Concert Season 2012: Episode 2: Silversun Pickups

Going to two concerts in one week, especially if they're two days apart from each other, can be pretty exhausting, especially if one is coming home late from them, which happens to be my case. Fuck you, Fox Theater, why can't you and the Warfield switch places?

Wait... no... the Warfield's area not only sucks, it smells of piss and depression and makes Oakland look like Utopia in comparison.

Let me start over. Why can't you move over to the Inner Sunset or the Haight or the Mission... some place I don't MIND going to?

Actually, fuck it. Good job, Oakland. You got one place I actually like going to. But before I get into the bands, I have one request for the Fox: please fix your sound problem. I don't know how it is on the floor, but for some reason, the vocals always sound a little muffled. I know people have told me in the past they've had a problem with the Fox's audio issues but I never really had a problem with it until recently. Looking back, they've had that problem since they've opened. And since that's the case, maybe I should give Fidlar a quick listen to... well... maybe after I get into the two opening bands.

So I was a little late getting to the Fox Wednesday night, so I only got to hear the last song from Australian band Atlas Genius, the first opening band. I think they were playing "Trojans." I'm not quite sure. But the one song I heard, I dug it. They're very indy, alt-rock and that seems to be my thing. They had a similar setup to Silversun Pickups: a vocalist/guitarist, a bassist on backup, a drummer, and a keyboardist. They only have a four-song EP up on Spotify and iTunes, but from what I heard so far, I actually hope they put out more stuff.



My friend and sisters got to the theater in time to see School of Seven Bells, this cool synth rock band with twin sisters as vocals and keyboards. I think the leader of the band was the guitarist, though. I found it odd that the keyboard replaced bass... maybe I'm just old school in my vocalist/guitarist/bassist/drummer setup. My friend said it was "the second coming of Silversun" and my sisters said the band kept on reminding them of The Craft and Charmed. It was probably because they had this cool trinity circle/ring thingee that had tiny lights with different colors going off. Just imagine this thing with Christmas lights. It rocked.

All I kept on seeing was the design of a Mexican Luchador mask in the middle.

Their music reminded me more of My Bloody Valentine, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Placebo, kinda like an 80s goth/synth/pop rock sound. Yeah, I know Placebo is more 90s, but their was some hint of their style in there. I personally dug their sound. I just wish I knew what she was singing about. Like I said before, the audio problems in the Fox made the words sound not as clear as it should, and hence I really couldn't make out the words. Coming back a day or two later to listen to their recorded stuff makes me wish I took the time to listen to them before the show to better appreciate it. And I really like "Low Times." Be amazed by the Trinity Circle.



So, the Silversun Pickups were awesome. I mean, that's the reason why I went. This might be either the fourth or fifth time I've seen them live. It could be the fifth... fuck, it could be the sixth... but five times sounds about right. Anyways, I'll totally recommend them, like all the other bands before them... but SSPU especially. I'll just talk about the things I noticed and/or told while watching them.

• I didn't really notice it from the balcony, but bassist Nikki Monninger was pregnant. My friend told me before they came on. If he hadn't noticed, I wouldn't really have noticed... until Brian mentioned "she got really fat." Apparently, she'll be playing a show or two before the replacement comes in so Oakland lucked out.
• About one or two or three songs in, they began having technical issues on Brian's end. The tech guys came in and couldn't solve the problem for like 10-15 minutes. My friend, being a guitarist who does a lot of gigs himself, was saying the tech people were pretty clueless if they couldn't figure out right away what the problem was. So Chris the drummer started doing a drum solo, and Nikki began doing a bass riff, and immediately I knew it was the opening riff to "Three Seed," one of my favorite songs from them. Apparently, a lot of other people knew what it was, too, and began cheering. So they just began playing that song, sans guitars... which was a little off since there is a cool guitar solo in the middle... but it was still awesome. So hey, at least from out of a bad situation, something good came out of it... since I don't even think that was on the setlist.

• They played a LOT of songs from their most recent album Neck of the Woods. They only played four or five songs from their second album, Swoon, (I recognized "The Royal We," "Panic Switch," "Catch and Release," and maybe "Substitution". I forget.) and only two and a half songs from Carnavas... including "Three Seed," "Lazy Eye," which was the last song before the encore, and my favorite SSPU song "Well Thought Out Twinkles" closed off the show. Back in the day, they use to play that song second... and now it receives encore status. Nothing from their first EP Pikul and maybe a song from their other EP Seasick... or is that just a single with two "B-sides?"

The "radio" version... it sounds edited for time.

Don't get me wrong... I like their more recent album. There's a lot of songs that I dig... I just dig the other two albums way more. I still love "Skin Graph," though. And really, there is a lot of good stuff on this album.

So I have the unfortunate gift of being easily distracted by the tiniest of things. I guess you can say I'm perceptive and I can catch things that don't fit or aren't right or whatever... but seriously, I just think it's just a case of me being distracted and fixated on stupid shit... unless I have to find an inconsistency at work... then it's the only time I can put this to good use. ANYWAYS... there was a couple of things that caught my eye while watching the show...

• All the way down below on the ground floor, I noticed this drunk blonde chick being a bitch by intentionally ramming herself into this dude leaning on the front barrier. I don't know if they're friends, or if he said something to piss her off, or if she was pissed that she didn't have his spot and was being a bitch about it, but I noticed that while I was sitting in the mezzanine.
• And in a case of me just being easily distracted, I couldn't stop staring at the people a couple rows down, being all drunk and standing up and shit. Funny story, there was this couple, a drunk white chick and her bro boyfriend, and the bro went to go get more beers, and she was just standing up, not hearing the two or so people telling her to sit down. An attendant -- you know, the ones who help people to their seats -- went up to her and told her to sit down. Not giving a shit, she continued to stand. Realizing his words weren't getting to the bitch, he walked over to get the black security guard who told her to sit down, in which case she sat down right away. I kinda predicted what was going to happen once I saw the attendant walk away, so I smiled in my pseudo-clairvoyance.
• In the same row, there was this awkward, bald, white dude that had the worst rocking-out moves ever. He would just stand there, and then a fist would come up, and some awkward drumming, and then some pointing at the band and then both hands raised as if he won first place in a Billy Corgan lookalike contest. All of it had no rhythm. If you're going to get in my way, at least be one with the music, and not reenact tone deafness through interpretive dance.
• Meanwhile, it looked as if drunk white chick and bro boyfriend had left, but they only left for more beer apparently. The chick came back first and was swaying back and forth in the aisle like the typical drunken white girl dance. The attendant told her to go back to the seat since she was in people's walking way. She climbed over the seats, right next to awkward bald dude. He looked pleasantly surprised that a girl appeared out of nowhere. And somehow, they began rocking out together. He went for a high-five and she almost left him hanging, but I think she returned the gesture. He got a little too close... I mean they COULD have been friends going in, but they weren't sitting next to each other throughout the show... they were like three or four seats away. Bro boyfriend comes back... a beer in both hands, spilling some with every walk... and I was thinking something was going to start... but then awkward bald dude began getting all spasticy, rocking out with the bro and getting pretty close to him. Maybe he was apologizing for getting too close... maybe they were friends... maybe he was saying something as if he really wasn't hitting on her... maybe he would rock out with anyone within arms distance from him... who the fuck knows? All I know is I didn't get my Bro Boyfriend vs Awkward Dude moment... and my sister didn't get her "drunk chick tripping over the chairs, breaking her neck" moment. Le sigh.

It's kinda hard NOT to be distracted by this kind of shit when they stand in your way of the stage. I know I can be pretty misanthropic at moments in time when I shouldn't be, but at times likes this, it's hard not to be. Regardless, the concert was still pretty awesome. Then again, I was with people who really liked Silversun so that made it a whole lot easier to have a good time.

And even though I didn't get home until way past midnight, it was worth it. Two down, four more to go. If I don't go to any more shows this month, then Garbage is up next... and I'm definitely looking forward to that one.