World Famous In San Francisco

With the exception of Lady, which is already last month's news, I haven't really been going to a lot of 'local' shows. So I'm going to break rank and write a little about Sonic Youth playing all of Daydream Nation and the Grinderman show that the sf_indie list says tickets were impossible to get. You know, because these bands need more press.

Sonic Youth

My friend is talented and somehow bartered our tickets and we ended up in the first row of the Berkeley Community Theater. I guess it was good. The first couple notes of Teenage Riot rang out and it was awesome because that song is undeniable. But then... well we already know what they're going to play and that's a long ass record isn't it? I've always found the last song on that record a little crushing because its really three songs. All right. I get it. You're virtuosos. Isn't this supposed to be punk rock? Oh, right...

Also, I don't remember that record having two encores full of songs from 2006. I think I'm becoming a crotchety old man. Even though we had an amazing view and could see every little thing Lee did (and he's kinda my favorite), I complained about the sound which was fucked because we were sitting directly in front of Lee's amp. I heard other people complaining about the sound too, but its a huge theater. If you weren't ten rows back, center (like our friend LG), the sound sucked. Also, people didn't seem to into Kim's miniskirt and dancing during the encores because she's too old for that. Seriously? Would it have been more age appropriate if she'd traded her face in for plastic?

Grinderman

Actually, after this show I know I'm becoming a crotchety old man because I spent the last part of the show complaining. Why? Because we got to see a bunch of bad seed
s songs rearranged for Grinderman done in a small club. How horrible! I've never been a big Bad Seeds fan, but the songs sounded great and I'll have to check that out
more. A legitimate complaint though: for the last encore they were joined by Henry Rollins and Jello Biafra. What the fuck? The night before, at the Great American, they were joined by Blixa Bergeld. Guess who got the better show?

Anyway, Grinderman tore it up and there's not much else to say. Nick Cave ruled on guitar. Warren Ellis rocked his samples and his guitar but didn't really play his violin that much -- which was kinda sad because I like his playing, but we got that during the encore. They played the whole album, predictably holding No Pussy Blues for the last song. It probably wasn't a 'were you there?' moment, but it was super good. Definitely one of the best shows I've seen in a while.