AN OKAY TIME

ANIMAL COLLECTIVE AT PROSPECT PARK, BROOKLYN

(the obligatory fruity picture of the three amigos - who looks lamest?)

I have long enjoyed Animal Collective; lately I had been enjoying them more than ever. So I was looking forward to seeing them at Prospect Park in Brooklyn, yesterday, Saturday, Aug. 15.

I was disappointed. To be fair, Animal Collective put on a decent show. But that's it. Decent. Mediocre. Here's why:

1) The ambient interludes. Too long and too fucking boring. The time spent noodling - that is, fiddling with knobs at their cute little stations - was painfully long. It seemed like it was impossible for any momentum to gather during the course of the entire show. A song would kick ass then crumble (In the Flowers).

2) This is similar to the point above - maybe a sister complaint to point 1, 1.B if you will - but AC has some great moments in their songs that are lost amid all of the bullshit. When a song finally kicks into overdrive it's too little too late. Or it's totally fucking awesome but they break the flow, going into an interlude in the middle of a song (Fireworks - a boss song that felt weak, mostly cuz they noodled through most of it).

3) NO STAGE PRESENCE. I understand that this is how Animal Collective makes music. BEHIND THEIR MUSIC MODULES! I don't give a shit. There's barely any attempt to engage the audience. Cool set design but that's about it. The band seem lame, suffering from a too cool for school indie rock disease that makes them feel like they don't have to put on a show for the audience. I bet there was a time when people didn't care about their music so AC was forced to ENTERTAIN. Now they've been branded as the second coming of god knows what, so they can do whatever they want. Avey Tare sucks. LAME LAME LAME dude. Panda Bear makes great music and seems OK. Geologist's head never stopped moving the entire time. He has a beard.

4) No "Who Could Win a Rabbit". This is a personal gripe. I love the song; best song AC has ever made. And they played it the previous night but didn't play it at the show I went to. Bummer. (But they probably would have fucked it up).

5) The Crowd. Weird crew assembled for this one. A lot of young dipshits. Some older people hobbling around. And a shit ton of couples holding each other the entire time. Maybe that's what this kind of show is suited for: Lovers who think music is OK.

Alrite, enough, you get the idea. Not great. Though, to be fair, maybe I'm being a little tough on the little guys. A lot of people will have definitely loved the show. They're the new jam band. They're a jam band. I've never been really into the whole jam band long show jamming thing, so it's logical I didn't like this.

Anyways, I still love AC's albums - great shit. So "tHe fIv3" ANIMAL COLLECTIVE albums (as of right now):

1) Strawberry Jam

2) Sung Tongs

3) Feels

4) Merriwether Post Pavillion

5) Water Curses EP

Stick to vinyl, gentlemen.