June 20, 2008
Islands
NY2LON Live Reviewby LR from Cali
I found out Islands were playing about four hours before the show. It was sold out. I had to run on down, stand outside (like a loser) and hope for a miracle...a miracle that came in the form of a sixteen year old boy from Sacramento (ah, my nemesis town). He happened to have an extra ticket, and I bought it despite a huge ATM fee.
The first band, Crayonsmith, were very nice guys from Dublin. After the show I asked them a million questions about the foreign country of Ireland (from IRA to Bono's asset). The three piece made a lot of noise without a drummer. Danceable, happy, and occasionally synthy music. At one point the singer left the stage abruptly, only to return in a furry, white costume and a roman-military style hat.
The second act was Despot, a pocketsized rapper from Brooklyn. The boy could dance almost as well as he could rap. I was particularly impressed by "the shrug" dance, which was just a shrug and a demure look. Despot's rap stylings impressed me to no end. "Get Rich or Try Dying" was my favorite of his live tracks, though the set was pretty much flawless, as were his choice of samples (which he sang along with adorably). His DJ was just a guy holding an iPod, but apparently the position is highly prestigious, as one of the Chow brothers (wearing a name tag that said "DJ," a hood and dark glasses) jumped on stage to fight with the DJ over the job. He then pushed around the rapper, knocked over some water, "You weren't here when I started my set," said Despot. The rapper told the crowd that he was too young for certain cliches, like "saying MY NAME IS...very special to me since my parents gave it to me. That's from a bygone era." Instead, Despot chose to do some aerobics, helped by the Chow brother that had earlier caused a scene, with the crowd. The aerobics consisted mostly of running and lifting your hands above your head, but the Islands audience was super enthusiastic. Definitely one of my new favorite rappers.
Islands. I've been waiting years to see Islands. So why did this show catch me off guard? It had been moved from April (when I wasn't available) to June (lucky me!) and I had no clue! I found out about four hours before doors opened, and rushed down to Bimbo's 365 in hopes that I could buy a ticket to the sold out show. I luckily met some wonderful teenagers all the way from Sacramento who had an extra ticket, and lovely manners. Some hours later, we finally got to see Islands. The stage was completely dark when the band made their entrance, lit only by plastic, glowing red trees. On the stage was a pleathora of instruments, including a huge chain to be dropped in front of a microphone for a certain sound, lots of maracas, three violins, a bass clarinet, and many other fun things. Islands started with "Vertigo" from their newest album, which was mellow, so I had no idea what to expect. The crowd kicked into gear for "The Arm," which was what I expected them to start with, and pushed much of the front row back (not me, though, I'm a rock). A lot of the set was from the new album, though the crowd went completely wild for the "old stuff" like "Rough Gem" (where a hipster girl stepped on my foot with her heeled shoe) and "Humans" and "Where There's A Will There's A Whalebone." Despot and his DJ joined the band for that last one, and expertly executed the rap sections. Every moment of this show was filled with something magical to watch.
A few highlights of this show:
*Putting candy on the monitor in front of me, seeing them slide down to the waiting hands of whoever happened to be in front of me, (most of the time it was one of the Chows not really brothers, by the way).
*Nick Thornburn's glasses that were totally painted white. They later were found broken, and he looked pretty sad about it.
*The Chows playing the classic piano at Bimbo's. Well, one was playing, and the other was sitting seductively on it, while playing violin
*Seeing some girl let Nick hold her puppy (that she brought to a rock show?). Another person said, "I have a cute dog too"...Nick: "well, is it here?!"
*Figuring out, due to people asking Nick about the vinyl coming out, that CDs truly are dead
Click here for a YouTube video of the show, enjoy!
Posted by ny2lon at June 20, 2008 09:27 AM
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