M83 Roll Call

[HoyaSaxa03]

really excited for this, have a big crew going

[sweetcell]

catching M83 in philly tomorrow night.  i'll let you know how it goes.  
 
 kinda disappointed about xneverwherex's report that they play a relatively short set, under or around an hour.  we get a sunny day in glasglow as openers, which is a plus.

[azaghal1981]

There.
 
 
 Do we get ASDIG too?

[sweetcell]

Originally posted by azaghal1981:
 Do we get ASDIG too?

nope - according to the BC's website, you get The Berg Sans Nipple.  can't say i've heard of them.

[HoyaSaxa03]

i heard the same complaint from a friend who was at their NYC show, but he also said it was great ... the setlist looked like they're mixing in songs from every album

[Jesse]

The Berg Sans Nipple are good. Saw them open for the Faint last summer at the club
 
 I'm also pretty excited to see M83 on saturday

[Ricky0710]

Really looking forward to this show! I'll definitely be there...

[xneverwherex]

Originally posted by HoyaSaxa03:
  i heard the same complaint from a friend who was at their NYC show, but he also said it was great ... the setlist looked like they're mixing in songs from every album

dont get me wrong - the show was short, but it was a great set. everyone walked out pretty happy. then again - my friend thought it was pretty mediocre. hes the total snob at shows and im not sure hes liked much lately. besides - the keyboard chick (which is not a good way to refer to her), has amazing vocals.

[sweetcell]

M83 put on a heart-felt performance in philadelphia tonight, despite some technical difficulties with the monitors that brought the show to a halt for a few minutes (during which we were treated to a roadie's ass-crack while he bent over a monitor with his back to the crowd... sweet).  the setlist covered their entire catalog.  the keyboardist has some impressive vocal skills and made the songs from "saturday=youth" sound amazing.  anthony appeared to be genuinely humbled by the reception he got tonight.
 
 the first united church is a beautiful venue, although it was weird that everyone remained seated for the main set.  i managed to get a spot in the front pew, there were several dozen people sitting on the floor between me and the stage/altar.  security was non-existent, people were walking in with beer and digital video recorders (for example, the guy from www.eattapes.com, sure to be azaghal's new favorite indie-torrenter).  chilled water was being sold for $1. the whole evening had a very DIY vibe to it.  could definitely use some AC, the church was hot and sticky tonight.
 
 i thoroughly enjoyed a sunny day in glasglow's shoegaze pop.  looking forward to seeing them again.  i was really impressed with the guitarist, and dug his electric mandolin shaped like a gibson explorer.
 
 tonight's show was beautiful in a close-your-eyes-and-bliss-out sorta way, but a tad lacking in energy.  then again, so was i after a long week at work.  not sure i would have been able to deal with the presets, although i really enjoyed them last time i heard them.  given how pretty the music was, and how rarely M83 tour, i'm pretty sure i made the right choice.  if i was in a high-energy dancing mood, presets would have been the way to go.  i assume that M83 will be dancier at the BC since everyone will be standing, but as a seated show is was rather cerebral.
 
 recommendation for those seeing M83 tomorrow at the BC: placement for sound should be your only concern.  there is little going on, on stage.  find yourself a nice central position, a third to half way back is probably ideal.  here are a few pix - as you can see, not much going on visually.

[azaghal1981]

The eattapes guy has been at it for a while.
 
 
 And yes, he's awesome.  
 
 
 Edit: Thanks for the review.

[Vas Deferens]

hmm, what can I say...pretty good show, not great. More than 50% of the music is pre-programmed. Kinda hard to enjoy a show fully when you know the music isn't coming from any of the musicians on stage (except the drummer). The best song played was the encore song "Couleurs" with the extra guitar parts in the beginning of song. Of course the drumming "Don't Save Us From the Flames" was pretty great also.

[sweetcell]

Originally posted by wanderlust j. marshmallow:
  More than 50% of the music is pre-programmed.

exaggerate much?      :p      the bassline was the only consistently pre-recorded part, and the few keyboard parts when anthony was playing guitar (definitely less than half the time).  other than that, it was an occasional vocal sample and some FX.  oh, and the drummer had a click track (which we didn't hear).  
 
 that some of the music was pre-recorded - or rendered real-time by a computer - makes sense, since that how it was written and how it was recorded.  trying to get a bass player to play those parts would have been pointless - the parts were created with a synth in mind and don't call for a human touch, so why pay someone to try being a machine (insert predictable jokes here).
 
   

Originally posted by wanderlust j. marshmallow:
  when you know the music isn't coming from any of the musicians on stage (except the drummer).

uh, what exactly were the three musicians at the front of the stage doing?  miming?  
 
 maybe DC got a different show than what i saw in philly...

[azaghal1981]

I thought that 50% was a gross exaggeration too.

[HoyaSaxa03]

i agree that the best song was "couleurs", they were at their best when they were really rocking out hard and they left everything out on the stage during the encore ... i listen to them a lot but don't really know the song titles all-too-well, there was another song about half-way into the set that they took to another level with an intense metal-esque coda ... they also had some great softer moments that sounded exactly like slowdive
 
 i really liked the show, but it lacked a bit of the "wow" factor their last one had (seems like a common lament for me lately, i'm getting old)