Broken Broken Bells

Last Night was slightly sad for me.  My friend and I headed over to the Vic to see Broken Bells perform.  The last show we had seen was Them Crooked Vultures, who were amazing, but very very very loud, so we were sort of excited to see something a little softer and tamed down.  Some good cerebral indie rock if you know what I'm talking about.  Unfortunately something was off, namely the sound.

I can't figure out what it was, and it was super disappointing cause I would have maybe ten seconds of really getting into it, and then something would be off.  It was like the whole show was brassy.  Maybe the venue was too small for so much sound.  The only other show I've seen there was Robin Thicke, and while he had a live band, the focus was definitely on Mr. Thicke's voice.  What really seemed like the issue was that the drums were over miked, and there was a smallish drum kit, and then there was another smaller percussion area to the right of DJ Dangermouse.  I couldn't exactly see what was going on there because of where we were standing, but that mush percussion seemed unnecessary.   Also, there were three guitarists up there, and sometimes DJ Dangermouse would leave the drums and add a fourth to the mix.  Really, if you're this soft indie rock band you only need a rhythm guitarist and a lead guitarist.  All that noise successfully drowned out James Mercers voice for about 85% of the time.  Depressing given his haunting voice is one of the most important aspects of the albums.  It was definitely a weird experience because you could tell that all these men were talented musicians, they just weren't coming together correctly.  Maybe they need a new sound engineer.

The concert wasn't all disheartening.  They started the encore off with The Miracles cover of "You've Really Got a Hold On Me".  Smokey Robinson wrote songs that really translate well to large groups singing together.  Also it was a bit charming when James Mercer restarted "Sailing to Nowhere" because he started with singing the second verse.  He stopped the band and told them and the audience that it was his favorite song an album and he wanted to sing it correctly.  The sad thing was that because of the poor miking I doubt many people realized he was singing the incorrect words.  James Mercer can be a very captivating front man.  When you could hear him he reminded me of a cross between George Harrison and Brian Wilson.  Also delightful was the trumpet player. His sound seemed to be fine, and he was featured on many of the songs.  Finally, the animation behind the band was amazing.  It fit the music so perfectly and I wish I knew who had drawn it.  I don't know if you ever saw that animated movie The Snowman, but it reminded me a lot of that.   I sort of wish that they would come out with a DVD of that animation accompanied by the studio album.

All in all the concert was upsetting, but some bands just don't translate as well in concert, and they might be one of those.  What was a bit frustrating was that it seemed like my friend and I were some of the only people who noticed it.  The other thing too is that while the drumming was solid, it's hard to watch anyone after watching Dave Grohl, and as endearing as James Mercer was, Josh Homme was one of the most entertaining lead singers I've had the pleasure of seeing.  Maybe any concert after Them Crooked Vultures was going to seem sub par.  Also, I don't want this review to take away from how good the studio album is.  Broken Bells is an album that I will be listening to for years to come.