Tuxedo · Rhapsody

The Shins were awesome. Capped off two of the best nights and best concerts I've seen, both good in different ways. We got to the Metro fairly later, just as the support act, The Ruby Suns, was starting, where in this case they were a huge disappointment.
The difference between actual talent and perceived on-stage ego was far too large to comprehend, and the guitarist set the record for head banging to songs which required absolutely no head banging whatsoever. The tunes themselves were alright... nothing special, but the sheer enormity of the group's lack of stage presence was overpowering. Trying to embrace the crowd and cajole them into clapping along, while failing horribly, was almost painful to watch.
Anyway, enough ruthless bagging, the Shins themselves were fantastic.
Opening with Sleeping Lessons, with the dreamy opening segment being looped, and then James Mercer (or Kevin Spacey, as he should be known) coming on, followed by the rest of the band was the perfect choice.
They played New Slang fairly early on in the set, which was a welcome surprise, and we spent the majority of the night trying to guess which song they would actually finish on. Couple of votes for Phantom Limb, but we were hinging our bets on Australia.
Anyway, back to back renditions of Mine's Not a High Horse and Saint Simon were almost TOO good to believe, and the allure of their tracks did not lose an inch of strength when performed live.
Finally got down to them revealing their apparent last song, and when Phantom Limb was started up, the place went off.
Once finished and off-stage, the Metro boomed louder than any time previously with feet stomping and hands clapping, imploring them to come back on (which they would have of course anticipated). It was fairly amusing that in one of their encore songs, James used a guitar that had been on stage for the whole set, yet was only used for that song... so I guess these things generally go to plan for such a good band.
Anyway, during the three songs they played after, starting off with Caring is Creepy (I think... though memory may be failing me now), but Australia was played somewhere there too and actually finishing with So Says I was awesome. The order of them may be a little vague, but it was lost in the afterglow of the concert, where we were all walking down the street humming the tune from New Slang.
All in all, a great night... gotta get in for Muse at the end of the year.

Bloc Party last night = fantastic.
Midnight Juggernauts opened and even they were surprisingly decent live.. good pump up music.
Pulled the ole switcheroo between keyboardist and guitarist for Tombstone which was really well done too with some sweet vocal voxalicious.
After them though, by the time the various and seemingly never-ending soundchecks were over and done with, about 45 minutes had passed, and FINALLY Bloc Party came out!
Opening with Song for Clay (Disappear Here) really set a good atmosphere for the whole set, and they launched into Hunting for Witches really early on, which was awesome.
That intro riff will always be one of my favourites :)
When they reached the end of Positive Tension, with Kele screaming "Why'd you have to get" and letting the crowd take over and belting out "so fucking useless" was one of the highlights of the night. That guy really knows how to play to an audience.
Drummer boy Matt seems to like taking his shirt off early, seemingly being some sort of sweat machine, and people's cameras were clicking, because hey, topless nerdy-lookin Asian guy must be photogenic, eh?
Anyway, playing through songs like The Prayer (went OFF when Matt started leading the chant), Like Eating Glass, Uniform and so many others was incredible.
Kele was amazing live too, one of the sound techs kept running onto the stage and trying to fix some mic and instrument volumes while they were into a song, and was having like a muted signal conversation with Kele about what was working and what wasn't, to the point that when it was finally fixed, Kele started bending down and singing to the sound tech himself... cheeky bugger... probably doesn't sound as exciting but in person, it was amusing.
They couldn't have finished on a better note, belting out Helicopter, which it was obvious everybody was waiting for, then joining up and bowing on stage. Of course, there was the inevitable encore, so they jumped on stage for one more song afterwards, causing the throngs of people who had already left to hurriedly rush back in, and yea... it was a fantastic night.

The Knight


A knight there was, and that a worthy bird,
Who, from the moment that he first was heard,
Began to squawk of brave and noble feats,
And proudly waddled through our glacial streets.
This fellow pilgrim to the holy shrine
Had reputation great, and faith divine.
His name was recognized throughout the land,
A hundred troops he had at his command.
He fought in wars of ice, of hail and sleet,
And proved his worth, stayed on his happy feet.
At Vinson Massif, helped drive back the throng
Of leopard seals, their army thousands strong.
On ice shelves, covered with their frosted sand,
He bested rivals from across the land.
Five times thus far, he’d fought for penguinkind,
Against vile orcas, twice who had combined
With hordes of arctic terns that filled the air,
Their dual assault, this knight brought to despair.
His beak held high, he brought the noise and pain
To all who dared oppose our penguin reign.
And yet in all his life, he’d said no curse,
Nor did he have a single thought perverse,
For he was clothed in virtue and in steel,
Adorned in honour, hardened to conceal
His iron wings enclosed in metal wrought,
To close upon his torso as he fought.
A helm of glory sat upon his head,
Encompassing his face in armored lead.
And with his steed, a trusty Weddell seal,
I saw the pair would often share a meal,
Of fish, or Caesar salad, freshly tossed,
And glistening with morning’s daily frost.
But late one night, I saw him deep at rest,
Still in his faithful armour, he was dressed,
And seems to me, his gauntlet came aside,
Revealing limbs that shouldn’t have applied,
To penguins or to birds of any kind.
Those fleshy fingers sleepily entwined,
Amongst those strands of feathers, oddly thin,
And flowing on his un-bi-tonal skin.

There is a tale I've heard before,
of hobbits wielding tiny swords,
and orcs and elves all magical,
with shields in hand, and heads in sand.
Of wizards and their mighty staves,
their robes a-flourish in the wind,
while sitting on their mighty steeds,
and reading ancient scrolls of old.
With rings and ringwraiths in pursuit,
of what was theirs and now is not,
their voices shrieking endlessly,
while under them, their horses rot.
Of Uruk-Hai and dwarven lords,
all pitched in ancient rivalry,
their ancient hatred flowing through
to walking, talking, fighting trees.
But then I see this tale I've heard
was heard and seen by one and all,
and thus I have repelled the lure
of being like those fucking sheep.

---

Elocution, persecution, tax evasion, stop.
Paraplegic, analgesic, emphysemic, drop.

He loved the way
she always stayed
to welcome him
from corporate jungles,
as he shuffled through the door.
Yearned for the way
she helped him banish
hordes of asset pricing models;
trivial and meaningless.


He loved the way
she sang to him
and told him
it would all work out,
and not to worry anymore;
Her voice,
so soft, like buttered velvet,
yet so strong like lion’s roar at prancing meerkats.


He loved the way
her body felt
while she lay
in his tired arms,
and he would stroke her slender neck,
so fretful and mahogany.
His trembling fingers
running through her steely, straightened hair.


He rued the day
she ceased to sing,
her soothing resonance
adrift,
no longer sounding at his touch.
He felt the melody
subside,
slip through his hands
and leaving him
a mess of screaming minor chords
the day his true love died.