Sunday, October 03, 2004
Rock Like a Norwegian
Olaf is a ridiculous concert venue. I feel sorry for any band that comes to play here, with the exception of the "Big Fall Concert" headliner, whose career usually doesn't need any help. Every other band has to play to an audience of twelve who just stand there. It's no fun to play to an audience of twelve who just stand there. If I were a local indie band trying to make it, or at least trying to play cool shows and feel like real musicians, a show in the Lion's Pause would all but kill my momentum. But anyway, back to the Big Fall Concert. This year, last night, it was Ben Folds, a mostly mellow piano man with just enough spunk and rebellion to make a gym full of Minnesotan college kids feel like they're at a real rock show. Don't get me wrong, I respect Ben Folds; his song "Rockin' the Suburbs" is one of the finest pieces of satire I've ever heard. And he put on a pretty good show. His band was on, he was entertaining and he played to the crowd, which his years of touring have surely taught him to do. (His only mistake, really, was covering "Get Your Hands Off My Woman," which has a catchier melody than any Ben Folds song and just made me want to go listen to the Darkness. Covering the Darkness is a feat that should only be attempted by someone with a better falsetto than Justin Hawkins, which is nobody. Why point yourself out as an inferior vocalist?) The point is, as Clare pointed out, he was the perfect person to play a concert at St. Olaf, which is a sad reflection of the cultural apathy and general meekness of the place, as were the six or seven fists pumping to such lyrical revelations as "ba-da-bum bum." If we ever got anyone truly ground-breaking to play here, no one would show up.
Not that I'm all enlightened or revolutionary either. But at least I recognize the problem. And I'm trying, so help me, I'm trying. Thank the benevolent heart of Jason Martin for the upcoming Pedro the Lion/Starflyer 59 show in Minneapolis.
Olaf is a ridiculous concert venue. I feel sorry for any band that comes to play here, with the exception of the "Big Fall Concert" headliner, whose career usually doesn't need any help. Every other band has to play to an audience of twelve who just stand there. It's no fun to play to an audience of twelve who just stand there. If I were a local indie band trying to make it, or at least trying to play cool shows and feel like real musicians, a show in the Lion's Pause would all but kill my momentum. But anyway, back to the Big Fall Concert. This year, last night, it was Ben Folds, a mostly mellow piano man with just enough spunk and rebellion to make a gym full of Minnesotan college kids feel like they're at a real rock show. Don't get me wrong, I respect Ben Folds; his song "Rockin' the Suburbs" is one of the finest pieces of satire I've ever heard. And he put on a pretty good show. His band was on, he was entertaining and he played to the crowd, which his years of touring have surely taught him to do. (His only mistake, really, was covering "Get Your Hands Off My Woman," which has a catchier melody than any Ben Folds song and just made me want to go listen to the Darkness. Covering the Darkness is a feat that should only be attempted by someone with a better falsetto than Justin Hawkins, which is nobody. Why point yourself out as an inferior vocalist?) The point is, as Clare pointed out, he was the perfect person to play a concert at St. Olaf, which is a sad reflection of the cultural apathy and general meekness of the place, as were the six or seven fists pumping to such lyrical revelations as "ba-da-bum bum." If we ever got anyone truly ground-breaking to play here, no one would show up.
Not that I'm all enlightened or revolutionary either. But at least I recognize the problem. And I'm trying, so help me, I'm trying. Thank the benevolent heart of Jason Martin for the upcoming Pedro the Lion/Starflyer 59 show in Minneapolis.
