11/4 Band of Horses @ Terminal 5

or "Beardtopia"

"I don't know why New York crowds get such a bad rep," Ben Bridwell said to a crowd that whooped back in appreciation. "Whenever we come here you guys show us so much love."

It's true, I think New York crowds sometimes do get a bad rep. I've been to plenty of shows with people who are enthusiastic and enjoying themselves. They might not be *as* enthusiastic sometimes, but usually there seems to be a reason. It might be an opening band not everyone knows, or as highlighted previously on the topic, not every show's about jumping around and screaming.

At the same time, I was glad to see the door crowd being what I was used to seeing in New York. None of that lines stretching down the block business I had run into with Gogol Bordello the night before. There were some people there early, but basically the real push of the crowd started after the 30 minutes mark before the doors open, and the line wasn't long. I got to leisurely take my place up front.

I know I mentioned in a "And in this weekend's news" post that I'd destroyed a pair of tights at a show. Interestingly enough, the tights were not destroyed during the Gogol Bordello show. I had more sense to dress appropriately for that. Sure, I still wanted to look cute, and sure, my shirt was pulled this way and that during the show so that a whole left breast (thank God that besides support, bras provide an additional layer of cover) was hanging out towards the end of the show, but the point was I was in jeans and sneakers.

But for this show? I decided to go with "80's teen movie quirky sidekick friend" look. Curly hair in a ponytail, black, ruched button-down shirt, black pencil skirt, aqua tights, red flats, red lipstick and red Lisa Simpson-style necklace. Now all I needed was William Zabka to walk up and pour milk all over my lunch tray and I could call him a "real big jerk" and he'd be all, "Well, what are you going to do about it? You know what they say. Can't cry over spilled milk." And as he'd go away laughing and high-fivin' friends with his fingerless leather gloved hands, I'd turn to my Molly Ringwald-esque friend and just roll my eyes.

Tyler Ramsey started off and was great. Great guitarist. BIG BUSHY BEARD.

People, this show did not disappoint in the beard department. When Band of Horses came on stage, it was six people on stage. Out of those six, five had beards. That's a 5:6 beard to no beard ratio. And it only came out to five because I did not count a sort of scruffy protobeard. If I did, we're talking about 100% facial hair participation.

Anyhow, I really like his song "Ships." Also, he was the second opening act to be part of the support for the main band, just like Jim Bryson. One more and it's a trend. During his set, one of the girls behind me screamed, "You're damn sexy!" I mention these girls because they play a part during the second opening act.

The second act was The Drones from Melbourne. They were also fantastic. When they introduced themselves as being from Melbourne the girl who had proclaimed Tyler Ramsey's sexiness shouted that her and her friend were from Australia as well. When asked where, they answered Sydney, to which the lead singer jokingly answered, "Oh, Sydney sucks." The girl got a bit flustered at this and kept shouting back as to why to get a response.

It was a good show. Interesting mix as well. While the Gogol Bordello show was eclectic in the sense that it was a wide range of ages and types of people, with the Russian-speaking folks mingling with the black punk chick and some goth persons, for Band of Horses it was more different as in "scenes." There were some who dressed the more indie rock uniform while some looked like just regular types...as in L.L. Bean jackets and whatnot. Like I saw a guy with a hat that had a feather in it and a full purple suit including a vest, while his friend just had on a simple t-shirt and jean ensemble.

A good show with some hiccups. I don't know if it's just me, but I'm not entirely loving the sound at Terminal 5. It's just the voices. They're too muffled or something. Everything else sounds fine, but just the voice.

There were some hiccups. During the encore, it sounded fine to me, but Ben Bridwell cut short a song since it didn't seem to sound right to him. He said, "We'll do that when we've practiced it more." Bridwell's voice strained a bit at the beginning of "No One's Gonna Love You," but he seemed to gain his stride as the song went on.

The strike nixed their Conan O'Brien appearance, so I was glad to catch them.