Man Man

With: Yeasayer

4/12/08, Paradise Rock Club

Boston, MA

In attendance: Fletch, Steve

I realize that the following opinion puts me in the minority of basically everyone who cares about such things, but man oh man was I bored by Yeasayer's opening set. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for mid-tempo proggy-world music-type stuff. Maybe I drank too many of those super cold bottle/can hybrid beers and it affected my brain. Maybe it was the super-psychedelic show being projected behind the band that I think I last saw used on a 1994 HORDE tour (OOOOHHHHH, a giant blinking eye!) Or maybe I was just aware of the complete ass kicking to come in the next set. But they did nothing for me. 

Man Man were another story. I last saw them open for Modest Mouse last year and they completely overshadowed the headliner. This band is completely insane and unlike anything I've seen before. Of course, every article written about them contain the three same names (Frank Zappa, Tom Waits, Captain Beefheart), and those are fair comparisons, but there is much more going on here than just rehashing already-made sounds. The new record rabbit habits makes that quickly clear. But as good as that album is, this is a band that really needs to be experienced live.  Drums, keys, pots and pans, marimba, trumpet, sax, and anything else that was nearby is fair game by any member of the band at any moment. 90 minutes of compete chaos- the sold out crowd who mostly stood still for Yeasayer turned into a giant bouncing mass of people being led by 5 crazed carnival barkers dressed in white.  An absolute blast that I would implore anyone to go see live as soon as possible. 

I tried to find a video online that would best approximate what this is all about, and this one seemed to come closest despite the cruddy audio.