Art Brut @ Warsaw 10/18: Simply the Best

There are few things that make me as happy as an Art Brut concert. I have seen the band three times now and each and every show has been amazing.


Eddie Argos has got to be the ultimate front man. He is endearing, funny, charismatic and just plain awesome. His advice on dating is always a never-ending source of amusement and hidden gems.


If you don't have the band's debut album yet, GET IT. One of my favourite albums of the year, Bang Bang Rock and Roll is an original, fun and intelligent piece of music. It falls under the category of art rock with a combination of spoken word, ala William Shatner, and English punk rock.


I feel that it is rare that every member of a group can hold their own (the boys O'death come to mind as an example of those who can) but not so for Art Brut. Jasper on guitar and Mikey B on drums are definitely my stand out favourites, with their outrageous solos at the end of the sets, but everyone in the group is able to find their own unique style and personality which works incredibly well with their eclectic brand of music.


The group debuted a few new songs from their upcoming second album to rapturous applause. 'Nag Nag Nag Nag' will be the first single out November 13th. I was surprised to see that the show hadn't sold out, but those there were obviously big fans, jumping, screaming and chanting 'TOP OF THE POPS!' I may or may not have been one of those people. Ok, I was.

Download: 'Formed a Band'
'Fight Hi'

Antony, CocoRosie & Matmos @ Warsaw: We Are Family!

I know you want to sing the next line of the song so go ahead...

Ok, now to the review.

I was completely misled thanks to the billing of last night's show! The Ali Forney Benefit show was billed as an Antony show with CocoRosie and Matmos as support. I was a little confused when CocoRosie graced the stage first around 8pm, as introduced by Murray Hill (great job by the way!), but didn't mind. Then Antony came on next, followed by Matmos. Odd if you ask me since Antony is by far the most successful talent on that bill, but on second thought since Antony curated the whole event, perhaps he felt weird headlining it as well. The Matmos guys came all the way from San Fran for the show! Perhaps they deserved the coveted spot of closing out the gig for that reason alone; I just wish 75% of the crowd didn't saunter out as soon as Antony sung his last note!

CocoRosie was in fine form last night. I've now seen the band 3 times and have gone from being totally disgusted by their stage presence and song structure, to absolutely adoring it. Last night only deepened my love for the sisters that make up the band. They played a good deal from Noah's Ark including 'K-Hole', but by far the highlight was 'Beautiful Boyz'. Antony joined them on stage for the ditty and it was flawless. I wished they did an extended version of the song because it was totally dead on last night. The ladies received much praise from the crowd which seemed just as excited to see them, as they were to see Antony.


Around 9:30 or so, Antony took the stage. Antony was in really good spirits last night. He joked about how embarassing he was on stage, how he longed for a dead drummer from the early '70s, and how he can turn any song into a melancholic one. The CocoRosie girls joined him on stage for the witty and hysterically funny new tune "Bouncy Balls". The entire set was perfect. Here's the setlist, the asterisks denote a new song:

My Lady Story
Cripple + The Starfish
*Kiss My Name
Spiralling
For Today I Am A Boy
*Bouncy Balls
*One Dove
I Fell In Love With A Dead Boy
Fistful Of Love
Hope There's Someone

Matmos hopped on stage somewhere around 11pm. Sadly as I mentioned earlier, much of the crowd had dissipated by the time the boys got ready for their shtick. They opened their set with one member literally blowing air through a straw and into a small bowl filled with water (as seen in the photograph below). After about 5 minutes of that, he threw in a packet of Alka Seltzer which made a throbbing sound, as you can imagine, and although it was a little cacophonous it was also pretty damn cool.


Pretty soon after this, Antony graced the stage yet again for 2 tracks with Matmos. This is when I got closest to the stage and snapped away.






Can't wait for their next benefit show! Hopefully Antony will curate it again.

SS* @ Warsaw: Harmonies For The Hungry

Yes, it's true, I was munching down my last 2 perogies before I realized that stellastarr* had taken the stage and were halfway through "In The Walls" already! Woops!



Stellastarr* was in fine form last night but the crowd just really wasn't into it. "On My Own" was incredible and probably the best I have ever heard it but nobody even blinked or nodded their respective heads until the band charged through the closer, and biggest hit to date, "My Coco".

I'm glad I got the opportunity to see them truly shine with a jubliant crowd over at Bowery the night before.



Here are the best shots I could get with the aforementioned blue blinding lights.

Only addition to the setlist from Monday was "Born In a Fleamarket" and the omission of "Angela", "Moongirl", "Somewhere Across Forever" and "Pulp Song".

I guess they had only about an hour at Warsaw, as opposed to the hour and a half at Bowery.



By the way, I heart the * very much, if you know what I'm talking about. Hotness.

I Still Love The Light On, Baby

Editors were unreal last night.



As Jen was saying, we certainly feel that they will have mass appeal within the next year or two.





I was surprised to hear the opener, "Lights", slowed down a good measure or two but it worked beautifully.






















Other than the usual suspects (not to say they weren't fantastic, "All Sparks" blew my little mind), we were treated to a new track, "Retreat", plus a b-side or two I wasn't familiar with. They even did an encore (have they ever even done one before??) which included "Fingers In The Factories", which in turn, got all the kiddies jumping up and down like it was House Of Pain circa '92.



I wonder if Thursday's show at Webster can top this one. If so, that'd be miraculous!

Editors w/ Stellastarr* @ Warsaw 3/29: Oh Holy Jebus

The way I flew home last night from Brooklyn, you would have thought I was tripping. But no, that is just the kind of high that an Editors concert gives you. The consensus after the show was, this band is going to be selling out stadiums come a couple of years.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves, let me start at the beginning.

My friend and I get in line to go into the show and behind us are two older couples. I notice they are speaking in a British accent. 'I wonder if they are the Editors parents?' I whisper to my friend. Sure enough. Mom said, 'The boys will be happy, there are lots of pretty girls here.' 'Yeah, but they are all here for Stellastarr*' replied Dad. Believe me, no they aren't Dad. Does that mean they are single and get with groupies? Because I am all over that piece of information.

The Warsaw is a great place to see a show. It is like going to see a concert in your middle school gymnasium, replete with bake sale table... except the mothers are pushing pierogies and beer instead of brownies and punch.

My crew and I sat down to some unpronounceable Polish beer and a plate of pierogies and sauerkraut, sitting through the first couple of Stellastarr* songs while we ate. Eventually though, the music lured us into the hall and, just like last night, we found ourselves bopping away.


We were all surprised to see that Stellastarr* were opening for Editors. Is Stellastarr* more of a hometown phenomenon than international success? Nonetheless, it was good to see them for a second night in a row. Their set was obviously shorter, giving the audience a single burst of high energy pleasure. The audience in the beginning wasn't having much of it until the end when the band played 'Jenny' and suddenly it was like everyone realised, 'Oh right, I DO like this band.'


Let me express how well a lead singer I think Shawn Christensen is. His voice is brilliant and his passion for the music is so evident in every song he sings. He really carries this group.


All in all, another solid set. Stellastarr* aren't my favourite band, but they do put on a great live show.


I've said it before, and I'll say it again: the album does not do the Editors half the justice that the live act does. Live, you suddenly find yourself dancing to every tune, screaming during every pause and begging for more once it's all over.



In the beginning, Tom Smith revved up the crowd by showing his own enthusiasm for the show, he screamed into the audience. He did so with such boyish charm and joy that it succeeded in setting the tone for the audience's reaction the rest of the evening; all across the auditorium were screams and whistles amongst a sea of bopped heads.


Because of Smith's undenyable good looks, I wouldn't be surprised if at the show on the 30th, there were a significant amount more of tween groupies lining the stage. Last night I could see the beginnings of that happening already.










The setlist looked sort of something like this:
Lights/Blood/All Sparks/Fall/Bullets/Camera/You Are Fading/Munich Encore: Someone Says/Fingers in the Factories


I came out of the show sweating, smiling and holding Tom Smith's guitar pick. It was a great night in Brooklyn. All you going to the 30th show are in for a treat.