speed of dark

First off, let me say that I met two people at last night's Dears concert at the Troubadour who go to more concerts in a month than I am able to attend in four years. I was in line with two guys (hi Ed!) who regaled me with tales of the shows they have seen recently and those they plan to attend in the near future. I am horribly, terribly jealous, but since I still can't hear out of my left ear, it's probably for the best that I don't go to more shows. That said...may I present the Dears:

This is actually not my picture...I stole it from here...click on the link for some truly incredible, close-up pictures of the band.

I was lucky enough to be directly in front of the stage and two speakers (which is why I have the hearing damage). I heard a wonderful but short set by fields, which alt-gramma is planning to review. I was given the setlist for the fields by none other than the lead singer, Nick Peill (which I gave to alt-gramma) and when I raved about their performance and asked the keyboardist/singer Thorunn Antonia about a merch table, specifically the excellent sticker she had on her keyboard, she took the time to talk to me about stuff, shake my hand, and she gave me a whole bunch of stickers (see more about this at the end of this post). But I digress...

The Dears were charismatic, exciting, and they rocked superhard. All six band members looked happy to be there and like they were having fun playing together, which always makes for a great show. Lead singer Murray Lightburn was not a man to smile much, and he got a little testy when at first his keytar wouldn't work. But when he figured out that all he had to do was "pump up the volume," as he said, then all was right with the world and he continued to play the hell out of several guitars, the aforementioned keytar, and a tunonica, a small, handheld keyboard that you blow into and play.

At several points in the show, Murray stood directly in front of me. And by directly, I mean his body was two or three inches from my face and I had to put my head ALL the way back to look up at him. Then he decided to climb on the speaker in front of me, and I put out my hand and leaned back a bit, because I was afraid he was going to fall on me. He put one foot on the speaker and one foot on the teeeeeenyist bit of stage that was in front of me, and I grabbed his leg, again afraid that he was going to fall on me. That, and he kicked me in the stomach a little bit. Obviously, I survived and I have no plans to sue for pain and suffering. There were a couple of times that bass guitarist Martin Pelland leaned down and swung the neck of his guitar right above my head and that was a little bit freaky. And then there was the overzealous photographer to my left who kept jabbing me in the side and pushing her camera lens in front of me. But who cares.

At the end of the show as he walked off of the stage, I shook hands with the drummer George Donoso III. I had watched him with fascination during much of their set because his drumming was awesome and, as I recently confessed to alt-gramma, I want a drum kit. Someone (now I don't remember who, if it was a band member or roadie, I was so excited to get it) gave me the set list (click for full size) which was also used to tell Murray to wish Renaud, their sound mixer, a happy birthday. We all sang happy birthday to him, led by Murray, and there was the distinct smell of burning candle wax, so they must have given him something on fire to blow out. After the show, we could hear the band members and hangers-on singing happy birthday to him again in the "green room". As we were leaving, I spotted guitarist Patrick Krief outside on the street and asked him to autograph the set list, which he very nicely did. He confirmed that they may be playing at the El Rey, which is probably my favorite venue, in November.

The Dears were outstanding, they played a tremendous show, and they are highly, highly recommended. I'll post some pictures that I took soon.

the dears: bandwagoneers
the dears: whites only party

Buy the album Gang of Losers today! You won't be disappointed!

As I mentioned earlier, I was given several fields stickers as seen here:

If you want one, email me at indie-mom AT speedofdark-web DOT com with your name and mailing address, and I'll send you one (supplies are limited - no rainchecks).

Check out the Dears tour schedule at MySpace to see if they're coming your way soon.