My friend Reed and I went to Club Magnet early for this Sunday-night show, having been too late to the Futureheads a couple weeks ago to get tickets. On non-concert nights, Magnet also acts as a dance club, playing a mix of really fun club-worthy indie rock songs (Banquet Disco Edit) and totally undanceable, uncool rock songs (Coldplay's Trouble). Anyway, the smaller dancefloor was the one used for the Deerhoof show, and was cozy and intimate. The beer was also relatively cheap, which was nice, since it was 45 minutes before the opener took the stage.
When we first got there, the club was virtually deserted. I thought that the concert would pretty much stay that way, as it had the sunday before at the (amazing) Bell Orchestre concert. Mayber Berliners just don't like to go to concerts on Sunday nights. Well, I was wrong; by the time the opening act began, the place had filled with active listeners. The opener was one guy, and I am sorry I forget his name, but this guy pretty much just did free jazz improv on vibes while keeping a steady heavy metal beat on the drumset. That was all, for like 30 minutes. I consider myself a relatively open-minded semi avant-garde rock fan, but this shit pushed my limits. The always eager Berlin fans ate it up though; I couldn't believe it. This guy would almost certainly get booed at a midwestern rock show, even a deerhoof show. Just another difference at the rock shows over here.
After the set and a couple more Beck's, Deerhoof came on. I had seen them from a distance at Intonation festival last year, but I still wasn't prepared for the depth and tightness of their sound. They opened their set with 4 or 5 songs in a row from The Runners Four, and it blew me away. Their sound-hopping moves are even more convincing live than they are on the record. Greg was absolutely fabulous on drums, and Johna nd Satomi tore it apart on guitar. Satomi, of course, acted like an adorable 5 year old hopping aroung the stage and make hand gestures to go with the music. This behavior made it more bizzare/memorable late in the set, when she climbed on top of some amps and wailed down a crashing distortion solo. Overall, the band was tight and fun, even to a nonenthusiastic Deerhoof fan like myself. The crowd's entusiasm helped too, bringing out the best in longer, older songs like "The Last Trumpeter Swan." After a cutesy encore of "Bunny Bunny Bunny," the crowd called the band out for yet another encore, even though it was Sunday and the House lights were on. After a few minutes, the applause worked, and the band came out again. Maybe these germans are on to something.
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