The Tippity-Top of 2005’s Concerts

I’m still getting used to this new domain name and trying to process my recent revelation that Broken Social Scene’s “Lover’s Spit” is everywhere (and that it’s Broken Social Scene and not some random adult contemporary star who sings it), but I figured I’d better review the best concerts I saw in 2005. My concert-going experience certainly grew a lot last year, but looking back on what I wrote for 2004, I’m not sure I saw as many great shows in 2005. At least nothing nearly as balls-out as Le Tigre, the Decemberists, or Ted Leo. (Emphasis on the “balls-out” for Le Tigre.) Still, here goes nothing, I suppose. The following are the five “best” (for a number of reasons not limited to how much fun I was having at the time) shows I saw, in alphabetical order:

The Album Leaf (with Black Mountain and Roots of Orchis and Marah Mar)

Well, I bitched about the show back when I saw it, because Gabe’s Oasis screwed it up big-time: they booked a strange bill of too many bands, and the Album Leaf didn’t get to play a full set because everyone had to go at 2AM. And a guy from the venue who was trying to get Album Leaf to stop playing almost got into a fistfight with Jimmy LaValle (the dude who makes it hard to decide whether to refer to the Album Leaf as “they” or “he”).

In the end, though, it made for a good story to tell, and it gave me an appreciation for Leaf’s music that I hadn’t had before. The visuals (provided by a DVD projector) were stunning, and the versatility of the players (especially LaValle) was impressive. I hadn’t seen anything like it.

The Books (with Marah Mar)

I guess if you have an instrumental or vaguely artsy headlining act in Iowa, Marah Mar will open. I didn’t show up to see them again since I had already seen them open for the Album Leaf (and since they were partially to blame for the too-many-openers problem at that show), but I’m sure they were fine. The Books, however, were better than fine, which I think everyone who has ever heard a Books album knows. Even their slightly-less-well-received new album, Lost and Safe, came alive in concert — arguably better than tracks from any of the other albums.

The show was at Grinnell, so it was free, but it was Finals week, so the crowd was mostly suburban high schoolers from Des Moines and Iowa City. I don’t usually like it, but they were all sitting on the floor where I’ve seen people vomit, urinate, bleed, sweat, and potentially fornicate, so I was OK with it.

Somehow, even though it was in a sweaty Gardiner Lounge (which is an old dormitory basement), it was a classy show. The Books really took their music seriously.

Final Fantasy (with Bobby Sandal)

Part of why I’m listing this here is so that you can credit me with being a fan of Owen Pallett (who is Final Fantasy) before he got big. He’s going to be the next Joanna Newsom or Devendra Banhart, and seeing him in concert was a lot of fun — more fun than a one-man violin act should be. Also, he used equipment that seemed pretty complicated. It was at an intimate upstairs club in Brussels, which was cool, too.

The opener, Bobby Sandal, was also cool, but in more of a cross-cultural awareness sort of way. He’s Belgian, but he writes funny alt-country/folk songs in English. This is what I wrote here about the show (although I also mentioned Final Fantasy again here to link to his Bloc Party cover, which brought the house down), and this is what I wrote for PopMatters. And seriously, check out his Bloc Party cover.

Ben Folds (with Ben Kweller)

Ben Folds’s new album, Songs for Silverman, isn’t very good, but I saw this show before that album came out, when Folds was still almost exclusively fun, moving, or both. He played a lot of material from his iTunes-exclusive EPs, which were pretty good at the time. He also played “Late,” his song for Elliott Smith, and I was pretty much the only person in the shitty Wabash College gymnasium who knew the words well enough to sing along. So that was nice. I was never a huge Ben Folds fan, but I can respect his talent. And after seeing him in concert, I can assure you: he has plenty of that.

Ben Kweller, on the other hand, sucked (he played solo, he was out of tune, and he couldn’t keep rhythm); but that has turned out to be a blessing, too. In the past year, I’ve been able to tell a lot of people how much he sucked, changing a lot of minds and earning plenty of cred. It’s just one of those things. Also, this was the first show I reviewed for PopMatters. Check out the review here.

Rilo Kiley (with Neva Dinova and Tilly and the Wall)

I love Rilo Kiley, and I love Tilly and the Wall. They were both obsessions for a while. When I saw them (and Neva Dinova, whom I’m OK about) in Omaha — home of their Saddle Creek (and, I suppose, “Team Love”) label — it was pretty much some LJ-supported dream come true. (I don’t have an LJ, but I can only imagine, because Omaha is that kind of social-but-depressing place that manifests itself in LJ.) Tilly played first, which meant I missed a good chunk of their set, but I loved seeing even the bit that I saw. Who doesn’t like tap dance percussion?

Of course, the main event was Rilo Kiley, who blew the roof of the venue (also, the Sokol Underground is possibly the best venue I’ve ever been to). I suspect their just-happening deal with Warner Brothers might have had something to do with it (they had better than average lighting and smoke machines, for instance), but still, it was good. And Jenny Lewis is really hot in person, but she seems like she might not have the right kind of personality for me.

Finally, honorable mentions go to Prefuse 73, who were pretty fun to watch, and Stephen Malkmus, who was about to make this list until I remembered that I saw Rilo Kiley in 2005.