So I fail as a human completely and have barely but a picture of Eno (the fastest dog in the world) for photographic evidence of my trip with theSTART/Normandie to Salt Lake City, UT.
Alright, I have like one picture of Normandie playing, but it’s hard to see anything but silhouettes of the band members and their equipment. And both were taken with my phone.
Anyway, the Vegas tour date (the start of the tour) was disgustingly hot. Could have been worse, but it was still gross. Also, considering the factors working against the show that night (The day after… had to drop out due to the death of the drummer’s father, Dream Sequence’s equipment/u-haul was stolen the morning of the show while staying at the Tropicana) it was kind of a miracle that the show even went on.
However, with a sound guy who hardly paid any attention to the damn boards while the bands were playing, it lead to some fairly tense moods under the crazy heat for all of the bands performing.
Some new things from Normandie (Chelsea, Aimee, Jamie of theSTART’s new project that originated while Lance was on tour with She Wants Revenge) were songs such as Gloom(er) which visit My Bloody Valentine’s ethereal vocal stylings as each member of the band contributes vocally to create an eerie/beautiful noise reminicsent of Loveless. Also, if you’ve been paying attention to the tracks on their myspace (www.myspace.com/lanormandieband) you will notice that the song “White And Red” has a little bit more to it than originally recorded (this wasn’t played until SLC due to cutting of the set to get to air conditioning quicker.)
Also, the song Futures made it’s non-so-cal debut as well as another song that I could not catch the name of. Little Sister did not disappoint, nor did the jaw dropping performance of “Thrill Of Victory.”
Perhaps the coolest part about Normandie aside from being a bunch of new material is the fact that they have no record label to please, so they’re going in a different direction with this project. Also, with creative input from Chelsea as an original member, it leads to more emotion from behind the kit (which is definitely hard to believe if you’ve ever seen her play with just theSTART.) A lot of fans of theSTART don’t see how it is any different, but trust me…it’s a whole ‘nother animal. In the form of a phillie.
theSTART began with Trinity into Blood On My Hands as they have been doing for the past 5 shows I’ve been to, however they kept the song Dirty Lion in the set (first time that song was ever played live was 7/9/09 @ the Roxy. It was on Shakedown! released in 2001) along with all of the rest of the favorites. For theSTART’s portion of the set, they used tracked bass on an iPod as Lance could not come on tour due to school (which he’s getting A’s in!) His presence was missed. He provides a lot of energy in the way he bounces about the stage, and you could feel something was definitely missing. Shows with Lance are the best, but the trio pulled it off quite nicely.
Salt Lake City was a much better experience on the whole, however. Kilby Court is an amazing little venue. It is quite literally a tin garage/shack. It’s one of those venues that you would be absolutely stoked to see your favorite band in due to the amazing intimacy of the set up. The sound was way better than the Vegas show even with the minor feedback on Aimee’s vocals. It was tolerable as opposed to not hearing her at all. Also, we didn’t die from heat exhaustion, so that was a plus. Chelsea in her element surrounded by old friends from her home state felt compelled to go crazy at the end of Ciao Baby even moreso than she normally does. I would follow them out to Kilby Court again. It was THAT awesome.
I would definitely suggest going to a show if they come to your neck of the woods. You will not be disappointed if you’re a fan of high energy shows. They have some of the best fans (at least it’s true in LA, Las Vegas, and SLC…) and they won’t mind dancing with you. Oh yeah….bring some dancin’ shoes for this one.
(all dates listed on www.myspace.com/lanormandieband as well as www.myspace.com/thestart)
(follow them on twitter @NORMANDIEband and @theSTART. Also, feel free to follow @AimeeEcho as she gives away free tickets and stuff)
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