I hate to say it, but the Dismemberment Plan show last Thursday was kind of underwhelming. With the exception of one song, they played the exact same set that they did when I saw them almost a year ago at Bernie’s. They pretty much flew through the first half of the set, not stopping to partake in their usual banter and exchanges with the crowd until about halfway in. Also, being stuck off to the side in the rear of the club left me kind of distanced from the action, unlike the Bernie’s show where I was pressed in about 2 feet from the “stage” (Of course, so was everybody else in the room since thats about how big Bernie’s is). I was also excited about seeing Cex open the show, but I was kind of let down by that too. His live shows had been hyped to me as being memorable and crazy, but also with the disclaimer that they bore no resemblance to his albums. Going in prepared for that, what I got was Cex freestyling over some just ok beats to suggestions tossed out by the audience. I could tell that it wasn’t supposed to be taken seriously, but it just didn’t really do much for me. I guess I’m too old, humorless, and cranky. On the other hand, I picked up his album “Role Model” while we were there, and I’m finding that to be pretty amazing. Ben and I cut out of there to head back to Columbus a few songs into the Death Cab for Cutie set, since Ben had to work the next morning. Death Cab is ok with me, but not something I couldn’t miss so I wasn’t too disappointed about that.