Last night I went to Pony to see Die Die Die [I know there are supposed to be excalmation marks somewhere in there, but I can't remember where], and brought a heavy weight of expectation with me. Going there on the train thinking "this is gonna be so GREAT. It's gonna be like Whirlwind Heat all over again. I'm gonna recall this night when I'm a middle-aged loser. I am SO on the cutting edge." My own fault, really. Just before the band came on I was like, nudging my brother and Leah and grinning and rubbing my hands together, thinking "oooh, this is gonna be so good. They're gonna go spastic and I'm gonna stand here and drink in the majesty and exuberance of unformed anarchic thrashing around boy noise. Hell yeah." But it didn't really happen like that. There were moments when I was like "this is more like it" but on the whole I kept feeling like I had gone to a house party and the hostess had said, "Hey, my little brother's in a band. Wanna hear it?" and been forced to stand and watch, keeping my face from revealing any of my thoughts for fear of hurting anyone's feelings. I don't think the band were really feeling it like they reportedly were last Thursday, and now I'm even more pissed off that I had to work instead of going to that gig. Damn! Anyway, last night it was like, the shortest set ever. Maybe four songs, or five. But still, I've developed a soft spot for them. Of the three NZ acts that were playing last night, Die Die Die were the most potentially interesting. The band that followed them, Pan Am, were doing that whole retro rock thing and had some alright bits when they let loose a little, but each song was almost always ruined by a wimpster sensibility in the lyrics, and if you watched the bass player for any extended period, you found yourself getting really dark on him, but unable to look away, so annoying was his facial expression. I'm sure they'll do alright but I won't be part of it. No way. So I'm just gonna try Die Die Die on another night because I really want to feel that thing that tore everyone up at the Indie Intitative. I think I saw the drummer milling around in JB this afternoon. I wanted to stop him and say "Buy a reinforced microphone okay? Jeez, you guys are brave." But that would have just made me a suck. Anyway, am hopeful for next time.