This particular show was in Bushwick. On the line-up was Golden Error, Death Set, Best Fwends, Parts and Labour (it was their record launch) and Matt and Kim (who are supposedly quite popular).
The gig was originally meant to be on the roof of an auto-parts store but found itself homeless on the day of the show before being relocated to an empty warehouse just 3 hours before it started. Thanks to the internet, enough people still managed to turn up to sell-out the show.
The show, was, well, interesting. The building was being constructed in. Wooden boards covered trenches in the concrete, orange tape cordoned off areas under construction and piles of concrete rubble laid around. All of the band equipment was being run off a generator. Three (reportedly disgusting) port-a-loos were present. I didn't use them.
As soon was we arrived, the cops (NYPD) turned up just after an organiser ran through the place whispering 'hide yr drinks'. Initial reactions were that the whole event was going to be shut down a la 610, but before long they'd left after informing Todd that there was to be no loitering outside the venue.
The bands were, on the whole, pretty bad. Somewhat typical of this kind of event. To quote a friend, "mediocrity hidden by an effects board". Expect not hidden that well. In defence of the bands, though, there were major sound problems. Due to the sound equipment being run off a generator, and that generator being insufficient, one speaker cut in and out CONSTANTLY. It was the worst sound I've ever encountered.
Despite all this, I managed to really enjoy the Death Set (listen, listen and listen). They managed to fit some pop sensibility into their mixture of samples, uncontrollable shredding and psuedo-rap yelling. It's a little ironic that I had to travel to Brooklyn to find an Australian band (Gold Coast, infact) that I liked, but maybe not that surprising.
Headliners, who reportedly were the reason for the sell-out crowd, were playing their first homeborough show in quite some time. I somewhat enjoyed them but their song-writing was awfully primative.
Never before have I seen so much stage diving and crowd surfing. During the bands there was an almost constant stream of people crawling onto the stage and then diving into not-that-dense mosh. Enjoyable to watch from a far, but that kind of thing is definitely not for me in my old age. During the last band, one of the video crew surfed his way around filming the band.
Undoubtedly the best part of the show was when, between two of the earlier bands, I went next door to a DVD Rentals slash Cafe and ordered a Spinach, Mozzarella and Tomatoe Panini. I'm just not cut out for guerilla gigs, to be quite honest.
In a previous blog I mentioned the prevalence of shoes hanging from power-lines in Williamsburg (and Bushwick, it seems). On our way home from the gig, we came across this little amusing scene:
It appears one of the lines fell under the weight. I watched this pile of shoes slowly disappear as (I guess) some Cinderellas scored free kicks.
