You can pat yourselves on the back all you want about how youth culture and the rise of new technology has forced major record labels to rethink their business models. What it really means is that we, the consumer, are now forced to endure skyrocketing concert ticket prices and gaudy monstrosities like the blindingly bright projection of a tour sponsor onto the ceiling of a venue.
Yes, between sets at the triple-bill of The Kaiser Chiefs, The Walkmen, and The Little Ones, the bright orange logo for a music magazine swirled and swayed hypnotically on the roof of Portland’s Crystal Ballroom, illuminating the grey pallor of the audience members and the banners advertising beer that were draped on the venue’s balcony and walls. For $19 a ticket, you think they would be able to avoid such measures, but when it was apparent that the show would only be 2/3 full, you could feel the desperation of the powers that be trying to push these bands to the next plateau.
To get an idea of what effect, if any, this in your face advertising might be having, one only had to look at the exhausted, dejected visage of Walkmen bassist, Peter Bauer as he sat hunched over a haphazard stack of vinyl copies of the band’s last album, A Hundred Miles Off. The rest of the band didn’t look much happier onstage. Although they put on a decent performance, it almost felt as if they were forcing themselves on the audience, with the volume turned up to ear-shattering levels, and lead singer Hamilton Leithauser sounding even more rushed and agonized than usual. Although they managed to eke out a few choice moments of tense wiry rock (especially with a ripping version of “The Rat”), the latter parts of their set sounded shambolic and amateurish by comparison.
The two bands that bookended the evening, on the other hand, acted like the polished rock stars one would expect at a corporate sponsored event like this. The Little Ones had gleeful grins plastered to their faces all night long, matching up perfectly with their sunny, giddy pop music. Their jangly guitars and well-groomed harmonies quickly won over the spurious crowd, especially towards the end of their set when they delivered an energetic one-two punch of songs from their latest EP. A tour like this was obviously a golden opportunity for this youthful, up-and-coming five-piece, and they rose to the challenge admirably.
Lest there be any confusion, the headliners for the night were quick to assert themselves as lead singer Ricky Wilson introduced the band, mid-song, as “the world famous Kaiser Chiefs.” Considering the amount of energy and sweat Wilson and his cohorts expended from the get-go, you would be hard pressed to argue with that claim though. When he wasn’t whipping his mic stand above his head or leaping off of stacks of PA speakers, Wilson exhorted the crowd to sing and chant along with every song. The rest of the Chiefs were on point - affirming the fact that the lads have been touring for the last eight months - ready for every twist and turn of their well-honed mix of glam, garage and Britpop. As bracing as it was to hear a performance as solid as this, it was also slightly unnerving to watch the UK exports perform with such robotic precision. The band could’ve vaulted themselves into the pantheon of stellar live acts if they allowed themselves to, every so often, teeter on the edge of disarray.
--Robert Ham
