I ordered the tickets to see The Last Shadow Puppets back in July and I was super excited at the time to be seeing the boys Miles and Alex, after really loving their album The Age of the Understatement.
Yesterday, however, I was so damned cranky that I almost did not go.
Everything just seemed to be going wrong and if not for the price per ticket, I would have bailed, even if it meant giving up a chance to see my cutie Alex and my cool Miles.
Thank goodness I stayed because they were even more incredible than I thought they'd be.
Having a 16 piece orchestra will do that for you and the sound at small venue of the Grand Ballroom just filled it and was absolutely amazing.
The Lowlamps:
1. Those damned privileged children. They were complaining about 'wanting weekends' when they only work 2 days out of the week. They also had the nerve to say, "My friends lost their jobs but I just got a job. They're jobs out there." I am thankful that X kneed and elbowed a few of them for being stupid assholes.
2. The lighting at that damned place. Just like the Hammerstein downstairs, I still have yet to take a great picture of Alex.
3. My camera. I love Little Latin O. for its years of service, but in a setting like that, it tends to fail me and I get annoyed when people managed to smuggle in their D40s or had better slim point & shoots and just take damned good pictures! GRRRR!
4. H1 not being able to be there too, especially during Arctic Monkey/The Rascals like moments.
5. Miles Kane's dressing up like a Gallagher. I know X was happy but I avoided eye contact with her when I saw Miles come out with his aviators, leather jacket and very British looking face. Oh Miles. Did you HAVE to work against me?!
6. My Mistakes Were Made For You. Alex didn't do a very good job singing this song. It's probably the best song on the album and he was effed it. Thanks A., Thanks.
7. Our initially poor attitudes. X and I were so damned cranky, we almost left. It's not our fault though because those bastards started half an hour later than they were supposed to and the Roadies just stood around pretending to do work.
8. The Roadies. There was this neanderthal that scared the crap out of X and myself. He looked like he would kick our asses.
9. The opening act, Stephen Fretwell. The one thing we hated about him was the lyrics he wrote that actually made sense. He sang two songs that were normal and we were damned bored. He needs to stick to what he knows, which is the bizarre and... chickens?
The Highlights:
1. The opening act, Stephen Fretwell. Okay, he was funny but his chicken in the supermarket lyrics, tree roots and by tree roots he means himself, and other nonsensical lyrics were damned confusing making X and I marvel at being able to witness what just waking up can do to a singer. He had a good voice and a sense of humour but the performance made us laugh the whole way through until the last 2 songs mentioned.
The video's sideways but uh, what's he going on about?
Hilarious.
2. The 16 piece orchestra. Those effers took long to setup and fiddle with their violins but they did a good job.
3. Miles Kane. I was hesitant at first when I first heard that Alex and Miles were going to form a band and write songs with influences of Scott Walker and David Bowie. I was skeptical it took them 2 weeks in a bed bug ridden villa in France to write the album and then I was skeptical when the video for The Age of the Understatement premiered. Then I decided to give it more time to simmer because lyrically it was to be expected from Alex that it'd be awesomely mature and well-written. And then I thought... Miles is 'firm friends' with Alex, so he must be a brilliant boy as well.
So after buying this album, I respected Miles and thought he was cool enough to have a crush on another Brit. Then, I bought The Rascals' album, "Rascalize" and I knew it was really okay to have a crush on Miles. It was rock, 60s, 'hard' and fun and Miles carried it brilliantly.
Last night was no different and I'm glad I got to see him perform and would totally see him for The Rascals if they ever came to NYC. He was awesome, he smiled for photographers and looked at crazy Cherries warily. I didn't enjoy that he didn't look at me but he was distracted by those asshole children who were acting a damned mess, even if I was standing right in front of him. I can't blame him.
7. My Moment with Alex Turner. I had another one with him - my third in a year and half. X and I were standing on Miles' side, but from where I stood I got a clear shot of Alex and he of me. During "Calm Like You" (one of my favourite songs), he sang the first half to me. Yep. He stared straight at me and sang. I sang it back to him and smiled.
Now, there are probably various reasons why he did this.
a. He was probably thinking, "oh, there's Suga'Face".
b. He was probably thinking, "oh, there's Suga'Face but where's her Sister Suga'Face?"
c. He was probably thinking, "oh, there's that...girl, who...I think I see everytime I'm in NYC...is she stalking me?"
d. He was probably thinking, "oh, that girl reminds me of my gf (BITCH! - okay, that's my own insert and probably not his)..."
It was actually a really sweet moment and I could do nothing but sing and smile at him because he was extra cute last night, which leads me to believe it was choice "D", which makes me cranky but I botched it anyway when I messed up a lyric and he caught it. He turned away after that. Ha. He did look at me again during "Standing Next to Me" but that was brief. He probably remembered I messed up the first time... Curses! And so that was 'fuckin' up the lyrics with TLSP' Part I.
8. Alex Turner. It's good to see he's getting cuter as years go by because I was a little worried for him for a while there. However, he's looking a lot less hooliganish and well, that's just not right.
9. Miles and Alex. Their banter was cute. Alex smiled a lot with his BFF and they were quite happy with each other. It's the kind of happy you'd probably see if you were to hang out with them while they talked about bullshit, which they did a lot of last night. Poor Miles, unlike Alex's fun day in NYC, Miles was feeling under the weather.
10. Separate and Ever Deadly - 'fuckin' up the lyrics' with TLSP Part II. Yeah, when Miles had to sing his verse, I totally heard him stumble and begin late. As I was about to point this out to him and well, to X, really. Miles stopped the orchestra so he could do it over. "Wait! I fucked it up! I started late! Fucked it up!!!! I want to do it again because it's good!" And so he did and it was good.
Ah, funny effs.
The Last Shadow Puppets Set List 10/30/2008 @ the Grand Ballroom NYC:
In My Room
The Age of the Understatement
Calm Like You
Black Plant
Gas Dance
Only the Truth
Separate and Ever Deadly
My Little Red Book
Standing Next To Me
Hang the Cyst
I Want You (She's So Heavy) (The Beatles cover)
In The Heat of the Morning (David Bowie cover)
I Don't Like You Anymore
My Mistakes Were Made For You
The Chamber
The Time Has Come Again
Meeting Place
Best performances of the evening: "Calm Like You", "Only the Truth", "Separate and Ever Deadly", "Hang the Cyst", "I Want You (She's So Heavy)"
