No Rock And Roll Fun

THE BAMBOO REVIEW: Over to our Californian at large, Becky Bamboo:

After sorting out some calendar issues (mainly related to me not being able to tell Tuesday from Wednesday from Thursday), I managed to make it to the city to see Evening/The Killers/stellastarr* on Wednesday.

Evening is a local band that I hadn't seen before, but had heard good things about. Well... good news first or bad? Good news: the songs started out very strong; all late Radiohead blips and bleeps and guitar noise. Very compelling and cool. And the rhythm guitarist and the bass player were pretty cute. Okay. The bad: after the cool openings the songs ended up mostly being just okay. Nothing really memorable. The guitarist playing the role of Jonny Greenwood was obviously aiming for a Dave Navarro look, with his black hair and goatee, but ended up just looking ridiculous with the addition of a handlebar moustache. Yes, actual twirled ends. Black Bart goes goth. Snidely Whiplash in eyeliner. Hee. The singer had a Ziggy Stardust mullet, but it wasn't orange so it was just bad and his voice was on the nasal and uncertain-of-pitch side of adequate.

The Killers, on the other hand, were excellent - start to finish. The club was nearly full when they took the stage and it was obvious that there were a lot of fans present. They may be young, but they have a tight set, never losing momentum or the audience. Their impeccable vocals and tight harmonies impressed the hell out of me; it's not easy to be note-perfect live. The songs are great - a little shallow lyrically - but fun, and they make you want to shake your ass. I can't wait to hear their album. (I forgot I was going to call my brother before I wrote this and see if he knew any of them from high school. Anyway. They're the best thing to come out of my hometown since Andre Agassi. Who knew Vegas had this good a band in it?)

And then stellastarr*. I saw them last year opening for The Ravonettes and was impressed enough back then to grab their CD. If anything, I was more impressed this time. I love how the female backing vocals provided a cool counterpoint to the theatrical, Robert Smith style lead and how they aren't afraid to completely freak out but never let things get too out of control. Great band to see live. Oh, and this time I remembered to stand on the opposite side of the stage so I was in front of the rather hot guitar player. Oh yeah.