One of the reasons I enjoy live shows so much is the people watching. Each show has a different crowd. Sure, there's always the demographic of hipster/hipster posers, both with plaid shirts, t-shirts desperately attempting to be ironic, dark jeans and retro shoes. But sometimes you get surprises. Animal Collective attracted a high number of hippies and teenagers. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs got a surprising amount of people on dates. And Ben Folds got someone desperately wishing he hadn't been fooled into going and opting for getting drunk over running head first into the nearest wall (okay, that was just me). So what did Blitzen Trapper get? College girls who stepped out of an Urban Outfitters catalog and middle age people reliving their 70s folk days. The former made this crowd, admittedly, one of the better looking crowds I've seen in a while. The latter just made for good people watching. If you look at the picture (top left), you'll see the three characteristics exemplifying this latter group -- the bald spot, the premium beer (over the $3 PBR tall boy) and hush puppies. Unfortunately, most of this latter group left half way through the show. Did it get too late? Was the music not what they thought? Were they embarrassed to wear hush puppies in public? I suppose I'll never know.
Oh yeah, and there was a show, too. BT played in the lower level of the Pabst Theatre. Again, Animal Collective sells out the entire Riverside, but bands like Peter, Bjorn and John and Blitzen Trapper can't even sell out the lower level of the Pabst. I don't get it. On the bright side, I was able to walk up ten minutes before BT took the stage and buy a ticket for the bargain price of $10 (gotta love Milwaukee). At first I was hesitant to see BT because my friend told me how folksy and boring they were live at Pitchfork. After seeing them at the Pabst, I can see his point, although I liked them live more than he did. BT is best seen in an indoor venue with chairs and good sound. The Pabst has each of those things. The band sounded great, in part thanks to the good acoustics at the Pabst (the band did the obligatory "This place is so nice!" remark on the theater). I also appreciated the band weaving in their hits throughout the set rather than wait until the "encore" or the end of the set. And although the music was good, would it kill them to develop some banter and stage presence? It's not like it's their first tour. A lack of banter isn't necessarily a bad thing, but here it did leave me a bit bored at times, which allowed my mind to wander to such important things like "Why would one buy hush puppies?", "How much would I hate myself if I wore hush puppies?", and "Why does that one guy in the band look like he's either someone's dad or a reject from the Blue Collar Comedy Tour?"
That all said, I enjoyed the show. Apart from the quality performance and good people watching, I was able to better appreciate the unintentional comedy inherent in the background animal noises on "Furr." You can't beat all that for $10 on a Monday night.
