Mock Orange. September 18th, 2008 at Subterranean in Chicago, IL.
Wicker Park reminds me of going to the Towne Mall in Middletown, Ohio when I was 14 and ate sweaters from (the) County Seat for breakfast. For those of you that don’t know Middletown, or (the) County Seat, you can congratulate yourself for successfully navigating past the Mead blue flat line section in your life. But beware of the HoT ToPiC’s six corners at Damen, North, and Milwaukee Avenues. Right now, as we speak, there is an astonishing spectacle of white Subinterurban Perplexia Humanis that have migrated from Lakeview and Lincoln Park to lay their eggs of liquid-shit brown graffiti paint on their nests of kit-condos. Now, you may think that this has nothing to do with Mock Orange, you may imagine that I’ve turned in my camera and cowboy boots to bitch about gentrification, this is of course not true… yet.
I strolled (forgetting and) forgivingly west on North Avenue Thursday night looking for Subterranean. Looking to see Mock Orange. Doors opened at 8:30, at 8:40 I was officially the first person to show up. I opt to come back later and decide to walk around the ‘hood to catch up on the status of their lovely brick alleyways. They’re fine. At 9:30 I got back to Subterranean with plenty of time to witness a good performance go sour to the beat of the cell phone texting in the crowd. Town Mall meets a Dave Matthew’s Band lawn ticket. God, it was depressing. As for the music, the moments of awesomeness were unfortunately negated by everyone that stayed at home to watch some intellectual French film. Mock Orange’s set started strong and drifted into what would be a requiem for Wicker Park’s music scene as the thumping bass from the 1st floor caustically overpowered the melody of what came before it.
Mock Orange - I Keep Saying So Long (from Mind Is Not Brain)
Mock Orange - Captain Love (from Captain Love)
Wicker Park reminds me of going to the Towne Mall in Middletown, Ohio when I was 14 and ate sweaters from (the) County Seat for breakfast. For those of you that don’t know Middletown, or (the) County Seat, you can congratulate yourself for successfully navigating past the Mead blue flat line section in your life. But beware of the HoT ToPiC’s six corners at Damen, North, and Milwaukee Avenues. Right now, as we speak, there is an astonishing spectacle of white Subinterurban Perplexia Humanis that have migrated from Lakeview and Lincoln Park to lay their eggs of liquid-shit brown graffiti paint on their nests of kit-condos. Now, you may think that this has nothing to do with Mock Orange, you may imagine that I’ve turned in my camera and cowboy boots to bitch about gentrification, this is of course not true… yet.I strolled (forgetting and) forgivingly west on North Avenue Thursday night looking for Subterranean. Looking to see Mock Orange. Doors opened at 8:30, at 8:40 I was officially the first person to show up. I opt to come back later and decide to walk around the ‘hood to catch up on the status of their lovely brick alleyways. They’re fine. At 9:30 I got back to Subterranean with plenty of time to witness a good performance go sour to the beat of the cell phone texting in the crowd. Town Mall meets a Dave Matthew’s Band lawn ticket. God, it was depressing. As for the music, the moments of awesomeness were unfortunately negated by everyone that stayed at home to watch some intellectual French film. Mock Orange’s set started strong and drifted into what would be a requiem for Wicker Park’s music scene as the thumping bass from the 1st floor caustically overpowered the melody of what came before it.
Mock Orange - I Keep Saying So Long (from Mind Is Not Brain)
Mock Orange - Captain Love (from Captain Love)
Labels: Show Reviews
I feel bad that their crowd looks so small. That band is amazing. And they were even on MTV before so I would have thought they would be doing better. O well they still get my full support.
Ah, the only thing that would be equally depressing is if they had played at "The Empty Bottle," another popular hang out for yuppie-wanna-be's with iphonitis and endless chattering mouths. At least the stage at the Sub is relatively "nice," ugh. Sorry, this band deserves a better venue and Chicago deserves one too!