Friday, 23 Jan 2009
I made a last minute decision to drive to Chicago for Animal Collective last night. The deciding factor (other the the universal love for Merriweather Post Pavilion) was the last minute addition of Rodriguez, whose Cold Fact was a welcomed surprise that surfaced last year.
8 Highlights/Reflections/Remembrances of Animal Collective + Rodriguez in Chicago
1. Rodriguez – Songs like “I Wonder” and “Sugar Man” sounded great, wish his set would have lasted longer than the 30 minutes he was given. That being said, I never thought I’d get to see him live ever, so I’ll take every second of that time.
2. What Are They Playing, I Don’t Know – I’ll profess my ability to recognize/name the songs played is about on par with my ability to understand the logic behind the BCS. Because of that, I enjoyed most of it and felt lost at other points. The high points were definitely amazing, unlike any other concert experience, lots going on, hard to keep track of where all the sounds were coming from. Good stuff.
3. “My Girls” – It was highlight #1 of the show, the first song I recognized from the new album, everyone else recognized it right away too. Big applause at the beginning and end.
4. Crowd – The crowd was mixed with people completely gone mad and on a different planet and those watching in stunned WTF fashion. Those who got it, got it. Those who don’t stood wondering what they were witnessing. Both fun to observe.
5. “Comfy in Nautica” – The band emerged for an encore after a set that lasted a little over an hour. Panda Bear made reference that Avey Tare would sit it out due to straining his voice during the set. They launched into a gritty/different take on the Person Pitch standout.
6. Poster/Shirts – Did anyone throw down the $10 for the show poster? I passed because I have no wall space as it is, but it was quite nice looking. The t-shirts on the other hand…
7. “Animal Collective finally lives up to its buzz” – Proper review with pictures via Chicago Sun-Times (Jim DeRogatis)
8. Early start, home early – Gotta admit it was pretty nice to pull into the driveway 5 minutes before midnight after seeing a show in Chicago.
Discuss: Did you make it to the Metro last night? What did you think of the show? Did you like/hate Rodriguez? Please leave your thoughts and reviews in the comments.
January 23rd, 2009 at 2:22 pm
A friend turned me on to Rodriguez about ten years ago – and together we went and saw him play at Great American Music Hall here in SF (my friend flew down from Seattle because as you said, we never thought we’d get to see the man play live).
January 23rd, 2009 at 4:01 pm
It was really great to see Animal Collective again. Much better performance than their closing performance at Pitchfork this past summer. Wished they would have played some older tracks from Feels, or Tung Songs. but all in all
Really GREAT!!
January 23rd, 2009 at 7:52 pm
I had never been to an Animal Collective show. I have listened to “Tung Songs” and “Feels” over and again. I love those albums. I’ve done a lot of touring with bands and one of my Chicago friends call and said he was on the guest list with +1 for me. I had just downloaded “Merriweather” and played it at least ten times. I LOVE IT! BUT, I did not like the show. not at all. So little instrumentation! So little showmanship! Great songs. Great vocals. No risks. No spectacle. No show. You have to do more than stand there and press buttons on your SP 303 to win a fellow musician. Lots of instruments on stage but I could see for the VIP section (above and stage right) that they were almost always just triggering the the 303′s (or newer samplers) and very little was “live” beside the singing. (also many BVG were triggered) I saw Kaos pads and other sweet gear that never even got touched. boo. take some risks. Also, very little crowd interaction. I felt as if they were (not)saying, “this music speaks for itself” and I agree. I will never again go to an AC show. Why would I? I now understand they are simply good DJ’s with and “organic” “indie” ear. I will continue to buy their albums and stay home listening to them.
January 23rd, 2009 at 9:14 pm
Pretty underwhelming. Too many new songs. Debating whether or not to see them in Milwaukee. “Comfy in Nautica” was the highlight for me. Maybe Avey Tare should stay off the stage?
January 23rd, 2009 at 9:59 pm
Hey Ryan – are you a fan of the new Animal Collective MPP record? I noticed that you claimed Andrew Bird’s Noble Beast the first great record of 2009 a few posts ago. I would be interested to get your opinion on the new record…
January 24th, 2009 at 8:18 am
@Jason – I would say there are a few songs I like from MPP – “Brother Sport” and “Summertime Clothes” being two of them. AC’s music is pretty far outside my “wheel house” of listening. I would say I have warmed to them as I used to despise their early records. Those still are a little to out there for me, but this record and Strawberry Jam had some moments.
January 24th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Lookin’ forward to the Milwaukee show!
January 25th, 2009 at 4:10 am
First off if I see another person comment on here calling one of their older albums ‘tung songs’ i’m gonna flip shit. The album’s called Sung Tongs. Secondly I wouldn’t call the review you have a link for a proper one. That douchebag from Chicago suntimes or whatever makes it seem like their music prior to merriweather is crap, which is ridiculous. I love the new album but I don’t love all these new ‘fans’ who can’t even appreciate these musical geniuses.
January 27th, 2009 at 12:22 am
I am not really familiar with their music. Have to listen to them first. Anyone knows where i can get download of their music?
January 27th, 2009 at 6:42 pm
hey…i bought a t-shirt!
i think it looks pretty good….
February 1st, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Why oh why did I have to move from Chicago before Animal Collective WITH RODRIGUEZ! I don’t miss all the snow and the cold you guys have right now, but it would have been worth braving it to get to this show.