(picture BLATANTLY STOLEN FROM
BROOKLYN VEGAN, while your Music Slut was sitting in the nosebleeds cuz he's cheap)
anyway, onto the show.
HMM, where to begin? carnegie hall is not all it's cracked up to be. i'm sorry but it's true. maybe having a seat in the balcony had something to do with it but the room feels cavernous (it actually has a smaller capacity than beacon but feels a lot less intimate). the seats cannot fit anybody with an actual tush and there is zero leg room whatsoever. i don't like being uncomfortable and feeling trapped, and well, i did.
the show was good but certainly not worth the pricetag.
don't get me wrong, there were some highlights:
-antony performing 'you are my sister'
-sufjan playing 'lord god bird' followed by 'casimir pulaski day'
-the group effort at the end (as seen in the photo): this included antony dancing like the big goof that he is, sufjan playing the triangle and damien rice on tambourine, it was pretty awesome. the only number all night that the crowd reacted enthusiastically to.
but then there were the bad parts:
-laurie anderson: you are a wonderful violinist but what the hell were you singing/talking about? it was not enjoyable for me. and thanks for overpowering antony's voice on your duet, grrrr.
-some random string quartet that were incredibly talented but got a half hour to play while my beloved sufjan damien and antony got 10 minutes or less
-the aforementioned seating and rowdy crowd (cell phones ringing left and right and a girl next to me shouting for sufjan all night.. even deeming his decision to play 'casimir' a GOOD CHOICE.. she repeated it 5 times, very loudly!!)
i must say this, sufjan was adorable and definitely the highlight of the night, no shock there. he brought out most of his band and even apologized for screwing up at the beginning of 'lord god bird', we love him.
damien rice: bad song choice, bad hair choice, bad clothing choice. he let it all grow out and now the once cute irishman looks like TOM HANKS IN CASTAWAY!! no no no. and the new song you did was highly medicore. 'cold water' was a poor choice if you were to pick one song from O (in my humble opinion... i woulda loved to hear 'blower's daughter' or even 'eskimo', oh well)
the monks were great as was allen toussaint. both pleasant surprises.
but i'll think twice next time about spending $40 on a benefit show such as this one.
Labels: antony and the johnsons, concert review, damien rice, laurie anderson, phillip glass, sufjan stevens, tibet
Just read this from the news section of the Sigur Ros web site: on the 26th of february, the band will take part in a tibet house fund raiser in new york. other artists performing at the event include philip glass and patti smith. sigur rós will most likely perform just one song at this event in carnegie hall. ticket information is available on the carnegie hall website.
