disappointing concert experience
 

This is probably the most shafted I've ever felt after a show. After being a fan for about 8 years, I saw Belle & Sebastian for the first time tonight. Out of their 6 albums, they played 0 tracks off my favorite album (The Boy With The Arab Strap).

Me and 3 other friends all ordered each other to put together a "Best 12 albums of the last 12" years list. I like this album so much that it made that list. It's widely recognized as their 1st or 2nd best album...and they played nothing off it in the course of an entire concert. WTF?

I've never come away from a show so bummed out.

They just released a new CD a couple of weeks ago, right? Did they only pay songs from that CD? I know most bands will tour immediately before/after a release to promote new material but for them to not play any of their songs off of what many consider their best album is surprising to say the least.

Uh oh...lurker and I are seeing them next Friday in Chicago. Super bummin', cause The Boy With the Arab Strap is my favorite album as well (hers is If You're Feeling Sinister, and we argue about it all the time). To echo samifan, did they play a lot of stuff from the new CD? I've only heard it once, and didn't pay much attention to it, but I'm not thrilled with it yet. We were actually thinking of seeing them the next night in Milwaukee, but this makes me want to do that less than before.

I'm probably going to get strangled for this, but...

I felt the same way when I saw Dropkick Murphys a few months ago...

Here's the set list (out of order, but this is everything they played):

Tigermilk
Expectations
You're Just A Baby
Electric Renaissance

If You're Feeling Sinister
Like Dylan In The Movies
Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying
The Boy Done Wrong Again
Judy And The Dream Of Horses

The Boy With The Arab Strap
(nothing!!!)

Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant
The Wrong Girl
Women's Realm

Dear Catastrophe Waitress
Piazza, New York Catcher
I'm A Cuckoo

Books (EP)
Your Cover's Blown

The Life Pursuit
Another Sunny Day
White Collar Boy
The Blues Are Still Blue
Sukie In The Graveyard
Funny Little Frog
To Be Myself Completely

It's rare to see a band play anything too old on their tour that immediatley follows a new CD release if they're on a bigger label, more then likely because they want them to obviously play that material to sell more records.

That said, Bane, my favorite band, was a rare one who when I saw them after their recent cd "The Note" came out (A damn solid CD) played only what the crowd asked for. There was no set list. They played a few new songs, but all were by request by the crowd.

Man, glory days.

I really do NOT like the new album after 3 listens. And it's a shame because I was surprised with how much I ended up liking Dear Catastrophe Waitress. I feel like the personnel changes are having an effect on the sound of the band. The new album just seems cheesy to me.

Yeah, I think Arab Strap vs. Sinister for best album is a standard debate. The friend I went with is a Sinister guy. And then there are some that say Tigermilk. I'm fine with anyone having one of those albums as their favorite, because the 3 newest albums can't even compete.

Well, having seen a million shows and working in music, I certainly understand that. But we're talking about them hitting every other album with at least 2 songs, while ignoring:

1. Their best-selling album
2. An album that a pretty substantial number of fans and critics consider their best.

I think it was just a one-in-a-million scenario, and I'm sure on other nights they've been playing at least 1 song. But to play none just seems crazy. We're only talking about a band with 6 full-length albums.

fucking bullshit

I was gonna say its because the album is pretty old, but they played stuff off of tigermilk and sinister, weird. When i saw them 5 years ago they played nothing on Arab Strap either. its a conspiracy.

True.

Saw In Flames at some festival and while not a fan I heard their fans furious that they only played new stuff, and not one song from their old CDs in a 30 minute set.

Doing that in a festival setting is ridiculous.

I remember Brothers Keeper playing a festival and playing only Bad Brains/Minor Threat covers.

Amazing.

I know festivals are different beats but I love when they throw out the norm.

PWNED.

Our show had two songs from The Boy With the Arab Strap. First they played my favorite song off the album, Simple Things. Stuart messed up a line from it, but that's okay, since I didn't even remember the name of the song (we had to look it up later). Then, in the last song of the encore, they played Sleep the Clock Around.

I only glanced at your list, cthomer, since I didn't want to have too much of it ruined, but I remember thinking there were plenty of good songs on it -- although that's to be expected from one of my favorite bands. Looking at it more carefully, the only songs I'm upset about missing that you saw are Like Dylan in the Movies and Judy and the Dream of Horses. We also got something like 5 songs from Dear Catastrophe Waitress, which was weird (unfortunately, not Stay Loose, though). We didn't get You're Just a Baby and The Boy Done Wrong Again, which is perfectly fine by me. Our show did have some lowlights, though -- most notably when they brought up some random girl to sing Lazy Line Painter Jane -- on the other hand, if they were going to have someone random person sing a song, it might as well be that one. We thought about going to Milwaukee to see them the next night, but decided not to. A little bummin', because they played Jonathan David there, and that would have been cool to see. Anyway, we thought it was a really great show -- sorry to hear yours wasn't as good, cthomer!

I'm still undecided about their new album. I haven't listened to it much, but I enjoyed seeing those songs in concert. I can agree that it does seem kind of cheesy, and more catchy than they usually do. I don't know if it's personnel changes -- probably just a thing they were trying, like Storytelling.

I believe the problem is that your favorite B&S album sucks. :) It's better than FYHC, but I definately think those are there two weakest albums.

Looks like a good set list overall. I'd be thrilled that they played those two from DCW and 4 tracks from Sinister. Maybe cut one of the Tigermilk songs for The State That I Am In and cut To Be Myself Completely for Dress Up in You.

If you think Dear Catastrophe Waitress is better than Boy With The Arab Strap, you're out of your mind.

Here's what they played in Chicago:

Expectations
Another Sunny Day
Funny Little Frog
A Century of Fakers
Sukie in the Graveyard
To Be Myself Completely
Electronic Renaissance
Dress Up in You
The Blues are Still Blue
We Are the Sleepyheads
Lazy Line Painter Jane
Piazza, New York Catcher
Simple Things
Your Cover's Blown
Dog on Wheels
I'm a Cuckoo
The Wrong Girl
If You Find Yourself Caught in Love
The State I Am In
White Collar Boy
Get Me Away from Here, I'm Dying
Sleep the Clock Around

*****************

There's only a few I would have replaced -- from the new album I would have wanted "Act of the Apostle Part I" instead of "Sukie in the Graveyard" and I really wanted to hear "Loneliness of the Middle Distance Runner" or a few more Sinister songs (it looks like only 1 from there).

I disagree about the new album being cheesy. It seemed that way the first few times I heard it, but that's just because of the few songs that are more pop jump out at you. There are still plenty of slower songs -- Dress Up in You, Act of the Apostle (both ones), Another Sunny Day. And the catchiness is not so different from Expectations or Le Pastie De La Bourgeoisie (oh yeah, that's another one I really wanted to hear!).

Belle and Sebastian came to Chicago last night! The set list:

I Didn't See it Coming
I'm a Cuckoo
Step into my Office, Baby
She's Losing It
I'm Not Living in the Real World
Piazza, New York Catcher
Lord Anthony
I Want the World to Stop
Sukie in the Graveyard
(I Believe In) Travellin' Light
The Stars of Track and Field
Mayfly
There's Too Much Love
The Boy with the Arab Strap
Caught in Love
Simple Things
Sleep the Clock Around
Encore:
Judy and the Dream of Horses
Me and the Major

By album:
Tigermilk -- 1
If You're Feeling Sinister -- 4
The Boy with the Arab Strap -- 3
Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant -- 1
Dear Catastrophe Waitress -- 5
The Life Pursuit -- 1
Write About Love -- 3

Looking at the set list that lurker posted from last time we saw them, of the 19 songs they played last night, 6 of them were played last time they were here. It's not like I expect them to keep track of that, but it was still kind of disappointing. I liked the list we saw from 2006 more than this one (and probably cthomer's list from 2006 for that matter), but thinking about the original post in this thread, it's hard to complain with 7 songs from Sinister and Arab Strap.

Have no idea who this band is.

I often suspect that FOFC'ers play a game where the object is to invent fictional bands/songs & see how many people will claim to be a fan.

Hahahaha.:lol:

I've always been a pretty big fan of Mookie Sagitarius and the Midnight Wiz, especially their first album, Dead on the Railroad Tracks. Anyone else?

I prefer their fourth album, The Martingale System. It's like they got twice as good from each album to the next.

As good as it may have been, it pales in comparison to the concept trilogy from the middle of their career. I mean, how can you top the combined impact of Knowledge Is King, Lady Luck Is Queen and Joker, Joker, Joker?

I'm glad I'm not alone.

Yeah. No idea here either. I have a very "music" friend who's introduced me to to a LOT of non-mainstream stuff, but I never heard of these guys. Just listened to some of their samples on on Amazon, and I think I know why now. I don't think I've smoked enough to get these guys.

If you've never even dipped your toes into indie music, then there is no surprise you've never heard of Belle & Sebastian. On the other hand, they've been around for 15 years and had 9 top 40 hits in the UK, 2 gold records in the UK, released live albums, DVDs, box sets, and even a couple of books. I'm the other side of the coin, of those saying they're surprised to have never heard of them....I've never bought a B&S album, and stopped paying attention to new music 10 years ago, but I've still probably overheard a million B&S songs/albums/references in recent years, and could likely recognize a random B&S song I'd never heard before without too much effort.


On the disappointing concert front, my buddy won tickets to see Blue Oyster Cult on the radio about 15 years ago. I would not categorize myself as the biggest BOC fan in the world, but I certainly like their singles, and even enjoy a few album tracks. Nostalgia was pretty low at the time, and they weren't playing an arena by any means, instead stuck at the mid-level watering hole reserved for struggling hard-rock/metal bands, then known as the Starry Night. Well, that place was PACKED with dedicated BOC fans that literally started quaking the foundation as soon as some ancient dustmop took the stage to announce "ARE YOU DOGS READY?!?!?" {lusty finger-tapping goes here}. Well, that show chugged on for who knows how long, but we eventually left two hours in when they announced "The Demon's Kisssssss, off of our new record, the soundtrack to Bad Channels!!", having played exactly ZERO recognizable songs up to that point. Throw a guy a bone dudes....at least play 'Godzilla' for me, or something.

There's a fine line between some of the lighter pop I like (chamber pop) and indie twee pop, and B&S crosses the line for me.

I think it's because it has such an obvious 80s/UK/Smiths feel and sound to it, which I detest from my high school days.

Secondary disappointing concert experience: Dragging my lily-white teenage ass to see Public Enemy in the '80s, daunted by overexcited thoughts of wading knee-deep into socio/political/racial tension, only to watch them half-heartedly lip-sync over their own albums for under 60 minutes.

It's weird that people are whining about this now, but they didn't four years ago when the thread first started. Anyway, I forgot to mention that we bought a onesie that says "Belle and Sebastian" on top and "Sleep the Clock Around" on the bottom. It's 18 months and the kid is only 6 months, so it'll be a while before he can wear it.

Same here. However whatever music you like that makes you happy, go for it.

I'm a pretty big fan of old Belle & Sebastian and was even cool with The Life Pursuit but the latest LP didn't do a thing for me at all. It's reliable and it's them, but...there weren't any keepers like with past albums.

I lump this band in with the Decemberists...negatively.

Seemed like the impression I got from the 3 that I heard last night. I'll still get the album, but I'm not expecting much.

Oh but I did get "God Help the Girl" and it was awful. Horrible. Luckily they didn't play anything from that.

Those of you who never heard of Belle and Sebastian ... didn't you watch High Fidelity? Come on.

Also, if we're getting into places where you may have seen them mentioned, I was just today watching a rerun of How I Met Your Mother where they were mentioned.

That triology was awesome. They are coming out with a new album "Billy and the Bum Pilots". It is supposed to touch on all aspects of their ever changing musical tastes.

Not one I went to, but seeing Mos Def on Austin City Limits ranks painfully high as a appointment for seeing somebody perform live.

I did watch High Fidelity, and unless they pointed a huge arrow at the band with the words "BELLE AND SEBASTIAN" blinking next to it, I still wouldn't know who they are.

+1

Most dissapointing concert for me would probably have been Aerosmith with Skid Row opening (not sure of the year, probably early 90's). Skid Row sucked and I swear they thought they had to drop the F bomb as many times as possible to get the crowd to cheer (not that the language bothers me it just sounded like they were trying to force it to much..... or to translate that sentence to how they would have said it during the concert (bleeping no that the bleep bleep bleeping language bleeping bothers me bleep bleep bleeping bleep.... seriously.... "The f***ing next f***ing song that we're f***ing going to f***ing play for you crazy a** mother f***ers is f***ing off our last f***ing album...").

As for Aerosmith, couldn't hold anything close to a note. I as not a huge fan of theirs going in but I have been that way going into a concert before and come out of it liking the group. This went the other way big time. I couldn;t lsten to any of their stuff for the longest time after that.

How can you say bad things about Skid Row!???!

What next - do you want to run down Slaughter??

I saw Ted Nugent open for Aerosmith around that time. Nugent blew them out of the water. Aerosmith was such a let down. Terrible.

I believe that's pretty how Sebastian Bach talks most of the time. I've rarely seen him when he wasn't like that, i.e. interviews, whatever, not just on stage.

Are you sure it was that late in the 80s? I remember them touring together for the Done With Mirrors album, which was right before they took a break to deal with their substance abuse issues and a few years before they reunited and got their shit back together. If that was the tour, then I could believe Aerosmith was bad, because they were all seriously fucked up and fighting with each other around that time.

Skid Row opened for Aerosmith in '89/'90. That would have been the Pump tour, which ran December through July for the N.American leg.

Rock This Way || Opening Acts
and
Pump: Tour Dates 1989-1990

No, he we talking about the Nugent/Aerosmith tour.

I think that tour would have been around 1985-86. I can't recall the band's history too well, but I think I messed up the story in my previous post. Let the Music Do the Talking was on Perry's solo album, so I think DWM was the first album after they reunited. In any event, my guess is they would have sucked then, and probably not so much in the Love In an Elevator/Pump days, which is when Skid Row was probably opening for them.

Crap, I got lost in there somewhere. Sorry 'bout that.

I'm going to see Sevendust on Saturday, and if they don't play "Black", I'm going to be PISSED OFF!!!!!!!!!!