Monday, May 01, 2006

When did Thax Douglas become the Camera Flash Police at shows? Saturday night at the Wrens/Tapes 'n Tapes show at Schubas, he appeared to be watching the crowd the entire time for the occasional flash, ready to pounce and ask the offender to please turn it off because it's "annoying." Not as annoying as Thax constantly pushing his way back and forth through a sold out audience. If Schubas didn't want people using flash, they'd make a policy and have the bouncers tell people to stop. The venue is brightly lit enough anyway that you hardly notice the flash, and it's small enough that flash can actually make for a good picture. Too bad I forgot my camera!

Other than that, the show was great- Tapes 'n Tapes put on a nice little performance, although I think "10 Gallon Ascots" didn't quite kill the way I'd hoped it would- the chorus is so anthemic, it needed to be louder and more passionate. "Insistor" and "Cowbell" were great, though. All fears that the show might be overrun with people there just to see the latest buzz band were quashed as the crowd was definitely a Wrens' crowd. I'd seen the Wrens put on a great show at Schubas two years ago, but somehow this time around they were even better, with more energy and new versions of songs. They opened with an awesome version of "This Boy Is Exhausted," with just two guitars and vocals quietly introducing the song before the rest of the band took the stage to finish it up big. The songs drew mostly from The Meadowlands, making me wonder if they have new material on the way or if they just wanted to please the audience with the favorites. The between song jokes were hilarious and they poked fun at their age ("yeah, back when I was like, 30"), their skill, their popularity, etc. Great show- I'll probably write a longer review later this week, because I felt like there was a ton more going on then I've hinted at thus far.

5 comments:

Mike H. said...

Concert photo-oppers are the worst. When are people going to give this up? I love standing behind that guy or gal that takes the same damn photo 38 times from the same spot. After each one they look down at the camera only to realize that their flash got more of the person in front of them than it did the band.

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed the show at SubT on Friday, though I like Schubas better as a venue, and I like the Wrens over Essex Green, so I would have rather been at Saturday's show.

Nicole said...

I've gotten really amazing pictures at Schubas, it's the best venue for them if you have a regular camera as opposed to something more professional. No backs of the heads there!

Anonymous said...

If the bands want publicity...and if the number of guestlists I've been put on by their PR companies is any indication then they most certainly do, then they have to put up with the rather minor inconvenience of flash photography. Bloggers and smaller publications just don't have the scrilla to be buying a Nikon D5. It makes sense to keep the pictures to a respectable level, but it just goes with the territory.

As for Thax...the music community seems to have a pretty ambivilent relationship with the guy, so overstepping his bounds might not be such a shrewd move.

I've seen the Wrens 5 times and every time they seem to get better. Kind of like The Meadowlands seems to still get better each time i listen to it. In this age when bands seem to appear and disappear with the same warp speed, that's a welcome treat.

Anonymous said...

I think Thax has overstayed his welcome and if he is going on hiatus, it's a smart move. I am sensing more impatience with his shtick lately.