At the Bowery this particular evening we were there for a benefit concert for the Willie Mae Rock Camp for girls. This is an awesome organization that lets girls of all ages carry out dreams of rock stardom. If only this were around when I was a kid. So the majority of the night consisted of short sets from bands of like 8 year old girls pouring out gritty punk rock. It was pretty wild. It may seem confusing, but there was enough rock stardom in the room to keep the crowd in place. At one point Fred Schneider came out and played with one of the mini girl groups. It was a little surreal.
After the chick bands had clearly played way past their bedtimes, Kimya Dawson took over the stage. I was so impressed, Id never heard her live. Her songs are funny, and sad, and command the pointed attention of everyone in the room. Everyone, even those drunk faces in the back- you know the ones that talk through the entire show, even the quiet numbers and it makes you wonder why they bothered to buy a ticket. You know- those people. Well, they were quietly listening during Kimyas songs. You want to hear every word she says cause you know it’s far more interesting than whatever you were thinking about or that weird thing you wanted to say to your friend. I heard “Underground” and “The Beer” which were both great. Also, she played on this tiny pink guitar, which seemed to contradict her in every way – only not at all.
Now here is the thing I miss about reviewing jam bands. Due to the strong influence of the Dead generation there is such a drive to record and account for every show. Detailed and decorated set lists are up the morning after every show, and in the case of Phish and now TLG, they are posted in real time. A sense of history is so important. Oh well, so anyways for this CYHSY show I can’t find a set list anywhere and since the majority of the tunes came off the new album which I haven’t rotated even twice yet. I’m in the dark. But, I was super impressed with their stage presence – I love the handing off of the keys and guitars. It’s so great; their fun handclappy-jangley-jumpy style has already proliferated manifold. You can hear and see it in lots of new bands. It happened fast. Also, the pure pop- fanaticism that ‘yellow-country teeth’ elicited from the crowd was ground shaking. Didn’t expect that.
All in all, great evening. Totally different crowd and scene and performance. Great to take something familiar and alter it slightly past recognition.
