Manitoba

Manitoba w/ Guests
Richards on Richards. Sept 26th, 2003

Andrew bought me a ticket for this show nearly two months ago, and I was kind of regreting having got him to pick it up for me. I'm a broke student now, I can't afford to go see some nerdy, glitchy electronica act anymore. But I decided to go anyways. Corinne had a film festival show to go to (I'm sure you will read all about it soon) so I sold her ticket to my friend Dave from school. I wasn't really expecting too much, until I listened to their CD again earlier the day of, and it brought back how much I really like them. Excitement slowly built.

I got to the show earlier than everyone else I knew, and in fact earlier than when they opened the doors. So I temporarily vistited A&B Sound Seymour, where I ran into my old friend Ryan. It was good to see him again, and its refreshing to see that he hasn't changed at all. We listened to the new Outkast at the listeing post and I wasn't impressed. It was only 16 bux so he bought it anyway. With that, I headed back to the show.

I got there as the doors opened, and soon ran into Dave. Soon afterwards, other Dave, Mike (who was dressed in a swank purple velour jacket), Andrew, and Bianca all showed up.

The opening artist was a lot of fun. (Apparently he also performs as Prefuse 73). He played glitchy, but danceable tracks with a set of pedals, drum machines, and a laptop from 1982 (or earlier). There was a nice variation of beats, and very distinct start/stops in between songs. The last track he played had super gangsta rap played over top of it, which while funny, was a little silly. (It had lines like "My bitch talks back, and I smack her in the mouth.") He played a short set, sadly, but looked like he had lot of fun. NOt enough people hit the dance floor.

Manitoba took the stage in matching red hoodies and bear masks. There were two drum kits, multiple guitars, synths, a glockenshpeil, a few mouth-keyboards, a recorder and a bunch of other stuff or them to play. I had expected a few laptops, and a nerd, instead I got a full fledged three man rock outfit. And they sure rocked. The two drummers were both really quite good, and they played off of each other really well, creating a majestic wall of beats and noise. They played a few recognizable tracks from the album, but live come off as more intense and full. My only complaint musically was that the vocals were all recorded, and some of the music seemed to be as well, but I guess there's only so much you can perform at a time. One of the best shows I have seen in the last while (and it has some stiff competition in Radiohead, and Hella). Random comments from friends:

"I feel like I just had really great sex."

"Its been so long since a band got me to rock out that hard, I think I had an orgasm!"

"Dude, I can't stop grinning like an idiot! Ahhhhhh!"

""

My other complaint about the show was the lack of dancing, and the expensive drinks (Strip club prices, therby preventing drunkeness, bastards!). Everyone who didn' go missed out on a wicked show, but should definetely check out the CD "Up in Flames."