Last night we headed to the city, i.e. San Francisco for our night out for the first time. I wanted to find a Hungarian restaurant to dine at, but my online search revealed that the only such place, called the Hungarian Sausage Factory, closed down years ago. The next best bet to get Eastern European food seemed to be the Old Krakow Polish Restaurant and Café. But their menu didn’t look as exciting as Luna Park‘s, which was recommend by several people I know. Therefore we ended up at the latter. Parking took about 10 minutes, so we arrived a few minutes after our reserved time.
We didn’t regret our choice, the food was great. Anya had “Brussels Sprouts, and Hazelnut Honey Grilled Niman Ranch Flat Iron Steak with French Fries and Salsa Verde” and I took a “Mushroom, Potatoes and Red Wine Grilled Alaskan Salmon served Sicilian Style with Tomatoes, Capers, Olives.” (I copied these from their online menu and was lazy to de-capitalize the first letters.) My fish was great, although I am always surprised when grilled fish has oil I the middle of the meet. I thought the whole point of grilling, is doing it with as little oil as necessary. Anya enjoyed the Brussels sprouts the most and she was quite satisfied with the rest too. To wash these off I had a mojito and Anya had a virgin “Blood Orange Mojito with Fresh Mint and Kumquats.”
We got to the venue of the show, the Fillmore, a few minutes after 8. The doors officially opened at 7 PM and the show was supposed to start at 8. When we got there the support band, Rasputina was already playing. That was surprising, because I am used to later starts for concerts. I was not familiar with their music, so on the day of the show I checked out their website, which had an unusually cool archaic design. I also listened to the two songs they posted on their MySpace page. I liked what I heard, but realized that based on two songs only, I could not get to know their style much. Now that I’ve seen them live I am even more interested in them. The setup, two cellos and a drumset was unique. But the key for any interesting combination is, how it sounds when put together. It sounded fun and fine. We will probably buy a CD of theirs soon. We didn’t do it there purely for financial reasons: we can probably get it online cheaper.
Rasputina played till about 8.40. The singer had lots of fun with the audience and the band members. She was is a relaxed mood, joking about several topics between songs. The songs were mostly lyrical and slow and reminded me of other goth neoclassical artists who use string instruments. In short I got into them. The only thing that disturbed me was that I kept hearing bass guitar and did not see any. Yes, there was a woman sitting at the back of the stage, whose instrument I didn’t see. But based on the fact that she was sitting and based on her hand movements I thought she was playing keyboards. But it must have been the bass, because we distinctly heard that.
After Rasputina got off from the stage we had to wait an hour till Siouxsie started. That was annoying, particularly because the re-setting of the stage was done in 20 minutes. I have no idea why we had to wait another 40 minutes after that. My suspicion is though that the longer the break between bands is, the more people drink. The venue makes a lot of its money from consumptions. But once a band starts to play much less people are interested in the bar section. We shared a ginger ale, so we did our share. But we got bored with all that waiting. We might have even dozed off for a second or two. Luckily we had chairs to do so.
I know that some people will read this blog only because of Siouxsie. I apologize to them because I still didn’t get to her part. But all of the above was part of my evening out and I am writing it down for my own memory’s sake as well.
Siouxsie was wearing a tight silver dress costume, with 4 pouches hanging around her waist on a black belt. On one hand she looked androgynous, because the clothes themselves were not particularly feminine or masculine. On the other hand her curves are obviously of a woman. I always liked the way she used her sexuality in music. Not like those pop stars who use their body to sell their music. (Or more precisely whose body is being used by others to sell them as products.) Siouxsie is enjoying her womanhood, filling it out and playing with it, while doesn’t resort to undressing into various stages of nakedness, like a lot of the younger stars. She does not need to flash her flesh for us to think of her as a woman performer. She looked good. At the fear of being labeled ageist I would be like to add, that she looked good for a 51 year old woman.
The representation of the first song was terrible. The mixing was way off. I could hear only third of the sounds she made. The drums and guitars did not sound together. I cannot judge the song itself because I was so preoccupied trying to figure out what’s going on. Siouxsie kept signaling to the sound guys to boost the volume on her mike. By the third song the mixing was more or less OK. But throughout the show there were troubles with it. If I can notice it, then the problems must have been really bad, because I am usually not that picky.
Later in the night I realized though that it is not only the mixing. Her voice just wasn’t what I am used to. Her range was never really wide, but I loved her unique singing style. That was almost totally missing. As if she could barely sing. This perception might have been due to my unfamiliarity with her recent materials. I know and love most of her albums with the Banshees. I do not have any of her records with the Creatures or her solo material. I listened to Manta Ray–the most recent CD, which this tour is promoting–only once. In short I do not know whether her post-Banshees singing style is different from the old one or not. But this evening I was embarrassed for her.
I tried to explain it to myself that I should shift my focus from the singing to the music. I did and this approach worked to some extent. I will listen to her new record more and I will probably learn to like it. I checked out the video for the first single on YouTube and that was great, including the visuals, the singing and the music too. But I would prefer if I would not have to sacrifice one for the other at a live performance.
Another beef with the show was her lack of connection to the band. I do not know who they were, how long they’ve known and played with Siouxsie. But the vibe they gave me was that they were hired guns to accompany her. As far as I can tell (beyond the mixed up mixing) they did a fine job playing their instruments. But clearly there was no chemistry between them and between Siouxise and them. Early in the show Siouxsie asked “how are you doing”? We thought she is asking the audience, but she turned her back on us and added, “I mean you on the stage.” This gesture showed to me that she doesn’t feel the band’s mood. She has to check verbally whether everything is OK. The band consisted a blond woman keyboard player, a blond man bass player, a brown haired man guitarist and another keyboardist, who played some other smaller percussion as well. But he was in the back, I didn’t really see him.
They played about a dozen songs, went off the stage and thanks to the cheers came back to play more. I assume the setlist will show up in a few days at a fan site; I cannot recall it, because I am not familiar with the new record. I think most of the numbers were from that. I recognized only two songs, the Beatles’ Deer Prudence and a Doors song I cannot recall at this moment. They closed with the Doors song. That was a bit eerie, considering that we spent a good chunk of the evening sitting under a photograph of Jim Morisson, singing at the same venue 40 years ago.
One more thing about Siouxsie: I thought she was not having fun on stage and that disturbed me. Anya said the she seemed to be working. Siouxsie danced through the show. I like watching her shifting around and kicking high, but in retrospect I have to agree with Anya, that it might have been more of a show, as in the “show must go on”, than pure fun. Unlike the singer, most of the audience and myself could not really dance. The new record is not a dance album. Or if it is, it didn’t come through last night. There were only three or four slightly faster songs; the rest were slow ones.
I saw two shows at this venue in 2003. One of them was Siouxsie and the Banshees’ “Seven Year Itch” show. I enjoyed that much more. Part of the reason for that was probably that I knew and have emotional attachment to the songs played then. Another part was that both the crowd and the performers were more enthusiastic. This time it wasn’t even full house (unlike the LA and NYC leg of this very same tour.) Yes, people cheered for her and shouted the obligatory “We Love You”-s, but the overall feeling of the night was less sparking. (The other show I saw that year there was Ministry. Coincidentally, this year, I am thinking of checking them out again at the same place in six weeks.)
My final negative point about the night was the lack of poster. Both times when I came to this venue in the past, on the way out we got handed a high quality poster for the show we just saw. This time it did not happen and the exiting crowd strongly voiced their disapproval. I know that a poster was produced because I saw it on the foyer’s wall inside the house. But they either did not print them for the audience or they are keeping them for the second night. (Tonight Siouxsie plays again there.)
A quick note about the pictures here. I know that they are very far form being sharp. Officially we were not allowed to bring in cameras, but we smuggled in a flat one. I was too afraid to make pictures with flash, because I thought the security pepe might confiscate my machine. So I just shot a few without it. Furthermore I didn’t feel like getting real close to the stage so they were made from 15-20 feet afar. I still wanted to share the, because I think they show some of the energy of the night. Click on them to see their larger size versions.
Despite all the negative observations I shared above I had fun and I do not mind that we went. It was good to see Siouxsie, I got introduced to a (new for me) band I like and we had a great night out.