Monday, 30 Nov 2009
I spent the majority of the Thankgiving holiday weekend back in Madison. It was hard to pass up the amazing triple bill featuring Local Natives, Fool’s Gold, and Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros. Our Milwaukee friends will recall the Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros show at Club Garibaldi in Milwaukee, which already cracked my list of favorite shows from 2009.
I have to say that walking away I was probably most impressed with Local Natives set. It reminded me a lot of seeing Fleet Foxes amongst a dismal early crowd at the High Noon Saloon so that live band Karaoke could throw down later that night. You just have a feeling in your gut you’re seeing a band that is on the cusp of big things. Of course, any band that trots out a cover of the Talking Heads “Warning Sign” gets major props from me.
Fool’s Gold set was a thrill to watch. It started when a single pretty girl jumped on stage and started dancing. One song later and the band disappeared amongst, by my count, double digit numbers of bodies dancing on stage. Anyone whose been to a show at the High Noon Saloon can understand that a band the size of Fool’s Gold and Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros already leaves little room for surplus, so these added people made for quite the visual spectacle. People absolutely loved them and rightly so. Their sound, as you can see/hear embodies a lot of African influence which I’m sure will continue to get the easy Vampire Weekend/Paul Simon comparisons. To me, they reminded me a lot of seeing Rusted Root back in the 90’s – that’s not a bad thing at all – those shows were packed with energy and everyone in the audience was in a constant state of motion.
By the time Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros hit the stage after midnight the audience was pretty well tapped out. I think their set suffered as a result. It’s hard to argue against the brilliance of their album Up From Below, songs like “Home,” “Janglin” and “Carries On” were, and continue to be, rock anthems able to resuscitate the tiredest audiences back from their sleepy state. Overall, nobody could argue with the $10 price of admission. It was definitely the most-packed show I’ve ever been to at the High Noon Saloon. Good times.
Discuss: What did you think of Saturday night’s show in Madison? Who put on the best set? Drop a comment with your thoughts/reviews of the show.
Previously: Photos: Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros – Club Garibaldi, Milwaukee
Previously: Fool’s Gold :: Surprise Hotel
Previously: Daytrotter :: Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
Buy: Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros – Up From Below
November 30th, 2009 at 11:40 am
I can’t get enough of Local Natives. It’s always great to get your socks knocked off by a band when you least expect it. I wish I would have seen them sooner.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
If you dug Local Natives (who just signed to French Kiss Records), check out their Aquarium Drunkard session including a version of the aforementioned Talking Heads cover
http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/2009/09/18/local-natives-ad-session-infrasonic-studios/
November 30th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
I’d agree that HNS was more crowded than other sold out shows and that Local Natives were excellent. Edward Sharpe was a big letdown. The unnecessary people jumping around onstage and the hokey “let’s sit down” nonsense reinforced the notion that it’s all a very image-conscious and manipulative schtick. The mediocre songs and sound quality didn’t help. I’m not sure the crowd was tapped-out – unimpressed maybe?
November 30th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
Local Natives were terrific! I wish they were not the opener. Fool’s Gold would be a perfect band for a summer festival. I didn’t dig the whole creepy cult leader vibe I got from Alex of the Zeros. saturday reminded me of when School of Seven bells opened for Black Moth last spring and stole the show.
November 30th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
I had a blast at the show and especially during Edward Sharpe’s set. This was my 3rd time seeing Local Natives (opened for Blind Pilot & Daytrotter attic show) and each time they amaze me more and more. I was having a great time during Edward Sharpe’s set and everyone around me up front was as well so I couldn’t tell how the rest of the crowd was reacting. It seems to be a hard task for a band to get a Madison crowd into a performance or even to get a sparse crowd to stand anywhere near the front of the stage. If one is anywhere but within a 5 foot radius of the stage and tries to have a bit of fun, they usually end up getting glares for almost spilling someone’s beer. What I’m getting at is, the front of the crowd was having a great time, not sure what was going on behind us.
Here’s a pretty crappy video from the show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM-h2twQbeo
November 30th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
I’m with Justin on this one. I don’t think the point of going to a concert is to get the best sound quality or to hear the album sound for sound. As Alex said in a recent interview, “The music is the glove and the live show is us putting the glove on and moving around. It’s the cup being filled.” I was also in the front, and there’s something about a live show, a connection that is formed between band and audience, the sound quality doesn’t affect this connection. As far as the jumping on stage and sitting down goes, I found it to be a bonus, who doesn’t love being a foot away from a band you love? The energy in the front was overwhelming to say the least, it’s unfortunate that the people in the back had no fun.
November 30th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
Local Natives were in that very scenario back in June, when they played an early show at the High Noon Saloon a couple of hours before Gomeroke.
November 30th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
Local Natives, December 2008 and June 2009:
http://www.jonkmusic.com/search/label/Local%20Natives
November 30th, 2009 at 9:49 pm
I felt the exact same way. The Local Natives set completely reminded me of the pre Blitzen Trapper set by Fleet Foxes. Local Natives, to me, had more energy and appeared to be more into the music then the headliner and it showed. Playing before the largest crowd I’ve seen at the venue as well, I expected “Janglin” and “Carries On” to act like an adrenaline shot to the heart of the audience, but they both fell far flat of that. Maybe the band was tired. Maybe the crowd was tired. But I’ll just say that, after thinking Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros set in Milwaukee was nothing short of magical, my money would’ve been well spent just seeing the first two of three bands.
November 30th, 2009 at 10:24 pm
indeed the band (maybe just edward) is very image conscious and maybe a bit schticky as has been mentioned. Sometimes it interferes with the music, but you just have to respect it as a piece performance of performance art. The lead singer has embodied the character of edward, and who knows, maybe it will consume him. At any rate, I really enjoy the music, and the videos / persona are much better than when we had previously seen him, imo… http://www.wearethemasses.com/videos/ima-robot-song-one
December 1st, 2009 at 11:56 am
“I expected “Janglin” and “Carries On” to act like an adrenaline shot to the heart of the audience, but they both fell far flat of that.”
Really? See the 2:00 mark – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM-h2twQbeo