Mates of State

Concerts are fun. Sometimes I go on a hiatus, and apparently sometimes I attend two in one week out of no where. But it just makes sense - first The Presets and now Mates of State? Caitlin became a lover of the MOS when we got married, so she was equally (if not more) excited than I was for this. MOS was my first concert in New York City when I moved there (or was it Echoboy? I can't remember...). Now, five years and three records later, I was to see them again in Chicago.We tricked Don and Liz into coming with us. They had not heard MOS, but are always up for adventures. I had a feeling this was a group they could enjoy (*spoiler - I was right).The Black Kids were the core opening band. I had read a lot about them in magazines, but never actually heard their music. While I enjoyed the first few songs, the songs become altogether a little repetitive and I could have used about 3 songs less. I feel like they are probably a band that is better live, so I'll be skipping the albums. For a band that uses very few instruments, it really took MOS a long time to set up. I think this was more a factor of getting all of the Black Kids crap of the stage. To be honest - one of my favorite things about this concert was the DJ that played the music between bands. Its like he was putting on a personal concert for me alone. There were times where I wasn't even paying attention to Liz, Don, or Caitlin because I was just feeling this guy's choices. He caught my ear when he played Daft Punk, but then completely blew my mind when he played L'trimm's "Cars That Go Boom" which was one of my favorite songs in junior high. Oh man, Tigre and Bunny D - so amazing. Then he played my current favorite song "My Moon My Man" Boyz Noize remix from Feist. Man, that DJ was SLAMMIN!

And then it was MOS time! This Santa Claus guy came out and read a different poem before each band. I don't know what that was all about - but whatever. I like Santa Claus.Mates of State played a great show, albeit short. They had to be done at 10pm because it was a 16+ year old show, so the kiddies needed to make curfew. That wouldn't have been a problem if it weren't for the Black Kids, so MOS had to just fly through as many songs as they could fit in. They probably got through about 9. While I felt a little jipped, we had a great time and they played some great songs.This is the kind of concert where everyone is just singing their little hearts out. Me included. Don included actually. Everyone included.Don and Liz were happily delivered the goods and I think I just earned their trust for music for at least one more concert. I wonder what we will see next...