On Friday, the Lady Doc and I caught the Super Furry Animals at The Echoplex. Now, I've been to this venue before and have never had a problem getting in. This time was awful. Parking took forever, and then the line into the venue was dishearteningly long and slow. To make matters worse, everyone was forced to jump through the same hoops, regardless of if one had their tickets in hand or were picking them up from will call. Once we got past the ID check, I was so frustrated that I just waved our tickets in the air, bypassed the swarm of will call tediousness, and finally got us into the venue. I actually think the employees appreciated my act of frustration.
We caught the end of Holy Fuck, and it was probably a combination of my anger from the admissions process combined with our distance from the stage, but I found their performance totally uninspiring. That's probably my fault. But it didn't make matters any better.
Finally Holy Fuck ended. But then began the insanely long SFA set-up period. I know they have a lot of gear, and I know I'm not part of their crew, but I've seen them before and their set-up has always been really efficient. But this was torture. At least by this point we were just a few people back from the stage, so we'd have a good view.
SFA started. Unfortunately, it was nasty hot, smoky (even though The Echoplex is non-smoking), and late. And, for some reason, they didn't have their fun video experience. But what we saw was good, even if it was a carbon copy of past performances. We heard "Slow Life", "Rings Around the World", "The Gateway Song", "Runaway", "Golden Retriever", "Do or Die", "Neo Consumer", and "She's Got Spies". At this point, the Lady Doc was passing out on my shoulder and offered to sleep in the car (which I lovingly vetoed). So, we left. Thankfully they did not play "Run! Christian, Run!", one of SSM's live SFA favorites. Ah, the conflicted life of young professionals who insist on going to shows.
See a full set of pics at
Losanjealous.
Details are scarce, but SSM has learned that Gruff Rhys of the Super Furry Animals is currently recording in Los Angeles for an upcoming release. So, what does the lead singer of arguably the best psychedelic fuzzed-out techno Welsh act do when he needs a female vocalist? He calls up Sarah Assbring of El Perro Del Mar and gets her in the studio for what is sure to be a loving duet by two talented songbirds. Or something.
