CMJ Day 1 – Lucero @ Crash Mansion

So I was excited for CMJ, considering last year’s was um,.. terrible. The first night of CMJ was action packed and I had a good game plan to hit all the shows I wanted to hit. First stop was Mercury Lounge to see the much over-hyped Clap Your Hands and Say Yea. I could not believe the line to get in. It streteched down the block, and people were waiting for an hour and CYHASY weren’t to be on till another hour. I was shocked to see such a crowd for a band that plays practically every other weekend in NY and honestly isn’t that good and are getting way too much press than they deserve. No really, listen to the album, really listen to the album and disregard the hype and you’ll see it’s not that fantastic.

The line at Mercury Lounge

OK, plan B, go check out Coco Rosie. Finding out the venue was cross town and they were starting in 15 minutes and afraid of a sold out show, we decide somewhere closer. Ok, plan C. Stiff Little Fingers at Rothko. Also a line to ge in and an hour wait. Are you kidding me?!! Plan D, Lucero at Crash Mansion. Never been there but at this point I just needed to see some freiking live music!!! We were surprised to also see a line to get in, but luckliy we got in pretty quick. Cool venue, although the space made it seem claustrophobic. The opening band was too drunk to give notice. It was my first time seeing Lucero live and they were very good. Many fans came out to see them and they played for over an hour. At least my night wasn’t a complete waste.

The Arcade Fire @ Central Park Summerstage

Ok, I’ll admit I was excited to see Arcade Fire again. However, seems like every time I see them they are playing bigger and bigger venues. It’s been quite a journey since the Mercury Lounge days. The show was sold out but the crowd was kinda lame despite being into the music. There was no energy in the crowd and Win Butler even commented on it. The music was great and they played from all their albums and I loved it every time RĂ©gine did her robot dance. She’s so cute. However, the combination of being outside in a large space affected the sound and mood. That all changed when during the encore they announce that they’ll be doing a David Bowie song and David Bowie steps onstage!!! I couldn’t believe it. He was like an apparition all dressed in white. I was truly in shock and realized that I was jumping up and down like a little kid. The place erupted and finally there was energy in Central Park. The band proceeds to play Queen Bitch with Win singing and David playing guitar. Bowie then sings the next song Wake Up by The Arcade Fire, and he was flawless. Although overall the concert was a dud, seeing Bowie preform made up for the previous 2 hours.

Here’s an mp3 of the song done at the Fashion Rocks event.

Mazarin @ Mercury Lounge

Mazarin’s new album is just amazing. Go get it and see him live. Although I was apprehensive about this show because the last time I saw him, Quentin was downright awful and they were testing out the new material that would show up on “We’re Already There” and it was bad. They played foronly 25 minutes and ranks as one of the worst shows I’ve been to.
But now is now, and the new album is stellar. The more I listen to it, the better it gets (yea its one of those). Mazarin makes the combimation of pop fizz, psychedlic rock, and interesting song structures work together into a cohesive experience. The concert was great, and although the crowd was small, everyone was into it.