Entries tagged with “Aragon” from Things You Don't Care About
I went up to Chicago this weekend for Gracie's baby shower, which was a lot of fun, despite the fact that it's a little freaky to me to be going to my friends' baby showers now (weddings were bad enough) and the fact that the ceiling decided to leak on me in the middle of it.
After the baby shower, I went downtown to meet with Marc, who had picked up a pair of tickets to see Morrissey at the Aragon Ballroom. This was the first time I'd seen Morrissey live and the first time I'd been to the Aragon, and I have to say I was impressed by both. The couple sitting in front of us in the balcony had seen him quite a few times, and they manged to really make me look forward to the show.
As far as the venue itself, the acoustics left something to be desired (though I noticed the sound for Morrissey himself was a lot better than for the opening act, so I don't know if that had something to do with it), but it's a pretty impressive place. It must have been gorgeous when it was built; it's still quite elegantly appointed, but it does seem very much like something from another age (at least before the lights go down and things kick off).
The opening band, the Courteeners, was pretty decent; they're very much in the "indie mold" so to speak, but for an opening act I thought they did their job pretty well and the crowd seemed to get into at least a few of their songs. I don't think I'm going to run out and buy their CDs right away, but I can't complain about them.
The main event, though, blew them away. While it seems like some reviewers were not too impressed, I thought it was really good -- and if this is a weak performance by Morrissey, I really want to see a good one, because it must be pretty crazy. It seemed pretty obvious to me that he really likes performing and playing for a crowd, and even though I have to admit that I didn't know a fair number of the songs (mostly the ones from last couple CDs), I had no problem getting into it.
I was a little disappointed there weren't too many Smiths songs in the set, but it's not really fair to expect him to play a bunch of stuff from 20 years ago when he's promoting a new CD. And really, what there was couldn't have been done much better. The version of "How Soon Is Now" that they played, complete with a brutal drum solo at the end, brought the house down (and I was kind of surprised it came as early as it did in the evening).
Overall, while relatively short (I think he only played for maybe an hour an a half), he was just belting out the songs and plowed through twenty tracks in that time. I would like to have heard more, but I certainly don't feel like we were cheated. I'll definitely be looking for a chance to see him again when he comes back to town.
After the baby shower, I went downtown to meet with Marc, who had picked up a pair of tickets to see Morrissey at the Aragon Ballroom. This was the first time I'd seen Morrissey live and the first time I'd been to the Aragon, and I have to say I was impressed by both. The couple sitting in front of us in the balcony had seen him quite a few times, and they manged to really make me look forward to the show.
As far as the venue itself, the acoustics left something to be desired (though I noticed the sound for Morrissey himself was a lot better than for the opening act, so I don't know if that had something to do with it), but it's a pretty impressive place. It must have been gorgeous when it was built; it's still quite elegantly appointed, but it does seem very much like something from another age (at least before the lights go down and things kick off).
The opening band, the Courteeners, was pretty decent; they're very much in the "indie mold" so to speak, but for an opening act I thought they did their job pretty well and the crowd seemed to get into at least a few of their songs. I don't think I'm going to run out and buy their CDs right away, but I can't complain about them.
The main event, though, blew them away. While it seems like some reviewers were not too impressed, I thought it was really good -- and if this is a weak performance by Morrissey, I really want to see a good one, because it must be pretty crazy. It seemed pretty obvious to me that he really likes performing and playing for a crowd, and even though I have to admit that I didn't know a fair number of the songs (mostly the ones from last couple CDs), I had no problem getting into it.
I was a little disappointed there weren't too many Smiths songs in the set, but it's not really fair to expect him to play a bunch of stuff from 20 years ago when he's promoting a new CD. And really, what there was couldn't have been done much better. The version of "How Soon Is Now" that they played, complete with a brutal drum solo at the end, brought the house down (and I was kind of surprised it came as early as it did in the evening).
Overall, while relatively short (I think he only played for maybe an hour an a half), he was just belting out the songs and plowed through twenty tracks in that time. I would like to have heard more, but I certainly don't feel like we were cheated. I'll definitely be looking for a chance to see him again when he comes back to town.
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