Becho vs. Spaceland, 3/22: One Night, Two Gigs

Caught in the flurry of the excitement of last minute announcements, the necessity of hasty ticket purchases, and the prospect of leaving work early, I rashly decided to blow off Apples In Stereo, Page France, Headlights and Casper and the Cookies to check out Beck’s last minute announced show at the Echo. Thank God I didn’t sell the tickets. I left the Echo 40 minutes into Beck’s set, was at Spaceland 5 minutes later and never felt a pang of regret. Here’s why:

Becho Last Minute Show (”BLM”): CON – Guy on stage whose sole purpose was to do poor impersonations of rejects from the Wade Robson Project. Only one man can do that and get away with it. His names is Gabe. He plays cowbell.

Spaceland Scheduled (”SS”): PRO – Casper and the Cookies’ guitarist who, in the throes of a final breakdown, jumped into the then 10 person crowd and made an audience member play his guitar while his sexier than Kim Deal bassist played the final notes of the set on her back.

BLM: CON – Keyboard/backing vocalist who repeatedly requested that his vocals be turned louder than Beck’s then proceeded to charm the crowd with unironic yelps like “We are so badass” and “Is anyone doing drugs tonight?” (NB: It was 8pm and everyone was doing their darnedest to get into it straight from the office, show some damn gratitude). Don’t even get me started on what the moe-ron was wearing on his head, let alone his beat boxing.

SS: PRO – Headlights’ bassist wearing the sweetest t-shirt ever, which, it turns out, he made (and did not purchase at Urban O’s like the aforementioned Beck backing band losebag). Also, Headlight’s female vocalist was a) adorable and b) proved herself legitimately badass by not flinching when the drummer kicked down his splash cymbal onto her foot. Such poise.

BLM: CON – The artard behind me who kept yelling for “Where it’s at” every chance he could. Don’t do that. Don’t go to a last minute show, sell out in 20 minutes show, and hold a neon sign above your head that reads “radio fan” with a big downward pointing flashing arrow.

SS: PRO – Page France, whose songs “Junkyard” and “Hat and Rabbit” alone could drown “Where It’s At” with pop goodness, had a bassist who played so hard he looked to be crying like Adam Morrison, a 300 pound xylophonist, and diabetically sweet music set to lyrics like “eat until your teeth bleed.”