dfc05
Tank
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2003
- Messages
- 3,111
- Reaction score
- 6
Mono + Twilight Sad @ the Brillobox - 9.5/10 + oh crap I can't hear right now
First I have to say everytime I step in the Brillobox I'm like "Man I love this place." It's got kitschy patterned wallpaper and hardwood floors, the stage is tiny and only about a foot off the ground, it's got red curtains and Christmas lights and a slightly glittery ceiling and a window in the back of the stage. It seriously feels like you're sitting in someone's old-fashioned living room. I was in the front row, maybe one person left of middle. This time I got super lucky -- the dude to the right of me and the girl to the left of me were both normal people. The girl two people down was some crazy hippy chick, and the dudes directly behind me were those guys who yell in the middle of songs (I think of them as The Cowboys because I actually expected them to yell "Yeehaw" or some crap like that) -- but I mostly couldn't hear them due to EXTREME LOUDNESS so it was ok.
As for the bands -- Twilight Sad: great -- they closed off with a really awesome version of Cold Days from the Birdhouse. They also played That Summer, Taking the Train, That Room (awesome, I like that song and its totally repetitive drums - it's great), and And She Would Darken the Memory except cut short halfway through due to the sound on the singer going out!! (lulz were had by all -- he was like "So after that it was going to get REALLY CRAZY so just imagine that").
I saw Mono at Emo's in Austin 3 years earlier, but it was much better this time, maybe because The Brillobox is tiny and I was up close and could watch Taka go crazy on his guitar and the drummer sitting there with his head bowed down in his hands at the beginning of Everlasting Light (which is way better live than on record). My only complaint is that above a certain volume level my ears are unable to distinguish pitch which kinda sucks (actually I've always wondered if that's normal for everybody? I feel like I'm defective).
Oh yeah also due to cab slowness I ended up watching the bands pack up and got to shake Mono's drummer's hand and tell him "Good show!" lol. Also 'met' a couple of dudes also shaking the drummer's hand who were like "Whoa that show was so surreal I was about to start crying." But due to the cab not being slow enough (sigh) I missed out on getting in a photo with these two random dudes and the band.
Overall, a really great night. The only things that made me sad were not having my old friend there with me (we saw Explosions and Mono together 3 years ago and nowadays I go to everything alone because I am a sad sad lonely person), and the insanely poor showing of people at the merch stand afterwards. I got a shirt (have their dvd coming in on mailorder otherwise I'd have bought that also). My thought process: "Man this is the same color and style as my Explosions shirt but the other one is red and has skulls on it and I don't like red or skulls so I guess I'm getting the blue one, crap." So, yeah:
seriously temp res bands, pick a new shirt style!
p.s. they played Henryk Gorecki's Symphony No. 3 on the stereo before and after Mono played. I'm thinking this was prob Mono's choice because it seems like something they'd do.
tl;dr last thoughts: (1) Awesome, (2) I hope I regain hearing tomorrow. I can just imagine being in my meeting with my research adviser tomorrow, yelling things at him like "CHECK OUT THESE CRAPPY GRAPHS I MADE" and he'll say something and I'll be like "DUDE YOU GOTTA SPEAK UP I CAN'T HEAR YOU MAN."
First I have to say everytime I step in the Brillobox I'm like "Man I love this place." It's got kitschy patterned wallpaper and hardwood floors, the stage is tiny and only about a foot off the ground, it's got red curtains and Christmas lights and a slightly glittery ceiling and a window in the back of the stage. It seriously feels like you're sitting in someone's old-fashioned living room. I was in the front row, maybe one person left of middle. This time I got super lucky -- the dude to the right of me and the girl to the left of me were both normal people. The girl two people down was some crazy hippy chick, and the dudes directly behind me were those guys who yell in the middle of songs (I think of them as The Cowboys because I actually expected them to yell "Yeehaw" or some crap like that) -- but I mostly couldn't hear them due to EXTREME LOUDNESS so it was ok.
As for the bands -- Twilight Sad: great -- they closed off with a really awesome version of Cold Days from the Birdhouse. They also played That Summer, Taking the Train, That Room (awesome, I like that song and its totally repetitive drums - it's great), and And She Would Darken the Memory except cut short halfway through due to the sound on the singer going out!! (lulz were had by all -- he was like "So after that it was going to get REALLY CRAZY so just imagine that").
I saw Mono at Emo's in Austin 3 years earlier, but it was much better this time, maybe because The Brillobox is tiny and I was up close and could watch Taka go crazy on his guitar and the drummer sitting there with his head bowed down in his hands at the beginning of Everlasting Light (which is way better live than on record). My only complaint is that above a certain volume level my ears are unable to distinguish pitch which kinda sucks (actually I've always wondered if that's normal for everybody? I feel like I'm defective).
Oh yeah also due to cab slowness I ended up watching the bands pack up and got to shake Mono's drummer's hand and tell him "Good show!" lol. Also 'met' a couple of dudes also shaking the drummer's hand who were like "Whoa that show was so surreal I was about to start crying." But due to the cab not being slow enough (sigh) I missed out on getting in a photo with these two random dudes and the band.
Overall, a really great night. The only things that made me sad were not having my old friend there with me (we saw Explosions and Mono together 3 years ago and nowadays I go to everything alone because I am a sad sad lonely person), and the insanely poor showing of people at the merch stand afterwards. I got a shirt (have their dvd coming in on mailorder otherwise I'd have bought that also). My thought process: "Man this is the same color and style as my Explosions shirt but the other one is red and has skulls on it and I don't like red or skulls so I guess I'm getting the blue one, crap." So, yeah:
seriously temp res bands, pick a new shirt style!
p.s. they played Henryk Gorecki's Symphony No. 3 on the stereo before and after Mono played. I'm thinking this was prob Mono's choice because it seems like something they'd do.
tl;dr last thoughts: (1) Awesome, (2) I hope I regain hearing tomorrow. I can just imagine being in my meeting with my research adviser tomorrow, yelling things at him like "CHECK OUT THESE CRAPPY GRAPHS I MADE" and he'll say something and I'll be like "DUDE YOU GOTTA SPEAK UP I CAN'T HEAR YOU MAN."
. Also, from where I stood (front row), the vocals seemed a little quiet. Otherwise, a good set -- they played Thinking of a Dream I Had and Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me Is Gone, which are two of my favorites. While I Shovel the Snow and the last song they played (can't remember the name of it now) were lovely.