Monday, August 6, 2012

The Fray - Monday, April 30th, 2012

The morning after the Miike Snow show I found myself on a plane to Houston, TX for work. It would be a quick overnight trip, and I would be staying at a non-Marriott (gasp!) right downtown, as it was the only hotel I could find with a decent rate for this trip.

If you've never been to Houston before, you might not realize that it is one of those cities where people do not go downtown. Downtown Houston is a mecca of the 9-5 world, and thus shuts down at night and on weekends. Unfortunately for me - a young-ish female - downtown is not a great or safe place to be walking around alone at night. I was staying in a particularly seedy hotel (check out the glowing reviews here), and therefore elected to have dinner at the restaurant closest to my abode, which just so happened to be the House of Blues, Houston. Upon arrival to the HOB, the bar area was full, and I was given a table near the entry. Minutes after ordering my dinner, a man came in and struck up conversation with me, despite the fact I clearly did not want to talk to him. Turns out he was simply trying to give away a ticket to that night's show and was wondering if I wanted it. As a hardened Bostonian, I was sure there had to be some strings attached, but the guy just handed me the ticket and left, leaving me to my own devices.

So I meandered upstairs after my meal to check out the Fray, that band from the aughts with the hits "How to Save a Life" and "Over My Head (Cable Car)". It wasn't necessarily my type of music, but it was a sold out, enthusiastic crowd right from the get-go. As I entered the venue, the lead singer, Isaac Slade, was in the middle of the crowd leading a sing-along. I was immediately impressed, but Isaac soon returned to the stage and the show became more of a display of mainstream piano pop. I stayed for about 45 minutes of their set, enough to hear "How to Save a Life" before I peaced out.

Here's a picture from my cell phone showing a blurry Isaac Slade on piano in front of the puzzling drum kit's display of  "S + S" which I can only assume meant "Sweet n Sassy".


Miike Snow - April 29th, 2012

Alright, so I've been very negligent with the ol' music blog, although far from negligent when it comes to attending shows. In fact, since late April we have been to 14 shows and one music festival. I will do my darndest to update SHAW on all of these wonderful events because damn....we've seen some really good music as of late.

But let's travel back to the spring, when we headed to the House of Blues to see Miike Snow perform. I have loved Miike Snow since I first heard their self-titled debut album in 2010. I would dare say it is one of my favorite albums in the past few years. Because of my deep love for Miike Snow, I've gone to great lengths to see them perform before, including paying WELL over face value for their show at the Paradise in 2010, and also driving down to NYC and back in a day to see them at Terminal 5.

Thankfully, the tickets for this particular show were procured with ease, and we were even able to snag box seats, which is probably the nicest vantage point at the HOB from which to watch a show, particularly for old folks like us. I must admit I was a bit wary of how this show would compare to others, as they are heavily promoting their new album, Happy to You (amazing title). While I like the new album just fine, it is not nearly as electro-poppy as their first, and therefore not as fun or dance-able. Miike Snow blessed the crowd with a 50/50 mix of new stuff and old hits, and I was definitely happy with that. They also had a very cool stage set-up, with all of their electronic toys spread out across the stage in an elaborate, almost space-ship like manner. This did mean that the keyboard(s) took second fiddle to the rest of the instruments, and was closer to the back of the stage than in other shows, but I was fine with that. My only small gripe about the show is the diva-ness of the lead singer, Andrew Wyatt. At times he can seem a bit complacent and like he's doing a job, there just isn't a lot of joy there. At the conclusion of the encore, he barked "Thank----" with the "You" being cut off before he threw his mic (miic?) on the ground. But really, it doesn't take away from my continued love of Miike Snow.

Here is a video of them performing "Silvia" live and a couple of pics from my cell phone, one which highlights their amazing mascot, the jackalope. Side note, when Sid and I saw Miike Snow at the HOB in 2011, Sid actually bought a black polo shirt with a tiny jackalope emblem. The merch people were very excited that they were able to sell one of those bad boys.