the shins fail to shine

i got hit in the face with a brick last night. it came in the form of the shins playing "Breathe" by pink floyd. upon hearing the first few chords, guy said, "It's pink floyd" in a very knowing, hushed voice. i disagreed, not because it didn't sound like it, it totally did, but because why would this be an experience i would have at the shins?! it seemed unbelievable, but it was real.

the location was the very last row in the 3rd upper balcony of the warfield. guy and i had slightly better assigned seats, but chose the freedom of movement the last row afforded us. quite unfortunately this meant crappy sound. guy figured out that a cupping motion around the ears greatly amplified the parts of the sound we were missing, namely the higher notes. but "Breathe" was amazing. it affected me deeply. pink floyd is the soundtrack of tortured youth and i felt it all over again in a very unexpectedly painful way, like a brick.

we were surrounded by kids too young to be loose enough to dance, or too serious to do so. the fashion was hilarious too. girls in super high wedge heels carrying extra-large handbags on their arms, sipping budweiser from plastic cups. there was one guy whose fashion choices we had the priveledge of witnessing twice. he wore the hugest woolen mittens with a matching powder puff hat and scarf over a tshirt with jeans. he looked like beck circa 1992. i made guy laugh calling him "beck's brother."

the show was simply mediocre. no climaxes whatsoever. straightforward. Breathe was the highlight, and mysteriously, sounded the best. they played for nearly an hour and a half with an encore that consisted of six songs. i say if a band wants to have a two-set show, that's fine. the grateful dead did it for decades with success. i only request one thing and that is do not say "goodnight and thank you" if you are going to come back for what is clearly a second set. it just doesn't make any sense, and it's annoying.

guy and i laughed at them too. yes, we really appreciate their music, but we also had fun making fun. the lead singer at one point said, "Yeah, so, this is the last show of a really long tour." guy and i responded with fists below our eyes, twisting them back in forth in a mock-sobbing motion. "wah wah wah! poor me, i'm a rock star, wah! i'm a poor indie rock star and i've been touring for three months WAH!" we said, cracking ourselves up.

after we left i realized i was extremely dizzy. i had to hold on to guy. i'd only had a few sips of wine, but i did take three vicodins on the way there.

written 4.19.07