Concert Review: Mae + Do I Like “Kiddie” Bands?
Last Saturday I had the pleasure of going to see one of may favorite bands, Mae, perform live at the House of Blues in Orlando. My good friends Joe and Luke went with me, and we all ended up having a fun night out. If you want to know how much I was anticipating this concert find the post titled “My Time With the 12 Apostles,” as I don’t want to take the time to link to it or rehash any of that here.
Opening for Mae was a band that I had never heard of called “The Spill Canvas.” They were really good, and judging by the amount of people singing along with them they must be somewhat popular. Joe and I were suprised that we had never heard of them before, since we both stay pretty current on the rock music scene. They had a great sound and projected that energy that makes seeing bands live so exciting. The one annoyance I had was that the guitar and bass players each had only one of their respecitve instruments. That meant that whenever they played a song that required a tuning change they had to stand up there and do it themselves. This happens frequently at smaller venues, but it was unexpected at the House of Blues, and it really destroys the atmosphere a bit.
When I got home I listened to the latest Spill Canvas album hoping that it would be as good as their live music. Sadly, I did not have the same reaction. Some of the songs are good, but it blends in too much with most of the angst ridden modern rock. I would see them live again, but probably won’t listen to their album too often.
The headliner of the show was of course, Mae. I don’t really know how to convey my feelings about the concert without seeming too harsh to a band that I truly love. Simply put, there are some bands that sound better live than on an album (The Spill Canvas for example) and there are others that simply cannot match their recorded performance in front of an audience. I have to say that Mae fell into this second category. Their music was stellar. It sounded as it was supposed to, with the necessary additions of extended solos and passionate drumming. The vocals, on the other hand, were merely servicable. During the entire first song (”Painless”) lead singer Dave Elkins was noticably flat. Thankfully, by the second song this was corrected; maybe he just needed a warmup. During the remainder of the concert the vocals were adequate, but they lacked the passion that I get from listening to them on the albums. Based on my singing voice I have no authority to criticize someone else’s, but I think that the problem is that Dave’s range simply isn’t that great. For a studio recording there are ways to compensate for this, but when playing an honest live show, all you hear is the naked voice. At the end of the night I was satisfied with the show, and will see Mae again the next time they are in Orlando (hopefully as soon as their next album is released!).
Do I Like “Kiddie” Bands?
Now, on to the second part of this post. Do I like “kiddie” bands? My wife seems to think so. Luke, Joe and I have noticed in the past that whenever we go to a show that features bands signed to a “Christian” label such as Tooth and Nail the audience is composed mainly of young teenagers (and some parents). On the other hand, when I go see bands like Foo Fighters, Our Lady Peace, Weezer, etc. the audience is in their twenties (i.e. drinking age). Even “Christian” concerts featuring hard rock bands such as POD, Blindside and Anberlin succumb to this junior high age demographic. I am not a tall person by any means (5′ 8″), but there were so many kids in the 13-15 age group at Mae that I had no one taller than me blocking my view of the stage. That NEVER happens. The musical style and content of these bands is pretty much the same, so what causes this to occur? We had a lively conversation about it on the way home, but could not come up with a conclusive hypothesis. The most obvious one is that the parents of these kids will allow them to go see “Christian” bands, so they all flock to those concerts. This could be the case, but the problem with that notion is the assumption that most parents know each of the bands their kids listen to and care what concerts they go to. I would infer that is not the case. We then thought that maybe churches send groups of kids, but I don’t think that is the cause either. Most of the bands that I mentioned, while not “bad,” are not overtly Christian either. That fact alone should limit a church’s promotion of such a concert. So then, if a lot of parents don’t care if their 14 year old goes to see Weezer, and if churches are not sending groups of kids to Anberlin, why aren’t concerts by mainstream bands attended by kids in the same numbers as the “Christian” bands? If you can figure it out please let me know.