Broadcast @ Abbey Pub
November 5th, 2005I was really pleased with this show. Both openers put on a good set, and Broadcast was great as usual. The first opener of the evening was from The Like Young. The music wasn’t really my speed, but they performed well, and I was particularly impressed that the small woman on drums played like a gorilla. I’ve never seen drumming that hard from anyone.
Next up was Gravenhurst, who for some reason I thought was from Detroit. His thick accent quickly cleared that up – he’s not from Detroit. I enjoyed his folky/rock style, although it didn’t do much for my friend Doug. Gravenhurst’s new album “Fires in Distant Buildings” is quite good, in my opinion.
But I was really there to see Broadcast, who didn’t disappoint. I was skeptical about seeing them again, since I had seen them at the same venue a year earlier – and I was concerned that a second show might be too similar. So I had downloaded their new album off the web, to get an idea if I needed to see their new material live. I liked it and bought a ticket for the show, but I still wanted to support the band.
After checking out their merchandise, I decided I just wanted to give the band some money, to support the work they were doing. The guy at the merch counter seemed a bit confused that I didn’t want to buy anything, but just wanted to give them money. I explained I had downloaded the album from the net, and didn’t really want to buy the album, but wanted to compensate them in some way. He said he couldn’t take the money, but that if I liked their music and spread the word, that was compensation enough. But then I noticed that the CD came with a poster and a pin, and I could use both. So I bought the CD after all.
Personally, I think every band should have a tip jar on their site linked via PayPal. If you liked the band live, or a friend copied the CD for you, or you grabbed it off of BitTorrent or something – you could drop by their website and pay them for the music. There are SO many bands I would do this for.