well, i wouldn't know how the hold steady was due to the fact my best friend has this HUGE problem of being late wherever we go, and that shit is really pissing me off because this is the 7289347239th time we've missed an opening band that i wanted to see because of her tardiness. why must people waste other people's time? ugh! then i got pissed when we got there because it was the last song during the hold steady's set.. and she goes "well i didn't know you wanted to see them" after i specifically told her quite a few times we NEED to get there early because i wanted to check them out.

seriously, i'm going to start going to shows by myself again. my friends don't understand this concept of "opening bands," (with the exception of tania) and granted i'm not one to show up THAT early... but why show up at 10:30 to only see one band play after spending x amount of dollars on a show? i'm really effin tired of being late to every show i try to go to.

ANYWAY that rant aside (sorry i had to get vent for a second), this was my first time seeing les savy fav live and boy, they did not disappoint. tim harrington is one crazy dude. he came out in a big fur coat with a wig & beard and then from pouring & spitting beer on the audience during the sweat descends, to stripping during we'll make a lover of you, to trying to make out with a girl in the audience, stealing someone's beer from the audience, humping the bar and the pole, it was a high-energy show. not to mention that he mobbed us when he came down in the crowd.

too bad la kids don't know how to move and kept standing there with their arms crossed.

the dreaded "40 Watt Club Effect". F that.

It's so disrespectful to value your own time over another's, particularly a best friend. It's really fucking low.

I kept (conveniently) forgetting that show was last night, 'cause I've been so busy lately, and didn't really have anyone to go with...

Les Savy and Hold Steady are 2 of my favorite live bands...At least you got to see one of them!

(and, by the way, the Avalon has to be one of the worst venues to put those 2 groups in)... How were TAN! and Swearing at Motorists? (or did you miss all of the openers?)

i'm soooooo jealous that you saw les savy fav!!!

i had the pleasure of seeing tim and company at pitchfork's intonation festival last year. tim stripped down to a speedo, tossed a slip n' slide into the crowd (and yes, he slipped and slided*), i think he tried to wrap himself in aluminum foil and at one point, he got probably a thousand people to sit down on the dusty, shitty, hot ground. he's my hero. and so are you, pumachik.


* yes, i know this isn't a real word.

kyle, surprisingly the show wasn't sold out... so you could've made it. i never seen the avalon *that* empty for a show. there was a good amount of people but i thought there would be more.



i got there at 10:30pm. we "convienently" got there at during the last song of the hold steady's set. my other friend diane was pissed too and i wasn't planning on drinking but i grabbed her flask and downed some maker's. so my other friend gives me this look like "i thought you weren't gonna drink" and i told her "i'm fuckin pissed we just got here and missed the hold steady. does it really have to take you 2 hrs to get ready?"

oh and then she yells at me after the show to let's go home when i'm chatting with some friends i ran into after the show. (and i drove).

sorry i'm a bit frazzled... i mean i'm not perfect either and granted best friends drive each other crazy but if it's one thing i cannot stand, it's being LATE.

this happens on a consistent basis when her & i go to shows together.

Jesus, good bill.

I have nothing but the most positive memories from every LSF & HS show I've seen.

i have been wanting to see les savy fav for quite some time now (over 5 years).......i havent seen the hold steady either. sounds like a damn good show + lineup...lucky you....

I would've thought that it would be near-capacity... both those bands sell out the Knitting Factory / Troubadour and the like...



I have people that I don't go to shows with for that reason... Then again, once you start whittling down the number of people you'll go to shows with (out of frustration), and you live in LA and don't drive, concert options get slimmer and slimmer...

But if I weren't in the middle of moving, I would've bought 2 to this thing and dragged a driver along with me. Despite the anger in your thread, it still makes me wish I had gone...

Oh man, I should have gone to this show. I went on the most boring date EVER instead. Ugh.

actually, it was probably more like 10-15k, depending on the estimates. people that were in the back, like back at the OTHER softball field, were sitting down too. that's at least what i heard from the people who were back there.

and how could you forget him throwing wet sponges at the crowd?!

oh don't get me wrong- les savy fav was AMAZING. i was way into the show, but i'm just pissed because i missed the hold steady and i was irritated because of those circumstances.

the best part was when tim got into the crowd and asks this dude, "hey what's your name?" and then grabs his beer and steals it from him.

oh yeah he ate a banana on stage then spit it all over the audience. wow.

les savy fav blow my mind every time i see them, i can't think of another live act that compares to them. i'm really suprised they wouldn't sell out a venue in LA, but maybe that's just because they can't play a show in the northeast that doesn't sell out in about 5 minutes.
i saw them play a 'secret' show for vice at CMJ this last year, and it was easily my favorite show of 05. they played in this tiny basement of a record store (cakeshop), which was packed to the gills with an open bar. tim harrington stripped down to long underwear and personally serenaded me. it was perfect.

in that vein of music.... at the drive in and trail of dead both blew my mind

i've see trail of dead and i was pretty dissapointed, they weren't that good. i'm not sure if they were having a bad night or what, but clinic, who opened for them, totally stole the show.
i always wanted to see at the drive in, and i'm pissed i never got the chance. although as it would have it, i first saw les savy fav on accident, when i was going to see an early variation of the mars volta. the mars volta sucked and les savy fav kicked the shit out of the place.

first time i saw TOD, the liars opened for them at the empty bottle in chi (around 2001-2002) - cant remeber for sure....anyway KILLER show....

i have seen sparta and mars volta and both were marginal at best. at the drive in was something special. i remember seeing them in my friends basement back in the day - they were all over the place bouncing off the walls...it was nuts...

Didn't Pitchforkmedia allude to Les Savy Fav breaking up? I'm glad that it looks like they were wrong!

apparently they haven't, but they don't tour nearly as much anymore. They got married and opened up businesses and stuff, but they still come out to play shows once in a while. i can't wait until they play NYC again.

i think they just mentioned they were on hiatus... that's why it was a huge deal about them playing at lollapalooza last year.

supposedly they're getting ready for an austrailian tour?

tim harrington got married a year or two ago, so they are cooling down from touring as often, but i don't think they're breaking up.

and i've also been disappointed by trail of dead a few times. so they destroy their gear every night? that's not a reason to say they're phenomenal live. some people seem to think this is so.

i thought it was weird that this show didn't sell out. avalon's a decent sized venue, however when they played the knitting factory, that show sold out in seconds. apparently i didn't even know they were playing last night until a week ago (and i usually keep up to date with shows since i go out a lot). didn't seem like they did a very good job of promoting the show.

although the supergrass show is sold out tonight but i might've scored a ticket through work so i think i'm going to cruise solo for this one. fuck waiting on other people.

The Avalon really is a pretty big place, though. Super Furry Animals and Caribou couldn't sell it out. In fact they were selling tickets 2 for 1 at the door.

I have nothing to say about Les Savy Fav or The Hold Steady but I'm mostly a solo venturer to shows these days. Partly out of necessity as I don't have any friends who are interested in music nearly as much as I am but also out of many previous similarly frustrating experiences. Even worse than the late arrival/missed opener is the common experiences I used to have with friends who wouldn't commit to the show either causing me to buy a ticket for them and eat it when they bailed on it or end up missing out on a show because it sold out while they were making up their minds. I ended up deciding I'd rather just buy my own ticket and then try to convince them to buy tix too. After going to enough shows solo as a result, I realized that its so loud that you don't talk that much anyway and its usually fine just going alone.

And I didn't really enjoy TOD much either. The destruction of the equipment at the end is just so rock star cliche. The one nice thing about it is you at least know when the show is over. I've gotten so sick of shortening of the main set and lengthening of the obligatory encores. It would be nice if the encore became something special again.

supergrass is sold out tonight.

saw the following sold out shows there: hot hot heat, spoon, and a bunch of others i can't think of right now.

i didn't forget.

i just didn't want to brag.