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Sunday, September 5, 2010

Show Review / Last Night / Bumbershoot Bumbershoot Saturday: Quick Thoughts on Bob Dylan, the Raveonettes, HEALTH and More

Posted by Eric Grandy on Sun, Sep 5, 2010 at 8:25 AM

Josh Bis
HEALTH

It's only one day into the weekend, but I wouldn't be surprised if HEALTH walk with this year's Weirdest Band at Bumbershoot honors, an always coveted title, and one that the fest allows by every year booking at least a couple truly odd acts amidst all the family-friendly folk rock. IT was a HEALTH show: the lanky Asian dude flopped around with a mic hooked up to effects pedals, the drummer rolled out pounding tribal beats, the guitars sounded like shuddering smears of multi-colored feedback, the band went from gentle drones to outbursts of punk thrash to weird, moody grooves, and it was all loud and all good. Cool dads hung out with their mohawked kids in what used to be the Fun Forest, underneath the trippiest building at the Center.

Passing by the same stage, later in the day, a 30-second review of This Providence: Those are some real, real pretty-boys; the song I heard kinda sound like Saves the Day doing a ballad.

The child in the red pants and the blue shirt spazzing out on the lawn to Balkan Beat Box wins the award for best dance moves of the day (sorry, hippie twirler brigade).

Josh Bis
The Raveonettes

The Raveonettes do one thing—J&MC-style feedback pop—but damn do they do it pretty much perfectly. "Last Dance" sounded fucking fantastic. I need to spend some more time with their last album.

I could only take about three songs of Bob Dylan. There, now I've checked him off my list. I can tell the kids I never have that I saw the man. They'll love that story. Dylan's band sounded just fine, the way you'd expect a really solid Nashville session band to sound, and Dylan sounded fine playing the organ, but—DUH—his voice, never really the thing to recommend him, is all but fucking shot. He sounded like your ornery grandfather who just had a stroke, yelling at you about God knows what. He makes Tom Waits, Cookie Monster, and Diane Rehms all sound like that thing where you make your computer speak. You could not do an impression of him that sounded sadder and weirder and funnier than he actually sounded. His records remain indelible, of course, but In the year 2010, the Raveonettes are a better show than Bob Dylan.

Comments (10) RSS

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I thought Bob Dylan was wonderful... He didn't disappoint me a bit.
If you're spending the money to go to a Bob Dylan concert then you better know what you're getting into.
It's like going to a beer festival but getting upset that they wont serve you a Pina Colada.
If you don't like beer, then don't go to a beer festival.
If you don't like Bob Dylan.. then don't spend the money to go to his concert.
You didn't think his voice would get Better in his old age did you?

Posted by Cyanne on September 5, 2010 at 9:58 AM

What was up with security at the mainstage? They were confiscating umbrellas of all sizes. I was told of several old people who had to give up their umbrellas even the very small ones.

Posted by Simone on September 5, 2010 at 10:02 AM

I sort of ignored HEALTH when they opened for of Montreal at the SODO, but was thoroughly blown away by them yesterday, even with foam stuffed into my ears.

Posted by Josh Bis

on September 5, 2010 at 11:01 AM

I will say that Dylan's voice actually seemed to improve as the songs went on. Maybe he just needed to clear it out a bit.

Posted by j.lee on September 5, 2010 at 11:15 AM

@3:
I was blown away by HEALTH yesterday too. They had an awesome performance and I really enjoyed the dread on faces as people streamed away from the front of the stage during the first half of the set.

I will definitely see them the next time they are in town.

Posted by cosby

on September 5, 2010 at 12:06 PM

Spot-on review of the Bob Dylan show. I LOVE his albums (including his singing) but on stage he sounded like a washed-up has-been with a high quality but soulless backing band. Reminded me of watching Griffey play for the M's this year.

Posted by barndawg on September 7, 2010 at 12:09 AM

I thought Dylan was awesome. His voice has sounded like that for the last 10 years or so. It sounds like that on all his most recent releases. Did you really think his voice was going to change suddenly and sound like it did 30 years ago? Would you say the same about Tom Waits, who also growls his vocals and changes arrangements so that they're different from the albums. So does Leonard Cohen. Why are these artists untouchable but Dylan is criticized? His organ and guitar playing kicked ass, his new arrangements for old songs kicked ass, and he played a killer selection of songs for two hours. What more do you people want?

Posted by The Pickpocket on September 7, 2010 at 11:44 AM

And one more thing....The Raveonettes? Really? Hard to take the opinion of someone who prefers a boring, predictable J&M Chain cover band over an iconic songwriter. Let's see who will remember them in 40 years. I guarantee no one will give a shit.

Posted by The Pickpocket on September 7, 2010 at 11:51 AM

I fully agree with the Pickpocket...Eric Grandy continually shows himself to be just like every other indie-slanted idiot in this town. According to these types of people, those that actually built foundations for contemporary music and wrote some of the best lyrics ever put to paper should be passed over for some dumb band that will mean nothing in 2 years...its fine if you prefer the BS music spewed out by the million indie rock bands that all sound the same, just don't expect people outside of Seattle's narrow-minded music scene to take you seriously.
I stopped the moment I read Eric's column for the first time. One word: TOOL

Posted by maggio5 on September 7, 2010 at 3:45 PM

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