Trip Report: Shins Concert

[MEbenhoe]

A few weeks ago my girlfriend(Bri) got me tickets to see The Shins in Milwaukee on February 9th(having a girlfriend who will get you shins tickets is a major plus [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] ). So Friday after class I packed up the car for the weekend and began the 200 mile drive home. Having made this drive countless times, it pretty much bores me to tears now, so I just end up putting on some music and spacing for the entire ride.

For dinner I told Bri she could pick anywhere downtown to go and she chose the Rock Bottom Brewery, since she had never been there. For those who aren't familiar with the restaurant, Rock Bottom Brewery is a nicer chain-style restaurant that is known for having a microbrewery in house. For an appetizer we ordered some Seared Ahi. I must have not read the menu very well because I was under the impression that we were ordering a sushi roll when what we actually got was some sort of cabbage blend with the fish laid out over it, dipping sauce, and some sort of chip. Bri and I both suck at using the chopsticks they gave us so we basically just ended up eating with our hands. The fish was delicious, and Bri liked it too despite being a bit squeamish at the idea of eating raw fish. For the main course I got a chicken, shrimp, and sausage jambalaya served with the recommended Pale Ale. The beer went well with the spiciness of the jambalaya, so overall the dinner was a success.

The concert was at The Rave/Eagles Ballroom, which is just a horrible concert venue. It's just a bunch of people jampacked into a standing room only area in front of a stage, to the point where you can barely move. (there is no way the place meets fire code as at the end of the concert it took about half an hour for us to get from the 3rd floor concert area to outside the building, and we were about midpack as everyone has to pass through a narrow stairway to get out). We managed to get there early enough to get really close to the stage, about 4th row deep.

The opening act was Viva Voce basically by default because the lead sings backup vocals on a few songs off The Shins new album. Pretty [censored] opening band that got its biggest applause of the night when they said they were on their last song. They played for about 45 minutes, and then after about half an hour of setup and sound check, on came The Shins. The set list was pretty much a dream set list for me, with the only glaring absence being "Know Your Onion":

1. Sleeping Lessons (played a longer version than the album version that was pretty good)
2. Australia
3. Pam Berry
4. Phantom Limb (those of you who are in love with this song will really like it live too, sounded great)
5. Kissing the Lipless
6. Mine's Not a High Horse
7. Girl Inform Me
8. Girl on the Wing (played a really cool relaxed version of this song)
9. New Slang (Crowd obviously exploded when they started this song)
10. Saint Simon (this one sounded great live, really well done)
11. Girl Sailor
12. Turn A Square
13. Gone For Good
14. A Come Appears
15. Turn On Me
16. Caring is Creepy
Encore: Pressed in a Book and So Says I

I'd heard a lot before the show about how The Shins lacked stage energy and I just didn't see why, as I thought they were very into the show and sounded great. The only bad part is that the lead(James Mercer) is terrible at interacting with the crowd, but keyboard/guitarist Marty Crandall and bassist Dave Hernandez do a pretty good job of filling that void. Overall the show was awesome, Mercer's voice is awesome live, and the band just played a great set. Hopefully if you go to see The Shins, you'll have the good fortune of seeing them in a better venue though.

[firstyearclay]

Awesome POST!!!!

I sincerely love these guys but I am VERY disappointed in their lastest album. Just over-rated imo.

Gone for Good is amazing.

FYC

[yvesaint]

where is Sea Legs or Split Needles ??? i hope this is not their set for the entire tour ...

[SL__72]

Surprised you had that much of a negative reaction to Viva Voce, I thought there new CD was pretty decent. They are just a husband/wife duo who record music together.

[cobrakai111]

great report. I'm one that thought they had no stage presence and hated the experience at Webster but maybe I have to give it another chance.

[MEbenhoe]

[ QUOTE ]
Surprised you had that much of a negative reaction to Viva Voce, I thought there new CD was pretty decent. They are just a husband/wife duo who record music together.

[/ QUOTE ]

It might have been a [censored] sound setup because I had heard their new album before the concert and they sounded nothing like it.

[The DaveR]

Know Your Onion! WTF