The Shins! The Shins! They played Auckland on Thursday night to a pretty rapturous response, and were supported by the Brunettes with Orchestrette. I am not fangirl enough to know any of their names, but that is easily solved by referring to them as Kevin Spacey, Pat Smear, The Critic's son, and cross between Neal from Freaks and Geeks/Dana Carvey. They seemed genuinely surprised by how big a crowd they drew and how much applause they got, and the clearly hangoutable-with and very funny Neal/Dana kept saying 'sweet as!' in an endearing attempt to be all Kiwi. (I desperately want an American to say 'sweet as buggery!' to me someday. I suppose I could just ask Brent to do it. But that's not the same as he lives here.) Anyway they played an excellent show (not that common, according to rumour?) and Pat Smear is a disturbingly accurate and angular guitarist/bassist. They tended to exactly replicate their recordings, which can be good or bad depending on the band; I was perfectly happy to hear a note for note 'Saint Simon', of course. I was also really impressed by the Brunettes' set, which benefited greatly from the addition of brass and pedal steel. Neal/Dana's reference to them as 'our new favourite band' was apparently not just hokey bullshit, as according to Lawrence they've been asked to support the Shins on their 30 date US tour. Go Brunettes! The Monsters of Twee shall rule the world! (Although I am a little worried about how the pop-Americanisms will play in America. Maybe that's a joke that only works in NZ.)