After a stop for some overpriced Mexican food, we found ourselves at the Independent to see Foxygen. They had one of my favorite albums of 2013, the somewhat embarrassingly named "We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic," but I had heard some disturbing stories about their live shows - i.e., long breaks in the middle of sets, fighting onstage, and all kinds of other bullshit that bands shouldn't do but I think they're about 15 years old so what do you want out of a kid. Also, the lead singer fell off the stage once and broke his leg. The Wife had been exposed to the music just from me constantly playing the album last year but I don't think she expected much.
It was fucking great. Go see this band if you ever get a chance.
One touchpoint for their sounds is Satanic Majesties Request-era Stones, and the lead singer did his best nouveau Jagger, down to the duckface and the utterly inhibition-free dancing. Plus, they had three women backup singers. INDIE BANDS, YOU HAVE BEEN DOING IT WRONG THE WHOLE TIME. Why stand there glumly when you can have THREE WOMEN BACKUP SINGERS and dance around?
Mini-Jagger's between-song banter was eclectic, to say the least. "MAKE SOME NOISE IF YOU'RE PREGNANT!" he yelled at one point. Then, looking almost directly at me (we were right up front), he said, "Who here got a babysitter so they could come to the show tonight?" IT'S LIKE YOU'RE LOOKING INTO MY SOUL MAN.
Plus a lot of my favorite songs were frontloaded, which was was great because we had to leave at 11:20 because of our dopey baby. Always stepping on our good time! I'm just kidding, CPS, put the phone down. But seriously, it's tough when the headliner doesn't even go on until 10:45. Man, we are all fucking old.
Goddam it was fun.
#2 and #3 were no slouches either.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad they've gotten it together. They were so terrible at South by Southwest last year (2013) that I was genuinely embarrassed for them. Hopefully the lead singer reigned in his drug consumption or whatever.
ReplyDeleteStoney - I believe that to be true, but #1 was much closer to us and thus more visible.
ReplyDeleteGG - I think I remember you saying something to that effect on Twitter. With that and all the other reports I was wondering what we'd get. But it was a fantastic show.
They got a good review of their Coachella set on Stereogum, too.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.stereogum.com/1675524/coachella-2014-the-9-best-things-from-saturday/photo/attachment/coachella14_foxygen/
"Foxygen's influences mostly predate punk, but this incarnation of the group is as punk as it gets: inspired young people fearlessly imitating their heroes without regard for precision. All it takes is a few decent songs and some balls."
I know this would be the biggest buzzkill, but I kind of have a fantasy that venues would give you a good sense of when the acts are. Sometimes I'm there just to see the opener, so kind of need to get there on time, but don't want to line up and be the first person in the door. Sometimes I hate the opener and want to avoid them completely. Does this make me old and lame in addition to just getting older??
ReplyDeleteThe Independent is nice because they have to end at midnight. Therefor it's a pretty sure thing that the headliner will be starting at about 10:30 (later if they play short sets, earlier if they play long sets).
ReplyDeletethe answer is dxm and weed!! muahahaha
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ReplyDeleteI agree with everything including the pie chart of drug possibilities. I just saw them up at a winery in Sonoma - tiny venue and it was FUN! He's definitely on something but it was the most I've laughed and danced at the same time in ages.
ReplyDeleteI hope they can keep it together, there's some real talent on that stage...