The state of my body at the start of the weekend coincided with the state of Bay Area weather...it was crap. All sorts of weather records are being broken with blah, blah consecutive days of rain, blah, blah. All I know is that if I wanted to live in Seattle, I would've moved there. Of course, the Sierras are getting a very nice dump of fresh pow-pow, but that doesn't do me much good when I'm under the weather (ha, ha) and not in the mountains.
Anyway, the itinerary for Friday night included a much-needed cat-nap, going to dinner at Goat Hill Pizza with Will, Abe and Key, and then onto the evening's main event, which was The New Amsterdams show at Bottom of the Hill. This show was part of the Noisepop! 2006 music festival, which occurs every spring and sprinkles great shows at all the good venues in town (Slim's, GAMH, Bimbo's, BOTH, Independent, etc.).
I managed to consume some soup and the most of the half-order of lasagne (that thing was huge! no need to order the full size!). There were three opening bands and we got to BOTH in time for the last couple songs of the second band, The Brokedown. They had some catchy tunes, but that's about all I can remember. In between the second and third band sets, we managed to weasel some space by the wood counter, which served to be a huge blessing. I was able to scoot up and sit on the ledge for the show, preserving my energy and my wits, as I wouldn't have to deal with tall people standing in front of me. The third band was Slowrunner, who also had some catchy tunes and were a very enjoyable musical experience. The highlight of their set was the cover of one of my favorite They Might Be Giants tunes "Birdhouse In Your Soul". Most of the room may have been too young to realize what song this was, and I don't think the band got the reception they were hoping for, but it sure made my night.
Birdhouse In Your Soul!
Thank goodness for seats...And then, Matt Pryor and gang (The New Amsterdams) took the stage and played an hour and a half set mixing in new songs from their just-released album with their older songs. It was pretty evident that this band is no longer just a side-project for Matt Pryor (previously the front-man for the Get Up Kids), and that this band has matured and developed. They're mellower and more folky. They've changed the tempo and sound to a lot of their older songs (great for "California" but not as great for "Hover Near Fame"). Admittedly, Matt Pryor said he had a hoarse voice and maybe that changed how he was singing some of the songs.
It's been a while since I've caught a live show, so it was a great night, despite my illness. Can't wait for to go see Architecture in Helsinki at the end of April...
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