Friday, July 5, 2013

Am I Pregnant? Tame Impala at the Tabernacle

Tame Impala at the Tabernacle - June 17, 8:30 pm

[iwishuwould]:  Not as familiar with the members of the band as much as the music on the album, my interest was piqued at how cute they all appeared from the nosebleeds of the Tabernacle. The singer is totally the Gustav of Tame Impala.

I first heard of Tame Imapla when their first album came out. A facebook acquaintance recommended them to me based on my interest (total fucking obsession) with Dungen. At the time i gave them a listen and totally did not feel it. I think i was just disappointed that they did not sound exactly like dungen. So they were shelved as far as i was concerned. then this new album came out and dawg and several others remarked on how awesome it was so i knew i should give em another try. dawg brought over a copy of the album and i gave it a listen and man its great. one of the best new releases in recent history (the last six years). 

[area.personality]:  Thanks Dawg!  Yeah, I wore out my copy of Lonerism before they ever even started playing it on XMU.  And I had the same feeling about their first album, Inner SpeakerPandora recommended it to me based on my burning love for Dungen also.  It didn't move me.

[iwishuwould]:  I'm not sure why this one speaks to me but the other one didnt. its like great dreamy and kind of tortured fuzz rock. its a little on the softer side of my usual music preference. kind of palette cleansing in a way. oh yeah, and theyre australian. so edzotic!

Here is an actually not totally shitty foto from the show. That never seems to happen. You can almost make out the staggering array of effects pedals laid out before him.


[area.personality]:  Holy SHIT was that a staggering crescent of pedals!  So much toe clicking was going on that the lead singer was barefooted!  Awesome.  The bassist was also sans footwear.

[iwishuwould]:  The show was really fun and they sounded really tight. They've been touring for like six months now so I'd imagine they got it down to a T now. They played a bunch of songs of the latest album and a few from the first which had a totally different sound to me. Unfortch, their projector burned out before the show began, so where other cities got the trippy dippy visuals to go with the sound, we did not. We actually heard and saw the projector explode though, at eye level (cause we were on the top floor of the tabernacle). Not a huge loss, but a small bummer. Fortunately they are all lawg haiyuhed and lithe and totally satisfactory to feast your eyes upon without the help of any piddly little visual effects. The best part of the show was when kevin parker got down on tha floor and fucking wailed all hard on his goddamn back! that was some serious sweat'in gwan on!

[area.personality]:  Yeah, and he kept telling us that the venue was beautiful and that we were all beautiful and I believed him because why the hell not.  I could give a fuck about the projector but it was fun to see it blow up right in front of our faces.  And PTL that it didn't set off the fire alarms or sprinklers because the stairs at the Tabernacle are critical and the place was PACKED.

I think saying the show was really tight kinda barely begins to describe it, but I don't know what else to say.  There was a point early on in the show where the music took a sudden and brief pause, just a second of silence, and it was so precise that I actually gasped out loud.  I mean, one second we are all enveloped in thick, rich, ambient sound, and the next second it's just gone!  Poof!  Then right back.  Wow, that was so amazing, to get that kind of effect, sudden silence, at a large venue packed full of people with muddling acoustics...  Damn...  They were so professional.  Also the sound was so full and thick that it was literally resonating throughout my body for the entirety of the show.  It was almost emotional.  Shit, not almost, it WAS emotional.  I don't get that way too often at shows.  They just rocked my ass so hard that I had to ask myself afterwards, "Am I pregnant?  Did Tame Impala just rock me and leave me with child?"  I was all ready to stop by the store for an e*p*t, but first I consulted wikipedia and reminded myself that conception via soundwaves, however righteous, is unlikely.

[iwishuwould]:  As far as the tabernacle as a venue- I really like it. Its just the right size to accommodate some of my favorite bands. Seeing Ween perform there several years ago was a highlight of my life. The sound is pretty decent and its just got a good party vibe. plus it has seating, which is key as i grow older and more decrepit. the merch looked cool, but the line was too long so we opted out :-(

[area.personality]:  So glad I saw that Ween show with you there!  Love them so much.  And they are truly masters of live performance.  It was a high point of my concert-going life as well.  I also really like seeing shows at the Tabernacle, it's always a good time.  It sounds great in there and it's easy to see the stage from anywhere.  I saw Blur there several years back and that was another high point for sure.

[iwishuwould]:  On a final note, I installed the uber cab app on my phone before the show started and we used that service to get home. That shit was also totally amazing.  Here is a photo from our receipt for our totally awesome ride from uber cab featuring a photo of our super friendly driver Tilahun. He arrived to pick us up in a black car in nine minutes and we were home in 11 minutes. No traffic, no driving drunk, no paying $20 to park. Super awesome.


[area.personality]:  Thanks Tilahun!

No comments:

Post a Comment