Akron/Family @ The Bowery Ballroom in NYC on June 12, 2007

I saw Akron/Family at the Bowery Ballroom in Manhattan last night.

I would love to give a detailed review of this show but I had quite a few beers. I will say that the Bowery Ballroom is an excellent place to see a show. The sound is good and the atmosphere is fantastic.

Akron/Family didn't seem to play much in the way of "songs" as I have both of their albums (although I don't have the split with Angels of Light) and I only recognized a handful of songs. Their live show seems more about surprises and an "experience" than the songs. In that way it reminded me of a more organic version of a Flaming Lips show. In a lot of ways it went out a lot farther than that though and was a lot more interactive. To be fair though the Lips do not play smaller venues like this anymore and it's easier to do this sort of thing in a smaller venue I imagine.

Really this is the worst review of a live show you have ever read. There were a lot of surprising and interesting moments at the show last night: the R&B/Hip Hop warm up music and the 4 guys singing into the mic bluegrass style opening being just a couple of examples. But I'll tell you, and you can clearly see, I cannot put much in the way of cohesive thoughts on the board about it. But I would definitely recommend seeing them if you enjoy a more experimental show and/or you enjoy their albums.