LIVE: The Ting Tings at the Cat's Cradle

I don't like the Ting Tings. I think that song they have about the drums is catchy for a little bit, but the rest of their songs are pretty inanne. Just like their name. The Ting Tings. It's stupid. So let this serve as forewarning: positive words about the Ting Tings do not follow in this post.

So it goes without saying that the poppy dance-punk duo's concert at the Cat's Cradle was not the most enjoyable experience of my life. They played their hits (that song from the iPod commercial and "That's Not My Name") while stimulating a sold-out Cradle, even distracting most people from the close Duke-Texas game. Jules De Martino and Katie White oozed energy, showing they could easily take their club show to an arena.

 But there was something deeply troubling about the show. De Martino spent most of the show on the drums (I got in about halfway through the Ting Tings set, so I have nothing to say about the first half of it or Hot Tub--though I imagine I would have nothing positive to say anyway. Hot Tub--really?) and White sometimes played the guitar. Although I'm not actually sure if she did play the guitar. She acted like she was, but I think it might have just been canned synth. Nonetheless, their was no musical integrity to the show. I suppose it was just an excuse to have a good time and dance. My friend even described the band to me as more "pop confection" than music. That's fine, but even if you're serving me a cupcake, I want it to be an enjoyable cupcake. If the Ting Tings were a cupcake, they would be a Hostess one. That someone sat on. 

One final thought. Unhappy to be there, I certainly was not dancing. A (probably tipsy) British woman next to me kept trying to make me dance. I refused. But she made an interesting observation. "Everyone thinks British people are so rigid, but I'm dancing and you're not," she said in her accent. "It's like the first show I came to in the U.S. No one was dancing." Maybe this "pop confection" might not have musical abilities, but last night, they broke down cultural barriers. So good for the Ting Tings.

So that was the Ting Tings. Thank God I had ear plugs.