Tokyo Police Club and Smoosh at Black Cat 4/29

In the tradition of previous music posts, I start with dinner: Peruvian chicken and a cheese papusa. I should have ordered more. Oh well.

After seeing Smoosh last year opening for the Pipettes, I know I wanted to see them again. And for some reason (no new album), they were touring with Tokyo Police Club, another of those bloggy bands that everyone seems to love. Not quite as big as Arcade Fire, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, or Vampire Weekend, but of the same level as Wolf Parade or Voxtrot. I liked their EP, but, like Voxtrot, didn't entirely care for the album that followed. So I really was going for the opener. Hadn't done that in a while, since Portastatic opening for John Vanderslice in 2005.

Smoosh was about as enjoyable as last time, and I do want them to release a new album now. Find a Way is still just as outstanding as it has always been. And they spent time at the merch table, but I did my normal too embarrassed to talk to them thing. I would have bought a shirt of theirs, but I think it would have been more creepy than I feel comfortable. Plus, as much as I like Smoosh, there are many bands I like far more than them.

Unfortunately, it was a Tuesday show, which don't go well for me, and this was somewhat the case for me again, although I made it through the entire show.

When Tokyo Police Club came on, I had moved up to the raised section, and was sitting on a bench next to the douchebags of the concert. Somehow the emo couple (the guy had the most impressive emover I've seen outside of a videogame or a music video) weren't them, or the woman who grabbed my ass when she passed me in the crowd during Smoosh. It was the kids from Maryland, one of whom was writing a paper and asked Smoosh some questions for it, and then asked me why I had my eyes closed during the show. If you've ever been to the Black Cat, you know that it's not an enormous club, and light shows are not normally too big. TPC, though, came with a light show that would have been slightly appropriate for the much larger 9:30 Club. So it was blindingly bright, and I was exhausted. Also, they played every song like it was from their EP, which normally would have been enjoyable for me, but everyone ended up sounding so similar I couldn't tell the difference. Even had I known them far better than I did, I wouldn't have been able. Pretty much it was screaming for the entire song or screaming after a quiet bit at the end. Plus bright lights. And I was not impressed. So with all that, I didn't feel the need to watch every second of the show. I basically only watched one song, and that was the one when Smoosh came out on stage and danced. Wouldn't have known, but Vermonstrous tapped my leg. So the douches from Maryland were talking about how could he sleep or why I didn't enjoy the show. I didn't want to get into an argument about the stupidity of the light show in the small club or the sameness and loudness of it all, so I just said I was tired.