Tuesday, May 22
Concert Review
Ok, like I've said, we were in Las Vegas last weekend. I get regular mailings from They Might Be Giants, and after I got my trip set, we got a newsletter saying they would be playing at Area 108's The Gathering, along with The Bravery, Plain White T's, Shiny Toy Guns and Silversun Pickups.
The concert was originally at the Orleans Arena, and we secured great front row tickets for one of the center sections. Just before the trip, we got an e-mail that the concert had been moved to the Joint, at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.
Sounded cool, we love the Hard Rock, it is a pain in the ass to get to, so we usually don't go there without a reason, now we have a reason this trip.
So, on with the review:
Venue - The Joint - F - I was disapointed to find out that this was not the concert hall that you see on the HRC live music specials. This is realy just a large room with four tiers of floor and some handrails. There was a balcony with seats, but you had to be a VIP to get up there. Typical Vegas High Roller shit. We ordered two drinks from one of the bars, it was $18 for two well drinks. WTF? I know it is a tourist trap, vacation hot spot, but come on, $9 for well drinks?
It was also apparent to me from the process entering the venue, to trying to go to the john durnig one of the breaks, that the Hard Rock Hotel was in no way properly prepared for the deluge of people that came to this show. The people working security and crowd control were impolite, rude and relatively unhelpful.
First Band - Plain White T's - B- - Ok, we had never heard of this band, but we decided to go with an open mind for all the bands with which we were not familiar. As far as sound goes, I think that the band's raodies didn't understand the difference between a somewhat large arena, and a small room. The instruments were overamplified and too loud, somewhat distorted. Conversely, the vocals were too low and washed out by the overamplified instruments. We liked the band, their songs were good, but didn't really stand out for us in any particular fashion or style.
Second Band - Shiny Toy Guns - A+ - Again, another band that we were not familiar with, but we went in to see what we might find good this night. This band suffered from the same disproportionate amplification problems of the first band. But we really liked this band, in fact, I'm listening to thier album, "We Are Pilots" right now as I write this review. This band uses dual lead singers, one male, the other female, and the band also takes turns playing different instruments. The female lead reminded me of Terri Nunn from the band Berlin in the early 80s. The music is great, I especailly liked the second song of the set, "Le Disko". I bought their CD, and I'm looking forward to them doing some more albums.
Third Band - Silversun Pickups - F freaking Minus - Again, another new band. Again, the same amplification problems. But with a bonus, the lead singer screamed his way through the first song, sounding like Donald Duck. To top that off, the band seemed more focused on feedback than actually playing their instruments in some musical fashion. To top it all off, this band does not have any real maturity as songwriters, and their 'songs' go on for 10 minutes or longer and just sound progressively worse. This is absolutely the worst band I have ever seen live. I've made it a point to memorize their name, so that if I hear a song of theirs is upcoming on the radio I will know to change the channel.
Fourth Band - They Might Be Giants - A+ - Ok, this is the meat and potatoes, what we came to see. First, the amplification was correct, instruments sounded right, were not overwhelming, and the vocals were loud and clear. This is part of a warm up album for TMBG's soon to be released album "The Else". They led of with "Not the boss of me", and proceeded to play a ton of old favorites, then some of the stuff off the new album, and all too soon it was over.
Fifth Band - The Bravery - No Grade - By the time TMBG was done it was 11 PM Vegas time, 1 AM home time. We were dead tired and had been up for about 19 hours. We had not had dinner yet, and had been in the venue for about 5 hours. So we left. We had seen the Bravery in 2005 when they opened for Depeche Mode, and they were an enjoyable band then. But ot memorable enough to stay for another hour plus to see this band.
We had a great time, found one new band to enjoy, and got overcharged for weak drinks. All in all a great evening. We ended up eating pizza slices on the strip at the food court between Harrah's and Casino Royale. Don't eat there.
The concert was originally at the Orleans Arena, and we secured great front row tickets for one of the center sections. Just before the trip, we got an e-mail that the concert had been moved to the Joint, at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.
Sounded cool, we love the Hard Rock, it is a pain in the ass to get to, so we usually don't go there without a reason, now we have a reason this trip.
So, on with the review:
Venue - The Joint - F - I was disapointed to find out that this was not the concert hall that you see on the HRC live music specials. This is realy just a large room with four tiers of floor and some handrails. There was a balcony with seats, but you had to be a VIP to get up there. Typical Vegas High Roller shit. We ordered two drinks from one of the bars, it was $18 for two well drinks. WTF? I know it is a tourist trap, vacation hot spot, but come on, $9 for well drinks?
It was also apparent to me from the process entering the venue, to trying to go to the john durnig one of the breaks, that the Hard Rock Hotel was in no way properly prepared for the deluge of people that came to this show. The people working security and crowd control were impolite, rude and relatively unhelpful.
First Band - Plain White T's - B- - Ok, we had never heard of this band, but we decided to go with an open mind for all the bands with which we were not familiar. As far as sound goes, I think that the band's raodies didn't understand the difference between a somewhat large arena, and a small room. The instruments were overamplified and too loud, somewhat distorted. Conversely, the vocals were too low and washed out by the overamplified instruments. We liked the band, their songs were good, but didn't really stand out for us in any particular fashion or style.
Second Band - Shiny Toy Guns - A+ - Again, another band that we were not familiar with, but we went in to see what we might find good this night. This band suffered from the same disproportionate amplification problems of the first band. But we really liked this band, in fact, I'm listening to thier album, "We Are Pilots" right now as I write this review. This band uses dual lead singers, one male, the other female, and the band also takes turns playing different instruments. The female lead reminded me of Terri Nunn from the band Berlin in the early 80s. The music is great, I especailly liked the second song of the set, "Le Disko". I bought their CD, and I'm looking forward to them doing some more albums.
Third Band - Silversun Pickups - F freaking Minus - Again, another new band. Again, the same amplification problems. But with a bonus, the lead singer screamed his way through the first song, sounding like Donald Duck. To top that off, the band seemed more focused on feedback than actually playing their instruments in some musical fashion. To top it all off, this band does not have any real maturity as songwriters, and their 'songs' go on for 10 minutes or longer and just sound progressively worse. This is absolutely the worst band I have ever seen live. I've made it a point to memorize their name, so that if I hear a song of theirs is upcoming on the radio I will know to change the channel.
Fourth Band - They Might Be Giants - A+ - Ok, this is the meat and potatoes, what we came to see. First, the amplification was correct, instruments sounded right, were not overwhelming, and the vocals were loud and clear. This is part of a warm up album for TMBG's soon to be released album "The Else". They led of with "Not the boss of me", and proceeded to play a ton of old favorites, then some of the stuff off the new album, and all too soon it was over.
Fifth Band - The Bravery - No Grade - By the time TMBG was done it was 11 PM Vegas time, 1 AM home time. We were dead tired and had been up for about 19 hours. We had not had dinner yet, and had been in the venue for about 5 hours. So we left. We had seen the Bravery in 2005 when they opened for Depeche Mode, and they were an enjoyable band then. But ot memorable enough to stay for another hour plus to see this band.
We had a great time, found one new band to enjoy, and got overcharged for weak drinks. All in all a great evening. We ended up eating pizza slices on the strip at the food court between Harrah's and Casino Royale. Don't eat there.
Labels: best buy, review, travel, vacation, vegas
Number of people who will never get their time back from reading this page:
