Last night I caught Midlake's first night at Bowery Ballroom (oddly enough night #2 sold out long before this show did) It's been a very long time since Midlake has done a proper tour, not to mention bring the follow up to their critically acclaimed record, The Trials of Van Occupanther. Not only was the crowd last night restless because of the several-year lull from the band, but it seems they were restless in general, perhaps a result of an 85 degree day in a city that has been abused by winter. Unfortunately it meant A LOT of talking from the room, as you'll hear in the video below.The band put on a great set, but I'm the first to admit that I'm not totally sold on The Courage of Others. While Van Occupanther had such dramatic shifts throughout the record, it feels like Courage is just linear. Fortunately, when it comes to playing live, the band managed to pull all the dynamics into the performance, pulling in some serious jam moments that I didn't remember from the last time I saw them. Lined up across the front of the stage, they had harmonizing flute duets and, as my friend admired in amazement, a guy with a recorder (Almost as cool as a melodica . . . ALMOST)
It's an on going fight for (as my friend Chad from The Via Maris coined) "quietXcore" to pull in the attention of a short-attention-spanned crowd, especially in a period of music where everyone seems to need to be sold on a song or an album immediately. It's clearly something this band has gotten used to, because they didn't let any of the static over their show deter them from playing a great one. Hopefully someday the tides will turn and the active listener will prevail.
I shot this from the very very back of the venue, resting my arm on the wall in order to keep it somewhat stable. The noisy crowd sort of takes over but you can dull them out if you listen closely to the band (which is the theme of this post, yeah? Metaphors-n-stuff)
Midlake "Acts of Man" 4/7/10 from Seven Watt Media on Vimeo.
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