Mew >> You know when you pay a shit ton of money to go to some fancy headliner and to make things as dramatic as possible the lights dim, the lasers go on, the music starts, and slowly but surely the man of the hour walks out singing and everyone cheers as they begin to perform?
Not Mew.
On the opposite end of the performance spectrum, like a Pulp Fiction-esque adrenaline rush injected directly into your heart, Mew’s drummer hits the stage and slaps you in the face with his high energy drum solo quickly followed by guitar, bass, keyboard and vocalist who just want to get things going!
Maybe it was the Red Bull they kept chugging between songs. Maybe it’s the fact they hail from the happiest country in the world [Denmark, for all you uninformed Millennials]. Whatever it was, I liked it and it worked for them.
When you hear the name Mew you often hear ‘what?’ in response. It’s totally normal, unless you know music and you know that these guys have been around since 1995 and are a part of the Danish indie alternative rock music scene. They have a bit of a following, which could be easily witnessed by the dude just behind me who recorded the entire show on his phone with the flash on the whole time as he sang louder than Jonas and danced his bro-ey little ass off. St. Lucia—a band I’m seriously crushing on right now—also happened to be in attendance [which, sadly, I only learned later when I checked Instagram].
Their sound is what I consider good road trip music. You know, the kind that puts you in that happy and adventurous place just as the trip starts, then slows down when you’re in that spacey zone, only to come back up-tempo just as you’re starting to doze off. They hit all those spots in just the right way.
I was surprised I was able to watch the bulk of the show from the front of the stage without being bombarded by fans [aside from Super Fan behind me]. The Fonda Theatre, though, also has a great upstairs and balcony, so towards the end of the set I walked up to see the band from up top. How much I couldn’t see from down below! They had an entire movie happening on the screen behind them; a scary ass nightmare movie reminiscent of the thriller Saw, but still pretty badass.
All in all a good welcome back to the US performance after a six-year hiatus. Can we make sure it doesn’t take as long the next time, boys?
Now please go listen to ‘Satellites’ and ‘Am I Wry? No’ if you haven’t already.
Danielle
