Violent Femmes - still worth seeing?

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The Femmes are coming to London in May, but is it worth my shelling out £17.50 to see them at the odious Astoria? Or are they past their best? If anyone's seen them in recent times, thoughts appreciated...

― Mog, Monday, 5 April 2004 10:32 (twenty-one years ago)

They're well past it, but they still put on a decent show (if you can stand the nostalgia quotient). Seeing them on the Freak Magnet tour was one of the most depressing experiences of my adult life, but a couple of years later, they played to commemorate the re-release of their first album, and it was great, so ya never know.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 5 April 2004 10:47 (twenty-one years ago)

They're charging £17.50? That's a bit steep.

― Dadaismus (Dada), Monday, 5 April 2004 10:48 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm going to this gig, and I did find it a bit weird that they're charging nearly £10 more than Franz Ferdinand. Still, it's only the 13th time they've ever played the UK, so we'll see.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 5 April 2004 11:03 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm sure you were all on tenterhooks as to my decision to go to this gig or not. Well, I'm pleased to announce that I decided my £17.50 would be better spent on seeing American Music Club at the Royal Festival Hall. (God, between this and the Pixies it's like I've fallen through a wormhole into 1992...)

― Mog, Tuesday, 6 April 2004 13:24 (twenty-one years ago)

I think it still worth it. But, the only times I've seen them have been in front of the hometown crowd. I'm quite sure that they put on a better show in Milwaukee than in random other places. I don't think that they are past their prime, though.

― Elyn (elynbeth), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 13:31 (twenty-one years ago)

You honestly chose the entirely joyless American Music Club over the Femmes? That is surrprising.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 14:45 (twenty-one years ago)

I was amazed actually, searching through the old threads, to see how much hate there is on this board for AMC. I *love* 'Mercury' and 'Engine' - they overtook Red House Painters as my favourite 'sad' band for not being quite so obviously 'woe-is-me'. Not too fussed about Eitzel's solo stuff, but the AMC reunion - and in a really nice venue too - seemed too good to pass up.

I may yet get tickets for the Femmes, but the Astoria really is a terrible, soulless venue, and most of the reviews I've read of them in the past few years have complained about the lack of energy and high beer belly/bald spot quotient. So perhaps I'm better off keeping my pristine memories of Gordon Gano in his glory years...

― Mog, Tuesday, 6 April 2004 15:07 (twenty-one years ago)

how much hate there is on this board for AMC

I don't hate them, or wish them any ill-will or anything. I just find them entirely boring.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 15:28 (twenty-one years ago)

AMC have just gotten better and better on this tour, so you won't be disappointed. I'd imagine that the Femmes would be practically a nostalgia act by now. Who needs to hear Blister in the Sun for the five hundred fifty thousandth time?

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 16:11 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd imagine that the Femmes would be practically a nostalgia act by now

Unfortunately, this is true. But I still find AMC the stuff of interminable yawning.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 16:52 (twenty-one years ago)

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