Phoenix, French Kicks, Page France, Hot Chip, Pinker Tones, Teddybears

I made a gaff last night. Being not familiar with either the French Kicks nor -get out your stones- Phoenix, I sent all my seething hatred to the former thinking they were the latter. I know there are a lot of Kicks fans out there, but I thought they were one of the most boring bands I've caught. Competent, but inexcusablyy dull.

And I thought they were Phoenix.

So when they thanked Phoenix at the end of their set, I had to reassign all my criticismss. It was like the ending in the Usual Suspects when you realize you've had the wrong guy all along. Or the right guy when you thought you had some random guy. Bad analogy. Anyway, I had to reevaluate my opinion of the beloved French band [that's the one without "French" in their name] which was momentarily commandeered by the talentless opener. I'm sure their street team or the band itself will be reading this, if not soon, in a month or two. I've had rants from over a year ago dredged up before and that's why I usually try to lay off. Don't take it personally French Kicks. I'm just one opinion, and I appear to be in the minority. Phoenix themselves were ok. At least they were tolerable. I've been plagued by fatigue [in French: "Je suis fatigue."] so I didn't convert to an uberfan on first listen. But they're French, and I like France. Just no kicking.*
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Rewind to Thursday night. We jetted from Fat Baby the moment the Teddybears were to take the reigns from DJs Finger on the Pulse and went to Page France at Mercury Lounge. I was under the impression that Page France was sooooo last year. I ignored him, questioning the merits of the praise I had read but also being negligent and failing to actually listen and decide for myself. It's just too damn easy to skip over the latest hottest band. I almost did here, and luckily I caught up, finally committing to listen to Hello, Dear Wind, their excellent album from last year. Live, they remind me of a less verbose Decemberists. I'd imagine their song "Elephant"” would be referred to by Colin Meloy as "“Pachyderm." They have the same folk style and phrasing, and very instrumental arrangements. Two songs of Magneta Lane and half of a set by the Silversun Pickups rounded off the night. Neither did much for me, and lately I've had little patience past 10PM for anything that doesn't impress me. I'm getting too old for this.

Friday night was a different story. Hot Chip blew me away. South Street Seaport is a gorgeous venue, and easily the best free venue in the city; the river, the ships, the manageable size, and decent sound. People were dancing, and all the tunes -–even those I don'’t particular know that well- had us all involved. They closed their main set with a fantastic "Over & Over." The failed to perform "The Warning," but I can'’t really complain. They made a lot of new fans that evening, including me. They'’ll be back in November they announced (for CMJ?). Update: Webster Hall, November 2.

Biding my late evening hours at a handful of bars, I eventually wound up at the Annex around 1 AM for Teddybears. While they didn't actually go on until 2:25, in the meantime we were treated to a great triple-DJ act by the Pinker Tones, from Spain, -did I mention I love Spain?- who got us ferociously moving. I loved it. If I wasn't so eager for the Teddybears to goddammitfreakingtakethestagealready, then I would have been even more into it. The Teddybears finally went on and played their album with very little-to-none deviation, I stayed for my favorite tunes and departed. They didn't do much, so there's not much to say. Leaving for home at 3:00 AM, I felt young once again.

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*Headbutts are OK.