This is a frame from a comic by Sarah Laing about the Fleet Foxes. I love Sarah's blog of her comics 'Let Me Be Frank', so I hope she doesn't mind me using her work as a visual aid to make up for the absence of photos in this post.
Last night I went to the Fleet Foxes at the Town Hall. There were hipsters as far as the eye could see - checked shirts, Wayfarers, facial hair, satchels, skinny black jeans galore - and the ones that amused me the most were a group who stood up in the back row of one of the seated areas above. There were about five guys and a girl, one of the guys had massive headphones around his neck, as if, at any moment if he got bored, he could just start listening to something else. They stood absolutely still most of the time, staring down at the band very intensely and kind of intimidatingly, expressionless. The few times I did see them move it was to nod their heads and bodies up and down to the music a little bit, but not too much. I hope they had a good time...
I definitely did! I had a bit of a dance (as much as you can when you're packed in amongst people and the music isn't really dance-y dance-y a lot of the time anyway) and sang along. I haven't been to many gigs where I know all the songs, the only big concerts I've been to are Goldenhorse with the NZSO at the Michael Fowler Centre and Carole King and James Taylor at the Vector Arena (both with my Mum), so I wasn't sure if it was gig etiquette to sing along. But the band was so loud (the sound was great and the Town Hall is a really nice venue) no one would have heard me and I couldn't help it. I knew all the words to every song but one, so I had a GREAT time.
The band didn't really talk the whole time, they said 'thank you' at the end of every song, one of them said something about 'I keep thinking I'm going to walk out of here tonight and the world is going to be ending, you know?' (No, actually, I don't know; why are you saying this? Is it the extreme wind or do you just think about the world ending every night?), and another said, 'Thank you so much, you've been the best crowd of the tour' (most likely a lie), but that was actually the full extent of the onstage talking. No banter for the Fleet Foxes. It didn't matter though, I was there to hear them play, not try to be funny or cool so it was fine with me. It was amazing how many times one of them swapped instruments - flute, guitar, saxophone, double bass. And their harmonies are pretty awesome.
All in all, I'm so glad I went. I love them.
In other news, I have taken no photos this week which seems strange but I have been too busy trying to find somewhere to live, which I have so now I can start packing. I'm going to miss Newtown with all its colourful characters and excellent cafes, but I'm looking forward to living in Aro Valley again after three years. The room I'm moving to has the cutest fireplace and bay window, so I will once again have a view from my window. Ch-ch-ch-changes.
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