Artist: Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Venue: Roseland Ballroom, NYC, NY
Date: May 2, 2006
After what seems like forever, I finally got to see my very dear Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and they put on as good of a show as had been promised to me by my sister (who saw them, along with about a bazillion other bands, at Coachella just a few days ago). Opened by some shitty group (that at least had the honesty to start by saying “we know you’re not here to see us, so just bear with us and we’ll be done and out of your way soon”), the YYYs came on and performed most of the new album, and unfortunately, only a few picks from their older stuff. It’s hard to really say much about this show, because in some senses it was a little bit anti-climactic–I already knew that Karen O was gonna completely rock my world with her animalistic performance on stage (which he most certainly did). Perhaps the biggest reason was that this new album is slightly disappointing, since (as I’ve already told just about everyone who cares, and many who don’t), that it sounds like someone took the ‘attitude’ dial on the mixing board and turned it down to 10% of what it used to be. The net result is a much more ‘prim and proper’ sound that doesn’t really befit the YYYs (except on masterpieces like ‘Maps’, which unsurprisingly has no equivalent on the new album). While there are a handful of decent tracks on the album (which sounded much more alive when performed on stage), the concert served almost as a reminder of how much studio polishing can hurt a genuinely talented band. The show was also quite short (just under an hour) meaning that many of my favorites weren’t played (No no no, and modern romance), and the venue was huge and completely packed (with a wide variety of people, including many younger kids who I could have done without). Finally, it was a special night for the YYYs, as all 3 members’ parents were in the audience (a fact which Karen announced, followed by saying ‘let’s rock motherfuckers!!’); however, as a dedication to their parents, they performed an acoustic version of Maps. While it was still the same song, it wasn’t the same masterpiece that is the electric version of Maps (a la the album). Nevertheless, despite all my complaints, I must say that this was a thoroughly enjoyable night.
Tags: roseland ballroom, yeah yeah yeahs
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