Pedro the Lion and John Vanderslice deserve some motherfuckin’ respect. Both indie rock veterans put on an amazing performance at Thalia Hall last week, but the audience was strange and enigmatic, to say the least. Not only was the venue about half empty which was a bummer, but the people that were there seemed a little bored, for no reason whatsoever.
Being a relatively new Pedro fan but a seasoned Vanderslice aficionado who has managed to miss every Chicago performance, this tour was a match made in heaven for me. I’ve been waiting to see JV live for YEARS, ever since I was a 19 year old who added him on Facebook to try to get a photo pass to his 21+ show at Schubas. He accepted my friend request and added me to the guest list, but I subsequently couldn’t get in due to the whole age thing (not to mention my crippling anxiety, amirite ladies?) and I’ve been waiting for him to come back to Chicago ever since. 10 years later, after becoming obsessed with Pedro the Lion’s latest album, Phoenix, I discovered they would be touring together, and it was on like Donkey Kong.
Vanderslice’s set was peppered with questions from the audience that he collected before the show and kept in a cup, pulling one out to answer after every few songs. Through comments about Vanderslice’s banter (“I’d be happier if you’d actually play some songs”, someone quipped when Vanderslice asked about the audience’s happiness levels) to remarks about the amount of photographers there (to be fair, there was a ridiculous amount of photographers there, but still) to the constant weird MOANING after Vanderslice said anything, the audience was pretty annoying, at least to me personally. Vanderslice didn’t even bat an eye, however, and delivered a remarkable stripped down performance, featuring a variety of songs from his back catalog and ending with a slowed down version of “Exodus Damage” with Pedro the Lion’s David Bazan on drums. As someone who has listened to a few of his albums religiously over the years, hearing the stripped down live versions of some of my favorites was lovely. He even performed “Scorpio Rising” from the ultra rare Moon Colony Bloodbath vinyl-only split EP with the Mountain Goats, though he introduced it as “Lucifer Rising”, another song on the same split (more on that later).
The audience was much less obnoxious during Pedro the Lion’s performance, but I was still surprised by the lack of excitement there. Maybe I’m just a weirdo who can rock out and dance to the most depressing music ever, but most people there that I saw were the classic indie showgoers with their arms folded, nodding their head while sipping beer. Shitty crowd aside, Pedro the Lion’s performance was killer. Featuring a trippy Technicolor video of a drive through Phoenix as the background, they performed almost every song from their latest album, Phoenix, as well as some Pedro classics. Bazan only spoke briefly throughout the set, instead transitioning one song into another and letting the music speak for itself.
So what about that incorrectly titled “Scorpio Rising” performance from Vanderslice’s set I talked about earlier? After the show, I went up to his merch table and jokingly told him how sad I was that he played the wrong song, as “Lucifer Rising” is one of my favorites. He laughed, asked me to wait for a few minutes, came back with an acoustic guitar and played “Lucifer Rising” for me in the lobby of Thalia Hall. It was honestly one of the most memorable moments of my life, and I feel so grateful to have experienced it.
gallery
Pedro the Lion and John Vanderslice deserve some motherfuckin’ respect. Both indie rock veterans put on an amazing performance at Thalia Hall last week, but the audience was strange and enigmatic, to say the least. Not only was the venue about half empty which was a bummer, but the people that were there seemed a little bored, for no reason whatsoever.
Being a relatively new Pedro fan but a seasoned Vanderslice aficionado who has managed to miss every Chicago performance, this tour was a match made in heaven for me. I’ve been waiting to see JV live for YEARS, ever since I was a 19 year old who added him on Facebook to try to get a photo pass to his 21+ show at Schubas. He accepted my friend request and added me to the guest list, but I subsequently couldn’t get in due to the whole age thing (not to mention my crippling anxiety, amirite ladies?) and I’ve been waiting for him to come back to Chicago ever since. 10 years later, after becoming obsessed with Pedro the Lion’s latest album, Phoenix, I discovered they would be touring together, and it was on like Donkey Kong.
Vanderslice’s set was peppered with questions from the audience that he collected before the show and kept in a cup, pulling one out to answer after every few songs. Through comments about Vanderslice’s banter (“I’d be happier if you’d actually play some songs”, someone quipped when Vanderslice asked about the audience’s happiness levels) to remarks about the amount of photographers there (to be fair, there was a ridiculous amount of photographers there, but still) to the constant weird MOANING after Vanderslice said anything, the audience was pretty annoying, at least to me personally. Vanderslice didn’t even bat an eye, however, and delivered a remarkable stripped down performance, featuring a variety of songs from his back catalog and ending with a slowed down version of “Exodus Damage” with Pedro the Lion’s David Bazan on drums. As someone who has listened to a few of his albums religiously over the years, hearing the stripped down live versions of some of my favorites was lovely. He even performed “Scorpio Rising” from the ultra rare Moon Colony Bloodbath vinyl-only split EP with the Mountain Goats, though he introduced it as “Lucifer Rising”, another song on the same split (more on that later).
The audience was much less obnoxious during Pedro the Lion’s performance, but I was still surprised by the lack of excitement there. Maybe I’m just a weirdo who can rock out and dance to the most depressing music ever, but most people there that I saw were the classic indie showgoers with their arms folded, nodding their head while sipping beer. Shitty crowd aside, Pedro the Lion’s performance was killer. Featuring a trippy Technicolor video of a drive through Phoenix as the background, they performed almost every song from their latest album, Phoenix, as well as some Pedro classics. Bazan only spoke briefly throughout the set, instead transitioning one song into another and letting the music speak for itself.
So what about that incorrectly titled “Scorpio Rising” performance from Vanderslice’s set I talked about earlier? After the show, I went up to his merch table and jokingly told him how sad I was that he played the wrong song, as “Lucifer Rising” is one of my favorites. He laughed, asked me to wait for a few minutes, came back with an acoustic guitar and played “Lucifer Rising” for me in the lobby of Thalia Hall. It was honestly one of the most memorable moments of my life, and I feel so grateful to have experienced it.
gallery