Your most perfect gig in the last 10 years?
Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2009 3:11 amI say the last 10 years because I imagine this whole forum is devoted to great new wave gigs of the past in general. Given all the new wave reunions and [i]next wave[/i] soundalikes though, what's been your most perfect gig memory of recent times? I'm tempted to reach for New Order at the Hammerstein in 2005, what ended up being their last gig in the US. Maybe last year's epic Echo & the Bunnymen "Ocean Rain" with orchestra at Radio City. Few things got me as pumped as The Plimsouls reunion gig at SXSW 2006. The Buzzcocks SXSW 2007 was rollicking as well. The Bongos at Joe's Pub that same year? Sublime. 20/20 at the Brooklyn Power Pop Fest? Insanely great. Having some drinks with BSP and them taking a Blirbis request at Maxwells in Hoboken last spring? Too easy.
I'm gonna say the most perfect for me was in mid-December 2005 on a cold NYC night. We were to catch Goldfrapp at the newly opened Nokia Theater in NYC. The Nokia had been the old Astor Plaza Theater and just underwent a complete revamp that October. There's a large floor pit area followed by cushy mid-level seats then stadium seating in the back. I thought it was bit sanitary at first. I would normally have gone for the floor, but we somehow managed to grab stage-center seats and were treated to just about the most-perfect live sound I've ever experienced at a concert. Goldfrapp absolutely thumped that night with bass and synths that tried bouncing your heart out of your chest...but it was still clean. They had the full complement of freaky animal-head dancers that night as well. Um, not always clean...
<img src="http://www.brooklynvegan.com/img/music/goldfrapp/nokia/11.jpg">
The crowd was, ahem, [i]exotic[/i] too and made for great people-watching. The band was just about the perfect modern reincarnation of new wave from the big keyboard stacks to the clear acrylic bass to the Jesus-looking violinist to the leather-clad drummer. And the people there seemed to really know and love their music. This was before too many ridiculous disco scenesters had jumped aboard after Supernature, and folks still appreciated the trippy mix of the thumping with the ethereal weirdness of Felt Mountain. There was a tightness in theme and feel to the setlist that Goldfrapp has never quite captured again given the diverseness of four very different albums. The finale that night was the highlight, with Alison crooning a slow and low "Black Cherry", after which we emerged into the New York night to a light snow that had started falling during the show.
Perfect. Almost magical even.
Black Cherry (not from the Nokia):
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I'm gonna say the most perfect for me was in mid-December 2005 on a cold NYC night. We were to catch Goldfrapp at the newly opened Nokia Theater in NYC. The Nokia had been the old Astor Plaza Theater and just underwent a complete revamp that October. There's a large floor pit area followed by cushy mid-level seats then stadium seating in the back. I thought it was bit sanitary at first. I would normally have gone for the floor, but we somehow managed to grab stage-center seats and were treated to just about the most-perfect live sound I've ever experienced at a concert. Goldfrapp absolutely thumped that night with bass and synths that tried bouncing your heart out of your chest...but it was still clean. They had the full complement of freaky animal-head dancers that night as well. Um, not always clean...
<img src="http://www.brooklynvegan.com/img/music/goldfrapp/nokia/11.jpg">
The crowd was, ahem, [i]exotic[/i] too and made for great people-watching. The band was just about the perfect modern reincarnation of new wave from the big keyboard stacks to the clear acrylic bass to the Jesus-looking violinist to the leather-clad drummer. And the people there seemed to really know and love their music. This was before too many ridiculous disco scenesters had jumped aboard after Supernature, and folks still appreciated the trippy mix of the thumping with the ethereal weirdness of Felt Mountain. There was a tightness in theme and feel to the setlist that Goldfrapp has never quite captured again given the diverseness of four very different albums. The finale that night was the highlight, with Alison crooning a slow and low "Black Cherry", after which we emerged into the New York night to a light snow that had started falling during the show.
Perfect. Almost magical even.
Black Cherry (not from the Nokia):
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