I knew that the Wild Light was going on at 9:45 and I didn’ t want to miss them. I didn’ t want to get to the venue too early and wait around, so I ended up making the mistake of overshooting the start time and didn’ t get to the theatre until almost 10. There’ s a grand atmosphere to the El Rey that is tough to live up to in a performance, especially if it isn’ t a sold out show with a big name on the marquee. The crystal chandeliers, wide aisles, and red carpeting all add to the notion that whoever is playing isn’ t good enough to be there.
The Wild Light had just launched into ‘Future Towns’ when I entered the building. They sounded pretty damn good. The El Rey has good acoustics and a nice sound system and the Wild Light took advantage of it. I stood behind the mixing booth and drank as I watched all the couples hold each other and sway to the music. I snapped a few shots from the distance and then tried to get over to the side to take a few shots from another angle. I got yelled at by security for standing in the fire lane. Up at the front I had to squirm through the loose crowd of blank staring faces to get some close-ups of the band onstage playing their hearts out. Their set ended too soon, and everybody waited patiently in their little groups for Tapes N Tapes to come out. I went back to get another drink and got yelled at again by security, this time for leaning up against the bar (isn’ t that what it’ s there for…all these damn rules at this place!).
When they finally came out, the crowd seemed pleased to see them. I think after all that waiting around in silence they would have been happy to see anyone. Their set was much more high energy than The Wild Light but the crowd seemed even less enthused. I saw nothing but couples making out and whispering into each other’ s ears. The most movement I saw was some scattered head nodding and the lifting of drinks to faces. I got bored watching. I finished my drink, bought another one, then sat on one of the chairs along the wall and finished that one (there shouldn’ t be chairs at concert venues, it promotes unresponsiveness from the crowd).
I left before the set was over. I doubt if there was an encore and frankly I didn’ t really care. I’ m fairly certain that the crowd didn’ t either.
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