Live: New Pornographers @ The Pageant 4/19/08

Never let it be said that it doesn't pay to be a little bit racist.

The other day, I was going to see the New Pr0nographers, but I had some shit I needed to take care of. I figured I might do the responsible thing and work on what I needed to get done and show up a little bit late. But then I got to thinking, "These are a couple of cracka-ass cracka groups. They'll mess around and go on right when they're supposed to."

So I didn't risk it. And wouldn't you know, opening act Okkervil River had already taken the stage by the time I walked in, at about 8:05. (Doors were at 8:00.) To think, if there had actually been traffic or some shit, I might have missed a significant portion of their set.

Which would've sucked, because those dudes were fucking on the other day.

I liked their 2005 album Black Sheep Boy, and I'm a huge fan of last year's The Stage Names. (I believe it was high up on my Pazz and Jop ballot last year.) I'm not familiar with any of the rest of their shit - or even aware of what the rest of their shit is, for that matter.

If there was an issue with their set the other day, it's that I like their new shit more than I like their older shit, and their set was a mix of their new shit and their older shit. They hit all of the extra-high points from The Stage Names, but they still may not have even played half of it. Some of the other shit they played struck me as nondescript by comparison, if not particularly bad or anything.

In keeping with the evening's cracka-like professionalism, the gap between openers Okkervil River's set and headliners the New Pr0nographers seemed especially brief, though this may have been a matter of the stage at the Pageant being characteristically unadorned. The sound was typically half-assed as well, but that's to be expected at this point.

I had seen the New Pr0nographers last summer at Pitchfork, and I found them somewhat underwhelming. Part of it's that they come off as so huge on the record, you can't help but be struck by how downright normal they seem in person. But part of it's that they don't exude much in the way of charisma. Basically, they look like a bunch of librarians up there rocking out. Carl Newman was even wearing a sweater.

The Pageant website said Neko Case would be there, but Dan Bejar wouldn't. Which is understandable, since he's touring right now as Destroyer; I'm going to see them next week. But Neko didn't end up being there, either. I read afterwards that she'd hurt her ankle or some shit the day before, but at the time, I just assumed this was a matter of the Pageant trying to pull a fast one on me.

Either way, I could've used five dollars back at the door, or a free beer or something.

When I'd seen them last summer, the New Pr0nographers were still touring behind one of my favorite albums evar, Twin Cinema, even though it was like two years old at that point. They only did "My Rights vs. Yours," from last year's Challengers, which I'm not nearly as crazy about.

The other day, they played a lot more from Challengers, and the weird thing is, I found myself enjoying the stuff from Challengers more than I enjoyed the stuff from Twin Cinema. Sure, the latter has the better songs of the two, but I think the songs from Challengers work better in a live setting. Fuller and less complicated than the earlier stuff, they sound as if they were made to be played in stadiums.

If they were actually that good, they'd be dangerous.

As I mentioned in a post on XXL the other day, you can hardly go to a hip-hop show these days without the performer bringing out a special guest - usually one of their celebrity friends that's either got something to promote, or didn't have anything else better to do that day. And I guess that trend's finally found its way down to cracka-ass cracka indie-rock.

It started about 3/4ths of the way through the New Pr0nographers' set, when they brought out some broad who'd played harp on Challengers to do a couple of joints. Which was just, you know, whatever. But then they brought out Will Sheff from Okkervil River to sing the Dan Bejar part on what I'm convinced might be the best song evar at this point, "Myriad Harbor."

Now, if you're thinking, "Bol, you mean to suggest that they brought out the fucking insane kid from Okkervil River to sing lead on the new best song ever, backed by the New Pr0nographers? Wouldn't that be like crossing the streams? How could it not be the best shit evar?" then, well, you'd be pretty much correct. It was some of the wildest shit I've ever seen before in my life.

I'd even go so far as to say that it kinda saved an evening that would've otherwise gone down as somewhat of a disappointment. As much as I enjoy the New Pr0nographers, it would be difficult for me to justify shelling out to see another one of their shows, unless I knew for certain that Neko Case and Dan Bejar were gonna be there.

I'm not telling them what to do or anything. I'm just saying.

Okkervil River "Our Life Is Not a Movie or Maybe"