If you're lucky, you'll have a couple moments in your life when you'll get a chill like a lightning bolt down your spine because you know something you're witnessing is like nothing else you've seen in your lifetime. On Friday, when the Polyphonic Spree played Graceland, I was right there--and everyone else who was jumping up and down, clapping, and making frontman Tim DeLaughter mouth the words "fucking amazing" over and over again knows what I mean. Twenty-four members, very little U.S. press, and an attentive crowd not sure what to expect--it all came together in this moment of overwhelming symphonic pop, made DeLaughter's eyes water with emotion at the end of the night, and made the rest of us giddy with stupid excitement like we'd been kidnapped and dropped in the middle of Sesame Street. (One friend described watching the Polyphonic Spree as watching the Beatles' "White Album" performed live.) Although they're just starting to grab attention here, the Spree won't be underground for long--this band is like a new religion and already they robed their share of converts on Friday night.
Saturday was a completely different type of bonding experience, as Motörhead and High on Fire hit Northgate (forget the Dwarves--they sounded old and tired and played way too long). The pre-show parking lot party--complete with punks, rockers, metal heads, and Thin Lizzy blasting from the stereo--was as entertaining as the show itself. Where else in Seattle can you party in a mall parking lot with a bunch of crazy strangers but in Northgate? But when it came time for High on Fire (pure, straight-ahead metal) and Motörhead to come on, both bands sounded triumphantly massive--and Lemmy looked 10 years younger than when I saw him at the Catwalk last year.
The bad news: Wall of Sound and Confounded Books/Hypno Video lost their leases recently down in Belltown. After Wall of Sound's 13 years at Second and Bell (Confounded's been there for almost two), they were given a 50 percent rent increase on 30 days' notice. The good news: Both the independent music store and the indie comic/ zine/video store are moving in early May to 315 East Pine Street (near Bauhaus). There will be a benefit concert called "Help" on June 11 at Re-bar to help defray the moving costs, with a bunch of local bands playing Beatles covers. More info on that event closer to the date.
