Live in Cleveland (Last Night)

"Dominoes," The Big Pink (Download)
"At War With the Sun," The Big Pink (Download)

Last night Drew and I went to the Grog Shop to see The Big Pink. I had to teach until 8 and Drew worked until 9, so by the time we got there we had entirely missed the local opener (Hotchacha) and the touring opener (A Place to Bury Strangers) was at the very end of their set. I wasn't super invested in seeing either group and was still secretly crabby about having to miss Lost, so it didn't impact me all that much, but Drew left vowing to never work on the same night he planned to go to a show.

I'll be honest -- I knew basically nothing about The Big Pink prior to last night. I had downloaded their album a few months ago because Drew said he liked it and it kept showing up on "Best of" lists for the year, but I listened to a few songs and then deleted it, filing it away as "boring music." In all fairness to The Big Pink, I was probably just not feeling it that day, because I really liked what I heard at their show last night & also, I have a tendency to write off almost anything as boring.

In some ways, it was nice to go out having basically no idea what to expect. I think I ended up enjoying the night much more that way. I definitely left the show wanting to give their album another (more attentive and, uh, complete) listen (and have listened to it twice today). Their music is very different from the sort of thing that I normally listen to (Mirah is basically "the thing I normally listen to"), so I also got to feel good about myself for going out & "expanding my horizons."

Here are two television related thoughts I had about The Big Pink while at last night's show:

1. "They probably would have played a killer set at the Bronze on Buffy the Vampire Slayer." This is something I occasionally think about bands from time to time*. Sometimes, on very rare occasions, I will think this about a band that has actually "played" at the Bronze (for example, Rasputina**)

2. "I bet the kids from Skins would listen to this band." There is a very large chance that I thought this because A) The Big Pink are from England, which is also where Skins takes place, B) A pivotal moment in Skins season two was scored to a Crystal Castles song and I like to lump all vaguely electronic bands together, and C) Drew and I spent most of the night uncomfortably close to a couple who basically made out for the entire set and unwarranted public make-outs in club environments always make me think of Skins.

One thought I had about The Big Pink while at last night's show that is unrelated to television:

1. "Some of these songs remind me of The Human League." I guess I just think that about everything now.

* Weirdly (?) this happens only with the Bronze and not any other fictional venues. For example, never in my life have I seen a band and thought, "I bet they would play a great set at the Bait Shop!" (from The OC.)

** Okay, Rasputina is probably the only band I have ever seen in real life that has also played a fictional set at the Bronze.

"Dominoes," The Big Pink (Download)
"At War With the Sun," The Big Pink (Download)