Concert Review - Sunny Day Real Estate

I've had an odd relationship with this band over the years, mostly ambivalent appreciation, tempered by skepticism in reaction to hyperbolic veneration and adoration. Basically, a lot of entities I respected were gushing about their 1994 album Diary, and while I liked it, I didn't understand the "hype."

What frustrated me even more was the "emo" tag. In the mid-to-late-90's, lots of indie-rock bands were coming out with a similar sound and style as SDRE, and they were being called "emo," with SDRE being the originators of the sound. What was frustrating to me was the disconnect with what my understand was of "emo." At the time, "emo" to me refered to "emo-core," a style of hardcore/punk with a more melodic (or "emotional") style, and SDRE didn't resemble punk rock or hardcore at all. Good, sure. Alternative, sure. Emo, not so much.

My frustration grew over the years as bands like Mineral, The Promise Ring, Jimmy Eat World, and Appleseed Cast were touted as the next big thing(s) in Emo, while the style of emo-core I knew and loved faded into relative obscurity (the major exception being Thursday in the early 2000's). So I moved on to prog-rock, but that's another story altogether. I noted the SDRE "reunion" in the late 90's into the early 2000's, but I didn't think much of it.

So then out of the blue I hear from my friend John, "wanna go see SDRE?" I found out they were reuniting with the "classic" lineup from Diary, and John had an extra ticket. Sure, why not. God knows I need to get out and especially see live music more often. They were on tour, and they were playing at the Metro in Chicago, just a few blocks away from Wrigley Field, which was kinda neat (though I am required by Wisconsin law to hate the Cubs).

I tried not to have any great expectations of the thing, but I inwardly knew that it was kind of a big deal. I enjoyed some of the other bands of the emo-alterna-rock variety, and I always knew that SDRE did it better than anybody else, and I was looking forward to see how they would be live.

Well, first I had to stand around for quite a long time (which I haven't done in a long long time.. my legs were very tired by the end of the night .. yes, I'm getting old) and listen politely to the opening band. They were called Jealous [something], and they were from Los Angeles. They sounded like every other second-rate SDRE clone. A couple of their songs were a little interesting, executed with passable passion (and, uh, emotion), but for the most part they were, in the words of another attendee, "bland and inoffensive."

When SDRE came out, the audience was obviously very excited, which I thought was kinda neat, but whatever. By the end of the second song, I had been completely drawn into the experience. The band played very tightly together, and the sound was wonderful (well, the bass was kinda muddy, but whatever). They played with a lot of passion and precision, and the songs that I was familiar with came to life with intensity and excitement. Their music consisted of thick, rich chord structures, catchy rhythms and melodies, and lots of .. uh, well, emotion. Singer Jeremy Enigk's voice is very unique, and sounds even better live than on record. I couldn't understand most of what he was singing about, but hey, that's SDRE.

They played about a dozen songs, about half of which came from Diary. They debuted a new song, which sounded promising. Talking with the audience between songs, they gave the impression that it wasn't just a "reunion thing," but possibly a "we're back together" thing. I would love to see them continue where they left off in the mid-90's.

Excellent show. I wouldn't quite say that I was "blown away," but I highly enjoyed the show. These guys are true musicians, and Sunny Day Real Estate is the Real Thing. It's the kind of thing that reminds me why I love music so much. 2 thumbs up.

[Side note .. the date also marked 4 months of sobriety for me. Yay!]

Next up: Zendikar!

Friday Night Magic - 9/11/09, and other miscellany

I've been doing my Magic homework lately, and it's finally paying off. I attended an M10 draft at Friday Night Magic this last weekend, and not only did I break my FNM winless streak, but I actually won 2 out of 3 matches! When I was drafting my deck, I was kinda flailing around, not knowing what color(s) to commit to. I started out kinda blue with Air Elemental, but had a hard time committing to it when other good blue cards didn't come my way. I thought about going black with Doom Blade, and white with a flier and/or defender or three, but I ended up going green, with Howl of the Night Pack and Overrun. I drafted a few more blue "control" spells, a few more blue flying creatures, and some green beasts to do the dirty work of combat.

The first match was very close. I won both games, the second one after narrowly Fogging my way out an attack from a certain pissed-off goblin. The second match I didn't do nearly as well, and I was beat pretty easily. I think the first game I stayed competitive for a while, but my opponent was playing a good, well-balanced, and annoying blue/black deck, featuring TWO Air Elementals and a bunch of other blue fliers.

The last match started out annoying for both of us. I lost the first one because of mana-screw, and he lost the second one because of mana-screw. So for the third (and last) game, I said, "Okay, this time for real!", and I proceeded to win pretty decisively.

I ended up finishing 4th (out of 8) in my "pod," which enabled me to rare-draft a few good cards. I got an Ant Queen, Lurking Predators, Shivan Dragon, and another one that I can't remember. The Queen and the Predators will go wonderfully in the green mana-ramp deck I'm mentally planning.

Which reminds me of a recent purchase I'm very excited about. I bought a bunch of booster packs lately, from Alara & M10, and I was super duper happy excited to finally pick up an Elvish Archdruid .. a foil one no less! I love this card. It's tempting to go and spend the money to get a whole set of 4 of them right now, but I need to be patient. My green deck is slowly but surely coming together. I'm also VERY excited about some of the cards that have been "spoiled" from Zendikar so far. The whole "adventure" theme looks like it'll work really well, and there could be some pretty sick decks emerging in the coming months. I hope to be somewhere near the forefront of it all, and it'll probably involve buying a box of booster packs at some point. But hey, that's Magic.

I'm also continually surprised at how much dang FUN it has been getting into Magic again. I love building decks and playing them .. casually and competitively. Sometimes I get my butt kicked, sometimes I kick butt, but it's always fun. There's something about Magic that really gets my brain fired up like nothing else. I actually get a little "high" from it. My head gets kinda swimmy and endorphiny and my heartrate goes up ... It's pretty cool. I'm hoping to be able to harness all that energy into creating good in my life.

And I think it already has. I like metaphors, and it seems like Magic is a good metaphor for where I'm at right now. I've been having a good couple months. I'm getting myself re-established as a person outside the context of a relationship, and I like it. I'm enjoying myself. I'm learning about myself, and it's not all horrible and doom & gloom. There are still unpleasant things, but they're becoming more manageable. I feel like my life is moving in the right direction and that I'm making tangible forward progress.