Death, Lesbians, and Pornography

Concert Review

Headliner=Death Cab for Cutie
Supporting Acts=Tegan and Sara,
The New Pornographers

Last night was my second time to see a concert at the Hollywood Bowl of a beloved band backed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Wasn't as good as the first time, I'm afraid to say.

Death Cab: The selling point of the tickets was the chance to see this group with an orchestra. I saw The Decemberists in the same forum a coupla summers ago and was enchanted; I even cried during the performance, it was so beautiful.

Not so with Death Cab. The first 1/2 of the set was just the band; no orchestra. After a quick break, they returned with the 50+ backing musicians and I felt the addition of strings, et al, was lackluster instead of complementary. With The Decemberists, the Phil played on almost every song, enhancing the experience to auditory bliss. Guess I am spoiled.

T&S: Wow, how did it pass me by that these twins from Calgary are lesbians? It was quite clear as I looked around me during the set and saw many moon-eyed same-sex couples swooning to their music.
Does this matter? Of course not. The 2004 album "So Jealous" occupied a spot in my car CD player for two weeks back when I discovered them after I heard the White Stripes cover "Walking with a Ghost."

Learning this unimportant fact about their sexuality just makes the songs all the more poignant and striking. After all, for those of you who believe homosexuality is a choice; really, come on. Do you think gays & lesbians would willingly "choose" and follow a life path that dooms them to exclusion, ridicule, and biased policies? Think about that one.

The New Pornographers: THIS is the band I actually went to see. The group occupied that tough opening slot, warming up concert goers who I heard ask: "Who the hell is this band?"

Answer: One of the best f-ing bands of this decade.
Only problem: the set was too short, just 35 minutes!

Still, they played goodies from the last two albums "Twin Cinema" (2005) and "Challengers" (2007). No, Neko Case was not there...probably touring for her own recent release, which is not a bad offering. Please ignore the fact that Starbucks was hocking it a few months back.

This is the second time for me to see the New Pornographers, and they will remain one of my favorite bands. I discovered them when I lived in 横浜, and "Twin Cinema" will always remind me of my final weeks in the country as I bought the CD at that time upon Mark's urging.