Didn’t take any pictures of the School of Seven Bells/Blonde Redhead show I went to last night at Toad’s Place. Honestly, I was enjoying myself too much to be worried about the settings on my camera or the lack of light for all my pictures to come out blurry. I kept the camera away and had fun like I used to before I was concerned about capturing the moment. Not to say I couldn’t have had fun had I taken pictures, but it was just something less to worry about.
School of Seven Bells are the kind of band that sound better live than they do recorded, at least that was the opinion I formed after listening to some songs they have available online to listen to. Some bands are like this, I accept this, but I was really hoping that I would have an enjoyable experience listening to them outside of a club. The twins in the band reminded me of Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star, in a way. Their sound is kinda of dreamy/trippy in that way too, but I could never compare them to Mazzy Star. A boy in the audience shouted “I like the way your music makes me feel inside!” jokingly, but in a way I don’t think he was really lying.
I’ve been listening to Blonde Redhead for quite a number of years and somehow this is the first time I’ve managed to see them live. I’ve always described them as if they were Sonic Youth playing as the Cure led by a Japanese woman and a pair of Italian twins (who are totally beautiful by the way, and I don’t describe many men as “beautiful”) — I don’t know how accurate this is because I’m biased in that Sonic Youth and the Cure are two of my most favorite bands AND I’m kind of drunk (and was a little at the show, having warmed up on some whiskey before going out in the cold) and the internet should DEFINITELY be taken away from drunken hands that type.
I like going to shows a lot because live music is kind of a spiritual thing for me… I think I’m just overly sensitive to sounds and vibrations and feelings that are going on from the artists and people in the audience. It’s a very sensual thing — I don’t like using the word sensual because it sounds hokey, but that’s the only way I can put it, really. As soon as they started playing, I got a strong rush of emotions, and I swear it wasn’t the whiskey I was drinking, but rather the emotion to their music and the perfection they put into performing. It seemed really intimate. The people around me seemed to really be into the music, too, and I love seeing it. I love seeing people get into the music and move as they see fit and get excited and sing along (and if you were the boy next to me, make sure that you got to tell one of the twins just what an awesome job he was doing, which was really amusing because he was so sincere about it). Anyway, it seemed like some songs would go on forever and that wasn’t really a bad thing, you know?
Thought about seeing them tonight again in NYC, but they were playing at Terminal 5 and I really don’t like that place. Spent my evening playing Mario Kart and hanging out with some friends, instead, and that was just fine with me. I think that the sound/the feeling would get lost in a big place like Terminal 5. Plus, saving some cash on the train ticket was just fine.
But seriously, if you want to know what the show was really like, or what Blonde Redhead is really like maybe you should read a more serious review. Or one that wasn’t written by me. Yes?