The New Pornographers had only played the Beachland Ballroom during stops in Cleveland before Saturday’s show at the House of Blues, something that lead singer Carl Newman mentioned shortly into the concert. He said something to the effect of, “If you only see Cleveland through that neighborhood [Collinwood], you’d think it was a wasteland.” (Paraphrasing there.)
He then turned to siren second-fiddle Neko Case and said it’s better, right, to be at the House of Blues? In a rhetorical way.
Neko, never shy with an opinion, responded, “No, I like the Beachland about 8000 times fucking more.” Cue raucous audience applause. (In case you were curious, she didn’t back off that sentiment later, instead retweeting a whole bunch of things on Twitter to the same effect, including calling the House of Blues franchise the WalMart of concert venues.)
Oh, and there was a show.
This article appears in Apr 20-26, 2011.
yawn
and then, Mike Polensek burst onto the stage!!!