Xiu Xiu, The Velvet Teen, Minipop and Polar Bear (GAMH, 2 April 2006)

I was very excited to see this show.

This will mark the first time I've ever seen Xiu Xiu. I love his music and actually interviewed him for a Mesh article. However, this was the first time I've seen him in live action. Also, I've never seen The Velvet Teen before. Their 2002 album, Out of the Fierce Parade, was a great album with solid harmonies and vocals.

However, as the night wore on, the wait for Xiu Xiu became unbearable.

I got in there to catch a bit of Polar Bear's set. They are just a noisy bunch. I thought they sucked.

Minipop was next and they were complete opposites of Polar Bear. Their type of music was softer, less noisy and full of synths. The lead singer was female, and her voice was a relief to my ears compared to Polar Bear's dissonance. However, I wasn't too into them. They weren't bad, but I wasn't too into their stuff.

Velvet Teen came on and their first song was dramatically different from anything out of Fierce Parade. I don't know any of their new material, but I was hoping that their sound now is the same as it was in 2002. Boy, was I wrong! They did a complete 180 with their most recent releases, thus making the songs just an incomprehensible mess. They played one song from 2002, "Caspian Can Wait," and they didn't play what I really wanted to hear, "Prize Fighter." At this point, I sat down on my balcony seat and didn't even try to watch their set.

Finally, Xiu Xiu came on close to 11pm. Their set up is just insane, with all these percussion instruments and this weird harp/accordion looking thing. Their set consisted of songs that are sung with utter softness and then is followed by something so loud and banging that it would wake up the dead. They started off with "Crank Heart." They didn't play "Pox," which is a great song off of La Foret, but they did play other great songs such as Fabulous Muscle's "I Luv the Valley, OH". Among other songs played including, "Muppet Face," the haunting "Saturn," and "Yellow Raspberry." Jaime Stewart is a brilliant musician, and his live performances just displays it for all the world to see. His intense nature and that resonating voice sent chills to my spine. It would have sent even more chills, if it wasn't for a bunch of mooks constantly heckling from the balcony.

Because Xiu Xiu's set was so distinct from the others, I rated it as follows:

Beer Rating for Xiu Xiu:
Beer Rating for the Rest: