OK, so I was wrong about a couple of things: The Skinny Singers, featuring Mother Hips' Tim Bluhm and local boy Jackie Greene, did NOT open for the Mother Hips last night at Harlow's. Jackie played keyboards throughout the Hips' set, though, so perhaps I was only half-wrong.
I was wrong about something else, though: The Mother Hips weren't very interesting after all. I recommended the show based on the band's recent album, "Kiss the Crystal Flake," which is a very solid effort, with good songs and production. But live, the band underwhelmed me. And I had a lot of encouragement to like them. Peer pressure never dies!
For a band that's been playing live for about 16 years, these guys were pretty sluggish. A lot of the stuff sounded to me like Bachman Turner Overdrive at half speed, which may sound good to a lot of people, but...I just didn't find their musical interaction at all interesting or inspired. A few of the songs from the new album - they didn't play many - were good, but not great. Not virtuostic, not funky, Mother Hips was...well, as one young lady I asked about them said, "Well, if they were better, they wouldn't be playing here." Ouch.
I also heard from a friend that Lenny Kravitz' show at the Memorial Auditorium was only half full, which would probably surprise the people who thought the show was going to be at Arco! Only 2000 people? And that was promoted by a local radio station as it's big Christmas show. Now, this is not an official count, but it was done by a professional who I trust, and frankly, it doesn't surprise me. People aren't going to shows so much these days. I know people who got $100 GA tickets for Springsteen in Oakland for $20, and six friends and I got into the recent Arcade Fire show at the Shoreline for FREE. All of us. Free. People just handed the tickets to us.
As for the Hips show, Hips fans (Hipsters?), including some friends of mine, may think that this makes THREE things I'm wrong about: The Hips ROCKED, dude! But I don't see it - to me, it's a third-rate version of something 30 years old that wasn't often that great even then.
Just callin' it as I see it. Feel free to chime in.
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2 comments:
Re Hips, always glad to have my opinions reinforced by the esteemed DB. I tried them at Slim's a few years ago and you're right, they just don't get over. I can relate to the comment you got from the young woman; the guy at this Slim's show with me said: "Good enough for Chico."
That said, "Time-Sick Son of a Grizzly Bear" from the new album almost made me want to give them another shot. Having grown up with self-referential Texas music, it's taken me awhile to feel the same way about self-referential California music.
You are so right about the Hips. I never got it, even when all my friends would tell me they were IT.
Saw them about 30 times maybe and a few times they really got me going but still, not really.
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