The Walkmen, Twin Shadow and Beach House

This isn't really another preview of Twin Shadow but more of a recap of the shows I've seen this week. So welcome to the new Austin where because of ACL and SXSW every indie band that can purchase a synthesizer wants to play here. And thanks to Sirius radio their shows sell out rather quickly and in most cases undeservedly so because intro hipsters hear them and decide that they are the new cool thing. Case in point, Twin Shadow sells out two nights in a row. Now I actually like Twin Shadow and am happy that he is gaining success but I'm not sure he's a 2 night act. Especially when I have an idiot friend who hits me up the night before his second show with this "Hey man, are you going to the Twin Door show?" Twin Door??? The only reason he went is because he knew a couple of girls that were going and then he spent the entire time just socializing. This is why poor people can't afford tickets to shows anymore because they sell out with scrubs like this. (Sorry idiot friend but I had to call you out a bit, let's grab a drink later :))
Btw I had to trade my ticket with the Craigslist Killer because my friend who has the ability to motorboat herself was getting married on the night of the first show. Had I known she had this talent beforehand, then it would've been me she was marrying!

Here's a preview of the show if you missed it.
http://onlyfreshness.blogspot.com/2012/07/twin-shadowniki-and-dove.html

I was hoping that he would do weird 80's things like play his drums in a mesh shirt while wearing lipstick. And apparently the first night he actually did break out the mesh shirt. But the night I saw him he just sported  his Ryan Gosling jacket from Drive. Still a really cool show. His second album isn't as good as his first so there were a few lulls but overall the band played well together and brought some good energy. Niki and the Dove was a bit disappointing. They really only had 2 good songs, outside of that it's just some girl with no rhythm dancing and a dude playing 5 synthesizers at once. Overall this show was pretty FRESH! Who knows, I might have liked it more if I hadn't gotten so wasted earlier in the day. Damn you football season!

Next up came my bait and switch show. I initially paid money to see The Walkmen headline at Stubb's and was crazy excited when my ticket came in the mail.But then Stubb's decided to give me an extra "treat" by adding a co headline in Beach House. Really? Freaking Lame House???? So basically now The Walkmen were the opening act and I got tricked into seeing two homeless hipsters. I have tried to like this band especially with people who I somewhat respect dropping things like "Beach House just released one of the best albums in decades". But after a second listen they were actually worse than I remember. It's just lame overly atmospheric boring indie music. It sounds like those awful Sounds of the Wales cd's you buy at Target to help you sleep at night. If this is what I wanted I'd just drop the $4.99 and have that on my bedside table and skip the experience of paying $30 to see it live while falling asleep holding my $8 Tecate.

And to make things worse, the show was full of intro hipsters! Even some of my good friends just stared at me in disbelief when I expressed my anger about Weak House being added to the bill. They looked at me like i had just said "I really do hate black people". Well The Walkmen played probably their best set ever as their new album is almost perfect. You can tell that they have been playing for 10 years together and they know how to get the crowd going! I couldn't even stay for Weak House because I would have probably done what my friend suggested when I told her people's reaction. My friend "How many have you punched in the face?" Walkmen -TIGHT. Lame House - REALLY WEAK!!!

Check them out for yourself however. You may end up liking them like the rest of the world but I can guarantee you that 5 years from now you look back at this time in shame kind of like those jeggings you're wearing!
http://onlyfreshness.blogspot.com/2012/04/playing-dress-up.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuvWc3ToDHg