NDGU!!!

  

Never don't give up! You know who gets it? Linkin Park gets it. (Is this one of their tattoos? I bet it is!) Nu Metal's Nsync just released a new album. In 2012. And have a song in a vampire movie. Also in 2012. CULTURAL RELEVANCE. Their teenage fans (did they have any other kind?) could almost have teenagers of their own now. Some of them probably do. Named Linkin, I'm sure.

I am taking this inspirational slogan to heart and reuniting once again with my 90's rap-rock band apologizing for my laziness in blogging this past week. I'm sorry. Something something lack of inspiration excuse. But no more. ABNDGU!  (Always be never don't giving up. Duh!)

I did some cool stuff. I saw St Vincent in concert on Wednesday. Live, Annie Clark is a guitar goddess who stalks the stage with zombie swagger. She doesn't just crowd surf. She crowd WALKS.

She really doubled down on the eccentric and the rock. It's a look that suits her well. No "Marry Me" or "Paris is Burning After All." The only song she played off her first album was the weird one. I was standing next to her biggest fan. He probably tells you shortly after meeting you how he's St Vincent's biggest fan. He was wearing a backpack, and inside he certainly had a revised and updated list of questions to ask her because how often is she in the same city and what if he had a chance to speak to her, it would be foolish not to have his revised and updated list of questions on hand. He sang and interpretive danced along to every number. But far from being obnoxious, his unabashed joy was charming. On the other side, I had two knuckleheads who were aggressively frustrated that the crowd was not reacting in a way they deemed proper. I understand the disappointment that indie rock crowds tend to just stand there at shows, but "Year of the Tiger" really isn't a mosh song guys.

Annie Clark is a talented musician with a great voice, a unique perspective and a kick ass live show, so it was a bit disappointing to see her met with cries of guapa from some fans. (Guess which ones.) I realize cultural relativity all, but I see your cultural relativity and raise you one gender sensitivity. That being said, if you ever want to yell gorgeous at me, feel free. I'm happy just being a pretty face.

Then, last weekend, I saw a nineties band I was glad to see live.

Portishead! They played for two nights at Barcelona's own Spain-centric Epcot Center called Poble Espanyol. A strange relic of a tourist attraction, it's main square of fake olde tyme buildings did provide the show with a certain ambiance.

The opening bands were mostly a bust. MF Doom did his best late eighties style hip hop show. Unfortunately, hip hop acts in the late eighties sang along to their album for twenty minutes then walked off stage in a huff. Keep it real, Villain. The band Thought Forms played music I can only describe as the soundtrack to being buried alive. There is plenty of music I hate, but they were a band I didn't understand. Watching them really rock out to atonal drones and pedal effects in monotonous ten minutes intervals was weird, then funny, then annoying.

From their album of the Roseland show, I suspected Portishead would be good in concert and they did not disappoint. Beth Gibbon's voice is more powerful on stage then I would have guessed, and her awkward grateful demeanor was an endearing contrast to the downer-fest that is their music.

Meanwhile at the beach...

Sant Joan! Where everybody gets drunk, throws firecrackers at each other and hangs out on the beach till they are cleared out by bulldozers.

In more NEVER DON"T GIVE UP news, Les Fat Jones' first out of town concert next Saturday has been cancelled. When your band is a hobby, sometimes people's lives and commitments (non professional musicians have these things) get in the way. I guess my life and commitment to the beach will have to carry me through these trying times.

NDGU 4 EVER!!!