Concert Review: Cold War Kids and Spoon

Last night, I attended the WFNX holiday concert at the Orpheum. The lineup included Spoon, Cold War Kids, Against Me!, and Mute Math. Feat was also listed on the ticket, however, I did eventually figure out that Feat is in fact short for featuring, and not a band. We arrived in time to catch the end of Against Me's set, and were perplexed by the refrain to their song The Ocean: "There is an ocean in my soul where the waters do not curve." What? Curve? That doesn't make any sense, and it doesn't even rhyme. It gets worse, folks, check out the full lyrics here. Sharks and dolphins? Estuaries? Really? Yes, I realize that I am a big jerk for making fun of a band's lyrics, but whatever. Your favorite band sucks.

Things took a turn for the better when Cold War Kids , an indie rock band from Long Beach, CA (birthplace of Snoop Dogg and yours truly) took the stage. I like their music but had never seen them live before, so I was really looking forward to their performance. They exceeded my expectations. I was most impressed by the musical talent and stage presence of lead singer Nathan Willett, who plays guitar and piano on several tracks. (piano + rock music = awesome) The songs with piano sounded excellent, especially my favorite, "We Used to Vacation." They ended the set with an chills-inducing version of "Saint John." So, yes, we went from a band that sings about dolphins to one who sings about death row and alcoholics destroying their families. Our seats were in the third row right in the middle of the stage, so I could have taken some good photos, except that flash photography was forbidden. I turned my flash off and took the photo that you see here, but when I tried to take another one, the flash went off, and not just a one-and-done; it was on some crazy red-eye setting that was all flash-flash-flash-flash-FLASH!, thus drawing the ire of not one, but two, angry security guards. I didn't want to get thrown out so I put my camera away. (The Spoon photo was taken by a friend with better camera etiquette.)

Lastly, Spoon took the stage. I saw them back in October and it was nice to see them up close once again. They performed most of the same songs, but this time had a horns section on stage with them, so that was fun. They played for about an hour, and by the end of their set, it was like a thousand degrees inside the Orpheum. Nevertheless, they sounded great, and seeing them and the Cold War Kids was well worth the price of admission.

Downloads (right click and "save as"):

Cold War Kids:

We Used to Vacation
Saint John

Spoon:

You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb