the oh so quiet show

[Warning: I’m really tired. This probably isn’t well written.]

Boy, Friday sucked beyond the suckiest of suck. The night was much better. Thank god.

Since I didn’t really have anything else to do, I got to the Hammerstein Ballroom around 4:10. Yes, that’s really early; there was only one other fan waiting at that time. Arriving there that early didn’t help me much with getting a good spot; I was in the front row, but way over on the right. After a bunch of us had already formed a line by the door (and as the rain picked up), security guards shuffled us into two lines to separate those with floor tickets from those with mezzanine tickets. Oh well. I hadn’t been to the Hammerstein Ballroom in about 3 years but it seemed as annoying/disorganized as it was before. My day had pretty much been a Katamari Damancy ball, picking up more and more crap, rainy NYC weather and a late door opening time.

The crowd felt different from any other show I had been to in a long time. Less mature, more Beck-insane? It’s not a bad thing, but it caught me off guard for some reason. Maybe it’s a sign that I’m getting too old; soon I’ll be using the word “whippersnapper”.

Whirlwind Heat opened around 8:15. Since I had no idea what they sounded like, there was no way for me to expect insane spastic-ness from the lead singer and insane bass guitar playing and insane drumming. That’s my description. If I liked that kind of music (“that kind” being distorted and spastic) I’d have more to say. Fun to watch, especially the end where bassist and lead singer attacked each other with bass guitars, but not something I’d want to listen to.

More waiting. I heard that Beck went on at 9:00 the night before but he went on at 9:30 last night. Ooh…but opening with “Loser” got the crowd out of their “Where the [bleep] is Beck?” mode and into “Let’s all scream ‘Sooooy un perdidor'” mode.

Beck’s new band was awesome and having a VJ livened things up. I’m most fond of the Midnite Vultures set up with the tubes and brightly colored junk, but having screens with random videos flashing by in a “we’re putting sublibminal Beck messages into your head” type fashion was cool, or at least 10000% better than watching the Guero DVD (which I think has some of the same clips) on your home computer.

I think he played “Black Tambourine” after “Loser”, which like all the songs from Guero sounds a gazillion times better live, in my opinion. Dancing guy (I know he has a real name…but it’s easier to call him “dancing guy”) did his awesome crazy fist-pumping splodging all around the stage. He’s perfect for the…um..the job of playing percussion and dancing strangely and having to wear silly things every now and then.

Like a traffic controller getup to make sure the giant boombox of Beck-ness descended from the sky above in perfect condition. I forgot what song it was that he first carried out a regular sized boombox, then another larger but still carry-able by a normal sized human boombox, and then the ginormously monstrous boombox that couldn’t possibly do anything, but looked cool (I suppose it distractedme). The huge boombox is just a symbol of how awesome Beck and his entourage is. Or something.

It wouldn’t been really cool if it were a pinata. But anyway.

Fast forward: Beck played “Nobody’s Fault But My Own” and went into a Beck medley while the band sat down and ate at a table on stage. Something awesome about Beck is that he can play random medleys. I know I’ve heard one before (although I can’t remember when) and it was hilarious. This time he started off with “He’s a Mighty Good Leader” and went on to…a bunch of other things I can’t remember, but they probably spanned a few albums (which is another great thing about Beck; having a ridiculous repertoire of material to choose from, hence why he can go from “Nicotine & Gravy” to “Hotwax” to “Lost Cause”, although probably not in that order). He also played “Debra”, always a funny song and one of those Beck songs you just have to hear live.

I’d say more but my brain’s gonna deflate any time soon. Basically, it was a great show, with my only complaint being that it wasn’t longer (not that it was short at 90 minutes, but…well duh, I’d want it longer). (Actually, I felt like the stage was darker than it should’ve been but maybe I’m going blind.) Although I’ve seen him more energetic, he and the band were really into the performance, as were the fans around me who seemed stunned by the awesome performance.

…which, being the poop I am, made me think about the best Beck concert I’ve ever been to. Seven is not a crapload of concerts, considering that it’s been within the past seven years. Easily, the best Beck concert for me was at Alice Tully Hall, made even more significant in that I was sitting in one of the last rows and I didn’t have a camera with me in the theater (rare, but so is going to a concert at Lincoln Center where they give you the option of checking your camera in for free). Frankly, nothing’s going to make me as happy as that or seem as good. But last night was awesome and happiness inducing, except for the really tall guy next to me that I thought was going to hit my face every time he pumped his right first in the air.

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Lastly, as for the aforementioned Beck thing that almost made me want to kill myself, that’s actually the third time something Beck related has brought me to a point so psychologically perturbing that I couldn’t function for a period of time, a “period” which has lasted from a few hours to a few days. Two of those times happened in a single week when I was in 9th grade; hopefully I’ve changed a bit then (but only a bit). I thought of some reasons to justify why I’d be unable to meet Beck, but I’ll keep them to myself.

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I remembered some other things:

* fake “dueling banjos” between Beck and Ryan (aka dancing dude) during Sexxlaws
* Where It’s At = the song with the ginormous boombox
* random “jam” after the band was finished eating at the table
* apparently the medleys weren’t medleys but just shortened songs
* after Beck was done with his acoustic set, he “called” the band (you know, the one right behind him) on his “cellphone” (you know, the …normal phone) to tell them he was getting lonely…and I think I just used too many quotation marks
* Beck calling out random names of people he “recognized” in the audience from the night before (oops, more quotes)