Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Sunday Recap: Grand Ole Party, Vampire Weekend, Fantastic Magic at the Casbah

I barely eeeked out my column in time to head down to the Casbah. In fact, I thought I was going to have to actually blog from the Casbah because I felt the need to catch up with all this posting, but I knew that just was not gonna happen, so I left it in the car. Let me tell you something, San Diego. If you wanna hit a Casbah show that you know is a big deal, go onto Casbahmusic.com and buy tickets in advance. I cannot tell you how many people were stuck outside on Friday and Sunday just hoping to be let in. Our little bands are all grown up and all those late on the bandwagoners are buying their tickets in advance... I'm jus' sayin'

Anyway, I got there while Fantastic Magic was finishing up. I saw them once before at Scolari's and I kinda like their spooky hippie sounds, but in the sold out room, the band couldn't really grab the majority of the crowd's attention.

I made sure to secure a spot up front because I'd heard so much about Vampire Weekend. They said that they'd all gotten sick and they were pretty disappointed about that, but I really enjoyed them. I was really feeling the singer in his cable knit oversized sweater and his scarf...the joys of winter. I also loved how before each song, the bassist would kinda start dancing to the beat of the next song before anyone else had played a note. I loved the live performance and so I downloaded some of their music online today...and recorded all those comparisons to Paul Simon hold true, though I didn't really feel that live. I would've guessed the band was European had I not known otherwise.









In between bands I met some people, including the new music editor of CityBeat, and a few blog readers, which was pretty cool. It's nice to get feedback like that. On a night like this, it was just as fun between bands as it was actually seeing the bands play. I love those nights...where you actually hope the band takes a while to set up.

Eventually, Grand Ole Party started and the room was packed. Like Sardines. I ended up watching most of the show from the side of the stage and then for a while from the bar, and at times from the patio, but I decided I needed to take at least a few pics, so I delivered a beer to Greg, who was right up front. Sorry to all those people irritated by me squeezing through, but I kinda feel its my blog duty to try.

Kristin was a little sick, but they sounded really great and it's clear why the band has been getting such a great reception across the country and in Europe. None of it has gone to their heads, and they're all just as sweet as ever.









After the show I was really surprised, because the Casbah stayed open. They had music playing and people were actually inside dancing and stuff. I talked to the guys in Vampire Weekend a bit and they were really nice, and teasing me about being a blogger- certain blogs have so much attitude that they make the rest of us look bad. I hope bands never see me as the enemy...well except Band of Horses...but who cares about them anyway?

Anyway, I was talking to one of the guys in the band and the others were loading out all their merch, but left a 7" behind, so he asked if I wanted it. Yay. And he gave me a poster. Such lovely guys.

After the show I was ready to head home but was caught at the last second by some of the Casbah guys who needed their battery jumped. I pulled my car around and up on the sidewalk, but the jump didn't work, so I was on my way home. When I got home, my animals were a bit rambunctious and my dog chomped my cat. He's ok, no skin was broken or anything, but my poor cat has been hiding from my dog all day. Hopefully he feels better tomorrow. Needless to say, I got to bed later than I expected so the shortage of sleep left me pretty unmotivated to go out tonight. So I took a break, but I'll be at the Lemonheads show tomorrow. I hope Evan's in a good place because his mood can really influence the performance. A happy Evan is so, so nice.

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