The Frames @ The Fillmore 4/7

Smackette and I caught the Frames at the Fillmore on Saturday and we both agreed that they are incredible live. They played for over 2 hours, and, while I donâ??t have a setlist, they played most of The Cost and then a lot of what I feel I can confidently call the â??usual suspectsâ? based on the fact that they appeared on their Live LP â??Setlist.â? They started off a bit slow and artsy, and we were worried. Then Glen said â??Okay, that ends part one of our show, now weâ??ll move on to part twoâ? and just started tearing it up. Most of The Cost sounds brilliant live, my favorite being â??People Get Readyâ? and Smacketteâ??s being â??Sad Songs.â? Thereâ??s still a tremendous amount of interaction with the crowd (the stories about the songs are great), including sing along and cover songs throughout. It was just a good time for everybody, except for the one Irish guy who wanted to hear â??Lay Me Downâ? and was upset they didnâ??t play it. I actually think they didnâ??t play it because he kept yelling for it. The place was about ½ - ¾ sold out so it was nice spacing for all to enjoy.

I was a Frames virgin up until Saturday night, so thanks to Lily, Brennser and everybody else who convinced me to not only buy their records a few years ago, but to actually go see the show.

And Hoya â?? I saw the Submarines as an opener again and it still didnâ??t work for me, although the Frames had them come out and do one of their songs and it wasnâ??t bad. I just canâ??t get into a couple on stage with a Mac laptop singing songs about each other too each other. It always feels like Iâ??m invading their space. The album might be better, but to be there is just weird to me. And sheâ??s way too happy for me, despite being very hot.

Nice review – thanks, Smackie. I'm seeing the Frames here, and have also never seen them live but have a bunch of albums (thanks eMusic). Now I'm particularly psyched…

glad you enjoyed it smackie - they are alot of fun live - their gig at the Cat a few years back was great - I think there were 3 encores, at least 2 of which seemed genuinely spontaneous. how many people does the Fillmore hold? I am wondering about their ability to fill the club given that they only half filled the Black Cat a year or so ago

Fillmore holds 1,250 people.

The Fillmore holds about 1250, and I'd say it would be a stretch to say there were 800 people there (it was the night before Easter which may have some bearing on the low turnout).

They played a ton of encores as well. It got to the point where Glen had us all singing a melody (I think it was the intro to Falling Slowly, but I don't remember) heading for the door and out into the streets. Being hippie/fun San Francisco, of course we did and the folks at the Boom Boom Club across the street were looking at us like we were nuts. Good times.

How is Japantown these days, vansmack??! I had a date once at the Kabuki :p

Originally posted by Joe Marshmallow III:
How is Japantown these days, vansmack??! I had a date once at the Kabuki :p

It's future always in flux, it was recently saved by an investor. Other than that, I couldn't tell you - I nearly never go there.

Great review, it would have me looking forward to the 9:30 show even more if that were possible. :)

The Frames became one of my favorite bands faster than any other, I think. I discovered The Frames in August of 2005, scanning and listening to random albums in FYE that looked interesting. I picked up Burn the Maps and Setlist on the spot, and fell in love with them pretty much immediately. And then, less than two months later, I saw them at the Cat's Cradle and was completely hooked. They are indeed amazing live (Setlist is actually my favorite live album ever). And seeing Glen at the Iota last fall on the Swell Season tour pretty much cemented him as one of my favorite singer/songwriters.

dang - another good show i'm going to have to miss b/c of coachella. i'm telling ya, DC is doing its darnest to make me regret/pay for my decision to head west for the last weekend of april. still the right decision though, just wish it didn't have any downside :)

Originally posted by Joe Marshmallow III:
How is Japantown these days, vansmack??! I had a date once at the Kabuki :p

In an odd change of circumstances, I think I'm going to the Kabuki now too!

Glen stars in an Irish film "Once" that has a special showing at the Kabuki on April 28. Fancy that….

what's the story behind another love song? do they ever play anything off of it, or has it been banished for some reason?

should anyone want to add to the frames collection, let me know and i'll do requisite copying. i've got live stuff, imports, etc.

i'd like to see them in philly the night before the dc show but that requires moving 3 appointments on wednesday, which is going to be rather difficult. that said, this frames fan might just give those appointments the 1 fingered salute and hop on amtrak and head north that day.

ok so who will be at show? brennser you going? hey, maybe you can dj? can you get a sitter for the kids that night? so we got reod, bags and myself thus far.

that film got most excellent reviews. i was hoping it would get picked up for the dc international festival later this month, but no dice. wonder if it will be screened anywhere around here. maybe the afi? i hope.

Originally posted by vansmack:

Glen stars in an Irish film "Once" that has a special showing at the Kabuki on April 28. Fancy that….

that's what happened to me last october where i missed the swell season/glen hansard at the free stage at the kennedy center that thursday, then his show at iota later that night, then the same show in philly on friday, and then the pet shop boys on saturday.

all so i could see the pogues out in vegas.

in retr0spect, it wasn't worth it! well, it was kind of worth it. no, it wasn't. i just need to face up to that 1 show to missing 4 shows equation.

Originally posted by sweetcell:
dang - another good show i'm going to have to miss b/c of coachella. i'm telling ya, DC is doing its darnest to make me regret/pay for my decision to head west for the last weekend of april. still the right decision though, just wish it didn't have any downside :)

don't mind me. i seem to be posting things in multiples.

I definitely wouldn't mind catching the Philly show, but I probably won't be able to make it. I remember thinking about driving over there for the Swell Season show (because the Iota show was so amazing), but decided not to bother when I discovered it was sold out. Seeing a show in Philly on a weeknight is rough. :(

hey lily, tell me about the kabuki. never heard of it. i'd like to see Once before the frames come to the 930.

Originally posted by lily1:
ok so who will be at show? brennser you going? hey, maybe you can dj? can you get a sitter for the kids that night? so we got reod, bags and myself thus far.

yup, I'll be there, hopefully in a DJing capacity but thats not finalized yet!

ask smackie as he was just there. its in san fran. not dc.

Originally posted by georgewendt:
hey lily, tell me about the kabuki. never heard of it. i'd like to see Once before the frames come to the 930.

oh, nevermind then. thanks for the info.
anyone heard where Once might be playing?