but wasn't it at the showbox?

Oh der... that's true. I'm stuck in the past when they were still at the Neumo's level of venue size. Now their all big time Showbox headliners.

kaki king is the musical equivalent of valium. she may be technically gifted, but it's far from engaging or inventive.

i love everything about john darnielle, except his choice of opening acts (barbara morgenstern excepted). before last night, though, most of the bands were just awful, so this was a twist.

@ liz: ah, those neumo's days. i have only the fondest memories of mg's at neumo's. i'm sort of sad they've outgrown the venue.

@ serotonein: i have to agree with you on darnielle's taste in opening acts for the most part, but jeffrey lewis and the jitters (from their show in february) was one of the best opening acts (of any act) i've seen in a while.

@3 - Wow . . . I didn't see her set last night, so I can't speak to that, but Kaki King is most definitely an incredibly engaging and inventive musician. Sorry her live show didn't work for you, though.

@ douglas, i was running late to the february show so i missed almost their entire set. the songs i listened to online didn't do much for me, but it's entirely possible that their live set would work for me.

@ levi, i was pretty much unaffected by the first half of the set (background music in a coffee shop), couldn't help compare the two songs she did alone as an extended meditation on the way joseph arthur starts his songs when he plays solo but without the payoff, liked the don caballero/exlosions in the sky piece when the band came back... and then spent the rest of her 75min set wishing that she'd left on a high note. i was so bored, i logged into facebook on my blackberry both to let everyone else know how bored i was, and also so i wouldn't fall asleep standing up.

the songs she co-wrote with darnielle are all very good. in fact, he went out of his way to say that one of them she wrote the music & he wrote the lyrics to fit the demo. it's possible she'd do much better as the lead guitarist in a band that could control her worst impulses.

i agree 120% with serotonein.

kaki is incredibly talented, completely non-offensive, and pleasant to listen to.. however not entirely interesting. i loved her solo instrumental songs -- never really found anything exciting about her voice/lyrics.. and that's pretty important when you're sandwiched next to the mountain goats. i think that's why people have welcomed jeffrey lewis as an opener. he's definitely interesting enough.

i have to say, also: i watched half of her set from the bar, and the other half from the front row, and when i could concentrate on her fully i liked her music a lot more.. in a room as big as the showbox, it very hard to capture the attention of the entire room.

Hm. Well, let's just say maybe her music isn't for people who log onto Facebook via their Blackberries while at shows. I think Laura makes a good point about the level of attention being rewarded: if you treat it as background music it will start to sound like background music.

levi, you may have missed that second part about falling asleep while standing up. if an artist is actually playing something interesting, i don't look for other things to do.

my situation was exactly the same as laura's (half from the bar, half up in front), and my opinion of the music wasn't measurably altered by the change in location. i wanted those 75min of my life back.