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I wasn't familiar with the Polysics when a friend of mine asked me to go with her. Well, with her and her two teenage daughters. Uh, do I really want to go to a show on the suggestion of... teenage girls?
As it turns out, yes.
To be fair, these two girls are already cooler than most of us, so I should have known better. So I looked the band up and had fallen for them, hard, before I even got around to posting the UPCOMING show listing on MCB.
Also by the time I put up the announcement, MCB already had the hookup, and the fabulous Paul Hitz and I were on press credentials before you could say konichiwa.
I got up to the Magic Stick early because this was an all-ages show and frankly, I just don't know how to act at all-ages shows. I mean, am I going to be home in my jammies by 9 or what? I had plenty of time to ponder that question as I stood in the empty room waiting for anyone to show up.
All right, that's an exaggeration: My friends were already there, and the girls were extra excited about the prospect of meeting the band at the merch table. Is it just me or are "teenage girls and Japanese boys" the new "teenage girls and horses"? After a couple of rounds of mamasan playing "band and album!" with the gloriously 1980s pre-show PA music, we got started.
There were two opening bands before the Polysics. I would tell you who the first opener was, but I've blocked it out. It was really the only way to survive. Awful. Awful and terrible.
The second opener almost made the pain worthwhile. I don't know how or why I'd managed to avoid seeing Marco Polio and the New Vaccines for as long as I had, but that was a mistake on my part. Upbeat and fun, this is a band people see over and over. Clearly. Perhaps the hypnotic (read: insane) glare/antics. Maybe the laying-on of hands.
Here's what I really love about a band like this. There are four members; two male, two female. They hit the stage in loose orange jumpsuits and censorship-style black-box sunglasses. They spoke a little English -- "We're here to fix the Toyota recall!!" -- weren't at all trying to be cool or sexy or ironic or rock-star-douches... they were just pure spirit and punk rawk. They're the kind of band that makes me want to play music.
As it turns out, yes.
To be fair, these two girls are already cooler than most of us, so I should have known better. So I looked the band up and had fallen for them, hard, before I even got around to posting the UPCOMING show listing on MCB.
Also by the time I put up the announcement, MCB already had the hookup, and the fabulous Paul Hitz and I were on press credentials before you could say konichiwa.
I got up to the Magic Stick early because this was an all-ages show and frankly, I just don't know how to act at all-ages shows. I mean, am I going to be home in my jammies by 9 or what? I had plenty of time to ponder that question as I stood in the empty room waiting for anyone to show up.
All right, that's an exaggeration: My friends were already there, and the girls were extra excited about the prospect of meeting the band at the merch table. Is it just me or are "teenage girls and Japanese boys" the new "teenage girls and horses"? After a couple of rounds of mamasan playing "band and album!" with the gloriously 1980s pre-show PA music, we got started.
There were two opening bands before the Polysics. I would tell you who the first opener was, but I've blocked it out. It was really the only way to survive. Awful. Awful and terrible.
The second opener almost made the pain worthwhile. I don't know how or why I'd managed to avoid seeing Marco Polio and the New Vaccines for as long as I had, but that was a mistake on my part. Upbeat and fun, this is a band people see over and over. Clearly. Perhaps the hypnotic (read: insane) glare/antics. Maybe the laying-on of hands.
Although traveling the world, the Polysics are not well-known here. But the people who came to their show are absolutely in love with them. And as much as I tease about this being candy for young girls, the front row of this show was absolutely not what I expected -- it was more hairy 20-something hipsters than pigtails. Having the time of their lives, too, from what it looked like.
Here's what I really love about a band like this. There are four members; two male, two female. They hit the stage in loose orange jumpsuits and censorship-style black-box sunglasses. They spoke a little English -- "We're here to fix the Toyota recall!!" -- weren't at all trying to be cool or sexy or ironic or rock-star-douches... they were just pure spirit and punk rawk. They're the kind of band that makes me want to play music.