I canceled my plans of seeing Yeasayer and Chairlift last Friday so that I could go see Princeton at Union Hall instead—I wanted to catch them at least once on this tour, and I’d missed them at Pianos two days prior. When I got to Union Hall and began to realize that I was in the presence of the worst crowd ever, I wondered if I had made the strangest concert-going decision in the history of the universe.

It didn’t seem like most of those present were there for the music at all—perhaps there were a lot of high profile shows going on that night, and these people here were just for the drinks? They were irresponsive, inattentive, chatty, and shockingly unwilling to clap. It was awkward to the point of hilarity—but I don’t want to give the wrong impression, there were about two or three rows of people at the front that were listening.

Jesse Kivel, one half of the fronting twins, seemed visibly affected, jokingly saying things like, “If you shut the fuck up” and “I know this is Brooklyn, I know it’s hip here, but come on, come closer”. The performance was pretty good otherwise; if they had chosen to ignore the sorry audience and rocked out like it was their own party, it could’ve been a solid show (and I guess I’ve seen some bands pull that off). Matt, the other half of the fronting twins, was much more polite, as he softly suggested, “You guys can dance to this one” before playing “Eminent Victorians”. I was, however, entertained (to say the least) by this bit of snark from Jesse: “I’ve never heard so much chatter all my life. Guys, what’s going on? What’s important? Talk to me, we’ll sort it out. Obama’s president, we know that now. The economy’s in shit, we know that. Now what else do you have to talk about?” But, these people, they just kept talking right over him.

It was still worthwhile for me, though; I was paying attention, and was pretty excited about the new songs, which will likely go in the album that’s in the making; especially one called “Power Makes Magic”, which you can hear on their brand new session on WOXY, and another, the name of which I don’t know yet “Show Some Love, When your Man Gets Home”, that I captured in video below (the audio isn’t the greatest, but I kind of don’t mind the distortion here). I just wish it had been a “happy show” without a sour aftertaste—a heartfelt cheer to Princeton for braving it, though.

I don’t want to give too much credit to this guy, but there was a childhood friend of the band who went on stage before they did, for a comedy routine, supposedly, and he might’ve just helped set the wrong tone for the band. I don’t think he did. But! It was a somewhat unauthorized appearance, and he was mostly really bad, and I couldn’t stop laughing because he was so bad—although the one racy joke he opened with was maybe funny: “I live in Bushwick. You know who lived in my apartment before I did? [AWKWARD SILENCE] A black man!” With his bad delivery, it was especially funny at the time.

These three are screen shots from video:

Union Hall,
Brooklyn, NY
Dec 5, 2008

Animal Collective’s Strawberry Jam is true to the intention of creating a sound that is akin to the aesthetic of the fruit jam. Skeletons, then, even though two of them wore fluffy dresses, seemed like an odd choice for stage decor. Sadly, however, despite a steady start with “#1″ and the few favorable moments that followed, the music sounded like the superbness of the album was crumbling as the soundtrack to its own ruin. And to this image the three skeletons seemed appropriate, though I’m sure the effect was not as intended.

Continued, and more photos, after the jump.

It wasn’t that the performance was unbearable; far from it – there was plenty to groove to, and the jumping crowd shook the floor throughout “Peacebone”, never minding the cause of sloppiness I had detected: Avey Tare was singing most of the songs, but his singing was unfocused, and his microphone seemed to me louder than everything else. Well into the set, he stopped in the middle of a song, saying that it was too “bassy” on stage and that he couldn’t feel anything, that it was a disaster up there: “Really, I apologize, those last songs should’ve been better”. He sounded heart-broken in his apology, though the audience was supportive and some yelled assurances. Having already heard an unimpressive performance of “Fireworks” prior to this, the announcement came to me as good news, as we were at least in agreement, especially since it was he who laid the foundation for Strawberry Jam and we all knew what a great record it was.

When they started playing “Brother Sport” next, it was as if now that we had been relieved of the confession, all was going to be well. But it is Noah Lennox who sings “Brother Sport”, and he, who barely reacted when Avey Tare bailed, had been good throughout, in playing as well as the little singing he had done. The confidence and focus he brought to singing “Brother Sport” made all the difference (even in Avey Tare’s performance), and so was the case in “Leaf House”, the last song. Unlike earlier in the show, this turn of events left me with wanting just a little bit more, and the thunder that rolled through the audience said that everyone else hadn’t had enough either. When apologizing, Avey Tare had said that they would try to make it better and that they couldn’t give up yet. But the blue flood of light stayed still in anticipation, and after what seemed like a long wait for an encore, the lights went on as did the house music. It was only then that the audience booed.

NYC Taper has a recording of this show

September 30, 2007
Webster Hall