Metronomy / Class Actress / Caged Animals / True Womanhood @ Music Hall of Williamsburg 10.20.11

With CMJ madness in full swing, we came out of hiding from it for our first  Metronomy show at MOHW. On this night the British band was the epitome of light-hearted fun, adorableness and, dare I say it, quirk.

Below borderline creepy painted portraits, hometown-proud mastermind Joseph Mount and co. brought his addictive dance pop ditties to life to a sold-out crowd, the jovial energy of the studio recording amplified tenfold. Metronomy got the place pulsating, much like the bulbs on their tops, to the beat of our favorite danceables like "Heartbreaker," "Love Underlined," "The Bay" and "A Thing for Me." The main set closed with the slow simmer of "Some Written" though the night ended after a two-song encore: starting with the sweetness of "Everything Goes My Way" and ending with a massive power up via "Radio Ladio."

On the stage, we admired from afar Oscar Cash's multi-instrumental awesome (epic sax, ftw!) and drummer Anna Prior playing like a crazy, working a green sequin catsuit like we never could. As mad lovers of Metronomy's low-end, the man of the night was bassist (and impeccable dresser) Gbenga Adelekan. This dude has been grooving from the womb and the evidence is in his infallible bringing of the funk.

It would have been an absolute flawless first time if we weren't in the back with the least enthusiastic part of the audience. Luckily, Joseph announced their return is set for March and we can indulge in a dancey do-over next year. --Cheep

Photo via

Cut Copy/Foster the People/Midnight Magic @ Celebrate Brooklyn! - Prospect Park

By Jessica Amaya via BrooklynVegan

Concerts outdoors are a blessing and a curse. You're at the mercy of the elements: a pitch perfect sunny day is ideal but random rain can ruin weaves or have you regret you wore socks. If the band is still small enough,  you lose the intimacy that comes with a club show to a larger, less attentive crowd. In the masses, you can gain the camaraderie of some nice people who are there to have fun or be surrounded by a ton of unstable, fucked up assholes who chain smoke in your face and talk the entire show. We experienced a little bit of everything at all the outdoor shows we went to this summer and this one was no exception.

Midnight Magic had played and gone by the time we arrived to a people laden Prospect Park where were reminded why the idea, and only the idea, of living in NYC is awesome. Pregnant with burger and waffle fry food babies (we never learn) and tired from lack of sleep and overworking we were put out of commission again by the evening breeze and sat until Foster the People came on.

Somehow we managed to stand up and move, I danced knowing I might barf at any minute but didn't care. Snail, the older and wiser of us both, was more cautious and threw down only on favorites. White people started to dance like white people dance and we found a rare species of black girl that had no rhythm (!) who we wanted to tag for further study. The band was great but we felt great relief to had seen them for the first time at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in June as opposed to this show because it wasn't as fun and as we learned watching their SXSW performances on YouTube, we don't like seeing them play in the daylight.

Singer Mark Foster was more Thom Yorkian than usual on this day. In addition to being a little man with an amazing signature dance style, he did it all in a navy Fred Perry polo which we loved. Cubbie Andreas was still handsome slappin' da bass, mon, free banging in a signature chambray button-down with sleeves rolled up as high as he could get 'em. We're convinced keyboarding drummer guy Isom Innis takes uppers because his endless energy is inexplicable. He goes hard, all day, every day this band plays and that is unnatural so he's on coke or speed until proven otherwise... (not really!)

Foster talked about playing a song for Rivers Cuomo ages ago at a party and I was kinda bored because in our state we just wanted this to be over so we could sleep. That feeling melted away when they broke into Weezer's "Say it Ain't So" in appreciation for the band playing "Pumped Up Kicks" at a show days prior. A massive sing-a-long began and it felt nice to belt it into the sky with Snail. Everyone who felt excluded from the fun with this classic came back into the fold with final song, "Helena Beat."

The lull between bands was just another window for fatigue to seep through. Cut Copy had to come on ASAP to slap us out of this misery. Like a cruel joke, they opened with a series of dance-lite downers. Then "Corner of the Sky"  opened up a handful of body rattling gooduns "Blink And You'll Miss the Revolution," "Lights and Music," "Saturdays," "Pharaohs and Pyramids" and "Hearts on Fire." I inserted my funny dances for Snail into the most 90s sounding parts of a couple songs, as I promised her, and she did not pee her pants this time.

At some point the band was so psyched about playing they came to accordance that they were all moving to New York we were so awesome. Bands will say anything when emotions are running high, won't they? Haha!

During the epic ender "Sun God" we were thirsty and sick of people. We left the floor for some dranks and a seat under a tree for the encore. If we weren't such newbs to concerts at this park, we could've been here all along with a spectacular view of the stage, chilling out with the crazies dancing on the grass.  We did get to enjoy happy dance times in the wild to the beat "Need You Now"  and "Out there on the Ice" anyhow, all the more wise to the way to make it work for us when seeing a band play outdoors.

More pics of Midnight Magic, Foster the People and Cut Copy here

Cold Cave/Austra/Cult of Youth @ Bowery Ballroom 8.6.11

Photo by Dominick Mastrangelo via BrooklynVegan

We constantly dream how it would've been to see the likes of Depeche Mode, Siouxsie Sioux and the Banshees, Joy Division, New Order, Bauhaus and the Cure when they were young, inciting new wave dancey parties live in clubs and special to small group of romantic, dark and lonely weirdos. Literally babies then, we missed the boat and have been looking for the new wave dance party of our dreams ever since this music came into our line of hearing. Once upon a time, we had it in The Faint but their absence has left us thirsty. On this particular Saturday night libations flowed for what seemed forever with Austra and Cold Cave and we drank furiously.

Among the gays, girls, goths and everything inside and between, we stood on the floor, coming in during the last of Cult of Youth's loud yelps and fiddledidoos. Our brains were programmed for danceable electronics on this night so we dismissed them and their lack thereof accordingly. We soon fell out of attack mode with Austra's appearance -- or rather performance.

The band -- with the exception of harness booted keyboardist Ryan Wosniak -- walked on stage looking like the ultimate hipster caricatures. As it was the last day of tour, they threw together the last random bits of clothing they had left into less than stellar outfits. While their wardrobe choices were questionable, they hit the mark where it counts the most, musically. Singer Kate Stelmanis' has cemented herself as unique voice in indie with her fragile coos. In combination with the voices of Sari and Romy Lightman, the ladies sound like a chorus of wounded birds singing themselves into oblivion, tragic yet beautiful.

Bassist Dorian Wolf and drummer Maya Postepski add a new and welcome oomph to the set electro beats of the better songs off the Canadian band's debut Feel It Break. "Darken Her Horse," "Lose It" "Spellwork," "The Villain," and "Beat and the Pulse." Some may say "Lose It" is the single that made them but I offer up the sonically perfect and instantly contagious "Beat and The Pulse." You have to be soulless to not move to this joint.

In addition to the familar, they performed two songs we'd never heard, "Young and Gay" from the Beat and the Pulse EP and the unreleased "Habitat" our ears and feet quickly embraced them both happily.

At the end of their set, we had a decision to make: to stay or not to stay. Aside from a quick listen to Cherish the Light Years days before the show, we knew nothing of Cold Cave except that there was the potential danceyness to ensue. In the ever-present spirit of no regret, we vowed to stay on hopes of having a great time and if shit got boring, we'd leave and get some bubble tea at Just Sweet.

As usual we can't plan anything because it always ends up out window. Cold Cave had us the second they hit the stage after the shortest wait in between bands known to us. Into the darkness came drummer Alex Garcia-Rivera, singer Wes Einsold and synthesizer-er Ian Dominick Fernow, the latter two wearing the best leather jackets we'd ever laid our unworthy eyes on. Einsold intiated the set with a throwing of sunflowers into the crowd of which we were two of the lucky recipients. Then the music hit us.

It came in like the firestorm of Sarah Connor's dream, blowing away every layer of human leaving only our bare bones intact holding onto the lip of the stage. Two songs in and I thought we'd found our new The Faint. This was new wave party we've been dying to attend -- only we thought more people would be dancing instead of standing around oogling at the stage. We did our thing as hard as we could but it was nothing close to Fernow's moves. He thrashed about the stage, his body with no choice but to exorcise the abundance of energy and anguish and angst in this way. It was focan inspiring.

The band proved their worth and our brain signaled GET $5 DOLLAR BAND SHIRTS NOW! and during a slow jam we gave up front spots to venture out to the merch table and get what we wanted -- well, "needed" at this point. Unfortunately, the merch dude was away and would be back after their set so we went back inside danced to the encore in the back where the sound was better but it hurt to watch so many people not moving.

The second Wes uttered "This is our last song," we timed it so we'd head down toward the middle of it. We got our stuff and left, their hour long set leaving us enough time to still make it to Just Sweet for a bubble tea fix. Sipping on our iced teas with lychee jelly in awe of the night's happenings, we thanked the sons and daughters of 80s new wave for giving us something new to dance to.

Setlist and pics over at BrooklynVegan

RATATAT/Omar Souleyman/Black Pus @ Central Park Summerstage 7.13.11

Since watching RATATAT's wizardry unfold under the night sky during this year's fantastic Coachella stream, we wanted to go to there but NYC style. We hit the jackpot with the announcement of this Summerstage show. Not only did we get what we wished but we got a second chance to right the wrongs of last year's Terminal 5 show: get there early, stand closer to the stage and dance the whole night through. This mission was beyond accomplished.

Arriving not long after doors and with time to spare, we quickly remedied a massive hunger with some amazing Mexican style corn on a Chinese stick. As we sat and ate the delicious corn looking like idiots we saw guitarist Mike Stroud. He and his beautiful 'stache probably saw us too -- as we were staring and the only two people in that area-- and chose not to encourage the dorky corn-munching beasts in the distance. We don't blame him. After this sighting, appeared another vision. One of the long, gingery/goldie locked and full-bearded persuasion, a stage crew dude who with that hair, effortless cool and perfect worn t-shirt and jeans combo could easily pass for a third member of RATATAT.

Found a decent spot near the stage where we half basted in the sun to the drumming hysteria of Black Pus. The one-man-band of Brian Chippendale, in a creepy cool  blue-bearded green mask and headphones, went ape shit on his psychedelically painted kit and said indistinguishable distorted gibberish into a phantom mic, making our brains leak through our noses. It was pretty much the same mind-frying magic he threw out when I saw him play with Lighting Bolt in April and it was gooood.

Veteran Syrian singer Omar Souleyman came out after a lengthy intro that highlighted his impressive career, bringing the noise and the rain. Our perfect sunny day was brought to a pause by a storm cloud but by no means stopped Souleyman or our hips from moving to the electro rhythms and his beautiful ornamented voice. In his traditional Arab garb: a red and white shamagh and pristine white bata and sunglasses, he let the music and voice do all the work, only walking from one end of the stage to the other clapping, instructing us to do so, too. Despite some rude people, many in the crowd seemed to enjoy him as much as we did. So did the sky, which after the big soak, gave us a rainbow in appreciation.

Mike and Evan also enjoyed both of the openers from backstage through rain and shine, equally amazed and humbled to be in the company of such talented musicians that night.



It wasn't long until the duo caused their own mind explosions from the stage. Once again, Mike Stroud and Evan Mast proved to be the dudes with the most raditude that night.  We all got into the groove and put hands up in the air to the rhythm of their little bit folky and very rock 'n' roll bangers "Loud Pipes," "Lex," "Wildcat," "Falcon Jab," "Drugs," "Neckbrace," "Party with Children," "Shempi," "Montanita" and a new song, too.

Standing closer had its obvious benefits, we got to witness some of our favorite things during the set:

* The visuals. Especially the ghost string section in powdered wigs and sweet shades projected on the glass.
* We don't know if he was specifically pumped because of the awesome lineup or the stars were aligned but Mike was infected with the funk like we've never seen before. When not engaging in his signature guitar shred moves (that backbend!) or on a speaker, he was bobbing his head, shaking those shoulders, dancing about and pumping the crowd up super hard. Whatever it was, he definitely gained extra status in our hearts after this display.
* Double-teamed drums (!!!) one exclamation mark for each time it happened.
* BFF moments. Basically any time they were next to each other, their tightness is apparent and we love it.

In our own BFF fashion, held each other tight and squealed bursting with excitement. Happy to have experienced yet another great show together, acknowledging that we are addicted to RATATAT and we will see them live wherever we are, forever until the end, and finally that this show was only the beginning of their sweet sounds infiltrating our days and nights, filling us with thoughts of being reincarnated as their songs until we're blasted into the cosmos by another great band.

Photos from the show here.

PS1 WarmUp: TURRBOTAX® DJs/Bronze/FaltyDL/SBTRKT/Four Tet 7.9.11

Four Tet - Photo by Loren Wohl (via Pitchfork)

Our first outdoor dancey pari of the summer this Saturday was quite the beasting affair.

Snail had to stick around longer than we planned reporting on the tragic murder of Facundo Cabral, so we arrived at the museum fashionably late to the final beats of Bronze's far out primitive-sounding madness. Weaving through the number of freaks shakin' it in the sunshine, we found a good place on the stairs to nestle our booties and save our energies for the potential craziness of Four Tet's set.

With FaltyDL's sweet mix in the background, we bobbed our heads and engaged in our usual crowd watching, picking out the best and (laughing at) the worst body movers on the floor. Among the pelvic thrusters, ravers, giraffes, and the bouncy-kneed gringos rose a very special dancer: the bearded dude with the maritime hat and devil horns icon pin. This guy not only blew our minds with his unique moves but also with his inability to give an effing shit. Not since "Sweatpants" at Modeselektor, had we witnessed this kind of grace and non-fuckery. He worked the crowd and inspired other crazies to follow his lead, but no one could step to him. We would've given that whole crowd for clones of him moving at the same time, forever, he was that solid.

SBTRKT hit the stage soon to an even more densely packed audience,  complete with an African tribal mask wielding fan. It was exciting to listen many of the tracks from the LDN producer's terrific debut full length bumping into the warm afternoon air and live drums in the mix. After scoping out a decent spot on top of the stairs near the stage and the booming speakers, we caught a glimpse of SBTRKT and Sampha, masked as expected, finishing up a super-short set and got quite distracted when Kieran Hebden came on stage to set up his gear. There we were, ogling at these dudes-- what happens when we're in the presence of greatnesses we have crushes on. When SBTRKT was done, the mask came off to reveal a royal hotness and it was understood why the man really covers up that face of his: he wants his work to cause the boners not his beautiful face. Fair enough, at least now we've seen it.

After missing Herr Hebden inaugurate the Mr. Sunday parties Memorial Day weekend, we were long overdue for an eye and ear pleasing via Four Tet and this second chance to see our boy DJ outdoors was not to be passed up.  We were nervous, blind to what he might spin, hoping he'd play his collab with Burial and Thom Yorke "Ego" and his Rocketnumbernine remix of "Matthew and Toby."

For an hour and a half he ripped it up -- in flip-flops nonetheless. His own "Love Cry" opened a sick mix of jazz, reggae, hip-hop and electro joints including tracks by Caribou, Nas, P. Diddy, and LFO. He seemed to have played everything under the sun but the songs we wanted... womp. No matter, despite this small sadness, we shook what our mamas gave us as Kieran hit it out the park, as per usual. The frenzied masses behind us affirmed, going mental, even crowd surfing!

Danced to sweaty and tired hungry messes, we took ourselves to a local diner for some grub before heading back into Manhattan for some Pinkberry and the trip home. Super psyched that our first summer dance party went off without a hitch and so many more are on the horizon. Tonight we're going to be living the dream and bringing on the heatstroke with Ratatat, Omar Souleyman and Black Pus at Central Park Summerstage. IT WILL BE GRAND!

Check out more photos of the party here

Foster the People/Gardens & Villa @ Music Hall of Williamsburg 6.20.11

Photo by Greg Notch

As far as we're concerned summa-summa-summatime officially started one day before the solstice: A perfect sunny day punctuated by a great Wild Ginger dinner al fresco and fun courtesy of some of the sunshine state's finest dancey pant movers, Foster the People and Gardens and Villa's at Music Hall of Williamsburg.

We entered the venue, relieved to only have one opener between us and Foster the People with figurative fingers crossed hoping -- as usual -- the opening band would be on the right side of awesome. And boy did the Wizard make it so.

It was love at first listen with Santa Barbara's Gardens & Villa. The Michael Jackson loving band inspired major body rattles from us with a sound that features the best of 60s pop, 80s new wave and today's indie rock. Snail was half-way to loosing control of her bodily functions burning love holes into the MJ sweatshirt wearing multi-instrumentalist cutie on stage right, unable to remove her stare from his fancy footwork behind the keyboard.

We grooved to the tunes of their summery self-titled debut ourselves including now favorites "Spacetime," "Black Hills," "Cruise Ship" and "Star Fire Power" and wrapped it up with a cover of Gary Numan's synth hit "Cars." So impressed we were that we rushed to the merch booth immediately after their set for a copy of the album, on sale in advance of its July 5th release date. Listening that night at home we realized the album doesn't hold a candle to their live performance.

We discovered Foster the People via footage of an explosive set at SXSW and have come prefer the high-energy renditions of the jams from first LP, Torches on the stage to the less exciting studio versions. Of course, we were now super stoked to finally bear witness to their power punch of a live show in the flesh.

The LA band burst onto the stage in no time, flashing through the contents of Torches. They played on and on at full tilt, looking super adorable and happy as heck stopping only a few words of thanks and a shout out to a ticket giveaway winner who impressed the band with an interpretive dance on YouTube.
We danced on and on to the likes of "Hustling," "Don't Stop" and "Broken Jaw," annoyed "sexy" girls in process, only coming to a full stop to rest during epic mushfest "I Would Do Anything For You."

The magic came to close with encore, and certified rump shaker, "Helena Beat." Everyone went nuts.
We exited eager to rehydrate with some coconut water but not so much to start the trek back home, happy to have kicked off summer with this craziness and equally sad because it came and went so fast. Then we're all smiles again because we'll be getting down to FTP once again this summer when they open for Cut Copy in August at Celebrate Brooklyn. Hells. Yes!

Gang Gang Dance/New Moods @ Music Hall of Williamsburg 05.04.11

Photo above by Jason Lester

While everyone else was enjoying Foals in Manhattan, we ventured Brooklyn-ward to catch Gang Gang Dance's headlining show at Music Hall of Williamsburg.

The opening DJs did us wrong by spinning reggaeton and Chris Brown in a confusing mish-mashing of the good with the bad and ultimately losing us all together.

New Moods was a step up but would've been more enjoyable if their opening song didn't drag on forever and the rest of the set sounded like the one atmospheric Zola Jesus-y thing they did.

In no time we were tripping the light fantastic to Gang Gang Dance's psychedelic percussion party.

The set list, comprised of mostly tracks from their amazing fifth album, Eye Contact, was something to the effect of "Adult Goth," "House Jam," "Glass Jar," "MindKilla" -- give or take a song or two -- plus an encore. Highlight of the night was definitely the "MindKilla" jam sesh, starting out more stripped down than the album version but gave way to a rump-shakin' drum-heavy extended mix that left nothing more to be desired and culminated in a crush on drummer, Jesse Lee.

This band has been tearing up the fabric of electronic beats and cross-genre experimentation for years, playing their brand of dance all over NYC. This was the first time we were able to catch them doing their shit, legit, it was great to see them perform at their seasoned best.

Scissor Sisters @ Wellmont Theater 2.18.11

Scissor Sisters (photo by Dana Yavin)

A week and change ago we initiated the Cheep & Snail concert calendar with the hottest ticket in town that Friday night, Scissor Sisters at the Wellmont. The closest thing we've ever gotten to going dancing on a Friday night went down first with some of opening DJ Sammy Jo's choice cuts and later with the well-oiled fabulosity machine that is the Scissor Sisters.

Unlike last summer's Terminal 5 gig, Snail and I were close enough to count Jake Shears' chest hairs and ab squares. The void left from no "Sex and Violence" again and no dirty money confetti to catch was filled by a new jawdroppingly artful backdrop and our great spots upfront so nothing was lost, our lovely Sisters brought the glamour and sex with hot jams from Night Work and beyond with fierce energy anyhow.  Reveling in all this high voltage fun and the many flavors of homo sapien representing -- including lesbians, balding bears, twink-hungry queens looking to get a piece of a lone adorable, innocent Norwegian student and some drunken obnoxiousness -- we danced and danced and swooned and danced.  Needless to say everyone got wet, so much so that one gay boy had to send his sweaty sequin muscle tanks to the dry cleaners he danced so hard, easily a sign of a great Friday night.

More pics from the sexy party at BrooklynVegan

Wolf Parade/Ogre You Asshole @ Wellmont Theater 11.03.10

"If anyone got their money's worth tonight, it was you two."

--Police officer who was witness apparent to our show-long madness.

After feeding our feverish excitement with caffeinated beverages at Eclectic Cafe, we walked down towards Wellmont in a bit of a panic think the line would be a healthy length by 6. When we reached the corner of the street where the venue was, we saw WP drummah and producer extraordinaire Arlen Thompson and Kool-Aid smiled it to the line. There was one person: a girl waiting for her friend who were both Wolf Parade live noobs. They were cute and nice and we assured them they were in for a treat.

Met up with two of my pals from college and sped into the venue to catch our prime spots between Dan and Spencer. The venue looked empty for a long time which made us fell like paranoid androids for acting like we were gonna have to fight for our places. Better safe than sorry, amirite?!

We were pretty excited for Ogre You Asshole. Snail had heard just one song and she already knew we were in for a good time. This adorable Japanese indie rock band with their fashionable sweaters and beautiful hair, as Dan so accurately described them, were so awesome. It was their first show outside of Japan and I'm sure they were grateful to see so many people responding to them. They had a Wolf Parade quality to them especially in their harder, more guitar driven songs. It was plain to see why the band chose them to open this tour and why a lot of people had fun during their set.

We fell in love with Kei Mabuchi, the guitarist with beautiful long hair and a navy anchor sweater. He was so beautiful I said I wanted to ask him if i could braid his hair while wearing his anchor sweater. We both swear we had eye-locking moments with him and no one can take that away from us. Singer Manabu Deto's cuteness was so that I wanted to squeeze his cheeks violently and ask rhetorically, "WHY ARE YOU SO FRICKIN ADORABLE!?!"

Ahem, back to the music.
They rocked our socks off. Snail asked the Manabu for his set list, at first he was confused --their English is not so good --but then he realized what she wanted and looked happy and appreciative :) He had another one and someone asked for it but he didn't give it to them :) We win.

Hyper hyper status was in full swing as we waited for the guys to come out and set up their stuff. Some fanboys asked Dan if they could have the set list after the show and of course he said he would give it to them (he never did) and from then our brains manifested an entire skit so funny we made my pal Christine cry of laughter. We are going to pitch it to SNL so they could hire us since the show has been so stale lately. Needless to say, we are ruthless. Then it was time to turn the crazy up to 11.

While almost all of the crowd stood about not moving much (again, for reasons we cannot fathom) we kicked it hard and sexy to "Ghost Pressure," "What Did My Lover Say? (It Always Had to Go This Way)," "Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts" and "Kissing the Beehive" as per usual. I even awed a white guy next to me during that last one with my native sassy hip movements haha. As Snail exorcised her demons, I got goosebumps and a bit sad during "I'll Believe in Anything" and "Little Golden Age" played back-to-back to torture our sensi souls, specifically...or so I tell myself. Snail got looked at by Spencer and fell into stare fail 2.0, where it is now scientifically proven that it is impossible for her to look him in the eye. It's alright though because Dan smiled at her and no one can take that away from her.

They played a new new song "Semi-Precious Stone" which I was iffy about when I got it the day before on iTunes but live I warmed up to it damn quick. Overall we felt the set was filled with too many songs we would rather not listen to live, more notably "Language City" "The Grey Estates" and "This Hearts on Fire". Hello? Where the hell is "In Direction of the Moon?" that song kicks both those songs' asses, I thought. But then, the moment that would make sacrificing that song to the setlist gods happened to conclude the all-too-short two-song encore: They played the song that defines/personifies/is the be all and end all of our friendship, "Fancy Claps." Spencer said they hadn't played the song in over a year but since so many people asked for it they were going to give it go. We hadn't seen it live since their August 2007 show at Warsaw. Earlier Snail tweeted about it and we got it! AMAZING! We danced so hard I think we scared everyone around us. If they didn't know how serious we were about this band initially, they fucking knew it after experiencing us during "Fancy Claps."

In our state of glory and euphoria amped up by the police officer and his quote above we exited the floor with a "fuck yea" strut...in our brains. Before heading outside we stopped by Ogre You Asshole's side of the merch table to buy their CD (which they were wowed I wanted two copies for us, so adorable) and their orange bear shirt. Standing right next to gorgeous long-haired anchor sweatered awesome, we died. We wanted to talk to them but fear of things being lost in translation stopped us (where is Karen when you need her? haha) I think they got the picture that we loved them due to our purchases so that was okay.

With our skeletons broke, ears blown out and smiles on our faces, we went into the night full of BFF love and band crushes and all fine things being fangirlin' buddies is made of to drop dead from tiredness in our beds and wake up like we got hit by trucks, the sweetest most well earned pain we could endure.

C&S note: If you made it this far without getting annoyed at our random acts of fangirlism, we congratulate you. We are unapologetic but  extremely aware of our potential obnoxiousness. The thing is, these fangirlisms are kept between us and this blog in joke form. We have too much of a sense of boundaries and immense respect for the artists we love and are too afraid of being idiots and treating these talented people like anything besides human beings. That said, we hope those new to our mental state can laugh with us (or at us) as we chronicle our overwhelming love for everything! 

See more pics of this show here and here.
Listen to Ogre You Asshole here.
Read about our Wolf Parade freakout this summer here.

The Flaming Lips/Stardeath & White Dwarfs @ The Wellmont Theater 4.19.10

Cheep is here! Pic stolen can't remember from where (sorry!)

On this chilly April afternoon we arrived at the Wellmont to see super freak Lips fans, some dressed up in costumes others not, gearing up for the most enchanting rock show known to man.

On our way to a store to buy snacks before hitting the line, we got to hear a bit of soundcheck and that got us pretty pee-in-our pants pumped about the whole deal. When we got in line officially, Steven Drozd came out and chatted up with the super freaks. My nerves got the best of me, though, I mustered up the courage too late and never got to talk/hug to the love of my life. Already the day had been tainted with regret. Everyone from the band came out to the line next to which their tour bus was conveniently parked and chatted up with anyone who wanted to talk to them.

After 2-3 hours of waiting, we got in FIRST ROW faces lit up like Christmas as we saw the stage setup, particularly Wayne Coyne's giant hands. WE WERE FINALLY HERE! I was very antsy and thinking a lot. I wanted the show to start, hoped Stardeath and White Dwarfs were awesome (they were).

Snail and I talked about I hope they didn’t pick people at random to dance on stage with the Flaming Lips because I hated being up there. Then the band's awesome roadie offered us passes to dance on stage. Neither of us are the kind of ladies who would ask for a pass to dance up there. Not that there is anything wrong with those who do, but it is not our personality. We like to be on the sidelines, going insane, inward but never on the center of all the attention. In the spirit of letting it out in oh-ten and no regret, we caved, took the passes and dancers we were to become after Stardeath's set.

Soon enough we joined the other lucky fans backstage put orange costumes on over our clothes, had a small pow-wow about the do's and don'ts of dancing with the Lips onstage. While I was waiting to use the toilet saw their dressing room, heard Wayne exclaim "Son of a bitch!" and saw Michael Ivins coming in and out. After Wayne gave us a pep talk everyone was pumped and we marched to stage left with other ladies, some of which were seasoned dancers already and other newbies and besties like us, and danced our buns off all night!

Although at first we were nervous, all that melted into overwhelming inexplicable happiness. Being onstage was exhilarating. Seeing the crowd's reaction to the band was surreal. There is no explanation. The experience is very different than being in the crowd. You don't hear everything as awesome but you get to see people's faces including our Morrissey's permasmile, and just feel collective joy in a whole other way.

The evening was completely ridiculous. Wayne rolling out in his bubble, giant balloons, ashit ton of confetti! All I thought was "This is really happening!" Me and Snail were on stage with the Flaming Lips the first time we're seeing them, WHAAAAT?! The baby-so-happy-it-looks-like-its-going-to-explode kind of excitement we were feeling was so that we hugged during mid-set.

We were on the verge of tearing from happiness the whole show. My time came during "Do You Realize?" I couldn't even sing the song I was so choked up. Snail almost cried when Wayne made everyone hold up their peace signs. Now that we know that a "mudra" or hand gesture has incredible power, it was easy to look past the cheesy connotation it’s been given. It felt as if we were all accomplices sending love out into the world!

Other highlights included: Snail squealing "OMG I love you" to Steven and Wayne as we exited the stage plus a "Thank You" from Steven and my nose getting skimmed by Steven every time he walked backstage, le sigh! haha.

At the end we got some trippy shirts and got to meet and hug Wayne super tight. He was as kind and as beautiful a person as always. Facts is facts: Wayne Coyne is the purest being in rock n' roll. He talks to his fans like he has known them his whole life and THANKS them for being freaks along with him. FUCK YEAH FOREVER!

The bliss felt during Flaming Lips shows needs to be experienced for there is nothing like it in music. At their show, you feel like you can do anything! You're just surrounded by the truth: love, positivity and that childhood wonder that's sanded away by conditioning. No fear, no judgment, no violence NO EGO just a bunch of happy hippie-hearted people rocking out like nuts. I was pretty stoked to be part of it all with some of my best friends.

Setlist + quality pics at BrooklynVegan