Working backward

I'm going to start with the most recent show I've seen, then work backward until I tire of typing.

Done!

Just kidding. Last weekend I saw Ted Leo and the Pharmacists with Hungry Ghosts and Golden Bears opening. Hungry Ghosts is a hot mess, as someone I know would say. "Hey, girl!", she'd also say. She'd then put a few dozen words into trying to convince me to do her job, while simultaneously trying to explain away why she wouldn't be there when I got there. Anyhow, this band was tight, yet all over. They were proggy, they were rock-y, they were inexplicable. Honestly, they were a great band I didn't like. You should probably go see them, and decide for yourself.

They were followed by Golden Bears. If you read back a few years, you'll find a post in which I lament the Golden Bears' horrendous, atrocious medieval folk-metal and the uncomfortable situation my attempts to evade that horrendous medieval-ness led me to. Suffice it to say that if you're ever in need, you can call the Portland Mercury something else, but it's really a maaaagaziiine......sadly, neither the Golden Bears nor the Portland Mercury has evolved beyond my poor attempt to do something more complicated than hear the band. Lose-lose.

Ted Leo was a fun pop-punk, or at times punk-pop, band. As has been the case when I've seen TL and the Pharmacists in the past, he's had interesting things to say, he's made some interesting chord changes, and he's done both things at once. Go average punk-pop-punk...whoohoo! Lots of energy, some good melody, some good beats, some unnecessary melody, and some unnecessary beats. And so on.

And some equally scintillating average music criticism to come, I promise. Yay!