Japandroids @ Schubas, 10/09/09 (Or, "What do single men in Chicago who read too many music blogs do on a Friday night?")

I don’t think I’m alone in having an almost instinctive hesitation about the blog band of the moment. Hell, it helps explain the undeserved backlash that bands like Vampire Weekend get. But I’ll say this about Japandroids – their debut album is pretty damn good. Not great, but pretty damn good for a first LP. So when a ticket became available to see them at Schubas with Horsie Sauce, I jumped at the chance. Milwaukee has had a relative dearth of concerts lately. And no, I won’t pay $30 to see Andrew Bird at the Pabst. I’m sure it’s a good show, but I’ve seen the man three times already for $20 or less. You have to draw the line somewhere.

There’s nothing I can add to all the commentary on Japandroid’s wall of sound. It’s all true; for two guys from Vancouver (one with a horrendous, trying-too-hard-to-be-80s-ironic-cool indie haircut), they produce sound with more depth than most four- or five-piece bands I’ve seen. And they sound great live – energy, comprehensible lyrics, a rawness that comes with starting a tour (albeit with an utter lack of banter). A nice show overall. I’d recommend them to anyone. Although, seeing as most of my friends think Kings of Leon have improved with each album, I’m not sure anyone would listen…

Anyway, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the crowd, because this was the strangest crowd I’ve seen at Schubas in a while. Let’s break it down: 90% men, 80% of whom seemed very enthusiastic about the show, (but) 50% of whom kept leaving to get drinks, and 40% of whom were way, way too into Japandroids. To take a page from Janine Garafalo (god help me), it’s okay to love Japandroids, but I don’t think it’s okay to love Japandroids. This observation was capped off by two guys in front of me go absolutely apes**t over the beginning of their “encore” (“I Quite Girls”, I believe), only to leave a minute into the song. Real enthusiasm, guys. And one final word on the “encore” – please, please PLEASE stop calling built-in songs an “encore.” Japandroids tried to get around this by playing their set, pausing 30 seconds without leaving the stage, and then announcing, “We won’t call this an encore, because that’s not what we do. So, let’s just play another song.” No, guys, that’s the very definition of a fake encore. A rose is a rose is a rose…