Monday, 21 Apr 2008
My past Sunday night was one long in coming—by two and a half years, to be exact. It had nothing to do with lounging, laundry or a Simpsons re-run. Instead, it was a much classier, special night. It was my very first time—with the New Pornographers.
After the release of Twin Cinema, I had copped a pair of tickets to catch NP’s Madison show at the Barrymore Theater–only to drive 2 plus hours from Oshkosh to find a cancellation notice taped to the box office window. Apparently, burst appendixes will do that to you.
My near miss with this Vancouver musical troupe didn’t falter my admiration for this upbeat gem of pop goodness, though. It only broadened my dreams of how they would sound live when I finally would get to catch them. I managed to miss several upcoming stints as they popped through the Midwest the following two years, but I was not about to let them pass me by again. When I caught word of their April 20 set at the Riviera Theater, I knew my time had finally come.
Despite the noticeable absence of Miss Neko Case, who had left the Challengers tour prematurely due to an injured foot, NP brought forth a very solid overall performance. The full house was packed to the nines, excitement levels of the crowd bubbling to a roaring cheer as the group took to the theater’s stage. In my sheer excitement, I can’t even tell you the chronological order of the tracks played—however, I can tell you the ambience was intimate, yet a bit livelier than I would have anticipated.
Warm red-orangey glows and icy hot blue hues set the back drop to Carl Newman and crew’s melodic deliverance to an equal balance of songs stemming from both ‘07’s Challengers and ‘05’s Twin Cinema. Highlights from Challengers included “My Rights Versus Yours,” “All the Old Showstoppers,” “Challengers,” the feel good fuzzy feeling “Adventures in Solitude,” and of course—“Myriad Harbour,” which had the crowd bouncing left and right in excitement. The fact that opening act Okkervil River’s leadman Will Sheff leant his swanky struts and sexy vocal action to the mic on lead vox definitely helped up the ante a bit. Scattered amongst the pile of golden notes were older faves such as “Use it,” “Twin Cinema,” “The Bleeding Heart Show,” “Sing Me Spanish Techno” and “Stacked Crooked.”
Overall, it was a delightful hour and a half packed full of crowd swaying, clap-a-long mini seshes, drunken super fans and upbeat sing along action. The Riv may not have been the best bet as far as accommodating acoustics, (at one point Newman apologized for the late start of “All the Old Showstoppers—Redux,” due to a funky kink in the sound), but it was definitely a nice backdrop for visual aesthetics. A classic sound for a classic setting . . . just my style for the perfect closure to a perfect Sunday evening.
April 21st, 2008 at 11:02 pm
Dude, however the hell you were able to get home and whip up that review, I’m not sure I want to know. But I salute thee nevertheless.
I’m still knee-deep in a thesaurus looking up synonym for “couldabeenbetter”.
April 21st, 2008 at 11:22 pm
[author wishes to delete previous comment, citing obvious brain lapsing]
April 22nd, 2008 at 7:29 am
the crowd was totally dead at the madison show last night. i kinda felt like a moron for dancing, but come on – it’s pop music for shit’s sake.
this was my first time seeing them, but i really think their sound is a bit hollow sans dan and neko. one big reason i enjoy NP is for their 3 very distinctive vocalists. i’m not saying the fill-ins weren’t good (they were!), but it wasn’t what i was anticipating. the encore was pretty amazing, though.
April 22nd, 2008 at 7:39 am
i was up in the balcony and the sound was pretty bad, the NP’s vocals were really muffled, we couldn’t distinguish any of the words and at times struggled to hear the vocals at all. i agree with the poster who said something was missing … maybe it was neko case, maybe it was energy … made even more apparent when will sheff walked out and ended up upstaging them.
April 22nd, 2008 at 5:59 pm
I felt similar to your review – I had missed them before and even had bought a ticket to the detroit show but wasn’t able to make it over for it -UGH and Neko was still with the tour then – double UGH!
So i was up front and all giddy for the show. Well for one Okkervil River was a hard act to follow. They had such a good energy and passion in their set. I was kinda luke warm about them until I saw them live.
So the NP’s come out and though everything sounded decent – yeah the vocal mix was a bit off – it was almost like another day at the office for them. pretty solid sounding overall but there was definitely a lack of umph or personally invested energy in the show. I dunno – maybe it was me. At least they played the 2 songs off the new one I really wanted to hear: Unguided and Adventures in Solitude. Go Places will have to wait for another time when Neko is around. The ELO encore was definitely kick ass but the closing song seemed an odd anti-climax.
April 23rd, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Jodi is right on! I love your additions to this website. Keep on keepin’ on.
April 26th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Last year’s show at Metro was far superior. The absence of Dan and Neko really changed the ambience and dynamic. Riviera isn’t the best venue either. This summer they’re playing outdoors at the Walker Art Center in MN and I think that could be a sleeper.
April 26th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
I don’t have much of a history with the NP’s, but I love Okkervil River. I travelled from Northern Michigan to go to the show, and after Okkervil put on one of the best shows I have seen in as while, the NP’s stunk up the joint. I was in the balcony and everybody looked like they had just lost their dog! How about possibly a guitar solo, or a light display that doesn’t blind me? As stoked as I was about Okkervil, I was equally disappointed with the NP’s.
April 27th, 2008 at 6:59 am
You are all so kind. To be frank, the sound at this show sucked! We sat in the gallery and at times AC’s vocals were so muffled you couldn’t even hear them. Over the years, I’ve attended dozens of concerts at the Riv – and last saw TNP’s at the Riv when they opened for Belle and Sebastian – and I can say this was the worst sounding concert I’ve ever heard.
And am I the only person that thinks Okkervil River is the most over-hyped, boring group on this planet? My god, the music that passes for genius these days continues to amaze me. Throughout their entire set, I wanted to stick a fork in my eye. For my money, give me Manchester’s The Doves any day.