Bright Eyes, No Bushy Tails

Today’s Word is
demographic – adj : of or relating to demography; “demographic surveys” n : a statistic characterizing human populations (or segments of human populations broken down by age or sex or income etc.)

39 And Life To Go
I made my first trip to Earthlink Live to see The Faint and Bright Eyes last night. I must say that I was rather impressed.

Okay, I am two months away from forty…

Standing in line to get into the building reconfirmed my belief that I was not in the target demographic (15-25?) for this show. As I watched the kids get in line (sometimes after getting dropped off by their parents) I cursed myself for not investing in Hot Topic or Urban Outfitters. At this moment I declare the metal-studded belt to once again be the fashion accessory of the misunderstood Youth of America!

When I finally got inside and stepped up to buy a beer the lovely female bartender told me that it was nice to see someone over the age of seventeen. Heh heh, believe it or not, that brought a smile to my face (and for some reason still does). The second smile came sooner than expected when she told me that the Guinness I had ordered cost a mere $5. Turner Field, you could learn a lot from this establishment!

I did my best not to infringe on the fun of the Kids, so I placed myself in the Parent and Chaperone section known as “The Seats.”

This was an interesting show, no a very interesting show.

Some ‘band’ called Airborne Audio (I think) had driven all the way down from the N-Y to play to the A-T-L. They rapped about eight “jointz”, I declared rap to be officially dead! (R.I.P. RAP)

The Amateur Rock Concert Promoter in me wondered why this ‘band’ was on stage rapping to lilly-white American suburban kids.

The Faint took the stage next. House Music meet AC-DC; AC-DC meet House Music. Their set was fucking awesome — full of energy, multimedia, and a light show that brought out the epilepsy in everyone. Having heard their cd a few times I knew that their set was the one that would shake the house the most, and I dare say that it nearly brought This Ancient to his feet to dance. Luckily, I had to do no more than look on stage to be reminded that White Boys Can’t Dance.

Last night’s headliner was Bright Eyes. While waiting in line I overheard two kids talking about one Conor Oberst in the same tones as Bob Dylan. Whatever, I thought to myself, he’s definitely no Stephen Malkmus.

Two drum kits? This could be interesting…

As they took the stage I realized that the band “Bright Eyes” was going to be an almagamation of musicians from The Faint, Oberst and others.

The first songs were played to perfection, but never inspired the crowd to move. The Bright Eyes hits were played, inspiring some motion. Oberst drank beer, talked to the crowd, climbed on many of the pieces of equipment on stage, and showed an emotion, I dare say an interest to perform on stage, that is seldom seen these days, the crowd responded.

And as the night ended I thought to myself “I think that I have just witnessed brilliance.” Keep up the good work Young Oberst; in fifteen years you will be Stephen Malkmus; in thirty you may even be Bob Dylan.

A $5 Guinness and a shitload of great music. Brilliant! Fucking Brilliant!

Tonight, Tonight, Ooooh Oh
Six hours of sleep, a full day at work, whatever! I’ll be seeing Spoon tonight at the Variety Playhouse. I’ll be the one constructing the critique against what I witnessed last night.

This Is What Happens When There Is No Monday In My Blog Week
I forgot to pick a CD Release Of The Week yesterday. This one is pretty easy for me, I’m going with Better Than Ezra‘s release of “Before The Robots.” I may have mentioned that I go way back with the Ezras; it has been more than eleven years now since I first caught them in concert back in HuntsVegas, Alabama.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood – happy, yes, I said happy
Current Music – Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing The Beta Band — “Dry The Rain”
Website Of The Day – This blog was brought to you (unofficially) by Saddle Creek Records.

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]