Mar 30 2007
The Many Faces of Ted Leo
It's a credit to Ted Leo's ability as a performer that I wasn't really in the mood to go out last night and he still blew me away. Other than "Sons of Cain," I'm not really feeling the new record, which he delved into quite a bit last night, although "Bomb. Repeat. Bomb" sounded much better than the recorded version. The biggest cheers were for his older material, specifically "Where Have All The Rude Boys Gone" and "Counting Down The Hours." Also, the Pharmacists are a three piece now, so the sound as a whole was filled out much better than the last few tours. I'm still not comfortable seeing him in big spaces like the 9:30 Club though. I think his shows work best at tiny clubs with sweat dripping from the ceiling, but judging by the size of the crowd last night, those venues might be a thing of the past for Ted, at least in major cities.
Ms. Smith and I were beat, so we left a bit early, but I still had a good time and a smile on my face when I left the venue. Love of Diagrams were a pretty good opener. I loved their guitars but their singing was a bit rough. If you get a chance to see them on this tour, let me know what you think.
NPR webcast last night's show, so head over to All Songs Considered to listen or download the show. Joel was there taking photos, so I'm sure his slide show will be online soon if it's not already.
My photos of the night can be found here. I edited these in a hurry late last night, so I may post more photos later if/when I have time to go back through them.
My big night of concert hopping never materialized, as I didn't get Dean & Britta tickets. I was really looking forward to hearing "Moon Palace" and "Chinatown" but I couldn't really justify paying $30 for half a show. Especially when I'm off to Europe in less than a month. I'll just have to watch my Luna DVD over the weekend and hope they tour again soon.
Tuesday's Cold War Kids show was fairly craptastic. I hate to agree with Pitchfork, but they were all flash and no substance. I didn't like them at all. Actually I liked two songs, "Hospital Beds" and "Hang Me Up To Dry," you know - the ones with verses and choruses, but other than that I was bored to tears. Same with Tokyo Police Club and that other band that opened. Booooring. Also, I got screwed on my photo pass, so I wasn't exactly in the best of moods.
Back to the world of the NBA tonight. The Raptors are in town.
Posted by Kyle in Concert Pics | Permalink
Comments
I agree with you. The new album isn't spectacular, but it's got some solid moments. Of course, my favorite song is the shortest: Annunciation Day.
I cut up that NPR recording into individual MP3's if you want them. They are at my blog.
Posted by: Dylan at March 30, 2007 4:20 PM
