I took a lot of notes during the Terry Riley Quartet's concert at the Bijou. It was a weird set--a couple of original Riley compositions, a rearrangement of an Indian raga, and a composition by Riley's son Gyan. Ches Smith, drummer to the avant-stars, is indeed a fabulous percussionist, and he kept some interesting rhythms up the whole time. Mostly, though, I felt like there were a lot of really complicated musical ideas at work that were beyond me.
From there, the Ex at the Big Ears Annex. Anybody else has a hard act to follow--the Dutch post-punk four-piece was loud and ferocious, three guitars (one tuned to almost a bass) and drums, relatively simple songs, just riffs building and building, just a monstrous rock show.
I've just about decided to skip the rock shows at the Bijou and Tennessee in favor of smaller shows, so no xx for me. (I did have dinner at the Nite Owl at a table next to the National.) Andrew W.K.'s set with the Calder Quartet tried my patience--I gave up after an hour, even though the AWK hits were coming soon. His anti-comedy act was pretty unentertaining, and as good as the Calder Quartet is, they were drowned out by the crowd, which was made up largely of teenagers there to see AWK.
So, some disappointments of varying degrees bookended one nearly perfect set.
Andrew W.K.'s set with the
From there, the Ex at the Big Ears Annex. Anybody else has a hard act to follow--the Dutch post-punk four-piece was loud and ferocious, three guitars (one tuned to almost a bass) and drums, relatively simple songs, just riffs building and building, just a monstrous rock show.
I've just about decided to skip the rock shows at the Bijou and Tennessee in favor of smaller shows, so no xx for me. (I did have dinner at the Nite Owl at a table next to the National.) Andrew W.K.'s set with the Calder Quartet tried my patience--I gave up after an hour, even though the AWK hits were coming soon. His anti-comedy act was pretty unentertaining, and as good as the Calder Quartet is, they were drowned out by the crowd, which was made up largely of teenagers there to see AWK.
So, some disappointments of varying degrees bookended one nearly perfect set.
Andrew W.K.'s set with the
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