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The Shins at the Kings Arms
16 February 2005
by Venetic

Upon my arrival at the Kings Arms around 9.30pm, the place was already packed to the brim with young twentysomethings. Not a bad turnout for a Wednesday night. Not only had all the tickets sold out several days before the first night, but the Shins' second performance on Thursday the 17th was also sold out.

Obviously the Shins' reputation had preceded them, but even so, they're not a group with a very high profile, in spite of having been around as the Shins for several years, after having first got together in Albuquerque, New Mexico in the early 1990s. I have been knowingly dropping their name to indy music freaks for a couple of years now and have mainly been met with blank stares. It's odd when a band signed to Sub Pop (Nirvana's old label) and with two albums to their credit can pass entirely unnoticed even among indy rock fans… Still, the clues were there for those paying attention - glowing yet not particularly prominent coverage in the UK and US music press, two tracks in the soundtrack to Zach Braff's recent film Garden State and, dare I mention it, a live performance appearance in the Gilmore Girls.

It was obvious from the moment the Shins took the stage that they were both amazed and delighted at the turnout. As it was their first time in New Zealand, and the two Kings Arms concerts were pub gigs on a short national tour in which student Orientation gigs feature prominently, they had doubtless had visions of playing in front of an audience of three people.

They kicked off with a spirited performance of "Kissing The Lipless" from their second album Chutes Too Narrow, and from there on it seemed they could do no wrong. All the tell-tale signs of a seasoned touring band were there - the music was tight, with a perfect unison, and none of the jadedness that can so easily creep in when an act has been touring with the same material for a while. And it has been a while: Chutes Too Narrow, the most recent album, dates from 2003, and their first album Oh, Inverted World, goes back to 2001. If their two albums had been mainly filler, like so many albums released these days (50 to 70-minute CDs featuring no more than two or three decent songs), that might have been a very big performance barrier indeed, but the Shins managed to pull off the rare feat of releasing two albums packed with great songs. A mixture of oblique lyrics, bright melodies and strong rhythms with a sound that is all their own, in spite of signs of the influence of British pop and rock music of the 80s and 60s. As they themselves pointed out, it was just enough to get them through a concert-length performance, with a couple of songs left over for the encore.

The Shins gave an outstanding performance, and left the audience to make their way home afterwards in a warm fuzzy glow.

Venetic 2005
http://www.venetic.com/venetic'sviewarchives.html