Editors - 8/8/06 at Avalon Hollywood

They sounded better live than on the cd, which a hard feat.

Here's the setlist: Someone Says, All Sparks, Blood, new song, You Are Fading, new song w/ piano, Bullets, new song (Retreat?), Camera, Lights, Open Your Arms

Encore: Munich, Road to Nowhere (cover), Fingers in the Factory

Fantastic show, crap audience! There were so many old people (like mid to late 40s or older). Then, for the younger set, just prententious a-holes, wannabe Lohans and jerks. There were a few people genuinely there for Editors and not just to hear "Munich". The crowd went nuts when they played it.

Tom was very strange on stage. His voice was perfectly dark and melodic. But he kept flailing his arms around and putting his body into weird contortions. Then, he would often lean down on the stage and reach for the ceiling. Kinda like he was tripping on acid and was trying to touch the light beams. He would show off his mid-riff since his tight black dress shirt was so short. He's hot so I didn't mind even though his theatrics were a bit off-putting.

Chris's guitar kept me going. He was very nice to me at the Coachella meet and greet, so he's my new favorite. His guitar intro from "Open you Arms" was entrancing, really drew you into the song. And Tom's voice drug you in further. The cover was great (and apparently the last time played). Tom had the crowd interact with an exchange of "heys" from the audience interchanged with the lyric "we're on a road to nowhere"...beautiful. "Camera" with the keyboard was great in this extended live format. Tom was all over the place with it; standing up or running around stage and then would sprint back up to the keyboard mic. And the energy from them with "Someone Says" was awesome. Too bad half of the audience didn't know the song.

I give the show an A simply for the sound quality. I had more fun at the Coachella show because my expectations were high. And I was really close to the stage then. This time I was relatively close, but all the stupid people surrounding me sorta brought me down. I officially hate the Avalon now.

Cold War Kids opened up. I enjoyed "Hospital Beds" and a few other songs. There sound was too ecletic for me. It was like folk, indie rock w/ piano (like Band of Horses), crossed with jazz beats and beat boxing at one point. Very hard to get into. Every song sounded like 2 songs in one whenever the drum beat would drop out. The singer would improvise with moraccas and the guitarist would beat box or hum along. The singer has an excellent voice though. So I give em props. And they're playing at this huge festival in Oslo, Norway. They must have something going on.

*post from 8/9/06