Cold War Kids warm up Dublin
Derek:
I really liked them… they’re very disjointed and unconventional. The drummer hardy ever uses his one cymbal and creates a lot of the percussion by banging maracas on the drums… they all had vintage instruments, which, especially the guitar, gave a very warm, vibrato, echo, instead of a defined angular sound, more common at the moment… the singer definitely has his own style, at times akin to a “O Brother Where Art Thou’” extra imitating Iggy Pop.. there’s a lot of space in their songs, which would probably put a lot of people off, who are used to a more layered commercial sound and the unhinged arrangements take a few listens to get under your skin, which is why I was so surprised to see them sell out their tour and even more surprised to see how many people in the crowd were singing along with each song. Stand out track of the night was, predictably, Hang me Up To Dry, (though their cover of Tom Waits “Dirt in the Ground”, from Bone Machine was a surprising treat). They wouldn’t be a band I’d expect to be a commercial success, but they’re doing really well so far… just goes to show the power of peoples choice on the internet, over being spoon fed over produced corporate manipulated radio friendly fluff.
Chris:
I have to say I went into this cold – I’d listened to their album once but couldn’t remember a thing so I had no idea what to expect. If I had known… I wouldn’t have gone!
Being very much a tunes man, I really couldn’t remember a single tune, riff, nothing in fact, from any song once the gig finished. I can vaguely remember a couple of tracks being enjoyable enough but maybe the crowd carried me along.
They just seemed to be putting their heart and soul (and fair play to ‘em for giving it the proverbial 110%) into making what for me was indistinct and undistinguished noise.
I’ve been to acoustic gigs like Scott Matthews that had better sound (and that’s with the Village’s dodgy sound system!) and I felt absolutely no charisma whatsoever from the band, as well as the fact that they looked awful. The singer is the kind of guy you’d expect to see plastering your house, with his 2 euro t-shirt, square head and rubbish 6 euro hair cut (get me… I pay 16 euro for mine, big spender!).
Overall it felt like a bunch of guys belting out songs to their mates – the mates being the Ambassador crowd who all felt they were in on some great undiscovered secret and could tell all their mates they were at the gig – on cheap equipment that they wrote after listening to music from artists they can’t even dream of emulating and trying to be quirky and unique, just like them guys, sorry but you will never be Tom Waits). They weren’t, they just sounded like they were trying too hard,
All their messing about with arrangements was packaging that didn’t hide for me the emptiness of ideas inside that package. Apart from that, it was a good evening! (<— sarcasm).
Highlight of the night? Derek bagging a face value ticket outside the venue after I didn’t text a friend that our spare tickets had been sold and he went and got a babysitter and was coming in on the Dart for the gig. Argh!! Derek, what a man, a saviour! Other highlights? The delicious Chinese satay chicken on , fab grub. Oh and the band only played two encores and I didn’t have to queue for a jacket so I was out of there quickly
Parnell St
A bouncer tried to stop people going out the door to the cloakroom unless they had a ticket and everyone else had to squeeze into another exit. So the whole crowd just pushed past him and went out that way anyway! Power to the people.
Still, ya pays your money and ya take your chance and I’d still happily go to a gig by a band I didn’t know if one of you recommended them ‘cos it’s hard to tell what someone might like and 15 quid was well worth it to check them out. Same with Delorentos, they gave a very enjoyable gig last Thu even though I knew none of their stuff; review to follow.
Filed under: Cold War Kids, Gigs, Music | Leave a Comment
No Responses Yet to “Cold War Kids warm up Dublin”