Throwing Muses

A week last Monday I dragged myself off my sick bed to see one of my favourite bands, Throwing Muses, play live at Oran Mor. I got there early, erring on the side of caution, and ordered a bottle of mineral water from a very attractive but icy cold blonde barmaid. I was not drinking alcohol because I had a fasting blood test the following morning and I thought it best not to have any alcohol in my bloodstream. Thus I spent the next few hours in this rare window of sobriety. While waiting for the support act the venue gradually filled up with fellow Bieber hating, Muse loving intellectuals. I amused myself with a few daydreams (repeatedly punching Justin Bieber in the face was my favourite) and checked out the talent (that is the Scottish way of saying that I visually appreciated the fairer sex). The support act was a spunky and likable young singer/songwriter from the Faroe Islands and whose name I have completely forgotten despite the fact that he repeated it about forty times during his set. His songs were a mixed bunch - one was very good, a few were quite good, one or two were very average. While he crooned away my eyes was fixated on his guitar; a splendid, ochre-toned, semi-acoustic that had a gorgeous shape like a woman's curves - thou shall not covet thy neighbour's guitar. I am a snap happy tourist concert goer. Let me explain. While on vacation many tourists take photos constantly and miss out on just experiencing the sights and smells and sounds of a city. I am kind of the same at concerts. I was mentally writing my blog while the band played. Rarely am I able to get totally lost in the music and in this age of countless medicial conditions I am sure that I suffer from some kind of syndrome. Kristen Hersh, lead singer and guitarist of Throwing Muses, blasted her way onstage with a couple of storming numbers and then thanked us for coming out on such a cold, wintery night. She described us as ‘you randy Monday nighters’ or something like that. Well, they were absolutely awesome in concert. Right from the word go. They were so dynamic, intense and expressive. Any fool with a guitar can play with energy and passion but they seemed to channel it with great skill and flair. I'm not a music critic so I can't really explain why they were so awesome but it was one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to. One thing I can say with certainty is that seeing them play live really made me appreciate Kirsten Hersh more as a guitarist. There were two encores, much to the delight of a highly enthusiastic crowd. The Muses seemed to really warm to us as well and fed off our energy (and drunkeness). In an ideal world, with myself as master of the universe, the Muses would be playing sell out concerts in front of 10,000, but maybe something would be lost in that kind of setting, that special thing that happens when a great band play in an intimate venue to around 200 die hard fans. Just awesome.