say it like you mean it with your fists for once
I went to two shows this weekend, which is maybe the first time I've done that since the middle of 2019. I wouldn't have predicted it on Friday, but they were also some of my favourite shows since the pandemic started.
I like Phoebe Bridgers a lot and I think Ethel Cain is pretty great, but I've also seen some bands/artists I've loved for a long time in the last year: Spoon, Spiritualized, Freddie Gibbs, etc. And honestly, while both lives shows were great for what they were, it wasn't the performances or the music that put them over the top of artists whose songs I've obsessed over at different times of my life.
But man, it was so great to be in a crowd that was just amped to be there. That's not meant as a slight against the crowds at any of the aforementioned shows. And if you could call it a "problem" I was certainly part of that problem. But a bunch of 30-50 year-olds watching Spoon just don't have the same energy as mostly 20-somethings (and at the Phoebe Bridgers show, some teenagers too).
I knew Phoebe Bridgers was significantly more popular than when she rolled into Vancouver on the Boygenius tour, but was pretty shocked to log onto Ticketmaster first thing in the morning for the presale and get a pair of tickets in the second last row of the Orpheum. I was even more surprised to see a friend's Instagram story of her playing a massive outdoor venue in Montreal that I later found out was the same venue they use for Osheaga. Needless to say, everyone who showed up last night (and I'm assuming tonight as well) really wanted to be there. And it fucking ruled.
From the walkout (which was soundtracked by "Down with the Sickness") onwards the crowd went absolutely nuts. And basically every person in the place stood the entire time--at the Orpheum. I'm sure if there was someone loud and out of tune right by me I might be thinking differently, but it was also incredible to hear Phoebe joined by a chorus of voices swelling up around every word she sang. And, hey, if you're worried that the kids might not be alright, they drowned her out during "Smoke Signals" for the "fuck the cops" line.
The performance itself was great. Every song was accompanied by a beautiful pop-up book style animation that unfolded behind the band, Bridgers owned the stage and, much to the crowd's excitement, the floor as she wandered around the floor right before the main set ended.
I know a lot less about Hayden Anhedönia bka Ethel Cain. I know I think "American Teenager" is going to end up as one of my favourite songs of the year, but I've only been going to shows where I like the artist enough to risk a bout of Covid for, and one song generally doesn't pass the bar. That said, I just got over a bout of 'rona, so when they released more tickets for tonight's show earlier this week, I snapped one up mostly out of curiosity.
She was clearly a little green, which makes sense! And the band was pretty sparse--just vocals, guitar, and drums, plus some prerecorded backing tracks. But the thing that stuck out was just how much the vast majority of the crowd was connecting to the songs.
I assumed that "American Teenager" was the hit--the song you save for right before or for the encore itself, but they tore right through it as the second song. Not that that mattered, as much like the night before, people were there for every song. It was actually "Crush" from last year's Inbred EP that got the biggest pop, with the crowd gleefully shouting along with "I owe you a black eye and two kisses/Tell me when you wanna come and get 'em."
Both shows were worth checking out in and of themselves, but thinking back 10, 15, 20 years about how formative some music felt for me and just how much I loved it, really made me happy to be there. It's not that I don't love music now--I absolutely do. But the things you fall in love with when you're 20 just hit a lot different than the things that you decide you like or even that you're still in love with at 40.
I'm never going to see Sonic Youth for the first time again (and then run down the street to see Wilco for the first time). Or Sleater-Kinney in a little college campus event room. Or whatever other things I still hold dear after all these years, but it was a blast to be around a bunch of people who were making their own memories.
now playing: The Hold Steady - Your Little Hoodrat Friend
