I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: July 28, 2017] Garbage

When I saw that Blondie and Garbage were touring together (“The Rage and Rapture Tour”) I casually asked Sarah if she wanted to go.  She said yes and so cousin Kate got us tickets the same day she bought the King Crimson seats. I’ve never seen Blondie, but I loved Garbage.

I had seen Garbage at the Starland Ballroom almost exactly one year earlier.  That show was great. They played a really long set, played a lot from their debut album and I was really close.

For this show we were a bit further back (it was row T), but the view was great.  And, frankly, my location in Starland was hampered by some tall people.  So I had a pretty clear view of the show (except for the drunken people who were coming in later and later and later).

The sound was spectacular (I feel bad for Deap Vally that their sound wasn’t).  I especially appreciated how I could hear the difference between Duke Erikson’s guitar and Steve Marker’s guitar (when they alternated notes, you could really hear the sonic differences in their guitars).

And, unlike last time, Butch Vig was back on drums!  Last time I was right in front of Duke, so it was fun being on the other side of the stage.

Shirley stomped and stalked round the stage like a woman possessed.  She even lay down for a song and gave a few rants.  Her best rant was at Trump for his idiotic tweet about transgender soldiers.  My comment then is still true:

There are few things more exhilarating than hearing an angry Scotswoman excoriate an embarrassing manchild for his asinine tweets about transgender soldiers [as an intro to “Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go)”].

Of all of the four shows I’ve seen).  But the set list was nicely varied, and I was impressed that they played two songs that I hadn’t seen before.  One was the brand new song “No Horses” which opened the set.  The other was their James Bond theme “The World is Not Enough.”

The mix of songs was good too, four songs from their debut and three songs each from their second album and their new album.  They played a romping “Sex is Not the Enemy” (one of the slogans on their T-shirts) and then the older “#1 Crush.”

And then it was time to dance with a blast of “I think I’m Paranoid.” This was a time when you could really hear the guitar differences between Duke and Steve.

Speaking of dancing, The Count Basie Theater bouncers were pretty intense.  There was a guy who was sitting on the back of his seat filming for the first couple of songs.  Everyone else stayed seated (which is a little lame for such a rocking band).  But the bouncer came over and yelled right in the guy’s face to get him to sit down.  This seemed dickish to me, although later on when he tried to get people to sit he told them they could stand off to the side in the aisle, which is actually a good solution and should be announced ahead of time.  Everyone stood throughout Blondie, so that was moot.

When Shirley gave her rant about Trump, she told us all not to bother to complain to her or to the band on Twitter since they wouldn’t listen anyhow, but everyone was fully on her side.  And the intensity of her passion really shone through in that song which sounded fantastic.

I liked they way they mixed in the old and new with a  new song from Strange Little Birds every couple of songs.  “Even Though Our Love is Doomed” is a so burner of a song but it fit in perfectly–especially after her joke about it being the saddest song every written (actually I think that was about “empty”).  I never really thought of them as a mopey band, but I guess they are–their music just disguises it well.

But before that song she gave a special shout out to her heroes Blondie (she was pretty excited to be in Blondie’s current home town of Red Bank) and Chrissie Hynde, which was the segue for “Special.”  She related the story that Chrissie Hynde gave them permission to use “her lyrics, he voice her veritable ass” in any of their songs.

I also loved how she gave a big shout out to Deap Vally, the next generation of ass kicking female musicians.

And then a standout for me was that they played “Queer.”  This was the song that won me over to them and they didn’t play it last year.  It sounded great.

Sometime around here came the other massive disruption.  In front of us was an older guy who was on his phone for most of the show.  It’s rude enough to be on your phone, but at least turn down the brightness. WHY DON’T PEOPLE KNOW THAT YOU CAN TURN DOWN THE BRIGHTNESS OF YOUR SCREEN?   Earlier the people next to him were really drunk and were talking through most of Garbage.  They were in front of me, so I could only hear mumbles, but the people in front of them were pissed.  Then they left.  A couple songs later, I heard a guy next to the guy in white shout FUCK YOU! right in that guy’s’ face. The guy in white shouted FUCK YOU back.  And a teenaged or mid 20s girl in our row seemed to get into it too.  (The girl was with her family and a couple of little kids, and that must have been a pretty traumatic moment for them.).  Finally the bouncer came over and took the guy in white away.  The girl ran after them saying she wanted to add something.

Amazingly they all came back and sat down peacefully in their assigned seats a few songs later.  WTF?  Why don’t people have manners anymore?  I blame the asinine manchild.

After playing the James Bond theme (a genuine surprise for me), they ended the set with four classic songs.

“Stupid Girl” got everyone moving.  And “Only Happy When It Rains” sounded great–darker and a bit more rocking.  After the show Sarah confessed to me that she didn’t know any Garbage songs but that one (which I was shocked to hear) and that she never particularly liked that song.  But live it was very different and she really enjoyed it.  Indeed, she became a convert to the band and a huge fan of Shirley.

They ended with the powerful twofer of “Push It” (a stupidly catchy song) and “Vow”–the very first song I heard by them.

And then they were done.  No encore (unsurprising), but also no feeling of being let down–it was a great blast of a set, a solid hour and change and it satisfied this old fan and made at least one new one.

Their light show was also pretty spectacular.  For a small venue, they didn’t hold back at all–bright beams, lots of colors, and cool moodiness.

 

7/28/2017 Count Basie Theatre	7/27/2016 Starland Ballroom
No Horses	Supervixen
Sex Is Not the Enemy	I Think I’m Paranoid
#1 Crush	Stupid Girl
Empty	Automatic Systematic Habit
I Think I’m Paranoid	Blood for Poppies
Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go)	The Trick is to Keep Breathing
Blackout	My Lovers Box
Special	Sex is Not the Enemy
Queer	Special
Even Though Our Love is Doomed	Beloved Freak [aborted]
The World Is Not Enough	Beloved Freak [take two, aborted]
Stupid Girl	Even Though Our Love is Doomed
Only Happy When It Rains	Why Do You Love Me
Push It	Control
Vow	Blackout
	Bleed Like Me
	Push It
	Vow
	Only Happy When It Rains
	Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go)
	encore
	Sometimes
	Empty
	#1 Crush

 

 

5/26/1998	10/30/1998
Push It	Temptation Waits
Dumb	Not My Idea
Queer	I Think I’m Paranoid
Special	Special
Fix Me Now	My Lovers Box
My Lovers Box	Hammering in My Head
Hammering in My Head	Thirteen
Medication	#1 Crush
Stupid Girl	Vow
Temptation Waits	Stupid Girl
Trip My Wire	Wicked Ways
Vow	Queer
#1 Crush	Push It
I Think I’m Paranoid	Only Happy When It Rains
When I Grow Up	You Look So Fine
Only Happy When it Rains	encore
encore	Supernatural
Thirteen	Milk
Girl Don’t Come	When I Grow Up
You Look So Fine