The Fire Theft
This is the strangest tour in the history of all strange tours. Grandaddy. Good. The Fire Theft. Great. But they're opening for Saves the Day? Are you kidding me? That's like the 2000 tour when Bad Religion (who have been playing fiery and political punk rock since 1982) opened for Blink-182 (whose lead singer was 10 in 1982, and now he sings songs about poo). I mean, right?
Now I'm not going to sit here and get into the whole "who has more cred" debate, because honestly, I'm listening to Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" as I type this, so I really have no room to speak on the matter. But c'mon! The Fire Theft consists of former members of Sunny Day Real Estate, one of the most influential bands for so many of today's MTV2 superstars (that's meant to be complimentary, by the way). I'm sure Saves the Day singer Chris Conley spent hours in his room with nothing but a broken heart and a Sunny Day record just trying to survive his awkward teenage years, and could you blame him? Diary is a great record!
And now Jeremy Enigk, William Goldsmith, and Nate Mendel are opening for Conley's band, Saves the Day, a band that has penned the lyrics "You know what?/The next time you see Nick/Tell him I'm gonna stick some needles in his face."
Whatever. I've seen Saves the Day live. Twice, actually, and they're fine. I even like some of the old stuff. They play with enthusiasm, they have fun, which is a lot more than I could say about other bands.
But it just can't hold a flame to the passion behind the Fire Theft's record. When the Fire Theft made their debut last year (and caused nearly every person in this city to crap their pants with excitement), their self-titled CD was selling like crazy. The record is an exhausting experience with layers of beautiful and lush sounds drenching your brain. Jeremy Enigk sings over the thick compositions like his life is depending on it. I don't get chills often, but the first time I heard him sing, "I want love, if love wants me," damn straight I was covered with goose bumps.
But apparently the promoters of the show are willing to recognize that this here is the Fire Theft's country, because for this show (Wed April 14, Showbox), our local boys will be the headliners, allowing the band more time than the 30-minute slot they've had to work with on the rest of the tour. So, Seattle, consider yourself very lucky.
Also playing is Grandaddy. Oooh, Grandaddy. They won my heart the first time I saw them open for Elliott Smith at the Moore Theatre in 2000. They animated their engaging, spacy pop with computer images of cartoon deer and elk and whatnot frolicking through a field. Any other band would be quickly dismissed for such an act, but with Grandaddy, the pairing was strangely perfect. Heh, which is more than I could say about the pairing for this tour.
For All Ages Action listings, see page 54.
