would not should good

Patty and I went out for our first show in Boston last night as we caught the Super Furry Animals at the Paradise in Boston. The place sits just down the street, or perhaps surrounded by the hulking mass of Boston University. We took the T over to the place from Cambridge, so we ended up there a little earlier than they open the doors, so we stood outside in the February cold with a bunch of other Super Furry geeks. The guys behind us seemed stoned, drunk or both as they giggled and cajoled themselves to stay in the line. They didn’t have tickets, so they were begging at the ticket counter as we went into the club.

Balconies of sorts surround a main area that has the stage and two bars. Not really that big a place, the bad places are the booths where you can sit and listen as opposed to see the band on stage. The sound booth was protectively wrapped with plastic to prevent drippings from the ceiling to get on to the equipment. The floors squished with aged stickiness. The place has definitely seen better days, but the music sounded good and you are never far away from the stage.

Times New Viking, a Pitchfork Media darling of the noise rock generation, played a fast and furious show. I liked their contortions and their energy - I expected the drummer to collapse after every song - but their musical sensibilities are buried so deep under the cacophony of pounding drums that I can’t imagine myself listening to their music anywhere but in a club. I think a really good rock band lurks within them, but they need to figure out how to get beyond their current wall of noise.

As for the Super Furries, they came, they rocked, they left. Bedecked in outfits reminiscent of the Flying Burrito Brothers, Gruff didn’t chat much between songs and they simply played one high energy song after another. The only interludes were the “Uuurth” songs, where we in the audience waved our fingers from our heads like a herd of demented mooses and sang along wth Bunf (the title of the song is the word). I definitely liked this show better than the one we saw them in Montreal back in 2006. Although less visually stunning than past shows as there was no video backdrop, the show flowed more, like they were more relaxed.

Here is my recollection of the set list. I think I have most of the songs, but the order is off. Must have been the last Bourbon and Coke where they used Jack Daniels instead of Maker’s Mark.

Set List for Boston, February 23rd, 2008
Slow Life (with helmet)
Rings Around the World
The Gateway Song
Run-away
Do or Die
Golden Retriever
Uuuurth (with audience participation)
The Gift that keeps on Giving
Neo Consumer
Fire in My Heart
Zoom!
Receptacle for the Respectable (with real carrot munching and spewing)
Uuuurth 2 (with audience participation)
Juxtaposed With You
Into the Night
Baby Ate My Eightball
Calimero
Hello Sunshine
Man Don’t Give a Fuck (with helmet)
Uuuurth 3 (with audience participation)
Keep the Cosmic Trigger Happy (with resist false encore sign)

After the show we caught the T back to Cambridge, just as the last trains were running. We do need to find a late night eatery. We both had the munchies and were craving Jack in the Box tacos.