Last Friday night, Starflyer59 and Pedro The Lion played at Calvin. It was a very good show. I definitely prefer Starflyer on record, where the melodies come through more clearly and the wall of sound carries better, but Pedro were on top form.
The most amusing part of the evening was when initially just one, but eventually just over a dozen Starflyer fans began raising cigarette lighters above their heads during a quieter moment. It’d been a while since I’d seen such a phenomenon since these days the mobile phone has usually stolen that spot, but somehow it seemed like those holding these lighters had forgotten what they were supposed to do.
The lighters went up. The lighters stayed up. Straight up into the air. No swaying involved. It began to feel like the children of irony struggling to deal with its aftermath. Feeling as if they ought to be raising cigarette lighters during slow songs, but not quite sure what to do next.
At least it’s safer this way.