I just got back from seeing Xiu Xiu at Bottom of the Hill.
Oh my god.
Best. Show. Ever.
Don't believe me? They have usurped Bauhaus at the Fillmore in 2005 (AKA the show that changed the course of my life) as the best show I have ever seen. I know, honey, believe it.
And funny mentioning Bauhaus: I still loved the 2005 show, but after seeing Xiu Xiu my husband and I both said we now finally understand what the OG fans from Europe who saw Bauhaus back in the day are saying about what is lacking now vs. then. It also especially illuminates to me what is missing from the new songs they rolled out last year.
There's an almost undefinable something in a song or performance that bridges the space between our raw humanity and conveying that in sound. When that deep emotion and excitement and meat and bone, that creative inferno, is what drives you and you give yourself to it, fresh and alive and over and over, it speaks through your chosen instrument, and you get the kind of show we got tonight. It's the cycle of creative spark shelf life, and when you have created monumental work, if you don't have fire anymore, you might not belong on stage except to rehash (which is fine -- wouldn't say no to a Bau-rehashed tour again!). Without spark, you can forget about new material too.
Xiu Xiu not only has that spark, they are the flint, the tinder, the spark, the blaze, and the renewal. Like a phoenix.
I need time to collect my thoughts to give y'all a proper review, because good god, I'm speechless right now. And anyway, I'm seeing Xiu Xiu again tomorrow on the strength of the show tonight.
So for now, just WOW.
Oh my god.
Best. Show. Ever.
Don't believe me? They have usurped Bauhaus at the Fillmore in 2005 (AKA the show that changed the course of my life) as the best show I have ever seen. I know, honey, believe it.
And funny mentioning Bauhaus: I still loved the 2005 show, but after seeing Xiu Xiu my husband and I both said we now finally understand what the OG fans from Europe who saw Bauhaus back in the day are saying about what is lacking now vs. then. It also especially illuminates to me what is missing from the new songs they rolled out last year.
There's an almost undefinable something in a song or performance that bridges the space between our raw humanity and conveying that in sound. When that deep emotion and excitement and meat and bone, that creative inferno, is what drives you and you give yourself to it, fresh and alive and over and over, it speaks through your chosen instrument, and you get the kind of show we got tonight. It's the cycle of creative spark shelf life, and when you have created monumental work, if you don't have fire anymore, you might not belong on stage except to rehash (which is fine -- wouldn't say no to a Bau-rehashed tour again!). Without spark, you can forget about new material too.
Xiu Xiu not only has that spark, they are the flint, the tinder, the spark, the blaze, and the renewal. Like a phoenix.
I need time to collect my thoughts to give y'all a proper review, because good god, I'm speechless right now. And anyway, I'm seeing Xiu Xiu again tomorrow on the strength of the show tonight.
So for now, just WOW.
posted by Ammie at 12:30 AM
1 Comments:
well said, as usual Ammie! I think you do a better job than my old friend William Hazlit who wrote in almost this very same topic (with the exception that he focused on visual art rather than performance) quite some time ago.
Why, if you care to do so, you can read his essay at:
http://www.blupete.com/Literature/Essays/Hazlitt/RoundTable/Gusto.htm
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