Deerhunter @ Bowery Ballroom, NYC (CMJ) - pics

October 18, 2007

Like I said, I should have been asleep. I haven’t been getting much, had just been at Pianos all day, AND was at Bowery all night the night before. Nonetheless, I not only watched all of No Age, White Williams, and Dan Deacon, I stuck it out ’till the end to watch every last second of Deerhunter‘s set – Bradford’s rants included. So, here’s my question: is frontman Bradford’s schtick an act, is he just weird, or is it just the drugs kicking in? The last choice was kind of consistent with the show getting better and better as it went along which went right along with Bradford getting crazier and crazier (disclaimer: don’t do drugs, even if it is them that makes Bradford a more interesting entertainer. Bradford, don’t do them either – it’s not worth it.). I thought the show started off pretty boring, and Bradford was being extremely tame. That mixed with my tiredness, had me almost leaving after a few songs.

Next thing you know, the band picked up immensely, the songs were getting better, and Bradford was jumping off drumkits, falling on the floor, saying all kinds of stuff like, (fabricated or not) “I miss my family”, and going on and on about how much NY sucks for not allowing him to smoke on stage. Actually, the smoking stuff came off a bit whiney which went hand in hand with the fact that when he finally did light up, he didn’t really seem like as much of a rebel as he thought he was being. I haven’t seen an artist kicked off the stage for smoking yet, and usually they just do it without saying anything about it. That (and the slow beginning) aside, great show (for me).

Photos of Dan Deacon (who played right before him to a slightly fuller room, and a much better aka earlier set time for a Wednesday night) here. More photos of Deerhunter, below….