Deerhunter

So I found a parking spot directly outside the First Unitarian Church, which was rare and very nice considering the pouring rain. The doors were supposed to be at eight, but typical for FUC, there was still a line out front at 8:20 or so, since their volunteer staff is never there on time. I huddled in a doorway for a few minutes, then made my way inside, past whatever it is that smells like vomit as you head down the stairs to the basement (I don't think it's actual vomit, but rather some sort of gag-inducing foliage). Saw the asshole chick who tried to knock the camera out of my hands at the Vivian Girls show a month or so ago because I was using flash, and that caused me a moment's stress, but I don't think she saw me. The basement was far from packed, so I was able to get right up front for a good photography vantage point, which is rare and very nice at FUC. The lighting there isn't very good at all, so I used my Speedlite and bounced the flash off the low ceiling, which gave me pretty good results.

Knyfe Hyts opened -- had never heard them before but their spastic-rock was pretty swell, if not so much all the chest hair being flaunted. The girl from Times New Viking had a sticker on her keyboard that was signed by all the members of the Clean, which I thought was neat. TNV was good, although they got their biggest cheers not after the songs but when they made a reference to President Obama. The drummer kept insisting the guy next to me in the crowd play their tambourine along to the songs, which the guy did, albeit reluctantly. Ran into my friend Tiffany, who was also there taking photos, and that's always cool. Then Deerhunter -- who are better than Deerhoof, Deer Tick, and most of the other "deer" bands -- came on, and they were great ... kinda made me think of a more elegant, anthemic My Bloody Valentine meets the Fall. Or something like that. I'm not a gearhead by any means, but I do play guitar and I definitely coveted the one guitar player's olive, hollowbody Fender Coronado. Keep me in mind this holiday season. Anyway, they sounded fantastic, but this lingering cough I have, the last remnant of the annoying cold that hit me two weeks ago (and which I passed along to my girlfriend, much to her delight), has been making my ribs hurt, so after a half-dozen songs I headed back out into the rainy night. Sorry, Deerhunter. Hope you like the photos.