It was Friday the 13th, and I was ready for my long run of bad luck to be up. We trekked, a group of three, down the street to the place where the rock show was to be held, the while passing under scaffolds and crossed by cats. The crowd was intimate, the beer selection in the main organic (because, as good capitalists just having a good time we have to conflate our purchases with loftier causes, we have to feel that our money is doing the work we’re not doing 9 to 5 50+ hours a week), and the rock was well executed.
Not having been a longtime fan of either Versus or +/- and never having seen either band live, I can only really speak to my impressions formed that night. I love the most recent +/- record, Xs on Your Eyes, and it stands head and shoulders above anything that band (and Versus) have done before. Therefore, I really wish that +/- had been headlining. Aside from the addition of a bassist who wasn’t playing with Versus and the removal of Versus’ indie-rock proto-chanteuse Fontaine Toups, the same people were on stage during the +/- set as during Versus anyway, and the updated, tight, and syncopated new +/- material would have felt a lot more appropriate in the headlining slot. Versus’ new material just lacked the shimmering movement that their older songs have. They were just a little too simple, boring, and straightforward.
So, there you have it. My Friday night in the indie rock time machine at the shiny new Knitting Factory.
saw +/- earlier this year (http://www.last.fm/event/879720+—+at+%D0%BA%D0%BB%D1%83%D0%B1+%22%D0%91%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B3%D0%B2%D0%B0%22+on+31+January+2009). pretty good. was nice and drunk. me, not them.
I’m sorry this was your first time seeing them, as this was the worst I’ve ever heard them. I agree about them headlining, though.
Plus minus, I mean.