I think I'm getting the idea that nostalgia can be a dangerous thing.
Menomena played a show at Urban Lounge a couple weekends ago at the Urban Lounge. Shug and I have had the pleasure of seeing these talented musicians play in Chicago, Boise, and a little old venue I adore here in Salt Lake City, Kilby Court. Needless to say, Shug and I are SUPERfans of Menomena. We have embarrassed ourselves (and our friends) countless times with our shameless adoration and need to be in the front row. SO when we saw Menomena was booked to play SLC just a week after our return from our travels, Shug and I decided it was kismet!
While we weren't completely sold on their new album, it was Memomena! We HAD to go. This was a band that played in the background when the shackles of love were being soldered around both Shug's and my hearts. This was a band that was playing when I decided to pursue a career completely outside of my educational background. This was the band that blasted in the speakers of my car when I drove Shug to meet my sweet Grandparents for the first, nerve-wracking time. This band kinda means a lot to us.
And this is where nostalgia can get a little tricky. The performance at Urban was just, well, bland. I'm blaming Salt Lake being the second-to-last stop on a loooong tour with
Tu Fawning and the addition of another guitarist. Three's company and four's a crowd, right? The energy and snap these musicians used to convey so effortlessly was just absent from this performance.
And you know what? Shug and I were totally ok with that. Because this band has a few songs that are a part of our mixtape. No matter what kind of so-so albums they create, they are already a part of what I consider to be the best album I will ever hear: the music I fell in love to.
