Concert Season 2012: Episode 3: Garbage

Garbage. One of the best bands ever playing the best concert I've been to at the Warfield.

Nothing else to say. Blog post over.

Okay, not really. This is me we're talking about. You know I can come up with WAY more to say.

So the first time I saw Garbage was a couple of months ago at the BFD Festival along with Cake, Silversun Pickups, and Jane's Addiction, who I totally didn't miss and just walk out after SPSU... okay, I totally did... but to be fair, I only knew two songs and I only came to see Garbage, Cake, and Silversun so I was good. Unfortunately it was at *ugh* the Shoreline, which I have to put up with since that place sucks if you're not in the first fifteen rows and always attracts the 'bro' crowd. And since it was a festival, they had a limited amount of time so I only got a 30-40 minute taste... and I wanted more. A couple of weeks later, they announced a San Francisco show, my friend and I got awesome tickets, and that was that.

Cut to yesterday, and while going to the show, I bumped into Ed, my friend/former roommate, who was also going to the show, meeting up with a friend there. I showed off my new phone... which I totally used to take pictures... because I can do that now... sure I could do that with my old phone but those pictures were just godawful.

Where was I?

So we head over to the Warfield. Now, I have a love/hate relationship with the Warfield. I've seen some really cool shows here and two awesome Jim Gaffigan stand-up shows. And Jaguar Love... what would I do without my measuring stick for mediocre trainwrecks.



I'll let Rick James speak on this.



Seriously. Maybe if they would take the money they use on drugs and spend it on singing lessons and learn NOT to make wild woodpecker mating calls then they might actually be decent. Is that what most tweaked-out-of-their-mind white boys sound like? Maybe it's an epidemic. Whatever... got sidetracked again... sorry.

So The Warfield, for me, has some good memories. Too bad it's in the shitty part of San Francisco. That, and ever since the Fox opened up, The Warfield just is an old, outdated version of that. Sure, their live sound is better than the Fox, but the Warfield's seats are just tiny and uncomfortable... unlike the Fox, which have nice, comfortable, cushioned, wider leather seats. The Warfield's lobby is super tiny to the point where it takes a minute or two to get from the entrance to the doors to the floor and stairs to the balcony, since the ground floor bar and merch table make huge crowds of standing people being in the way. I would have got merch, but there's only room for one merch table in that place and that line is ALWAYS super long... especially last night. And seriously, when I feel safer in that part of Oakland compared to that part of Market Street that always has that aura of alcohol-infused urine and body odor with several doses of paranoia and muggers, that's just fucking uncalled for.

But with that said, this was probably one of the better experiences I've been to. The crowd was energetic but there were WAY less douchebags compared to the other shows. There was a lot of movement on the floor from what I could see, but it was all upwards. People were dancing and jumping up, but it didn't feel like people were pushing or disrespecting people's personal space. If there was a show I wish I could have been on the floor for, it was this show. The view of the stage from my place, though, was really cool. I had really good seats and there was hardly anyone in my way, save for the encore where people in front of me decided to stand.

I only got to hear two and a half songs from the opening band, The Screaming Females.... which is only one-third correct. They had the Nirvana/Green Day trio setup, with a vocalist/guitarist, a bassist, and a drummer. The singer was this tiny, awesome woman who was just rocking the fuck out. I dug what I heard. I really can't match what I heard to any of the songs I've seen on YouTube, though... probably out of a case of being unfamiliar... that and their songs were very similar in sound.



So all the YouTube stuff that I've heard so far have that very indie-rock garage sound, which I dig, but when I saw them live, they sounded way more raw and hard... so I don't know if it was a case of the Warfield's acoustics changing their sound or if they just used a different setup or I don't know what. Either case, I think they're cool and I'm gonna listen to their stuff a little more.

Plus, she KINDA looks like Ash.



So... yeah... Garbage. I have a confession to make and you probably all ready know this... but I really love Garbage. They're one of the few rock bands I got into before I hit college, where my taste in music evolved and got into so much stuff. I remember watching them on MTV and seeing this smoking-hot redhead with cherry-red lips and the voice of a goddess, shooting down her bandmates in a futuristic WWII plane, looking like it came out of a scene from Tank Girl. I don't know if "Special" was the first video I saw from them, but it's definitely the one that sticks in my mind.



Along with Gwen Stefani, Shannon Elizabeth, Angelina Jolie from Hackers, TLC and Toni Braxton, and other high school crushes, Shirley Manson was one of the stronger celebrity crushes during my teenage years. And over the years, it just got stronger, especially with the release of their fourth album Bleed Like Me. As my love for music grew stronger, the more I fully appreciated the band, not just for Shirley Manson's voice, but for the musicianship and craft it took to make their albums memorable to me.

Cut to last night... ohmigod I was 10-15 yards away from her... ohmigod ohmigod ohmigod!

I don't know what happened there... lost my composure for a second, I'm sorry.

There's really no need to review or give my take on this show since I've all ready been clear what that answer is. This was a fucking phenomenal show. And since I'm on like basically five hours of sleep and running on fumes, hoping that's enough to have a great time at the Offspring show I'll be going to tonight, maybe I should just mention some of the highlights that I can remember and put into words:

• Shirley Manson can still fucking sing. That aura that she had back in the day still affects me to the point where I'm just fucking speechless sometimes.
• #1 Crush is awesome live, and this video does NOT give it enough credit. The guitar riffs are even sexier live.

• So before the show, I made a list of what I wanted to hear in the preview blogpost. Out of those songs, I don't remember hearing: The World Is Not Enough, When I Grow Up, Automatic Systematic Habit, Sex Is Not The Enemy, Run Baby Run, Big Bright World, Not Your Kind of People, Man On A Wire. But I don't fucking care... I'm still satisfied. They did play Vow... and my friend went crazy for that. Not Ed... but my other friend.
• I also heard "Supervixen" and "Queer"... and yes, I'm sure Shirley Manson can take me out with the flick with her wrist.
• During the encore, they played "Bad Boyfriend," and this fabulous man stood up and began dancing like Madonna, singing along as if he was the frontwoman on stage. I looked at him and said internally, "You go, dude. Rock on."
• They played "Stupid Girl" and with what happened during the summer, I appreciated it a little bit more than usual.

• You know when people hold on to the 80s and say that anything from the 90s, especially the music, sucked, they're immediately proven wrong just by Garbage's existence.
• You wanna know why there's a fucking heat wave in San Francisco? Garbage. They're that fucking hot... which unfortunately makes the crappy garbage on the streets... er, debris... and people smell. Normally, I would be sweating at a rock concert but this definitely amplified the experience of a whitehot show.

So, three down and three more to go. I don't know if Offspring can top Garbage but hey, I'll give them a shot. All I need to hear is "Gone Away" and "The Kids Are All Right" and "Staring at the Sun" and I'm good. I'll be back with tonight's adventure to San Jose.