Asteroids Galaxy Tour Webster Hall, NYC 11/21/08

I kind of expected Asteroids Galaxy Tour to be more of a semi-corny Pop group than the mellow, scruffy Nordic mood-master troubadours they were, so here's to pleasant surprises...the close-up of Mette Lindberg that appears in the opening is in fact from the end of one of the songs, as you'll see, but it felt like that self-reflection Nick Cave experiences in Wings of Desire (which reminds me that I wish I hadn't thrown away, a few months ago, the framed street poster for Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds playing The Ritz -- now Webster Hall -- that I've had for twenty years) so I hastily pasted-in the close-up a few times as a reminder of the unique challenge a lead singer handles...


The first tune from this clip would be right at home on a play list alongside some of the 90s classic tunes like Prince Paul's "The Truth" and DJ Krush's "Mind Games" or some Attica Blues or Portishead joint, none of which is a bad thing, and while the arrangement on "The Sun Ain't Shining No More" is in fact more Smashmouth than Scott Walker or Philly Spector, it remained extra-interesting live, thanks to the Lindberg's vampy verses of feminine-but-tough hitchhiker-swagger which she dispenses with an MC-worthy breath control, winding everything up by getting positively Goldfrapp on the spooky-octave haunted-house outro, leaving me wondering if she could rap, too?


Before closing the set, in acknowledgment of Grandmaster Flash playing upstairs, she jokingly spit the "Don't Push Me" refrain from "The Message" and I was thinking she'd be not unlike Blondie on "Rapture" as a rapper -- she is in a way, reminiscent of Michelle Pfeifer dancing to Blondie in "Scarface", especially in the shades she sports at the last two second of these ten minutes, when she jokingly motions for me to come over, instantly reminding me of Morrisseys frantic plea: "I need advice, I need advice, nobody ever looked at me twice!"


I was gonna turn around and look behind me to see if in fact it was me she was joking with, but I was pretty sure it was me, and anyway, I didn't wanna shatter the illusion if it wasn't me, plus, if I had turned around she would've seen my bald-spot and that woulda been rough, too...


The last track has a rambling verse that floats off a cliff on the beat then rebuilds into another litany before trailing off again, and the nice, simultaneously wan and tense arrangement has a trippy feel, like Dear Prudence-era Banshees...might be fun for a track like this to get a long, strange re-working...


Throughout the entire set the band were having trouble with monitors, but they kept things loose, and the wooden upright piano and tattered flag made the stage feel like an out-post saloon, again a good thing, and you gotta give it up to Webster Hall for booking multi-tiered nights (Amanda Palmer at 7, Grandmaster Flash late-night, and Asteroids Gaxy Tour 'round midnight) in the legendary venue, making for the kind of NYC mash-ups that you hope to find under one-roof on a Friday night.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Asteroids
• Galaxy
• Tour
• Michael
• Vazquez
• Webster
• Hall

[Salaino24]

She is so cute

[sidneycostaful]

Meu deus como vivi tanto tempo sem essa banda, esse som é muito lokooooooooooooooooooooooooooo­oooo

[helderdje]

I like this :)

[odbplayer89]

hahaha i love her and these crazy instruments

[lysolbombs470]

Thanks!

[horsehollerer]

The first song is "Crazy"

[lysolbombs470]

If you've got the raw, unedited video, I'd honestly love to see it.

[armagedonshoes]

I'm really enjoying this band a lot. I have been keeping them on repeat and they are swiftly catching up to the 80's tracks and current techno that live on my new iPod Touch. The last song, in case you didn't know is "Push the Envelope". That first full song they play...no clue. Anyway. Have fun