Jim and I went to see The Fiery Furnaces at Town Hall on Friday night. The show was definitely something I’d been looking forward to for a while, despite Frank’s warning on Chromewaves.
The Brooklyn Vegan thought the show was great and managed to get great pictures, despite the yellow-jacketed security guys who weren’t shy about shining a flashlight in your face and telling you that no photography was allowed.
Matthew Fluxblog described the show as midling, and offers a really detailed description of their show.
The Gothamist deemed the show a catastrophe, pulling no punches.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was a “catastophe,” but it was something of a disappointment. The band obviously put the most effort into performing material off their upcoming album Rehearsing My Choir, which failed to excite the audience. Their older material, for the most part, sounded rushed, and the rhythm section didn’t seem to play very differently on any of the songs. Even The Fiery Furnaces (well, Matt, anyway) admit they rush the material, and hope it’s “amusing.” (link via Largehearted Boy)
To echo the sentiment of the other folks, I wish that the show had been more like the encore, with Eleanor and Matt performing as a duo. FF remind me of early Flaming Lips- sometimes they are a little too crazy/experimental for their own good. New album notwithstanding, they are a great studio band, and I look forward to hearing more of their new stuff soon.
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I saw the Fiery Furnaces last week in Toronto, and even though I hadn’t heard a lot of their stuff before, I thought they played quite good (even though I had to leave halfway through).
I was particularly a fan of the keyboards. I enjoy zany keyboards.
I choose to believe the show was terrible because I couldn’t afford to go this time…
Jed left out the best part of that show: afterwards, an old guy stopped his bike near us and said, “Stevie Wonder’s got a new album. Shame! Shame!” and rode off.
also, I slept through the opener. no apologies.
I guess their shows must be a hit or miss, because when I saw them in Minneapolis a week or so ago it was pretty awesome.
I dunno, i’ve never seen (or heard) a Fiery Furnaces show that could be described as anything better than “middling.” Last time I saw them, they played everything at 3x the normal speed, which made everthing sound like crap. I’m not going to see them again.
this is one of the worst bands in recent memory
The Fiery Furnaces are usually really good in concert, but the new album is dire, so I’m not surprised if they sucked. Really, Rehearsing The Choir is easily the worst record I’ve heard all year.
FF is one of my favorite bands. I liked their live show when I saw them on their Blueberry Boat tour. Their new album Rehearsing My Choir is easily one of the biggest disappointments in recent memory. Terrible!
I prefer Rehearsing to Blueberry Boat. I thought the songs on Blueberry Boat were so aimless. There’s at least some sort of center on Rehearsing, though I think there are more and better specific moments on Rehearsing when it all comes together for like 30 seconds, then you’re back in the soup. I’m sure this was not in any way the intention on the band’s part, but does anyone get a weird Diane Arbus vibe from the use of the grandmother?