Two Gallants - Paradiso kleine zaal, 28 February

It was a quiet night last night at Paradiso. The Two Gallants were the only band playing in the whole venue, so the doors to the main hall were closed, the lobby was not jam-packed with people arriving for the show, it only took about 5 seconds to put our coats in the coat check... Kinda weird, but nice and laidback.

We headed upstairs and leaned against the wall near the front waiting for the show to start. It started half an hour later than planned, which was a bit annoying. In the music they were playing though, they played The Decemberists, We Both Go Down Together, which makes 3 for 3 shows that we've gone to in recent weeks where The Decemberists were played. A sign of their popularity right now, I guess.

Not long after we arrived, who should we see but the guy who was standing a couple of people in front of us at the Clap Your Hands Say Yeah show. To avoid people mistakenly coming to my site because I mentioned an actor who is on a certain show that takes place in Southern California, I will now refer to this guy, not by that actor's name (though that is who he looks like), but as Arnold Brawny. Ah, how I throw you off. So yes, Mr. Arnold Brawny guy was there again, grabbing a spot front and center. I have this feeling we'll be seeing him at more shows that are a part of our Insane Pile of Concerts - Spring 2006. Almost definitely at the next one, because the next one is Death Cab for Cutie, and if Arnold Brawny is anything like the actor who he looks like, then it would be a sin to not see the Death Cab.

There was also a girl there last night who was also at the front near us at the Clap Your Hands show, and who very much resembles Janeane Garofalo. Maybe she'll be around at other shows we're at too.

So before I move onto talking about the actual concert, there is the little story of the Stuck-Up Photographer (Prick) Who Took 1000 Flash Photos During The Intimate Two Gallants Show (I add in "prick" at O's request). We saw this guy when we got to the hall, he was sitting at a table near us and he eventually pulled out a camera. I pointed it out to O, only because O decided in the end not to take his camera this time, so it was like "well, there's one person with a camera..." Then he pulls out one of those big, add-on flashes, and sticks it onto the camera. Hrm. I said something to O about how you don't need the built-in flash, let alone one of the big fancy ones. When the guys from the band finally came out on stage, the guy with the flash already was at the very front of the stage, to the left, flashing away every 5 seconds while the band was still just setting up. And this of course continued as they played, the guy standing right at the front with his camera glued to his face, always using the flash. It was giving me a headache, not to mention my eyes were having to readjust for a few seconds after each time the flash went off. It was more noticable in this setting as well, since it was in the small hall and there wasn't some big light show going on, it was fairly dark and the stage lights were static. Except for the *pof* *pof* *pof* of this bloody flash. Gaaaah. A few songs in, a guy came from a few rows back and said something to Flash Man, to which Flash Man just scowled and muttered what was likely a dirty name. And continued taking his annoying photos. So, a few more songs later, O suddenly shot past my right side and decided to have a word with Flash Man. Flash Man was not happy and he argued back at O, moving back to where I was standing so as not to be talking right there at the front of the stage. I heard Flash Man say "Do you work here? No? Well, then shut up." And he went back to the front. Then he came back over to O and complained that O wasn't telling off a girl who was using a flash as well, and O told him she wasn't being as annoying because she only took a few photos, she wasn't doing it constantly. Flash Man stomped back off to the front and carried on taking flash photos for the rest of the show.

O told me later that what the guy first said to him was "I get paid to do this and I have an obligation to take good photos of the band." O told him he should invest in a better lens then and he wouldn't have to use the flash. Heh. After all, there were about 3 other people taking photos and they weren't using flash, and a couple of them didn't even have SLRs like Flash Man did. Regardless, the guy was an ass and breaking all the rules of good concert photography, well, the ones that professionals follow, namely: don't use flash, only take photos during the first 3 songs, and don't piss off the audience members around you. There was a discussion about this on a Dutch blog recently, which complained about the proliferance of people taking photos at shows and how it can be really annoying, but if you follow some common-sense rules you aren't going to piss people off. This guy did, then he obviously didn't care when people complained.

I am now setting aside my anger at Flash Man, and will describe the brilliant show that the Two Gallants put on. It was at least as good as when we saw them open for The Decemberists in November, which was the first we heard of them at all and they blew me away. They were just as chilling to watch this time.

They started with Steady Rollin' from their album that just came out, What the Toll Tells. They began with it in November as well, and it's a great start. It has a long intro that slowly builds and builds, and then the singer finally steps forward to sing, unleashing this growling voice full of pain. It's truly awesome. And the drummer is all pounding away on the drums while jerking his whole body into the movements and the sticks are flying up through his hair which is hanging over his face. They have a very raw, stripped-down feel, which suits their painful music perfectly.

I have their new album, but I've not listened to it yet, though seeing them live again has made me want to listen to it as soon as I can. Many of the songs I liked so much both times that we've seen them are on the new album, as opposed to their older album, The Throes, which I bought at the show in November. I've unfortunately only listened to the older album once, partly because most of what they played wasn't on it, and partly because it is rather low-fi and I found it a bit hard to listen to. But I will give it another chance.

I can imagine that word of mouth will grow and that perhaps in a year or so the Two Gallants will come back to Amsterdam and perhaps be able to play in the Melkweg at least. All I can say is that when they come back, you must be there.

Next up, as already mentioned: Death Cab for Cutie on the 8th. The show I'm least looking forward to of our Insane Pile of Concerts - Spring 2006, but it might be better than I expect.