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