As part of the Yule Rock Holiday Concert Series – something that involves the lighting of Christmas trees between sets and a lot of Vitamin Water product placement (including free "shots" of the stuff that we were handed tickets for in attempt to control the riot that free, melted virgin Jello shots might produce before a concert) – the Broken Bells and opening Karen Elson performed at Irving Plaza.
I had never been to Irving Plaza and thought that maybe the venue, or the exceedingly expensive price of the tickets (starting at fifty-five dollars) explained the older, tamer crowd. But then Karen Elson came on and I thought, okay, I guess this crowd is here for her. Because I feel like I'm collecting bad karma by being negative, I'll say something positive first: Karen Elson is also part of a political, cabaret troupe (awesome!) called The Citizens Band, which is definitely worth checking out. What isn't, however, is her performance of her debut solo album, The Ghost Who Walks. Perhaps a product of the influence of her career as a model, Karen Elson's band was way more interesting to look at than to listen to. Each musician was picture perfectly dressed up in folk/goth gear (imagine Victorian Royalty meets the Adams Family) and adorned with beautiful, one of a kind instruments. It's a shame though, because those awesome instruments, which included a slide guitar, could have had a maddening effect. But each member stood as still as figurines and the only thing that produced any real movement was Elson's vocals. All in all, I was surprisingly bored.
But on came the Broken Bells, and within the first three seconds they captured my undivided attention. The Broken Bells have what you call presence. The slightly less than ten musicians took over the stage, immediately jamming away and teasing the audience with their extended prelude building up to their first song, "October". During the course of the concert, the bassist was jumping up and down, Brian Burton (aka Danger Mouse) alternated between the keyboards and the guitar, and lead vocalist James Mercer, although unassuming in stature, tied it all together with his unwavering tenacity. To wrap it up (before they did the on-off-on skit that bands tend to do) they played, fittingly, “Vaporize” – a song preaching a similar message to MGMT’s “Time to Pretend” but through more poetic, retrospective lyrics. They address the effects of resigning to a “typical life”, the kind MGMT boldly refuses to give in to (“what else can we do/Get jobs in offices, and wake up for the morning commute.”) But at its core, “Vaporize” has an optimistic message. “It’s not too late”, Mercer sings as the music takes on an ethereal quality. And when the drums start to kick in again as the lyrics reach the title of the song (“vaporize” being a euphemism for "death") the Broken Bells bring home the message and leave you feeling “a little more alive” indeed.
I had never been to Irving Plaza and thought that maybe the venue, or the exceedingly expensive price of the tickets (starting at fifty-five dollars) explained the older, tamer crowd. But then Karen Elson came on and I thought, okay, I guess this crowd is here for her. Because I feel like I'm collecting bad karma by being negative, I'll say something positive first: Karen Elson is also part of a political, cabaret troupe (awesome!) called The Citizens Band, which is definitely worth checking out. What isn't, however, is her performance of her debut solo album, The Ghost Who Walks. Perhaps a product of the influence of her career as a model, Karen Elson's band was way more interesting to look at than to listen to. Each musician was picture perfectly dressed up in folk/goth gear (imagine Victorian Royalty meets the Adams Family) and adorned with beautiful, one of a kind instruments. It's a shame though, because those awesome instruments, which included a slide guitar, could have had a maddening effect. But each member stood as still as figurines and the only thing that produced any real movement was Elson's vocals. All in all, I was surprisingly bored.
But on came the Broken Bells, and within the first three seconds they captured my undivided attention. The Broken Bells have what you call presence. The slightly less than ten musicians took over the stage, immediately jamming away and teasing the audience with their extended prelude building up to their first song, "October". During the course of the concert, the bassist was jumping up and down, Brian Burton (aka Danger Mouse) alternated between the keyboards and the guitar, and lead vocalist James Mercer, although unassuming in stature, tied it all together with his unwavering tenacity. To wrap it up (before they did the on-off-on skit that bands tend to do) they played, fittingly, “Vaporize” – a song preaching a similar message to MGMT’s “Time to Pretend” but through more poetic, retrospective lyrics. They address the effects of resigning to a “typical life”, the kind MGMT boldly refuses to give in to (“what else can we do/Get jobs in offices, and wake up for the morning commute.”) But at its core, “Vaporize” has an optimistic message. “It’s not too late”, Mercer sings as the music takes on an ethereal quality. And when the drums start to kick in again as the lyrics reach the title of the song (“vaporize” being a euphemism for "death") the Broken Bells bring home the message and leave you feeling “a little more alive” indeed.
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