Sunday, May 1, 2011

The Head and the Heart

We saw the Head and the Heart last night at the Moore Theatre.  I only listened to their album for a few days beforehand and was not particularly excited to sit through what I labelled as an 'old people's show'.  The Head and the Heart remind me of the Fleet Foxes, minus the harmony but more animated.  My favorite songs on their 10 song album, in order, are Ghosts, Sounds Like Hallelujah, Down in the Valley, and Lost in My Mind.  The rest all sound pretty redundant and are mostly forgettable, even Rivers and Roads, sorry Kate.  Rivers and Roads is Kate's favorite song and is what the band uses as their closing number. 

The show itself had a disappointing opener.  We missed the opening act, but Grand Hallway was the second opener and they make the boring Fleet Foxes look like Alice Cooper fondling a python on stage.  Every one of their songs sounds the same as the last one and the lead singer spent half the time just warbling notes as if practicing scales.  Thankfully, they didn't take up the stage for too long.  The stage decoration was pretty original though.  There were approximately 50 standard table lamps arranged around the stage and were set up on some sort of automatic on/off switches which was pretty amusing.

The Head and the Heart played their whole album for the show and saved Rivers and Roads for the encore.  The encore was by far the worst part of the show.  Jon Russell came out solo to play a song he's been working on for a very long time, and trust me, it still needs a lot more work.  The rest of the band then joined him on stage for a Jimmy Rogers cover which while poppy and animated, was just as worthless.  Thank you to Rivers and Roads for saving an otherwise miserable encore.

However, hooray to the Moore Theatre for providing an outstanding venue...truly a great place to see a show.  Boo to the sorority girls in the row behind us for talking through most of it and basically acting like jackasses throughout it.  Instead of the normal high-pitched 'wooo!' which most girls yell at concerts, these girls were shrieking as if being stabbed.  I don't think they go to many shows, perhaps they were there because the Head and the Heart are Seattle's 'it' band right now.  To end of a positive note though, the band played the hell out of Ghosts, Sounds Like Hallelujah, Down in the Valley, and Rivers and Roads.  They obviously were enjoying themselves and danced around the stage.  I don't know why Pitchfork hated their album so much; it really is nowhere near as bad as they say it is.  Pitchfork has the idea that the Head and the Heart are this poser indie band trying to slum it blue collar style.  I don't see that, as well as I don't see how Pitchfork can love Fleet Foxes as much as they do either. 

Here's to the hope that Fleet Foxes have to open for Head and the Heart in the future and not the other way around.

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