based on something posted elsewhere, november 2008.
I’ve had two very nerdcore nites in a row; first Hot Chip, and then the Student Union’s ‘Retro’, so it’s quite appropriate to write about both in one post. Yesterday’s gig was a fantastic spectacle, and the band really outdid themselves translating their sound to the The Venue’s stage. They had all these clever transitions and reworkings and the light show was also really intense and perfect for the mood, so chapeau bas to you guys, you met my expectations and more :)
But. But.
The night was almost ruined for me by the rowdy and inconsiderate crowd that for some strange reason wanted to mosh and shove like we were in some punk or metal circle pit or something. I didn’t see anyone actually dance — which you’d think is sort of the point of the music? Electro-pop, not electro shock….
It really bothered me (think of the tektonikneh freaks in David Guetta @ BIEL, and multiply it by three), and I couldn’t help but voice my annoyance, so to speak: during a slow song (i.e. not even when everyone else was being inconsiderate), some drunk asshole kept spinning his friends around and basically throwing them across our backs, so I waved my hand in his face and yelled “OI! YOU GONNA QUIT IT?!” (when in Rome…), to which he replied “WHA?!” Umm… “QUIT IT!!!”, I repeated, putting my most Ay-rab face on, to which he most impressively replied (while still trying to look well ‘ard), “it wasn’t me it was him” repeatedly.. Which is funny because a similar incident happened during the Halloween party, when some group of (drunk) strangers near us kept grabbing the hats off our heads and after finally snapping at them, yup, a guy said the same thing:
“it wasn’t me, it wasn’t meeee”… (T o T)
Meh.
Anyway.. I rolled my eyes, gave him a real kitch thumbs-up, and tried to get some kind of groove on, but from then on, everytime someone fell on me I elbowed them real hard :P yes i’m a curmudgeon wanna fight about it? lol
Other people near me were even making fun of the singer, yelling his name over and over in a taunting way (“aaaaaaaaaalexiiiiissss”, “aaaaaaaaaleeexxxxx”), which I found so infuriating because any fan of the group that knew even one song would think twice about doing that. With lyrics like “we try so hard, but we don’t belong” from And I was a Boy from School, and all their other songs about inadequacy (“my baby said she wanted some action, I said baby, I’m a simple man. Let’s just sit down”), you really get the impression that the guy probably had similar experiences when he was a kid. And yeah, I know he’s a grown man and probably doesn’t give a hoot, but either way, it’s rude and not what a fan would do. Those guys went so far as to threw a glow bracelet smack-dab in the center of his face while he was singing, and you could tell he was taken aback because he looked at them directly and just kind of stared sadly. Aaahhh maybe I’m being a little too psychoanalytical, but at least one of them got what he deserved. During the break when the band went off (just before coming back out, like in every single concert in history), one of them tried to leap onto the stage and was manhandled by about five security guards. That made me happy (I even yelled “yeahhh kick his ass!!”) lol. Anyway… welcome to england i guess..
Now… RETRO:
This was a much smaller (and obviously, much calmer) event, and was pretty fun too. They played all the cheesy classics like Can’t Touch This, Ice Ice Baby, Take On Me, Wake Me Up (“Before Ya Go-Go!”), etc. and it was interesting to see people get pretty silly to that. Not something I’m used to seeing in Beirut, so was pretty cool. There were four guys in particular who seemed to live for this night. They all looked really really meticulously geeked-out, and they danced around half-awkwardly, half-funkily, in sync and in formation rofl… it was really quite a sight and if it weren’t for privacy issues (i’m so ethical it hurts), I’d have loved to take their picture. Just imagine four guys looking something like Napolean Dynamite mixed with Wayne’s World gettin’ down… Laugh.Out.Loud.
And of course, the 80s-style cocktails were really nice. mmmm Electric Lemonaaade:
