Skinny Puppy @ Avalon

[music | The Birthday Party - Jennifer's Veil]

This has to be my favorite show so far this year, easy. And, I proved myself to be a complete idiot by half-ignoring Ogre when I bumped into him on the street...

Ok, so I was pretty much certain it was him, but a few things stopped me from saying anything:

My wife was in a desperate hurry to be inside the club, urgently post haste.

Haven't seen too many pictures of Ogre without him covered in gore and rivetheaded out. I tend to listen to music more than I look at musicians. Besides, even Brian Warner looks relatively normal without makeup on. Actually, he's a really bad example, but anyway.

I don't like bugging people who don't need to be bugged, and I didn't want to feel like a moron on the off chance I was wrong.

That eyepatch really looked like leather, which I figured he probably wouldn't wear, and I tend not to stare too closely at people with eye patches or whatever because I don't want things to go all Waynes World 2 on me (...lower ...case ...J's)

Besides, what am I gonna say, he's just some guy who happens to make really good music that I like.

So I just gave him his directions and kept on walking. When he came out on stage, Natalie just gave me the WTF look and I just said "look, yeah, I'm an idiot, but so what..."

Anyway, the show. Natalie was worried this was going to be a repeat of Thrill Kill Kult. I figured "sure, TKK got airplay 15 years ago for Sex on Wheels, but Skinny Puppy has been around much longer, gets a lot more play in clubs, equals way more fans, equals good turnout". I was right, no worries in the crowd department.

The openers were half alright. First opener was a short set by Otto Von Schirach. He had really good beats and a lot of wacked out energy for a solo laptop band. I'm completely unfamiliar with him, but I might buy a CD and give him some money. Not to sound stupid but it kind of sounded like if you took DJ Acucrack and blended it back into Acumen Nation. That's what I kept feeling anyway. Metally sounding with jungle beats mixed in.

The others were The White Mice. Their set wasn't so good, but to be fair, they had lots of PA problems. When they came out zero mic's were working, they got the vocal mic fixed and many of the drum ones, but none of the cymbal mics worked. The drummer was very unhappy with this, but made the best. I could hear the cymbals anyway. Then the bass kept going out (there is only bass, drums and synth, so it's noticable, plus the bass parts were pretty complex).

Overall though, I'm not a huge cookie-monster-music guy. I could probably get into them if I were to care a little more than I do.

As for Skinny Puppy themselves, well, everything I could have hoped. 2 1/2 hour set that just kept going and going. I think the Avalon has about the best sound in Boston for the type of music and for still being able to move around (Orpheum for instance sounds good, sucks cause you have to be in seats). The theatrics were intense, the music was pounding us, I'll have a harder than usual time getting to sleep today. But, Yay. This is another huge check off my list of bands I have been waiting forever to see, and I'm really glad this show was so much better than some of the others (I'm looking at you Jourgensen).

I won't insult you with camera phone pictures. I just learned that the Treo is only the second-worst camera phone, I think I hate the RAZR more. Mostly for interface reasons.