Pity the White Rabbits. They played in Milwaukee a few years ago when opening for the uneven Walkmen, and they stole the show. Whatever good will they had for Milwaukee from that show was squandered by one of the worst crowds I've seen in years. I've seen crowds unfamiliar with a band's current album or unfamiliar with anything except the singles, but I have trouble recalling a crowd that reacted to the headliner with an apathy typically reserved for some anonymous opener. I don’t know if it was because the crowd perhaps stemmed mostly from the listening audience of the local self-declared "alt-rock" station, 102.1 (think Q101 in Chicago), that sponsored the show and that only began playing Percussion Gun a few weeks before (so admitted the guy introducing the band), or if it was just an off and shameful night for Milwaukee music. But this is why bands skip over Milwaukee and go from Madison to Chicago, or vice versa.
Regardless, the White Rabbits put on a show that I can only describe as professional. I could see the increased polish in their live set as compared to two years ago, and they used that polish in a valiant, but ultimately vain, attempt to win over the crowd. I thought the set was good -- they could have mailed it in like some bands that visit Milwaukee (New Pornographers), but they didn't. But eventually the apathetic crowd won out, and the band almost appeared to decide "Well, let's just finish this up and go boozing." (hell, they even twice announced they were looking forward to heading to the Old German Beer Hall afterwards for shotskis.) I couldn't blame them.
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