09-15-2016, 10:57 AM
I'm not entirely certain what I saw. There seemed to be three main performances. The first was WAKRAT, which I'd describe as a warm-up to the warm-up band. There were two songs I found appealing. While I don't know their titles, I memorized the lyrics. The first one went, "What are you looking at? I know you don't like me. What are you looking at? I know you don't like me. What are you looking at? I know you don't like me." The lyrics for the second song were, "If you fuck with me, I will kill you! If you fuck with me, I will kill you! If you fuck with me, I will kill you!" I leave it as an exercise for the reader to figure out the titles. The lead singer clearly has some issues, but he showed considerable charisma, transforming these lyrics into mantras of meditative tranquility.
The second band was AWOLNATION, which was best in its opening and closing. The opening was a loud reverberating bass number that made our bodies vibrate near the back of the seating section. Never felt such overwhelming bass. The ending was the cat song. You know the one. Here's a 20-second snippet you've no doubt seen.
Finally there was Rage, and I won't pretend to understand all the elements of this collaboration. The audience stood for the entire performance, often shouting along with fists or middle fingers in the air. At times it was hard to see the stage, because of a contingent of 20 or 30 policemen who had the seats directly in front of us. They seemed to be their biggest fans, whooping it up, fists constantly gut-punching the moon, shouting "Fuck!" louder than anyone; and when the show was over, they were the most vocal in calling for more songs.
Rage was a mixed bag for me. Some of it was powerful, and I could appreciate it. The spin doctor was a revelation. It seems like such a cheap trick, and not at all visual, but his solo performances made an already standing audience rise up on point, enough to put the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet to shame. As for the rest of Rage, too many numbers would start off interesting, with a nice subdued melody building, but then everyone would leap into the air and land in horse stance and pound their instruments hard as they could, giving a blaring discordant sameness to a lot of their work.
All in all, a fun if somewhat overwhelming experience for a hermit like me.
The second band was AWOLNATION, which was best in its opening and closing. The opening was a loud reverberating bass number that made our bodies vibrate near the back of the seating section. Never felt such overwhelming bass. The ending was the cat song. You know the one. Here's a 20-second snippet you've no doubt seen.
Finally there was Rage, and I won't pretend to understand all the elements of this collaboration. The audience stood for the entire performance, often shouting along with fists or middle fingers in the air. At times it was hard to see the stage, because of a contingent of 20 or 30 policemen who had the seats directly in front of us. They seemed to be their biggest fans, whooping it up, fists constantly gut-punching the moon, shouting "Fuck!" louder than anyone; and when the show was over, they were the most vocal in calling for more songs.
Rage was a mixed bag for me. Some of it was powerful, and I could appreciate it. The spin doctor was a revelation. It seems like such a cheap trick, and not at all visual, but his solo performances made an already standing audience rise up on point, enough to put the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet to shame. As for the rest of Rage, too many numbers would start off interesting, with a nice subdued melody building, but then everyone would leap into the air and land in horse stance and pound their instruments hard as they could, giving a blaring discordant sameness to a lot of their work.
All in all, a fun if somewhat overwhelming experience for a hermit like me.
I'm nobody's pony.