BSP returns!

I know you've all been waiting with great anticipation for my review of the touring spectacle that is British Sea Power. After all, if you can't see them, you might as well live vicariously through my experiences.

It was at the same venue. The Black Cat on 14th street in DC. This time, I managed to get Andrew Miller to come with me to experience his first real rock and roll concert (Camera Obscura doesn't count because they aren't really that rock and roll). There were about four or five others that all pledged to come nigh unto three months ago, but shirked their duty when it presented itself. Alas! I imagine the time they spent curled up with their significant others amid the raging tempest that encompassed the DC area on that fateful night didn't compare to chanting "Easy Easy Easy!" and losing some hearing.

Once again, we scored an awesome location-right up against the stage, in between Noble and Yan. Club concerts aren't even worth it if you aren't close. Total waste of time (see Garbage, Wasatch Events Center, Fall 1998). The opening act was some yokel from NYC (who isn't from NYC) named Jeffrey Lewis who entertained the crowd with absurd picture stories about the history of Communism and the Creeping Brain while singing to his tape recorder. It was funny. Good for him. Better than the Living Things.

Next band: The Rosebuds. I had listened to their albums a couple times through and I thought they sounded MUCH better live than on their albums. Their latest album would have been killer if they had turned up the guitars like in the concert and turned down the synths. They really rocked well, one of the best opening bands I've ever seen. Seriously. Really good.

But, when you have the jolly lads from BSP following, it just isn't fair. This time they covered the stage in local foliage and started off with an incendiary version of Lights Out for Darker Skies. I mean, it was great. I just sat watching Noble the whole time. Quite the impressive guitarist. They followed that up with Atom. The thing that impressed me about this show was how tight they were. Last concert was great, but this one you could tell they've honed the set over two months of touring. The other benefit of touring is that they mess around with the songs at the end. Such was Carrion which went on for a longish while than I expected including some epic Noble-playing-guitar-with-teeth moments and waves of distortion and such. The boys seemed a little looser this time, cracking smiles every once in a while...well, Yan and Noble did. Hamilton never did. He's intense when singing, veins popping, eyes bugging. They had a couple of other people touring with them this time, Phil on cornet and Abby on viola (this is the point where Charles, if he reads the blog, would say "Well at least there was something good about the concert" in his best Charles voice). Hamilton and Abby played back to back a couple of times, striking cool positions. Interesting. Huge highlights were A Trip Out (which might be my second favorite song on the album because it uses two great words: "apocalypse" and "gibberish"), No Lucifer, and Down on the Ground. Surprising songs played: Blackout and True Adventures. Larsen B was also great, but when is it ever not. You know, I'm not a huge fan of Canvey Island, so that might have been a lowlight. But the instrumental piece the Great Skua worked really well in concert. I was surprised.

But, of course, you all really want to hear what happened in the end. First, they played the rawest version of Spirit of St. Louis which then descended into bedlam for the next 25 minutes or so. Noble leaped into the crowd with his guitar and disappeared for ten minutes. Yan climbed on Phil's shoulders to sing nonsense. Tons of squalling guitar. Noble returned to stage and shoved tree branches down everyone's shirt. Some guy on the front row over by Hamilton looked like he was crying as he tore every leaf that came near him and threw it back at the band, which created this trippy scene of Abby doing some kind of spinning dance with a branch over her head in the middle of the stage amid a storm of leaf bits. Eventually, they all started leaving the stage but left their guitars squalling into the amps. The gig essentially ended when their manager came on stage to turn off the amps. It was hilarious. People were alternately clapping and just staring. I certainly got my 15 bucks worth out of it.

It's too bad I can't find any pictures of the show. I was going to take my camera, but decided I would be too distracted taking pictures, and no one has posted anything on the BSP forum. 'Tis a pity.