{"id":964,"date":"2017-11-04T13:48:25","date_gmt":"2017-11-04T18:48:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=964"},"modified":"2019-12-17T20:27:59","modified_gmt":"2019-12-18T01:27:59","slug":"review-ariel-pink-gary-war-nina-tarr-brighton-music-hall-1102","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2017\/11\/04\/review-ariel-pink-gary-war-nina-tarr-brighton-music-hall-1102\/","title":{"rendered":"REVIEW: Ariel Pink, Gary War, Nina Tarr @ Brighton Music Hall 11\/02"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/wtbu\/files\/2017\/11\/Ariel-LP-1000x1000-636x636.jpg\" alt=\"Ariel-LP-1000x1000\" width=\"636\" height=\"636\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-965\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/files\/2017\/11\/Ariel-LP-1000x1000-636x636.jpg 636w, https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/files\/2017\/11\/Ariel-LP-1000x1000-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/files\/2017\/11\/Ariel-LP-1000x1000-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/files\/2017\/11\/Ariel-LP-1000x1000-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/files\/2017\/11\/Ariel-LP-1000x1000.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 636px) 100vw, 636px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The calendar said Halloween was over, but at the Ariel Pink concert at Brighton Music Hall on Nov. 2, no one would have guessed that the season of wild and spooky shenanigans had come to an end.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The show opened with a \u201cset\u201d from Nina Tarr that didn\u2019t actually involve any music, only spoken-word comedy. Nevertheless, the crowd was sufficiently pumped up for what was to come. The second opener, Gary War, was a former member of Ariel Pink\u2019s backing band, Haunted Graffiti, and this was evident in his music. The fast-paced songs and dark vocals suggested a pseudo-Pink, but his extensive use of phasers and fuzzy guitar effects made for a psychedelic sound all his own. War was on stage alone and at times he appeared to have trouble controlling all his instruments at once, but it was impressive how full of a sound he could make on his own.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ariel Pink\u2019s shows have always been hit-or-miss. The Los Angeles-based musician is somewhat of a diva: at a Boston show in 2013, he refused to play an encore despite having one listed on the setlist, instead coming back out and mumbling \u201cF**k you guys, we aren\u2019t doing an encore.\u201d Last month in San Francisco his rowdy onstage antics with his girlfriend, musician Charlotte Ercoli, drew criticism from some fans who thought he was mistreating her. (This was later debunked by Ercoli, who posted on Twitter that everything was consensual and they were just having fun.) However, the night\u2019s show was a clear hit. He was in the midst of a tour for his recent album, September\u2019s <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dedicated to Bobby Jameson<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and indeed the centerpiece of his stage setup was a shrine to the late \u201860s singer-songwriter. Pink sported an orange jack-o-lantern tank top and some of his backing band members were in costume, indicating they weren\u2019t quite done with Halloween. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The vast majority of Pink\u2019s set was composed of songs from the new album. The band opened with \u201cAnother Weekend,\u201d already stepping off the stage and interacting with the crowd. They then launched into \u201cNighttime Is Great!,\u201d a Halloween-y Haunted Graffiti rarity. Pink expertly worked the crowd, taking a fan\u2019s giant sombrero and putting it on after a performance of 2015 album <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pom Pom<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2019s \u201cWhite Freckles.\u201d After playing the new single \u201cI Wanna Be Young,\u201d he briefly complained to the venue\u2019s sound engineers about too much feedback on stage, and restarted \u201cIn A Tomb All Your Own\u201d (off of his 2007 album <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scared Famous<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) after a faulty beginning, but that was the extent of his diva-like behavior. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Other highlights of his set included \u201cGhosts,\u201d a high-energy shriek-fest from his earlier days, and \u201cBaby,\u201d a mellow Donnie and Joe Emerson cover from his 2013 album <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mature Themes<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. He closed the main part of his set with back-to-back songs from his most successful album with Haunted Graffiti, 2010\u2019s <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Before Today<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. First was \u201cMenopause Man,\u201d an enjoyable if lyrically bizarre track, and next was danceable hit \u201cRound and Round,\u201d which, naturally, ended in Pink crowd-surfing. An encore seemed imminent, and thankfully he did not repeat the episode from 2013: the band came back on stage to play four more songs, beginning with <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dedicated to Bobby Jameson<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2019s \u201cBubblegum Dreams,\u201d a tune that\u2019s about as LA as it gets. He then played two short, high-energy pieces, \u201cKinski Assassin\u201d and \u201cBright Lit Blue Skies,\u201d from <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mature Themes<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Before Today<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> respectively, before closing with \u201cDo Yourself A Favor.\u201d The latter was an odd choice for a closer because it lacked the vitality of some of his earlier tunes, but the crowd was satisfied nonetheless.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Overall, the show was wild from start to finish. Ariel Pink\u2019s onstage charisma combined with the energetic crowd made for a very interesting and exciting concert. Who said Halloween ends with November, anyway?<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">-Leonora Telford<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The calendar said Halloween was over, but at the Ariel Pink concert at Brighton Music Hall on Nov. 2, no one would have guessed that the season of wild and spooky shenanigans had come to an end. The show opened with a \u201cset\u201d from Nina Tarr that didn\u2019t actually involve any music, only spoken-word comedy. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13221,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1525],"tags":[236,215,26,237,238,31,25],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/964"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13221"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=964"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":966,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/964\/revisions\/966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}