Photo: Chad Batka for The New York TimesIt was Saturday night at Hi-Fi -- a day after the Grizzly Bear show at NY's Town Hall. We met a fellow cavort who also attended the show Friday. We asked what he thought. He, oh so predictably, blurted "it was the most amazing show" to which we replied, "actually, it wasn't." When pressed, he quickly amended his statement, concurring with our arguments as to the show's many flaws. Our theory is that, when pressed, about 5% of the audience actually wholeheartedly enjoyed the Grizzly Bear show, despite the effusive standing ovation and weekend of sold-out New York shows. We are the target demographic for Grizzly Bear: fans willing to go the distance for great music. After Friday, we won't be going the distance when it comes to traveling to any more Grizzly Bear shows. Read more of our take on Friday's show, and Ben Ratliff's spot-on review of the show in the New York Times after the jump.
There is no denying the talent of these musicians. They are all amazing vocalists and Ed Droste and Dan Rossen are pretty A-list songwriters as well. There were moments of beauty and excitement Friday night. [Correction] "Lullabye" was particularly lovely. Yet, the tension would build, and never fully release or resolve itself. Even the amazing "Two Weeks" hit fell flat. Most of the show was really boring, and heavily sleepy. Two or three on our row were dead sound asleep through most of the show. We nodded off a few times before the string section came out. The sound was muddy, and most of the nuances that succeed on their records were lost. Besides a joke about tweeting from the stage, the entire show was as serious as a funeral, stand-offish, and as Ben Ratliff writes, extremely "cold." We could go on at length here, and after some beer on Saturday night, we did. But, we'll leave it to the pros here. Ratliff perfectly summarizes the show in his piece for the Times. Read it, and enjoy his writing, because in all honesty, you probably didn't really enjoy the Grizzly Bear show that much.
