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How to massacre the New Pornographers
4 Oct 2007, 23:28
How stunningly awful.
I write from the pit of despair. Had I not been with three people tonight I would have left KOKO after the first - latest second - song. How can a band like the The New Pornographers have been massacred like that, and even worse, not have had a clue? I may sound dramatic, but it was that disastrous. So bad that between songs the crowd were screaming for more vocals - but they couldn't hear, even though they tried to make out what was being said. Which was pitiful; watching them assume that the crowd was screaming for favourite songs. More vocals though, was not what was required. Everything was wrong.
Waves of distortion on the guitars and cymbal, feedback on the inaudible vocals, no keyboard, no warmth, no bass - just tinny, distorted, empty, depressing as fuck sound. No melodies to speak of (impossible to make out), no big round harmonies, no rhythm, nothing. A disaster. I've lost my will to even urge for the immediate sacking of the sound engineers, I'm so depressed.
I can't say anything else about the gig except to note that, as I had to stay, I listened for some promise from the new material (played live). It was in the encore; nothing else stood out much, although you couldn't really say anything for sure about this mess. Will I ever be able to listen to Use It without wincing from pain?
Thu 4 Oct – The New Pornographers, Peter Von Poehl, School of Language
I write from the pit of despair. Had I not been with three people tonight I would have left KOKO after the first - latest second - song. How can a band like the The New Pornographers have been massacred like that, and even worse, not have had a clue? I may sound dramatic, but it was that disastrous. So bad that between songs the crowd were screaming for more vocals - but they couldn't hear, even though they tried to make out what was being said. Which was pitiful; watching them assume that the crowd was screaming for favourite songs. More vocals though, was not what was required. Everything was wrong.
Waves of distortion on the guitars and cymbal, feedback on the inaudible vocals, no keyboard, no warmth, no bass - just tinny, distorted, empty, depressing as fuck sound. No melodies to speak of (impossible to make out), no big round harmonies, no rhythm, nothing. A disaster. I've lost my will to even urge for the immediate sacking of the sound engineers, I'm so depressed.
I can't say anything else about the gig except to note that, as I had to stay, I listened for some promise from the new material (played live). It was in the encore; nothing else stood out much, although you couldn't really say anything for sure about this mess. Will I ever be able to listen to Use It without wincing from pain?
Thu 4 Oct – The New Pornographers, Peter Von Poehl, School of Language
Comments
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jane_mcateer wrote:
Where were you standing? I was few meters from the stage, the sound was a bit muddled, but I did hear the vocals. Though I did expect more group singing. It seems that all of the songs were speedied up a bit.
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michalboo wrote:
I have to agree about the sound, the curse of KOKO lives on, i guess...
What really worried me was that they said like the place. I think we'll need to get a petition going in order to make them book a better-sounding place next time.
Mind you, I still very much enjoyed it, but that's probably the booze and my active imagination filling in the blanks, can't imagine how people who didn't know all the songs felt it though... I also felt that they managed to get it to sound a little bit better towards the end of the set.
I'll tell what I really didn't like: Peter Von Poehl's set, the person responsible for getting him/them the slot should be forced to listed to his 'slow' songs for a day... -
cellularfever wrote:
Gosh yes, agree. I stayed firmly at the bar during the support.
So have you always had bad sound at KOKO then? That was what surprised me most - I have never been dissatisfied before, certainly not like this, and I've been to lots of shows there. In fact, I saw the New Pornos there last year and it was PERFECT. Low doing Things They Lost In The Fire - a sound challenge if ever there was one - PERFECT. I go there a lot and it has never been anything like this bad. The feedback was juvenile! Sigh - now I'm cross, AND tired. At least it's Friday. -
michalboo wrote:
It's hit and miss to be honest. Do you mean their gig last year with Spoon as a support band? I have to agree that was much better than last night.
The thing is everytime I get to see a band in two different venues, one of them being KOKO - the sound in the other one comes out on top (in the New Pornos case, that'd be ABC2 in Glasgow).
Either way, don't let it get you down for too long, I recommend watching some of their videos to cheer yourself up. -
markisegg wrote:
Agree...sound at koko is notoriously bad, especially anywhere near the stage and last night was no different.
Expect guitars/distortion to the fore. And as happy as I was that the drums were mic'd well, its clear you can overdo it.
The only sound I've been reasonably impressed with at koko was Explosions in the Sky at the start of this year...tellingly a post rock band with no vocals to contend with. -
SaintBart wrote:
can't imagine how people who didn't know all the songs felt (about) it though...
As someone who didn't know The New Pornographers except by reputation (and via Neko Case), I can tell you, michaelboo, that it was frustrating and underwhelming.
At one point I suggested to my friend that we move to a different part of the venue (we were front left) to see if there was less distortion, more vocal volume, a clue as to their reputation, something. I now know that things were bad all over. -
roy57a wrote:
Did anyone make a note or can have a stab at the setlist?
Being from Australia, I've only had one chance to see them last December, so enjoyed the opportunity at Koko last night - but I thought they seemed somewhat tired or exhausted, as A.C. said four countries in four days at the start of the gig.
The other disappointment was the merchandise - no t-shirts!! (and no Neko!) -
cellularfever wrote:
Do you mean their gig last year with Spoon as a support band?
Yip (to Michalboo) - a double bill. What a treat that was! Here's my review of that show... (a bit happier than this one) NPs & Spoon at KOKO -
Boccista wrote:
Hmm. Odd. They were really fantastic here on the 21st. A little tired, but I assumed it was because they had just come from two shows in L.A. They played well though, and the sound was great. They had Neko and Kathryn so the harmonies were nicely fleshed out. Even more so than the recordings on several songs.
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Prometheancurse wrote:
It wasn't as bad as all that. The sound was bad to begin with, but for me it seemed to pick up quite a bit - certainly in songs like The Spirit Of Giving and The Bleeding Heart Show the songs sounded more or less as they should. It could have been clearer, but it was still enjoyable and everyone around where we were seemed to be pretty happy too.
Setlist stolen from the NP forum:
* Mutiny, I Promise You
* Use It
* All The Old Showstoppers
* The Electric Version
* My Rights Versus Yours
* Challengers
* The Spirit Of Giving
* All The Things That Go To Make Heaven And Earth
* Unguided
* Jackie, Dressed In Cobras
* The Laws Have Changed
* Twin Cinema
* Mass Romantic
* Sing Me Spanish Techno
* The Bleeding Heart Show
Encore:
* Testament To Youth In Verse
* From Blown Speakers
* The Slow Descent Into Alcoholism
Although I am certain Testament to Youth in Verse was earlier on in the night. -
cellularfever wrote:
Wonder why they didn't play Myriad Harbour.. I'm glad as at least that's one favourite I didn't have to hear in tatters. Glad you felt that way Prometheancurse, but I can't agree - you're right about others enjoying it though. Although I keep looking around and hardly anyone, top to bottom, was moving. Which I thought was telling.
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october1983 wrote:
It was such a depressing gig, almost entirely because of the sound. It improved somewhat towards the end, but not a whole lot. Koko really outdid themselves on the piss-poor sound stakes this time. Songs like The Electric Version just died on their arse because of the complete lack of keyboard/synth, and as a result they really struggled to get any kind of energy going. It's almost impossible to judge the bands performance because there was just so much wrong with the technical side. I tried to make myself forget about it and enjoy myself for what it was, which I just about managed by The Bleeding Heart Show, but it was just unacceptably bad. Really not feeling too hopeful about seeing Battles and Andrew Bird there in the coming month :S
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cellularfever wrote:
Me neither - Battles could be completely disastrous.
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october1983 wrote:
My bitterness will know no bounds if it is. Seriously. Can't say I'm massively confident about Animal Collective at the Astoria, either, but at least they take a lot of control over their own sound.
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trackaghost wrote:
I've seen Neko at Koko, and this year Slint and Ryan Adams and the sound has always been superb there, but the NPs gig was just awful sound-wise. I agree it got better as it went on but I was just thankful I saw them earlier this year at 93 Feet East, which was a million times better than the Koko show. I'm sure lots of people who hadn't seen them before went away from this gig thinking that they're a terrible-sounding live band, which definitely isn't the case. I have to say Unguided sounded pretty awesome though.
