Gang of Four, Skaterock Supergroup and Some Dude at TLA, 05.21.05
We went to Philadelphia to see Gang of Four. It sounds crazy, but it’s kind of not. 1) It’s really not that far to Philadelphia. The big pain in the ass is sitting in the train station overnight waiting for the first train back at 6AM. 2) It’s an excuse to see our friend Pamela, the best hipster in the Greater Philadelphia area.
We (Megan and Tania and I) got in about 5, after spending all afternoon on the train discussing whether we could feasibly go to London for Belle & Sebastian’s flashback concert (all of If You’re Feeling Sinister - don’t get your hopes up, it’s already sold out), and went directly to Spaceboy Music. Spaceboy, the best record shop on South Street (according to Pamela) is moving, so bunches of vinyl were deeply discounted. We ended up with, among other things, a Jam record, an Amphetameanies single, ABBA’s “Knowing Me, Knowing You/Money, Money, Money” 7″, and The Natural History’s Beat, Beat, Heartbeat, which I’ve wanted for a while. We didn’t, however, spring the $24 to get B&S’ Push Barman to Open Old Wounds on four records.That was the greatest mistake of the day.
We ate something and wandered back to the venue about ten minutes before doors opened and there was a line around the block. Pamela remarked that this was completely bizarre. She didn’t have a ticket, so Megan made her a little sign on Tania’s shopping bag advertising that she was looking for a ticket and some kind soul took pity on her first pass. Pretty good job, that. We deposited our crap in Pamela’s car and we were ready for Gang of Four! When we got inside, the venue was actually pretty empty. The audience had come in and gone directly to the bar. I also feel that it is important to note that a huge percentage of the audience was wearing Gang of Four t-shirts. People, that is so not done. We were in the second row, and I immediately noticed that the stage was massive. There are venues in New York smaller than that stage. After recently seeing Rock ‘N Roll Soldiers repeatedly nearly kill each other trying to play in the tiny crammed stage at the Bowery, the vastness of the stage at Theatre of the Living Arts was weird. I also noticed that Gang of Four had one of those stupid bright fluorescent lights like Kasabian did. I hate those lights. They’re intended to blind the audience and perhaps the audience, who paid $20 a head, would like to not be blinded. It’s an idea.
Ticketmaster said that the show would begin at 9 and that there was no opener. The marquee proclaimed that there would be an opener, a young man we had never heard of. In fact, the show started at 8:30 and there were two openers, both of whom seemed to be last minute bookings, and sounded like it. Megan said, “It seems to me that they were really hard up for openers and they thought going local was best. They have nothing in common with each other or Gang of Four.” She was right.
Some Dude I apologize, but his name is scrawled unintelligibly on N/A. He came out with both a banjo and a tambourine. This boded badly. The harmonica didn’t help. He sang a lot of songs that his band usually performs, and he prefaced most of them with long explanation sof whether or not they were songs by his band. The first one was, in his words, a “situation song”. I don’ t know what that means. I think it was kinda like a ballad. He was wearing brown suede Danskos that matched his coat. This won Megan’s heart. Me personally, I think it was an odd fashion choice. He looked kinda Gallagher-y. Not the comedian Gallagher, the Mancunian brothers Gallagher. He looked sort of like if the Gallaghers had a sensitive younger brother that they beat up a lot. He didn’t even play that tambourine.
In between bands, I wandered off to the Ladies’ and discovered that there was a concession stand! They sold soda and popcorn and big Kit Kat bars just like at the movies. I was so tickled that I bought a Slice and a box of popcorn.
Skaterock Supergroup They had no name because apparently they’re from different bands. And thought they would jam for us. Whoo. The drummer took his shirt off really early on and we speculated on why his nipples looked bizarre. I finally realized that they were pierced. This was the most interesting thing to do during their set. The people on the barricade just looked bored. The audience was talking very loudly. The audience except for one woman, directly behind Megan, who was dying and screaming for these guys. She was dancing wildly (so that the people around her cleared room) and alone. She danced like people dance when they’re playing dancing video games. Stomping in bizarre patterns and doing that weird arm waving thing you do when you’re trying to catch VR coins.
Pamela (I think) said that they sounded like the Happy Mondays meets Hootie and the Blowfish, which was about right. Tania (perhaps) pointed out that their front man was exactly like a black Tom Morello. They then revealed that they’re from the early days of Philly skate rock and have been playing since 1983. I did the math and realized that these guys are maybe too old to keep giving shoutouts to skate parks. The lead singer is from a band called the Black Beans, if that means anything to you. And then they did a reggae number. I was sorry I had already used my bathroom break. The upside was that the set was short. In fact, both sets were really short and the stage turnover was quick, so that the second band was done at 9:30. We started to contemplate whether we could make the last train back to New York.
The Long Period of Nothingness Then nothing happened for a very long time. It looked like they had gotten the stage set up in about ten minutes. Some Radiohead played on the speakers (”Fade Out”, I think) and I got kind of sleepy. And then someone noticed that Gang of Four were standing on the side of the stage by the exit. Just hanging out and smoking. So the audience would randomly clap and shout in the hopes that the band would start. But no. They just stood there and watched us for absolutely ever. Megan noted that, at this point, “They need to work for my forgiveness.” It was after 10:30 by the time they took the stage.
Gang of Four Two songs in, they had our undying love. The trouble with Gang of Four (speaking as someone who has never seen them before and doesn’t actually own a Gang of Four album) is that now they kind of look like your dad. Well, maybe not your particular dad, but general dads. Andy looks like the new Dr. Who, if that helps. However, they still move like they’re 20. Which is disconcerting (especially Jon King’s seizure-induced dancing). Halfway through the first song, the button right over Jon King’s bellybutton came off and we were … treated to a view of it when he did his dead-fish dance. It was okay, though, because they were rock gods. It was one of the most insane shows I’ve ever seen, with Jon thrashing across the stage and Andy just staring at us as if he knew that he had complete control and we would do anything he wanted. At one point early on, he leaned down mid-solo, took a cigarette from some guy’s pack and lit it. During “Anthrax”, they started stomping around and throwing things at each other. The percussion part in “He’d Send in the Army” includes Jon smashing up a microwave with a baseball bat. Hardcore, man. My gothy co-worker Siobahn would have loved it.
Before they came out, the roadies brought two glasses of wine, four bottles of water, a bottle of Gatorade and eight beers. They pretty much stuck to wine. They were really good at audience participation and making us want to scream for them. The audience were really into it too, obviously serious, serious fans. They all broke into parts during “Damaged Goods” (which they played twice). They played in the set and again as the second encore because, according to Andy, Hugo had messed it up the first time. Hugo responded with some words that Andy wouldn’t repeat and I could lip-read, but I won’t reprint here (my Mom reads this). But that pretty much made my whole section into raving Hugo fans. There was a kid right at the barricade who was doing that jumping dance that the Brits are so fond of. Towards the end, the kid managed to fling himself onto the stage and danced around for half a minute until the roadies chased him off.
Remember that bottle of Gatorade? Hugo never opened it. We were so dazed and parched after the show that Tania and I tried to talk the roadies into handing it over.
Megan’s note: there were three encores. I think they’d run out of songs they had rehearsed, which is why we were treated to “Damaged Goods” a second time. It didn’t matter, it was amazing both times. They seriously could have gone on forever and everyone in that room would have stayed.
Everything after We stumbled to the all-night-ish diner and ate like potheads, then made our way back to 30th Street Station to sit among the mice and the pigeons all night while we waited on the first train back to Trenton, and then on to New York. Well, Tania and I sat. Megan fell asleep. Par for the course. We were both extremely punchy and Tania read out the funny bits of D.H. Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers. If you’ve been awake for 20 hours, there are a lot of funny parts. We discussed what The Moz Squad would be like and what events would be included on Emo Fear Factor (”Go to a Metallica Concert”). Tania craved an Orange Slice and I stalked the woman of the one bookshop in the station, trying to will her to open the store. Then the train came and Megan and Tania fell asleep, so I read this book on Madchester that Megan had picked up at Virgin. That thing definitely needs to be reviewed for the site.
