TNP@Pabst

JNo and I headed over to Milwaukee's Pabst Theater last night to see The New Pornographers. I've had nothing but good experiences at the Pabst and this one was no exception - The show may have been the best that I've seen there.

picture borrowed from the always great Muzzle of Bees

After a couple of openers who at times I loved and times I wanted off stage ASAP, the NPs took the stage. At first I thought we might be in trouble. Aside from cornerstone Carl Newman and (the quite impressive) Kathryn Calder, the rest of the band may have gotten into the liquor cabinet beforehand. A lot of bands can pull that off but having not seen these guys live + knowing that with their style of music things have to stay really tight... I was worried.

Never was I more worried when Dan Bejar took the stage and seemed to not really comprehend how his mic worked... and then he started singing and all was right with the world. The whole group pulled it off (mostly) flawlessly and put on a show that had everyone wanting more and more.

I'll definitely try to catch them again next time they're coming around - especially if they can get the whole cast of characters together for it.

Muzak

I saw two very good shows last week. It started out with The Weepies on Tuesday at Cafe Montmarte. I had been to Cafe Montmarte before but never for a show... it was awesome (as I had heard coming into it). The kind of small venue that is really ideal of seeing this kind of folk show. If you're wondering what these guys sound like: let's just say that there has seldom been a more aptly named group! (and I don't mean that as a negative) If you want to check out their stuff just hit The Weepies website and it should automatically start playing.

As you'll also see on the website they've been featured on several episodes of tv shows. As they said during the concert: You know you've finally made it as a singer songwriter when two people make out in a closet to one of your songs on television.

The second show of the week was quite the opposite of folk. Atmosphere (hip hop) played at The Pabst which by the way is not the same place as the Riverside (sorry Nate!). This was an awesome show. I've seen Atmosphere three or four times now (basically anytime they're around here) and this may have been my favorite of the shows. Their new disc is great and this was a great live performance as one of the openers (Brother Ali) stuck around to do backup lyrics for Slug.

This turned out to be a great venue too - the first and second levels were completely packed but we had lots of room to spread out and really enjoy it from the third level.