Lead singer Andy Hull jamming out (note: hat).
I can haz blurry picture of venue taken handheld at 1/4 second expozure???
The venue, Harper's Ferry, was sort of a far T ride for me and I had never really explored that area of Boston before (Allston) so I wasn't really sure what to expect. As we got off the Harvard Avenue T stop, I saw a kid in a flannel shirt with large headphones carrying a huge sketchpad also getting off, so my initial thoughts were "shit, this is going to be indie as fuck" as well as confusion over how this guy was going to do his emo-tears sketches at a show. Nonetheless, the venue wasn't actually that indie, it was more low-class bar scene that normally would have attracted low brow slutty blondes and bros rather than awkward high schoolers in high tops.
The scene was so chill that it would have been awkward, though easy, to push my way to the front of the stage, but I made the difficult decision to refrain from being "that girl" as a testament to my own self-integrity. The show started very low-keyish, since band members were on the (rather small) stage beforehand setting up their own equipment, so there wasn't that sense of the band members "presenting themselves" to droves and droves of audience applause.
Nonetheless, Manchester Orchestra put on a good no-frills show, and the audience was excited despite the lack of theatrical bravado. Andy Hull, lead singer, stole the show and definitely was the figurehead for the band. His beard also reminded me of pubes, which gave him a dual role as comic relief figure. One quirk in particular that made me LOLz in my head was Andy's black wool hat, which he seemed to obviously adore. He wore it nearly the entire show, even though he was clearly sweating balls and as a wool hat, this garment was impractical for body temperature regulation. He removed it briefly for one song, and then put it back on again. Oh Andy. I may or may not have a bit of a crush on your hunky Alaska-esque wildman ways.
Although I'm not that familiar with Manchester Orchestra's discography, I did find their live performance to sound much heavier than their recorded material. It definitely was way more "rock show" than I had anticipated, and although dancing was sparse, there were a few songs that at least made people put their bags down so they could clap their hands. For most of the show, I did that awkward head bobbing feet tapping thing that happens when music is almost danceable, but not quite.
It was also refreshing that Manchester Orchestra didn't take themselves too seriously. Most of the beginning of their set were old songs, which didn't bother me much because like I said, I just started listening to the band, but I suppose other people must have been sensitive to because Andy Hull's announcement that "this is the last of our new songs, the rest of our show is our old songs, all the shit you paid to see," was met with wild cheering.
1 comments:
"This is the last of our new songs, the rest of our show is our old songs, all the shit you paid to see"
A little honesty goes a long way!
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