Not by the hair of my shinny-shin Shins

I'm a little late in reporting on this, but here it is anyway. The Shins performed last week at the Palladium Ballroom (aka Gilley's) in Dallas and naturally made a joke about a mechanical bull that I didn't see (though I did look for it upon entering the building). And that was the best of their stage banter. Luckily, they didn't talk much and crammed a million of their 3-minute-or-less pop songs into the set. They opened with several off the new album, Wincing the Night Away, then delved into Chutes Too Narrow before going back to the first album, Oh, Inverted World. They rocked pretty well but didn't stray too far from their recorded arrangements. However, an added bandmember who played keyboards and guitar added some extra depth.
What could have been the real story of the night, openers Viva Voce (a husband-wife duo from Portland), started sour and ended the same due to technical difficulties. Sounded like a bad mic or a faulty guitar cord. Just when they'd get to rockin', the audience's ears would be raped by static. Still, the Vivas made the most of it and turned in a determined performance, despite the drummer/guitarist/singer's unfortunate Luke Wilson in The Royal Tenenbaums headband. His wife, the lead guitarist and singer, couldn't have been any sexier knocking out her sonically swelling solos.
But as it goes for GA shows for those of us over 30, my knees and back took a beating. It's hard to go to shows for new bands because they're probably going to be playing these kinds of venues. Thank god for Elvis Costello and Steely Dan -- old bastards whose audiences like to sit and even nod off halfway through the show. Or maybe that was just me.