1. Joe DiMaggio was one of the greatest ballplayers of all times. But if you only saw him once and he went Ofer, you might think he sucked.
2. One of the main reasons the Beatles broke up and the Stones didn’t was because the Stones performed live and the Beatles stopped performing live.
This comes to mind because of Shinobi Ninja’s performance at Arlene’s grocery on Wednesday. Can we judge them on their worst day? No, but how don’t we?
Look: I’ve written over and over again how I prefer Johnny to Jenny. Ever wondered why? Because Rice blew Rilo Kiley off stage at Webster Hall.
That’s how central live performance is to our take on bands.
One of the best songs of the 21st Century is Conor Oberst’s “I Got A Reason # 2” -a live boot recording a year before the final recording was on Outer South. Now guess what. Conor botched the recording.The boot was fuelled almost entirely by a genius keyboard riff from Nate Wolcott which pushes Conor’s rasping, declarative vocal to heights of intensity. The recorded version is very, very good. The boot was my fave song of 2008.
Live performance effects the root of my opinion of a band. Days after I dismissed Wavves as whatevers, they blew me away at Bowery Ballroom. I had loved Girls after a terrific opening set for Los Campesinos only to lose all interest after a naff gig. Los Campesinos went from first to whatevers for the same reason. But, with the possible exception of their opening for Vampire Weekend, Titus Andronicus are ALWAYS ON THE MONEY. VW redeemed themselves that night with a perfect set.
Lauryn Hill, somebody I’ve loved for well over a decade, was so bad at Rock The Bells it puts her entire legacy in jeopardy.
Which leads me back to Shinobi. Call Wednesday a onefer and let the on their best night the best their is get back to doing what they do best.