Weekend Update: Concert Reviews

Hello muffins!

Let’s talk about Spygirl, who played the International Pop Overthrow Festival:

I’d never been to the Mars Bar before, but I know it’s not a big venue.  When we got there, Spygirl had been playing for about 3-4 minutes.  When I walked in, I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect but on a quick survey of the room, I noticed that t was moderately full for something I’d heard very little about.  Everyone who  was there knew the band, knew the lyrics and knew exactly who they’d come to see.  It seemed like the same crowd that would stand, starry-eyed (while ironically drinking PBR or Oly), while Ben Gibbard lead Death Cab for Cutie on a series of break-your-heart-to-make-love tracks.  I felt sort of out of place with my New Belgium brew, taking notes on my phone.  I came to rock out and the scenario was nothing of the sort.  What did all these people have in common besides knowing all the words?  Mister astutely pointed it out: we were probably the youngest people there.

Maybe Spygirl is a “before my time” sort of thing – they’ve been making music for 12 years now, but in that 12 years, they’ve only put out two albums.  I suppose that’s how they missed my radar.  They play well together – they harmonize, they crescendo – you can tell they’ve been at it for ages.  Their sound had a very Neko Case, sort of melancholy, alt-pop, almost country twinge that isn’t normally indicative of my musical repertoire.

When Koralee Tonack crooned “It’s been awhile…”, lyrics to the song “Feeling Fine”, I could see how a girl with a good ear might fall for the well harmonized hook.  Still, it lacked something substantial behind it – as if the vocalist had never really felt those words in her own life (to be fair, the lyrics were written by keyboardist Jane Gowan).  The song held up better live than on the album, but there was such a rehearsed feel to it that they almost seemed bored, plugging through it.  Like maybe they were a little TOO rehearsed.

They played well, they sounded tight, but when it came down to the wire, Spygirl was a little square for my tastes.

You know what wasn’t square though?  Me.  Check this shit out:

Shorts: H&M
Tee: Flaming Lips – from the concert!
Double Fence Fishnets: Banana Republic
Shoes: Fluevog
Jacket: Trendy Wendy
Unicorn Necklace : Destroyed by Design on Etsy
Earrings: Carpedraco on Etsy

Fierce, non?  I thought so.  It’s too bad the occasion didn’t befit the outfit, but you can bet there was mischief later!