Chairs. This is the first thing I remember when walking into the Marquee Theater last Friday night. Four rows of them set up neatly 50 yards from the stage, some of them filled, some of them not. This was the first time I had never seen such a phenomenon at the Marquee, and it was even more obvious to the naked eye before the room filled with eager concert-goers. “Is it for those who are handicapped?” I thought to myself. “That’s kind of a neat idea." Then I took a good hard look at the people actually sitting in them, and they weren’t handicapped at all (except for perhaps their dancing abilities). Just a bunch of non-dancers who were too cool to stand with the rest of us near the stage, or attempt to boogie to the music. Even when the room was filled with people, I think they still remained sitting! Mind-boggling, to say the least.
Especially considering the performances were energetic and musically engaging. First band up was experimental-rockers Menomena. Their unique usage of the MIDI instrumental samples to enrich their sound added some va-va-voom to the overall performance. With a slew of instruments (including a pretty sweet Baritone saxophone), and the dense sound created by the sampling, Menomena was worth showing up a few minutes early for. While playing the majority of songs from their “Mines” release, there were a few oldies such as “Wet and Rusting” which was thrown in for good measure. From the guitarists’ funky guitar-man dance to the energetic disposition of the drummer, Menomena provided a (ahem) phenomenal opening.
Here’s a clip from their performance from the next day at Stinkweeds’ Record Store Day, “Five Little Rooms” (Found via Youtube):
The main event for the night was musical talent in all its brilliance. The New Pornographers began brightly and energetically, and finished the show in the same fashion. With Neko Case an AC Newman, and Kurt Dahle making vocal magic with every song, the crowd got even got jazzed up enough to stand up from their chairs at the end of the set. I guess miracles do happen even when they involve non-dancing hipster socialites. Playing through both old and new tunes, New Pornographers knew how to give a decent show to appease the crowd. Songs you should know:
