The New Year

It's not often that Bob requests a photo (usually he just walks on ahead while I snap away), but tonight at the British Library there was something about these odd leaning posts that he wanted all of you to see:

(They're actually quite a bit more relaxing than they look.) As with last week's Lambchop show at Union Chapel, we were once again giddy with a great combination of band and venue tonight. We've been looking forward to seeing The New Year since we last saw them in Seattle more than three years ago, and tonight they played a show at Luminaire, a venue that ensures a quiet environment in which to enjoy the bands as well as a comfy step right in front of the stage that I can't figure out why more people don't flock to (all the more room for us to sit, so I'm not complaining). The New Year's drummer, Chris Brokaw, opened with some of his solo material,

and lead singer Matt Kadane remarked partway through The New Year's set about how nice it was not to be playing to a chattering audience and that they felt like they should take advantage of the crowd's attentive silence to showcase their quietest songs. We weren't being quiet because we were bored; we were being quiet because we wanted to hear every last magical note!

After the show, we waited on a practically empty overground platform for our train home. Can you spot us?