Well the Shins were on Saturday Night Live last weekend. It was good and bad.

I thought Phantom Limb sounded great, translates well live and Mercer sang it well. The Whoa-Oohhs at the end sounded great.

I thought New Slang was just brutal. It was so lacklustre. Seriously, I was watching everyone's eyes to make sure they were all awake. Plus the chorus was poorly sung, the guitar solo was bland, sterile. The only interesting thing was their keyboard player swinging some tube thing around that sounded kind of like a singing saw.

Thoughts everyone?

That tube-thing sounded like a Theremin. It was pretty cool.

I felt the same way, although I liked the slightly ragged version of "New Slang" more than you. It sounded tired and lazy, but something about that made it somewhat endearing. There's a better live version of it on the "Fighting In a Sack" single, performed by James Mercer with Iron and Wine.

When did they add the female vocalist to the performing lineup?

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When did they add the female vocalist to the performing lineup?

I don't think she's a permanent part of the lineup. I believe it's one of the members of Viva Voice. At least that's what I thought I saw on Pitchfork the other day, anyway.

I saw the first song and thought it was sort of blah. The Shins are a weird band for me. Even thought their stuff is fiarly light, it always takes me a few listens to get into it.

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Originally posted by philosopherEric:
I felt the same way, although I liked the slightly ragged version of "New Slang" more than you. It sounded tired and lazy, but something about that made it somewhat endearing. There's a better live version of it on the "Fighting In a Sack" single, performed by James Mercer with Iron and Wine.

When did they add the female vocalist to the performing lineup?

Yeah, I've got that single, I like the w/Iron & Wine version, but the sound quality isn't so desirable. I prefer the live version (dubbed "alternate take") of Gone for Good on the So Says I single. I also love their cover of T. Rex's Baby Boomerang, which is on the same single.

I don't know, I've seen a stand alone Shins show, and by the time they played New Slang (just before the encore), they gave it a larger than life quality, a stadium sized version, and I thought it was a fairly stunning moment in the show.

I don't think the girl is a permanent member either. I would love to have heard them do A Comet Appears together. I'm assuming it's the same girl who sings on the album.