For This, We've Waited Just a Lifetime

It's a good excuse to quote from a song I love so dearly ("Just a Lifetime"), even if I had only been waiting a few months for the show and even though I have seen The Legendary Pink Dots four, maybe five, times in the past. It's been a while.

The first thing you should know about The Legendary Pink Dots is that Edward Ka-Spel performed barefoot and surrounded by wires.



Then I should tell you about the politeness of the crowd. Recently, I have grown to loathe concerts on account of the rudeness of people in the audience (I think Man Man's audience might have taken the prize for downright obnoxiousness). LPD fans, though, are a different breed. No one talked during the show. It was like we were all in the midst of the rapture. People danced, but we all did it without invading the personal space of others, and if an accidental bump occurred, apologies were made. Cameras were everywhere, but no one used flash. And, in what is probably the first time in the history of concerts ever, two people saw that I was hold the camera and gestured for me to take their spots right in front of the Silverman. I was careful to only horde the space for a few minutes.





I was able to lean in a bit closer to Edward Ka-Spel from there too.









I should add that I have no idea what I'm doing with a camera. I'm still trying to figure out the whole no-flash thing. I'm not sure how to cut the glare for the blue lights and the sickly blur that happens whenever the reds flash. And then there's the whole action thing because a band like LPD has a few psychedelic freakouts in each song and those tend to become a blur.



Advice, of course, is appreciated.

Oh, yes, you guessed it, they played "Just a Lifetime."

Okay, that was the cheesiest most fangirl thing I've ever written. I have to stop playing off the lyrics to the song. In fact that, that was the first bit of the encore. The band followed with "Princess Coldheart" and "Hellsville." You would have totally died if you were there.

And if you want to check out some really great photography, Wolf-Stone has shots from Texas.

They're Legendary

There's a lot going on right now, but I hope you have a chance to read my story on The Legendary Pink Dots, which streets in the print edition of the LA Weekly tomorrow and is online right now.

The Dots are all sorts of psychedelic madness. I've been a fan since high school and my fandom peaked in college, when I was on the prowl for just about everything related to the band, including the elusive cake box project, upon which Ka-Spel is not credited. For the record, I never found those. I took a break for a few years mostly because it got a bit expensive. However, thanks to domestic reissues and iTunes (although I lament the compressed sound of the latter, I appreciate actually being able to find some of the albums), I'm back in the game.

The Dots were more or less lumped into the goth/industrial thing (industrial, really, only with side project The Tear Garden because of the Skinny Puppy connection), but their really an everybody band, so go read the article and then proceed to get obsessed.

In case you're curious, these are my top recommendations for beginners. (I do love Plutonium Blonde, but suggest you brush up on the older material first.)

The Crushed Velvet Apocalypse (which should definitely be the first album you get)

The Maria Dimension

All The King's Horses 

The Golden Age

The Lovers

Faces in the Fire

The Tower

Also, make sure you get The Tear Garden's Tired Eyes Slowly Burning.