Grub Animal – “Day Brings New Love”

Last night I think my friends Grub Animal played a show at Delancey. I would have pictures and possibly even some kind words to say, but the booking agent at the Delancey is more concerned with making money than promoting bands, so they overbooked and what was original a 10pm set kept finding itself being pushed back. When I arrived to the venue at 9:30, a band I failed to catch the name of was on stage playing what is probably best categorized as frat rock. I left the downstairs performance area for the more-peaceful-than-usual upstairs bar where a friend and I were treated to one of my guilty pleasure favorites, The Ting Tings’ “That’s Not My Name.” Meanwhile while sitting back on a comfy seat, the reflection of a burlesque dancer projected itself onto the mirror behind the bartender. After a half hour of relaxing and being offered free shots, we headed back downstairs to see if any progress had been made. Unfortunately, the same damn frat band remained on stage treating themselves as rock stars in front of their drunken buddies. Wondering if my friends would be playing anytime soon, I asked the singer when he expected to go on. Irritated with the situation, he pointed out that the band on stage had been playing for over an hour, and he had been told there were still 2 more bands scheduled to play before Grub Animal. Doing the math in my head, it was easy to compute that there was no way Grub Animal would even take the stage before midnight, and with it being a weeknight I knew there’d be know way to hold out long enough to catch them. He told me that at that point even he was considering leaving, and just at that moment a cover of Robert Van Winkle’s 1990 mega hit “Ice Ice Baby” came blasting from the stage like shotgun to my head telling me to get the fuck out before I lose my mind.

So, on a night where I went to see a friend’s good band, The Delancey’s terrible booking and management ruined my night. As someone who regularly books concerts at very well respected venues (Union Hall and Bell House) I know what it takes to book a show and run things on schedule. The Delancey like quite a few other New York venues once again proved that they have a greater concern for their own pockets than for the bands that make them money. Booking 5 or 6 bands on a bill where doors don’t open till 8pm on a weeknight is recipe for disaster. They do this in order to get as many paying customers as possible, and to keep people drinking at their bar for as long as possible. The booking has little concern for having a bill with bands that fit together musically. Bands struggle to drag their friends out, only to find out that the set time they give everyone is completely bogus, and their friends will need to survive through 3 of the shittiest bands they’ve ever heard in order to see them. To kill the time, these friends unload their wallets at the bar because it’s far easier to handle a terrible Vanilla Ice cover when plastered.

When you book a concert, you have a certain responsibility to the bands and their fans to try to keep on schedule, and make the night enjoyable so they’ll to more prone to return or recommend the place to others.

Last night reminded me why I always hated The Annex, and guaranteed that I’ll write these negative words about its douchey lower east side cousin The Delancey.

Check out Grub Animal though. They’re a cool band that will soon spend a bunch of time in Canada performing their new special musical/play.