Wednesday, April 22, 2009

4/19 - Of Montreal and Janelle Monae!


This show was so fun. As soon as Janelle Monae took the stage to open for Of Montreal, Toad's Place was just loaded with energy. In a recent Spin feature on her, she said that she's been blessed to have people be too afraid of asking her how she'll fit into the mainstream. We're blessed too. I like that she's different with her front-pushed hair and jockey outfits. Her music was dancey with a touch of Outkast and a whole lot of herself shining through. At one point in the show, she painted a picture on stage and handed it to the crowd.

As Of Montreal started their first song, I almost thought that Janelle outdid them. However, as they moved on with their set, they were incredible. Totally freaking out the bouncers. With their guys in stretchy pink costumes to hobbits to a tiger doing unspeakable things to someone else in a stretchy black costume, it was a crazy party on stage, and that party feel really spread to the crowd. Especially when they performed some of their more popular numbers like "A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger" or "Gronlandic Edit," which are both very danceable with recognizable and repeating background beats, they got the crowd going. I was surprised they didn't play "Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse" for obvious reasons of what might have been going on in the audience, but I was very happy with how much they played off Hissing Fauna as well as Skeletal Lamping. This was probably one of my top 5 concerts, and my boyfriend and I danced more than we ever danced before.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

The Ting Tings - 3/16

I know, I know. Very late update on this concert. It was a busy month. I can't wait to graduate. Anyway, The Ting Tings put on a great show and reminded me exactly why they're one of my new favorite bands. From their fun dance tunes to their extra brass instrumentals done by girls in funky wigs, it was an all-around good time. Also, the fact that they picked Hot Tub as an opener to tour with them was a fantastic idea. I love girl-fronted bands, which is partially why I love the Ting Tings. I also love energy - another quality of the Ting Tings. And here's Hot Tub from Oakland, Calif., embodying all of that. I loved that they were three multicultural girls just rapping and rocking out.