I gotta bad case of noise maker blues.

Today has all the makings of an awful day. I hate that. You are just setting yourself up for a bad weekend. Here are the chain of events that led me to right now.

-Last night I finally settled in to watch 'The Lost'. As I mentioned before I am uber excited for this movie since I just finished the novel a month ago. So I get past the tense beginning and just when the story is about to kick in the disc stops. I hate Netflix. There is scratch down the entire middle of the thing.

-I wake up this morning after falling asleep to a 4-1 Phillies lead to see that they blew the lead in the 8th again and lost the game.

-I had a ticket to see my favoritest band in the world tonight at the TLA. I ended up giving the ticket away because I knew I would have to spend tons of money on drinks and parking plus I can't leave an 8.5 month pregnant women at home and there is no way she would enjoy herself at a Hold Steady show.

-I pulled into work today and realized that I left my lunch sitting on the floor at home. At first this was only a minor inconvienence because I figures I would just go out to lunch but then the true horror hit me. In that Tupperware was Brats, Potatoes and RED CABBAGE. If Brodie got into that our disgusting turquoise rugs would be tie dyed a nice hue of violet. So I had to get back in the car and go home. This not only upset me but B-Man didn't appreciate being woken from his mid morning nap.

So there it is. All the makings of a bad Friday. How do I combat it you may ask? Well I'll tell you. We are going out to dinner with the in-laws where the ol' man will INSIST on me getting good food and even better drinks (in the 22 oz variety). I then plan to come home and hang out on the couch with my wife and watch her favorite (also one of my favorites but I'd never admit that) shows, The Soup. She'll pass out early which leaves me to have a Code Red DVD double feature of Sole Survivor and The Dead Pit. I can't imagine a better evening. Well maybe seeing Sonic Youth and the Hold Steady.

I used to write show reviews for an awful Pitchfork wannabe website. It was cool because once I got into a sold out Alkaline Trio/Pretty Girls Make Graves show based on my press credentials. Actually that was the only cool thing that happened. Anyway about 2 years ago I wrote a review for a Mogwai show and sent it in. They never responded or published it so I just stopped writing for them. Maybe I was a bad writer, maybe they were a bunch of elitist tool or maybe it was a bit of both. Either way I vowed that one day I would get the review published on the web so here it is. I love blogs! Everyone can be a critic.

Mogwai
(Club Sonar, Baltimore
MD)
3.07.2006
There are very few bands that I would make a 4 hour drive to see on a rainy Tuesday when I have to be up at 6:00 on Wednesday. Mogwai is one of those
bands. I loaded up on the NoDoz and Red Bull and made my way down I 95 to
Baltimore. I have seen Mogwai several times at various venues but Sonar was
definitely the most intimate. It was a great setting and the anticipation
was high.
Mogwai quietly took the stage to Cex induced chants of, "Mogwai, boma ye!"
and without hesitation blew the crowd away with “Mogwai Fear Satan”.
I never thought of this as an opener but it worked perfectly. “Mogwai Fear
Satan” set the tone of the evening by lulling the crowd to comfort and then
destroying them with the crushing guitars. People were seen running from the
speakers holding their ears. Truly amazing. The band then softened it up and
played “Acid Food” and “Friend of the Night” from their new album, Mr. Beast. I
couldn’t understand why Mogwai, a band who previously had never released a
single, chose to make “Friend of the Night” their first single. After
seeing it live I now understand. Mogwai played “Friend of the Night” with
such amazing energy that you couldn’t help but get wrapped up in it. The album
simply does not do it justice. The rest of the set did a fantastic job of
mixing older songs with some of the newer material. High points included a heavy
version of “Folk Death 95” and the always amazing “Stanley Kubrick” It made me
realize that, despite the claims that Mogwai has changed their sound, they are
the same band making the same type of music they have always made.
The highlight of the set was definitely the end. The intensity was unreal from
the first note of “Glasgow Mega Snake” to the last. This song is by far
the most punishing on Mr. Beast and it lives up to this live. My
sweatshirt was being pushed back by the sheer volume of the song. It was
by far the loudest musical moment I have ever experienced and the best way for
Mogwai to end their set.
When Mogwai returned to the stage for the encore the crowd was still recovering from “Glasgow Mega Snake”. They chose to completely slow it down by playing “Cody”. “Cody” is my favorite Mogwai song on my favorite Mogwai album, Come on Die Young. This version of “Cody” seemed to be a little slower than both the Come on Die Young and Government Comissions versions and it worked perfectly. It was the most emotionally moving song of the night and it really showed how versatile the band is. Despite pleas for “My Father, My King” the final song was “We’re No
Here” which was fine in my book. It was a little tough getting into it
after the amazing version “Cody”. After “We’re No Here” Mogwai left the stage in
a sea of feedback.
Overall this was the best I have seen Mogwai play. Everything was solid and crisp. There was more crowd interaction that previous shows and the set list was varied. What more could you want on a
rainy Tuesday
night?


Set List:
MOGWAI FEAR SATAN
ACID FOOD
FRIEND OF THE NIGHT
KIDS WILL BE SKELETONS
YOU DON’T KNOW JESUS
KILLING ALL THE FLIES
FOLK DEATH 95
NEW PATHS TO HELICON 2
I KNOW YOU ARE BUT WHAT AM I?
STANLEY KUBRICK
HUNTED BY A FREAK
GLASGOW MEGA SNAKE
Encore:
CODY
WE’RE NO HERE

Man I couldn't even read that without cringing. No wonder they never
published it or wrote me back. I stink!