It’s a sign of a good show: you’ve got bruising on the back of your elbows, your ears are still ringing over twenty-four hours later and you don’t mind either of them. But I’ll start at the beginning.

I arrived ten minutes before doors were due to open to find a very small queue for a sold-out show. My resident gig partner had gone for a wander, and when she got back we decided to skip forward to stand in the giant gap some emo-looking girls had left. Foolish emo-looking girls. Doors were a good half-hour late, and by that time a huge number of people had joined the line. The first ever bag check I’ve had at Concorde 2 resulted in security taking my water away from me (grr) and we went inside to secure ourselves a good spot against the barrier.

Yes, Axis of Live (aka, me) has been making the rounds at CMJ this year, though due to real life obligations, I’m only able to devote 2 days to the madness this year. I believe Olga’s going to the Grates/Mew show tonight, so maybe she’ll have some nice photos of that later on. Anyway, two days, three shows, and thanks to one of them lasting until 3 AM, I’ve got laryngitis today. It’ll make a good story for my grandchildren one day, if I last long enough to procreate.

Here’s some commentary and photos from the first show I went to: BrooklynVegan’s 11/1 afternoon showcase at Pianos.

I wasn’t there for the whole thing. I ended up there at the end of Land of Talk’s set, which sounded really good from the small confines of the corridor leading into the main room. I’d been really worried I wouldn’t be able to get into the show at all, especially when I saw a crowd of people hanging out on the sidewalk in front of Pianos upon my arrival. Turns out I was able to get in easily and those people were just hanging out. The room was too full for me to get a good look at Land of Talk, so I just sort of listened and bopped my head. Soon, Ryan Allen of Thunderbirds Are Now! appeared beside me and we headbopped together. TAN! was the main reason I was there, so it goes without saying that his presence got me very tingly on the inside. Not in a perverted way; not really, anyway. He is super cute, though. He seemed to like Land of Talk, too.