n a v i g a t i o n
Home
What's New
Me
Friends
Rants
Gallery
f e a t u r e s
Computers
- Dual Celeron
Nissan Maxima
Saturn
l i n k s
Links
Emperor's
Hammer
Garbage @ The Wiltern 4/11
I'm really overdoing it. U2 at Anaheim, then again at Staples, Garbage (this page), then at least two more concerts this spring...
But the insanity is so wonderful!
Having friends who are insane too, and help keep pushing me over the edge never hurt either. Well, okay, maybe it's not such a good idea, but who's counting?
First off, the Wiltern is a wonderful little place to see shows. Capacity is respectable at 2,300, bottom is all floor general admission with limited access for a few into the (former) orchestra pit at the foot of the stage, and the view from the seats up top isn't bad either. It has some history as well, although the website explains it better than I can...
The opening act was The Dead 60's. A mix of rock, maybe a little... something else thrown in. Reggae? Grunge? Something. The lead singer would go up to the edge of the stage and dangle his guitar out to the crowd, too. That might have been charming if it was Bernard Summer in his younger years, but in this case it just looked stupid. But we were on the floor in the pit, and had no choice but to stand through and suffer. Kings of Leon was better than these guys, but that's not saying much. At least as Carley noted, their set was mercifully short.
Shirley and the rest of Garbage. The stage setup is fairly simple. A grid of lights in the back with a row of plasma TVs backing them up for visuals, then a few lights. Drum set in the center, microphone for Shirley, not much else*. Backing visuals were just light patterns, although they did do a few words for some songs, a la U2. I'm not quite sure how the experience was for Carley, since this was her first concert. I imagine it was a great deal more fun. =) * = important realization: Garbage is NOT going to be magnificent like U2, nor are they going to be outrageous like Erasure. Once I got over that fact, the show was much more enjoyable.
Hearing Garbage live: mmmmyyyy goodness. I never expected anything quite like this in Los Angeles. Down in the pit, a few songs in, and people are jumping up and down with excitement. SWEET! Why the hell are all the other Los Angeles crowds so damned bad? Maybe it's the music, maybe it's the particular people here. Garbage does have a few slower songs in their repository, but a great deal of Garbage is exciting, upbeat stuff such as Special and Only Happy When It Rains. The thumping beats sound a little too similar to each other live, but the sound is still mesmerizing. After a while, the fact that you can only see Shirley strut around so many different ways doesn't bother you as much. The crowd interaction was unusually good, too, as Garbage did a recent video shoot in Los Angeles and they pulled a few people from the crowd that they recognized (who were extras in the video) onto stage for Why Do You Love Me. Very nice!
Conclusions...
Garbage live: is lots of fun. Finally brought an LA crowd truly into its music. Just don't expect a dramatic or truly earth-shattering performance from them. It was damned fun and settle for that.
The venue: is beautiful. Being there early enough to get wristbands for the pit was cool. My ears still aren't liking me for abusing them so much...
The crowd: was damned good for a Los Angeles crowd. Much of the crowd was kind of dead, but the people in front were rocking out hard. Harder than I expected from down here, and they kept it up half the show.
- Intro (Hurt by Johnny Cash)- this was a surprise. Didn't quite realize it right away.
- Queer- we're off to a promising start. Pretty quickly established the fact that we weren't going to get a fancy set, tho.
- Bad Boyfriend- hey, wow, the new stuff sounds just like Garbage. Shows a lack of innovation, but it's still fun to listen to!
- Supervixen- According to Nick, Shirely lost her earpiece sometime during this song. She was totally off. hehe.
- Stupid Girl- fun. =) 'nuff said.
- Special- And we're off our feet. Special has always had a lot of energy. It showed. :-D
- Hammering in my Head- I was hoping to hear this one, and to my delight, we got it! The snap drums during the slow parts were appropriately emphasized, the shift from slow to fast in the vocals. Oh, such sweet goodness.
- Shut Your Mouth- the "kick" from being performed live wasn't quite as strong as I was hoping. To be honest, I was still pleased-- since this was a Los Angeles crowd.
- Vow- I hadn't listened to this song in a long time. I need to fix that. =)
- Bleed Like Me- it's hard to comment on the new stuff, since the album just came out yesterday. Sounded okay, and we'll leave it at that for now.
- I Think I'm Paranoid- wonderful sound. Want a stupid grin? Hear this live.
- Push It- Very basic, very loud. By now we're wondering-- Garbage has 4 albums to draw on, where's some of the other stuff? Push it!!
- Only Happy When It Rains- the lead-in to this song was pretty obvious and pretty long. The whole band was sick a few days before the show so they spent extra time here drinking water. Yeah... singing in the rain... yeah... ok... start the song already! Natually, the wait was worth it. I appreciate the sound of older Garbage, and this song really emphasizes it-- smoother, more rolling passion rather than pop.
- Why Do You Love Me- the people they pulled from the audience sure looked like they were having fun. The rest of the audience was, too. A little too pop for Garbage, but it's almost got the old sound buried inside of it.
- (encore starts:) Sex Is Not The Enemy- another new song.
- When I Grow Up- JUMPING UP AND DOWN! Sooooo much fun live. Kickass!!!
- Right Between The Eyes- Upbeat new stuff. By now we've been jumping up and down for at least six songs, I'm getting kind of tired! Nice snap to it, but fails to break any new ground.
Setlist courtesy of Garbage Box.
