Post by bexface on Aug 3, 2004 7:52:58 GMT -5
By the time I got into line, there were about 20-30 people in front of me. (This is when I found out that both of their shows were sold out!) You never quite know if that's enough to get you up in front. Are there seats? How many per row? As it turned out, it was an open floor, no seating, and there was a spot on the rail protecting the stage right up front for me. It was the Seal concert all over again: Hang onto this spot for four hours and you are guaranteed close up music. Alright!
The flip side of this is that the mosh pit potential is strong. The young ladies next to me said MM wasn't a mosh-pit kind of band but I still had my doubts.
Turns out my fears were well founded. MM isn't a punk rock band or a punk pop band or whatever moniker you want to put to their music. But they certainly do have their moments. Upon starting their seventh song (reminding me of the Clash's "London Calling" with its hard riffs), the body crush against the railing ramped up significantly and bodies started flying overhead. This went on for almost until the encore. It was Something Corporate all over again and this time I was in the fray, not watching from the back. Just hang onto to that rail for dear life! After two tunes of moshing, the young ladies left for the rear.
You could tell that they (MM) were different than your average band. A small wooden harpsichord (set up right above me) was front center stage. Also, they weren't satisfied with one drummer. Why not two? The harpsichord (shades of Tori in '96) was used for only 3 songs. A string bass also waited and was used for 2 tunes.
Six members in the band (seven if you include the stage hand who came up for small percussion roles) displayed a variety of skills, changing between rhythm guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, and the like. The main vocalist usually played rhythm guitar and belted out lyrics that, for the most part, was barely understandable to me. Didn't matter for most of the crowd seemed to know the lyrics and did a better job shouting them back at the stage! They put out a lot of energy in a short period of time, really putting their heart into their music which impressed me. (And they also added two songs to the encore, accoring to the brief glance I was afforded to the official set list.)
From a musical standpoint, however, a lot of their songs sounded the same to me. A few stood out for me and were my faves (I have asterisked them below in my lousy set list). Those had catchy sounding musical and lyrical lines that got me bopping along with the rest of the crowd.
A good concert if you like that kind of scene. I think I am getting too old for mosh pits!
"This is how the world began.." *
"We are free men"?
"Don't Worry..."
"...children..." ("London Calling" sounding)
short tune with harpsichord and string bass
"It is Heaven, It is Hell"? (start of moshing)
"Are you deaf? Are you sleeping?"
"Take what you ..." *
----
"Good Times are Killing Me" *
(my favorites designated with * above)
bexface rating: 7.9 out of 10.0
The flip side of this is that the mosh pit potential is strong. The young ladies next to me said MM wasn't a mosh-pit kind of band but I still had my doubts.
Turns out my fears were well founded. MM isn't a punk rock band or a punk pop band or whatever moniker you want to put to their music. But they certainly do have their moments. Upon starting their seventh song (reminding me of the Clash's "London Calling" with its hard riffs), the body crush against the railing ramped up significantly and bodies started flying overhead. This went on for almost until the encore. It was Something Corporate all over again and this time I was in the fray, not watching from the back. Just hang onto to that rail for dear life! After two tunes of moshing, the young ladies left for the rear.
You could tell that they (MM) were different than your average band. A small wooden harpsichord (set up right above me) was front center stage. Also, they weren't satisfied with one drummer. Why not two? The harpsichord (shades of Tori in '96) was used for only 3 songs. A string bass also waited and was used for 2 tunes.
Six members in the band (seven if you include the stage hand who came up for small percussion roles) displayed a variety of skills, changing between rhythm guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, and the like. The main vocalist usually played rhythm guitar and belted out lyrics that, for the most part, was barely understandable to me. Didn't matter for most of the crowd seemed to know the lyrics and did a better job shouting them back at the stage! They put out a lot of energy in a short period of time, really putting their heart into their music which impressed me. (And they also added two songs to the encore, accoring to the brief glance I was afforded to the official set list.)
From a musical standpoint, however, a lot of their songs sounded the same to me. A few stood out for me and were my faves (I have asterisked them below in my lousy set list). Those had catchy sounding musical and lyrical lines that got me bopping along with the rest of the crowd.
A good concert if you like that kind of scene. I think I am getting too old for mosh pits!
"This is how the world began.." *
"We are free men"?
"Don't Worry..."
"...children..." ("London Calling" sounding)
short tune with harpsichord and string bass
"It is Heaven, It is Hell"? (start of moshing)
"Are you deaf? Are you sleeping?"
"Take what you ..." *
----
"Good Times are Killing Me" *
(my favorites designated with * above)
bexface rating: 7.9 out of 10.0
