About a year ago I was woken up from my sleep by a gorgeous song coming through from the TV. MTV2’s Subterranean was on, and bleary eyed I watched the screen waiting for the artist and song to appear. I looked over and my boyfriend had done the same thing. The song was so gorgeous that it woke both of us up and we needed to know who it was so we could hear it over and over again. Well, that song was “Exodus Damage” by John Vanderslice and moments later, we were the proud owners of his album Pixel Revolt.

I became a huge fan of the album and especially that song, which featured a shout out to Dance Dance Revolution and Vanderslices own story about finding out about the 9/11 tragedy. Being a New Yorker myself, and remembering that day and how it all went down, how I found out, where I was… you know, the experience of it all, I can listen to the song with an appreciation for a shared experience on a same event.

When I walked into Mercury Lounge last night as Vanderslice was on stage, it was like I was whisked away by the gorgeous sounds coming from stage. So lush, unpretentious, and loud, even in the back of the room I felt surrounded by the music. I feel like so many times I go to see bands with more mellow vibes they end up sounding tinny, empty and lifeless, but at last night’s show it was nothing like that. I felt like I was in another world. John’s guitar sounds were huge and powerful and I couldn’t help but type to my friends “OH MY GOD, YOU ARE MISSING A FUCKING GREAT SHOW RIGHT NOW” the second I walked in.

John must’ve felt the same way. His attitude on stage was positive — complimenting the violinist on his set list choices, complimenting his keyboard player with his perfect timing of sounds on “Angela,” and even complimenting his sound guy on the flawless sound, which I will have to agree with! John told the audience from stage that he was feeling a great vibe with the night, more than many other nights, and God, did I feel lucky to be there.

I was somewhat surprised that the audience didn’t freak out when he announced “Exodus Damage” as being his next song. I really don’t think I’m the only one who is moved by the song and listens to it on repeat just to make my day better (even though the content of the song is really horrible to recall). Maybe it’s not cool to cheer about over a song about 9/11, but it’s just such a great song, and as you will see in this video, the performance of it was enormous. If I wasn’t holding the video cam above my head in an effort to get a view of the stage so I could share it with all you guys, I probably would’ve been all emo and crying over the tune.

If you live in NYC, you can see him tonight at Bowery Ballroom AND at Pianos (at 11pm). He promised that special guests would be joining him on stage for the Pianos show.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 31st, 2008 at 10:44 am and is filed under Live Shows. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.