Unknown Mortal Orchestra: Stubb's: July 13, 2018

Strange how sometimes in the music sphere I can get so up my own butthole with music that I have no clue what other people are in to.  I swear I told about 20 different people what we were going to see on Friday night, and every single one of them gave me a confused look and a shrug.  Part of it was because I have trouble quickly saying the name of the band, my tongue gets tied up by the time I get to the second syllable of "mortal," but the main reason is because no one I hang out with has any clue who the hell Unknown Mortal Orchestra is.  Which is fine, but I was PUMPED about this show, and so it just feels odd to be so outside the mainstream for a show.

That being said, the show was packed.  Its not like I'm some special flower who is the only one who knows about the band.  Instead, as my wife remarked to me (with some derision in her voice) we were easily the oldest people we could see around us.  And likely the only ones with solely agave distillates and fermented grain byproducts getting us excited for the show.  But loads of other folks there who knew the songs well.

Anyhoo, the music.  The opening band was freaking weird as hell.  Shamir was the name on the website, which I now realize is the name of a male performer, and not: (1) a full band; or (2) a woman, which my wife and I thought this guy was throughout the show.  The music was extremely quiet, but even if it had been loud, it wouldn't have been in my wheelhouse.  Going back to check it out again right now, I recall listening to this guy before.

But then UMO was freaking awesome as hell.  They very rarely get out of a super chilled groove, and I very much enjoyed everything they brought to the table.  My wife enjoyed the music, but I'm pretty sure she'll never do another show at Stubb's again.  Which stinks, because I love that venue.  Not a bad spot in the house for me.  But for her, all she sees are the shoulders of the dudes in front of us.  And she's not super short - like 5'6" - but while I can see everything and hear everything well, she's down in this little human valley where all she sees are the way the lights look on the top of the stage and what she hears is muffled by all the humanity.  I actually ducked down and tried it from her perspective for a bit, and it was lame for sure.  (although, hopefully she'll rethink that because I bought Stubb's tickets 18 minutes ago for a show in 2019).

Great show - highly recommend it.  I've been singing their tunes ever since.