Friday Recap: Matt Pond PA & Jesca Hoop @ The Casbah

After Burger Lounge I was wiped out. Food coma hit hard. But I had plans for the night, so I fought the sleepiness and headed out to the Casbah.

I had received an advance copy of Jesca Hoop's CD and have listened to it a lot. You might recognize Jesca's song "Money" from the new hit show Dirty Sexy Money. There's a quality and style to her music that kinda reminds me of Suzanne Vega.









The performance was great in spite of Jesca apologizing for being sick. She had a full band with 5 other members on stage and unfortunately still couldn't compete with people at the bar who wouldn't shut up. I don't know what is up with people at shows talking. If you have to yell over the music, perhaps you should get the hell out of the bar. At the end of her set, Jesca thanked people in front of the stage for listening to her music "because you had the choice to stand here(gesturing to the area in front of the stage) or be there (gesturing to the bar area) and talk and you chose to be here. So thanks to you."

I wasn't familiar with Matt Pond PA (for which I've been scolded several times already). He had a really cool stage set up with a couple green spotlights, several fake trees, and a plastic deer head. I was with Brooke and we were up front but getting shit talked by two people who were sitting on barstools behind us. I really, really hate people who sit on those barstools and then complain that they can't see. If you want to see the band, stand up like the rest of us. If you don't need to see everything happening on the stage, then by all means, have a seat, but for a sold out show, you can save your complaints for someone who gives a damn. Another huge issue with the show was that there was a new sound guy. Matt Pond is a very demanding musician and has a very specific way he wants to sound and I don't know if he ever got the sound he wanted. That is aside from the 5 or 6 times there was ear shattering feedback at the start of the set.







I really liked the band a lot but the Casbah just wasn't doing it for me. (Where do all those people come from? The weekend crowd is very different than the Sun-Thurs crowds) So after a few songs I headed to the Beauty Bar to catch Silverbird. That will be the next post...