I decided to head north up to Greenpoint and check out Studio B for the first time on Saturday night, where Todd P has been putting on shows lately. Normally, I'm told it's a Polish nightclub. It certainly feels like a night club, and I don't mean that in a good way. Expensive drinks, lines to get in, lots of security and a terrible DJ. The space itself is large, and the stage is pretty big and they have a huge sound system, all of which makes the place seem promising as a venue, especially if the shows continue to be 18+ and remain cheap. But I'm not yet convinced that I want to see a lot of shows here, even if it isn't that far from my neighborhood.

I've been meaning to catch Meneguar for some time, but for various reasons every time I've tried to see them I've always managed to miss them. Tonight, the stars aligned and I made it with plenty of time to catch their set. It wasn't exactly what I expected, and I'm going put it almost entirely on the sound. That was one of the worst mixes I've heard; it was unnecessarily loud, to the point where it was uncomfortable to be in the room. At first, you couldn't hear the guitars at all. The bass was way too loud. Everything just seemed lost in the mix. This was unfortunate, because Meneguar seemed pretty tight, and I know I like the songs. So, the performance was fine, but the sound awful. Hopefully the next time I catch them the sound guy will be a lot better.

Matt and Kim were playing a homecoming show of sorts; they'd been on tour for a couple of months, and hadn't played a show in Brooklyn in some time. I caught them a few months ago opening up for Les Savy Fav, and basically I've been smitten with them ever since. Considering how much people flipped their shit for them last time, I expected to have a good time. The first thing I noticed, well before they played, is that Matt and Kim basically filled up the entire venue. This isn't a small room either, I wouldn't be surprised if there were over 500 people there, and it was apparent that those people were there for them.

Whereas Meneguar's sound was shitty, the sound for Matt and Kim was decent. Granted, it's quite a bit easier when all that you're miking is a keyboard, a drum kit and one vocal mic. When M & K went on the dance floor erupted into a dance party. The place went absolutely berserk, with sing-alongs, synchronized hand gestures, crowd surfing and crowd diving. The crowd diving in particular was great, as one of the big meaty bouncers got on stage to try and stop it. Matt showed some balls, and after the first song with said dude behind him, he says: "Man, those dudes pissed me off so much earlier. I wish I weighed 500 pounds." He then proceeded to taunt the bouncer for the rest of the evening, asking him to leave the stage and to leave his friends alone. My particular favorite: "This is Matt and Kim, not Matt, Kim, and some other dude." The crowd wasn't going to back down either, with many a dancer still getting on stage, eluding (and sometimes taunting) the bouncer and happily crowd surfing. The dude was pissed and it was hilarious.

M & K played great, and were quite overwhelmed with the crowd. I know I didn't expect them to draw that well, I can only imagine how they must have felt after playing all those basement shows to come back to Brooklyn and find they're now legitimate headliners. Their energy is great and their shows are a great time, check them out if you've not seen them yet. Their debut record (self titled, out on IHEARTCOMIX) is pretty swell too.

Labels: Concert Reviews, Matt and Kim, Meneguar