Rock’n'Roll Soldiers They’re sort of unwashed fashion rock. The lead singer, Marty Larson-Xu, has replaced the popular goiter wrap with scarveswrapped around his wrist. They looked pretty cool. Everyone in this band needed a sandwich. Their guitarist, Kevin Sciou, is 50% hair and their drummer, Oliver Brown, never shuts his mouth. He has this wide-open mouth, wide-open eyes look going the entire time. It’s weird. He looked unhinged. I could see his gum. That being said, the first song kicked ass, as did the rest of their show. They have these amazing, hard-driving rock songs. (I ran downstairs to buy the album, but Kasabian’s British merch men were baffled by my money.) There was a slightly geeky guy off to one side popping and locking like this is his favorite band ever. I love that guy. Marty has this really amazing stage presence that often leads to him careening back and forth in the six-by-two foot space provided and the audience fearing for his life. In the space of one song, he dropped his brand new guitar twice, lost a shoe and ended up on his back, twitching like a dying bug. During the last song, he jumped off the drum, got (intentionally?) tangled in the cords, then clambered down off the stage and promptly fell between us. He nearly knocked Megan’s teeth out with his mic stand and refused offers to help him up, instead clutching his guitar and his microphone and shuffling back under the stage like a kicked puppy. These random college girls (because it is not nice to call them hoochies) stood there screaming at him as if they’d like to go backstage later and he sang the end of the song on the floor, slowly inching towards their crotches. The songs still rocked. (Check out their website here.)
Mad Action They set up with a mini discoball and a long rope of orange lights. Megan liked the lights, but this should have been a sign. They turned out to be, basically, a jam band. It’s as if Kings of Leon and the Queens of the Stone Age went back to the 70s and played dirty Southern Rock, and also jammed. They were even dressed like it was the 70s (except for the drummer, who looked like he had escaped from Duran Duran). They did boast the most impressive pedal racks I’ve seen in a long time and what might have been a theremin. Megan thinks their influences probably include Nirvana, The Who, lots of jam bands and early house music. About halfway through, I smelled pot. That seemed about right. It was psych something. I think, for me, fatigue set in about then. I turned around and spotted a couple more people yawning. This is definitely music to have sex in the back of a van to. Bonus points if the guy you’re having sex with is Wooderson from “Dazed and Confused”.
Kasabian It was immediately clear that Kasabian is too big for the Bowery anymore. After their equipment was set up, there was so little room for the band. I couldn’t really see Chris Edwards at all as he was obscured by the keyboards. But they did very well in the awkward space. Whereas Mad Action was all about the lights, Kasabian had one giant, bright-ass light on the floor by the drums. Everytime they flashed it, I went temporarily blind. That part sucked. (Kasabian has now done two of my band no-nos, blinded the audience and failed to put a clear bio on their website. They get no link.)
They started with “Pinch Roller”! When listening to that song, I often think it would be awesome to walk out in the dark to. They were extremely polite, thanking us repeatedly for coming out and really seeming to mean it. There wasn’t a lot of banter, but most of it was unintelligible. They dedicated “Butcher Blues” to NYC. I don’t know if that’s a good thing. I was actually having an amazing time, even though the girl behind me kept dancing in such a way that her elbow repeatedly came down between my shoulderblades. When she lit up her second cigarette, she got bounced, and I was chuffed.
It was a good, high energy show. The band played three or four new songs, which sounded amazing. They were all clumped together, though. I was worried it would get boring, but instead it was hypnotic. It seems like the new album might be a little more electronic, a lot more sound happening at once. They closed the main performance with “L.S.F.”, which was a bit lackluster. It felt like they were getting tired and were going to let the audience carry it, which the audience were more than willing to do. The encore closed with “Club Foot”, and the band were up for it by then. I thought the roof would come down.
Here’s the setlist (Megan’s note: she pinched it): Intro - Pinch Roller 1. ID 2. Cutt Off 3. Reason is Treason 4. Processed Beats 5. Fifty Five 6. Test Transmission 7. Butcher Blues 8. The Duke 9. Night Workers 10. Stunt Man 11. L.S.F. Encore- 1. Ovary Stripe 2. Club Foot
