On Valentine's Day 2011, I took a trip up to the Crofoot Ballroom in Pontiac with my friend Matt to see the mighty Deerhoof. In spite of leaving my wallet back at home (thus, no drinking and no merch), being single ruled this night.
Detroit's Marco Polio and the New Vaccines undeservedly started things off. How they are getting to open for such sweet shows (they opened for Women back in September), I have no idea.
My buds Child Bite brought redemption when they played second. Of their recordings, their newest LP, The Living Breathing Organ Summer, captures their live energy the best. Their set was filled mostly with these songs, while also playing two of the best songs from their sophomore effort, Fantastic Gusts of Blood. They are really fun to watch.
I don't know anything about Ben Butler and Mousepad, but they put on quite a show. This duo featured a dude playing a tiny Korg synth and one helluva drummer. Their songs were instrumental, spazzy and full of rhythm and time trickery.
The highlight of the night was definitely and obviously Deerhoof. They played one of the most impressive live sets I have ever seen. All four members are masters at their instruments as well as great entertainers. Greg Saunier's charming nerdiness was evident in his in-between-song banter, and of course it was a real mindblow to get to see him elaborate on his already insane drumming live. Satomi Matsuzaki was utterly adorable with all her hand motions and dancing around when she wasn't playing bass. What impressed me the most, though, was how both John Dieterich and Ed Rodriguez played their guitars. Those dudes are some incredible guitarists who somehow mesh classic rock and techy emo-ish styles perfectly, and it was inspiring to see them chime so wonderfully and wail so hard. This was especially awesome on the songs that are more dependent on keyboards and synths. In these cases, those parts were played on guitar. Unfortunately, this made me like the live versions of these songs more than the album versions (especially Milk Man's "Desaparecere").
While Deerhoof's setlist wasn't completely ideal for me ("You Can See," "The Galaxist," "Offend Maggie" and "Family of Others" were all missing), it didn't even matter thanks to how incredibly they performed. I don't recall the band touching anything from The Runners Four (which is a silly decisicion, if you ask me), but the band a good variety of songs from all over their career while mostly showcasing jams from the newest LP. My personal favorites were "Milk Man," "Desaparecere," "The Perfect Me," "The Tears and Music of Love," "Qui Dorm, Nomes Somia," "Behold a Marvel in the Darkness," "The Merry Barracks" and "I Did Crimes for You."
Without question, Deerhoof's set on Valentine's Day goes down as one of my favorite live performances I've ever experienced.
1 comment:
I love this band.
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