I went to see Tokyo Police Club, a hot youthful band from the Great White North, kick out the jams at Webster Hall a couple of days ago. Myself and my companions R & M were not too pleased that it was a 16+ show. Boys who can't grow facial hair with their moms? Kinda ruins the setting if you ask me.
I'd never been to Webster Hall before. Situated in the East Village, it's primarily a dance club but has concerts here and there. The concerts take place in the Grand Ballroom. Unisex bathrooms are a bit odd, but whatever. M and I noted the chandeliers with red light bulbs hovering over the balconies. And there's a massive disco ball in the middle. What's borderline scary is the floor. When you've got hundreds of fans bouncing up and down to the rhythms, the floor suddenly turns into a trampoline. Yikes.
Even before the first band hit the stage, some girl barfed on the ground and it took ages to be cleaned up. It wasn't even 8pm! Lame. And yucky. Later, some kids were chucked out by security for smoking pot. Weed at shows is nothing new, but I've never seen concertgoers kicked out. That's what you get for flaunting it.
Anyway, the bands stuck to the schedule. First up was Harlem Shakes at 8pm. They weren't all that great, and the lead singer was painful to listen to. R described it best: "It's like he's trying to be a cartoon character but failing." This was a rather large band, complete with sax section. Then came three piece Born Ruffians at 9pm. They were better but I'm not going to rush out and buy their albums ASAP or anything.
Tokyo Police Club came out at around 10pm. The lead singer/bassist looked like Paul Dano
from where I was in the crowd. He, Dave Monks, was one of the most talkative frontmen I have observed, talking about falling down at a prior show, inviting people to the aftershow at Piano's. I had the tremendous misfortune of being being a crazed dancing stocky Indian dude who needed to be dosed with a tranquilizer. Surrounded by short girls, of course I have to be behind taller males. Gah. About the music, it was energy-filled and kickass. Tunes short enough for my attention span. No complaints! This is a picture of the keyboardist Graham Wright. He took was bouncing all over the place. My pictures overall were on the crummy side. Note: concert pictures don't work unless you are right up at the stage, which I certainly was not.For the encore,
TPC brought out Born Ruffians to debut a new song, and then Harlem Shakes joined up to make a supergroup for the following ditty. Also quite nifty.My feet were tired from standing for hours, but hell yeah! It's worth it to rock, eh?
