more torchwood thoughts

More rambly character type thoughts ... it's bad, you know, that I don't get to watch this show until late on a Sunday evening. I have enough trouble falling asleep on Sunday nights as it is, without having my brain racing a mile a minute. ;)

( compassion, psychosis, and Torchwood's coping mechanisms )

And now that I've spent far too much time on that this morning ... happy Monday, y'all!

+44, first avenue

... it's time to start titling my posts with relevant phrases, to make finding shit easier. I was trying to compile a list of concerts I've been to this year a while back, and apparently I didn't use the "concerts" tag well enough. Forget trying to find anything before tags, either. Sheesh.

Anyway. Tonight, +44 at First Avenue, with northatlantic, the usual source for all things Hoppus. First, though, the opening act - The Matches - who went on more than an hour late. That was irritating, but apparently one of the bands had travel problems between St. Louis and here? Whatever happened, it was nearly 8pm by the time anyone went on (it was scheduled to start at 6:45). Anyway, The Matches were a bit frustrating ... they had a good neo-new-wave sound, and the lead singer and guitarist had excellent stage presence. However, the singer's voice was rather like nails on a chalkboard for me. Dude couldn't carry a proper tune if you handed him a bucket. If they had someone on-key singing their songs, they'd probably be a really fun band. As it was, I really just wanted dude and his Robert Smith hair to be done.

+44, however, made up for it by being completely awesome. Gotta give major props to Travis Barker, who is currently rocking the Rick Allen setup and doing all his drumming one-handed. It was rather comical, actually, to watch him drum while holding his casted wrist up in the air. The two guitarists - Chad and Shane - seem to be really good, but in the end, this is all Mark Hoppus's show. I saw blink-182 play ... what, three times? (counting ... Pop Disaster, Dollar Bill, and the no-name album tour, so yeah, three times) This is probably the most relaxed and happy I've seen Mark look while performing. Getting back to smaller scale club shows has probably done him a world of good. His voice sounded awesome, too, minimal difference from the recorded tracks on the album.

The one slight drawback to their show is the length of the set - they've said that they won't do any blink stuff, so it's basically just the album, which means an hour long set. He said they were going back on tour early next year, and as Dre said as we walked out, they should probably think about putting some cover songs or something in there to pad the set. Still, awesome show - I liked the album when I got it, but I think I've got more of an appreciation for the songs now that I've seen them live. If they come through again, I'll be there!

The downside of the evening? My back hurts like a motherfucker. Time to go pop some Advil and get some sleep.