Jackie-O Motherfucker live at Zebulon

I can’t tell if this is an I’m just getting old complaint, but last night at the JOMF show, three bands were set to play and doors opened at eight, with Jackie-O’s headlining set scheduled for 10:20 pm. To me that’s just wild, especially given the first band went on after a 20 minute delay. A Thursday night show with three bands taking as many hours to wrap up—two of which had 20-30 minute sets—is just way too long.

Again, though, maybe I’m just getting old, and it was nice to hear “Hey! Mr. Sky” live.

WU LYF at the Lodge Room

Fifteen years ago, WU LYF were all the hype and they had this lore about their live shows being a hefty dose of energy amidst a bland, guys-with-moustaches-and-banjos indie rock scene. After being broken up since 2012, they’re back with a solid new album and a tour to boot.

I can’t tell if I’m just getting older, or everybody is, or there’s a legitimate disconnect in live shows now against back then, but it’s just so strange to watch a crowd stay relatively still for pretty dance-worthy music. Maybe it’s just because I came up from the punk scene where any given show would have complete strangers falling over each other and helping one another up in a communal joy, but it’s weird to see a rock band have a fairly sterile response (at least considering the energy they provided).

Nevertheless, they were solid, but I spent a lot of time wondering about if the relatively dormant crowd was a sign of an increasingly broken society, or if we’re all just fifteen years older and our knees can’t take jumping around as much as they used to.