In the City, It's Alright?

So, the other day I won tickets to one of the In the City of New York shows, headed by Tony Wilson (this is where having seen 24 Hour Party People will come in handy.) I figured I'd heard of the bands playing, it was in a new venue for me, and it was free, so why not go?

Highline Ballroom is located directly next to the projects on West 16th street, across from the old Freight (which is now Frank's) and adjacent to the new Western Beef. What a beautiful venue! What I liked most about it was that it was set up horizontally, rather than deep (which is basically every venue in NY.) It's slightly comparable to The Astoria in London but much much smaller. What I did not like about this place were the $9 drinks (though my whole drink was vodka, seriously.) Ryan thought it was too "clubby" for him but I'd definitely go back for another gig.

Blood Red Shoes were the first band up. Not sure if this guy and gal were boyfriend/girlfriend, brother/sister, or just friends (my guess) but anyways they were decent. The girl did screech a bit on the last song during which a handful of people (myself included) actually covered our ears. Otherwise they were okay. They were really cute too - they stood in front of us during Biffy Clyro and just looked so innocent and youthful. I wanted to take them home with me and plop them on my couch with the rest of my mom's teddy bears (don't ask.)Ryan and I popped a squat on the floor before Enter Shikari came on. Good thing we stood up in time or God knows what would have happened to us. We got pushed to the side and a giant (though empty) circle formed. The band came out (all youngins), the rave-y music started, and I thought that it sounded pretty good but still didn't get what was up with the circle. Band starts dancing, I'm into it, then the singer just starts screaming incoherently into the mic. Huh? Enter Shikari=hardcore + rave?! WTF?! I've never been to a hardcore show (just The Warped Tour once - I think that was me going with Erica F. in exchange for her coming with me to see Travis, and anyways I'm not sure if that counts because I only ended up seeing Bowling For Soup - again please don't ask.) I still don't really understand what dancing to hardcore entails. I mean, why is it called hardcore if people are punching the air, kicking the air, doing jazzersize and capoeira, cartwheeling, running around but not slamming into one another, and taking 10 second rests on the side between whatever it is they are doing? I've been getting crap about this from people on YouTube because I don't know the "art" of hardcore. Good for you if you like it, but I'm still entitled to have had my jaw drop at how ridiculous I think it looks. See for yourself -

I loved all the music (think Klaxons but dancier) but hated the screaming. The band themselves were definitely entertaining to watch (particularly when they danced.) I personally wouldn't pay to see them but it was interesting to see for a free one time thing.

Biffy Clyro were the last band to play. Again I knew nothing about them but had heard the name. They were okay, I'm not really sure how to describe the sound but I didn't mind it. The fact that they were so sweaty and had these thick long beards disturbed me though. They must have been dying from the heat.

That's enough critiquing of bands for the moment. I need to take a short break before I start ripping on the show I saw on Saturday night.