Pretenders Played Terminal 5 with Lowlight, 4/3/17

One, quick shot of Lowlight at Terminal 5 that would have been better if I'd remembered to adjust my shutter speed from the 1/50th of a second it was on from shooting video a few days ago.

We (Don't) Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful

Since the fall of 2016, Pretenders have been on their first tour in four years. Most of those dates have been with Stevie Nicks, but the band have managed to slot in a few dates where they've been the sole headliner. One of those came at Red Bank's Count Basie, back in November, and our friends Lowlight landed the opening slot. I missed that one for some reason.

Jump ahead to one week ago. Pretenders would be playing NJPAC on Sunday April 2nd with Stevie Nicks and then headlining Terminal 5 the following day. As they searched for an opener for the Manhattan show, Pretenders frontwoman, legend, icon, rock and roll queen, Chrissie Hynde, said she wanted a band with some catchy songs. She told her manager to get Lowlight again. I wasn't going to miss my friends' big chance this time, and I made plans to head up to the cavernous cube with the giant disco ball on the West Side of Manhattan.

My initial plans called for taking the train. It's the rare show these days that's in Manhattan instead of Brooklyn, and I wanted to take advantage of public transportation. But our crumbling and neglected railroad experienced another derailment on Monday morning, and I didn't want to chance a commuting SNAFU. I drove the CoolVan for a beautiful and unobstructed hour to the venue, grabbed my ticket at will call, and positioned myself for Lowlight's set.

They took the stage promptly at 8pm and absolutely made the most of their 25-minute slot. From the opening strains of "'86 Parisienne" to the emotional outro of "Where Do We Go from Here," Lowlight won over a crowd of people who were there to see a rock legend. People around me threw their arms over their heads and screamed at the end of each song. At the end of the night, Lowlight signed copies of Where Do We Go from Here at the merch table. A week of crazy anticipation ended in a moment of triumph for the band.

[Note: For better or for worse, I can no longer hear "Where Do We Go from Here" without thinking of this video. You should watch it. You might learn something.

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I didn't score a photo pass for the evening, as those are non-existent for Pretenders' shows; and I pretty much adhered to the "no cameras" policy all night. I would have loved to have gotten some more shots of Lowlight during their big moment, but watching and listening without a camera in front of my face was great. It made it easier for everyone to see my big, stupid grin.

Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders hit at exactly 9pm, opening with two songs from the band's 2016 Alone, "Alone" and "Gotta Wait." Hynde then introduced "Message of Love," and we were off on a tour of one of the most solid catalogs in pop music: "Private Life," "Hymn to Her," "Talk of the Town," "Back on the Chain Gang," "Stop Your Sobbing," "I'll Stand By You," "My City Was Gone," "Mystery Achievement," "Middle of the Road," "Brass in Pocket." We got Chrissie Hynde solo track "Down the Wrong Way," and an encore that included "Up The Neck," "Thumbelina," and John McEnroe (?) jamming with the band on "Precious."

Through it all, Chrissie Hynde was mesmerizing. Her voice has not changed since 1979's "Stop Your Sobbing," unless maybe it's gotten even better. On the ballads, it was heavenly. On the rockers, it was full of her trademark attitude and growl. Hynde commanded the crowd and ribbed the band, all while wearing a T-shirt that read "I'm Sexy And I Know It."

One of the best moments of the evening came when Hynde thanked Lowlight: "A great little band. Not a great LITTLE band, just a great band. This is the second time we've played with them. My personal choice for the night."

Pretenders, it turns out, are one of those bands I've quietly, without really knowing it, loved my entire life. Their songs have woven themselves into the soundtrack of my days, from those years when I was a "classic rock" guy through to my discovery of new music. I sang almost every word on Monday night.

Lowlight, as you know if you've spent any time here at all, are one of my favorite bands and a bunch of my favorite people. They work so, so hard; and seeing them get a chance to revel a little bit in the payoff... ...well... ...WHAT??... ...I just have something in my eye!

Slowdive Played Terminal 5 with Low, 10/25/14. Check out Allyson Dwyer's Review at SIMGE.

My view of Slowdive for most of their show at Terminal 5

Oh, Terminal 5

It's kind of a thing to bash the suckitude that is seeing a show at Terminal 5. I've had some not horrible experiences there in the past: The New Pornographers, OFF! / Fucked Up / Dinosaur Jr. (playing Bug), and Real Estate / Girls.  I even watched the New Pornos from the floor. I saw both of the latter two from the railing along the balcony; and, while I got really claustrophobic and feared for my life on the way out, I didn't have that many complaints.

I've also had some horrendous experiences there: The Shins / St. Lucia and The Walkmen / Dum Dum Girls / Daughter. Both of those involved obstructed views (by both the pillars that dot the space and the pillar-sized humans that seemed to find me at every turn), loud talkers, and people just not really interested in what was happening onstage. My experience seeing Slowdive / Low on Saturday night definitely fell into the horrendous camp.

I really like Slowdive; but, like all of the shoegaze bands that are not My Bloody Valentine, they're kind of not My Bloody Valentine for me. One thing in Terminal 5's favor on Saturday, though, was that Slowdive sounded absolutely great (Well, that and the absolutely immaculate bathrooms). I tried a couple of times to do that close my eyes and let the music wash over me thing, but my level of discomfort just made it impossible. I'm not quite sure how I would have felt if I were as much of a fan of Slowdive as I am of My Bloody Valentine.

Well you can get a fantastic perspective on that from Speak Into My Good Eye's Allyson Dwyer, a true Slowdive fanatic who attended the show with me:

In Terminal 5, surrounded by 3,000 people, a concert never felt less communal, less real, than this one. My view of the band began more towards the front of the crowd, Rachel Goswell’s voice an actual presence calling out above me. I battled to even hear her as people talked to each other, a couple making out took over my space, and people fidgeted to spots as others left. I struggled to see anything above my head as attendees raised a wall of phones high in the air.

Take a look at the rest of her review to understand why going to Terminal 5 may just be the worst way to see your favorite band and why she (and I) will, most likely, never go back there. Asbury you've spoiled us.

The Walkmen, Dum Dum Girls at Terminal 5, New York, NY, October 18th, 2012

The Whole Package

One of the things that's often missing from a mindie rock show is theatricality.  Many times, I think there's either a conscious decision just to get up there and play or a genuine shyness by some of the performers that prevents them from doing anything but reproducing their songs live.  There isn't anything wrong with that.  In a way, it's part of the whole indie aesthetic; and, honestly, if I were a performer that's probably what I would do.

Sometimes, though, a band is the whole package of image and sound.  I got to see two bands last night that wrap their songs in the carefully cultivated images that they bring to their live shows.

There were actually three acts on the bill at last night's Terminal 5 show, and I don't want to leave Daughter out of the discussion.  The London-based trio definitely falls into the just play the music category.  Lead singer and guitarist / bassist Elena Tonra is shy and self-deprecating on stage, but she has a beautiful voice that swirls around her own as well as Igor Haefeli's (sometimes bowed) guitar.  Their songs included lots of slow builds and interesting noise.

Dum Dum Girls took the stage at around 8:45.  Each member was dressed in black.  Lead guitarist Jules and frontwoman / rhythm guitarist Dee Dee twisted in unison on many of the songs, their bangs bouncing back and forth with them.  Speaking of Dee Dee Penny, she is one of the most mesmerizing frontpeople in music.  Each movement appears carefully calculated:  the way she tilts her head, the way she strums a chord.  This, contrasted with the rest of the band's relative stoicism, gives the whole performance the theatrical feel I mentioned before.

And then there are the songs.  The reverb-y garage pop of songs like "Bhang, Bhang, I'm a Burnout" or "Bedroom Eyes" and selections from the band's excellent End of Daze EP like "Lord Knows" and "Season in Hell" sounded and looked great.  Unfortunately, since they were opening, their set ended too soon for me.

I've mentioned before that acts at Terminal 5 are prompt, and The Walkmen came out at just about the stroke of 10.  Lead singer Hamilton Leithauser was dressed in his usual dark suit and tie.  Leithauser is, himself, a distinctive frontperson.  At points in many of the songs, he rears back and lets loose with his high-pitched yell at a level that makes you wonder how he can do it night after night.  He points at the crowd to underline particular lines in the songs.  The band relies on vintage guitars, organ, and upright piano for their sound.  That sound is a jangling, kind of neo-surf coupled with Leithauser's distinctive vocal style.

During their ninety minute set, the band ran through all of the songs that have become mindie classics like "In the New Year," "Angela Surf City," "The Rat," and "We've Been Had" as well as some of the standout cuts from this year's Heaven like "Heaven," "Heartbreaker," and "We Can't Be Beat."  A full horn section joined the band for several songs including "Stranded" from 2010's Lisbon.  With the horns blaring, the drums pounding, the piano tinkling, the guitar jangling, and Leithauser giving it everything he had, you could imagine this music being played in the 40's or 50's; while, at the same time, you realized that the people of that time would have fallen over if they ever heard anything like it.

In all, it was a really great bill that contrasted the simple substance of an up and coming indie band like Daughter with the style of Dum Dum Girls and The Walkmen.  Both of those more established bands brim with the substance necessary to pull off their stylistic choices.

Music geek bonus:  I was able to snag one of the final two free 7" singles that The Walkmen gave out to 100 attendees, and I finally bought the clear-vinyl "Loser Edition" of End of Daze.

Obstructed View

The Shins / St. Lucia at Terminal 5, New York, NY, April 29th, 2012

What is it with these bands and their Sunday night shows?  Cooldads have jobs with 8:30 meetings and kids that need getting ready for school in the morning.  Mad Men, Game of Thrones:  don’t bands like The Shins get that a cooldad’s entire week is spent gearing up for these things?

I’ll have to rely on HBO On Demand to catch up on this week’s developments in the land of Westeros, because, along with two other cooldads and one honorary cooldad, I humped it into the city to see The Shins at Terminal 5 last night.

We may have lingered a little too long over burgers and beer in Jersey City before the show, because Terminal 5 is not a place at which you want to arrive late for a sold-out show.  Terminal 5 is a large, multi-leveled, general admission-only space.  It’s actually a fine place to see a show if you arrive early enough.   You can stake out a space along the railing of one of the balcony levels or even grab some nice real estate on the floor and have a nice view of the stage.  There are several bars including an outdoor space on the roof.  On this night, though, our late arrival forced us to jockey for position and to suffer through mostly obstructed views.

Acts at Terminal 5 are quite prompt.  Opener St. Lucia started at around 8:15 and played a roughly half-hour set.  The Shins are playing three nights this week at Terminal 5, each night with a different opening band – St. Lucia, Chairlift, and Real Estate.  St. Lucia were unknown to me before last night, but I enjoyed them.  My research has dug up the fact that they are primarily a solo project of multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, producer, and South African native Jean-Philip Grobler.  They were a full band on Sunday night that included three keyboards and a saxophone.  Along with the drums and guitars, this all came together to create a distinctly 80’s synth pop feel.  I kept thinking about Level 42.

Even during St. Lucia’s performance, sight lines from our location were poor unless you stood up on one of the many small ottomans available.  The sound was good.  HD monitors showing the band hung from the walls, so there was that option, I guess.

The Shins came on almost right at 9:00.  James Mercer has mentioned in interviews during the entire Port of Morrow album cycle that The Shins have always been a vehicle for him to get his compositions out to the world.  The band rose up out of getting his friends to help him.  The current incarnation of The Shins is a new one, but they did an excellent job on songs from all four Shins albums.

The band opened with “Caring Is Creepy,” the album opener from their 2001 debut Oh Inverted World.  During the roughly hour and forty-five minute set, The Shins rattled off favorites like “Mine’s Not a High Horse,” “Saint Simon,” “So Says I,” and the classic “New Slang.”  For their performance of “Phantom Limb,” Amber Coffman and Haley Dekle of Dirty Projectors joined The Shins to do backing vocals.  This was hard to tell from our spot on the balcony until Mercer introduced them.

Port of Morrow tracks like “Simple Song,” “The Rifle’s Spiral,” and “40 Mark Strasse” represent a slightly new, more 70’s AM radio sounding, direction for Mercer.  Last night, though, they fit right in with the older material.

The Shins are godfathers of the mainstream indie genre, and James Mercer is one of the best pop songwriters working today.  The band showed all of that last night by showcasing their impressive catalog of mindie classics.  The songs sounded great and the new band played well.  Though, the size of the venue and our location minimized any form of connection that I felt with the band.

For shows in the New York area, sometimes Terminal 5 will be your only choice to see your favorite bands.  If that happens to you, make sure you get there early, try to forget about the crush of humanity that will head for the exits at exactly the same time you do, and have a good time.