Video: The Maccabees / Miike Snow/ Music Hall Of Williamsburg
If you have tickets for the sold out Maccabees/Miike Snow show tonight at The Mercury Lounge, you are one lucky mofo! Everyone and their grandmother wants go. At least me and my grandmother anyway. But absolutely no tickets are available on Craigslist. Now what’s a girl to do? Anyway, if you do have tickets to the show I think you’ll walk out a firm believer in The Maccabees. As for Miike Snow, I'm not so sure.
Miike Snow’s “Animal” has become my anthem over the last two months, so I was determined to check out their show with The Maccabees at the Music Hall of Williamsburg this past Saturday night.
My trek to Brooklyn from the West Bronx was a frustrating one, as I got soaked in the miserable rain and was late to the show. In fact, I arrived to the ticket booth just in time to hear “Animal” blasting through the MWOH doors. I thought I’d missed the entire show but that wasn’t the case. The band played “Animal” in the beginning of their set.
Maybe it was missing my favorite song that prevented me from being won over by the band's performance. Also, one of my favorite aspects of the album is the production. However, excellent production can be hard to translate in a live setting, and that was true for Miike Snow. I was impressed with the band members and their intricate percussive instruments, but the singer was lacking the luster that night and did not seem into the show. And just when it seemed they were getting into their groove, the show was over. The singer walked away saying “I didn’t know that was going to be our last song,” and all you could hear were crickets as they walked off the stage. Poor dudes, it just wasn’t their night.
The Maccabees 6/20/09 setlist
30 minutes after Miike Snow left the stage, The Maccabees arrived. Fortunately I parked myself in a decent spot to witness this young British band, and I was excited. I had been streaming “Love You Better,” the lead track of their new album “Call to Arms,” from their MySpace and wanted to see the band bring it live. If you were there at the show you probably would agree that the band did exactly that.
The whole experience reminded me of what it would have been like to see The Smiths or U2 live in 1982. The band began with the song “No Kind Words,” which instantly set the tone for a bombastic show. The fans were singing and dancing and the room overpopulated with males. The energy was wildly contagious and I caught the bug. I joined in and danced along with the crowd to songs like “Tissue Shoulders,” “Can You Give It” and “First Love."
It's been such a long time since I had participated in a show where the audience was so full of life. You couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. The band even shared a new song with us in which the lead singer showed off his accordion skills. It was one of the slower songs of the night, but it didn’t matter as I was still swaying along and humming as if I knew every word.
The Maccabees - Love You Better (6/20/09 MHOW)
I had my handy camera in my hand to record a few of these precious moments. I’m happy I can share “Love You Better” and "Accordion" with you guys. I only captured two songs because I tried to keep filming to a minimum so I could fully enjoy the show (not to mention how crazy it was in that pit).
Oh, and I became such a Maccabees fan that I actually bought a physical CD of their new album (yes, that’s right!).
