Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You

- So many guitar changes! I think they’re revelling in being big enough to have guitar techs/roadies to do them that way.

― war mice (hardcore dilettante), Tuesday, May 3, 2022 7:33 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Would have guessed this was a function of all the alternate tunings she uses?

Seeing them next week, not sure what to expect (given these reports)…

DC show a couple weeks ago ruled. A lot of parents with their children there — enough that my wife and I both noted it anyway.

She nailed the solo on simulation swarm at the DC show. I do agree that Buck was less in the forefront than he was when i saw them a few years ago

some off vibes at the saint paul show, chatter that she's maybe had an injury of some kind? i hope they're all doing okay. scuttlebutt on their reddit is that this tour has been seriously weird all around

catching up on that live recording up thread. love how that "red moon" goes so motown towards the end. and yeah, the souped-out "dragon" is incredible.

Anyone at the L.A. show tonight? I’ll be there tmrrw.

I saw them last night at the LA show. pretty rad. Insane guitar solo from Adrienne in there. closed with 'cattails'

unreleased song 'stay' sounds incredible...unusually conventional for them

Don't know if I've said it already, but the bit of the album that hits me in the stomach EVERY.SINGLE.TIME. without fail, is on "Promise Is A Pendulum" when she sings:

"I'm not saying I'm not jealous, or scared any more, I'm just saying..."

..and it's that strangely unresolved dangling line. It fucks with me. They're really good at doing this. They do it at the end of "Change" as well. It's counter-intuitive to just tail off like that, but it's dramatically effective.

The only song I can think of that pulls it off so effectively (for me) and also leaves me emotional is on Robert Palmer's "Johnny & Mary" where at one point he just sings "Runnin' around...." just before an instrumental section. It destroys me!

oof

Hey this really sucks @bigthiefmusic pic.twitter.com/9g026B64Pa

— Olivia Katbi 🌹 (@oliviakatbi) June 3, 2022

i think that's awesome to explain the situation. Israelis /= their government

It's also not the first time they've played there (or issued a similar statement)

My "oof" was more relative to the pushback they seem to be getting for this.

donation seems good i guess, statement is evasive hippie shit but godspeed

if they really grappled this and pretended to know where the moral high ground lies would they still play the show

I think the statement is fairly clear, fwiw (hippie verbiage aside)

I also don't get why a BDS supporter, who is a fan of a band with an Israeli member, would then be surprised when they play there.

sorry i'm not even sure why i'm posting, not trying to stir shit

(I wasn’t referring to you by the way, but the tweeter)

it's disappointing but completely expected

i say this *not* to support them playing there, so don't take it that way, but: it would suck to not be able to go and play a show in a country where you have not only fans but family - a country where one of your members calls home. that would suck for both Max and his three bandmates.

do they have an alternative that people could live with? or are they/Max just denied that experience because of the actions of others?

i think it’s very important that every band i listen to has the same political beliefs and ideals as me

Apparently they just copied and pasted the same statement from when they played there 2 years ago.

what's it gonna taaaaakkke

xp i think they copied and pasted the statement bc that show was presumably canceled because of Covid. Why would they not use the same statement, if their explanation is the same? It's the same show rescheduled.

no opportunities to be in the spirit of learning for the past two years I guess

i think it’s very important that every band i listen to has the same political beliefs and ideals as me

― in places all over the world, real stuff be happening (voodoo chili), Saturday, June 4, 2022 9:30 AM (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

yes, not wanting a musical act I listen to to condone violent apartheid is definitely just me being intolerant to different politics

sure, that’s exactly what they’re doing

They may be naive hippies but no one would have gotten a pass for a dopey statement in 1986 explaining that the bass player was from South Africa so they just had to play there, and they shouldn't be immune from criticism now.

the ethical implications of playing a concert in israel

xxp drop the fucking sarcasm then and tell us exactly what you think they're doing then if not condoning it

playing music in a city where the bass player’s family lives?

though i guess they could’ve accomplished that in his parents’ living room

it's a shame their family aren't allowed to travel to other countries to see them play

I went to their Paris gig yesterday.
It was pretty good. Much more alt rock 90s or even heavy metal/grungy than folk country !
Adrianne had crazy noisy guitar solos/jams.
I loved the metal version of "dragon new warm...". It would be great to have a studio version of it as a single or something (à la Beatles "revolution"!).
A bit disappointed that they didn't play "time escaping", "spud infinity", "red moon", "no reason"... I thought they would keep these for the encore but nope.

no "spud infinity"? :O

Turns out spud is finite

Update

We will be canceling our 2 shows in Tel Aviv. pic.twitter.com/ocSFtgnYz4

— Big Thief (@bigthiefmusic) June 9, 2022

The venue posted too:
https://www.facebook.com/BarbyOfficial/posts/5539771972712536

(Auto translate)

"The world is far from being perfect and in that israel the injustices have existed for centuries and the naive or innocent man who would think that everything will be solved due to threats fears or boycotts actually your cancellation you just made me sad for you bunch of miserable spineless musicians who are afraid of their own shadow. Apparently you won't enter the pages of history as influencing artists with agendas as artists of the past were. Be another band that comes and passes from the world like everyone else. I wish you all the evil in the world just as you did to your fans in Israel and hope that when you went up like this you will come down and become another passing episode. I learned that I have nothing but my country family and my people and no motherfucker will break it we will end in blessing with israel live strong and no ripple will break it."

Does this need to be posted about in two threads? There is literally another active thread about this specific incident.

well, this is about Big Thief finally cancelling their Tel Aviv shows and this thread is about Big Thief so why not

While initially lukewarm on "Change," it's become one of the standout tracks for me. Obsessed with how much she's able to do with the most basic three chord progression repeated a dozen times (G-C-D-C-G, albeit with the high e string tuned down to D for that lovely extra bit of reverb). Could I feel happy for you/ When I hear you talk with her like we used to? Could I set everything free/ When I watch you holding her the way you once held me? An unusually patient and quiet opener that centers and steadies me whenever I put this on, which is still every few days.

They opened with it when I saw them last night. Beautiful, thanks for priming me.

What a killer show, Adrienne is really a beast on the guitar.

Brought out Tucker Zimmerman for a very moving warmup act.

Great rendition of Spud Infinity - and I bought a hella cool longsleeve Spud Infinity shirt in the merch stand afterwards (sold by Noah Lenker who played the jaw harp solo).

I'm not even a huge fan tbh (too dark, melancholy) but it's wonderful to see any artist reach that point, performing small miracles effortlessly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCsFgJsJ5Uc

that's a great little concert

they seem to improvise a lot, very enjoyable, exciting to watch

reminds me a bit of seeing Bob Dylan on a good night, room for the unexpected, everyone on their toes

was this posted itt?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAGbYtPSnbQ

Her tippy toe singing is adorable!

Every time I read this thread title Neil Young sings in my head: “Dragon new warm mountain I believe in you
Oh—oh
Oh—whoa, I believe in you-oo-ooh”

I don't feel like starting a new thread for this, but anyone who digs this album might also like the new one by Florist. Some similarities in vibe, even if Florist is overall quieter.