Went to see the Eels at the Park West in Chi-town last night. Last Eels show I saw featured E in an old-fashioned flight uniform complete with goggles, a giant (ok, just a giant super-buff dude) doing calisthenics, whipped cream, and rock and roll delights. The time before that, E wore a three-piece suit, smoked a cigar and had an orchestra onstage. It would be fair to say that I didn’t really know what to expect.

eels rock show-2006

The Park West is tiny, fitting about 700 in what is basically a really big, super swanky Canopy Club, except with chairs all the way up to the stage. Those chairs made me sad, since there was no room for doing anything but sitting. E came out after a first set consisting of a movie about E and his physicist father. He played alone for a few songs, then was joined by E’s main man, “the Chet.” The Chet, like E, can (and did) play every instrument on the stage-guitars, piano, harpsichord(?), drums, and several exotic stringed items.
That was it: the two men played music and people sat there and listened (and the Chet did a couple readings from E’s new book, not yet released in the U.S. but available last nite for about 2 seconds). E played lots of music off of Electro-Shock Blues, the super-sad but totally wonderful album written during an especially difficult time in the Everett family history (so goes the story). Lots of these songs are pretty rockin and upbeat on the album, but last nite they were slower and emptier of adornment but no less beautiful. I really thought about crying-but didn’t. The show felt long and was so intense that it was a surprise when it ended after little more than an hour.

I had a great time, I loved it and thought it was awesome, but it was a kinda strange experience nonetheless. The sound was amazing, the space felt tiny, and the music was kickass, but it was still kinda weird, in a good way. It’s like E said “F*ck it- I know my music is rules no matter how I play it, so I might as well do what I want and people can like it or not.” I was proud of him and lucky to be an Eels fan and get to see such an unusual and heart-stopping show. Thanks E, I’ll see you next time you come around, and every time thereafter…

Ok, so I didn’t actually get tasered, or even threatened with a taser, but pepper spray is kind of a bummer also. What, you say, was I in a riot? No, no, just assembling peacefully to enjoy some local music, and getting a shot of pepper spray on the side. Now, most everyone reading this blog probably knows about the Local Music Awards last night (it is featured right on the website, after all), and those who went are also probably aware of the other free show right next door to the High Dive, at the surprisingly lovely Memphis on Main.
Zmick, Elsinore, Beauty Shop, to name just a few of the six bands that played for free at Memphis on Main last night, in case the free performances at the LMA’s weren’t enough. It was a very fun little evening, with lots of people bouncing back and forth between the two shows, everyone getting their money’s worth of sweet local music (haha). There was an actual feeling of community and mutual enjoyment.
But anyway, back to the pepper spray. So, there we are, a crowd of happy listeners, well sated after a great Elsinore set, awaiting the Beauty Shop, when all of a sudden, the whole bar had to adjourn outside for some fresh air (in order to escape what I believe was a cloud of pepper spray). Oddly, the band was not ushered outside, confirming the fact that bands are hardcore and willing to take abuse in the name of setting up the stage for playing music. What heroes.