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British Sea Power - Live in Tempe, AZ

PostPosted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 1:54 am
by coop41
A very small crowd after an unusually rainy day, my first show at The Clubhouse in Tempe in a couple of years, great stage and sound for all three acts and the best thing was no less than 10-15 minutes max between opening acts.
BSP played 19 or 20 songs over the course of a solid, workman-like performance that lasted over an hour and forty-five minutes.
This was my first time seeing them play a full set and the pace was much less frenetic than the previous sets I have seen (at SXSW).
I was surprised how well the new disc translated live, Stunde Null surprisingly a standout for me, much more punch in person. We Are Sound and Living Is So Easy also sounded great and of course the epic Waving Flags a classic. A tad disppointed at the arrangement of No Lucifer, it really stole from the impact of one of my favorite BSP songs.
They finished with All In It, although I'm not sure everyone was.
The band just seemed a bit too comfortable to me, although an excellent show, I just couldn't put my finger on whatever it was that was missing, quite possibly a fairly subdued crowd, with the exception of early on when someone shouted, "British Sea Power, I Fucking Love You Guys!" during a lull between songs. I looked around but Frau was not there.

A Classic Education is well worth seeing, a nice little band from Italy with some excellent songs.

The Whisperlights, a quirkly local band, opened the show with an uneven set with hints of potential throughout.

<a href="http://s46.photobucket.com/albums/f122/pjsaturno/?action=view&current=DSCN0647.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f122/pjsaturno/DSCN0647.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s46.photobucket.com/albums/f122/pjsaturno/?action=view&current=DSCN0649.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f122/pjsaturno/DSCN0649.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s46.photobucket.com/albums/f122/pjsaturno/?action=view&current=DSCN0660-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f122/pjsaturno/DSCN0660-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Some videos from the show (not mine):

BSP:

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/K5r52L9HeVA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

A Classic Education:

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/LNS5cMBCHSA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The Whisperlights:

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/LmXEJuYfXEQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

PostPosted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 6:55 am
by Frau_Blucher
"Subdued"?? Not usually a BSP gig adjective, but I've seen them up and down. The crowd does have some bearing - not a one-way street. The Hollywood Troubadour set was perhaps the best-sounding set I've ever heard from them. Really good but not insane crowd but enough apparently to bring out crowd surfing and various other craziness. On my way to Marfa. Has already been a fairly epic trip with some amazing side trips. As geeked as I've ever been for a gig - couldn't possibly meet my undue expectations. [:I]