Archive for the ‘Viva Voce’ tag

the SHINS!

Wow, the shins were everything i thought they would be
[if you are reading this on facebook you won't see the picture because facebook's rss reader is lame]

the show last night was GREAT, really it was just super. i had been looking forward to it for quite a while now and it did not dissapoint.

we got to the venue early, it was at the celebrity theatre in phoenix and right as it walked in i knew it was going to be a good show. the venue was awesome, very unique. It is a circular building with room for standing around the round stage and wrap around stadium steating behind that. there is simply not a bad seat in the house and though we stood up at the stage, if we had sat it would have been just as good because as the band started to rock so did the stage. we’ll not exactly rocked but rather it spun, first clockwise then back. while the bands were playing the whole stage rotated so that every few minutes the band was right in front you. it wasn’t a huge place, and felt very intimate. the acoustics were awesome, who knows what sort of voodoo they came up with to make a round dome sound that good, but it had a great sound.

first up was Viva Voce, i didn’t know what to expect out of the opening band, i had never heard of them and didn’t care enough to look them up before the show. i have been surprised by opening acts before but they really stole the show. after joking with some friends about how we could just walk out on stage and people would clap because know one knows what most opening bands look like, out came a long haired guy and a familiar looking woman. recently the shins had made the rounds on the late night talk shows, Conan, Letterman even SNL but with them was a woman singing backup on a few songs. the shins are an all male group so it was always sort of a mystery where this chick came from. but there she was, guitar in hand and along with her husband on the drums they announced “We are Viva Voce and this is from our new album.” Later admitting “eh, we wont lie you all… they are all from our new album” they rocked. Their music is sort of like the white stripes only better, its folk music with screaming guitar licks and i loved every minute of it. Playing first a pink Les Paul (which andrea now openly covets) and later a white double necked guitar the two X chromosomes of the duo really rocked. it was fun to see not only a female lead guitarist but also the on stage interaction between the couple. Needless to say i now like Viva Voce and i think most of you would too :D

the shins took the stage soon after and they started off my playing the first 3 tracks from their new album. Sort of a bold move if you ask me, the beginning of their new album is a lot different then their previous two endeavors. The crowd loved it and sang along with their new single. They then switched to a few from chutes too narrow (my favorite of their records) and then a few from their first cd. the band was obviously having fun on stage and looked like they were happy to be in town and the crowd was very much into it. They finished up, what seemed to be, a short set and walked off stage to roaring applause. to me it seemed like they were pandering a bit for an encore, which of coarse they got. The played 5 more songs in the encore including 2 covers, neither of which i knew but the people i was with really like the second one.
one thing i didn’t really know about the shins until last night was how often the band members traded instruments. Almost every song there was someone different was playing bass, and on the songs that required a keyboard it was anyone’s guess who was going to play it. Anita Robinson of aforementioned viva voce joined them for a few songs from their new album. however on every other song everything but drums was done by committee.

after the show we headed out to chandler to where john lives and watched some of cannibal the musical. it had been a long time since the last time i saw it and i had forgotten so much of its charm. my only hope is that one day i too can make a movie where all the native americans are asian.

david

Viva Voce

The opening band was awesome