We went to listen to a band touring from Queens New York, called Freelance Whales, the other night, at a place called The Mod Club Theatre. The opening band was called Hundred Waters, from Florida.
I’ve mentioned before that going to nightclubs to listen to / see new bands is high on my favourite things to do list, and I am happy that Nick is game to come along, regardless of whether he has heard the band or not. I think that is so cool and open-minded of him. In this case, the bands were not what he would have chosen himself, but he agreed that there was a lot of talent on that stage. I really liked Freelance Whales’ use of unique instruments, including a banjo, xylophone, trumpet and squeeze box. Both bands were really good and are currently touring together throughout the states.
It was a work night, so we were happy (and a bit surprised) that even after walking home, we were inside well before 11pm. It was a gorgeous evening for a walk, not too cold, with lovely snow-flakes drifting to the ground. So pretty.
The thing with these types of small concerts, held in clubs, is you almost never know when a band will actually be hitting the stage. Sometimes this makes for very long night, because you don’t want to arrive late. The time they list on the ticket is for when the doors of the venue open, but these places are in the business of selling drinks, so they inevitably open much earlier than the concert begins. So oftentimes you end up spending a long time waiting on your feet, as there is usually not much seating in these places.
We are used to this and usually aim to arrive around 8pm, expecting the first act by about 8:30, and although this timing was cutting it short for the last show we went to, The Asteroids Galaxy Tour , with the doorman kindly telling us that the headliners were just getting on-stage as we walked up, we have never been late to a show. We have missed several opening bands completely though.
For this show at The Mod Club, we were really surprised to see the time on the tickets was an extremely early 6:30pm. In fact, there was a question as to whether we could even go to this show, given such an early time. But we shuffled things, and managed to make it there by about 7:15. The first band went on a little after 7:30, so we didn’t have to wait too long. But if we had rushed like crazy and arrived at the time listed on the tickets, we would have been more than an hour early. This would have been a bit annoying, given that we would have really hustled to get there on time.
But why all this talk about showtimes, you might be wondering? Well, as we were leaving after the last song of the night, we passed a group of 4 people in the lobby, each bearing an $18 ticket, who were just arriving! They were disappointed to say the least, and really surprised to hear that they had missed the whole show. As a group, they were out a whopping $72! That has got to hurt. I could only imagine how badly the person organizing the outing for the group must have felt. And arriving at 10pm is not outrageous as many club shows only begin at this time, and the bands play right until last call at the bar, which is 2am. You really never know!
Anyway, this leads me to conclude that it would be very nice to know when these shows are going to really start. If anyone in the business of organizing them is reading, please, please, please try to update your websites and tell us approximately what time you expect the bands on stage! Because we don’t want to miss a moment of excellent new music, but we also don’t want to stand around for hours.
Here is what I wore … This black and white sweater-jacket is a favourite, that I actually almost didn’t buy, because when I first saw it I was out buying a gift for someone else. But it was one of those cases where you leave something behind and then can’t get it out of your mind. So a couple of days later, I went back and was happy to see that it was still there.
The black skirt, tee-shirt and cable-knit leggings are my old standbys and the polka dotted belt was something I picked up in the summer at Honest Ed’s.
The clutch is plastic, and I think it was meant to be a pencil case, but I like to use it as a purse to wear to concerts because it’s easy to carry and fits just what I need, including my little ‘spy’ camera (Canon Powershot), and special earplugs, made especially to be worn for music listening. I picked up a few pairs of these from a site called The Earplug Store (Yes, there is a site out there that only sells earplugs!) here, and love them! They’re designed to let the music be heard properly but not too loudly. Plus, the part that sticks out of your ear is very small and not easily seen, so you don’t look like you have mini marshmallows coming out of your ears.
Here’s hoping you’re having a great Thursday.
xo loulou
