E6 like it's 1999
Last night I attended the "reunion" tour of the Olivia Tremor Control, the grand poo-bah of the now-defunt Elephant 6 collective. I was told after the show that it was the first time since the 1999 tour that they've all been onstage together. I'm often surprised what shows sell out in New York. When I first moved to New York in 1999, one of the first shows, if not the first show I attended was the OTC at the Knitting Factory, and it was pretty sparsely attended. And the Knitting Factory is a much smaller space than last night's venue, the Bowery Ballroom. So now, six years later, OTC are selling out two shows at the Bowery. Anyhow, the first time I saw them, I hadn't really even heard of them. Now, several of my favorite bands are/were former Elephant 6 bands.
My main impression of the show was that it must be an absolute nightmare to be the sound guy for an Olivia Tremor Control show. There are at least 9 people on stage, and at least 2/3 of them play at least three different instruments. At one point, it seemed like everytime I blinked, someone was playing something other than what they were playing pre-blink. One second the bass player is rocking away, the next he's wailing away on the clarinet. Still, it somehow all comes together. It was a good mix of out-there "psychedelic folk" and more straight-up pop. Some of the songs are teeter on cacophony, but there's always something that keeps it all together. It's like a three-note melody, and then 10 layers of shit over it. Then again, when they want to sound really tight, they do that well too. I definitely appreciated it more than six years ago. It just felt good to be there to witness the whole thing.
Probably the highlight of the night for all involved was the appearance (emergence?) of Jeff Mangum, creative force behind Neutral Milk Hotel. He came out in the middle of a song early in the set, to the raucous applause of those who recognized him. He sang a chorus, started crying, sang a bit more, saluted the crowd, and walked off stage. His story is really one of the greater mysteries in indie music. He makes a good record, then a historically great record, and basically falls off the face of the earth. Actually, he went to Bulgaria I think. Anyway, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea has almost attained mythic status due to his reclusiveness.
At the end of the show, Mangum came out and sang the encore, and seemed much happier. Actually, he seemed almost angry. He "playfully" shoved around bass player John Fernandez, but this consisted of throttling him, throwing him around by grabbing his hair, and then tackling him. I was really hoping the Neutral Milk Hotel would just come out for the encore since 3/4 of the Aeroplane lineup was there. No such luck.
All in all, a pretty good show. One of the rare shows where even though I didn't know most of the material being played, I wouldn't have minded if the show went longer. Nice to see so much E6 love. Honestly, if they just put together an E6 tour, they'd be rolling in dough. I'm pretty sure a tour of OTC, NMH, Apples in Stereo, Beulah, and Elf Power would sell out most places they played. Or they could just play a week in New York. Neutral Milk Hotel alone could probably play a week straight and sell out. Alas, it's not 1999 anymore. Really seemed like it last night though.
My main impression of the show was that it must be an absolute nightmare to be the sound guy for an Olivia Tremor Control show. There are at least 9 people on stage, and at least 2/3 of them play at least three different instruments. At one point, it seemed like everytime I blinked, someone was playing something other than what they were playing pre-blink. One second the bass player is rocking away, the next he's wailing away on the clarinet. Still, it somehow all comes together. It was a good mix of out-there "psychedelic folk" and more straight-up pop. Some of the songs are teeter on cacophony, but there's always something that keeps it all together. It's like a three-note melody, and then 10 layers of shit over it. Then again, when they want to sound really tight, they do that well too. I definitely appreciated it more than six years ago. It just felt good to be there to witness the whole thing.
Probably the highlight of the night for all involved was the appearance (emergence?) of Jeff Mangum, creative force behind Neutral Milk Hotel. He came out in the middle of a song early in the set, to the raucous applause of those who recognized him. He sang a chorus, started crying, sang a bit more, saluted the crowd, and walked off stage. His story is really one of the greater mysteries in indie music. He makes a good record, then a historically great record, and basically falls off the face of the earth. Actually, he went to Bulgaria I think. Anyway, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea has almost attained mythic status due to his reclusiveness.
At the end of the show, Mangum came out and sang the encore, and seemed much happier. Actually, he seemed almost angry. He "playfully" shoved around bass player John Fernandez, but this consisted of throttling him, throwing him around by grabbing his hair, and then tackling him. I was really hoping the Neutral Milk Hotel would just come out for the encore since 3/4 of the Aeroplane lineup was there. No such luck.
All in all, a pretty good show. One of the rare shows where even though I didn't know most of the material being played, I wouldn't have minded if the show went longer. Nice to see so much E6 love. Honestly, if they just put together an E6 tour, they'd be rolling in dough. I'm pretty sure a tour of OTC, NMH, Apples in Stereo, Beulah, and Elf Power would sell out most places they played. Or they could just play a week in New York. Neutral Milk Hotel alone could probably play a week straight and sell out. Alas, it's not 1999 anymore. Really seemed like it last night though.
posted by Greg at 5:56 PM
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