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Monday, February 8, 2010

The Spin Girls w/Magic Kids & The Smith Westerns at Exit/In, 2/6/10

Posted by The Spin on Mon, Feb 8, 2010 at 8:48 AM

click to enlarge Girls020610ExitIn13.jpg
Check out the slideshows for more photos: Girls; Magic Kids & The Smith Westerns. Maybe it was the week of cold weather and the promise of jingle-jangly sunshine-y power-pop to warm The Spin's cold soul (and colder extremities), but somehow we managed to make it to Exit/In on time Saturday to see San Francisco's Girls. By 9:45, the room was filled with the expected mixture of beards, cardigans, skinny jeans and those preposterous oversized glasses. But, curiously, we also saw more polo shirts and tucked-in button-downs than we expected. Of course, the brahs had Muffy and Tiffini hanging off their tribal-tatted arms -- "OMG me and my sisters LOVE that 'I wish I had a boyfriend' song!" The first band, The Smith Westerns, had an aesthetic that reminded us of The Katies in the late '90s -- all striped sweaters and stringy hair and, weirdly, a flannel shirt. They sounded to us like sped-up Del Shannon, except dronier.
click to enlarge MagicKids020610ExitIn18.jpg
Memphis' Magic Kids followed. The fresh-faced six-piece clearly have a following in the 615 -- the kids were excited for the Kids. They danced and swayed and held hands as the Magic Kids asked, "Where's your boyfriend?" and invited us all to go sailing and play with a Superball. It's the soundtrack to the afternoon after your dream date says they'll go to the prom with you. Unfortunately, that's not a sentiment The Spin is all that familiar with. Despite lead singer Bennett Foster's rocking perhaps the highest-waisted jeans ever seen on the hallowed Exit/In stage (coupled with a bright red Donald Duck sweatshirt), and despite our being annoyed by his Morrissey-like preening on the band's final number (although, the song did sound a bit like an upbeat Smiths tune), Magic Kids cast enough of a spell to have us thinking there might just be a sticky July afternoon waiting outside. It was disappointing to suck down a cigarette on a frigid February evening. By 11, Girls had taken the stage and begun a set well-suited for the stage at The Bait Shop on The O.C. Closing our eyes, we saw Seth and Summer sweetly kissing, and Ryan and Marissa hashing out their oh-so-complicated relationship again. Girls played all their songs at the perfect volume to be heard but not obtrusive -- wouldn't wanna interrupt all that climactic dialogue, y'know. If Juno had a prom, Girls would have played it. This was a Nashville crowd more amped-up than most -- ready to dance, ready to kiss -- but the San Francisco treats just didn't bring enough. Not even when they played "Lust for Life." People sorta stood around through the first verse, as if waiting for the naughty video. The night's biggest reaction came as lead singer Christopher Owen explained he was going to play country-and-Western songs, pandering to a crowd who yelped with civic pride. To Owens, though, "country-and-Western songs" are songs that sound like the rest of his songs, just played to a waltz beat and featuring a harmonica solo. That was about as innovative as Girls got. Yes, the crowd tapped its feet and one particularly excitable dude threw his hands up to testify, and yeah, the songs were a nice bit of summer novelty in the middle of the winter of our ennui. But as with the summer flings Girls recall, there wasn't much of import to take away from their performance.

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Comments (18)

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Holy Napoleon Dynamite!
It's officially cool to dress uncool, which now makes it uncool again.
*sigh*

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Posted by Lynn on February 8, 2010 at 9:46 AM

You forgot to mention the guy passed out against the drum riser for the first half of girls set.
amazing.

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Posted by meg on February 8, 2010 at 10:43 AM

i want to know who is working publicity and brainwashing for girls. goddamn, they're boring enough listening to on record, i can't imagine seeing them live.... or i won't imagine it, cos i don't want to fall asleep right now. hey lead singer dude, the wardrobe department from the film Singles called and wants their "style" back.

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Posted by jeremy on February 8, 2010 at 11:00 AM

also, why do people cheer when a band makes fun of them saying they're playing "country and western" just cos they're in nashville. "hey, you're a stupid redneck with a small pecker." "yaaaaay!"

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Posted by jeremy on February 8, 2010 at 11:01 AM

@jeremy AMEN. Girls blow harder than sarah palin on satan's pecker

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Posted by cash rich on February 8, 2010 at 11:17 AM

All these fucking bands blow goats. Where is the fucking ROCK in any of this? I agree with every comment above...

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Posted by Chris Cretin on February 8, 2010 at 11:41 AM

Yes, any band that doesn't ROCK blows goats. It's a rule!

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Posted by Steve H. on February 8, 2010 at 12:08 PM

I enjoyed the show.

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Posted by Jeff on February 8, 2010 at 6:07 PM

Chris Cretin, if you had bothered to listen to the Smith Westerns' record, you'd know that a) they fucking ROCK and b) they don't blow goats. they're definitely the best of these three bands. they're record is one of the best i've heard in a while.
this review was spot on. I hadn't entirely bought into the Girls phenomenon, but I was curious to see them live. Lead singer dude was a very impressive guitar player, great tones, and he sings well. A better than average twee frontman. Outside of the hits, however, the band's performance was pretty snoozin.

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Posted by luke from character on February 8, 2010 at 6:33 PM

Hey Author of this article, were you the douche in the hipster bowtie scrawling notes above your head that made it hard for those of us behind you to enjoy the show? If so, get a fucking light-up pen and a new girlfriend because that chick was beat. Nevertheless, pretty spot-on review for a guy wears goddamn bow-ties to the exit/in.

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Posted by Anonymous on February 9, 2010 at 12:07 PM

This show coulda been fun, but Exit/In fucked it up in my opinion. I got there at 9:40 or 9:45, there was a long line of people waiting in the freezing-ass cold that was moving incredibly slowly, and the Smith Westerns were already playing. And it was worse than I thought, because their set ended as soon as my companion & I actually got inside the venue. Who is clamoring for shows to start at 9 sharp on a Saturday night, and what on earth is the rationale for starting a show when there's obviously still a big line of people waiting to see it? The line was still there half an hour later when Magic Kids were playing.
I agree with Luke that Smith Westerns do indeed play rock music, & are awesome. They were the ones I was really looking forward to seeing. I thought Magic Kids were kind of meh.

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Posted by Emily H. on February 9, 2010 at 6:25 PM

i didnt go to this show. girls is okay on record, but i def agree that most of this apparently sucking so hard had to do with the exit/in, that place is a total buzz killer.

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Posted by ho'dad on February 9, 2010 at 9:17 PM

Wow way to report on the crowd and the bands' attire! Riveting!

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Posted by Anonymous on February 10, 2010 at 11:54 AM

Chris Cretin for the win.

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Posted by Sad Truth on February 10, 2010 at 12:16 PM

It took until the last paragraph (when this dude waxes poetic like he's something other than a critic) for me to realize this was a concert review and not a fashion blog written by some wacky peoplewatcher.
Good one.

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Posted by Anonymous on February 10, 2010 at 5:06 PM

you wouldnt understand music from san francisco - you live in nashville. nashville, people. the girls album is phenomenal & theyre solid live. smith westerns are ok. magic kids...eh.

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Posted by ANON on February 11, 2010 at 10:28 PM

You're right. The other day I tried to play an Aislers Set record, but since I live in Nashville, I didn't "understand" it.

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Posted by Steve H. on February 12, 2010 at 8:47 AM

i wanna throw up all over music journalism in general, but unless this is an eleventh grader practicing for the school paper, there is no excuse for the kiddie-pool deep references waaaay out of left field. del shannon? the smiths? i'm baffled.
@ lynn
can't tell if you're classist or just ignorant and self-loathing. some people dress like that because they cannot afford to dress otherwise but i guess in the warped scene world normal folks wearing jeans from the cowboy store and shirts from the thrift store means they're making a statement.
some of us wore high waters to school and the same clothes every day growing up and got shit for it and maybe we feel comfortable and OK with ourselves now; don't need to go into debt to satisfy other people's fashion values.
but jeez i guess you can't get up on stage unless you have a trust fund. who cares if you just love to sing and play the songs in your head to make people feel good--you've gotta LOOK good.

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Posted by anon on February 15, 2010 at 11:09 AM
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