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When we initially heard about the Fiery Furnaces plan to play a show at Town Hall, we were excited to perhaps catch them play a slightly quieter, reserved, venue appropriate set. While we have always enjoyed their lively club shows immensely, seeing them in the historic theatre should have been a treat. It was a catastrophe.
To start, the sound was dreadful. From our excellent seats in the front of the balcony, we couldn't make out a single word being sung. The acoustics, which we had remembered being excellent at Town Hall, were a complete mess. The drums dominated the mix, echoing off themselves and completely washing out all vocals and most of the other instrumentals. It was a disaster. The only enjoyable moments of the show were when the drummer backed out for half a verse or so. Unfortunately, the momentary calm was usually followed by an epileptic mess of drum thrashing that ruined any sort of solace previously created. A large chunk of the already mostly empty balcony just walked out of the show mid set. (Including the couple next to us that we sold our extra tickets to outside. Sorry guys!)
The atrocious sound, however, was really only part of the problem...
The rest of the show just didn't have the same magic that our previous FF experiences have had. No longer was the set a seamless, cut-and-paste medley of their songs. They put a couple together here and there, but the rearrangements weren't nearly as diverse or interesting as we have previously seen. Perhaps this goes back to the sound issues as well, but whatever the excuse, it didn't work.
Also, there’s the issue of them performing the new “Grandmother Album” which hit the file sharing servers a month or so back and has been completely panned by the early critics. While the album features Matt and Eleanor Friedberger’s Grandmother doing spoken word over the band’s instrumentals, Eleanor mostly handled her “vocals” on stage. The songs all have occasional and very brief moments of clarity, but for the most part they are muddled messes that do not live up to the bands previous efforts. They dedicated a large section of the set to these songs, and it only helped in removing the audience further from the show.
On a positive note, Matt and Eleanor came out for an encore as a duo (no drums!) to sing a couple of excellent renditions of a few older songs, including the epic ‘Chief Inspector Brancherflower.’ Had the entire show been more along this vain, we would have certainly enjoyed ourselves much more. We hate to come down so hard on a band that brazenly defies conformity and pushes boundaries like the Furnaces do, but sometimes when you choose that path, not everything always works out. While we were disappointed with this show, by no means will it be enough for us to give up on one of our all time favorite live bands. We will still look forward to seeing them again next time they come to town. We just hope that they pick venues to complement their sound a little bit better next time.
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The nosebleeds probably isn't a good part of Town Hall for sound quality. Maybe those on the floor and closer to the speakers had a different experience?
I feel that the fact that the FF's have a whole new rhythm section points to the possibility that they are going in a whole new direction for their live sound. While previous shows have had more of a cut and paste dj feel this one felt like a proper rock n' roll show. They played songs with breaks in between and their playing was more rock oriented than before. I'm not sure if this is playing to the strengths of the new band members or just a new live musical direction but after getting used to the fact that it was going to be a very different show than I had seen before I found it to be very enjoyable. I also thought that the live versions of everything off the new album were infinitely better than what I've heard of the studio version.
I was right in the front row of the balcony with only the loge section in front of me. The sound may have been better on the floor, but my seats should have been perfectly good. I actually passed up on two front row orch. seats for the show because when I saw Antony there, I was up too close and couldn't see anything. Thought being up in the balcony would be better.
Bah, you should've seen Jens Lekman at Mercury Lounge instead. He was amazing.
Oh, and Denny, agreed with the more rocking direction, and while I didn't enjoy it here, I'm not ready to dismiss it. But if they wanted to go louder, the decision to play a place like Town Hall just doesn't make any sense to me.
I, too, think the live arrangements of the "Rehearsing My Choir" songs are much better than the tracks on the album!
Regarding the drums: I was thoroughly impressed with the new guy! He held it all together without missing a beat. Unfortunately, his kit was too close to his monitors-- the reverberations from the monitors set off the snare even when he wasn't playing it. It annoyed.
Jens Lekman come back soon!!!!! that show was so much fun; he made me completely forget about the free rapture show i missed. i loved when the crowd was completely dead silent during his last song. great night.