Vietnam opened the Vice Records show last night, looking like a late ’60s caricature (a combination of spaghetti-Western Eastwood, every male audience member at Woodstock, and Stillwater, complete with MASH-stache), but they’ve got chops. Listening to their EP, I had never felt a heavy-handed use of their influences, but it came out last night, especially the Velvet Underground side of things. They really rocked hard but at times they stretched it out way too much, and let the attempted trippy-ness drag the show. They ended with a guy from the merchandise table (I think) climbing on stage with a blanket over his head and singing, beating a drum, and dancing around. It looked like my imaginary version of an MC5 show.
Death from Above 1979 took the stage next, and they were as much about the quotes as the music:
“You say, ‘Why didn’t I just shit at home?’ and I say, ‘The rock club is my home.’”
“I sound great.”
“Everyone gets spit on sometimes.”
“I held a jellyfish in my hand.”
The spitting comment came about because the guitarist spat on an obnoxious fan. I guess it happens, but the band too often crossed the line from surly rock stars to what one audience member aptly described as “douchebaggery.” We’d get these exchanges, and then the band ripped into another number that really had the crowd going. DFA79 sounded great, and their set ended with the lead guitarist from Vietnam dragging a bunch of fans up on stage to dance (”If you knock over these drums, I’ll punch you in the face”). He looked pretty gone by this point, and kept getting worse. The MC5 feel was back, but now the drugs, drinking, music, and “fucking in the streets” had been stripped of any political context, reducing the party to the most basic hedonism and turning the concert into a bit of a sideshow.
Then the poor Panthers had to follow this display. They’re not a bad band, really, but they couldn’t live up to either of the preceding acts, despite their psychedelic video backdrop (to really help kick out the jams). Even worse, the mix was a disaster. At one point I could only hear the drums, one guitar, and some unintelligible vocals. Then the quality got messier. I felt bad leaving early, since the headliners had lost quite a bit of the audience (far more hipsters than headbangers), but I was glad I did because my car had been towed.
The moral: 2/3 of the acts on tonight’s bill have the potential to be incredible performers but, counterintuitively, they actually need to rein themselves in a little. Vietnam’s drugged out noise jams are 30 years out-of-date, and especially off-putting given the group’s strong songs. Death from Above 1979 definitely has the tunes and the skills, but they can’t lose the music for the spectacle — it gets old, and they look like a quick burnout waiting to happen (but I hope I’m wrong). When both these bands play their music, they’re impressive; when they get off track, they aren’t. Fortunately they’re on way more than not, and definitely worth the sprays of beer going to and from the audience. At least if you’re not directly in the spray.