Polar Goldy Cats - Generally awful. Actually, that's an overstatement.
They would have been good in small doses, but unfortunately, like the
Pacific Ocean and Dennis Rodman, they didn't come in small doses.
Low - Awesome. Evidently, they're doing a little better financially, as
they now have *2* drums in addition to a cymbal, guitar, and a bass.
Not surprisingly, they were really nice, quiet people - in fact, the
bassist was so modest that he didn't face the audience throughout the
entire performance. I could listen to them for hours and not get bored
of them, so it was too bad that a) they were just the opening band and
b) I was a little tired, so their quietly beautiful tunes caused me to
doze a little. No matter. They were great.
Dirty Three - Here's the low-down on Dirty Three. They're from
Melbourne, Australia, and consist of drums, guitar, and fiddle. OK,
that's the "Three" part - what's the "Dirty" part? Yes, well, that
would be the fiddle-player himself (Warren). No telling what Warren had
to drink before he hit the stage, but while he was up there, he was
handily consuming a bottle of red wine. Warren gyrated like you
wouldn't believe - I would almost go as far as to say that he was more
limber than I am - kicking wildly in the air, shaking his bum, writhing
about - all the while sawing away at his fiddle. I don't know *what*
Warren was on, but let me give you a selection of some of his song
intros, and you can draw your own conclusion:
- "This is a song about when you're lying in a hospital bed, waiting to
die, and you have this fleeting thought that maybe God is Jim Morrison,
but you realize you're wrong as you start to slip off and Elliot Gould
comes down and says, 'Warren, I knew it would come down to this.'"
- "We'd like to do a song about love, about how you love someone, but
they're not there with you...or they're dead...or sleeping with someone
else...or something...but you still love them."
- "This one is kind of like when you're in this band with Jerry Garcia,
except that you play bass, and he plays bass, so there's this whole
friction thing going on...it's also dedicated to a friend of ours who
died, but saved all his money so he could buy nice leather handbags and
shoes that fit really well and squeak when you walk in them...it's also
dedicated to anyone who's dead or dying."
- "It's kind of like you're in that Weezer song, and you're Buddy Holly
and she's your Mary Tyler Moore, but you realize that the love is gone,
so you do some drugs to try to get that whole love thing started again,
but as you're walking on the street, you look in a store window, and
realize you're Burt Reynolds and she's Sally Field, and you're about to
make that Smokey and the Bandit movie, part 152, and the love is just
never going to come back, but at least you have the drugs...and you
realize that Elvis popped more pills than Jim Morrison, but Jim Morrison
just had a bigger mouth."
Now I think I finally understand where they're coming from.
Richard Lewis
rneidigl@earthlink.net
I guess opening bands are different in all areas, but I think the opening
band was called Goldie Cats (??). They were pretty blah, and didn't play
that long.
Low entered and I barely recognized Zak with his suit (!!) and Alan with his
longer hair and coat.
Set went:
- new song 1 (short; sounded like Zak was sound-checking the bass)
- Over the Ocean
- Anon (slower than i've heard them play it before)
- The Plan
- new song 2 entitled No Need (from the split single)
- new song 3 (something about sand castles)
- new song 4 (Venus? awesome song - best of the new stuff, poppy and upbeat)
- Lullabye <-- insane! first time i've heard it live and it was worth the $14 alone
- stars gone out
- same
and that's it for low. i had no idea how Dirty Three sounded - i just knew
they had a violinist and from the reviews i've read, they sounded intriguing.
overall impression of D3 - "amazing" as alan put it.. BUT - bring your
earplugs, because they can get loud. the singer looks like Ray Davies from
the Kinks, and the drummer looks like Lol Tolhurst, formerly of the Cure. :)
As an added surprise, Mike Watt (from fIREHOSE and the Minutemen, and now
solo) popped on stage with his bass for the closer.
As for the split CD single, it was $5 and shirts were $12.
for those that haven't seen them yet, look forward to Lullabye if they are
keeping that set intact, and the new song Venus.. i love it..
Jason
lament@mailhost.primenet.com
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