so day 2 of ATP was the day i was most excited about, if only because of My Bloody Valentine.
we started our day with lunch a pizza hut, as we were getting liberty diner fatigue. pizza hut is what pizza hut is - much better than the food court was offering at the show, and less Millers Crossing (or maybe Mulholland Drive) than the diner.
we got there aboud mid day, in time for Gemma Hayes on stage 2.
setlist:
Happy Sad
Nothing Can
Home
In Over My Head
TBTF (Kevin Drew/Broken Social Scene cover)
Oliver
Easy on the Eye
Tear in my Side
Out Of Our Hands
Let A Good Thing Go
so a good mix of all three albums. the crowd was very quiet, as all the stage 2 crowds were, but something about the performance lent itself to the intimacy of it all.
one could ask where she fits in on a bill that, especially sunday's acts, is more identified with noise and volume. well, one, she absolutely was able to bring the noise factor (there had to be a reason kevin shields not only picked her for the concert, but also produced her newest album) - though less like, say, dinosaur jr's wall of feedback, and more like mercury rev's hazey atmosphere of sound. a little bit of a female nick drake crossed with the last few flaming lips records maybe? granted, i only have her first 2 brilliant EP's and the first album - new one has just come out, and the second one - the roads don't love you - was sort of hard to find and hasn't been a huge priority on my shopping list. i downloaded a few tracks and liked them okay, but not as much as the first lp so... the new album is supposed to be more like the first, so i plan to check it out when i get a chance. honestly, part of me wanted to see her because i have a ridiculously schoolboyish crush on her (irish girls do that to me i guess).then came stage 1 for the rest of the night. which is what i think a lot of people did, ultimately. only act i was sort of regretful about missing was bob mould, who apparently ended his set by tearing through some husker du songs. i assume he's touring, so i'll catch him when i get a chance i guess. but still...
they - they being the atp security - did try the dumb "empty the room" crap after mercury rev (and after yo la tengo), but i think they realized they might have a small riot on their hands, so slowly but eventually gave it up (with a few rules - something about no professional cameras, which was largely ignored, and something about if you left the room, you had to stay out until the doors reopened for the next band).
mercury rev were amazing. period. and they played the dark is rising! yeah, a little theatrical, but that's mercury rev. we did miss a couple of songs, as stage 2 seemed to run a little late (stage 1 would ultimately follow suit), but it was truly... again, and more apt, the flaming lips comparison is obvious. (no setlist. sorry...). easily one of my favorite performances of the day, if not the whole weekend. there's just something ethereal about them which can't really be described adequately without actually seeing them.
yo la tengo's set, next, seemed really short and was heavy on long, drawn out, almost more ambient jams. when i saw them in baltimore... about 5 years ago i guess, they were the headliners, and actually played a lot of songs (though also a lot of feedack).
setlist:
*ambient opener*
Flying Lesson
I Feel Like Going Home
Watch Out For Me Ronnie
The Story of Yo La Tango
they were the last band i felt comfortable during without earplugs, which was pretty much expected. and possibly one of the prettiest sets of the weekend, with their gorgeous beach boyish - and by that comparison, i mean pet sounds/smile era beach boys, not kokomo! - harmonies (musically and a little vocally). i would have liked maybe a longer set, but no complaints.
mogwai. having only seen them before outdoors, i wasn't entirely sure what to expect. other than loud. earplugs? check!
setlist:
precipice
jim morrison
hunted
friend
scotland's shame
satan
space expert
herod
batcat
now, i truly love me some mogwai. and live mogwai makes me love them more.
(not my video, found on youtube while looking for the setlist)
my favorite moment was when they stopped people from clapping in rhythm, as well as stuart's speech about feeling the same way he felt seeing mbv 6 years ago when he saw some of the newer bands that played the festival. sadly - and possibly responsible for some of the rest of the evening's delays, including mbv's:
"We are sad to announce that we have had to cancel our remaining American and Canadian shows due to ill health. Our other dates in Europe and Japan will be going ahead as planned. We will re-schedule the shows in 2009.I [Martin] was taken into hospital last night almost immediately after the show at ATP. I've been having some problems with my pacemaker for the duration of the tour and it unfortunately culminated in me being sent to the emergency room. The doctors there initially thought i would have to have corrective surgery at a larger hospital nearer NYC but i have been given the all clear to travel home on the understanding that i go straight to my cardiologist on arrival back in Scotland.
Tbh, i'm really bummed about having to go home and feel for the folk who had bought tickets for our upcoming shows but i can honestly say it would be almost impossible for me to carry on at this point as my pacemaker has broken skin and the surrounding area has become infected.
Mogwai
now settled in our spots, we waited while they wheeled out j mascis and lou barlow's giant stacks of speakers, signaling the wall of noise that was to come. lou barlow was especially animated, certainly more than i remember him being the couple of times i saw sebadoh. i never saw this lineup of dinosuar, as by the time i got to see them live, neither lou or murph were with the band anymore. they played a good mix of old and new, including "forget the swan" from the first album (though no repulsion). i unfortunately didn't get the whole setlist comitted to memory, though i know had they not been told to cut their set short, they would have gotten to just like heaven, which might have made their set the non-mbv highlight of the weekend.
honestly, i like the post lou songs better with lou on them, although i guess there's not that much difference (same songs, just a different rhythm section really).
dinosaur jr was the only band i really really noticed the moshers (they were certainly there for YLT and mogwai, but neither of them had stage divers! my only complaint with dinosaur jr is that my ear plugs had the unfortunate effect of muffling the higher tones, making some of their songs sound muddy. of course, taking them out was not an option, so adjusted and stuck it out. but it was annoying...
and then... the room filled.and people waited. and waited. aaand... waited.
and waited.
there was some chanting. and i think some people even walked out (granted, mbv were so loud, they could likely be heard from anywhere in kutshers, if not felt). finally. the lights dimmed. and....
we waited!
was it worth it? yes. when belinda, kevin, colm, and debbie walked on stage, all the waiting seemed like nothing...
the setlist:
01 "I Only Said"
02 "When You Sleep"
03 "You Never Should"
04 "When You Wake"
05 "Cigarette In Your Bed"
06 "Come In Alone"
07 "Only Shallow"
08 "Thorn"
09 "Nothing Much To Lose"
10 "To Here Knows When"
11 "Blown A Wish"
12 "Slow"
13 "Soon"
14 "Feed Me With Your Kiss"
15 "Sue Is Fine"
16 "You Made Me Realise"
basically, it was everything it was supposed to be. too loud? maybe, though unless your ear was stapled to a speaker, earplugs did their job. some reviewers seemed to think it was just noise and that you couldn't tell what songs were being played/hear the vocals/ etc. can you ever really hear the vocals with mbv, especially on loveless? basically, brilliant set, worth the extra hour and a half or so wait. my ears rang... well, no, not really ringing, it was more a weird, spirally, buzzing noise, all the way back to the liberty diner (where i finally found something there i liked more than as just food) and then to bed, as we had a longish drive ahead the next morning.
bands i kind of regret missing:
bob mould, le volume corbe, trail of dead, spectrum
but again, mbv made it all worth it!
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