Watching all the pre-Oscar buzz. I wish that one year everybody would just wear sweats or something. Then they could use the money that would be spent on sparkly dresses for something actually worthwhile. That would be cool.

“I can hold it.”

It was these words that guided Jek Tono Porkins in choosing to ignore the advice ofhis superior, and burn away in a blast of turbolaser fire. The guy was a great pilot, but it doesn’t change the fact that he was at a low altitude and his ship’s computer was malfunctioning. He was an easy target for imperial attackers.

What does it all come down to? Hubris. Jek got cocky. We can learn from his mistake, though. We don’t have to make decisions that lead to our own annihilation, so long as we look at a situation objectively and with clarity. Hubris will cloud our judgment—we are not invincible.

It’s a bold move for a musician. There are many risks that come with leaping into the audience and trusting that you’ll make it back to the stage safe and sound, possessions and limbs intact. There’s a chance you’ll be dropped (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2B3ko_Yx_o) or harmed by the more belligerent fans, especially if the music is heavy. There is also the chance that you won’t make it back with everything you had when you left. Thomas Mars, the singer of Phoenix, almost lost his shoes crowd surfing. He reacted by giving a hard kick at the fan, and that’s never fun. The musician’s goal with joining the crowd usually isn’t to inflict harm (unless your name is GG Allin).

Last Tuesday I had the privilege of seeing St. Vincent live, and during Annie’s new song “Krokodil,” she ditched the guitar and joined the audience through crowd surfing. I can’t imagine the courage it takes a woman to do such a thing. The fans are savages in these types of settings, they’re sweaty and they probably waited hours to see you. Everything is worse when you’re an attractive and famous/semi-famous musician. Courtney Love once crowd surfed with a dress on. When she made it back to the stage, she was naked and vandalized. Crystal Castles’ Alice Glass has been known to crowd surf, and she has damn near lost her shirt on occasions. When I was up in the front row as Annie Clark made her way into the arms of the audience, I witnessed fans squeeze her behind and pull at her shirt. As the song was ending and she was passed along back toward the stage, I aided in getting her over. I won’t lie: one of my hands grazed the tush. But it was mostly because she landed that way! And I was helping! Am I a terrible person? Oh God… I have sinned.

But seriously, after this whole thing passed I couldn’t help but wonder: why? Why leave the safety of the stage for this punk rock spectacle? This question only lingered momentarily, for when Annie and her band mates walked back stage the crowd went batshit insane. They wanted more, no, they needed more. Such an act right before the encore makes a crowd go nuts. I then did additional thinking after this mere observation. I mean, crowd surfing really allows for more of a connection with the audience. In fact, it allows for an actual physical connection. It is truly breaking the fourth wall, getting down from the stage and joining the fans. Sure crowd surfing has its risks, and nobody wants to end up like Courtney Love, but the benefits? A connection to the audience on a whole other level, and a show that’s much more of a memorable experience. With live performance there comes a separation, and crowd surfing is all about breaking this barrier.

Atlas Sound is the solo project of Deerhunter vocalist and co-founder Bradford Cox, and experiencing him live is similar to seeing Deerhunter. When seeing Deerhunter, you can expect songs to go a lot longer than they do in the studio via improvisation. Early material by both acts is much more ambient, and that ambience is integrated into new material when they perform. This is seen with Atlas Sound as well. On the other hand, the difference between the two live incarnations should be obvious. Bradford’s sound is more stripped down. Another key difference is his performance style, which involves looping himself, sometimes with multiple instruments. An example of this can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQrEL5A8D8M

So back to his songs being longer live. He only played nine songs total at this performance (March 4 at the Grog Shop in Cleveland, OH) with Te Amo, only the third song performed, going on for probably twenty minutes. I’m not going to lie, it was excessive. The setting up for it was fascinating and fun to watch (he looped bass and drums in addition to guitar), but in the end I was checking the time and looking forward to the next song. One of my friends who were with me had a headache, and these messy and lengthy endings did not treat him well. BUT- these are minor complaints. The show did not disappoint. When a song is significantly stripped down it can have a different feel to it, a good example of this being Walkabout. This song sounded much darker to me. I was pleasantly surprised to hear Shelia played, the second and last song performed that wasn’t on the new album Parallax. Shelia and Terra Incognita were my favorites of the night.

I was a bit worried during the first half of the night because Bradford was very quiet and looked pissed. Knowing that he’s normally an outspoken guy in the spotlight, I expected crowd interaction. Like I said in my Ryan Adams concert review, I especially enjoy solo shows for their more intimate atmosphere. Luckily Bradford did not disappoint. He explained that he always has a section in his setlist for “banter.” And he certainly bantered. It turns out Ohio is his favorite state, and he explained why with a story regarding a Deerhunter tour of Ohio universities. Fellow guitarist and friend Lockett had his GPS set to “Avoid Highways,” so they got to see rural parts of Ohio less traveled. Honestly, the guy is hilarious. The entire audience, myself included, was laughing excessively throughout the banter. One person requested Deerhunter and Bradford responded by carelessly strumming the guitar a couple times with his beer, calling it a rare b-side “Tripping with Charlie.” Before the final song, Terra Incognita, Bradford again talked to the audience. He said that in addition to dedicating the song to Trish Keenan, as he normally does, he wanted to dedicate it to Dave Thomas. Everyone laughed in response thinking he referred to the Wendy’s founder, and one guy shouted “Super size me.” This gentleman was asked to join Bradford on stage while another audience member went on Wikipedia to share who Dave Thomas was. Cox made use of his pedals to loop him as he read, and the results were hysterical. Take a look: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIebpCbyC6M&feature=youtu.be

As you can see, I was quite pleased with Bradford’s stage presence. He has a great sense of humor. Atlas Sound is perfect for a small venue, so the Grog Shop was a good choice to perform in. Fans of old material would be disappointed with not only a complete absence of anything from Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel, but only two songs from Logos. With only nine played total, it was a shame he played some for so long. Ultimately, however, it was a great show. I’ve seen Deerhunter as well, and it’s clear that Bradford Cox knows how to rock out, balancing the weird and the conventional.

Setlist:

   Parallax

   Te Amo

   Walkabout

   Amplifiers

   Shelia

   Modern Aquatic Nightsongs

   Angel is Broken

   Mona Lisa

   Terra Incognita