Bjork is in the Yeah Yeah Yeahs/ Plaidwatch ’09
Alright, so maybe Bjork is not in the yeah yeah yeahs, but Karen O really channels her fashion sense sometimes.
So last Wednesday, September 23rd, I took my best friend, Mindsay Mohan, to see the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I like the band, but they are not a favorite. The show really was amazing though and the songs were beautiful performed live.
It was the first time I’d ever been to a concert with seats (it was at Radio City) and words cannot explain how much better it was. No fat, sweaty, smelly people pushing into you and knocking you over or anything.
We sat in our seats around 7:15, alcohol in hand, and scoped out the place, discussing other concerts with the two gay Asian boys sitting behind us. I was watching everyone find their seats, and Mindsay and I started thinking there was something wrong with our eyes. You see, we both developed this odd stripy, patterned vision. Turns out, we were surrounded by PLAID.
Thus began our game of Plaidwatch ’09, in which we sat there giggling and shouting out “PLAID!” everytime someone walked by wearing plaid. Literally every other person was wearing something plaid. Mainly plaid shirts and skirts, but also the occasional plaid purse, shoes, hairband, belt.
Also, as a young and single woman, I love going places where there is the potential for a lot of cute young men. I never got the memo that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs had a large gay following. There were basically less than 20 straight men there, and all with their girlfriends. UGH.
Sometime during Plaidwatch ’09 the lights went down and the opening act came on stage. If they were good, I’m sure I’d have bothered to remember their name.
Did you ever feel like your ears were in a cheesegrater? Well that is what my ears felt like as I listened to the vocally monotonous and annoyingly ambient tribal sounds of a band that appears to have been found with the mole people who dwell in the city’s underground. They had the fashion sense of a Baptist alcoholics’ recovery support group, and every song was exactly the same, aside from whatever words the crazy singer said.
It was all drums and tribal sounds, and a guttural noise coming from some woman. Their ‘profound’ lyrics included “sensual. you’re so sense. you. all.” and the gem “you make no sense” repeated over and over. I think the worst part of that band, aside from actually listening to them, was the fact that AFTER the last song, the singer walked off stage and the band kept playing some tune. One of the other women in the band took the microphone and tried to get the audience worked up for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Wait for it.
…..
….
Yup. THAT woman, who said nothing during the band’s set, COULD ACTUALLY SING. She had a BEAUTIFUL voice. I really wanted to punch her for subjecting me to the other shithead’s voice.
So now it’s time for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The curtain comes up and the most beautiful stage is set up behind the band. Giant eyeballs suspended from the ceiling, blue and purple lights, later on giant glittered “Y” ‘s.
Karen O comes on stage in some obsure feathered cape and a box on her head. Okay, well it wasn’t REALLY a box, but it was some random mask. She danced around for a bit, changed costumes a few times, and played an amazing show. Towards the end of it, they released two giant eyeball balls into the crowd for everyone to bounce around. If one had come near me, you better know i’d have popped that shit and stuffed it in my purse.
We didn’t bring our cameras, mainly because we just didnt feel like carrying them, and also because i was afraid we had really shitty seats. The tickets I printed said in great big letters, “OBSCURED VIEW” on them. All I kept picturing was a giant support beam in my way. Turns out there was nothing at all wrong with our seats and even though we weren’t that close, it wasn’t far and we saw everything.
So if you want pictures, read someone else’s website.
http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2009/09/yeah_yeahs_yeah_1.html
I really just wanted to write this to complain about the shitty opening band that had no business ever being on a stage. 
