Irving Plaza, NYC 7/31

[Gadmo]

Really surprised there hasn't been a thread about this yet, seeing as the show's only 3 days away. Who's going? Anyone else as excited as I am?

[todddowney]

*

[Gadmo]

Just got back from the show and I thought I'd share my thoughts. What a weird/interesting show tonight was. But all in all, actually one of the better OLP shows in recent memory. It wasn't all good though. Here's my review, in case anyone's interested.

First things first - echoing ToddDowney's sentiment - the Jared Paul opener was just awful. It was totally out of place and, regardless of your political beliefs, had no business being at the top of the show. If you want a poet to do fifteen minutes, put him on the bill and give him a set time. Don't have him go on when OLP is supposed to start and eat up that much time. If you are gonna go that route, have him do one poem - five minutes. Fifteen minutes was too long and incredibly inappropriate. The boos toward the end of it were deafening. I don't know if the band members read this site or not, but if they do, they should know that the audience was right. To quote Todd, "Disgraceful way to get things started." I couldn't possibly put it any better. OLP, shame on you. You're lucky you can play.

After the disaster that was Jared Paul (and it was a disaster) the show finally got started at just after 10pm. The band started with Rabbits, which is a fine song (although not one of my favorites from the new album) but I'm not sure it works that well as an opener. It's a little too slow, in my opinion. Allowance came next and got a significantly better reaction than it did at the Bowery show a few months ago. I think all in all, the crowd was just more familiar with Curve than they were in April. The real start of the show came next - a sped up version of One Man Army (as if that song needs to be sped up) but it was fantastic, as the rest of the show would turn out to be. I have no idea what inspired the band to have to start the show competing against so much negative energy, but by Allowance, the negativity seemed to dissipate and by OMA, it was all gone.

For me, the best thing about this show was that I hadn't read the Boston setlist yet, and the set was considerably different from the previous few shows and certainly from the first leg of the tour, so I was able to be constantly, and happily surprised. Once OMA started, we were finally right in the midst of what ultimately was a pretty killer OLP show. Superman's Dead, Innocent and Monkey Brains were next and both the crowd and myself just ate it up. The band was totally on and the audience was digging it. (Which, in and of itself, was a vast improvement from the Bowery show.)

Next we got a real treat (that unbeknowst to me, Boston had gotten last night) - Paper Moon/Life. Paper Moon is a great song and was well-played, but to hear the re-arrangement of Life, done almost to fit the melody of Paper Moon was truly a treat for hardcore OLP fans. The only problem was that it meant this would be yet another show where we wouldn't hear the full version of Life, and I love that song. Paper Moon/Life was followed by Is Anybody Home and once again, the band and the audience were totally in sync. Next up was Picture, which not only was a surprise to me, but also surprising was how well the crowd seemed to know it. I'd always thought of that song as one of the lesser known OLP songs, but I'm willing to admit when I'm mistaken. Clumsy and Angels/Losing/Sleep were next and both were great - there's nothing like seeing an OLP show when the band is playing well AND the audience is into it. There were a few times tonight where that synchronicity happened, and Clumsy - A/L/S was one of them. The set ended with two Curve songs - Heavyweight and As Fast As You Can. I think maybe the band is just more comfortable at Irving Plaza than at Bowery. As much as I love Bowery, the OLP shows at Irving always seem to be the better shows.

After what seemed like a way-too-long set break, the band came back for an encore. Not Enough and In Repair. Are you kidding me? That's fantastic - I had no idea either song would be played and couldn't have been happier to hear them. Not Enough was extended quite a bit from the album version but neither I nor the crowd seemed to mind. After In Repair though, the band decided to bring back Jared Paul for a rap/poem/jam thing. Really? That was simply a mix of ballsy and stupid. Granted, Jared Paul fared a little better with the crowd, since he had OLP backing him up, but we were literally chastised by Raine beforehand to 'be respectful.' No, Raine - YOU be respectful. Be respectful to your audience. You want to showcase Jared Paul, put out a DVD and give him a chapter - don't take advantage of me as a paying audience member. And if you do, and the crowd boos, don't dismiss that as 'oh, they're just being disrespectful.' Allow for the possibility that the crowd is right to boo. Tonight, they were. (JP was literally bashing cops and the military in his work, which is fine to do, but there were both cops and soldiers in the audience tonight to see OLP. I know because they were right near me and somewhat vocal. How do you think that type of thing makes them feel? Again, regardless of your political beliefs, these people are your fans too and THEY (your fans) are the ones who deserve respect.) After the Jared Paul 'bathroom break,' the band rocked the hell out of Starseed, and once again, all was right with the world.

The band came back for a second encore and we were treated to If This Is It and Naveed - wow, just wow. I haven't heard Naveed live in way too long and it was a fantastic way to end the show. All in all, it really was a great show, in spite of the Jared Paul fiasco and the band's holier-than-thou attitude about it. Political agenda notwithstanding, the boys really can play, and tonight they really did.

A couple of final thoughts: an OLP show without 4am??? Really? Also, I really was surprised to not hear Fire In The Henhouse, I mean, it's one of the better Curve songs and they've been playing it pretty regularly. I would've rather that than either Rabbits or If This Is It, but beggars can't be choosers. Well, there's always next time.

Setlist:
Rabbits
Allowance
One Man Army
Superman's Dead
Innocent
Monkey Brains
Paper Moon / Life
Is Anybody Home?
Picture
Clumsy
Angels/Losing/Sleep
Heavyweight
As Fast As You Can

Encore:
Not Enough
In Repair
Jared Paul poem
Starseed

Second Encore:
If This Is It
Naveed

[paintedbynumbers]

I wasn't at the show but I will tell you if there is one place where you DO NOT bash the police it is NYC. After 9/11 and all of the other things those men and women deal with on a daily basis it is extremely wrong for Jared or anyone to bash them on a live setting and the band is lucky that people leaving is the worse thing that happened. Now two things can happen the band can learn from this and not bring Jared back (not likely considering they brought him out again before starseed) Or they can bring him back and face angry fans and possible riots. We pay to see OLP and their music not some mad at the world guy rant and rave about how bad the police and military our. Lets see how Jared would fair in a country without police or military support. The NYPD our NYC they are the heart of the biggest city in the country and Jared basically gave them an FU. How OLP can condone this and even Raine going on twitter and saying he is upset is another big FU. We are the ones who are disapointed. The paying fans. Fix it, make it better, apologize to NYC.

[todddowney]

Edit*

[paintedbynumbers]

I keep reading Raine's tweets and it is shameful. He really is alienating his fan base. Not all OLP fans are Jared Paul fans. Not all music fans are democrats nor republicans. Luckily we live in a country where we are free to vent our frustration. I take offense when someone criticizes and slams the people who keep our country free and/or give their lives for us. Keep Jared at the coffee houses not onstage during an OLP show

[Locobone]

I've seen Jared Paul live before and I have zero problems with his performance. He's passionate and it shows. Whether you agree with his views or like his art is up to the individual. I also don't have any problems with a crowd disliking his set, disagreeing with his words, or being a little put off by an unscheduled artist on the bill that stirs the pot.

But as long as his time on stage didn't subtract from the main act's stage time I'm indifferent to it all. I've sat through plenty of opening acts I wasn't expecting and I thought were abysmal.

Love the setlist changes though. Sounds like once OLP hit the stage the energy changed. Thanks for the reviews!

[Tattooed Angels]

Can't remember first spoken word.

2nd one was THE ABC's Of Roger

the one into Starseed is Time For Relax

abc's of Rogers has been out for years. Had nothing to do with Occupy.

No matter how you felt about Jared is no need to heckle or throw stuff on stage... I ha ve some seen some pretty bad acts open for artist and it did not take away from OLP. They still played 90minute set. Did a good mix of all cd's./ First time in almost 10 years saw OLP do songs off every cd..

[Gadmo]

"Can't remember first spoken word.
2nd one was THE ABC's Of Roger
the one into Starseed is Time For Relax"

Thanks for the info.

"No matter how you felt about Jared is no need to heckle or throw stuff on stage... I have some seen some pretty bad acts open for artist and it did not take away from OLP."

I agree with you about the heckling ("Get off the stage!", etc) but I do think that the booing was warranted. Keep in mind that JP was not an opening act. He was an unbilled, unscheduled performer who started at the time OLP was slotted for. I do not think he would've gotten the same reaction if the lineup had been: 8:00 Mean Creek, 9:00 Jared Paul, 9:30 OLP, but that just wasn't the case. He was taking up OLP's time (at least, that was the perception) and he went on for considerably longer than he should have. Remember, the boos didn't become ubiquitous until towards the middle of the second poem.

I didn't see anything get thrown on stage. If that happened, I agree with you. It's deplorable.

[faninor]

I have no problem with Jared Paul or anyone shining a light on human nature anywhere, any time.

Did someone say 9/11? 11 years later, we still have unmanned drones bombing Pakistan, targeting a terrorist who was already supposedly killed by drones in 2009. So at least one of those times, we were blowing up not-the-guy-we-meant-to.

As for police, sometimes the police accidentally beat schizophrenics to death, etc. Police officers shouldn't automatically be treated like heroes for having a badge and a gun. They have an important role, but also a lot of power which they can, and do abuse. They need the scrutiny that goes along with that to help keep them in check.

"They're heroes -- end of story" is not a well thought out perspective.

One terrible event shouldn't be used as an excuse to ignore other terrible events. That's ridiculous.

Also, I've been to plenty of shows where the lineup included acts that were unconfirmed, complete surprises that came out of nowhere. It's not that unusual and I don't think it should be treated like an outrage.

[Tattooed Angels]

Gadmo

I was front row center. I could understand hecklers, people booing. It is done but someone threw up can of beer.. Came flying over the heads or me, and people to my right and left. Booing got so loud you could not hear him at all.. I am not going to say what OLP did was right or wrong.. It is their show and they made a choice. Some people( back rows apparently cause the front rows were watching him without problem) did not like that choice. SO be it.. Still should not have taken away from their performance..I thought they did a great job. Nice to see every cd have songs done live. Also nice to finally see IF THIS IS IT live..

as for 4AM.I did not even realize it was not in set( really noticed it) till people started shouting it at end. Big deal not done. I have seen shows where it was not done before. There is nothing that says OLP must do certain songs at all shows. True they do this song alot cause it is the fan sing along.. I was happy to see the acoustic version of PICTURE. Have not seen that song in 6-7 years. Not Enough even longer.

[Gadmo]

Tattooed, don't get me wrong - I agree, OLP played a killer show. Like I said, one of the better ones I've seen (certainly one of the better ones in the past ten years.) Regarding 4am, I know there's no rule that they must play certain songs - I was just surprised, that's all.

And like I said earlier - throwing stuff on stage is deplorable. No excuse for that type of behavior whatsoever.

[todddowney]

*

[xjsb125]

What Tom said, completely. Regardless of how people view Jared's words, he's extremely passionate about what he believes, and I respect that. I had the opportunity to take a car ride and get a bite to eat with Jared one cold night in Toronto, and discovered that he and I are very different people. I also discovered that, despite those differences, I was treated with the same respect he would give a friend that he'd known all his life. He's also a passionate performer. That night he performed until his throat literally bled. Agreed, not a great choice for an OLP opener. Agreed, the crowd should show some courtesy and not throw things on stage. No reaction to him would be the ultimate way to get a point across. I can understand being a little upset with OLP, but ultimately let it go, and chalk it up to a rare bad experience. In the end you still got a bad ass setlist and a strong musical performance.

[xjsb125]

Additionally, ABC's for Roger is amazing. My favorite of his.

[faninor]

Funny thing:

Now they say that at poetry slams and protests we are preaching to the choir, that our real goal should be to get the ideas here presented to the outside world.

[theo]

I was at the Boston show on Sunday, crowd seemed to be maybe slightly annoyed but mostly receptive to Jared Paul. I try to be respectful to peoples thoughts politically, whether I agree or disagree with them. Throwing objects at a performer is never warranted in my opinion.