Short attention span music

The geek rock concert last night at the Somerville Theater by They Might Be Giants was insanely loud. And the noise level (from the speakers on 11, from the audience) was unfortunately at odds with being able to hear any lyrics. My confusion about why any band would ask a thrash band like Apollo Sunshine (note to self: avoid like plague) to open and blow out the audience’s eardrums ended when TMBG took the stage and tried to be even noisier. I would have liked to hear music rather than noise that evokes music, and I haven’t usually run into that problem except at arenas. Still, fun to be surrounded by hundreds of screaming fans—the energy level was definitely high.

We also saw two shows at Scullers Jazz Club recently: Jane Monheit in February and Grace Kelly in March. Both ended their shows with striking renditions of Over the Rainbow, making me wonder if Scullers specifically asks performers to include the song. Seeing Tuck and Patti at Scullers back in October 1999 was our first unofficial date, but we hadn’t been back there until 2008. The space is still crowded and dark and jazz-clubby (though smoke-free), and the seating is haphazard, but the acoustics are fine.