A Night with the Big Pink

Last night, I had the privileged of seeing England's The Big Pink.  The name of the band is kind of awful but the music is not.  The concert was held at one of my favorite venues, the Metro.  I like the Metro because it is a fairly small club but it is easy to get swept up by everything around you there.  The two opening bands were Gatekeeper and A Place to Bury Strangers.

I'm pretty sure I saw Gatekeeper open up for Crystal Castles last year at the Bottom Lounge.  I actually thought they were more interesting that time because their music more resembles that of Crystal Castles as oppose to the Big Pink's.  Gatekeeper play an all electronic type of music with a drum machine, synthesizers, and computers.  I saw a few people really getting into them.  They are not the type of band I normally want to go see live.  In fact, they would be perfect for writing an uptempo video game score or a retro 80's movie soundtrack.  Really, if I ever meet someone in the video game business, I would refer them to Gatekeeper for their scoring needs.  The two guys in the band just look like video game freaks too, not that there is anything wrong with that.

The second opening band, A Place to Bury Strangers, were much more in my wheelhouse.  I was standing in front up the stage front and center.  I could not hear all of the acoustics properly from that spot.  That is probably on me for picking a stupid place to stand.  Anyways, I thought this band played with a lot of echo and feedback, two of my favorite effects.  The bass guitar used looked as if someone had used it in a bar fight a few times and it had vast amounts of water damage.  The drummer almost always played up the tempo so the band was always rocking hard and full of energy.  The guitarist and singer seemed possessed at times especially near the end of the set.  The band's last song ended with strobe lights and the guitarist throwing around three different guitars at different times to gain incredible sounds.  At one time he even played two guitars against each other for some weird sounding feedback.  When he was throwing around his guitars with the strobe light going, I thought I was going to get smashed in the face.  He even broke off his whammy bar three feet from my face.  It was probably the first time I was scared for my safety at a concert because of the band.  I met the guitarist after the show I told him how I felt about the show and how I feared for my life.  I'm pretty sure he assumed I was a drunken idiot (I was not drunk).

Finally the Big Pink came on the stage.  The guitarist was set up directly in front of me.  Until he adjusted his mic stand, I would have smacked my head on it unless I ducked down.  The Big Pink were a combination of the opening bands but mostly leaning towards A Place to Bury Strangers.  The guitarist had two effect boxes with a combined 14 pedals.  I'm not sure if even half of these were used.  I had never heard any of the Big Pink's music before but walked away impressed.  I'm not convinced that they are the best song writers, But I enjoyed the live experience.  My favorite moment was a cover of the Smashing Pumpkins' "Mayonaise" which was followed by the new song for the tour.  It kicked up my energy for the rest of the concert including a the slow set closer.  I was standing next to a girl who was a huge fan of the band.  During the last some, some woman walked up toward the front of the stage and started yelling at the band that they were "boring."  This almost started a girl fight.  How often do you see that at concerts?

I hung around after the concert for a small party thrown by MGD and the Big Pink.  The band were DJs until 2am.  I took advantage of the free pizza and three free beers.  OK, they weren't free because I had to pay $16 to get into the concert.  For that price, I got a kick ass concert, pizza, beer, and a bitchin' DJ set.  They played a vast array of music until near the end of the set when they played a lot of Oasis, other 90's music, and the Stone Roses' "I am the Resurrection."  It was just a joy to be in a room with people who enjoyed the same music as me.  There is no room for complaints.  I took advantage of this time to mingle with the bassist from the Big Pink.  He seemed like a really cool guy.  If the tour bus did not have to leave at 2:30am, we probably would have kept the party going in the bar downstairs.  It was a blast!