The Evens: Live in Brisbane, Full Show Download!
Since we didn’t get The Evens in town, here’s the consolation, a live recording of them playing in Brisbane, Australia on February 25th; courtesy of the ever rocknerdy BigO gang!
from BigO:
The Evens
Brisbane 2007
Live at the Ahimsa House, West End, Brisbane, February 25, 2007
Perhaps this is what Fugazi Unplugged could have sounded like. But that’s not to detract the music of The Evens. Unless you are a follower of the US straight edge scene, Fugazi is probably the most you can associate with Ian MacKaye.
Since Washington’s Fugazi went on hiatus, MacKaye soon picked up the slack and formed The Evens with partner and former Warmers Amy Farina in 2001. Since then, the have two releases – the self-titled The Evens (2005) and Get Evens (2006).
With MacKaye on baritone guitar and Farina on drums, The Evens aren’t making the type of music you can mosh to or even try stage-diving to. But because of the acoustic set up, the songs tend to come across with a certain pop feel. With forceful tracks such as Dinner With The President, You Won’t Feel A Thing, Cut From The Cloth and Mt Pleasant Isn’t – power pop then?
Still, MacKaye always had strong feelings. Here are some anti-Bush lyrics: “Cynics are excused from standing up to the problems/Because they can’t get up from their own seats.” And “You fabricated your way in here/And everybody knows/Everybody knows you are a liar.” And in this Brisbane show, MacKaye even manages to inject some humour by getting the crowd to sing along on his anti-Bush diatribe, You Won’t Feel A Thing.
The Washington Post wrote: “It would be tempting, then, to describe The Evens as music for Fugazi fans who’ve grown too old and weary to still consider themselves punks… It’s rock, but with the reins held tight… If such a style exists, the Evens sound like what happens when post-hardcore becomes post-post-hardcore.”
But for MacKaye, that’s probably just semantics. As he tells PBS FM in Australia: “Luckily we don’t have to depend solely on words to convey the music. If music could be summed up in words, we wouldn’t have to play it!” MacKaye continues: “Amy and I write and sing about things that are on our mind.” The music might sound toned down (as compared to the charge of Fugazi) but the passion is still intact. As they sing on the track, Around The Corner (Get Evens): “What are you going to do if you get too weary to go on?” The answer: “You’re not going to exit.”
Malaysian Joe Kidd (Carburetor Dung and ricecooker.kerbau.com) had attempted to get MacKaye and Farina to perform in Kuala Lumpur in March after the duo’s Australia/New Zealand tour but the plan fell through. But now, thanks to audiowhore who shared the lossless tracks on the internet, fans can enjoy The Evens live in Brisbane.
1. intro
2. Shelter Two
3. If It’s Water
4. Dinner With The President
5. Cache is Empty
6. You Won’t Feel A Thing
7. Crude Bomb
8. Cut From The Cloth
9. Mt Pleasant Isn’t
10. Eventually
11. No Money
12. All These Governors
13. All You Find You Keep
14. Everybody Knows
Do not click on the tracks if you are sensitive to strong language.
go here to download: bigozine3.com/rarities
