Sunday, March 28, 2004
Behold ... The Killers
Alley Katz is a rnr club up in Richmond, VA. Real cozy (i.e. small) and it used to be a tobacco warehouse back in the day. It seems to have had little renovation from when it was first erected on Walnut Ally over 100 years ago.
With the showtime set at nine and three bands + one local opener, we knew we were in for a long night. How naive to think a rock n roll show would start on time!! The doors weren't even open till 9:30. I'm the eighth person in the door, just after my young wife and we head through the open door leading upstairs. This was our plan all along.
The stage at Alley Katz is only 18 inches high so the downstairs area is the worst. Jaime and I were planning on grabbing a stool and leaning on the rail the whole time. It's the best place to see all the action and to try and get pictures. A local band called Conshafter opens the show, and Jaime and I hit the pool tables for a bit. I was leaning out the window to get the picture of the sign, up above.
No one is coming upstairs, even though the downstairs is filling up nicely. What could be going on? See Jaime across the way? See her little head leaning on the rail waiting for The Killers:
See all the people below? Weirdos down there, huh? They could catch a spot on the rail and be out of the B.O. but, hey, to each their own.
The local boys finish up and the next band starts setting up. I don't know anything about them, except what I see in front of me, and that their name is The Killers. They set up a synthesizer up front though. That looks promising. Then they start playing.
I LOVE THE KILLERS!! The best part of the night was discovering these boys. I bought the EP and can't stop listening! Stream the EP online!! GO!! NOW!! It'll open in a new window. Click on one of the songs and then listen while you finish reading my story.
I was playing with exposure settings on my digital. It made all my pictures blurrier than normal!! Don't worry, I'm working on getting a Canon A70 which has aperture priority settings. Does anyone know about pictures? What settings do I use to get decent, non-blurry concert shots?
Midway through the Killers a tap on my shoulder and, oops! Turns out, that during this show, the upstairs is for the bands only. How were we supposed to know? The door was wide open. At the bottom of the stairs, a unfamiliar traffic barrier blocked our path. Get it up earlier next time Alley Katz! Save me from another of life's small embarrassments!
Banished from our lofty perch, we suffered the horrible waste of time known as the Ambulance. They put on one horrible live show! Wretched, Vile! The local opener should not be ranked higher than you Ambulance! Maybe they had an off night, or maybe I was still bitter from being stricken to ground level, but Jaime, nor I enjoyed them.
Stellastarr* was.......alright. Nothing special. I love the album though. LOVE IT. And they sang the songs, and jumped around a bit. Can't complain. It was WAY late by this point. Almost 1am. They sure seemed tired. Sleepy. The bassist girls vocals were almost non-existent for the first half of their set. The lead guy (Shawn) keep dropping to his knees too! Not at Alley Katz! The stage is only 18 inches! Your heads are barely visible above the baseball caps of frat boys. When you drop to your knees you simply disappear. The drummer looked wicked with a permenant strobe light on him. He had a star taped to his bare chest, and big Elvis style shades on.
Since we were downstairs, Jaime had to hold the camera above her head and all the pictures look extra worse. This one looks cool though. Like Edvard Munch style:
Whew! Long show! I gave a homeless guy in a wheel chair 5 bucks. It was a bit before 2am when we left for our hour drive home. Left home at 8pm. Hour drive up. 4 hours spent at Alley Katz. An hour drive back. The things we have to do to rock it in the Real World!!
With the showtime set at nine and three bands + one local opener, we knew we were in for a long night. How naive to think a rock n roll show would start on time!! The doors weren't even open till 9:30. I'm the eighth person in the door, just after my young wife and we head through the open door leading upstairs. This was our plan all along.
The stage at Alley Katz is only 18 inches high so the downstairs area is the worst. Jaime and I were planning on grabbing a stool and leaning on the rail the whole time. It's the best place to see all the action and to try and get pictures. A local band called Conshafter opens the show, and Jaime and I hit the pool tables for a bit. I was leaning out the window to get the picture of the sign, up above.
No one is coming upstairs, even though the downstairs is filling up nicely. What could be going on? See Jaime across the way? See her little head leaning on the rail waiting for The Killers:
See all the people below? Weirdos down there, huh? They could catch a spot on the rail and be out of the B.O. but, hey, to each their own.
The local boys finish up and the next band starts setting up. I don't know anything about them, except what I see in front of me, and that their name is The Killers. They set up a synthesizer up front though. That looks promising. Then they start playing.
I LOVE THE KILLERS!! The best part of the night was discovering these boys. I bought the EP and can't stop listening! Stream the EP online!! GO!! NOW!! It'll open in a new window. Click on one of the songs and then listen while you finish reading my story.
I was playing with exposure settings on my digital. It made all my pictures blurrier than normal!! Don't worry, I'm working on getting a Canon A70 which has aperture priority settings. Does anyone know about pictures? What settings do I use to get decent, non-blurry concert shots?
Midway through the Killers a tap on my shoulder and, oops! Turns out, that during this show, the upstairs is for the bands only. How were we supposed to know? The door was wide open. At the bottom of the stairs, a unfamiliar traffic barrier blocked our path. Get it up earlier next time Alley Katz! Save me from another of life's small embarrassments!
Banished from our lofty perch, we suffered the horrible waste of time known as the Ambulance. They put on one horrible live show! Wretched, Vile! The local opener should not be ranked higher than you Ambulance! Maybe they had an off night, or maybe I was still bitter from being stricken to ground level, but Jaime, nor I enjoyed them.
Stellastarr* was.......alright. Nothing special. I love the album though. LOVE IT. And they sang the songs, and jumped around a bit. Can't complain. It was WAY late by this point. Almost 1am. They sure seemed tired. Sleepy. The bassist girls vocals were almost non-existent for the first half of their set. The lead guy (Shawn) keep dropping to his knees too! Not at Alley Katz! The stage is only 18 inches! Your heads are barely visible above the baseball caps of frat boys. When you drop to your knees you simply disappear. The drummer looked wicked with a permenant strobe light on him. He had a star taped to his bare chest, and big Elvis style shades on.
Since we were downstairs, Jaime had to hold the camera above her head and all the pictures look extra worse. This one looks cool though. Like Edvard Munch style:
Whew! Long show! I gave a homeless guy in a wheel chair 5 bucks. It was a bit before 2am when we left for our hour drive home. Left home at 8pm. Hour drive up. 4 hours spent at Alley Katz. An hour drive back. The things we have to do to rock it in the Real World!!
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