The weekend is back and I was determined to have a good time. This Friday was chock full of events. With this show at Cafe Du Nord featuring at least two good bands and possible dancing and rock star gazing over at Mezzanine for the BFD After Party, the night looked promising. The grand plan was to stop by Mezzanine at around 9:30pm to get our hand stamped so we can enter the BFD Afterparty for free and without wait. Then, after that, go to Cafe Du Nord and catch Robbers on High Street on. Then go back to Mezzanine.
Well, we got our hand stamp so we were all set with that.
Off we go to Cafe Du Nord where we were just in time to catch Robbers on High Street. This band opened up for several shows here in San Francisco - all of which I probably attended and all of which I definitely skipped Robbers on High Street. Not that I hate the band, but they never really caught my interest until I heard one of their songs in a Filter free CD. The song, whose title I forget, was alright and it had that "happy" piano beat to it which was good enough to catch my attention.
Robbers on High Street were alright, but it was odd for me to figure out why they would put these guys on the same bill as The National. If the schtick was to put bands that start off as progressively happy and cheery and end the show with a band that is the complete antithesis of that previous genre, then by all means it worked. Robbers on High Street attracted more people than The National apparently. I don't know why, but I figure it's because the songs are more appealing to the folks at Cafe Du Nord that night compared to The National. Overall, Robbers on High Street were solid, with Ben Trokan providing solid vocals and the occassional "happy piano" for these New Yorkers. The songs were well received by the crowd and everyone seemed pleased by it.
Menomena followed Robbers on High Street much to my surprise. I thought these guys went on already, just because I wanted to go dancing immediately, but oh well. Menomena (not to be confused with Phenomenauts (a rap group) or Mesothelioma (the cancer from asbestos)), these Portland, Oregon based trio perform multiple instruments and create some experimental noise. I've never heard of them, so I was open to listening to a new band. Well, they didn't really do much for me. I guess I wasn't feeling "experimental indie" that night, but I can see why this band could be good. My friend thinks they're good, but I beg to slightly differ. Regardless, they bored me so I proceeded to stay back and down some Newcastles.
The National came on after 12am after taking a hell of a long time setting up and doing soundcheck. Their 2003 release, Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers, is apparently very good although I'm only familiar with their most recent release, Alligator. Matt Berringer's vocals are very good, and it even translated well live. The band seemed to be pretty solid with the brothers Devendorf to be in full sync with one another. However, I didn't enjoy their set and I was falling asleep at this point. It's a combination of being tired from a long work week, the number of beers imbibed and my craving to do some dancing (just to wake me up at least). This should be expected since The National isn't exactly "happy piano" music like Robbers or even experimental like Menomena. Their brand of music is super mellow, meshing in some properties of Brit rock and then some indie country jangles. This brand of mellowness was almost a lullaby to me.
We left mid-set, so we can at least get some dancing going on at Mezzanine. One friend of mine thought The National were utter shit live, but still liked their releases. Some bands just don't translate well live, and The National were one of them.
Well, the Mezzanine party was dead after 1:30am and all that was left there were the Foo Fighter crowd. Although the sight of members of Ash somewhat made up for the lack of beautiful people in the crowd, and not to mention decent music to dance to (stop with the mash-ups already!), the BFD night was disappointing. Thank goodness I didn't pay to get in there.
Beer Rating: 4 Beers
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