Mar202008

The Pillows at Club Motor

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“Please. Come, near. More near.” Sawao uses his hands to motion the crowd closer. The space between people disappears and we actually manage to take four of five steps towards the stage. A few minutes ago, The Pillows just opened with I Think I Can and now the fun really starts.

Club Motor is a big space. It’s more or less the second floor of a small, abandoned warehouse. The crowd was too small to be intimidating but the space was too big to be intimate. We mostly solved that problem by squeezing in tight against the stage. I mention it’s on the second floor because it had a lot of give in it. The floorboards would warp against the modest thumping and jumping of the opening bands and they were really put to the test when The Pillows took the stage and the moshing really started.

The Pillows at Club Motor, March 19 2008

Photo credit: ashlyn tahlier

It was surreal to hear them live. Their recordings are like a wall of sound; heavy guitar licks, cymbals shattering and an ethereal voice that can be heard above it all. I did not think it was possible to reproduce this live but I was happily proven wrong. Hybrid Rainbow blew me away like it did back in 2002 when I first heard the song. Advice seemed to push the very limits of distortion and my eardrums… and then it grew in both volume and complexity. Wow.

This band makes a thick Japanese accent sound sexy and not in the creepy schoolgirl fetish way.

In broken English, the lead singer tried to explain why Seattle rocks: the hotel in San Francisco did not have a bathtub, the one in Seattle does. You hear that, rock stars of the world?! Good luck trying to take a bath in stinky ol’ San Francisco, Seattle is where its at.

The Pillows, Set List

Photo credit: Jamesia

Other mental notes I had but too tired to write about:

  • opening local band was pretty solid
  • if I ever whored myself out it would be for a mean girl with a guitar
  • I have a dysfunctional, bipolar love/hate relationship with concert crowds
  • I killed two birds with one stone by shoving obnoxious teenage mosher into grumpy fat girl
  • why don’t they serve alcohol at these concerts
  • I am too chicken to mosh
  • I should bring earplugs to concerts to cater for my wimpy friends
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12 comments »

Deutlich

I, too, have a love/hate thing for crowds @ concerts

but.. whateva.. the live music is always worth it
SuperSumo

I was there last night as well. It was my second time seeing them in Seattle. I missed a couple years ago because I was in Montana. I saw their first show at the Crocodile Cafe. Stereo Future and The Noodles have opened up all their shows in Seattle and it’s been a tradition for my friends and myself to go each time they come.

I just love this band live. It seems like their music is so much more energetic when it’s live, with the crowd jumping up and down, cheering, and having a good time. Personally I had a blast! I think I still liked their first show the best, but this was still a very, very good show!

I hope they are able to come again. RIP Stereo Future. :(
xtina

moshing was fun when i was in high school. i knew i had guy friends who would protect me. now, i’m not so sure i could be able to do it. LOL

wish i could have been there.
Jack

Deutlich: Absolutely. Someone much smarter than me said that all these vinyls, tapes, CDs and DVDs are souvenirs. Mementos of the real live performance. One of the places where its most heartbreakingly true is in jazz where improvisation plays such a huge role.

SuperSumo: Oh absolutely. The energy of their music is just… wow.

Xtina: Aww, well I’ll invite you along next time and I’ll protect you. ;) Although, these were pretty young kids so I’m sure you could fight them off on your own. I’m only offering so you don’t have to get your hands dirty.
karan

Damn, would have loved to have been there. I can only imagine what Little Busters live would be like :)
Jack

Oh man, right before they played Ride On Shooting Star… Sawao yells into the mic, “I have DISCOVERED. That old music? Is as good as new music. I DISCOVERED this. RIDE. ON. SHOOTING. STAR!!”

Hehe, he’s so animated.
club MOTOR

Great show last night ! MOTOR appreciates everyone coming out. We only had 2 weeks to promote this event, and a wednesday night and no bar.I think we did OK. There was 500 people in our room. Soon we’ll be a real club with a bar and still do a lot of all ages stuff. Sorry we don’t have real bathrooms yet (porta potties suck), we’re working on that. The room is large and we will continue to bring major acts into this warehouse-like space.All the old wood construction makes the place sound really good. Thanks, jOE MOTOR
AkaiChou

I killed two birds with one stone by shoving obnoxious teenage mosher into grumpy fat girl

ROFL ROFL! XD
Ashley

moshing scares me too. a friend of mine got a huge black eye one time at a blink182 concert. you know, back when they were cool.
Jack

club MOTOR: Thanks for stopping by. I actually kinda liked the “abandoned” look of the building so I hope you keep that. It’s a really good space and I hope you do more awesome stuff with it. Don’t forget to tell people you’re right next to a Krispey Kreme!

AkaiChou: Not surprisingly, the girl got even grumpier.

Ashley: DUDE! Blasphemy! Blink is still cool! “I Miss You” is still one of my favourite songs ever!
club MOTOR

We are keeping the warehouse feel and will be a music driven rock and roll venue! There are plenty of fancy clubs in Seattle and we refuse to be one of them. We are a “come as you are” down and dirty ROCK club! Thanks, Joe MOTOR
club MOTOR

We are doing some remodel-new bathrooms, a 50ft.Bar(hard liquer) seperated so we can do ALL AGES. Watch for us to be doing all kinds of Great acts!

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