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Posted in music | pictures on March 29, 2009
White Lies, Friendly Fires & The Soft Pack @ Bowery Ballroom, NYC - pics
photos by Chris La Putt
Friendly Fires
"White Lies and Friendly Fires, a pair of vigorous young bands from Britain, take divergent paths toward much the same destination. In both cases, the unspoken aim is a kind of submissive bliss: they want you in their thrall, not just listening but experiencing, absorbing. By that measure they were impressively but only intermittently successful at the Bowery Ballroom on Thursday night.The second of two shows at Bowery Ballroom was Friday night (3/27). More pictures from that show, including two of the setlists, below...Each band has released one album, making a splash chiefly in Britain, at least for now. A few months ago White Lies made its British chart debut at No. 1 with "To Lose My Life ...," which Geffen released in the United States last week. Friendly Fires had more modest success last year with its self-titled album on XL.
The bands, which are jointly headlining a North American tour, have been sponsored and duly plugged by NME, the British music magazine, with the Soft Pack, from Southern California, as an opening act." [NY Times]
The Soft Pack...
White Lies...
Friendly Fires...
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Posted on March 29, 2009 7:48 PM
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Comments (12)
I went to the Thursday night show and thought it was great, but what is the deal with no encore?!
Did the same thing happen on Friday night?
Posted by ROCK STARchitect | March 29, 2009 8:53 PM
I know it's a little unfair to play this game but I gotta do it anyway. After seeing this show, I walked away thinking this:
1.) I like White Lies more than Friendly Fires
2.) I like Editors more than White Lies
3.) I like Interpol more than Editors
4.) I like Joy Division more than all the other bands combined.
Posted by blackhat | March 29, 2009 9:42 PM
haha i thought the joy division fan boy shit died down a little, guess not
Posted by Anonymous | March 29, 2009 9:46 PM
also the soft pack guy has awesome chest hair LOLk
Posted by Anonymous | March 29, 2009 9:49 PM
flash in the pan UK hype bullshit
in a major way
Posted by Anonymous | March 29, 2009 10:10 PM
Bad Ian Curtis impersonation. Boring retreads.
Posted by Anonymous | March 29, 2009 10:13 PM
8:53,
You are one of the people I hate. The whole point of an encore is it's supposed to be unsuspected not MANDATORY. The whole idea of a planned encore has gotten so corny and common that it's painful to stand and wait 5 minutes while morons cheer and ask "Oh shit, do you think they're gonna come back out?" when the answer is clearly "Yes you stupid motherfucker, because they haven't turned the house lights up."
Also, both these bands have one (yes one) album out so the depth of their catalog is rather thin at this point.
Anyways, the show was a lot of fun. I think Friendly Fires slightly edged out White Lies but maybe that's just because FF played last.
Posted by Anonymous | March 29, 2009 10:39 PM
10:39
Should also have been noted that White Lies set on Thursday night was cut short. As they were headlining the next night, they decided to save Harry's vocals for Friday night. So instead of their 9 songs they either played 5 or 6 songs. (this coming from white lies lighting guy). They had to omit 'unfinished business' as he couldnt hit the high notes. it didnt work out that well on friday night either.
FF were definitely the better band on Thursday night, but they were even better on Friday night with even more energy. And White Lies sounded awesome on Friday night, even if Harry's vocals still werent up to par.
And there was no encore on Friday night either - as was mentioned they only have one album and there really is no need for an encore with that few songs.
Posted by Anonymous | March 30, 2009 12:02 AM
White Lies reminded me more of Teardrop Explodes than Joy Division. Not exactly my cup of tea, but they're going to be huge in a few years time.
Posted by Anonymous | March 30, 2009 12:16 AM
i'd hit it (friendly fires)
Posted by Anonymous | March 30, 2009 8:10 AM
I honestly never go in to a show expecting an encore...well unless it is a band who is a little "bigger" or with more than one album, but once the music started and i was having such a great time, as well as everyone around me, I assumed an encore was deserved and would have been greatly appreciated.
either way i really enjoyed the show and almost talked myself in to going to the Friday night show as well. i didn't though.
Posted by ROCK STARchitect | March 30, 2009 9:22 AM
good show.
was the singer for white lies' voice any better on Friday night?
he was struggling on Thursday...
Posted by reheatedspaghetti | March 30, 2009 11:00 AM