and wondered why the ME didn't have somebody walking up the line checking IDs so that wouldn't have to be done at the door, but whatev. It just seemed poorly planned. Contramano wasn't any great thing--Jorn described their performance as "endearing", which is pretty accurate, I think. They were clearly pretty nervous, and the singer kept doing odd things, like the windmill guitar arm thing or kicking his leg up high and stuff. This was kind of annoying and weird, since the antics didn't seem to be coming from his enthusiasm at playing the music or anything. At first we figured he was an asshole, and that he'd always wanted to be a Rock Star, but eventually we figured out that he must just be like that. He was all frolicking about and doing pushups, and during the last song or two, he took his guitar and actually wandered around in the crowd for a while. This was interesting and all, but dude, they were the opening band, and probably very few people were there to see them specifically--save the crazy antics for when you actually have some rock star cred, yo. Musically, they ranged from just okay to pretty good. Oh, and they were wearing Halloween costumes--the bassist had on an afro wig and a 70's shirt, the drummer was dressed like Austin Powers, and the singer was dressed up like a cop. He kept trying to work this into his between-song segues and stuff, too, like pretending to arrest the other band members and the ME tech people and affecting a deep voice like someone "in command". Yeah, I wasn't too thrilled with this guy. But he was a decent musician, and the other band members were cool.

Heather and Vesula (spelling?) arrived towards the end of Contramano's set, in time to see the singer bopping around in the crowd. They didn't miss too much. The break between Contramano and Tarantula AD was especially long for some reason, and Heather pointed out that her friend Brandon, who works there and was doing tech stuff, was stomping around looking very unhappy about something. Tarantula AD arrived out about ten minutes late (9:55) and were dressed in little girl costumes--like, costumes manufactured to fit small children. The drummer was a Care Bear (or rather, his face was in a Care Bear costume and the rest of it dangled against his chest), the guitarist was Snow White, and the cellist was Barbie (the Snow White and Barbie costumes had been kind of mangled and torn to fit on these guys' bodies). All three guys were wearing silly makeup and tights. The whole look was pretty funny. Then they started playing, and they pretty much rocked out. I was very impressed. Each guy switched over to a different instrument (or several) at some point, and each guy was clearly quite proficient at every instrument he played. I was most shocked when the cellist turned to the piano and the guitarist came over and picked up the cello and played it beautifully. They were really very good.

After the Tarantula AD set, I decided to be lame and go home: I'd been up late the past two nights, and I could tell I was tired. I kept acting like a tired little kid--whining, clinging on Jorn, dozing off with my head on his shoulder--so I figured I should just go home and go to bed since I had a lot to do today and no real connection to Rasputina except liking a cd Jorn lent me last week. I was in bed by 11:34. Jorn didn't get to bed till after 1am, I think. I forgot to ask if Rasputina wore costumes.

Comments

[birdmaddgirl.livejournal.com]

apparently the middle east had a whole mess of problems last night ranging from 1)we don't know where the people are who are supposed to work the door to 2)where is the cash to make change for people buying tickts to 3)the sound operator for one of the bands is a drunken egomaniac.

vessela and i were also quite impressed by tarantula a.d. - i think i'm going to go see them in december when they play t.t.'s as the headliners. i wish fluttr effect could open for those guys, the crowd that would like tarantula a.d. would totally be into FE, but they'll be in nyc that night.