Come one come all-I'm work shopping new introductions bare with me-Welcome to the 18th installment of the Jay Porks Never Ending concert series. Tonight brings us to the 'Sold Out' Bowery Ballroom at 6 Delancey St. in New York City. The Bowery is a venue that's been on my radar for a while, considering that the Bowery owns(or at least sponsors) most of the venues I attend for concerts in the city. Tonight the headliner, the band I'm here to see is the one, the only, THE BREEDERS. Lead by Kim Deal(along with twin sister Kelley), I'm so psyched to see them because I missed them in Brooklyn last year at McCarren Pool. Doors are set to open at 8, and I didn't think the show was going to take until 9:05 to start, but hence being at a Rock and Roll concert.
While awaiting the doors to open, so I can get a spot up front; I sat at the bar and had a few beers and was talking music with a lad from Ireland who's in New York for the week. We were talking about the Pixies and then suddenly the house music switches from like AC/DC to The Vaselines, at which point I said “i saw these guys, that show kicked ass” and one of the bartenders over heard and said “What, the Vaselines? That was an amazing show”. I'm telling you, I feel at home. Right now I'm surrounded by people who I can have a conversation with.
So the “doors” opened at 8 and people were permitted to head upstairs to the stage area, and I headed straight to where we all know we're headed-the merch table. Picked myself up a Breeders 'Mountain Battles' tee shirt for $15. It's a cool shirt too, I put it right on and headed near the front of the stage....where all the good spots were taken. How? There was like 10 people there, where did all these people come from? So I had to get all the way at the end of the stage, so you'll notice in my pictures and video there's a guitarist missing because I'm blocked by a curtain.
What's really pissing me off is having to sit in this crappy spot for this opening act I've never heard of- “Whispertown 2000”. I was getting antsy, felt like screaming “lets go already” and here they are setting up there equipment at 9:02, do they realize it's a Tuesday night? But then came out these two hot chicks, one holding an acoustic guitar (which in my book makes a girl like, extra hot) and assuming the role of lead vocals. They played they're first song and I noticed the end of the song the drummer was playing a harmonica as well to add a little folk sort of feel. And the song wasn't bad, I was nodding a bit. They had a weird looking bass player, and the other hot chick who wasn't the lead vocalist was using that jingle-jangle thing that have the mini cymbals on them. I'm not going to look it up-you know what I mean. But when it came time for the third song she picked up a telecaster and added some effects to the bluegrass feel. All of a sudden it went from folk sounds to loud noise in a flip of the coin. Next song, the drummer gets up and switches spots with the chick just playing the telecaster, so now she's on drums and the drummer is on electric guitar and the lead singer has put her acoustic down for a few songs. The drummer is kicking ass on guitar on this first song he's playing on, and the drums haven't skipped a beat (no pun intended) with the chick drumming. Then everyone returns to their spots, a little tuning up and then I see the bass player pull his strap up really high and then he takes it and hands it to the drummer-now the drummer is playing bass and the bass player is on drums. Even if the music sucked, the interchangeable musicians was really cool. And they're weren't half bad. I thought they were kind of groovy if that word is still allowed to be used. I would definitely recommend checking them out @ Myspace.com/Whispertown2000
A little after 10 o clock ladies and gentlemen........THE BREEEDERS!!!!!!
They came out kicking ass man. There was a drum set up in front of Kim Deal for the first song and they kicked it off with “Hoverin'”, a song by The Amps-another past side project of Kim's, they released one album called “Pacer”(It's being communicated to me that the song was actually recorded by the Breeders as a B-Side for Divine Hammer). After that song she moved the drum away and pick up her guitar, and there were smiles all around. You love to see a band enjoying themselves and not just punching the time card so to speak. They rocked through a couple more songs before getting into a few crowd favorites. “Huffer” off they're previous record Title TK was when I turned around and noticed the room had filled out and heads were nodding everywhere. And every time I looked up I saw pot smoke in the air-it wasn't me this time. Then “Divine Hammer”, a great song altogether. The Breeders have three guitarists so the abrasive, noisy intertwined melodies were freaking awesome-they were in top form. And just as everyone's rocking, you see Kim going to the effect mic set up on her mic stand and start breathing-you know what's coming. The baseline drops, drums kick in and here we go...........
CANNONBALL! What half the people in the crowd came to see. Pandemonium breaks out in there, good times all around. That was definitely the bong in this reggae song of a show and we're only half way through. They played some songs off “Pod”, including 'Happiness is a warm gun'. I love that song. They encored about five times seriously. They went off first at 11:14, and came back on right away. Now we have people in the back of the crowd chanting for “Gigantic”, a Pixies song written by Kim Deal that they have done live before-but I doubt they wanted to get out of Breeders form-and good for them. On the last encore, Kim
actually sat and played drums while the drummer played keyboard, and not your old mans keyboard. This thing was run through effects pedals and sounded nuts. They overall show sounded nuts, it was nuts. They went with the loud, quiet, loud format with the way they set their songs. Here's a soft one, here's a hard one-here's everything at once. The Deal twins and the Breeders proving yet again that all the good bands just fly under the radar. What a show. Loud, abrasive, sweet, soft and grinding guitars. Can't ask for anything more. I'll be wearing my tee shirt tomorrow proudly.
Someone at the show left a comment with the set list, which was a very nice gesture. I was almost able to grab the set list, but it was snatched from my grasp. So here it is: Hoverin'
Little fury,I am decided,Walk it off,Divine hammer,Night of joy,No aloha,Do you love me now,New year,Cannonball,Saints,Happiness is a warm gun,Iris,Oh!,Fate to fatal,Bang on,Flipside,Huffer,Safari
(1st Encore)The she,Overglazed,Driving on 9
(2nd encore)
Tipp City
Couldn't have asked for more out of that show. Amazing. And what a great way to set up the next concert I have purchased tickets for. You see, Kim Deal is so important because she was and now is a member of the Pixies, one of the most influential bands to come out of the 80's alternative scene. It all starts with the Pixies, and I'm going to get the privilege to see them November 24th @ Hammerstein Ballroom in, where else? New York City. I will kepp everyone posted if concerts get added in between now and then. But until then, enjoy the video if they let me upload it.