Seattle Subsonic

The Shins Back In Town

March 24th, 2009

You may have already seen this, but The Shins will be making a stop in Seattle May 4th & 5th at the Showbox Market. May 4th will be all ages and May 5th will be 21+. Given that the Wincing the Night Away tour, which utilized the Paramount Theatre on its Seattle leg, was an overwrought disappointment, I’m stoked to see them going back to the place where I first witnessed their genius: the Showbox. Both Know Your Onion! and Chutes Too Narrow are high on my music pedestal, and I used to regularly call them “my favorite band ever” (they’ve since been reconsidered), and I might even give them credit for altering the trajectory of my existence. G’head, snicker with your Natalie Portman/Garden State jokes; I wore out their first two records waaaaaay before that movie debuted. And all this after a damaging run-in with guitarist Dave Hernandez at Berbati’s Pan in Portland (jerk). James Mercer, fortunately, is easily one of the best songwriters I’ve ever heard.

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You can also catch the quartet in Bellingham on May 2nd at the WWU campus. Tickets for the Seattle shows go on sale Friday, March 27th at 10 am through Ticketmaster. Price gouging set at $34.99 before taxes and fees.

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Update via Pitchfork: the Shins have left Sub Pop. Huh, didn’t see that one comin’.