Oh, that great gig

I turned up late, but the first of two pre-sales, to an extremely under-subscribed gig on Saturday.

Jon Auer of The Posies and the rejuvenated Big Star (they wrote the original version of the theme song from That 70's Show) played a wonderful solo gig in support of his new album 'Songs from the Year of Our Demise'. Tracks on MySpace here.

In the end it turned out great, about fifteen people and a legend of alternative-power-pop with a fantastic honest voice and really nice guitar work. He even took us outside to the street with just his guitar at one point, and wove charming tales of each song's creation in the gaps between.

I also had an interesting conversation with the support act, Jeremy (didn't catch his last name) about the state of modern music. He said 'it used to be that you would have to use two or three bands and/or genres to give someone an idea of a fourth band's sound, but now you can often just say 'sounds like A'. I said 'maybe we need some better adjectives' and he said 'maybe we just need some better bands'!

We agreed that there is perhaps just too much music out there, too accessible, too permeable. I decried my always-too-big pile of 'current listening' and identified with his constant returns to the familiar, those comfortable classics of one's collection. And whereas previously NZ music existed in semi-splendid isolation and was distinctive and special because of it, the widespread availability of ANYTHING via several media ranging from free to cheap, has perhaps lead to a loss of innocence and uniqueness in NZ music. Yes, perhaps more NZ music is being sold now, and its profile is higher, but is it still NZ music? Interesting to consider.

On arriving I met and chatted with the promoter, a nice guy called Jim, who is also bringing Camera Obscura to the San Francisco Bath House on Wednesday! Woo hoo! Hopefully it will sell out on the night.