Blonde Redhead. January 20th, 2007 at Paradise in Boston, MA.
The first time I saw Blonde Redhead was at last year's Lollapalooza, where their set left me rather underwhelmed. However, I have a policy not to write off a band's live show based off a festival performance, since festivals have a way of messing things up (such as sound quality and atmosphere). Thus, I went to see Blonde Redhead Sunday night at the Paradise. I am oh-so-glad that I did. The show was a phenomenal display of musicianship, and the music kept me engaged the entire night. The main reason why I enjoyed the show that much more is simple: the set list. I think 23 is one of Blonde Redhead's weakest albums, and they played a large portion of the album at Lolla. At this show, however, the set concentrated on music spread throughout Blonde Redhead's career, culling equally from many records. When they got into their up-tempo tunes, such as "Falling Man" and "Maddening Cloud", I was loving it. The energy, especially on their more robust songs, was wonderful.
A friend who hasn't really listened much to Blonde Redhead later asked me, "You think I would have enjoyed the show?" And I'm not sure. The only words that came out of their mouths were "thank you" a few times. The audience wasn't getting much more than exquisite music, so they needed to really appreciate that. Throughout the night, the Pace brothers displayed a wonderful amount of musicianship, with absolutely stunning drumming and guitar playing. Beautiful lulling guitar interludes would erupt into a raucous burst of wonderfully catchy, driving drum beats. This was the Blonde Redhead I was missing at Lollapalooza. This was the Blonde Redhead I fell in love with.
Photos and video below. See all of my photos here.
Blonde Redhead - Falling Man (from Misery Is A Butterfly)
Blonde Redhead - Maddening Cloud (from Misery Is A Butterfly)
Blonde Redhead - Falling Man
The first time I saw Blonde Redhead was at last year's Lollapalooza, where their set left me rather underwhelmed. However, I have a policy not to write off a band's live show based off a festival performance, since festivals have a way of messing things up (such as sound quality and atmosphere). Thus, I went to see Blonde Redhead Sunday night at the Paradise. I am oh-so-glad that I did. The show was a phenomenal display of musicianship, and the music kept me engaged the entire night. The main reason why I enjoyed the show that much more is simple: the set list. I think 23 is one of Blonde Redhead's weakest albums, and they played a large portion of the album at Lolla. At this show, however, the set concentrated on music spread throughout Blonde Redhead's career, culling equally from many records. When they got into their up-tempo tunes, such as "Falling Man" and "Maddening Cloud", I was loving it. The energy, especially on their more robust songs, was wonderful.A friend who hasn't really listened much to Blonde Redhead later asked me, "You think I would have enjoyed the show?" And I'm not sure. The only words that came out of their mouths were "thank you" a few times. The audience wasn't getting much more than exquisite music, so they needed to really appreciate that. Throughout the night, the Pace brothers displayed a wonderful amount of musicianship, with absolutely stunning drumming and guitar playing. Beautiful lulling guitar interludes would erupt into a raucous burst of wonderfully catchy, driving drum beats. This was the Blonde Redhead I was missing at Lollapalooza. This was the Blonde Redhead I fell in love with.
Photos and video below. See all of my photos here.
Blonde Redhead - Falling Man (from Misery Is A Butterfly)
Blonde Redhead - Maddening Cloud (from Misery Is A Butterfly)
Blonde Redhead - Falling Man
Labels: Show Reviews
Hey! Great blog- nice to see another young voice in the Boston music scene. I think you might know my friend Ethan Ward! Funny fuckin' coincidence, that.
-Max P, author of Under 21 in Boston
Oh hey cool max pearl found your blog. I'm so bummed I couldn't go to that show. Looks excellent. Those two brothers look like they are from classical Rome or something.