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Friday, March 23, 2007
I owe my appreciation for the Shins to two factors: The discriminating tastes of Micki Krimmel, and a perfect afternoon at River Gods. Shortly after 2003's "Chutes Too Narrow" came out, Micki soundly chastised me over IM for not liking it very much. Knowing my tastes, she was pretty surprised I hadn't felt it, and I think my dismissive response to her was "Chutes Too Sixties". But I made a mental note to give the disc another chance. A few months later, in the early spring of 2004, I needed some solo time and a couple of pints, so I swung by Cambridge's River Gods with a good book, and settled into the front window seat. As I did, the hand claps, woo!, and strummed guitar of "Kissing The Lipless" started almost on queue, and I spent the next 35 minutes falling completely in love with every song that followed. Something clicked that afternoon... maybe it was the long-awaited end of winter, maybe it was the couple pints, but I was a full-on Shins fan. And Micki could say "I told you so." I held onto them through the Braff-fueled explosion and inevitable hipster-than-though backlash, and believe that "Wincing the Night Away" is a solid, though not nearly as strong, follow-up to "Chutes Too Narrow" (mostly marred by the unfortunate experiment that is "Sea Legs"). I liked it well enough to finally see the band live, and bought a couple tickets to see them two weeks ago at the Orpheum here in Boston. To be honest, my expectations for their live show weren't all that high. The size of the venue, the widening of the fanbase, and my not-quite-as-obsessed opinion of the latest album had been added to the general blog-fed consensus that weren't the most energetic of performers. But those low hopes were pretty much crushed, the band brought far more energy to the stage than anticipated (especially guitarist/bassist Dave Hernandez), and I found myself connecting with both the old songs and the newer. James Mercer's voice, from the moment he sings "Spill it out in the ragged floor" in set-starter "Sleeping Lessons", was so right on, so clear and strong, that I gained an even deeper respect for it. No studio trickery, no double-tracking or multiple takes needed. Actually, the clarity of his vocals made the rest of the instruments suffer in comparison... it was likely the fault of the mix in the large room, and as you might hear in the recordings, things are a bit muffled at times. Still, worth a listen, especially for the rousing encore cover of "Someone I Care About" (with assistance from opener Viva Voce), originally written by Boston's own Jonathan Richman-fronted Modern Lovers. Here's the full set...  The Shins Live at the Orpheum in Boston, Mass. on Thursday, March 15th, 2007 01. Sleeping Lessons 02. Australia 03. Pam Berry / Phantom Limb 04. Kissing The Lipless 05. Mine's Not A High Horse 06. Girl Inform Me 07. Girl On The Wing 08. New Slang 09. Saint Simon 10. Girl Sailor 11. Turn A Square 12. Gone For Good 13. A Comet Appears (aborted) 14. A Comet Appears 15. Turn On Me 16. Know Your Onion! 17. Caring Is Creepy encore... 18. Pink Bullets 19. Someone I Care About (Modern Lovers cover) 20. So Says I  orpheum photo by gollermike Some Shins-centric links... As an aside, I learned something valuable from this show: Make sure you pay very close attention to the small "obstructed view" warning if they appear on your Orpheum tickets. Because when they say "obstructed", they are not f&%king around. Joining me was in-town visitor Ned (as in No Love For), and it's a good thing we both had a sense of humor (and a couple of beers) that night. Our seats were, quite literally, about 2 feet from a monster stack of speakers that extended up and sideways a full story each. Not only could we not see any of the stage, but the speakers gave us nothing but the low-end of the pre-show mix. We joked that the view from the bathroom would be just as good, but the sound in there would probably be even better. But luck was on our side: not only did our dependable Boston-area ticket-scalping machine overestimate the demand for the show (sold out, but literally dozens of craigslist posts offering up discounted tickets that day, and you couldn't swing your fist without smacking a scalper out front), but a friend was working the crowd that night, and he hooked us up with some unsold seats. His kindness made it much easier to laugh at the venue's strict definition of 'obstructed'. Next time, I'm paying more attention to the fine print.  speaking of which, the fine print... If anyone has any issues whatsoever with this live set being made available, just say the word (contact info in the 'nac faq). I am but a fan trying to share and spread the word. Recorded with a Sony ECM-719 mic and a Sony MZ-RH10 minidisc, converted to .wav and then edited to 192kbps mp3s. Tracks are made available for a limited time, and are not reposted once removed. Labels: livemp3s  |
 neil halstead live in cambridge, ma on november 14th, 2008 previously: joy formidable - boston 2011 recent posts on the 'nac...
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