Sometimes you think certain bands aren’t ready for certain venues. One quick glance with a lineup like the one shown above could easily be dismissed as being a misfire or poor choice in venue by booking. Those in lucky fans attendance enjoyed what could’ve been the last beautiful night at Red Rocks for the 2010 concert season. Dum Dum Girls could’ve easily flourished in a place like the Larimer or Hi-Dive, but they made do with the generous acoustics and led their set off with the classic Rolling Stones tune, “Play With Fire”. The lo-fi experience that I had anticipated in actuality translated into a polished and tight sounding group that were playing as if they were road warriors with more than ten years under their collective belts on the touring circuit. The second misconception turned out to be Beach House being able to play to a large crowd without putting them to sleep. Beach House ‘s music isn’t exactly known to get people to jump out of their chairs in a fit of excitement to rush to the nearest dance floor. However, the perfect combination of the last huzzah of Summer, still of the night, and the “Stevie Nicks-esque” energy that Victoria Legrand channeled culminated into a night that took Beach House from sleepy-timers to the next level. Vampire Weekend keep plugging along with their Sophomore album, “Contra”, and it seems like their freight train of popularity keeps on picking up steam each time they come to town. The quartet show no signs of slowing down and towards the latter part of their set, the East Coasters decided to pay homage to Bruce Springsteen by peforming his classic, “I’m Goin’ Down”. The night also saw a rare performance of the title track from “Contra”.
Vampire Weekend-I’m Goin’ Down (Bruce Springsteen) [mp3] (via the Gum)
Beach House-Norway [mp3]
Beach House-Zebra (UK Edit) [mp3]
Dum Dum Girls- D.A.L. [mp3]
Dum Dum Girls- Jail La La [mp3]
Vampire Weekend “I’m Going Down” Bruce Springsteen Cover
Beach House
Beach House “Walk in the Park”
Dum Dum Girls
i was there for beach house ’cause i missed their (probly better, more appropriate) show at bluebird. They were good and i was really into their songs (which are perfect anywhere), but it had me wondering about our current state of arena (rock? nah! irrelevant term) music. Of ‘course a handful of marketable (hip) bands like mgmt, arcade fire, v.w, are pushed to play in larger venues in order to soothe the savage (college, high school) beasts(and consequently make more cha-ching). But what about bands with pop aspirations that aren’t as umm… traditional? I would die to see animal collective do their laser show there, even this year at westword’s festival neon indian and (especially) dirty projectors proved that their sounds fit well for a large crowd. They all should be billed at red rocks… just saying. Btw. Dum Dum Girls (forehead in palms) had no business being there.
Funny you should mention the Beach House Bluebird show. I have several friends that attended that show and said it was a snoozefest. It was nice to see them out of their element playing a bigger venue. Forces them to do things they otherwise wouldn’t do in an intimate venue.