Arms Akimbo! The Editors @ the Park West, 09.11.07

Before I talk about the concert, my apologies for posting this so long after the fact. Work’s been sucking my will to live lately. But I’ll be honest: I’ve been lazy. After all, hard work pays off after time but laziness pays off right now.

So yeah, the Editors concert. Held in Chicago’s Park West, this is one of my favorite concert venues in the city. It’s nice to get both relatively cheap tickets and to be able to actually see the performers up close and personal. And thanks to a friend who knew someone working the venue, we snagged a kick ass private booth right up in the front. Rock on!

When we arrived, one of the opening bands, Ra Ra Riot, was on stage. We were only able to catch a couple of their songs before their set ended. They seemed to maintain a good energy with a mostly nonplussed crowd. I haven’t heard a lot of their music, but they seemed fun. I wished they had played second so that I could have caught their entire set, especially after hearing what was to come.

Up next was Biffy Clyro. In a word: YUCK. Basically, the lead singer and bass player played the entire set slumped over so that they looked largely like Cousin It bookends. All they needed was a derby hat to complete the effect.

And it didn’t help that half the band was shirtless when it really would have been preferable to have their scrawny torsos covered. Plus? Their music SUCKED. As my friend pointed out, “That sounds like something my three-year-old nephew would sing.” Word. It was a lot of noise without a lot of substance. They even trotted out some annoying, whiny emo-wannabe ballads. I preferred the screaming to the whining, but really, I just wanted some silence to enjoy my martini and get my buzz on.

The Editors were a welcome relief to the noise that had come before. They did a lively set that included all of the best, most upbeat songs from The Back Room and An End Has a Start. I was concerned that they may focus too heavily on AEHAS as that album tends to be kind of depressing. Some of those songs are quite dirge-like. But they smartly avoided the more depressing numbers in favor of more up-tempo choices, such as “Racing Rats” and “Spiders”. They also included a fair amount of songs from The Back Room, including fan-favorites “Munich”, “Blood”, and “Fingers in the Factory”. All in all, the set was fun and lively though I did wish they’d played “French Disco”, which is my favorite song of theirs. But they definitely earned my money for the evening.

OK…so now for two gripes.

#1. Lead singer Tom Smith REALLY needs to eat a sandwich, or ten. I find his voice to be incredibly soothing, and he’s adorable in an Orlando Bloom sort of way. In fact, I’ve been harboring a huge crush on him for some time now. Look how cute he is!

But seriously? You could see every single bone poking through his fitted white button down. The Scott Weiland-inspired manorexia is NOT an attractive look. It makes me want to stuff him full of my mom’s lasagna and carrot cake.

#2. As much as I love Tom, he needs to tone the arm flapping thing he does way way down. His bony appendages were flailing every which way. I don’t know if he’s double jointed or what, but sometimes his arms went in directions that I didn’t think were possible. And the Arms Akimbo! was made all that much worse by the fact that his arms are skinnier than my wrists.

As someone who tends to talk with my hands, particularly when I’m nervous, I understand the unconscious flailing. But you know what? I sit on my hands so that I don’t pull a Three Stooges triple slap eye poke. I realize that’s not a practical thing for a musician to do (though that would certainly make for an interesting show!), but perhaps a Toastmasters lesson could cure him.


So overall, the show was solid, and I’d recommend seeing them should they come to town. Just make sure to sit at least and arm’s length away from Tom or he may just put your eye out.