Last week we checked out Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes at Chicago's Lincoln Hall, the latest venue of the Schuba brothers. The place is awesome, a large front bar, wrap-around balcony and large main floor. And just like Schubas, plenty of beers (including Schlitz) on tap and a great juke box.
The show was scheduled for 10 but the THREE opening acts pushed Sharpe's set to start at 12:15. This, I believed, was horseshit. One well-hyped debut album does not give a band an excuse to make everyone wait over two hours to see them. You would also think that after creating such anticipation among the sold out crowd would motivate the band enough to come out with a tight, well-prepared set. Not with these guys. They lazily pushed their way through each song (the four I had the patience to wait through) and allowed up to a full minute in between songs to figure out which one they were going with next. This isn't the best strategy to fire up a crowd and it was apparent. But instead of getting his own shit together, Alex Ebert turned it back on the audience, saying that 'This room needs a first aid kit.'
Maybe we did. Maybe he should have smoked less pot before the show. Either way it made for a pretty crappy concert and I was happy when I left. Up from Below has some great tunes, but whether or not this band is legit remains to be seen.
your noni would be quite proud of your use of "horseshit" , a staple in her unique venacular. Of course you need to say it with heavy accent on the first syllable.
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