THE FILLMORE. JANUARY 23, 2010.
Have you ever seen Cold War Kids live? Have you seen them from the second row? Have you seen them at The Fillmore?
Do it.
So I had seen Cold War Kids twice before, and at the first show I only knew probably three of their songs. Then last year I won tickets from Soundcheck for a show in April at the Fillmore. By then I knew probably half of their canon of songs. But the quality of their live shows was INSANE. I just remember being totally annihilated by the symphonic noise of their shows. Like they invite chaos in and then somehow get a leash on it and make it do what they want. And the songs know exactly when to twist themselves into something new, and they hit you right in the gut. Brittany says it's like their songs already exist and they are just pulling them out of this place that we all know but have forgotten. I think that's a pretty accurate assessment.
I had been looking forward to this show since I first heard about it back in October. Thank my paranoia that I bought my tickets in November, because man did this show sell out.
And then when Britt and I got there we pushed our way to the front (right when doors opened, way before the music was going) and planted ourselves in the center of the second row.
The second row, you see, is the place to be. No neck aches from craning to see the band's faces, like you get in the front row. A perfect view.
So we got there and finally, after puzzling over which songs they would play (I had woken up with "Mexican Dogs" stuck in my head that morning and hoped I'd get to hear the real thing), the opening band came on. It was one of those side bands created by a bunch of members from other bands, and the main guy was Alec Ounsworth of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. There was also a distinguished, mustachioed fellow who looked just like a younger Inspector Japp (of Agatha Christie's Poirot mysteries). The band had a solid enough sound but I didn't like Alec's voice at all - it was that whiny, I'm-intellectual style of singing that just always gives me a headache. I was so anxious for the main event that I didn't really enjoy their performance. Also they kept having technical difficulties and various sound people were trying to fix it onstage, which was just awkward and distracting.
But I will say that I have never been so impressed by a bassist before. That guy could strum.
Finally they left and the anticipation was building. The girl in front of me was all excited because it was her birthday, and these younger guys who were front row, center were plotting how to give Nathan Willet this weird Valentine they had made. One of them grabbed the set list for Alec Ounsworth from the stage. Um, I wasn't jealous.
There were these four t.v. screens set up on the stage behind the band, and during the openers they were just blank and turned off. I started to get really curious about them and then...
It started with Nathan singing, in his thoroughly indescribable voice, "How's it gonna feel when summer ends?" and went uphill from there. The crowd, especially those of us in the first two rows, went nuts. I mean, singing along, dancing, just plain getting lost in it all. The band is so fascinating to watch because it's like they try to create this chaos, but it is theirs. They own everything that goes on on that stage, but barely.
The t.v.s played all these images that sort of matched the songs. For "Coffee Spoon" there was a black and white video of a girl who looked sort of retro. For "Hospital Beds" there was footage from what looked kind of like Vietnam. I don't remember what was playing during "Sermons" because I was too busy singing along.
There is just this magnetic energy running through them that is hard to describe and impossible to appreciate if you haven't seen it. SEE IT.
The boys got their Valentine to Nathan, who was pretty stumped about the whole thing. The girl managed to tell him it was her birthday, so he dedicated a song to her. After playing "Santa Ana Winds," he was like, "That song was about a town south of here, but now I'm gonna play one that's about YOUR town." I flipped through my mental catalog and immediately landed on "Golden Gate Jumpers," whispered the title to Brittany, and the birthday girl heard me and we all shared a moment of appreciation for this band together. Everyone cheered when he said that, but he was like, "Well, maybe you shouldn't cheer for it," and we were like, "Yeah, I guess it IS about attempted suicide..."
They played so much of their catalog and they played for a long time, but it went by so quickly. They didn't play "Mexican Dogs" or "Every Man I Fall For," but I'd seen them perform both before so it wasn't too sad. I swear, when they did "Hospital Beds" and "St. John," it was a religious experience. When it was all over and we were filtering out of the Fillmore, I said to Brittany, "That was like...church." And she shrugged and was like, "Not really. If church was like this, I would actually GO."
Amen.
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