6.18.2008

Tonight, Tonight: The Futureheads @ Pianos [6.18.08]

(The Futureheads playing on the street in London)

In the summer of 2004 in Providence, RI, I saw The Killers play a bar called The Call with about 150 other people. Tickets were six-dollars. "Brightside" was still months and months away from radio and the band had only sold a tiny fraction of the six million albums they would go on to sell. Think what you will about The Killers (I insist they are important and good), but the experience of seeing them up close, in a tiny little room was untouchable. We were all converts. Forever. Of course, all bands go through playing the bar or small club scene before they move up to the Webster Halls and MSGs. But, if you miss those early shows you rarely get another crack at seeing a band somewhere small. Fact is, they don't need you anymore

Unless something weird happens. Unless George Clinton's bus gets lost on the way to a show and he ends up playing the best college party in history at The Pit in PCU. Unless Arcade Fire decide to play outside Union Square at 2am. Unless The Futureheads get dropped from their label because their second album didn't sell very well. So they come back to New York promoting their third, This Is Not The World and they play a secret gig at Pianos. All this information comes out yesterday and tonight The Futureheads will be on stage in a room that has a fire code less than 80. So, if you're in the lucky group of people that have tickets or guest-list spots, great work. Come say hello. We'll buy you a free beer. If you're out of luck, check back tomorrow for some pictures, words, and some overblown analysis of how important the experience was (see paragraph one).

Oh. And their new record is pretty good. So you can go grab that.

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