We Were Promised Jetpacks, Naked and Famous, October 2011

Black Cat
October 27, 2011
Rachel and I arrived a bit late for We Were Promised Jetpacks, missing all but 3 songs by Royal Bangs, but the three I heard were good enough. Nothing about them stood out in my mind, though. Bear Hands were much the same - good enough, but not remarkable. I might even have the two openers confused. They didn't remind the crowd of their names all that often.

We Were Promised Jetpacks was a mixed experience for me. Loved their energy on stage, disliked how they didn't attempt to connect with the crowd at all. (The lead singer spent most of his time with his eyes closed and didn't smile once.) Great sound, though. I loved the vocals, and so I really enjoyed about half of their set. The other half was heavily instrumental, like a jam band. Not
appealing to me. Overall, I had a good time, but I'm not certain I'd see them again until they come out with more lyric-driven material.

9:30 Club
October 28, 2011
There were 2 openers for the Naked and Famous show. The first was White Arrows. I did not like their style. It was retro-inspired in a way that doesn't appeal to me, and the sound quality was really bad. The Chain Gang of 1974 was also unappealing to me because the sound engineering was again very bad. Then FINALLY at 10:30 or so (an hour late - it's the 9:30 Club!!), Naked and Famous came on. AGAIN, the sound was unbelievably bad. I had earplugs and the noise still hurt! For the entire night, the instruments were in front of the vocals - you couldn't make out a single word. It sounded nothing like the radio versions I love.

Add to this being made to wait outside in the 35 degree rain before the doors opened, and the unusually high number of jerks near us on the balcony, and altogether, it made for a really worthless concert experience.

So a mixed bag this time. C'est la vie.